It is no surprise the amount of griefing on 6 null talismans and big mana pool abuse heroes surged after the null talisman reducing the manacost, but rejoice it is no more.
Are you tired of Storm Spirit escaping your grasp with only six Null Talismans? The 7.31d patch, which completely rebuilt Null, has put an end to that.
The Null Talisman now offers more max mana rather than a reduction in mana cost, as well as a modest boost in mana regen. For most heroes that buy the item anyway, it’s a little tweak—and perhaps a slight nerf in later stages of the game—but it’s the death knell for Storm Spirit.
Null Talisman Storm, I bid you farewell and hope to never see you again.
Storm’s multiple-Nulls build was responsible for catapulting him to the top of many players’ draught boards. This hero was frequently first-phased picked and banned, which is unusual for heroes who can only play mid.
Even more unusual is for pros to sell their Power Treads once the 25-minute mark has passed in lieu of extra Nulls.
Storm’s problem isn’t that he can one-shot entire teams with such a low mana cost; it’s that he has so many possibilities to do so.
Ball Lightning’s consumption is nearly completely based on percentage, therefore it’s designed to keep even a farmed Storm with massive mana items from flying all over the map. Storm, on the other hand, has a very efficient interaction with mana cost reduction because of this quirk.
Instead of needing to store mana wisely, a Storm Spirit with the old Null may constantly trigger his ultimate. It’s even more tough to bear because this technique isn’t tied to a difficult-to-come-by equipment like Earthshaker’s old Fae Grenade-Enchant Totem combo, which you can obtain for 505 gold.
Storm now has to construct actual things as a result of the new Null talismans.. The Aghanim’s Shard and Scepter combo is still good for clearing out entire teams with Overload bounces, but he’ll have to be more careful with his mana consumption and skill usages instead of zipping in and out.
