With every new update and patch, Dota 2 continues to enthrall its player base with new heroes and items. Similarly, with Patch 7.29 came many changes. The highlight of which was the addition of a new hero, Valora the Dawnbreaker. The game’s latest carry hero after four years.
Many players have tried playing Dawnbreaker, but not everyone understood her skillset and how to utilize them in the lane best. Different players have been introducing playstyles for her character. In truth, it is best to play her as a melee offlaner due to her strength-based characteristics.
Here’s how you can play Dawnbreaker in Dota 2 and win your games!
Dawnbreaker’s Abilities
Most heroes in Dota 2 have four abilities at their disposal. Dawnbreaker in Dota 2 is no exception to this case.
Starbreaker (Q)
The Q ability or Dawnbreakers primary spell ability is the Starbreaker. A target area type ability. Dawnbreaker spins her hammer three times before finally slamming it into the ground. Dealing damage each time and stunning enemies on the final hit.
This ability can be a little tricky as when cast Dawnbreaker loses all her movement speed. Additionally, since she’s executing the move, she cannot use any other abilities during the time period. Meaning that should an enemy opponent attack you during this time, there is not much you would be able to do to defend yourself.
The best thing about this ability is that it’s a target area type. Meaning you can stun more than one hero if you get its placement right. Dealing damage in an AoE. It also synergizes well with her other ability, Luminosity, providing her with three charges for the move.
Celestial Hammer (W)
The second ability in Dawnbreakers arsenal is the celestial hammer. It is a ranged ability that goes up to 1300. It can increase to 2400 with the right combination from the talent tree. This ability deals damage to opponents as well as slowing them down.
It is excellent when you’re trying to either flee from a battle or are chasing enemy heroes down. It also allows you to position yourself correctly before you use Starbreaker. This move can be the first of the many abilities you use in synergy to take down multiple opponents when used correctly.
Luminosity (E)
This ability is passive and utilized automatically after Dawnbreaker gets off four hits on any enemy unit. After those four attacks, the move becomes active. During which, Dawnbreaker does critical damage of up to 180%. Additionally, it also provides her with up to 60% life steal off the attack damage.
This ability is unique because the lifesteal doesn’t apply only to Dawnbreaker but to all allies with a 650 range, which makes it very useful in team fights.
The best way to use this ability is to hit the enemy and then use Starbreaker on them. That ensures that the last hit deals the maximum damage using the crit multiplier on the Starbreaker ability. Significantly boosting your attack damage on multiple enemy heroes within an area.
Solar Guardian (R)
The final ability or the ultimate ability for Dawnbreaker is the Solar Guardian. It is global and allows Dawnbreaker to teleport to any ally visible on the map. The ability creates a pulsing effect within a range of 500, which heals allies and damages enemy units in the vicinity before finally teleporting Dawnbreaker.
However, one thing to keep in mind is that the ability cannot be cast after the Celestial Hammer. So the timing needs to be right. Otherwise, it’s a great ability for team fights. Dawnbreaker can come to the aid of her teammates regardless of where she is on the map. Dealing damage and stunning enemies along the way to turn the tide of the battle.
Itemization
Items are an important element for every hero in Dota 2. Knowing which items to build and how they can be effectively utilized in each stage of the game is critical in winning the match.
Dawnbreaker requires the following items for each individual stage of a game:
Early Game
During the early game, you want to make sure Dawnbreaker has enough regen to remain in the lane and take as much XP and gold as possible. For this, it’s best to purchase the following:
Tangos, Enchanted Mangoes, Faerie Fires, and a healing salve.
Mid Game
The Mid Game is where Dawnbreaker will start to really need some items.
Echo saber is a good pick if you are up against melee heroes, as it helps you land more hits to leverage your luminosity ability.
Buying a Sange is a good idea as you can later convert it into Heaven’s Halberd. This will ensure that you disable the enemy’s core. Converting it into a Sange and Yasha is useful in putting aggressive pressure on the enemy.
Phase boots are best suited for Dawnbreaker as she has low movement speed. This can often make it hard to close the gap with enemy heroes, especially if they are ranged. These boots will allow you to overcome that weakness and ensure that your abilities land.
Black king bar is a must-have for Dawnbreaker. This is because most of her abilities have to be channeled and can easily be interrupted. This will help you fight enemy heroes actively and make sure that your abilities are uninterrupted during team fights.
Late Game
Late game itemization can be tricky and depends on the kind of matchup that you are up against. Some items will work in certain games, while others may not be as effective. So depending on your playstyle and the enemy matchup, choose your items correctly.
If you are looking for more initiation, blink dagger is a good idea. It will help increase your mobility and start advantageous team fights. It can later also be converted into an Overwhelming Blink.
Assault cuirass is another great item that helps Dawnbreakers agility growth giving her more Armour and attack speed to land luminosity hits.
Desolator is a good item if you are up against tanky heroes against whom you could use the armor reduction. When paired with your luminosity hits, it increases the crit damage and gives more lifesteal healing.
Selection Draft
Knowing what matchup works for Dawnbreaker is very important. Almost 50% of the game depends on your selection draft, while the rest of the 50% depends on how you play the game. So it’s very important that you know which hero to press your advantage against.
Here’s a list of heroes that Dawnbreaker does well against and heroes that she should be on the lookout for:
Good Against
1. Nature Prophet
Dawnbreaker can easily kill off treants using her AoE abilities, stopping Nature Prophet from pushing. Additionally, she can easily teleport to a lane and join back her allies for team fights using her ultimate Solar Guardian.
2. BroodMother
Similar to Nature Prophet, brood mother can be disabled from pushing lanes using Dawnbreaker’s high mobility and AoE abilities to take care of her spiderlings.
3. Axe
Not many heroes can survive Axe’s call but due to Dawnbreaker’s AoE stun and lifesteal she can go toe to toe with Axe and even defeat him using the right abilities and items.
Bad Against
1. Faceless Void
Dawnbreaker relies heavily on her abilities after initiating which faceless Void can stop her from using by his Time Dilation. He can also backtrack any damage does to him making her damage crits useless on him. Additionally, Chronosphere locks down Dawnbreaker in one place, giving Void an easy target.
2. Viper
Viper is a ranged hero, which already complicates things for Dawnbreaker considering her slow movement speed. With the Nethertoxin, viper disables her passive luminosity disabling her crit damage and life steal. Viper strike along with poison attack reduce her movement speed, allowing viper to kite her and possibly even kill her if either, Solar Guardian or Celestial Hammer is off cooldown.
Playstyle
Dawnbreaker in Dota 2 is regarded as a carry hero, but that’s not how she’s meant to be played. Considering her agility growth, her damage burst-based abilities, and her farming capabilities are more or less average if not mana intensive. Even late game, she won’t exactly be the powerhouse hero that you could expect other carry heroes.
This is why it’s best to play her as a position 3 offlaner utilizing her tanking capacity early game. Since she’s very combat-intensive, she can pressure the enemy’s safe lane carry and deny them the farm they so desperately need.
While she can be played mid-lane or as a support, we do not recommend them, considering the facts outlined earlier. However, in some rare cases, she can be played in those roles as well.
Her low cooldown damage burst spells are important in team fights, and since she’s tanky enough, she can wander into the dangerous parts of the map deep into enemy territory. Making her useful to push out lanes and immediately joining her allies using her global cast during team fights.
When utilized properly, Dawnbreaker can change the tide of the battle and ensure your team victory alongside gaining MMR.
That concludes our guide to playing Dawnbreaker in Dota 2. Hopefully, this hero will help you in your Dota 2 journey to becoming a seasoned player and winning your way to the Immortal bracket.
