Mason discovers Weaver Shard bug that breaks Shukuchi

William Davis Published 13/09/2021

Of all 121 heroes in Dota 2, it makes sense that the time-warping beetle would be one of the buggiest.

Dota 2 players have discovered a glitch on Weaver that causes his new Aghanim’s Shard ability to break Shukuchi. The extra attacks bouncing at Swarm-affected enemies will end Shukuchi’s invisibility early. Popular Dota 2 streamer Mason “mason” Venne discovered and tested the unfortunate interaction on a September 12 stream. The Weaver savant immediately noticed something was wrong when his Shukuchi kept ending early in a match.

The interaction involves all three of Weaver’s basic abilities and the Aghanim’s Shard upgrade for The Swarm. Under normal circumstances, enemies affected by The Swarm will also get hit with the second right-click of Geminate Attack. That part of the Shard works as intended. However, the travel time of the Swarm-bound attacks will take Weaver out of Shukuchi once they land. The spell grants Weaver invisibility and movement speed for a brief period of time to help him reposition in fights. Accidentally ending Shukuchi early can be a death sentence in a close match.

The Weaver shard bug is likely a result of Dota 2’s invisibility rules. Outside of Slark’s Shadow Dance, invisible heroes always become visible when attacking an enemy. It appears that the Source 2 engine, which powers Dota 2, counts the Aghanim’s Shard attacks as coming from Weaver himself. This is why, if Weaver casts Shukuchi before the attack lands, the game immediately ends the spell. Valve should be able to quickly fix this Dota 2 glitch, though that doesn’t meant the developer will immediately get to it.

This Weaver Shard bug is one of many Dota 2 glitches discovered in patch 7.30. Meepo’s new Aghanim’s Shard caused one of the worst bugs in Dota 2 history. Players could multiply into dozens of Meepos or grant Divided We Stand to other heroes. Another Weaver bug caused the beetle to spit out six attacks at once with Echo Sabre and Lycan Scepter.

Why does Dota 2 have so many bugs?

The complex nature of Dota 2 has led to many hundreds of bugs being discovered over the game’s history. Dota has 121 heroes and counting each with at least four abilities, eight talents, an Aghanim’s Scepter ability, and a Shard ability. On top of that, Dota 2 has more than 200 shop items and 56 neutral items. When everything comes together in the Source 2 engine, the sheer variety of possibilities means that there are several points where things can break. Dota 2 7.30 probably includes dozens of bugs that players have yet to discover.

Unlike most games that immediately remove any unintended interactions, Valve takes a more relaxed approach to Dota 2 bug fixing. Camp stacking, blocking, and denies were all glitches before being polished into legitimate tactical options.

However, not all Dota 2 glitches stick around. The infamous Fountain Hooks at The International 2013 were an example of unintended effects that sparked a massive debate. Valve has even changed their stance on certain interactions over time, such as confirming Toss Buyback as an intended mechanic but removing it after it affected an important pro match.

William Davis

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