3 big reasons why Dota 2's new hero Dawnbreaker is just bad

Much of the discussion surrounding Dawnbreaker has revolved around her appearance. Is her color palette too bright for Dota 2? Does she look like a League of Legends character? This talk is somewhat silly, as the bigger problem with Dawnbreaker is that the hero is just plain bad in almost every way. Here’s a full breakdown on all the different problems with Dota 2's new hero Dawnbreaker right now.

Dawnbreaker doesn’t have spell combinations

One of the weirdest things about Dawnbreaker is how her Q, Starbreaker, works. It has a wide variety of interactions that just don't quite function how one expects.

First and foremost is that when Dawnbreaker uses her W, Celestial Hammer, she is not capable of casting Starbreaker until she recalls her hammer. Though she can still attack while her hammer is out by punching enemies bare-handed, she is left unable to use her Q. 

This is a rough blow for the hero and something that makes her feel awkward to play. It also inexplicably removes her stun from her damage-over-time spell, something that has left her feeling under-powered immediately after launch.

The kicker is that Dawnbreaker’s ultimate, Solar Guardian, has such a lengthy startup animation that it can’t be combined with any of her spells. 

It would be very cool to hurl a hammer at an opponent, recall the hammer, stun them in place in the fiery AOE, then finish it all with an orbital strike. Unfortunately, not a single part of that is doable with the hero as she is right now.

Dawnbreaker’s Q has a lot of weird interactions

Nothing about Dawnbreaker’s Starbreaker is consistent. Everything has strange interactions that vary wildly depending on the situation, which makes it hard to know what to expect from engagements.

To start with, Starbreaker can be cancelled by enemy stuns, but it cannot be cancelled by the player. If a hero uses Force Staff to slide out of range on the first swing or if they get lost in the trees, the player is forced to sit through the entire spell animation regardless.

Adding onto this is that Dawnbreaker can use items while casting her Q, but only some items, and only in certain situations. 

So I test if DawnBreaker can do Flying Thunder God Technique, but she has a 1300 range limit. from r/DotA2

While casting Q, players can use items like Black King Bar and Mekansm at any point during the animation. However, targeted items can only be cast during the first two swings and only directly in line with Dawnbreaker’s path. 

The best example of this is Blink Dagger. The player can blink during the first two swings, but only straight ahead without any backwards or lateral movement. While Dawnbreaker could hypothetically initiate by blinking onto an enemy right before the final swing of her hammer, in reality the player just has to hope for the best.

Even worse is that this also applies to enemy-targeted items. Even an item like Dagon or Eul’s Scepter can only be used on an enemy that is directly in front of Starbreaker’s path. This essentially prevents Dawnbreaker from getting potentially useful items like Gleipnir or Abyssal Blade and makes her limited in terms of utility. 

Dawnbreaker should have been a DOTA: Dragon’s Blood character

Valve actually promoted DOTA: Dragon’s Blood. Anyone that has played Dota 2 or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for any length of time knows how novel that sort of promotion is for the famed developer. And not only did Valve promote it, the company actually buckled in for a surge of new players with the improved new player experience.

When Valve stated that a new Dota 2 hero was set to drop just two weeks after DOTA: Dragon’s Blood premiere, it seemed like a given that it would be one of the new characters introduced in the show. The only question was whether it would be fan favorite Marci or Fymryn, who seemingly killed Dota 2 hero Luna.

But it wasn’t Marci or Fymryn. Or Selemene, Kaden, or anyone that would be familiar to newcomers interested in the show. No, it was a new character that nobody really wanted or asked for. The character looks great and there’s some possible intrigue there from a lore perspective, but it sure seems like Valve missed an opportunity to capitalize on interest in its new Netflix show.