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Icefrog reworked Terrorblade’s talents in 7.07, but due to popular demand he nerfed our beloved demon in 7.07c and 7.10. He received no further changes, but many believe that more nerfs are necessary.

I am not going to argue about this, but just add that right now he is an excellent hero, and pro players must fear him because he is banned in about 50% of the games.

Indeed, the top hero of hero of the month - Omniknight - shines with a 70% ban rate, but he is a support. In my opinion, Valve should never let a carry become so strong and dangerous to require a ban in a half of the matches.

Talents analyzed

The talent usage stats consider all pub games - courtesy of Dotabuff.

Level 10

10% Evasion - 32.2% pick rate; 50.6% win rate

+20 Movement Speed - 67.8% pick rate; 55% win rate

Inexperienced players may think that +10% Evasion is exceptional because there aren’t many sources for this ability. It makes your hero tougher against physical attacks, stacks with the bonus provided by the Butterfly, and works even on your illusions. Truly, this bonus is really negligible on a hero with 11.4 armor at level 1 and who can reach 26.76 at 25 without any item.

The +20 Movement Speed talent is always the superior choice. We already talked about its benefits while analyzing the bonuses of the Sange and Yasha - veteran players know how to exploit it, maximizing any action and their presence on the map. Also, do not forget that Metamorphosis reduces your movement speed by 25, thus this talent ends up re-balancing it while in ranged form.

Level 15

+25 Attack Speed - 34.4% pick rate; 54.1% win rate

+300 Health - 65.6% pick rate; 56.1% win rate

Absolutely pick the health. 25% attack speed will increase your dps, but Terrorblade doesn’t lack it, neither at level 15 or in the late game, while the health points are helpful to cover one of his weaknesses.

The S&Y gives 360 HP, together with the talent you will have an extra 660 HP in the mid game - this is the safest and most recommended route.

Level 20

-10s Reflection Cooldown - 57.2% pick rate; 58.6% win rate

+10 All Stats - 42.8% pick rate; 60.9% win rate

This isn’t an easy choice. Statistics are always helpful, particularly on a hero with illusion because they are affected too, but -10s Reflection Cooldown must not be underestimated as it reduces the cooldown of the skill to only 6 seconds.

If you aren’t sure about what you are doing, pick the stats as you can never be wrong with them, but against the right heroes Reflection is a game-changing ability. The illusions it creates inflict 100% of the enemy hero damage, so are incredible to deal versus many right-clickers.

The illusions also carry any aura possessed by the copied heroes and utilize their passive abilities: for example, Medusa’s one will attack all her teammates thanks to Split Shot.

Level 25

+300 Metamorphosis Attack Range - 21.6% pick rate; 64.9% win rate

-35s Sunder Cooldown - 78.4% pick rate; 64% win rate

Another hard choice, but honestly the extra attack range is more situational. It is particularly strong when the team is sieging the high-ground to destroy the tier 3 towers, and you don’t want to rush in and commit in a fight.

In most games, I prefer the -35s Sunder Cooldown. Sunder has a 40 seconds cooldown once maxed out, so with this talent it will be available every 5 seconds.

It will drastically increase your survivability in the late game, especially if the opponents have no abilities available to pierce the BKB spell immunity. The Black King Bar has a duration of 10/9/8/7/6/5, so often you can utilize Sunder two times while under its effect.

You can also use it on an ally to save them, and 5 seconds later recover your health points on an opponent or even on your own illusions. In fact, with some micro you can maintain an illusion in a relative safe position, and drain it whenever your hero is low HP.

Tier 2