During the International 10 (TI10), a curious trend emerged among all carry players in the tournament. They all gravitated towards one item and bought it in almost every game.
No, I’m not talking about Boots. I’m talking about Silver Edge and why it’s the best DPS item in Dota 2 right now.
Silver Edge was purchased six times during the Lower Bracket finals between Team Spirit and Team Secret across three games. Here are five reasons why the pros and high MMR players are buying it on every carry.
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5 reasons Silver Edge is the best DPS item in Dota 2 patch 7.30e
5. Shadow Walk provides users with invisibility
Dead men tell no tales and dead heroes do no damage or anything else in fact. In Dota 2 getting picked off can often lose the game for the team. That’s one of the reasons why Silver Edge providing invisibility is so valuable to core heroes.
Using Shadow Walk forces enemies to bring detection if they want to kill the Silver Edge holder. It also grants 25% extra movement speed, which is a big boost when trying to outrun enemies.
The Shadow Walk active ability can be used while teleporting and does not stop the channel, adding another layer of protection to the item.
Shadow Walk also provides offensive uses as well. In the upper bracket finals, Wang “Ame” Chunyu’s Tiny from PSG.LGD was able to use Shadow Walk to get close to Team Secret’s Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat’s Winter Wyvern and take him out in one hit.
4. Silver Edge is the only item that can Break enemies
In order to break the enemy’s spirits, pick Techies every game. Breaking enemy passive abilities is a little more complicated though.
In Dota 2, only two abilities naturally provide Break and they are Nethertoxin and Sharpshooter. Nether Strike and Fan of Knives provide Break if the hero purchases Aghanim Shard.
Doom and Demonic Purge Break the target if the user has Aghanim Scepter and lastly Shadow Shaman’s Hex Breaks with the level 20 talent.
Break is one of the rarest mechanics in Dota 2, and the fact that Shadow Walk’s opening attack applies Break on the target makes it a crucial item in any match against enemies with strong passive.
3. Silver Edge is easy to build
Unlike my last three purchases from IKEA, Silver Edge is easy to build. The most expensive pieces only cost 1,000 gold and the build-up with Shadow Blade provides great value.
The excellent build-up allows cores to fully benefit from their gold, rather than holding on to it and purchasing expensive items. Radiance requires a Sacred Relic that costs 3,800 gold and doesn’t provide anything besides 60 damage.
Shadow Blade costs 3,000 gold in comparison and each piece only costs 1,000 gold each, making it easy to save up for. Shadow Blade provides 20% bonus movement speed, 35 attack speed, 20 damage, invisibility, and 175 bonus damage when attacking out of invisibility.
Abyssal Blade has two components that cost 1,550+. Butterfly requires Eaglesong that costs 2,800 gold. Daedalus’s biggest piece is Demon Edge which costs 2,200 gold, the same as Monkey King. All these other DPS items are riskier to buy than Silver Edge.
2. Silver Edge does a lot of damage
In Dota 2 patch 7.30d, Silver Edge provided 40 attack speed and 60 damage, which was an absurd amount of DPS, especially when combined with all the other benefits.
Silver Edge received a nerf in Dota 2 patch 7.30e, the attack speed bonus was reduced to 35 and the damage bonus to 52. While the values have been reduced, that’s still a substantial amount of DPS provided by the item.
Besides the raw numbers, Silver Edge also provides the user with a passive Critical Strike. The 30% chance to do an additional 160% damage adds additional value for the item.
1. Silver Edge is one of the most versatile item in Dota 2
There is no item that provides as much value to Dota 2 players right now as Silver Edge. It’s the only item with a Break, it comes with bonus movement speed and invisibility and the buildup is fantastic as well.
Silver Edge combines all the above points with exceptional damage, providing users with a good mix of damage and attack speed to maximize DPS.
Silver Edge is in a very good spot right now. Players who wish to grind MMR with core heroes should always consider buying it.
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