Nice article, nice timing. It's true, playing as a disabler feels very lackluster. In order to keep anyone disabled for more then a fraction of a second you need multiple layers of CC from multiple sources. Having the hex skill on the team is a cheap way to get good disable early, but there are too many ways of dealing with even hexes from the midgame on.

before the rise of the disk i would say that you didn't "need" dispell in most case unless against pugna and the like, but now that supp are more and more able to to buy a lot of survivability (and most core can build the disk) the lack of offensive dispell is becoming a very clear issue. either make the nullifier somewhat of a better item, or make some more dispelle available

LMAO a whole article just to shit on Flicker
I have literally never played a game where Flicker was a problem, or even powerful. Frankly most good supports have something more than a slow or a silence. It's so absurd. And then using this... perspective... to disqualify almost every other neutral item as trash. Yikes guy
I hate this Anti-Neutral lobby pawning their quotidian beliefs off as "God's law". Neutral items are lovely and could use some augmentations to be frankly honest
git gud
edit: I do think this is a good discussion about dispels

I think there's a lot of people that have no idea just how many dispels there are in the game. Especially in lower level play, the importance of a Manta dodge can't even be understood by a lot of players. Until you have that first "I had you dead to rights" moment where that perfect carry pick-off is effortlessly dodged with a manta or similar item, dispels are barely even on your radar at all.

I do feel like there are almost too many items available to purchase, and the reliance on gimmicks the current state of Dota has is frustrating. Aghs is one huge gimmick, neutral items are a gimmick, and ultra late game items are huge gimmicks. They aren't even good for the game; they're mostly not team-focused concepts, instead they focus on giving you crazy one-man-army style powers that shave away at the core identity of heroes and reduce the strategic depth of available choices. There's a good reason to have Blink in the game, and having the obvious caveats associated with a statless item filling up a slot makes for interesting choices in the game.

I understand the reasons behind having these choices, but I feel like there are also simpler, better alternatives available. Don't give mid-game items upgrades that makes the risk feel nonexistent. Instead, provide consequences for the chances you take. As the game gets longer, don't give me items that make my heroes' baked-in skills feel inferior; give me an item that simply gives me proportional extra points into my baked-in skills. Make that item only available when you control both outposts.

Put the risk back in choices.

dazzle also has dispel with aghanim's scepter

Kawai this is your best article so far, many appreciate the detail which sometimes surprisingly lack on db.
Well done nice reading +studying dota

@Burberry, not to be rude, but it is very apparent that you are not very good at Dota with your comment. Flicker is by far the best non-T5 item, and is also better than many of the T5 items. Neutral items are a terrible mechanic, and something has to be done.

agree with @godfin

bro u talk about dispel and u forgot pangolier !

Idk why chen is completely ignored in this article. He has access to dispel satyr at level 1. And later in the game his new scepter is op. He basically has HoN’s Monarch counterinitiating ability, nullifying stuns/tornados/silences on the world map.