Sniper 6.81->6.82

Basically, new Sniper.

Sniper used to be one of my favourites because of many reasons - mainly, he is much less challenging to play well than heroes I mostly prefer, so I can have an easy and pleasant game if things go right, it is also more forgiving to play him via full DPS build without blink on my level and to build items of questionable usefulness(aka fun builds), like Mom+2x Mjollnir + Heart + AC, you can even go "only green/red/purple/sword-like items" build of something like that. I also enjoyed being the bane of basically any int/agi hero ater minute 15 and before minute 30.

All that came from his mini-bashes. You could break TPs, channeling spells, you could run into Lina's face and she couldn't even cast a spell because of that bashes. Now it's all gone and I am not willing to play him anymore, because he is much weaker now and I don't see a reason for Valve to nerf this hero THAT way. Seriously, why not nerf Take Aim, Assassinate, or replace next-to-useless Shrapnel with something else?

Of course, slow is not that bad when you are against right-clickers, but the trick was you easily rekt casters that do not have enough burst or have big spell cast point. Like that:
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I really don't see anything good with his update. What do you guys think of that? Maybe it won't ruin the whole purpose of playing this hero, but I think it will make him much weaker. Or am I exaggerating?

You sir do not know how to really play Sniper then. Shrapnel is by far one of the best abilities in the game. Why you may ask?

It gives him free tower harass. Kind of like Jakiro's Liquid Fire. Unlike Jakiro, he can then just right click the tower till it melts. It also gives vision of an area; which is a godsend if your chasing a very elusive hero that is low on health.

The change to Headshot was actually pretty good imo. He already will get insane range due to take aim, so him having a stun was kind of overkill. It still will be a bit overkill with Headshot now adding a movement and attack speed slow. So supports will still be food for a well geared Sniper.

So his viability will still be there. But he won't be as cheesy.

You sir do not know how to really play Sniper then. Shrapnel is by far one of the best abilities in the game. Why you may ask?

It gives him free tower harass. Kind of like Jakiro's Liquid Fire. Unlike Jakiro, he can then just right click the tower till it melts. It also gives vision of an area; which is a godsend if your chasing a very elusive hero that is low on health.

Liquid Fire deals 150 damage to towers, has a cd of 4 seconds and costs no mana. Shrapnel deals 160 damage to towers while costing 120 mana with 15 second cd, while standing there at the max range and hitting the tower costs no mana and has no cd. Do the math.

As a solo skill, Shrapnel is decent for vision it provides and a slow - someone like AA would make huge use of it.

As a part of Sniper's skillset, Shrapnel sucks. Reasons are obvious - he has no mana for spamming it, and it is only effective to it's fullest when maxed first, which you can't afford cause Take Aim and Headshot are superior. I would prefer anything instead of Shrapnel on Sniper, this skill is just so awkward with his skillset.