Watson explained why Anti-Mage is useless in the current patch

The professional Dota 2 player Alimzhan "Watson" Islambekov discussed the weaknesses of Anti-Mage in the current meta. A clip from his stream was shared by the author of the Telegram channel LEGENDWP DOTA 2.

In response to the question about why he doesn’t play Anti-Mage, he remarked that there was no point in training with a "dead hero." He suggested that the hero might become viable again if supports didn’t have around 3,500 HP with Bracer. He illustrated this by saying that if Anti-Mage jumped on Tuskarr and drained all his mana, Tuskarr would still have about 3,000 HP left, meaning Anti-Mage would deal negligible damage.

He further pointed out that even if Anti-Mage had Battle Fury and Manta Style, opponents could simply purchase Crimson Guard and Pipe of Insight and go for structures.

Previously, Team Spirit analyst Mark "sikle" Lerman expressed similar concerns about the high HP of supports. He acknowledged that while it should be nerfed, the issue wasn't solely about HP. He suggested that Valve should consider nerfing the HP of supports, but also highlighted that the problem lies in resistances and the changes to barriers for heroes. He noted that the armour system hasn't been altered in a decade, and there are still too many sources of damage, which complicates the game further.