Centaur Warrunner in 7.41f: damage and speed toned down

Hi! Today I’m looking at Centaur Warrunner in patch 7.41f, and the reason is pretty straightforward: the hero got tweaked again, and by the numbers he’s long been living in a very familiar niche — going in first, soaking up damage, and making the fight fall apart around him.

Role and abilities

Centaur Warrunner is a melee Strength hero with low complexity, but a very direct job in the game. In terms of role, he’s both an initiator and a sturdy frontline hero, and he can also stun and punish anyone who tries to focus him down.

• Hoof Stomp — after a short delay, the hero slams the ground with his hooves, stunning nearby enemies and dealing damage to them.
• Double Edge — a powerful hit against the target and enemies around it; the damage partially scales with the owner’s Strength, and the hero also takes damage. With Aghanim’s Shard, the ability also slows victims and briefly grants bonus Strength for each enemy hero hit.
• Retaliate — each attack against Centaur Warrunner returns damage to the attacker; part of that damage scales with the hero’s Strength, and towers take half the effect.
• Work Horse — granted by Aghanim’s Scepter; the hero creates a cart behind him, gains the current level of Stampede, and can cast Hitch a Ride on an ally.
• Stampede — a team-wide rush that gives allies maximum speed, movement through units, and tramples enemies into the ground with a slow and damage that scales with the ability owner’s Strength.
• Horsepower — an innate effect that does not stack with movement speed bonuses from boots.

I think it’s the combination of Retaliate, Hoof Stomp, and Stampede that makes the hero so comfortable to play: he doesn’t just stand in front of the team, he actually dictates when the fight starts and who has to suffer first.

Changes in recent patches

• 7.41f — base damage reduced by 2, level 1 damage lowered from 64–66 to 62–64, base movement speed reduced from 300 to 295, and the cast range of Hitch A Ride reduced from 250 to 200.
• 7.41e — for Double Edge, the duration of the Aghanim’s Shard effect was reduced from 15 to 12 seconds; for Retaliate, the Strength damage multiplier was reduced from 16/24/32/40% to 14/21/28/35%.
• 7.41c — base Strength increased from 27 to 28, level 1 damage increased from 63–65 to 64–66, Strength gain was raised from 4.2 to 4.3, and the level 25 talent for Hoof Stomp stun duration got stronger: from 0.8 to 1 second.
• 7.41a — the movement speed bonus from Horsepower increased from 30% to 40% of Strength.
• 7.41 — Strength gain increased from 4 to 4.2, the innate ability Rawhide was removed from the game, and in its place Horsepower was added with a movement speed bonus equal to 30% of Strength.

In my opinion, the most obvious trend here is simple: first the hero was adjusted for comfort and tempo, and then in 7.41f he was slowed down a bit. Not critically, but now Centaur Warrunner looks a little less like a hero who can trade freely earlier and more often.

Statistics

According to OpenDota, over the last 7 days Centaur Warrunner has 277,062 games in public matches and a 49.6% win rate. Among 127 heroes, that places him 63rd in win rate and 58th in games played.

• Herald — 49.0%
• Guardian — 51.3%
• Crusader — 50.5%
• Archon — 50.0%
• Legend — 49.5%
• Ancient — 48.6%
• Divine — 47.9%

In professional matches, the hero has 10 picks, 5 wins, and 14 bans. That looks more like a practical but not hugely in-demand choice: some teams still like him as a reliable way to start fights, while others don’t trust him enough to pick him without hesitation.

Items and matchups

According to OpenDota, in professional matches Centaur Warrunner most often builds around survivability, speed, and getting into fights.

• Start: Gauntlets of Strength, Iron Branch, Ring of Protection, Tango, Faerie Fire, Circlet.
• Early game: Helm of Iron Will, Helm of the Dominator, Bracer, Ring of Health, Ring of Tarrasque, Soul Ring.
• Mid game: Blink Dagger, Ring of Tarrasque, Reaver, Heart of Tarrasque, Platemail, Perseverance.
• Late game: Black King Bar, Shiva’s Guard, Aghanim’s Scepter, Reaver, Heart of Tarrasque, Lotus Orb.

And honestly, that fits the hero perfectly: he either needs tools for a hard jump, or enough tankiness for that jump to matter. I think that’s exactly why Blink Dagger still looks like almost a mandatory part of the plan, and after that everything revolves around how long Centaur Warrunner can stay alive once the fight starts.

The matchup picture in professional games is also interesting.

• Best against: Medusa — 70.0% win rate over 50 games; Spectre — 68.2% over 22 games; Faceless Void — 65.3% over 49 games.
• Worst against: Treant Protector — 31.6% win rate over 79 games; Bounty Hunter — 35.1% over 57 games; Io — 36.1% over 36 games.

In my view, this shows the classic Centaur Warrunner story: he feels great in games where he can force a simple, brutal fight, but much worse when the enemy breaks the tempo, disrupts his initiation, or punishes his straightforwardness.

Conclusion

Centaur Warrunner in 7.41f got a little less sharp on paper, but the hero himself is still very much here: he’s still about the first contact, the initiation, and punishing the opponent’s greed. By feel, he remains a clear and reliable pick, it’s just a bit harder for him to snowball off raw strength and direct trading now. We’ll see how this plays out in pubs: I think the hero will still be comfortable for players who like to start fights, not chase them.

Source: official Dota 2 and OpenDota data.

Discuss on the forum (1 reply)