Hello! Today I’m looking at Jakiro after patch 7.41f — a hero who, even without any big headlines, is always somewhere nearby: he disrupts the lane, pressures under towers, and in fights he controls space without asking for permission. In 7.41f he got a small tune-up again, and I’m curious how that will affect the familiar role of the two-headed dragon.
Role and abilities
Jakiro is an intellect-based hero, ranged and pretty easy to pick up: his difficulty is 1 out of 3. His roles are listed as Support, Nuker, Disabler, and Pusher. That fits the way he looks in game very well: he can slow, apply control, push the lane, and at the same time burn away space around him in an unpleasant way.
- Dual Breath — a stream of ice followed by a wave of fire: first a slow, then periodic damage.
- Ice Path — a trail of ice that stuns those who touch it and deals damage.
- Liquid Fire — an attack with liquid flame that ignites the target and nearby enemies, dealing periodic damage and slowing attacks; the ability shares a cooldown with Liquid Frost, and the Aghanim’s Shard upgrade removes mana cost and splits the cooldown.
- Liquid Frost — does not affect buildings; it also shares a cooldown with Liquid Fire, and with Aghanim’s Shard it costs no mana and gets a separate cooldown.
- Double Trouble — innate ability: Jakiro attacks with both heads at once, but each attack deals less damage.
- Macropyre — a wide stream of liquid fire that lasts for some time and deals damage every second; Aghanim’s Scepter increases the duration and turns the damage into pure damage.
I’ve always liked that Jakiro doesn’t try to be a “pure” one-button support. He does several useful things at once, and that’s exactly why he feels good to see in a draft: the hero is not only about control, but also about very grounded pressure on the map and buildings.
Changes in recent patches
If you go from newest to oldest, the picture is pretty clean: the hero wasn’t broken, just gradually brought into a more comfortable state.
- 7.41e — intelligence gain increased from 3 to 3.3.
- 7.41d — base intelligence increased from 25 to 26; level 1 attack damage increased from 52–60 to 53–61; level 10 Ice Path damage talent buffed from 75 to 100; level 25 maximum health damage bonus talent for Liquid Frost/Fire increased from 3% to 3.5%.
- 7.41c — strength gain increased from 2.5 to 2.6; Macropyre mana cost reduced from 250/350/450 to 225/325/425.
- 7.41b — Dual Breath got a new cooldown of 12/11/10/9 seconds instead of 10; Liquid Fire damage was changed from 15/25/35/45 to 12/24/36/48; Macropyre mana cost was reduced again, now from 300/400/500 to 250/350/450; level 20 Macropyre damage talent increased from 20 to 25.
- 7.41 — Double Trouble was changed from 50% damage reduction to 51% — 1% per level; Liquid Fire and Liquid Frost began costing 20 mana; Aghanim’s Shard for both abilities now also removes mana cost; level 10 Ice Path talent was increased from 60 to 75; level 15 Dual Breath cooldown reduction talent was buffed from 3 to 3.5 seconds.
To me, this is a set of changes without unnecessary drama. Jakiro didn’t get one huge, game-breaking button; instead, his economy, base stats, and several talents were adjusted. That usually doesn’t feel like a sudden buff, but rather smoother lane play and better long fights.
Statistics
According to OpenDota, over the last 7 days in public matches Jakiro was picked 314,738 times, and his win rate was 48.7%. By this metric, he sits in 85th place out of 127 heroes, and by number of games he’s 49th.
- Herald — 50.5% win rate.
- Guardian — 50.7% win rate.
- Crusader — 49.6% win rate.
- Archon — 48.8% win rate.
- Legend — 47.9% win rate.
- Ancient — 47.8% win rate.
- Divine — 47.0% win rate.
One simple thing stands out to me here: Jakiro feels better at lower ranks, and the higher the MMR, the more his win rate drops. That doesn’t seem surprising for a hero who likes long fights, clear positioning, and punishing mistakes — the more disciplined the opponents are, the less he gets just from the shape of his spells alone.
Items and opponents
The source has no data on specific opponents, so here I’m relying only on the items that most often appear in professional matches by stage of the game.
- Start: Iron Branch, Tango, Blood Grenade, Faerie Fire, Observer and Sentry Wards, Sentry Ward.
- Early game: Boots of Speed, Arcane Boots, Null Talisman, Urn of Shadows, Tranquil Boots.
- Mid game: Arcane Boots, Staff of Wizardry, Force Staff, Eul’s Scepter of Divinity, Glimmer Cape, Pavise.
- Late game: Aghanim’s Scepter, Force Staff, Aether Lens, Blink Dagger, Glimmer Cape, Eul’s Scepter of Divinity.
This item list shows that Jakiro is usually built toward comfort, range, and survivability. And that makes sense: the hero is valuable not because he jumps in first, but because he stays useful and annoying for the enemy for a long time.
Conclusion
After 7.41f, Jakiro doesn’t look like a hero that was radically reworked. He got a small boost to base stats, some economic support, and a careful pass on talents and abilities. By the numbers, he still doesn’t look like a hero that must be in every game, but it’s too early to write him off: he still has a clear set of strengths — control, pressure, and a strong toolkit for a support who never sits idle.
I think this is exactly the kind of case where a hero lives not off one loud meta, but off steady usefulness. And characters like that usually don’t disappear — they just get their fire and ice adjusted from time to time.
Source: official Dota 2 data and OpenDota.
Discuss on the forum (no replies yet — be the first)
Hot take, Jakiro is better as a greedy lane bully than a save support. If you are just sitting back with wards, you are wasting half the hero.