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Want an Aghanim’s Shard, but don’t want to pay for it? There’s only one way to do so in Dota 2 — and it’s through taking down the Tormentor.
Dota 2 patch 7.33 introduced several new objectives on the map, which includes the Tormentors. These neutral creeps can be found right outside each base’s offlane. That means one is on the southwest side of the map, and the other is on the northeast side of the map.
What are Dota 2 Tormentors?
These powerful creeps have only one health, but has a powerful, regenerating shield that reflects damage back at whoever damages it. This damage is evenly spread out among everybody in a set radius, ally or foe alike, and will even reflect globally if you are the source of damage.
With risk, comes reward. Taking down the Tormentor rewards an Aghanim’s Shard to the team that defeats it, as well as a 250 gold bounty. One of the two lowest net worth heroes without a Shard will obtain the effect for free.
If everybody on the team already has a Shard, everybody on the team gets 280 gold and experience instead.
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Bring your team to take down the Tormentors
Credit: Valve
It’s hard to think of a functioning team composition that doesn’t have the damage to go through a Tormentor.
Some sort of sustain will help — a Mekansm or healing spells, or even Tranquil Boots — will make the Tormentor relatively trivial. The hardest part will be bringing all your teammates there, of course. You can try and get away with lesser people, and it’s definitely a tightrope you can walk — but be careful, since the Tormentor can wipe out anybody ill-equipped to challenge them.
But what if you want to do it all by yourself, without any reliance on your teammates? Tormentors are unique creeps in that it’s almost impossible to kill them by oneself. Of course, as is the case in Dota 2, some heroes can ignore that restriction.
Solo tormentor? You can outtank it
Credit: Valve
Templar Assassin is one of the best solo heroes at taking down a Tormentor — actually, she might be better at taking it alone than with a team. Since the damage reduction will only proc once per attack, each instance of damage reflectio instantly blocked by her Refraction.
Another hero good at outtanking a Tormentor is Ursa. With his flat damage reduction ability — Enrage — he can quite easily go through the neutral creep. To be extra safe, you can stack up the Fury Swipe stacks with Earthshock, then use your ultimate to completely take it down.
Troll Warlord can also use his Battle Trance to prevent himself from dying, completely negating the Tormentor’s high damage return.
Juggernaut’s Healing Ward is also excellent at regaining lost health when dealing with the miniboss.
Reduce its armor
Credit: Valve
Due to how Tormentors’ damage reflection works, it’s much more effective to debuff it, than try to amp up your damage. This means armor reduction abilities and items like Solar Crest, Assault Cuirass, and Desolator are amazing against it, along with some spells that can even open up some heroes to solo the neutral creep.
This includes heroes like Razor with his ultimate Eye of the Storm, Weaver with The Swarm and Time Lapse, and Slardar’s Corrosive Haze.
Why not both?
Credit: Valve
Some uniquely powerful heroes in the game can abuse the Tormentors as soon as they spawn.
One such example is Dazzle, whose Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade means he can easily take down Tormentors — provided your teammate send some air support with their couriers.
This means you barely lose health and don’t need to reset to the base, and can instead continuing to farm the map.
Another such hero is Bristleback, whose unique combination of tankability and armor reduction on his Vicous Nasal Goo means he can slowly stack up his Goos, then use his Scepter-upgraded Bristleback to quickly fire Quills and take down the creep.
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