Why does no one play Clinkz?
Clinkz is in an interesting spot right now: despite being one of the most successful heroes in high level pubs, he is still completely ignored in the competitive scene. Recent EPICENTER XL only had seven heroes that were neither picked nor banned and Clinkz was one of them.
In high level pubs the hero currently wins more than 54% of his games. Interestingly, there is almost no fluctuation in his winrate between 3k to 5k bracket, meaning that once players have a general idea of what Dota is, they are decently equipped to win as this hero. While the hero is primarily played in the safelane, his offlane and mid appearances are almost as frequent. Moreover, mid Clinkz has the highest chance of success.
History of Buffs?
7.07 significantly reworked the hero, changing Strafe to a defensive and offensive hybrid. Many players still consider this change to be a nerf to the hero and they aren’t necessarily incorrect, despite Clinkz now being the 7th most successful hero in Divine-level pubs.
Current version of Strafe is weird, it is highly inconsistent and can be rendered completely useless very fast. At the same time, under right circumstances it can be incredibly potent, potentially turning the tide of battle.
The amount of attack speed it provides is quite similar to what Windranger gets from Focus Fire, but on a much shorter cooldown and with a much shorter duration. The offensive aspect of this ability gives Clinkz an opportunity to kill almost any target in the game in a matter of seconds with relative ease, especially under the effects of Death Pact and with Searing Arrows turned on.
The defensive part of the spell, however, doesn’t really do much: there aren’t that many high-impact projectiles in the game and most disables do not fall into that category. Evading four auto-attacks from the enemy also rarely has any impact on the outcome of the fight.
As such, for the most part this ability should be thought of as a damage boost for three and a half seconds for when you are actually trying to deal damage. It can occasionally save you from a Venge stun or the last flying auto-attack of the enemy, but don’t rely on it as much as, for example, Templar Assassin can rely on her Refraction or Windranger can rely on Windrun.
How to be successful as Clinkz?
Aui_2000 — one of the few pro-players who tries to make the hero work
The biggest common change to the way the hero is played right now is that Strafe is currently maxed second, rather than last. If previously most Clinkz players generally opted for higher levels of Skeleton Walk to have a massive 44% movement speed boost, currently it is hard to afford: Strafe should be maxed out as soon as possible.
In fact, in many cases going for Strafe after a couple of levels of Searing arrows can prove more beneficial: shorter cooldown and much higher attack speed more than makes up for the marginal increase in damage.
Ultimate should obviously be taken as soon as it is available and Skeleton Walk is more or less a value point until later levels.
When it comes to talent choices, there really isn’t much deviation, with level 15 to 25 talents being more or less set in stone. Interestingly, Clinkz is one of few heroes who generally skips level 10 talent in favor of extra points into his abilities: level 10 gives you a choice between two defensive options and neither of them should realistically come into play if the hero is played correctly.
For level 15 getting extra damage for Searing Arrows is more or less a must, level 20 with 20 extra regen makes a much bigger impact on the outcome of the game while at level 25 extra 4 seconds and 4 extra stacks on Strafe make it a much stronger defensive and pushing ability.
Finally, there is itemization and the community is evenly split in this regard between Scythe of Vyse and Orchid/Bloodthorn+Nullifier combo. Almost all successful Clinkz go for Medallion of Courage and Power Treads and some opt to build Desolator, but when it comes to late game the choice between these two options has to be made.
On one hand the early Nullifier+Orchid combo will yield much higher damage output and solo kill potential. On the other hand, Scythe of Vyse is roughly 3000 gold cheaper and gives the hero all the mana pool and sustain he needs, while providing a situationally superior disable.
Overall, while both approaches are viable, the Scythe way is a lot more reliable for teamfights, since hex can’t be dispelled, while Orchid+Nullifier combo is better for solo hunting. Depending on the game and how available dispel effects are to the enemy team, going for either is a safe bet, but keep in mind that the combo can be ultimately dealt with in the later stages of the game once Lotus Orbs start appearing.
Why does no one play Clinkz?
Finally, we come back to our initial question. The hero is quite flexible, does a decent amount of damage and has high impact on the game early enough to be an ok fit for the meta. He doesn’t really have any hard counters, while being a good counter to the most popular item of the pro-circuit, Helm of the Dominator. He can also be played as a split-pusher if needed, with one of the highest potentials for tower burst.
Perhaps the problem lies in his inconsistency: Clinkz can be easily ignored if he doesn’t get a decent enough start and while it is easy enough for him to last hit enemy creeps in the mid lane, actually denying the enemy gold and XP can prove problematic.
Perhaps it is the abundance of alternatives to the hero: ranged carry sounds quite similar to true and tested Gyrocopter and Shadow Fiend, both of which can provide a lot more utility without items and have an easier time farming and coming back into the game if necessary.
Perhaps it is some of the worst level 10 talents in the game. Neither of them gives Clinkz anything extra to work with. He also uses invisibility as initiation or disengaging tool, which is quite unreliable with higher levels of play.
All of these things combined, coupled with potential lack of experience from the professional players, make the hero potentially weak in the pro-circuit and it is understandable why teams might want to avoid him. But while it did hold true for 7.14, 7.15 is likely to bring some small tweaks to the game and Clinkz has all the qualities of a hero who is one buff away from running rampant through both pub and professional scenes.
#findtimmy
If your team is passive and afk all game, he will always have space for kills. If your team play as a team and dont split he cant do much. Hero has insane dps early and late but other heroes as lancer, am etc. are much better. I see this clinkz has no orchid but i guess it is cause of enemy picks but i still think orchid is very good on him.
I played in the past aginst very good clinkz players, they own early game alsmot 90% of the time and yet they menage to lose game after ( even with some godly kda). Clinkz falls off really hard as game proceeds.
Exactly what lex says. Clinkz in a 5v5 fight is pretty much ignored or easily shut down with 1 disable.
Farm 30 min get orchid,bkb,deso
GG end
I play clinkz all the time
I play!
Ok clinkz might never be picked on pro scene. But now lets talk about how Tiny winrate are below 40% despite his previous winrate are almost 50%. And also Bloodseeker, don't forget him
Pretty sure being able to evade 4 of sven's strikes while he's red is very useful..
If only Sven actually threw his sword(
I'd say the biggest reason he isn't seen much is his niche status. For instance, if you were playing either him or nyx, most of the time you'd be able to do enough damage with nyx to get the job done. Sure, clinkz does MORE damage, but it's often more damage than is necessary. So yeah, too many eggs in one basket.
@KawaiiSocks ^^
"Why nobody picks wyvern on pro-scene and how to fix that"
Would love such content. Pleez senpai.
Attract some attention to the winter waifu.
I do agree that clinkz falls off lategame in teamfights, I do like to situationally pickup a blink dagger on him. I think he can do well at assassinating the backline which can swing fights, but getting to the backline can be troublesome, and the blink helps in this regard. The question is, when do you pick it up?
the more i read this dotabuff articles the more i realize the writer is write them by his own interests , simply the hero that writer likes is
god and the hero writer hate sucks. writer : gyro got buffed he is OP he must be nerfed , slark got buff and he say : He is not op he is the best ( i like slark i can't deal with gyro) spectre :59% winrate in +5k writer now : she is slow she is useless , clinkz the same and even less : clinkz the best he must be in pro games .. illogical.
^^ I actually can't understand what you are saying. Is this even english?
Actually appreciated this article providing some insight on a widely ignored hero.
Clinkz is so clunky, boring to play and one dimensitonal that's all I have to say xd
New clinks feels so clunky, a lvl 1 strafe now only provides 80 atk speed for 3.5 scnds instead of 140 atk speed for 4 scnds and u would need at least 2 lvl of strafe to have 140 atk speed and make this hero works again, while u know leveling strafe at lvl 2 would requires lvl 8 unless he maxed strafe before searing arrow, this reduces his early capabilities badly.
No one plays Clinkz? Bullshit! He's 59th in popularity according to dotabuff! I love Clinkz, don't get me wrong. My other favorite heroes are scattered but I know the ones that are actually barely played and the ones that aren't. I might not see many Spectre's in my games but I know she's picked often enough she's at 42 popularity right now. Same with Clockwerk and Terrorblade, they may not be in the top half of the popular heroes, but their both sitting at 61st and 78th, respectively. Now looking at Heroes like Enchantress (99th), Winter Wyvern (100th), Elder Titan (104th), Brewmaster (107th), Arc Warden (113th), and most of all Visage, who was literally the least played hero before people realized he was actually dominating as a Carry. At no level of MMR is Clinkz at a pickrate under 7%. He's a solid choice so why such a bad Title to this article? Clickbait? If so then I get it, you definitely got me there. LOL
If you read the article, you can see the author talks about the tournament scene and most of his articles are focused on that. Also when he analyze something he doesn't just do it on how much he likes the hero but on the numbers provided. The core of this article is, since clinz looks pretty good in pubs, why he isn't picked in the tournament scene?
Some hypothesis are then presented.
Level 10 talent - remake to give clinkz lifesteal which will be more effective.
Clinkz one love
only reason to not pick clinkz is probably zeus's soaring winrates
i main clinkz
@XIII ah, there just got to be a hate-on-the-article-writer comment on every single thread eh? Maybe you twts should try to make your own threads and try to top theirs
Clinkz is simply not picked in pro play because teams can very easily shut him down with counterpicks and teamplay. He is picked in pubs because random players do not follow the same playstyle as pro teams do, random people playing random heroes.
you guys literally wrote this same shit 3 years ago.
^ The game just 9 months ago was completely different to how it is now.
I just hit 1k games of Clinkz, 64%-ish winrate, & was ranked on dotabuff for a little while as 72nd. I say all this not for praise but to show context.
Someone made a comment about how clinkz is terrible in teamfights or when your opponent wants to group. Thats correct if youre behind. But if you're not behind, it's easy gg. In fact the moment I get my, Deso 12-15 mins (varies), I chat wheel "group-up" a few times. I let the teamfight start, then go once im confident I can strafe without getting stunned. Generally speaking (situational) I focus the heroes that have stuns or CC that havent cast there abilities. Of course I play a little more aggro with BKB.
Tips form my 1k games. . .
o Safelane carry (or mid)
o When you are not last-hitting, "cast" (so you do not aggo wave) searing arrows onto your lane match-up as much as possible.
o Build in-order (almost always): RoA, Brown Boots, Blight Stone, Med of Courage (if going), Blight Stone (if went MoC), Treads, Desolator.
o Item based on priority: BKB, MKB, Solar Crest, Linkens, Hurricane Pike, etc. . .
If you are behind/ cant kill quickly enough go crystalys into daedulus
Attempt getting your lanes tower down by 8 mins & go to the next ones (gank the heroes in the lane along the way)
Almost never fight without ulty. Your ult is so important.
"He is strong like this, he is strong like that... Blah blah blah..."
Oh c'mon, he is great at ganking and snowballs AF if gets many kills early, but what happens if he cant gank people? An useless underfarmed skeleton is the answer =)) he has no tools for flash farming like Luna or Gyro, if the enemy team plays defensively, our Clinkz NW will be very, very weak.
And even if Clinkz got some kills but his NW does not own enemy cores, he will still be weak AF. His kits are suitable to shutdown completely one target and that's all, but Gyro and Luna can spread nightmare on entire enemy lineup while still being able to deal an enormous amount of dmg for a single target.
A suitable solution is to make Clinkz's strafe dodge both basic atks and spells, and make one of his lvl 10 talent "strafe hit 2 more targets" and maybe some teams will show him mercy
Kinda like drow.. nobody plays her as well,but because it's aura shes still fit certain lineup... But horrible wave clearance.. there's no possible to solve it as the creep wave will fall on you passed the 40 min mark and all hell will collapse... Same goes with slark,people need to interrogate with push lane will he does the killing on the map.. but if his behind,he would just be behind... The patches is so unforgiving withe extra catapult and creep wave it just literally collapse the hero..
no flashfarm, if can't snowball by killing supports, -25.
hate this hero.
Рот ебал
I'm top in it! add me to know how to play with this hero
Clinkz helped me up my MMR though hahaha
He's a pub star for sure; but in high MMR or pro games, invis isn't a viable initiation method. What he is good for is sieging high ground at 20 minutes when you hit a timing.
Fkn love this hero!
A big reason why he's not played in pro-scene is because his ultimate can be played around by top tier players. They will usually spot clinkz first and then see he's ult is due to run out in 30 seconds. SO they smoke at 15 and start a team fight, so clinkz will be forced to fight as the squishy fuck he is without 6 or run off and eat a creep and come back to the fight that looks how a 4v5 will usually look..
Im sure this introduces counter play, like allied HotD creeps following him around and Bone Boy waiting to use it, but then he's vunerable, and farms slower.
I think he's just a bit unreliable, needs a good draft soley based around him, HAS to snowball and there's just better options out there. Slark being one of them..
Funny that this is a post, because I've been spamming the fuck outta him recently. He's great.
^
The author's point isn't that he is unplayable, but that he is completely ignored at high mmr and pro levels. He is like Ursa in the sense that he is a pub stomper. He prays on teams that don't group, and don't get wards/dust, and may be slow to react to a strafed surprise and allow you to free farm.
i'm a clinkz lover, this blog is very true. well done. i stop playing for more than a year. see my activity: https://www.dotabuff.com/players/335294537/activity
I rise from herald 2 to crusader 3 in just 20 days. see my winrate trends https://www.dotabuff.com/players/335294537/trends from 43% to 60%. someday, if i reached somewhere at ancient medal, I'll write a full blog on how pro's play clinkz. based from what I've learnt watching high level clinkz player, very much aware now on their itemization, its like most of them follow certain formula ^^, i think only clinkz lover knows... when and the right timing to buy orchid, deso, & nullifier.
Maelstrom for team fights ! :D [20th]
Why is Clinkz a 'good counter to the most popular item of the pro-circuit, Helm of the Dominator'?