Does Windranger Deserve A Nerf?
With patch 6.86 looming on the horizon after the end of The Frankfurt Major, 
Windranger seems to be one of the main focal points of change for the Dota community. She currently rests as the most popular hero in pubs, and it wasn’t long ago that she was also the top pick for players in the 5k+ MMR bracket (that #1 spot is now Shadow Fiend, currently at a 45% pick rate in the bracket). Windranger is still certainly in the spotlight, showing up in 32.75% of our pubs. But does she deserve a fate worse than having her name changed from Windrunner to Windranger?
A History of Power Creep
Believe it or not, there was a time when Windranger was lamented as one of the worst heroes in Dota 2, and Mirana could do everything Windranger could do, but better. Windranger was a “tweener” hero—she didn’t fit in any role and had an underwhelming skillset: unreliable stun (can’t support), poor escape (can’t offlane), lackluster ultimate (not a core hero). With this in mind, over the past year Valve and Icefrog has dispensed a series of incremental changes to each of those weaknesses, vaulting her to infamy.
6.84
- Reduced Shackleshot cast point from 0.3 to 0.15.
6.83
Powershot
- Increased cast range and travel distance from 1825 to 2600.
- Max damage is now reached after 1 second of channeling, instead of 0.7 seconds.
- Reduced cast point from 0.3 to 0.
- Reduced vision radius from 800 to 400.
Focus Fire
- Increased Focus Fire attack speed bonus from 400 to 500.
6.82
- Increased Shackleshot search range from 525 to 575.
- Increased Windrun duration from 2.75/3.5/4.25/5 to 3/4/5/6.
6.81b
- Reduces Focus Fire manacost from 150 on each level to 75/100/125.
6.81
- Activating Windrun now disjoints incoming attack projectiles.
Aghanim’s Scepter upgraded Focus Fire
- No longer causes Focus Fire to not reduce damage of secondary item effects.
- Now reduces the attack damage reduction from 50%/40%/30% to 30%/15%/0%.
One of the most significant changes to Windranger was one of its first, over a year ago: the change to her Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade (6.81). It buffed her ultimate’s damage by reducing its damage penalty as well as removing the innate reduced damage of secondary effects, such as Critical Strike and Maelstrom procs. The next four patches buffed every other aspect of Windranger's flaws. Along with the Aghanim Scepter change, the reduction to Focus Fire's mana cost made it an essential skill for Windranger, when before it wasn't skilled until level 10. Windrun's duration was buffed by 10% more at Lvl 1 (2.75 to 3) to 20% more at lvl 4 (5 to 6). Powershot's range was extended to almost a Lvl 3 Clockwerk hookshot. And finally—the skill at the root of public discontent—Shackleshot was buffed in its search range and its cast point, making a once unreliable stun a flip the keyboard moment for its victims.
Now the stage was set. The trend in changes to Windranger mirrored closely to that of Juggernaut. Few things changed about the core functionality of the hero. Like him, she received incremental buffs that, over time, didn’t receive the relative amount of attention, until one day, everyone noticed.
Slahser and W33ha’s Way
Before her breakout popularity today, Windranger was a staple within the wheelhouse of proficient mid players. In mid 1v1 tournaments you have your typical Shadow Fiend, Queen of Pain, Puck matchups, but Windranger was right there as well. She has a fast turn rate, one of the best attack animations, and two skill shots that make for highlight moments in the mid lane. She was, however, still unpopular in the professional meta.
First, don’t underestimate the impact a youtube tutorial, or an errant community post, can have on the meta, whether for pub players or pros. We wouldn’t have had a lane statistic for “Jungling Necrophos” otherwise. Back in March, Slahser—Danish ex-pro and Dota content creator—produced a video that showcased his way of playing Windranger. Instead of Maelstrom or Blink Dagger/Force Staff first (the most popular core items then), build Aghanim Scepter. Windranger has one of the best stat gains in the game, but poor initial stats. And instead of skilling Focus Fire at lvl 10, skill it at lvl 6 and threaten the mid tower if your lane opponent leaves. This was a breakthrough that took advantage of Windranger’s buffs to Focus Fire and Aghanims, and leveraged her strengths during a specific window. A few days later, Pajkatt used the build in a pro match (Alliance vs Na`Vi), and thanked Slahser in the end.
The next step in Windranger’s popularity was aided along by W33ha, Team Secret’s mid player, whose wizardry with this hero rivals the best recent signature heroes of other pros: CDEC.Aggresif and Gyrocopter, Secret.EternalEnvy and Ember Spirit, EG.Sumail and Storm Spirit. Keep in mind that Windranger’s last buffs, albeit minor, were back in 6.84. There were some rumblings of a Windranger trend when during TI5, EG’s opponents banned all of Sumail’s heroes, leaving him with Windranger. Credit, however, has to go to Team Secret, who was dominant in their Windranger games, with a 67% in 6.85 and 71% win rate in 6.85b. Not only is Secret one of the most popular teams, they succeeded with Windranger on the biggest LAN stages of 6.85: MLG World Finals, Nanyang Championship, and the Frankfurt Major.
Altogether it was a confluence of factors for Windranger’s rise: buff after buff, synergy with a meta of Slardar and Dazzle, beloved hero by the community, pet favorite of mid players, success on the main stage. It was only a matter of time that she became the villain.
Public Enemy
Let’s get some statistics aside first:
- Across 309 professional games for 6.85, Windranger has a 43.7% win rate
- During the LAN finals of the Frankfurt Major, her win rate was 31.25%, and she was the 14th most contested hero.
- Across all skill brackets for pubs, her win rate is 49.48%
- She has the highest pub win rate in the 2k bracket, at 49.79%
- Her lowest pub win rate is in the 5k+ bracket, at 45.77%
There are a few confounding issues at hand here. First, Windranger was unfavored at Frankfurt in a meta that favored counters in defensive supports, such as 
Winter Wyvern and 
Dazzle. Second, Windranger is a high skill cap hero with a specific function, so her impact can vary significantly among pub players, and even pros (to compare, W33ha has a 70% professional win rate with Windranger across 6.85 and 6.85b).
However, that doesn’t remove the fact that Windranger is a losing hero across all pub skill brackets and across all professional games. Whether Icefrog and Valve favors balancing for pubs or pros, the hero doesn’t seem to be cutting it in either arena. Win rate isn’t the end all measuring stick for a hero nerf, but combine that with her contested rate in pro games and you have to ask: what are you nerfing for? Take a look at two recent high profile public enemies: 
Leshrac and 
Lina. Unlike Windranger, both heroes were highly contested in the competitive scene (100% P+B for Leshrac, 98% for Lina at TI5), and both had extraordinary win rates in either pub or professional play (Leshrac 56% in 6.84c pubs, Lina 62% at TI5).
The last question for a hero nerf is one that can supplant any argument about win rate and hero power: is the hero fun to play against? This seems to be the sticking point for community discontent on Windranger, namely Shackleshot. At its highest level, its a 3.75 second stun that seems to latch at the most improbable distances and angles. Windranger has been the same hero for more than half a year, but only recently has she gathered enough victims for a public backlash. First, awkward angles from shackles can be attributed to perspective (elevation differences, such as low/high ground, or Batrider in Firefly) and hero movement (line drawn from shackle release). There is no conspiracy here, no hidden bug.
We can look at several past heroes who have been victims of nerfs and nightmares to play against. Good luck laning against 6.83 Sniper or 6.84 Bloodseeker. Sniper eventually was nerfed out, but then there was Lina, perched on our own high ground in the mid lane, auto attacking at 700 range. Then there was Techies, who found limited success with a few professional teams and performed poorly elsewhere. But with Techies, Dota became two different games: one was Dota and the other was Minesweeper.
The main arguments against Windranger seem to be that: one, Team Secret and w33ha are very good with her, and two, it doesn't feel good when you lose against her. She isn’t as gamebreaking as Techies, nor is she as lane dominant as Leshrac and Lina were. Shackleshot remains unreliable until she gets a Blink Dagger. Windranger still has that particular element of lane dominance and bullshit skill that flirts with being imbalanced, but she’s just not there yet. However, with her history of repeated buffs, she’s at a point where she’s teetering on that edge. Windranger has long been a community favorite. Let's hope she doesn't reach a point where she's nerfed into obscurity.
i think quas wex invoker work preety good against wr,
idk i just win 2 games against wr with this.
she cant run from tornadooooo, haha.
but im not sure whether tornado dispel windrun.
Idk why she should be nerf?
Are u playing vs windranger?
Just u need an orchid or any silencer hero to counter her.
Why nerf?
masturbaman has a very good idea, by nerfing the base damage by 4-6, we will see abusers stop picking her. I remember when they did the same to invoker. I went from seeing invoker every game to seeing him every 10-20 games
Y. Shackle disjoint and here we are
Nerf?nerf that alchemist,fking 1k gpm every match
You people forget that to land a perfect shackleshot you need to be in a good position and sometimes it's dangerous for WR. A missed shackleshot is a crappy stun that sometimes puts WR in a compromised position. I don't agree with a nerf, you nerf shackleshot and you get a very weak hero again
how about reove windrun evasion or movement speed.evasion+movement speed is just ridiculous.
and yeah shackleshot turn it from point and click to skillshot maybe
Definitely doesn't. The buffs may have been over the top because (as per usual) of idiots refusing to notice how strong the hero is, but please don't touch her, like you do with every other hero, casting them into oblivion.
I felt the whole article was completely focused on the wrong question. She clearly doesn't deserve a nerf. The facts that are stated in the article support this. She has a crappy win rate in both pub and pro matches. In pro matches, her pick/ban rate isn't near 100%. She's nowhere near the level of lina/lesh.
I think what should be asked is whether windranger needs to be *reworked* because, as you mentioned, people say it's not fun to play against this hero. This is a *much* more relevant and interesting question.
It seems like the main reason people think windranger needs to be changed is because of her shackleshot + aghs ult combo. I can see why the shackleshot stun is not fun. It's a 3.75 second stun if it lands, and it can land with really weird angles. That coupled with aghs ult is basically a guaranteed kill. On the other hand, there are tons of ways you can survive the shackleshot+aghs ult combo. There could be a support that can stun/disable windranger or protect you with like a force staff or glimmer cap. Also, believe it or not, you can avoid the full 3.75 second stun in some cases with good reaction time and positioning. Finally, if windranger has gone for the aghs build she is turning herself into a limited carry role. She has to itemize for damage, but she can only do significant damage while using her ult. The CD on her ult is long enough that you'll only ever get it off at most twice in a teamfight. So she becomes a carry with some gaping weaknesses.
I would also like to remind people that this is dota, not league of legends. There are many overpowered abilities if used correctly, like enigma ult. I see windrunner's combo comparable to riki's cloud + diffusal blade combo or clinkz strafe + orchid combo. They're designed to take down a single hero quickly. But do riki or clinkz need to be reworked? Those heroes also have weaknesses. Also, I don't think the annoyingness is comparable to pre 6.85 techies level of annoyingness.
TL;DR: The stats show that windranger doesn't deserve a nerf. The question is not whether windranger should be nerfed, but whether she should be reworked. Windranger shackleshot + aghs ult seems to be the main reason people think windranger needs to change. But her combo is just as annoying as riki and clinkz combo are and not as annoying as pre-6.85 techies mines. Also, if you look at the bigger picture, you see that she has some large weaknesses if she goes for this particular annoying build which is why it's just annoying and not overpowered.
She has poor initial stats (her base damage at level one is 44-56). It's the first time that people are seeing Windranger played as a core and not as a support. It's so easy to say "NERF THAT B1TCH!", "SHE'S BROKEN/OP" and not even try to counter the hero as I stated in the second page and in a forum post.
dont nerf her buff other heroes. this meta is balanced
Windranger doesn't deserve a nerf at all.What she needs is ARCANA.
AS every hero as wr can be counter. With pugna I ate wr on dinner.
The hero isnt broken but it is "annoying". Theres no worse feeling than being a poor support in a windranger game.
I also feel that people find it frustrating that wr now requires much less skill to land her shackleshot. I remember playing her before the shackleshot change and it felt like you had to be in a direct line with your enemy and a tree/2nd enemy for the shot to latch and also the target had a chance to react.
I think the best way to deal with WR is to either to lower the base damage so scrubs find it harder to lane with her or to increase the shackleshot difficulty (Just change it back to how it was before or something). Either of these changes will separate the scrubs who get lucky shots and the players who are actually good with her.
Disjoint shackleshot and its stun mechanism, sometimes u dont need straight to land a stun its op af
She is really OP and need nerf- for example in fight sniper vs. WR, she can go through the creeps, stand next to the tower, catch sniper and use ultimate on him and kill him without get any dmg. This is ridiculous. If she got a desolator it would be over for enemy team. Only one item...
For example clinkz is very slow, sniper is squishy, every character has bad things, but WR has everything - escape ability, best stun, long powershot, and that freaking ultimate, where she can melt tower or hero (ALONE) in seconds.
Nerfing her is very good idea.
Nerf shackle: disjointable and maybe stun to 1.5 2 2.5 3 (or less effect).
Nerf (and maybe minor buff) windrun: No longer slows nearby enemies, maybe have eva from 100 to 75 or something and/or have speed boost go from 50% to 60% (or haste but thats too op)
Powershot is considered weak for me tho, maybe a rework: more dmg for more channel time, and maybe have minor nerf reducin dmg for trees.
Ulti? well... nerf dmg, buff other stuff, or the other way around (100% dmg too op when aghas tho so nerf dmg more prefered)
This is what i'd do if i was icefrog
"But with Techies, Dota became two different games: one was Dota and the other was Minesweeper."
I laughed so hard and I nearly fell from my chair.
She is fine. IceFrog will buff some certain heroes next patch and then WR will be forgotten.
Disjoint broken shackle and good to go
"disjointable schackle and onward." +
People hate her cus of the randomness of shackle, which doesn't mean she is op. It's like when PA crits you four times in a row or spirit breaker bashes you to death. It's not op but the streakyness of it drives you nuts.
So here's what I propose, don't nerf shackle, change it. I would make it stun a single target for 1/1.5/2/2.5 seconds. If a second hero is within 400 range (might need tweaking) it will shackle them together for the same duration. Now it's not random, aside from if you're in range of more than 1 hero how it decides whom to shackle, but no more bullshit lineups, can't hook you to creeps, is less powerful when it lands but it is still useful for a single target and more reliable.
Another option would be make it like a meepo or naga net. Don't make it a stun, make it point target, make it a strong root. I think that actually suits the heroes playstyle quite nicely while still giving people a chance to dodge it and defend themselves.
i don't think windranger needs to get nerfed its still have a lots of counters like daggered wk with blade mail and lc with blademail and lots of it . The windrangers win rate is not good as doom or leshrak or sniper bloodseeker of other metas . so please don't nerf the hero. :)
I dont think wr should be nerved. Maybe valve should think to nerve huskar ult to disjoint
Revert WR to how she was back in 6.75 or thereabouts and she will be fine.
disjointable and pls fix those crazy shackling ANGLES - there is not future for DOTA with such crap-shooting WRs throwing their shackles hopin for luck and 90% of time - actually GETTING it...
I think that a disjointable shackle would be a way too big nerf for her... I'd rather a nerf about the range of the latch to be reduced with 100-150 range and the latched target to be stunned half the time for the time on the one infront of it.
Shackleshot should be disjointable and her windrun dispellable with purge. There are even some strong ultimates that can be purged and not... windrun...
Everything else in her kit seems fine, I dont mind if she is buffed even more.
OMG THIS HERO FUKIN RETARDED, FUKIN SHACKLE SO OP PLZ NERF IT AND KEEP SHITTING ON HIM
Cry more, she deserves a buff.
Shackle is broken other than that shes fine
HER CAMELTOE NEED TO BE REMOVED AND ALSO THAT CUP F SIZE. ITS TOO PROVOCATIVE SHIT.
Windginger is so annoying when you want to finish her and all of a sudden runs and jukes.