https://riki.dotabuff.com/c/da3673618feeebc227560e198962245c3a377078/687474703a2f2f692e696d6775722e636f6d2f57377a615835662e706e67
Image by Karkeng Chan Jia Jyn

Top 10 Aghanim’s Scepters for Position 4s

Starstorm

by

Next in our series for Top 10 Aghanim’s Scepters is the position 4. This position is known for their playmaking abilities on the map. Not all Aghanim’s Scepters are upgraded equally though, so here is our top 10 list of the best upgrades for this position.

Mirana

This upgrade was nerfed and fell off the map but thanks to a recent change reducing its cooldown, it's back in the meta.

This upgrade turns Mirana into a jumping burst damage cannon and one of the best, if not the best, wave clearers in the game. A double Starstorm kills every creep in a wave, and she can follow it up with an arrow to kill the siege creep.

Mirana can unleash a triple Starstorm or at the very least, a double Starstorm in a large area for massive burst damage. No matter how tanky the hero, they’ll feel that. By blinking or leaping in, casting Starstorm, and then leaping out, Mirana can consistently pump out high burst damage in a large area with little risk.

Pugna

Lifedrain

Pugna’s Lifedrain is a great spell that has a lot of versatility. If your enemy has no stun, then they’ll have a hard time winning a health trading war if you’re casting Lifedrain.

Usually, you’d save Lifedrain for when you have a perfect set up because of its cooldown but with this upgrade, you have much more flexibility for when you want to use it.

The potential for this spell opens up greatly with no cooldown. You can save your allies one second, and then regain your health by draining an enemy the next second. Pair this with an Aether Lens and a tanky teammate, and running at the enemy will be a jog in the park.

Lion

Finger of death

Finger of Death is one of the most well-recognized spells in the game. When you see that red lighting bolt, you can’t help but notice. This upgrade turns that single lighting bolt into a multi lightning bolt in a 325 radius.

This turns one of the best single target burst damage spells into arguably the best area of effect burst damage spells. At level three, it becomes a 20-second cooldown which is surprising considering how powerful this spell is. All in all, this upgrade is one of the best in the game because of all the ways this powerful spell becomes upgraded.

Dark Willow

Shadow Realm

When Dark Willow activates Shadow Realm, she becomes untargetable for a maximum of five seconds. This makes Shadow Realm one of the best survivability spells in the game. The damage buff is nice but how many squishy supports are able to become untargetable?

With this upgrade, Dark Willow turns into a long-range burst damage right-clicker. She can start teeing off on enemies from 1075 attack range. This has great potential for base defense since she can deliver high amounts of damage from a long distance and doesn't have to worry about getting jumped on since she’s untargetable.

Venomancer

Poison Nova

Venomancer makes this list thanks to the huge damage increase in an already powerful spell. With an Aghanim's Scepter upgrade on Poison Nova, the damage becomes too high to fight into. If Venomancer builds this item at around 20-30 minutes, most heroes won't have any way to deal with it.

If, as a position 4, you build Aghanim's Scepter early, that becomes a massive boost to team fight. Your only disable is a slow but when you apply the Poison Nova debuff to multiple enemies, they have to run away, which turns it into a sort of debuff, or they'll fight while losing a massive amount of health.

Disruptor

Static Storm

One of the few abilities in the game that can mute enemies. Static Storm becomes an incredible lockdown spell when combined with Kinetic Field with this upgrade.

Enemies will be muted, silenced, trapped, and receiving a ton of damage. With just one other ally, you can deliver a huge amount of damage to as many as five heroes, who might not be attacking back because being trapped, muted, silenced, and damaged can cause panic and running in circles syndrome.

Sand King

Burrowstrike

This upgrade turns Burrowstrike into a 1400 range AoE stun. It also applies Caustic Finale to heroes hit by Burrowstrike.

With this item, you almost don’t have to buy a blink dagger. The range is so long and it opens up a lot of playmaking potential. You can use it to escape, stunning enemies in the way, and also to initiate from a far distance. The Caustic Finale buff is also useful for dealing with heroes such as Phantom Lancer or Terrorblade.

Rubick

Spell Steal

Spell Steal is one of the most powerful spells in the game. Spells stolen by Rubick become even stronger when used by Rubick because he has 0 cast time. We saw how useful spells like Fissure were on Rubick at The International 2018 in game five of the grand finals with JerAx

This upgrade also reduces the cooldown to two seconds and always applies the Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade on the stolen ability. With a two-second cooldown and an Aether Lens, a Rubick in a good position can unleash devastating combos in team fights. Heroes like Enigma or Tidehunter will be hesitant to use their ultimate when they know a Rubick is lurking in the background.

Kunkka

Torrent Storm

A new ability and recent addition, Torrent Storm creates 20 random intervals of Torrents in an 1100 radius in a 0.25-second interval for five seconds. For comparison's sake, Fissure on Earthshaker has a 1400 distance so you’re getting an extremely large area of effect storm of torrents surrounding Kunkka.

This is very scary to fight into for any hero without Black King Bar. Say goodbye to using any sort of channeling ability unless you want to test lady luck. When this spell becomes activated, you really can’t fight in an 1100 radius unless you’re ahead but even then, the amount of disables combined with a Ghost Ship and follow up spells means you’ll be facing a huge area of effect stun-lock.

Earthshaker

Enchant Totem

This upgrade allows you to fly through the air for 1100 distance and when you land, Enchant Totem is cast.

This is similar to a Blink Dagger effect, except not instant, and you are able to cast it even while taking damage.

This sets up Earthshaker to initiate multiple times in a fight, using Fissure to start, then jumping in and stunning with Aftershock and Enchant Totem, and then using Echo Slam. This can be done multiple times in a fight (except Echo Slam), so the stun locking potential of Earthshaker enhances greatly.

You also gain a great survivability boost. You can jump away across terrain while being chased by the enemy even if they’re attacking you, unlike a Blink Dagger. With a five-second cooldown, you should be able to juke out enemies across high and low ground if they’re not killing you within those few seconds.