https://www.cybersport.ru/dota-2/articles/valve-ne-smogla-ubit-lycan-i-beastmaster-kak-igrat-na-personazhakh-bez-necronomicon

Beastmaster

After the update, Beastmaster is doing slightly better matchmaking than Lycan. The hero now has a winrate of 47.4%. But at a high rating (from 7 thousand MMR), he became one of the most meta characters, and his win rate is 54.6%. Moreover, thanks to patch 7.29, Beastmaster now not only feels confident in the offlane, but also in the mid lane. At high MMR, the hero spent 47.1% of the matches on the center lane, and his win rate there reaches 57.2%, which is one of the highest indicators among the mid laners.

You’ve probably seen the cutscene in which a Beastmaster player single-handedly killed Roshan at 15 minutes in 30 seconds. This is all thanks to Aghanim’s Scepter, which now empowers Wild Axes by removing cooldowns and increasing the ability’s damage. It is around the first skill that the gameplay of Beastmaster is built in patch 7.29.

Now Beastmaster does not depend on the cooldown of the ultimate and summons. After purchasing Aghanim’s Scepter, he can continuously deal a large amount of damage until he runs out of mana. If you use the hero as a mid lane, then this particular artifact must be purchased first. For example, Arteezy bought Aghanim’s Scepter right after the Boot and Bottle. No.[o]ne, unlike the Canadian, also collected an intermediate artifact in the form of a Soul Ring. And this is quite logical, since Beastmaster has noticeable difficulties with the lack of mana. Even with the Soul Ring, Minenko constantly wore Clarity for himself in order to quickly farm forests and be able to use all abilities in battles.

It’s hard to call Beastmaster the strongest laner in the patch. For example, No[o]ne and Arteezy were seriously losing to their opponents in the center in terms of gold (almost one and a half, or even two times). The damage from Wild Axes at the first levels is not enough to pick up a creep mage, and this ability, given its recharge without Aghanim’s Scepter, won’t break through your opponent. The best thing to do in a situation where laning has failed is to start stacking jungle. On the Beastmaster, it’s pretty simple: both Wild Axes and a Summoned Boar can help.

However, none of the professional players left for the forest completely before buying the coveted artifact. At level 6, the Beastmaster can still effectively move to another lane to kill the enemy with the ultimate. In addition, Wild Axes pumped to the third or fourth level by this time (even with reloading) can help to quickly deal with the support.

As soon as the Beastmaster acquires Aghanim’s Scepter, the game changes dramatically: the hero can immediately call a team for massive battles and kill Roshan. At the same time, the Beastmaster must simultaneously clear his own and enemy forests, which takes him literally a few seconds – much faster than with the Necronomicon.

Beastmaster is a hero of aggression and tempo play, so after Aghanim’s Scepter, esportsmen bought Boots of Travel. The artifact will allow you not only to be mobile in a macro game, but also not to let your opponents go in battle. In the match with Arteezy, it was painful to look at the enemy support Windranger, who could not escape from Beastmaster and died from four hits with an ax.

After that, professional players often took Black King Bar for protection from magic, and then began to increase the damage. There are two ways here: Kaya and Sange, which will help in longer battles, solving problems with a lack of mana and increasing survivability, or Ethereal Blade, which gives burst damage and allows you to single-handedly deal with an enemy in a few seconds. For example, Arteezy with the help of the ultimate, Wild Axes and Ethereal Blade literally blew up the gaping enemy Juggernaut even in the late game. However, the build through Kaya and Sange looks more reliable and practical, and this is what most esports players choose. If the game drags on, then Octarine Core, Scythe of Vyse or Arcane Blink are next on the Beastmaster.

Of the neutral Beastmaster items, Keen Optic, Psychic Headband, and Telescope are best suited to increase the casting range of your spells. Alternatively, you can choose items that enhance magic damage or increase manapool.

Skill leveling, considering the gameplay of the updated Beastmaster, looks pretty obvious – the priority is given to Wild Axes. Arteezy, for example, did not learn other abilities at all, pumping +2 to stats instead. Most other professional players after Wild Axes preferred Call of the Wild in order to have more vision on the map and the ability to slow down the enemy.

With talents, things are not so simple. At levels 20 and 25, professional players agree, pumping -35 sec. cooldown of Primal Roar and + 4% to additional damage for the Wild Axes effect, respectively. But on the 10th and 15th the choice is much more difficult. The +20 bonus to movement speed looks more logical than the +30 damage bonus, given that you will only have to hit from the hand only forest creeps and towers. At level 15, you should choose a talent based on your manpool. If you have already purchased Soul Ring and you have several Mangoes in stock, then it would be more logical to stop at +300 health, as No[o]ne. If you were unlucky with neutral artifacts and did not collect the Soul Ring, then, following the example of Arteezy, it is better to take the +3 talent to mana regeneration.

In patch 7.29, Beastmaster practically turned into a magician, but the hero’s focus on tempo and active play has not gone anywhere. The only difference is that before he paid more attention to the destruction of enemy buildings and kills through the ultimate, and now he is ready to fight the team more often and more effectively, leaving the demolition of towers to teammates.

Lycan

Lycan’s win rate in patch 7.29 among all ranks in Dota 2 is 41.77% – the worst in the game at the moment. However, on MMR above 7k, the hero is doing much better – 49% winrate. Professional players use Lycan in all three cores.

The gameplay on Lycan, unlike Beastmaster, hasn’t changed much. The character began to feel more comfortable on the lane, because the developers compensated for the loss of Necronomicon by increasing the characteristics and abilities. Lycan did not completely abandon the summons – in any of the three positions, professional players collected Helm of the Dominator as the first item. Without the Necronomicon, the character has lost some of its early kill potential. In addition, without this artifact, it is noticeably weaker in demolishing buildings, so the emphasis in Lycan’s gameplay has shifted to team actions.

At the moment, there is hardly anything that can fully replace the Necronomicon in terms of efficiency for Lycan. Aghanim’s Scepter is a situational item and is only suitable for a troika. In the first and second positions after Helm of the Dominator, many professional players bought Solar Crest or Armlet of Mordiggian – good transition slots that increase survivability and the potential for killing opponents. Among the artifacts for damage, Orchid Malevolence and Assault Cuirass look good.

Skill leveling in all positions is similar. Priority is given to Summon Wolves and Feral Impulse, while Howl is only studied closer to the tenth level. Regarding talents: at the tenth level, the opinions of professional players differ: MATUMBAMAN, for example, took a bonus to health regeneration, and 33 preferred +15 to damage. At 15th level, -12% spell cooldown is more attractive. At level 20, most pro players favor + 30% Feral Impulse damage, and at level 25, + 32% Shapeshift critical strike chance.

Lycan remains a tempo hero as before. Thanks to the enhanced Shapeshift ability in the patch, which now lasts almost half a minute, the character is extremely dangerous in the early stages. But these buffs can hardly cover the loss of Necronomicon: Lycan looks very good as a combat command core, but he lost a lot of independence (both in terms of pushing and in terms of killing opponents). Valve did not offer alternatives to this, as in the case of Beastmaster and Aghanim’s Scepter. And if at high MMR, being imprisoned for team actions is not so bad, then at medium and low ratings it is a noticeable disadvantage.