Dota 2 Heroes – An introduction to Rubick the Grand Magus

By: Jason McCarthy

  |   December 18th, 2012   |  

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The addition of Rubick the Grand Magus to the Defense of the Ancients (Dota) 2 hero roster brought smiles to the faces of a number of gamers who had been really looking forward to having some fun with one of the most unique ultimates in the game.

Rubick is an intelligence hero whose unique mechanics allow him to fill many roles, whether it is an initiator, pusher, nuker or disabler.

His first ability, Telekinesis, is a single-target spell that will suspend an enemy unit in air for 2.25 seconds. When the unit returns to the ground, it will stun anyone in a 325 Area of Effect (AoE) for 1.75 seconds. The cool thing about this spell is that once the target is in the air, Rubick is able to choose a new landing spot within 375 units, therefore making it easier to stun multiple targets. The important thing to know about this spell is that the suspended unit is not affected by the stun in any way.

His second ability, Fade Bolt, is another single-target spell that will deal 300 damage and place a negative buff, which would reduce the enemy’s attack damage by 32 if it is a hero or 16 if it is a creep, with all of this lasting 10 seconds. When you cast this and the enemy units are within a 500 AoE, all these effects will effectively bounce to each one of them. Each bounce will have the 300 damage dealt reduced by 4 percent.

His third ability, Null Field, is a passive aura that will give him and his allies a 20 percent magic resistance if they are within a 900 AoE. This is not stack with other spell resistance items and skills.

Finally, we come to his ultimate and one of the most unique mechanics in the game. His ultimate is named Spell Steal and it does exactly what the name suggests. Rubick will be able to steal the last spell casted by the enemy and will be able to use it for his own for either five minutes at its highest level or until he dies. This only has a mana cost of 25 and cool-down of 16 seconds, so stealing multiple times in a long engagement is certainly feasible.

Even if they do see you stealing a spell, that still does not do them a great deal of good. Despite the drawback of being pretty fragile, the intelligent hero makes up for it through his skills set. When playing Rubick, you always have an upper-hand because of the element of surprise that your ultimate possesses. More often than naught, your enemy will not be aware of which spell you have stolen. Even though the hero is not too tough to get the hang of, it is best left for the advanced players.

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