New Dota 2 hero Ringmaster doesn’t have Agh’s Scepter upgrade, but players continue to buy the item

Ringmaster, Dota2The newest hero players have been waiting a year for arrived this week to much fanfare, but the support is missing a few elements, including the lack of the Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade. That hasn’t stopped players who purchase the item from thinking it does something, though.

Ringmaster launched out of nowhere on August 23rd while Valve Dota2 community for the TI season, and while we wouldn’t go so far as to say the mischievous maestro is incomplete, it is missing a few things that heroes in Dota ticks like Facets and, most importantly, an Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade. However, in Valve’s standard item build for Ringmaster, Agh’s Scepter is listed as a must-buy late-game item.

It is unconsciously guided Dota players to farm and purchase the Scepter outright, and while I’m sure the attributes, health, and mana boost are useful, it’s proving to be a 4,200-gold mistake. According to stats site Dotabuff, a Ringmaster purchased the Agh’s Scepter in nearly 5,000 games. As time has passed, this represents a tiny percentage of the total, but it goes to show that players are placing a little too much value on Valve’s default builds and not on what items fit the hero on a game-by-game basis.

The Scepter was originally feared to have been purchased by more than half of Ringmaster players, as one player spotted on Dota Plus , but compared to other stat sites, it’s clear that Valve’s “premium” stat service is in need of a round of tweaking for accuracy. “I followed (Dota Plus) blindly when I got back into the game a year ago and now I have to actively go against my muscle memory to keep from skilling stupid shit I don’t need to,” one player said.

A Scepter upgrade and Hero Facets will definitely be added to Ringmaster in upcoming patches, but until then, please don’t be sad about your Dota allies and spend a small fortune on an otherwise useless item.