Batrider in 7.41f: even more Intelligence and damage

Hi! Today I’m looking at Batrider after patch 7.41f, and the reason is pretty clear: the hero got another small tune-up, and it’s also interesting to see how he’s doing in the current stats overall. On paper, he’s still that versatile ranged hero who loves breaking up the enemy formation and dragging a target somewhere they can’t be helped.

Role and abilities

Batrider is a hero with a complicated but very straightforward fight plan: find a target, get close, lock it down, and drag it into a position that’s awful for the opponent. In terms of roles, he looks like a classic initiator and disabler, while his escape is more of a way to get into the right spot for an engage than a tool for safe head-on play.

• Sticky Napalm — a puddle of sticky fuel that amplifies attack and spell damage, slows movement and turn rate, and deals damage over time.
• Flamebreak — a flask of incendiary mixture that explodes, knocks enemies back and slows them, then keeps burning them with damage over time.
• Firefly — a flight over the ground with a fiery trail that deals damage and burns down trees; by the end of the duration, the hero gains more speed.
• Smoldering Resin — an innate ability that is now noticeably tied to his basic attacks and synergy with other effects.
• Flaming Lasso — Batrider’s main weapon: he grabs a target and drags it along, preventing it from attacking, moving, or using abilities. With Aghanim’s Scepter, he can tether a second target.

I think the hero’s strength is still that he doesn’t try to win a fair fight. He creates chaos: Sticky Napalm prepares the area, Firefly helps him take the angle, and Flaming Lasso finishes things off in a very unpleasant way for one specific target.

Changes in recent patches

• 7.41f: Intelligence gain increased from 2.9 to 3.2; damage gain per level increased from 3.5 to 3.6.
• 7.41e: Smoldering Resin no longer triggers when attacking allied units.
• 7.41c: base movement speed reduced from 320 to 310; building damage from Sticky Napalm with Aghanim’s Shard reduced from 25% to 20%; Firefly damage per second reduced from 25/50/75/100 to 20/40/60/80; total Flaming Lasso damage reduced from 200/350/500 to 125/250/375.
• 7.41b: base armor reduced by 1; Firefly cooldown increased from 45/40/35/30 to 48/42/36/30 seconds; level 15 talent for Sticky Napalm slow increased from 0.5% to 0.75%.
• 7.41: Firefly gained a scaling movement speed bonus of up to 12/18/24/30% by the end of its duration; some talents were redistributed around Smoldering Resin, Sticky Napalm, Firefly, and Flaming Lasso.

Looking at the chain of changes, I’d put it like this: the hero wasn’t pushed in one direction, but carefully trimmed where he was too good at controlling the map, while also being given a bit of quality through Intelligence and level-based damage. It doesn’t look like a sharp pivot, more like an attempt to keep him functional without giving him too much freedom.

Statistics

According to OpenDota, over the last 7 days in public matches Batrider had 44,190 games and a 44.9% win rate. That’s 124th out of 127 heroes by win rate and 126th by number of games, so the hero doesn’t look popular right now and isn’t converting well in pubs.

• Herald — 44.1% win rate.
• Guardian — 43.9% win rate.
• Crusader — 44.0% win rate.
• Archon — 43.8% win rate.
• Legend — 43.6% win rate.
• Ancient — 44.2% win rate.
• Divine — 46.8% win rate.

The numbers show something interesting: in the lower and mid brackets, the hero stays roughly at the same level, while a noticeable spike only appears in Divine. That tells me Batrider still requires a very precise understanding of when to go in, positioning, and game tempo.

Items and opponents

According to OpenDota from professional matches, Batrider builds in a pretty predictable way: he values mobility, initiation, and the ability to finish a target after going in. The item list shows well that the hero wants either to find prey faster or not let it slip out of his grasp.

• Starting items: Iron Branch, Circlet, Faerie Fire, Tango, Observer and Sentry Wards, Magic Stick.
• Early game: Boots of Speed, Tranquil Boots, Bracer, Null Talisman, Drum of Endurance, Bottle.
• Mid game: Blink Dagger, Ogre Axe, Mithril Hammer, Drum of Endurance, Staff of Wizardry, Ring of Tarrasque.
• Late game: Aghanim’s Scepter, Black King Bar, Force Staff, Shiva’s Guard, Aether Lens, Boots of Bearing.

Blink Dagger stands out to me especially: without a fast jump-in, Batrider just isn’t the same hero. And the rest of the list reads like the usual story of survivability, range, control, and the ability to bring the catch all the way home.

The matchup picture is pretty clear too. He looks best against heroes who struggle to survive aggression and who don’t like being dragged out of a comfortable distance. He’s worse against heroes who can blur the fight, save themselves, or simply endure prolonged pressure.

• Best against: Crystal Maiden — 72.7% win rate in 33 games; Death Prophet — 69.7% in 33 games; Night Stalker — 68.8% in 32 games.
• Worst against: Naga Siren — 27.6% win rate in 29 games; Lycan — 30.8% in 26 games; Enigma — 32.4% in 34 games.

I think that fits the hero well: Batrider is especially nasty for those who depend on fight setup and positioning, while against heroes with strong tempo and space disruption, it’s harder for him to execute his game plan.

Conclusion

After 7.41f, Batrider didn’t become a different hero, but he did get a bit more baseline comfort thanks to the Intelligence and damage gain. At the same time, the previous nerfs are still felt: less speed, some damage toned down, and you have to be more careful around Firefly and Lasso. My feeling is that this is a hero for players who like initiative and precise timing, and by the stats he doesn’t look especially strong in pubs right now. I’d be waiting to see whether he can return to a more comfortable state again, or whether this set of small adjustments will leave him in the “playable, but demanding” zone.

Source: official Dota 2 and OpenDota data.

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