Dota 2 Guide: How To Play Marci

Launched back in 2013, Dota 2 has become one of the most popular eSports titles in the world. Dota 2 is a game that allows players to experiment with potentially thousands of different combinations and playstyles thanks to the large number of heroes in the game and their unique abilities.

The latest hero to enter the game is Marci. Whenever a new hero is added to Dota 2, players start getting super anticipated about how it will play out in the game and how they can use it to win more matches. Here is our take on a Dota 2 Marci guide.

Abilities

The main distinguishing feature of a hero, besides their appearance, is their set of abilities. Hence, abilities should be taken into account while selecting a particular hero. To understand if Marci is suitable for you or not, let's take a deep dive into her abilities.  

Dispose

With the Dispose ability, Marci grabs her teammates or her opponents and then throws them behind her. If a teammate is low on health and is about to die, Marci can use the Dispose ability to grab them and remove them from harm's way.

However, this ability is best suited for dealing damage to enemies. Marci can grab her enemies and place them right where her teammates are ready to end them. While she throws the enemies behind her, they also deal some damage and get stunned. If there are any other enemies in the landing area, they will also be damaged and get stunned.

Rebound

While the Dispose ability allows her to move other players, the Rebound ability allows her to reposition herself. With the Rebound ability, Marci can spring away, covering a certain distance, in a particular direction that she can choose.  It can be helpful while trying to get away from enemies if your health is too low.

For an aggressive playstyle, this can prove to be even more powerful. If an enemy is trying to run away from a fight after being damaged a lot, Marci can quickly catch up on them and finish them off. If she lands near an enemy, they will get damaged and receive a hit in their movement speed. She can also quickly jump into action if she sees her teammates in a fight. If any teammates are in the landing area, they will receive a 35% movement speed for 5 seconds.

Sidekick

With the Sidekick ability, Marci can boost her attack damage and life steal for a certain amount of time. Think of this ability as an energy drink that boosts your performance for a few seconds. This ability proves to be very useful while Marci is in the middle of a fight and needs help dealing with multiple enemies.

Players are consistently using this ability with an aggressive playstyle and have seen great results. The sidekick ability also allows a teammate to get a boost in their life steal and attack damage.

Unleash

Unleash is Marci's ultimate ability. It gives her a boost in her movement speed and activates a set of rapid strikes that she can deliver to her enemies. The last strike in each set creates a pulse to a certain radius around her target. This pulse slows the movement and attack speed of all enemies that fall in the pulse radius, which lasts for 2 seconds. This ultimate makes Marci a force to reckon with when combined with the Sidekick ability.

Recommended Role and Playstyle

While players can choose any playstyle or role with any hero they like, certain heroes are best suited for specific roles and situations. For Marci, that role is either a carry or a safe-laner. With the current build of the game, players that have an aggressive playstyle with Marci are most rewarded.

Marci's abilities allow her to gain map control effectively if she is allowed to level up fast. That is exactly what a carry or safe-laner is supposed to do, which is gather tons of gold and experience to level up fast. However, she can also be effective in the hands of a good support player.

Recommended Item Build

Along with the abilities of heroes, Dota 2 also heavily revolves around item builds. Here are the recommended item builds that you can expect great results from while playing as Marci.

• Basic Items: Firstly you will need Tangos and a Quelling Blade as these are some of the essential items across all heroes.

• Starting Items: We recommend that you get the Gauntlets of Strength for early game, as they are required for Soul Ring. Until you get the recipe for the Soul Ring, you can make good use of the increased health that Gauntlets of Strength provide.

• Early Game: For the Early game, we recommend getting the Phase Boots and the Soul Ring. They will allow Marci to gain some extra movement speed along with some damage and armor. This pairs well with her Rebound ability. The Soul Ring allows Marci to convert her health into mana which is very useful for her as she quickly runs out of mana while using her spells. The health reduction is not much of a problem for her as she can regain it quickly from her lifesteal.

• Mid Game: Armlet of Mordiggian, Skull Basher, and Malestorm help her in delivering damage to the enemies. The Blink Dagger allows Marci to make even better use of her movement. This is a great mid-game item build for an aggressive playstyle.

• Late Game: For the late game, players can use the Black King Bar for spell-immunity, and both the Daedalus and Nullifier, for some assistance in dealing damage.

Merci is a great new addition to Dota 2. While her abilities are best suited for an aggressive playstyle, she can also shine in the support role. It should be kept in mind that these claims are based on the current build of the game and in-game testing that we have performed. With a patch or update, the meta for Marci may change.