Marci finally arrives in Dota 2 alongside update 7.30e

Valve promised Marci would arrive in Dota 2 “this fall” in the trailer unveiling the character that dropped during The International 2021, but it should’ve just said “next week.”

The fan-favorite character of DOTA: Dragon’s Blood has arrived in Dota 2 as the newest hero. She arrives alongside the 7.30e update which is technically the first patch following TI10, but isn’t the enormous gameplay update that fans were likely expecting.

Still, the arrival of Marci should be enough to sate Dota 2 fans’ appetite for new content. Marci looks to be an interesting addition to the game and boasts the sort of unique moveset that fans didn’t get with other recent heroes such as Dawnbreaker and Hoodwink.

Marci’s abilities in Dota 2

Marci’s first spell is Dispose, which is similar to Tiny’s Toss spell. She performs a monkey flip throw, tossing an enemy backwards and dealing damage and a stun in an AOE around the unit once it lands.

Rebound is her most unique skill. Marci selects an allied or enemy unit to dash to and leaps off it, jumping to a selected area and dealing AOE damage and a slow. If she vaults off an allied unit, they are given a movement speed bonus for five seconds.

Her E spell is Sidekick, an ability that gives both Marci and an allied hero bonus lifesteal and damage on their attacks for six seconds. It can be upgraded twice with talents, giving it up to 100% lifesteal and 1.75 seconds of spell immunity, which could make it an incredible save.

Finally, Marci’s ultimate is Unleash. The spell makes Marci an enormous physical burst damage threat by effectively giving her 18 seconds of Ursa’s Overpower spell. Unleash allows her to deliver five rapid-fire punches

What role is Marci in Dota 2?

Marci is a strength-based melee initiator. She mostly fits into an offlane core or a soft support role, but will undoubtedly see a great deal of play as a carry in the coming weeks,

Marci has a number of crowd control tools that could set up ganks and control the pace of team fights. Unleash also gives her a huge amount of physical burst damage, which is easily applied thanks to the mobility offered by Rebound. This could end up seeing her become a carry or even a mid under the right circumstances.

Dota 2 update 7.30e nerfs TI10 favorites

Marci’s debut comes alongside the 7.30e update. Most of these were minor, but there are some clear reactions to strategies from TI10.

Lycan’s Wolf Bite was nerfed with an increased cooldown. Magnus’ Horn Toss no longer deals a stun, but instead delivers a 100% movement speed and attack speed slow, allowing players to use items or spells to knock Magnus out of a potential Skewer. Tiny’s tree-wielding was also given a twofold nerf with building damage being reduced and the AOE of Tree Throw being reduced.

The full list of changes can be found on the official Dota 2 blog.