Dota 2 item Bloodthorn has a pretty nasty looking icon in-game, accurately portraying just how powerful the infamous weapon is in Valve’s hit MOBA. Turns out if you show in-game icons to people who have never touched the game, the vast majority put the reviled blade at the top of the ‘I don’t want to get stabbed with that’ list.
Bloodthorn’s abilities are incredibly powerful in Dota 2. Specifically it’s perfect for slashing Intelligence heroes’ mana regeneration, whilst also providing you with increased magic resistance so that you can get up close and personal with some of the game’s most irritating mages.
If that wasn’t enough, its twin abilities Soul Rend and Mage Slayer also pile the pressure onto those pesky spell-slingers, silencing them and applying a huge 35% damage debuff to their spells when hit. It goes without saying that it’s pretty powerful, hence it requires components from the Secret Shop.
It turns out people who have never even lifted Bloodthorn think it looks like Dota 2’s most powerful weapon, though, coming to that conclusion based on the in-game icon alone.
On the official Dota 2 subreddit, one fan writes “I made a site where people who haven’t played Dota 2 compare two items and pick the stronger one. Here you can see the results.”
The concept is pretty simple: load up the website and pick whatever picture looks stronger. After a few picks, you’ll be asked “bored already? View result,” where you can check out which items non-Dota players thought looked the scariest.
Bloodthorn is head and shoulders above its competitors with 1016 votes, officially making it Dota 2’s most intimidating weapon (according to noobs, of course). Mjollnir and Radiance take second and third place, with the likes of Tranquil Boots and Perseverance lagging behind.
This data leads the player to conclude “Dota 2 item images actually represent their relative strength pretty well. Bloodthorn is the strongest looking item according to people who haven’t played Dota.”
Others have attempted to psychoanalyse why participants chose the options they did. “Stronk: sharps, pointies, swords. Not stronk: sticks, balls, rings, shoes” one writes, with another adding “And within that, glowing = stronk!”
While this survey may not be entirely accurate (after all, I’ve played Dota and I played about on the website), we do have a full overview of the best Dota 2 neutral items. Additionally, we have a breakdown of all of the Dota 2 console commands, launch options and cheats if you’re looking to customize your experience.