Here’s a couple of reasons why you should be investing more in a Nullifier in Dota 2, especially if you’re playing a powerful core hero.
If you’ve watched the ESL One Fall 2021 Dota 2 lower bracket matches a few days ago, you’ll know that T1 managed to secure an incredibly clutch win against Alliance, keeping themselves in the running for a few more series and knocking out the European team very early into the tournament. In the final game, Alliance kept the lead pretty high all throughout the first 40 minutes of the game, until a very key purchase from T1’s position 1 Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon managed to win them the game in the short span of eight minutes.
That one purchase was the Nullifier, which managed to give 23savage’s Lifestealer a fighting chance against the entirety of Alliance’s lineup, completely nullifying the enemy’s many kiting tools. The Nullifier is an extremely underrated item, even by many professional players, and here are some of the reasons why you should be thinking about it in your next Dota 2 games.
It’s the cure against most anti-carry items
The bane of core heroes are items that stop them from rampaging. From Eul’s Scepter that can waste their initiation tactics, to Force Staff that can save their targets, these anti-carry items are what you fear the most if you’re playing as a core. Nullifier completely removes these items from play, as you can easily dispel the effects of these items while applying a slow on the target.
When a game drags too long and you find yourself or other players being the victim of a cyclone in every big team fight, consider the Nullifier as your next purchase, as it can easily turn the tide to your side when used at the most clutch of moments.
It’s a safer pick-up to end the game than Divine Rapier
When games drag too long, cores will sometimes look to pick up the ever-powerful Rapier in order to get that extreme damage boost and hopefully end the game. Sometimes, brute force is not always the answer, as one wrong move can cause your Rapier to end up in the enemy’s hands instead.
Picking up a Nullifier, on the other hand, is a safer bet in Dota 2 and one that will likely prove more useful even if one integral team fight goes horribly wrong for your side. It provides less damage overall, but that active ability is priceless whether you’re looking to create space for your escape or close the gap on that pesky support that keeps using Ghost Scepter or Glimmer Cape on his core.
It provides decent stats and is great to slot into at almost all stages of the game
Dota 2 is a complex game where item timings matter as much as the items themselves. Buying integral items too early, like Black King Bar, may prove to be more harmful than it is beneficial. While the same can be said for almost all items, the Nullifier is a very decent option in Dota 2 to slot into if you’re having trouble figuring out what to buy next.
This applies particularly well to the times when you are ahead of the enemy core. In these situations, it’s up to the supporting cast to catch you off-guard as much as possible, and one way they can do that is to itemize against your core like with the aforementioned anti-carry items. Buying a Nullifier in advance is a great deterrent for these kinds of situations, and you will be glad you have it on hand for the next time a team fight is starting to go sour.
