Why is everyone building Meteor Hammer in Dota 2 7.32e?

Like a common cold, the Meteor Hammer is back. This time more dominant than ever. Once mainly used by supports, Meteor Hammer has seen more and more pickups by offlaners, and even midlaners as well recently.

So what makes it so special? Why are you now seeing this meme hammer in almost every one of your pub games? Let's take a dive, shall we?

DISCLAIMER: This article’s purpose is purely to inform you on why there is a sudden surge of popularity for Meteor Hammer. It is by no means a form of encouragement to purchase it in your Dota 2 pub games. Rather, it is to offer you information on how or why it can work in your games. We will not be held responsible for any losses resulted from improper use of the hammer!

No one knows for sure who exactly is the originator of the Meteor Hammer's return. However, there is one professional player that has really championed using it, and that's Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen. Old G's midlaner was seen abusing the hammer with one of his signature heroes, Invoker, as far back as 2018. Brandishing the Quas-Wex style, Topson's Invoker was able to dish out a lethal combo using Cold Snap, Tornado, EMP then into Meteor Hammer. In fact, it was during The International 2018 (TI8) Grand Finals against PSG.LGD where Topson first popularized his unorthodox Meteor Hammer Invoker build.

Then, recently, Topson even started picking the item up on Riki. The combo between the Sleeping Dart, and the Meme Hammer, casting both of which doesn't break Cloak and Dagger, is pretty deadly. And Topson used it in the mid role, which inspired the many Riki support players to pick it up.

Perhaps because of Topson, what was once known as an absolutely useless meme item became a legitimate pickup. Nyx Assassin, Treant Protector and Outworld Destroyer are some heroes that enjoy using Meteor Hammer even to this day. However, the list now expands. Offlane heroes such as Dragon Knight and Mars have been seen with the item more frequently since the latest patch. The question is why?

The main purpose of the Meteor Hammer is to prolong an opponent's disabled status. For example, Nyx Assassin can impale his enemy and then follow-up with the Meteor Hammer for a total stun time of nearly four seconds (2.6 seconds from Impale plus 1.25 seconds from the hammer). If you are able to time it correctly, you can potentially kill off an enemy hero without any retaliation. The biggest change, however, is that the channeling time has been reduced by 0.5 seconds. To put it simply, the total time for the meteorite to take impact and stun enemies decreases from 3 seconds to 2.5 in 7.32e.

As many are aware, Dota 2 is all about the numbers game. Half a second reduction may not seem like a lot, but in Dota it can actually bring about a huge change. Just because of that slight reduction in channeling time, it is now easier for more heroes to pair their skills effectively with the Meteor Hammer.

Invoker, Nyx, OD and Treant are just the beginning of now an extensive group of Meteor Hammer users. Below is a list of new heroes that can benefit from the hammer:

Please refer to hOlyhexOr's video for more demonstrations on heroes who benefit from Meteor Hammer.

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