The newest addition to the Dota 2 roster, Muerta, makes her grand appearance after months of teasing and speculation. First introduced during the main stage of TI11 in 2022, Muerta quickly became a topic of discussion for the following months to come. Now that she is finally here, with her own set of bugs to accompany her, the question must be asked: does Muerta live up to the hype?
The short answer to that question is yes and no. Her abysmal win rate in pro-level pubs lends credence to the fact that she might not be as great as initially predicted. The win rate is, however, based on the release-day Muerta so it is safe to say that we have not yet seen the best of what this hero can do. And she comes with a lot of unique mechanics not seen in the other Dota 2 heroes.
Skills
Starting off with her skills, Muerta is pretty straightforward when it comes to what it is that she provides: damage and control. She arrives on the battlefield with three active skills and one passive skill to use in combat.
- Dead Shot – Muerta’s first skill allows her to fire off a special bullet from her flintlock pistols. This bullet can ricochet off an enemy unit, or hero, slowing them by 100 percent for 0.5 seconds. After it ricochets, every unit standing in the path of the bullet will take 75/150/225/300 magic damage and be feared for two seconds away from the direction of the bullet.
The Dead Shot bullet can also ricochet off a tree if there are no enemy units around, making it a highly versatile skill to use in any situation. - The Calling – Muerta’s second skill conjures a circle of death that slows any enemies caught in it by 30 percent. The slow also reduces enemies’ attack speed by 30/40/50/60 making them unable to fight back effectively.
The circumference of The Calling is patrolled by four revenants, each of which deals 45/90/135/180 magic damage to enemies they pass through. The revenants also silence all enemies for up to 3.5 seconds at max level, making this a powerful control spell. - Gunslinger – Muerta’s third skill is a passive ability with a straightforward component: additional damage. Gunslinger has a 20/30/40/50 percent chance to trigger upon attack based on its skill level. Once it does trigger, Muerta fires off a second basic shot along with her primary attack that targets a random enemy in the area, prioritizing heroes.
If there are no other heroes nearby, the ability will target a creep instead. The secondary shot deals full damage as well and Gunslinger pierces enemy spell immunity. - Pierce The Veil (Ultimate) – Muerta’s ultimate ability turns her ethereal for up to eight seconds at max level. Unlike other ethereal forms (e.g. Ghost Scepter, Decrepify, Ghost Shroud), Pierce The Veil does not amplify incoming magic damage for Muerta. However, like other ethereal forms, it still makes her immune to incoming physical damage.
Pierce The Veil also converts all of Muerta’s physical damage to magical damage for its duration with an additional 50/75/100 damage depending on its level. It also grants her phased movement and the ability to hit ethereal units with her auto-attack damage.
With versatile skills like these, having an optimal item build is necessary to bring out the best in Muerta.
Best items
As an auto-attacking magical damage core hero, Muerta’s item choices are quite versatile. While most of the traditional carry items may not work optimally on her, there are a few that propel her high damage output to astronomical levels.
Early-game items (0 to 20 minutes)
These are the best items to start off with.
- Magic Wand – The best item to have on any hero. Free HP and mana recovery are always great in a pinch.
- Null Talisman – Stacking two or three of these will give you good early damage as well as decent mana regeneration to sustain your spell casting.
- Hand of Midas – If your focus is farming, there is no better acceleration item than this one. Burst gold and XP will strengthen you in no time.
- Maelstrom – Your core damage item which also functions as a farming item. The lightning procs clear stacks quickly and deal additional magic damage to heroes.
Mid-game items (20 to 40 minutes)
Hitting these item timings could win you the game.
- Gleipnir – A natural upgrade to the Maelstrom. Provides a great area of effect root to keep enemies in place while you deal damage. Synergizes well with The Calling.
- Mjollnir – The other upgrade to your Maelstrom. Get this if you want to go all out on damage with increased attack speed and lightning procs. The lightning shield also adds more magic damage to your output.
- Black King Bar – A must-have item on any core hero. Magic immunity will keep you alive through long fights and allow you to deal damage consistently without getting disabled.
- Witch Blade – The best mid-game damage item for the hero with an obvious late-game upgrade. The components give you much-needed tankiness, attack speed, and damage as well.
Late-game items (40 to 60 minutes)
By this point in time, you deal obscene amounts of damage and these items will help you do just that.
- Daedalus – The best item to boost your damage output in the late game. Pierce The Veil will also allow you to proc crits on your magic damage output, making this a unique interaction.
- Revenant’s Brooch – The late-game upgrade to Witch Blade. Activating this item will give you bonus magic damage, attack speed, and deal additional damage to ethereal units.
- Ethereal Blade – If your enemies won’t purchase Ghost Scepters, turn them ethereal with this item. The spell amplification aspect of the Kaya component also further boosts your magic damage output.
- Bloodstone – Your late-game sustain item. Bloodstone is the magic equivalent of Satanic and since you deal so much magic damage, you will be inherently sustained with this item through spell lifesteal. Activating it will provide 2.5x more spell lifesteal for five seconds.
- Moon Shard – Once your six item slots are full, purchase and consume this item for a flat increase in attack speed, boosting your attacks. The bonus night vision is very handy as well.
Recommended playstyles
From what we have seen so far, Muerta is being played primarily as a carry hero with significant mid-lane potential using her early levels. But the support role can be just as viable, although not as strong. We will specify the strengths of each build below.
Core playstyle
From what we have seen so far, carry seems to be the role where Muerta shines the most. Her inherently high damage output will go to waste if not amplified by the appropriate core items. Muerta’s early-game damage output might be lacking but once she gains enough levels and scales appropriately, she gains one of the highest damage output values in the game.
Pro players such as Gunnar and Topson are already experimenting with this hero in various roles.
Gorgc gave his views on this hero’s damage potential as well.
Midlane seems to be a fair alternative if the carry role is taken already because Muerta shines at early levels. Most of the pro players’ gameplay and overall Muerta stats can be found through dota2protracker.com.
Having more levels in Dead Shot and The Calling allows her to play a very burst-damage-centric control role that allows her teammates to surround the enemy and follow up with their skills. Clever use of the ricochet from Dead Shot can position the enemies to your side of the map, away from their allies, and into a well-placed circle from The Calling.
With the items mentioned above, a core playstyle is definitely the way to go here. But if you aren’t able to play a core role, you might want to dabble into the support playstyle.
Support playstyle
The support role is quite lackluster when it comes to Muerta. This is not because her control spells aren’t good enough in any way. A two-second fear effect into a three-second silence is a very effective means of control that is extremely difficult to react to if used properly. The damage values on these skills are very high as well, with a 300-damage nuke on Dead Shot and consistent 180 damage per revenant from The Calling.
The inherent problem with the support role is that Muerta shines with a quick leveling process and she cannot do that as long as she plays a support role. Her damage output and control are pretty lackluster at lower levels and if her team is pressured too much, she naturally falls behind.
Not to mention her passive Gunslinger and Pierce The Veil are highly dependent on damage to be useful. Since you will not be focusing on damage as a support hero, the true potential of these skills goes to waste, making her feel even more ineffectual in battle.
Itemizing well, however, can mitigate most of these issues. Going for utility items such as Force Staff and Eul’s Scepter will let you reposition your enemies into perfect Dead Shots and The Calling circles. This playstyle is mostly untapped though, so it will take some time before it can be perfected.
Muerta is still a new hero with a lot of potential. As is typical of new heroes, she will not be included in Captain’s Mode until further patches balance her out. Due to the limited stats we have now, this article will be frequently updated as we learn more about the hero and her strengths in battle going forward.
