Oracle Pub Stats
For Dota, it’s been a busy month since Oracle's release. Cloud 9 fulfilled their 2nd place prophecy at both Dreamhack and The Summit, and the Nemesis event is finally over. Why did Oracle send Phantom Assassin on contract kills anyway?
Oracle seems to have fallen out of favor relative to other new hero releases. Techies ignites flame wars when it appears in our pubs, Ember Spirit is picked competitively, and we still glare at those dirty, dirty Earth Spirit and last-pick-Broodmother players. What has Oracle done so far?
As with all new hero releases, they become rampantly popular in the first few days then steadily decline in popularity. Oracle faced some competition with the new Phantom Assassin, but now rests at a pick rate of 6%, near the top half of the pack in popularity. By comparison, Chen is the least played hero, with a pick rate hovering around 1.5%.
Overpowered? But In Whose Hands?
New heroes tend to spark much debate on where the hero fits in the meta, how to build the hero, and a slew of tips and tricks from the public. The hero has been touted as overpowered, broken with certain hero pairings, and deserving of a nerf. However, the Dota public may not be as well informed. Oracle's win rate rests near the bottom at 41%, in good company with losing heroes such as Chen and Shadow Demon.
We don’t expect Oracle’s win rate to change without any buffs or nerfs. Oracle is in that category of high skill ceiling, high skill bar heroes, like Wisp and Shadow Demon. These are heroes that can be effective in competitive play but can be disastrous when used incorrectly, which is the case in all our pubs.
Item Builds
In my pubs, everyone tried to make core Oracle work. How else can you test a hero if you don’t take all the farm? This may explain the prominence of item choices such as Dagon. However, the way Oracle has been trending is more towards a defensive role than an offensive one. Mekansm being the 2nd most popular item shows that Oracle players are settling more into a support role. False Promise is like Shallow Grave, Aphotic Shield, and a better Shadow Amulet all in one, while doubling the effectiveness of all heals.
Oracle's item builds are dependent on how you skill him, and currently he is in a grey area. His nuke is also a heal, his ultimate saves allies and also enables them to fight while immune, and his Q can be an effective 2.5s stun, but puts him in a compromising position.
Ability Builds
By far the most popular build maxes Purifying Flames before Fortune's End, with the next build doing the opposite at half the frequency and less success. Oracle's nuke, combined with Fate's Edict, has some of the highest burst damage potential in the game. Whether played as a core or a support, his nuke is better suited to skill first, since the stun duration for Fortune's End is dependent on channel time instead of skill level.
Top Player Charts
Until Oracle enters the competitive meta, we’ll have to look at how it’s being played at the top levels in pubs. This isn't uncommon, as many trends that appear in professional play first surfaced in our pub trenches, for example Blademail on Nature’s Prophet and Maelstrom on Lone Druid.
This is a selection of Oracle games played by 5th ranked player M_Fortes. Among top Oracle players, Meknasm is ubiquitous, paired with other mobility items such as Force Staff, Blink Dagger and Eul's.
There are exceptions, as we can see by 11th ranked player Very Balanced's Oracle build.
Phase Boots, Orchid, Skadi, and Mjolnir are some of the least popular items on Oracle, but he seems to have made it work over 100+ games with a 60%+ win rate. His build lacks any mobility or heal items, building more towards a carry role.
Though Oracle seems to fit in the support role more than others, you'll always have players who can bend a hero to their success. Part of the fun of new heroes, particularly ones not yet in Captains Mode, is that we can experiment without there being an established build. We're partially exempt from the flaming that meets players who go carry Abaddon or Omniknight. There's still more time to figure Oracle out. Remember Arcane Boots Ember Spirit? It was a thing.
Stray Observations:
Fate's Edict is an incredible Rosh killing skill. It disarms and increases the damage of your team by 50%. Though it needs to be tested, Oracle may accelerate a Rosh kill faster than Vengeful Spirit with Medallion and Wave of Terror.
You're able to channel Fortune's End on a Cycloned target (Eul's). Eul's cyclone duration is 2.5s. Fortune's End max channel is 2.5s. There's potential with this item for high level plays, using Eul's to purge the heal off Purifying Flames, then channeling Q, and nuking again once the target lands.
Oracle has 620 range and the fastest ranged base attack time at 1.4. Some may take this as a reason to build him as a core, but it's also a reason to play him as a support that can effectively zone offlaners.
In pubs, Dagon 5 is more popular than Force Staff and Urn of Shadows. Take from that what you will.
I've never thought about that for killing Rosh, thanks for the tip! also the Eul's combo seems insane.
edit:
oh, woah, I think I was the first comment. weird.
Dagon is seldom a good choice.
Definitely not an Oracle item.
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1086846607
Played a match yesterday with Oracle as carry.
I understood his power.
I don't think this hero needs to be touched besides the cool down of False Promise. Other than that, it's a nice utility hero that provides a variety of skills and that's why I enjoy the hero.
As you said, the hero will have difficulties in the trench and his win rate won't really rise or differ from the one you are seeing now, Haven't seen carry Oracle in any of my games yet, Rarely had her on my team, Played against her a lot and one thing is for sure, She's annoying as fuck to play against if the player knows what he's doing.
Seriously, butterfly on oracle ? Building a hero core doesnt mean going agility carry items.
Oracle is a support hero . Playing Carry as oracle is a bad idea meanwhile you already got carry in the team
@irotix any proof? Or just refusal to think outside the box?
thank for this article , i dont know if oracle 100 game+ can have 60% win rate in very high skill bracket ranked match
its huge win rate
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1086846607
congrats for ur oracle carry
i want to apologize first before i type more
that match dont have "skill bracket" so ur build effective against "lower than normal skill bracket" enemy
but i dont know about very high skill bracket
plus that TB abandoned n only have those item
better pt(agi 38% aspd)+orchid(30% aspd)+domi+skadi(25% aspd)+hex(late game bkb only last 5 sc)+daeadalus if u want oracle carry
please dont waste 1,4 BAT on her
with domi + ult -> ur lifesteal 40% + amplify physical 50% -> it means ur lifesteal can boost to 60% when skill 2 active (150*40%)
+5 armor +20 damage , oracle has low armor , can help u survive -> when u ult and enemy have detection for u
orchid + ult(invis) in early game can give a dead shock even without blink dagger , not included 30% amplify damage from orchid
skadi is rather a hp boost 725 HP, 25 damage, 25 attack speed, 3.5 armor(oracle low armor), so u can still survive after ur ulti duration
(u are carry , u dont trust ur allies carry right , so u ulti urself :v)
butterfly is very good if enemy main dps is physical and dont have MKB , 60% aspd is insane , but u wasted 30 damage from butter
but the only thing u really want from butter is 35% evasion right ? its huge
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/602480411
to those questioning the legitemicy of dagon on oracle, it allows you to instant kill anyone who drops below 570hp. think of it as a ranged axe dunk that doesn't pierce bkb
How in the hell do you target someone who is up in the air cuz of Euls?
@Verlink - ҉҈҉҈҈҉҈҉҈҉҈҉҈҉҈҉҈ ???????
trash hero, annoying ultimate though.
The hero is going to receive nerfs before his CM mode launch. Anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves about how good this hero is at keeping people alive.
This guy is great as a defensive support, but he pairs really well with an aggressive lane. He excels in a solo exp lane too, especially mid, as he gets levels which works for his amazing burst combo, but also the appropriate mana items to support constant use of spells, and there always is a use for them.
Mek and Urn are decent, yes, but if an Oracle just goes for Brown Boots and goes straight to Eul's scepter afterwards, you really can't go wrong. The fact it has such a high winrate on an otherwise poor winrate hero whilst being a non-luxury item says alot, he loves extra movement speed to help with positioning, he loves mana, and the active is just fantastic when it has such direct synergy with his skills. It's absolutely core and the stats back it up.
Oracle is a very intersting hero with his W (my most favorite) since it disarm the enemy carry + increase physician damage on them. As well as working so good on Roshan with fast cd. And the interesting thing is. If you use it on your allies and use the heal (E) then you wont take any magical damage from the skill and can still be healed. So pretty much imba.
@Matislav yeah good job stealing all your teams farm and extending the game to 70 minutes 4v5
I played oracle a lot in Dota All Stars long before I played Dota 2.
If Volvo nerf his strength gain and base health and Rework his stupid Silence + Damage Amplify skill. I would pick him definitely.
Oh btw, Great people from Dota WC3 usually gets Euls scepter > Desolator. Perfect synergy with his shitty 2nd skill.
@Matislav dat critshaker tho
Oracle is a hero, which pretty much functions at any role.
but he is way better when u play him a carry with high dps
http://www.dotabuff.com/players/68001478/matches?date=&duration=&faction=&game_mode=&hero=oracle&lobby_type=®ion=
Dagon may be good early game, but pretty much falls out of the roll lategame.
If playing support, go for: Mek, Pipe, Bloodstone, Travels, Dagon, E-Blade
If played as a Carry, go for; Mask of Madness, Deadalus, Divine (if u got enough cash, and ur ultimate prevents u from dropping it near the enemy terrítory so u can pick it up if u die),
Shadowblade (yes i know this sounds dumb but is pretty good since when the enemy uses smoke and you activate shadowblade, they see you and then you just use your ultimate and the debuff from smoke is purged and u are invisible again),
Mjolnir/Skadi/ Butterfly/ Abyssal Blade, and like on any other hero BKB too.
I played few games using Oracle on mid lane and I'm sure Oracle can be a great solo mid role, not only a support, at least on this patch.
He has a excelente BAT/Animation, attack/cast range, a good base damage and level 5 using Purifying Flames + Fortune's End + Purifying Flames can cause about 500 damage, so why not playing with this hero on mid and get level 6 fast?
Oracle is fucking broken, almost any item build can work on him but I still prefer a utility build like Boots + Urn + Force/Mek/Atos + Vyse/Ghost Scepter/Dagon.
supporting alone all the way, and still best kdr :D
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1080609706
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1093950237
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1094885282
Am I the only one who thinks dagon is a good item for oracle?
@Pinecone Fairylights
normal skill bracket...
atos is a great pick up on oracle, the long range slow lets you channel q longer because when they see you casting it they will just run
i always max w second because 6 seconds of disarm against a right clicker is amazing
in no way he is gonna become a rightclicker. mb something along the lines of orchid wielder. but he is better as a support. being core means you can get easily focussed and eliminated. as support you can save your cores from nearly everything.
I play Oracle solo-mid. I won the first 11 out of 11 games before finally losing, partly due to the fact my opponents are unfamiliar with my hero, but nevertheless I'd say it is quite a feat. Oracle's long range means you can harass and last hit very well against your opponent. Harass a bit with Fortune's End and right-clicks until you can easily seal the kill with a level 2 or level 3 Purifying Flames. I have favoured rushing an Orchid after boots and bottle over getting a Eul's, but I do suffer from mobility. I get 1 level in Fate's Edict after getting level 2 Fortune's End just for its utility, but I max it last. Heroes don't do enough damage until later on in the game for Fate's Edict to reach its full potential while the other two skills reach maximum potential earlier in the game and taper off. Once you reach level 6, you have good gank potential to initiate silently by using Fortune's End while invisible. They literally don't see it coming until it is too late.
Other items I get are Treads, Mjollnir, BKB and Guinsoo.
I'd just like to point out that Oracle is a Male hero yet everyone is referring to HIM and a SHE or HER.