Valve’s Facet rework backfires: Nature’s Prophet emerges stronger than ever

Nature’s Prophet was at his lowest point during Valve’s introduction of Innates and Facets in Patch 7.36. His Ironwood Treant took a few updates to find its footing, but once it did, it brought him back to the spotlight. Instead of tuning the Facet, Valve removed it, replacing it with another and buffing Soothing Saplings.

However, this Facet rework backfired, as Nature’s Prophet is thriving more than ever. How did one of the worst characters last year become one of the most contested and successful heroes in matchmaking and pro play? It turns out that many factors contributed to his current overpowered state. 

Patch 7.36 was one of Dota 2’s major patches, adding Innates and Facets to all heroes. Nature’s Prophet received two Facets: Soothing Saplings and Ironwood Treant. At launch, Ironwood failed to make an impression. Players lamented the swap of reliable multi-treants for one slower, less versatile unit, especially at the opportunity cost of talent trees that previously amplified Nature’s Call.

Additionally, the patch was rough on the hero as he was the target of multiple nerfs to his overall damage. These nerfs were salt added to the wounds from previous patches that gutted his stats, and this saw his win rate plummet to as low as 30%.

However, the following patches laid the groundwork for Nature’s Prophet’s return to form. For over a year’s worth of patches, Nature’s Prophet was blessed with buff after buff until he became a staple pick in matchmaking and pro games. 

In particular, the Greater Treant created by the Ironwood Facet became tankier and more lethal throughout each update. The bulky Treant was a lane bully with a high base HP and the Reinforced passive, which meant it took less damage from heroes, illusions, and summoned units. 

This strategy cost nothing for Nature’s Prophet, who was content right-clicking at a distance while his bodyguard did the work. Out of the laning phase, the Greater Treants continue to put in work on waves and objectives, making them a splitpushing menace. No tower was safe from Nature’s Prophet’s global teleportation and buffed-up treants

In 7.38, the hero underwent a groundbreaking change, becoming a Universal hero from Intelligence. Nature’s Prophet was already a flexible pick with many viable build paths, but this solidified his strengths even more. 

In the Immortal bracket, his win rate stabilised at above 50% with a high contest rate. He was also a favoured pick among pros, where players like miCKe and Satanic leverage his global presence and high attack speed to win tournaments.

On Patch 7.39, Nature’s Prophet’s problematic Ironwood Treant Facet was removed, replaced with Nature’s Profit. The Facet spawns a money tree whenever he kills an enemy hero or one dies nearby. After the novelty wore off, the community turned its attention to another buff to the hero in that patch. 

His Soothing Saplings Facet, largely ignored for the past year, was reworked to grant a strong heal per second aura. Furthermore, using Sprout affects all regular trees nearby his enchanted ones, letting his healing reach more of his teammates.

If you thought Greater Treant was a lane bully, this Facet enabled Nature’s Prophet himself to outtrade anyone. Sprout was a spammable ability that dealt instant damage (instead of damage over time from the past), and now the additional heal helps survive or go even against previously difficult lane matchups.

Recently, Nature’s Prophet has been finding massive success with the buffed Spirit Vessel and Blademail, enabling him as a support, too. His global presence is more than welcome in Dota 2’s expanded map.

Nature’s Prophet is far from his famine phase from a year ago, and he’s now one of the most contested and successful heroes in the current meta. EWC 2025 saw him reach a ridiculous 75% winrate across 24 games, and banned in 42 matches (74% contest rate). In matchmaking, his contest rate dwarfs the second place and boasts an above-average win rate. 

Ironwood Treant broke Dota 2 by allowing Nature’s Prophet to bully lane opponents and siege effortlessly. Soothing Saplings is overtuned and smooths out the hero’s weak early game while staying relevant throughout the match.

Historically, Nature’s Prophet has experienced periods of dominance in the meta or being largely overlooked. His global presence and ability to splitpush defined the “rat Dota” playstyle popularised by Alliance in TI3. The hero’s real strength comes down to raw numbers and stats.

Nature’s Prophet has one of the lowest base attack times in the game at 1.5. This puts him second to Juggernaut and Anti-Mage, both at 1.4. Because of this, he has natural synergy with Maelstorm and its upgrade, Mjollnir, and can effectively use whichever item is most potent in the current patch. As seen with his success with Spirit Vessel and Blademail.

His change to become a Universal hero amplified his role as a core. This means that Nature’s Prophet benefits more from his amazing stat gain per level, compared to when he was an Intelligence hero.

Nature’s Prophet relies on pressuring the map, gaining an early lead, and closing out the game before he gets outscaled. He leverages his teleport and Wrath of Nature ultimate to farm fast for his gold networth. Because, as a core, he lacks the traditional abilities that can enable him to stand his ground against other carries. 

As a support, he heavily relies on Sprout to lock down enemies before they can turn around and burst his teammates. On an even or losing game, Nature’s Prophet’s ultimate lacks the clutch potential of big teamfighting abilities like Phoenix’s Supernova. He’s a feast or famine hero, in-game and concept.

Balancing Nature’s Prophet is a slippery slope. Indirect nerfs to his items or his stat gain can destabilise his entire gameplay loop by hampering his scaling. Ironwood Treant and Soothing Saplings both anchored him in the early game, where he’s at his most vulnerable, and these Facets need tuning to give the hero a clear weakness.

Nature’s Prophet has been strong for over a year in matchmaking and pro, and Valve may overcorrect in balancing him. Ironwood Treant and Soothing Saplings both worked to make him have an impact early on, and they were overpowered in their current state. Valve should start conservatively with those pain points before undoing their hard work over the year.

Ultimately, Nature’s Prophet doesn’t have significant reasons to pick him over heroes. He’s largely dependent on his raw numbers, favoured items, and whether his flexible itemisation can help shut down the enemy team. Many factors could see him push back into irrelevant shadows with forgotten heroes like Earth Spirit.