4Z.Gunnar shows off how broken Templar Assassin is in 7.29d

William Davis Published 25/07/2021

4 Zoomers captain Nico “Gunnar” Lopez recently demonstrated Templar Assassin’s insane attack range between matches on his Twitch stream. 

Templar Assassin’s passive ability Psi Blades lets her attacks pierce through targets and hit anything behind them. Psi Blades also grants 230 bonus attack range at level four. With a level 10 talent and Dragon Lance, Templar Assassin’s attack range is 630, tied with Pugna and barely within tower range. 

Attack range buffs are especially significant on TA because her Psi Blades piercing range is double the length of her normal attacks. Any boost gets effectively tripled for units standing behind the initial right-click target.

Add in neutral items and things start to get ridiculous. If a Templar Assassin player gets their hands on a Ballista, she can theoretically pierce targets up to 3,015 units away. The absolute maximum Psi Blade range of 3,165 is achieved with the above buffs and Enchanted Quiver. 

Is Templar Assassin good in Dota 2?

TA has become a highly-contested pick in competitive Dota 2. Several teams at The International 10 regional qualifiers drafted her in the first phase. OG ran her multiple times in the safe lane for the Western Europe grand finals against Tundra Esports. 

The hero is lane-flexible and excels in both pickoffs and team fights. Blink Dagger, Desolator, and Black King Bar are all Templar Assassin needs to carve up the enemy team. She also benefits from the recent buffs to Quelling Blade. Psi Blades can apply the item’s creep-only bonus damage to heroes. Those factors may make her a prime target for the next Dota 2 balance patch.

Will there be a balance patch before The International 10?

The current patch 7.29 is nearly four months old. The coming onset of The International 10 means that a new Dota 2 patch is in the works.

Many fans expected a balance patch to drop right after The International 10 regional qualifiers concluded but Valve is still silent on any gameplay update. Fans and pro players alike would probably appreciate a hefty nerf to Psi Blades.

In all likelihood, Dota 2 is almost guaranteed a new patch before The International 10. TI9’s patch was released nearly four months in advance. TI8’s patch came out just three weeks before the big event. Although travel restrictions broke a lot of Dota 2’s yearly traditions, a big pre-TI shakeup will almost certainly make a comeback.

Read Also

Dota 2

ESIC hand down ruling in EWC Dota match-fixing case: Lifetime ban for coach as DarkMago gets a nickel Michael Hassall South American Dota 2 player Gonzalo "DarkMago" Herrera will be banned for five years from competitive Dota 2, with his coach Juan "Vintage" Angulo banned permanently, following the results of an The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) investigation. ESIC handed down the findings and rulings from its investigation into match-fixing allegations leveled at members of South American Dota 2 team PlayTime during the Esports World Cup on Sep. 10, in a ...

News

Polystrike Turns a Dota 2 Mod Into a Standalone Tactical Shooter Hannan Mundia After the community-made mod found success within the community, developer and publisher Robin Entertainment has decided to turn Polystrike into a proper standalone game. Community-made mods of games finding success within the respective game’s community is nothing new. However, only a handful of those mods are able to go on and become a standalone game. One of the more recent examples is The Forgotten City, which started as a mod ...

Dota 2

Team Spirit wins TI15 to lift a record third Aegis of Champions Michael Hassall Team Spirit has defeated TEAM VISION in the grand finals of TI15, The International 2025. In a full five-game series on Aug. 23, Spirit pulled out all the stops and narrowly defeated an incredible VISION team in a back-and-forth series in Shanghai, China. With Spirit’s victory, Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk and Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov become the first ever three-time TI champions, and Team Spirit becomes the first ever organization to lift ...

Dota 2

The International 2026 (TI15) Finals Preview and Predictions Michael Hassall The International 2026, TI15, has reached its final day, and just three teams remain in the fight for the Aegis of Champions. With the lower bracket final and Grand Final still to come, everything comes down to one final day of Dota 2 action. The lower bracket finalists will first battle for the right to reach the main event’s final series, while the winner will advance to face the upper-bracket ...

Dota 2

TI15’s opening ceremony weaves a tapestry of emotion for Valve’s storied title Michael Hassall The main stage of The International 2026, TI15, kicked off today with the traditional opening ceremony heralding the start of the biggest celebration of Dota 2 on the calendar. On Aug. 20 fans in Shanghai, China, and at home, were treated to a rousing 11-minute series of performances and video packages, introducing TI15’s main stage show. Here’s how the magic unfolded: The ceremony began with a graphic which quite literally ...

Dota 2

The International 2026 (TI15) Playoffs preview and predictions Michael Hassall The Group Stage of The International 2026, TI15, is in the books and we’ve whittled down 16 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams to just eight finalists. One of these talented lineups will be the ones lifting the Aegis of Champions come Sunday, Aug. 23, but until then, there’s plenty of playoff shenanigans that could go on. Below we’ve put together a preview of the upcoming Playoff Games, along ...

News

The Esports Nations Cup Has Been Postponed to November 2027 Ben Boland The 2026 Esports Nations Cup has been suspended until 2027. The Esports Foundation announced the delay on August 18, citing ongoing regional uncertainty. The inaugural competition was scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, comprising over 100 national teams and featuring 16 different games, including League of Legends. According to the Esports Foundation, this decision follows ongoing developments in the region and consultation with key stakeholders. Moving the event ...