Dota 2 Heroes – An Introduction to Io the Guardian Wisp

Io the Guardian Wisp joined the Defense of the Ancients (Dota) 2 roster in the final week on June 2012. His uniqueness works to his advantage if he is in capable hands and has a team that knows its way around.

Wisp is a ranged-strength hero who funnily enough has more intelligence than strength. He, she or it is more of a utility hero that thrives with competent allies as it can increase their survivability as well as mobility throughout the battlefield.

Tether is a single target spell that is intended for use on ally heroes. When used, both Wisp and the ally will gain 20 percent movement speed throughout the 12 second duration. This will also create a link between the two heroes that, if an enemy comes in-between, will effectively stun them for 2.25 seconds. The Tether breaks if the link stretches beyond 900 units or Wisp manually deactivates it. This spell also interacts with some of Wisp’s other abilities.

Spirits is an active skill that will create 5 ancient spirits over a 4 second period that are intended to protect their summoner. If an enemy hero comes in contact with one of these spirits, the spirits will explode and the enemy unit along with anyone in a 300 Area of Effect (AOE) will take 100 damage. If a non-hero unit comes in contact with one, the spirits will not explode and will only deal a reduced 26 damage. This ability comes with two sub-abilities aptly named Spirits-In and Spirits-Out. This will allow you to control how big or small a radius around you these spirits will cover. The minimum range value is 100, while the maximum range is 875 units.

Overcharge is a toggle-able ability that will buff you for +7 percent attack speed and will reduce incoming damage by 20 percent. While toggled, this will drain 2.5 percent of your current health points (HP) and mana per second. If you have an ally tethered to you, then he will gain the mentioned buffs as well, which of course is the +70 percent attack speed as well as 20 percent damage reduction.

Relocate is Wisp’s ultimate. It allows it to help and assist team-mates from across the map. When used after a 2-second cast time, you will be able to teleport yourself temporarily to any location on the map. After 12 seconds, you would teleport back to your original location. The fun really starts when you have tethered an ally. As long as an ally is tethered to you, you can take him anyway you relocate to. If the tether is deactivated manually or because of the target moving out of range, then he will not return with you to the original location. One thing to note about this spell is that when you teleport somewhere temporarily, enemy units will be able to see location where you will return. They would also be able to see if you have someone tethered to you. On paper, this skill has endless uses and can be considered as one of the best skills in the game.

Wisp may be a strength hero, but it would be a big mistake to think of him as a hero who is capable of absorbing or dealing damage. His primary role is that of support and thus that is what the main focus should be while playing with him.

Disclaimer: The research used in this article is accredited to Dota Cinema and SUNSfan. No copyright infringement is intended.