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On November 26th, 2019, Valve released The Outlander's Update for Dota 2. This update gave players something that changed the game - Neutral items.
The Outlander's Update gave fans two new heroes - Void Spirit and Snapfire. Since then, both heroes have played an important role in the professional Dota 2 esports scene. But neutral items had a more significant long-term effect on the game.
Neutral Items are randomly dropped by neutral creeps when they die around a hero. There are 5 tiers of neutral items in Dota 2.
- Tier-1 items drop after 7 minutes.
- Tier-2 items drop after 17 minutes.
- Tier-3 items drop after 27 minutes.
- Tier-4 items drop after 37 minutes.
- Tier-5 items drop after 60 minutes.
This list will rank the tier-1 neutral items in Dota 2 from worst to best.
Disclaimer: This list solely reflects the opinions of the author.
Related: Top 5 Broken Neutral Items That Were Removed From Dota 2.
The Tier-1 Neutral items of Dota 2
Over the last year and a half, Valve has balanced out most of the neutral items in Dota 2. When they came out, half of them were absolutely broken, while the other half was utterly useless. Nowadays, most neutral items are at least usable, with the occasional useless or broken item here and there.
Tier-1 items are early game items that players stop using after a certain point. They have to cater very specifically to the early game, otherwise they lose viability.
10. Ironwood Tree
Ironwood Tree gives +6 all stats and allows the player to plant a tree at a cast range of 800 that lasts for 20 seconds.
Ironwood Tree is the least useful tier-1 item. It essentially takes up the spot of a more useful item that could have dropped instead. It does nothing for most heroes. Only Windrangers, Hoodwinks, and Timbersaws will find the item useful.
9. Ocean Heart
Ocean Heart gives +5 all stats and passively provides 10 health regeneration and 5 mana regeneration to the holder when they are standing in water.
The only reason this ranks above Ironwood Tree is because of the changes made to the mid-lane role in Dota 2 7.29. Mid-laners can sustain themselves in an unfavorable lane much longer in the current meta which makes Ocean heart a viable item since mid-laners are the only players frequently standing in the river.
8. Broom Handle
Broom Handle gives +3 armor, +14 attack damage, and +50 attack range for melee heroes.
Monkey King is the hero that benefits most from this item by increasing his already absurd attack range. Melee attack range is nearly inconsequential in Dota 2, so this item doesn't have many benefits. But armor and damage is a nice thing to have early in the game.
7. Faded Broach
Faded Broach gives +200 Mana and +20 movement speed to the holder.
Faded Broach was one of the best tier-1 items in Dota 2 but a series of nerfs has greatly reduced its effectiveness. The small amount of stats this item provides can be useful for supports, especially the movement speed, but cores will almost always have a better item available.
6. Keen Optic
Keep optic gives +1.25 mana regeneration and +75 cast range.
This item is really good on spell-casting heroes early in the game. This can also be used by strength heroes with low mana pools to get some mana regen. This item will always be useful for certain heroes as a little bit of mana regen goes a long way in Dota 2.
5. Chipped Vest
Chipped Vest gives +5 health regeneration and deals 30/20 damage to heroes/creeps respectively when the holder is attacked.
Chipped Vest is rated poorly by the pros but the item is very effective for amateur players. It is useful for all the tanking heroes in the game and allows faster farming early in the game for any hero that uses it.
Heroes like Axe, Centaur Warrunner, and Legion Commander greatly benefit from having this item. It can always be used as a source of bonus damage as the damage dealt by this item is classified as HP removal and goes through armor.
4. Trusty Shovel
Trusty Shovel gives +100 health and allows holders to dig the ground for a chance to get a Bounty Rune, Healing Salve, Enchanted Mango, or a Kobold creep. The chances of getting a Bounty rune is 16% while getting the other 3 are 28% each.
This might be an unpopular opinion but Trusty Shovel is one of the best tier-1 items in Dota 2. It is the perfect item to keep between 7 and 17 minutes, supports can hold on to it even longer. It can give free salves and mangoes which cost 110 and 70 gold respectively.
It also gives bounty runes which give gold to the entire team. A shovel is a very valuable item as holding it for 10 minutes will certainly make the holder at least 500 gold richer by giving free regeneration and bounty runes.
3. Arcane Ring
Arcane Ring gives +10 Intelligence, +2 armor and can restore 75 mana in a radius of 1200 units at a cooldown of 45 seconds.
One of the best tier-1 items in Dota 2, Arcane Ring is useful for almost every hero. Intelligence heroes, who are usually spell casters, are a perfect fit for this item as it provides them with 10 bonus intelligence and bonus mana regeneration. Even strength and agility heroes can use this item to be more efficient.
Considering how important mana is in Dota 2, Arcana Rings are always one of the most in-demand tier-1 items in the game.
2. Possessed Mask
Possessed Mask gives +7 primary attribute and 7% lifesteal.
This item was added to Dota 2 in the 7.28 patch. The item provides lifesteal at a very early stage of the game when lifesteal is rarely needed but the early lifesteal benefits carry heroes a lot. Right-clickers greatly benefit from this item as they can jungle from a very early stage which would be otherwise impossible.
Heroes like Ursa and Phantom Assassin benefit the most from this item as it helps Ursa kill Roshan and can restore a lot of PA's health when she hits a critical strike.
1. Fairy's Trinket
Fairy's Trinket gives +100 health, 5% mana cost reduction, and 5% spell amplification.
This item was introduced to Dota 2 in the 7.28 patch. It is also arguably the best tier-1 item ever in Dota 2. It is the dream item for spell-casting cores like Zeus, Lina, or Storm Spirit among others. Not only does it reduce the mana cost of spells, but it also increases the damage caused by them.
The item is also very well balanced as a slight shift to either side will break it or absolutely ruin it. The mana cost reduction and spell amplification combo makes this item useful in every game of Dota 2.
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