Dazzle Strategies

Gameplay

Before becoming a shadow priest, each young acolyte to the Dezun order must beforehand finish a series of rites. These rites converged into a final rite called the rite of shades, which was a harrowing spiritual journey through the Nothl Realm. This was said to be an unpredictable and dangerous domain which not all visitors were able to return. Of the ones that did, they returned mad, chaotic. Some, with strange aptitudes. Regardless, everyone who went there had been changed significantly. 

Driven by desires for enlightenment, Dazzle became the youngest of his own tribe to strive for the sacred trial. Initially the order refused him, stating that he was too young for it. But Dazzle was determined and stubborn. Sensing something special from the headstrong young lad, the elders relented to the acolyte. With that, Dazzle drank down the sacred portion and sat by the wavering fire as the rest of his tribe danced throughout the night. 

In the ethereal dimensions of the Nothl Realm, light and dark are inverted in terms of properties. Therefore Dazzle’s brilliant healing light, positively beautiful to our eyes, was considered a sinister kind of evil to the region; and so the darkest deeds were done in a dazzling glow. Dazzle returned to his people as true as the elders’ prophetic intuition; he returned not as Dazzle anymore but as a Shadow Priest like none seen before. He now possesses the power to heal just as well as to destroy, and uses his powers to cut down enemies as well as mending his friends. 

For the game, Dazzle, the Shadow Pries, is a ranged intelligence hero that generates brilliant dark light to heal and protect his companions. His Shadow Wave is a nuke and chain healing ability with a low cooldown that deals additional damage to adjacent opponents for each ally it heals. Shallow Grave renders an ally unkillable for a short period of time, helping Dazzle's teammates to survive otherwise unthinkable scenarios. Poison Touch is a spammable ability that slows and inflicts damage over time on its victim. His ultimate, Bad Juju, increases the frequency with which he may utilize all of his spells and equipment while also causing his spells to momentarily weaken his enemies' armor.

Dazzle's Shadow Wave offers him the choice to farm or push waves when he needs it, despite being a hard support with limited item needs. He also scales effectively into the late game, as all of his spells, with the exception of Poison Touch, deliver physical damage and penetrate spell immunity. Dazzle, the loyal priest of the shining shadows, will come to your aid time and time again.

This is his in-game description: 

“Born to support his cohorts in battle, Dazzle keeps wounded allies alive so they might later rain death upon the enemy. His strange magic weaves its way into nearby armor, weakening enemies and strengthening friends.”

Ability Builds

• Level: 0/1/15/25/30;

• Health:  200/560/1260/2000/2280;

• Health regen: 0.25/2.05/5.55/9.25/10.7;

• Mana: 75/375/987/1575/1827;

• Mana regen: 0/1.25/3.84/6.29/7.32;

• Armor:    -1/2.33/6.3/11.13/12.88;

• Att/sec:    0.59/0.71/0.85/1.02/1.08;

• Damage: 22‒28/47‒53/98‒104/147‒153/168‒174;

• Magic resistance: 25%;

• Movement speed: 305;

• Attack speed: 100;

• Turn rate: 0.7;

• Vision range: 1800/800;

• Attack range: 575;

• Projectile speed: 1200;

• Attack animation: 0.3+0.3;

• Base attack time: 1.7;

• Damage block:    0;

• Collision size:   24;

• Legs: 2;

• Gib type: Default.

Talents

Tips & Tactics

General

We must have a point in each of Dazzle's skills in the early game to meet every situation, because they are all powerful. Shadow Grave is sometimes overlooked by new players, but it is quite handy in numerous scenarios where the lane mate is in danger. It's also advantageous to have it early in case your teammates are being dived and require additional time to survive.

The first ability we'll max out is Shadow Wave, because each level reduces its cooldown while increasing the number of heal and max targets it affects. It's critical to have a low cooldown and a large number of targets because this allows you to employ it effectively in battle. This is also the skill that distinguishes Dazzle from other supports as a formidable lane pusher.

Moving on, we'll look at Poison Touch, which is one of the most aggravating abilities for a support to deal with. You'll be able to cast it on more targets as you go through the levels, which is what makes Dazzle such a powerful and difficult to play against team fighter. Remember that if you hit a target affected by Poison Touch, the effect will be reset. When chasing down foes, especially squishy supports early in the game, use this to your advantage. 

The last two skills we'll look at are Shallow Grave and Bad Juju. In the early phases of the game, the early point in Shallow Grave is more than enough, but as the game goes, having points in Shallow Grave becomes increasingly vital because it reduces its cooldown and improves its range. When it comes to the ultimate, Bad Juju, we'll level it up anytime we have a chance. 

Abilities

Poison Touch

Poison Touch (Unit Target, Physical) 

Effect: A poison cone is released, striking numerous enemy troops. Slows the targets and deals damage over time. The debuff duration is replenished and the slow is increased whenever the targets are assaulted by Dazzle.

Cast Point 0.3

Cast Backswing 0.57

Cast Range 600/700/800/900

Damage Per Second 16/28/40/52 (56/68/80/92 at Level 20 Talent)

Movement Speed Slow 16%/18%/20%/22%/54% (at Level 25 Talent)

Slow Increment on Refresh 2%/2.5%/3%/3.5%

Duration 4/5/6/7

Target 2/4/6/8

Radius 200 ➜ 300

Distance 500

Hex Duration 1.25

Cooldown 27/24/21/18 

Mana cost 110/120/130/140

Notes:

Aghanim's Shard upgrade: Causes Poison Touch to hex affected targets for 1.25 seconds.

Does not pierce spell immunity. Slow persists and deals damage if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Blocked by Linken's Sphere. Blocked upon cast fully only when primary target

Poison Touch's projectiles travel at a speed of 1300.

With the starting radius, distance, and end radius, Poison Touch can hit units up to 1000 range away. The complete area is shaped like a cone in front of Dazzle. The area starts in front of Dazzle, and not at the primary target's position.

Targets within the cone area are not chosen randomly. It chooses the closest valid targets to the primary target within the cone.

Deals damage in 1-second intervals, starting immediately, resulting in 5/6/7/8 damage instances when not refreshed.

Can deal up to 80/168/280/416 (Talent 280/408/560/736) damage to each target when not refreshed (before reductions).

The duration gets refreshed whenever Dazzle lands an attack on the debuffed unit. Missed attacks do not refresh it. Refreshing it also increases the movement speed slow value by 2%/2.5%/3%/3.5% each time. This has no stack limit.

This is how much movement speed one instance of Poison Touch reduces when refreshed 8 times on each level:

• Level 1: 18%/20%/22%/24%/26%/28%/30%/32% (Talent 50%/52%/54%/56%/58%/60%/62%/64%) movement speed.
• Level 2: 18.5%/21%/23.5%/26%/28.5%/31%/33.5%/36% (Talent 50.5%/53%/55.5%/58%/60.5%/63%/65.5%/68%) movement speed.
• Level 3: 19%/22%/25%/28%/31%/34%/37%/40% (Talent 51%/54%/57%/60%/63%/66%/69%/72%) movement speed.
• Level 4: 19.5%/23%/26.5%/30%/33.5%/37%/40.5%/44% (Talent 51.5%/55%/58.5%/62%/65.5%/69%/72.5%/76%) movement speed.

Multiple instances of Poison Touch fully stack.

Bad Juju effectively reduces cooldown to:

• Level 1: 19.98/17.76/15.54/13.32
• Level 2: 16.74/14.88/13.02/11.16
• Level 3: 13.5/12/10.5/9

With Aghanim's Shard, enemies are hexed on projectile impact, setting their base movement speed to 100, silencing, muting and disarming them.

The hex is only applied once upon projectile impact. It is not applied upon refreshing the debuff with attacks.

The main debuff and the hex are applied at the same time, so after the hex the target is still slowed for 2.75/3.75/4.75/5.75 seconds.

Poison Touch first applies its main debuff, then the hex debuff.

Total damage without refreshing: 64/140/240/364/679 (At Level 20 Talent)

The projectile moves at 1300 speed.

Fully stacks with itself.

Shallow Grave

Shallow Grave (Unit Target) 

Effect: An ally blessed with Shallow Grave, no matter how close to death, cannot die while under its protection.

Cast Animation: 0.3+0

Cast Range: 700/800/900/1000

Duration: 4/4.5/5/5.5

Talent Heal: 250

Cooldown: 36/30/24/18

Mana: 120/130/140/150

Notes:

Prevents the target from dying by setting its minimum health to 1.

This means the target cannot die to damage, not even damage flagged as HP removal, so that it prevents the target from dying to  False Promise's delayed damage.

Does not protect the target against  Culling Blade's kill threshold, or Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. Wraith Delay expiring.

Stops Ice Blast from shattering the target when graved while below the shatter threshold.

Damage taken is technically not reduced, so any damage event still registers the full damage.

Can be cast on illusions and creep-heroes.

↓↓ Double-tapping automatically targets self.

With the level 20 Talent talent, losing the buff in any way heals the target for 250 health.

Bad Juju effectively reduces cooldown to:

• Level 1: 26.64/22.2/17.76/13.32
• Level 2: 22.32/18.6/14.88/11.16
• Level 3: 18/15/12/9

Culling Blade can kill through Shallow Grave.

If a Meepo clone dies, all Meepos will die regardless of Shallow Grave.

Enemies can see the duration indicator for Shallow Grave.

Shadow Wave

Shadow Wave (Unit Target/Physical)

Effect: Shadow Wave heals many friends, causing damage in a small radius around them equal to their healing. Shadow Wave always heals Dazzle, and it doesn't count against the target count.

Cast Animation: 0.3+0.57

Cast Range: 800

Damage Radius: 185

Bounce Distance: 475

Number of Bounces: 3/4/5/6

Heal: 80/100/120/140 (With Aghanim's Scepter 180/200/220/240)

Damage: 80/100/120/140 (With Aghanim's Scepter 180/200/220/240)

Cooldown: 14/12/10/8

Mana: 90/100/110/120

Aghanim's Scepter upgrade: Causes Shadow Wave to dispel allies. Increases heal by +100 and damage by +100

Notes:

Maximum damage: 320/500/720/980/1120 (At Level 15 Talent)

Prioritizes allied heroes over creeps.

Can damage an enemy multiple times if several allies get healed near it.

Shadow Wave has no bounce delay, so all targets are healed at the same time.

Shadow Wave has the following priorites: Hurt allied heroes ➤ hurt allied non-hero units (includes illusions) ➤ allied heroes ➤ non-hero units. The lower the health of nearby allies, the higher their priority. This means the lowest health units get healed first. If multiple units meet the exact same criteria (e.g. only full health non-hero units are within range), it chooses between them randomly.

Regardless of the target, Dazzle is always healed without counting towards the number of bounces, effectively healing 4/5/6/7 units. ↓↓ Double-tapping automatically targets self.

Can heal and damage up to 320/500/720/980 (Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. 720/1000/1320/1680) health when all bounces hit (before reductions). The damage radius is centered around each healed unit. An enemy unit can get damaged by all healed units per cast.

Bad Juju effectively reduces cooldown to:

• Level 1: 10.36/8.88/7.4/5.92
• Level 2: 8.68/7.44/6.2/4.96
• Level 3: 7/6/5/4

With Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Wave applies a basic dispel on Dazzle and all healed allies.

Bad Juju

Bad Juju (Passive)

Effect: When Dazzle casts a spell, foes near him get a debuff. Reduces the cooldowns of your skills and items passively. All adjacent foes' armor will be decreased whenever you cast a spell. Debuff stacks and extends the duration of the buff.

Cooldown Reduction: 26%/38%/50%

Debuff Radius: 1200

Armor Reduction per Cast: 2/2.25/2.5 (Talent 2.5/2.75/3)

Duration: 8

Notes:

Debuff stacks and refreshes the duration.

Does not affect Roshan.

Multiple sources of percentage-based cooldown reductions do not stack. The highest value takes priority.

Reduces enemies' armor before the triggering ability takes effect.

Does not trigger on active item abilities, on abilities with 0 cooldown, or on abilities which do not trigger on-cast effects.

Places one debuff on enemies. This debuff gets stronger when it gets refreshed with successive casts. A number on the icon shows how many times the debuff was refreshed, including the first cast.

Affects invisible units and units in the Fog of War. Does not affect invulnerable or hidden enemies. Does not affect Roshan.

Items