Is Storm actually in that bad of a place? Aghs seems like it would make him a pretty good initiator but I'm not actually sure if it's a gimmick or not.
Aghs is nice, but its a 3rd item at best and I'd get it only if my team has a hero that synergizes with the Aoe pull like say Enigma or if I want to be able to grab a hero through linken's sphere. The main Issue for that item is that it provides raw mana instead of only int and has no % mana regen boost.
The other item buffs that affected him this patch were good. Bloodthorn is a good lategame item on him, the 4 extra Bloodstone charges really helps and from what I've seen you get Bloodstone first item on him almost 100% of the time, then get orchid.
However, Storm's problem isn't in the mid to late game, its in the early game. Having Static Remnant +30 mana cost at level 1 hurt his laning alot basically made it unwise to get pull until level 10 meaning the 6.86 buff of reducing the cost of pull doesn't become a factor until that point. Not to mention bottle regen nerf which came at the same time as the cost increase.
Of course you adapt to the increased cost, to compensate for it I max Remnant and Overload at the same time so that at level 7 its 3-0-3, and sometimes I get pull at level 8 with that skill build, but essentially it means you rely more on good ult positining to maximize remnant damage.
The starting int and int growth buffs were minor, but nice and they did slightly compensate for remnant cost. But the issue is still that the hero can't kill anything at level 6 except low hp heroes or with the assistance of your team in most cases.
He basically needs his Bloodstone to be effective in fights and then that item gives no damage so his impact takes a while to be felt.
Now you have to farm on the hero and rely less on ganks early in the game.
Obviously he's not as bad as he used to be, but is he viable in pubs vs heroes that come online and are active on the map at level 6 and can apply pressure to other lanes much more than he can?
Hero is becoming ok in pubs and I'm seeing players good at him who are starting to pick him again like !Attacker and Sumail so I'm hopeful.
I'm picking him a tad more than during 6.86 but I'm still trying around builds and he's fun unless you run into some jackass who still has Storm PTSD and instalocks Silencer, but there's eul's for that.
