Rethinking Popular Items- Heart of Tarrasque

I think it's buildup is one of it's strong points.... It's not a battlefury or mjollnir but it's a far cry from radiance or heart, and on some heroes the early PB+OoV can be quite strong (Slark, Spectre, Cow, Jugg, Riki, PA) all use that combo of items well, and full Skadi is fine on quite a few of them either early or as a luxury (Plus some others like BH/BS/Funstealker/Omni/NS/DK/CK/Alch/Cow/Lycan/Undying/Ogre/Morph/Dusa/Razor/Sniper/OD/Invoker/Silencer/QoP/Luna/Mirana/SF).

It's pretty strong, only issue being that it's a jack of all trades -- heart gives slightly better durability taking the regen into account, Manta or Diffusal are better DPS, Drums can often fill the role of PB+OoV for chasing and mana early, for anticarry basher or bfly is better, for chasing diffusal/basher/SnY/just plain OoV can often suffice.

I do think the slow is marginal in larger teamfights, though if you're a chasing hero it can still shine during cleanup.

Note: the AS slow is a -20, which is typically a ~5-15% DPS reduction, not 20%. It's like shivas -- most effective on low AS heroes/illusions. The MS slow can be really quite strong against melee carries.

I never said Heart had a better build up, they both have poor buildups. But for what its used as, its build up is atrocious.

It most definitely builds better than heart. Heart gives you health at gold 1100, strength at 4300, and the final at 5500.

Skadi gives you movement slow at 250, health and mana at 1450, +10 to all attributes at 3550, and the final at 5650.

so if I'm building a skadi and you build a heart:
At 4000 gold into our Items, I will have 140 more health, 280 more mana, 12% slow, +10 atk speed, and +1.4 armor. I would no doubt have the advantage if we were to fight before you get to 4300 gold. then after 4300 gold we're maybe even. (except I've had that advantage thousand or so gold ago, so i'm contributing more, and farming better.)

So to sum up: Eye of Skadi builds much better than a Heart of Tarrasque.

They've got a slightly different purpose - but they're both primarily defensive items. Sure Eye of Skadi has usage for chasing...but who needs a 5k item for that? It's much more about bulking out, and stopping enemy heroes from fighting effectively - either because they're not in attack range cos of the move slow, or having their attack speed reduced.

It's hard to do a straight comparison here - while the health bar on Heart of Tarrasque is great for team fights, it's that massive regeneration that really makes it - you don't have to be not getting attacked for long to suddenly be right back in there.

Both these important extras are quite difficult to quantify.

I honestly believe that Eye of Skadi is a bad item. Its build up is poor, and by the time you acquire it, its use is already almost completely gone. It has two functions, stats for heavily reliant stat carries like Viper, and the slow for heroes that are primarily chasers like Razor or gankers like Slark. Now as a carry item it has a hard aqcuirability. You're most likely not going to rush Ultimate Orbs because they're too big an item at the time, and when you opt out for a point booster early, it hinders your mid game contribution since you do little damage (in most carry cases). At that point if that's the route you'll take, you're better off the the Perseverance into a Linken's. For a chasing item, the build up requires way too much free farm and unless you're getting exceptional ganks, you won't be able to acquire it until team fights are happening (which is when you won't be able to gank often anymore). If you are getting exceptional ganks, most likely they'll start early 5-manning. You'd be better off with a Drum and an Orb of Venom or a simple SnY which can be disassembled and finished into a Manta and Halberd, which will be more effective than a Skadi.

Skadi at best is a luxury item, the only person you can make it a core on is maybe Medusa.

One other thing about the Heart that I don't see mentioned is its amazing HP regen when out of combat. running away for 30 seconds can heal you so much that you can jump back into a longer Teamfight after being focused down.

But yes, I have seen the argument often, and Eye of Skadi is an excellent item on many heroes rather than picking up a Heart.

I like these comparisons, really interesting.