Underrated Dota 2 items: Drum of Endurance

One of the most underrated Dota 2 items in patch 7.34e is Drum of Endurance. This item is bought in approximately 1/300 cases, which means that very few players ever consider including it in their early game build.

No doubt, this is a support/offlaner item in most cases. Its current stats are +7 strength, +7 intelligence, and +20 movement speed aura. The main strength of the item is its active ability, called Endurance. This ability gives allies in a 1200 radius +45 attack speed and +13% movement speed for 6 seconds.

This is a substantial buff in the early game and could lead to getting lots of lane kills if purchased early enough. However, to get a good timing, one would need to ask a core hero to buy it. If the carry or the offlaner decide to rush it, and their team understands the importance of pressuring the enemy once the item is bought, this could lead to a quick snowball effect.

One of the reasons why so few people buy Drum of Endurance is related to the item’s lack of utility outside of fights and objective-taking maneuvers.

If you’re engaged in an early game team fight, having +45 attack speed, +20 speed, and +13% movement speed for everyone on your team is a huge advantage. But if everyone just wants to farm, the item doesn’t give you enough stats to justify its purchase. At 1200 gold, it would make sense. At 1650 it’s much too expensive.

Buying the item later

Even if you don’t buy the item in the early game, buying it a bit later for the mid game fights is still a good idea, as long as the hero that buys it is a support. You don’t want an item like this on a core that’s supposed to scale. If you waste gold on it when you could be buying a lot of damage, magic immunity, or some other useful thing, you will fall behind and lose.

Drum of Endurance is very useful when you have allies that can make excellent use of the +45 attack speed and +13% movement speed. For example, if your mid is a Templar Assassin, giving her these buffs will enable her to output a lot more damage. But if your mid is a Queen of Pain, the item’s Endurance will mostly go to waste.

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