Snapfire in Patch 7.41f: Damage Nerfs and Still a Handy Support

Hi! Today I’m looking at Snapfire — a hero that got hit again in 7.41f right where it matters most: damage, talents, and a bit of overall combat output. By feel, she’s still a very straightforward support to play, but with each patch they keep trimming away the edges that made her especially annoying for opponents.

Role and abilities

Snapfire is a universal ranged hero with a difficulty rating of 1 out of 3. In terms of roles, she most often looks like a Support and Nuker, while Disabler and Escape are more like extra tools than the core of her game. What I like here is that the hero doesn’t require complex mechanics to get into, but still brings a lot of value through tempo, control, and area damage.

• Scatterblast — a cone shotgun blast that hits an area, deals damage, and slows enemies.
• Firesnap Cookie — a cookie for an ally or Mortimer that launches the target forward, then stuns and damages enemies on landing.
• Lil’ Shredder — a burst of shots that reduces the target’s armor; attack range is increased while it’s active.
• Gobble Up — with Aghanim’s Scepter, swallows a creep or allied hero so you can spit them at enemies afterward.
• Spit Out — with Aghanim’s Scepter, releases the swallowed target, dealing damage and stunning in a large area, while a pool of fiery spit appears underneath.
• Mortimer Kisses — a volley of globules that deal damage on impact, leave fiery pools, and slow opponents.
• Boomstick — the innate passive: the closer the target is, the more damage it takes.

For me, the most important thing is that Snapfire’s kit is very easy to read: she has control, burst damage against tanky targets, and strong area pressure. In close-range skirmishes she’s especially nasty thanks to Boomstick and Scatterblast, and she can also ramp up pressure quickly through Lil’ Shredder. At the same time, the hero doesn’t feel like a narrow one-button character: she has a save angle through Firesnap Cookie and can also play from range.

Changes in recent patches

Going from the latest changes backward, the pattern is pretty clear: Snapfire has been gradually toned down wherever she was too reliably winning tempo and trades.

• 7.41e — Scatterblast no longer has its initial blast width scale with spell amplification; bonus point-blank damage reduced from 30% to 25%.
• 7.41e — Firesnap Cookie: landing damage reduced from 75/150/225/300 to 60/130/200/270.
• 7.41e — Mortimer Kisses: projectile damage reduced from 180/270/360 to 170/250/330.
• 7.41e — level 10 talent: Mortimer Kisses pool damage bonus reduced from 35 to 30.
• 7.41e — level 15 talent: “-3 sec Firesnap Cookie cooldown” replaced with “+125 spell range”.
• 7.41e — level 25 talent: Mortimer Kisses projectile count bonus reduced from 8 to 6.
• 7.41d — Boomstick no longer affects damage to allies and buildings.
• 7.41d — healing from Aghanim’s Shard for Firesnap Cookie reduced from 200 to 175.
• 7.41d — level 15 talent: Firesnap Cookie cooldown reduction weakened from 4 to 3 seconds.
• 7.41c — base damage increased by 2; level 1 damage rose from 51–57 to 53–59.
• 7.41b — Scatterblast: cooldown reduced from 18/15/12/9 to 17/14/11/8 seconds.
• 7.41b — Scatterblast: initial radius increased from 225 to 250.
• 7.41 — removed the innate Buckshot.
• 7.41 — introduced the new innate Boomstick, which increases damage as distance to the target shrinks.
• 7.41 — Scatterblast: bonus point-blank damage reduced from 50% to 30%.
• 7.41 — level 15 talent: Lil’ Shredder attack bonus increased from 1 to 2.

In my opinion, what matters isn’t just that Snapfire’s numbers are being cut, but that she’s still kept as a hero with a clear identity: close-range trading, control, area pressure, and a strong impact in teamfights. She just doesn’t smother opponents quite as much with her basic buttons alone anymore.

Statistics

According to OpenDota, over the last 7 days Snapfire has played 352,941 public matches, with a 49.3% win rate. That puts her 66th out of 127 heroes by win rate and 44th by total games.

Looking at rank brackets, the spread is fairly even: Herald — 47.8%; Guardian — 48.2%; Crusader — 48.7%; Archon — 49.3%; Legend — 49.7%; Ancient — 49.6%; Divine — 49.3%. In other words, the hero isn’t collapsing at any one specific tier, but she also doesn’t look like she’s popping off anywhere in particular. By the numbers, this is more of a steady average result than anything flashy.

In professional matches, Snapfire had 3 picks, 2 wins, and 3 bans over the latest period. The sample is small, so I wouldn’t draw broad conclusions, but the mere fact that the hero is still showing up in drafts means teams are still keeping her on the radar.

Items and matchups

According to OpenDota, in professional matches Snapfire’s item builds are pretty predictable: the early game is built around resources and vision, the midgame usually brings mobility and tempo tools, and the late game focuses on survivability, control, and teamfight impact.

• Early game: Iron Branch, Tango, Faerie Fire, Observer Ward, Blood Grenade, Observer and Sentry Wards.
• Early midgame: Boots of Speed, Soul Ring, Bottle, Boots of Travel, Bracer, Arcane Boots.
• Midgame: Aghanim’s Shard, Blink Dagger, Staff of Wizardry, Kaya, Boots of Travel, Mithril Hammer.
• Late game: Black King Bar, Yasha, Yasha and Kaya, Shiva’s Guard, Refresher Orb, Mystic Staff.

The matchup picture is interesting too. Snapfire feels best against Tinker, Phantom Lancer, and Death Prophet — at least if we go by professional statistics. She struggles most against Bane, Io, and Clinkz.

• Best matchups: Tinker — 41 games, 70.7% win rate; Phantom Lancer — 81 games, 64.2%; Death Prophet — 61 games, 63.9%.
• Worst matchups: Bane — 98 games, 35.7% win rate; Io — 59 games, 39.0%; Clinkz — 91 games, 39.6%.

I think this does a good job of reflecting the hero’s nature: Snapfire loves it when she can pressure a tanky or predictable target, but she feels much worse when an opponent can easily break distance, tempo, or the simple execution of her spells.

Conclusion

Snapfire in 7.41f looks like a hero that got slightly held back, but not fundamentally changed. Her damage and some individual talents were weakened, but the core idea remained the same: she’s a comfortable, clear, and very practical support with strong pressure tools. Stat-wise, the hero is sitting around average, and in the professional scene she still shows up often enough to stay interesting.

I’d put it like this: if you want a hero that can initiate, finish targets, and hold her own in a drawn-out fight, Snapfire still looks perfectly alive. She just probably has to play a little more carefully now, and value the moment she commits to a fight a bit more.

Source: official Dota 2 and OpenDota data.

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