Dota 2‘s world-changing patch 7.00 was unleashed upon the world recently. Hero talents were added, the map was changed significantly, and the UI was overhauled. If that wasn’t overwhelming enough, the first ever hero unique to Dota 2 was also added in the form of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King.
The Basics
Monkey King is an Agility hero, falling most firmly into the role of a fight-heavy “position 2” carry. Despite the fact he has an attack range of 300, he is still considered a melee hero, meaning he benefits fully from items such as Echo Sabre and Orb of Venom. Monkey King excels in many areas, with strong escape abilities, a scaling nuke that also stuns, a strong passive, and a scaling AoE ultimate.
Skills
Boundless Strike
This is a fantastic, multi-use ability. Not only is it an AoE stun, but its damage also scales with yours, making for solid damage throughout the game. The main downside is the lengthy 25 second cooldown. If you miss this spell when going for a gank, it is going to be difficult to follow it up. It also procs all attack modifiers, except for cleave. Due to the fact that the stun duration is the only thing that scales, most would suggest putting a value point into this spell and then maxing after Jingu Mastery.
Tree Dance
A unique movement ability, Monkey King can use this ability to leap at 1,000 range onto a tree, making him invisible without wards or flying vision. Therefore, it’s very handy for escaping or jumping up side lanes to split-push or gank. Important to note is the fact that, much like Blink Dagger, taking damage puts this spell on cooldown for 3 seconds. Also, having the tree you’re standing on cut down causes you to fall and become stunned for 4 seconds. This ability shares levels with his next ability, Primal Spring.
Primal Spring
While perched upon a tree, Monkey King can use this skill to begin channeling a leap. After 1.6 seconds of channeling he jumps down to the targeted area, dealing strong AoE damage and slowing enemies. The channel can be ended prematurely if your enemies are about to leave the area, but it reduces the damage and slow. This is your main initiation tool when ganking from trees, as the initial damage is strong at later levels and the slow makes landing your Boundless Strike much easier. Although the damage and slow scales with levels, your other skills are more important. Put a value point in this ability early and max it last.
Jingu Mastery
Monkey King’s passive is a strong one. Jingu Mastery isn’t active at all times; rather, it builds up charges on enemy heroes when they are auto-attacked. After hitting a hero for the fourth time, Monkey King gains 4 charged attacks that gain bonus damage and lifesteal. This ability is your main tool in lane. Your attack range takes many by surprise, meaning that harassing an enemy going for last hits is both easy and contributes to gaining Jingu stacks. If you can get your four stacks, don’t be timid, it’s time to be a bully.
Mischief
Easily one of the more ridiculous spells ever added to Dota, Mischief causes Monkey King to disguise himself. It may seem like a useless troll ability, but it has some interesting interactions. When mischief-ing close to a tree, you become a tree, making escaping much easier. Additionally, while disguised, creeps (both hostile and neutral) and towers (including the Fountain) will ignore Monkey King. Finally, while in the Roshan pit, casting mischief causes Monkey King to transform into either the Aegis of the Immortal or Cheese. The ability itself does not need to be leveled.
Wukong’s Commmand
As Monkey King’s main teamfight ability, Wukong’s Command is a strong AoE ability wherein he summons 14 monkey soldiers in an AoE around himself. The soldiers attack with Monkey King’s attack, including attack modifiers, but do not gain benefits from Jingu Mastery. Leaving the circle or dying will cause the soldiers to disappear. This ability can be very strong in the late game with a farmed Monkey King, as the soldiers technically hit as hard as you do. Timing it with an AoE stun such as Ravage or Overgrowth is a surefire way to deal lots of damage.
Core Item Choices
Monkey King himself is a very versatile hero, and he can adapt to several different game states as long as his farm is sufficient. Items such as Desolator and Eye of Skadi cause your ultimate to have a lot more impact. Orb of Venom can turn you into a terror in lane. Phase Boots and Echo Sabre are excellent choices in almost every game. The former gives you the movement speed to stay on top of enemies while boosting the damage of Boundless Strike, whereas the latter is exceptional due to the great stats, the increased ability to gank, and the fact that the slow is applied with both your Q and ultimate.
General Strategy
Monkey King may be a carry, but he does struggle in the late game against other carries with similar farm. Take advantage of his mid-game strengths by farming heavily early, then ganking and fighting with your team in the mid-game, making space for your main carry and taking objectives. Later in the game you may not be able to fight toe to toe with a Spectre or Anti-Mage, but utilizing your escape skills with a Boots of Travel pickup mean you can split-push effectively and search for lonely supports to pick off.
Playing Against Monkey King
Monkey King can seem like an overwhelming enemy to compete against after your first couple of matches. He seems to do nearly everything well and doesn’t struggle in any stage of the game. That doesn’t mean he is without weaknesses, however. A below-average strength gain, low base armor, and an item build that avoids most survivability items means that catching the monkey is often the hardest part of killing him. Additionally, his basic abilities are on a long cooldown. Getting hit by Primal Spring into Boundless Strike can feel oppressive, but if he misses these abilities and you are tanky enough, bursty enough, or have team support, you can turn on him, and he has little to do besides jump away. To limit the jumping away, pick heroes or buy items than can clear trees. Falling out of a tree causes an extremely long stun, which spells certain doom for him in the late game.
Read up all all the changes included in Dota 2 patch 7.00 on the Dota 2 Wiki.
Bryan Herren
Pairing a love of DOTA 2 with traditional sports statistics, Bryan previously worked as a statsman for internationally renowned gaming tournaments. He then joined the Beyond the Summit crew to help design and develop several features for the game, such as Teamfight Recap. Now, he lives in Alabama with his wife and works as a freelance production assistant and writer.