/ 6.83 Patch Analysis
6.83 Update Analysis
By Daisy Cormac
Valve has recently released the latest changes to DotA 2 in their ‘Shifting Snows’ update. GGNOREAD brings you our analysis of the alterations and how they may affect gameplay and the meta.
General Changes:
First rune spawns are now both Bounty Runes that are twice as effective (50/50 gold/xp to 100/100)
This change reduces the likelihood of a lucky first blood, such as a Treant Protector picking up a haste rune. However, the gold and xp increase still makes it a desirable pick-up for the supports. So still expect skirmishes in the river before the horn blows!
All Illusions now deal 25% less damage to structures
Say goodbye to Terrorblade and Naga Siren pushing strategies. Though they will still be able to push lanes fast, their rapid tower-taking abilities have just taken a massive nerf.
Melee and Ranged Barracks bounty reduced from 352-370 to 100-150
Melee and Ranged Barracks now give 125 and 75 gold to each player, respectively
Not game breaking, this change basically just redistributes the gold gained from taking a rax. Simply speaking, if you destroy the barracks you will receive about 100 gold less than you would have in 6.82 but everyone else on your team will receive around 3-4 last hits worth of gold instead. Overall, a higher team gold advantage and a lower individual gold gain.
Ancient Granite Golem health reduced from 2000 to 1700
Ancient Granite Golem now has an aura which grants 15% bonus health to its allies
An interesting change, this will make stacking and killing ancients that much harder to do, especially if the auras from multiple golems stack with each other. This change is also an indirect buff to Chen.
Maximum Attack Speed increased from 500 to 600 (the primary impact of this is on abilities like Windranger’s Focus Fire and Ursa’s Overpower)
Overall, it will not change gameplay much, as most heroes don’t reach an attack speed of 500, except with certain skills. This is simply an indirect buff to Windranger, Ursa and Troll Warlord while situationally buffing Huskar and Alchemist.
The following abilities no longer have restrictions when cast on Spell Immune Allies: Kunkka’s X Marks The Spot, Magnus’s Empower, Treant Protector’s Living Armor, and Warlock’s Shadow Word
Not a large change, but it allows more buffs to be placed upon a carry without fear of losing it when a BKB is used.
The Heroes:
Borrowed Time duration increased from 3/4/5 to 4/5/6
On the whole, Abaddon has received a small buff that is unlikely to affect gameplay very much, especially in higher level games. However, in lower-level pubs where Abaddon is often played as a carry, he just became that much more unstoppable. Expect to see his win rate jump a point or two.
Greevil’s Greed base bonus gold increased from 4/6/8/10 to 6/8/10/12
Greevil’s Greed extra bonus gold per stack from 1/2/3/4 to 3
Greevil’s Greed max bonus gold from 30 to 12/20/28/36
Greevil’s Greed recent kill window duration increased from 25 to 30
Dammit Icefrog, what do you want Alchemist to be? This change means he can farm much quicker and come online as a carry a lot sooner, so expect to see a few more carry Alchemists. However, it doesn’t address the fact that his skills aren’t very good to be either a carry or a support. What lies in store for Alchemist, who knows?
Battle Hunger duration from 10/12/14/16 to 10
Battle Hunger damage from 15/20/25/30 to 16/24/32/40
Battle Hunger cast range from 900 to 750
Battle Hunger movement and slow from 10 to 12%
Battle Hunger mana cost from 75/85/95/105 to 75
The changes to Battle Hunger are unlikely to have much impact in a game, the change in how the DoT is dealt, the range and the movement speed changes are all relatively minor. The most important thing to note, however, is that the mana cost of it is reduced. Think of how much removing the mana cost of blink dagger affected game play for heroes like Axe, Removing Battle Hunger’s mana cost is a significant buff to a mana hungry hero like Axe.
Nightmare cooldown from 15 to 16/15/14/13
Not much to see here, the cool down has been rescaled. Still expect Bane players everywhere to fuck this spell up.
Beastmaster
Call of the Wild now always provides a Hawk and a Boar at each level, and each now scales per level
Hawk health from 50/50/100/100 to 40/60/80/100
Hawk movement speed from 270/270/400/400 to 250/300/350/400
Hawk day sight from 500/500/ to 700/00
Hawk night sight from 500/500/ to 700/800/900/1000
Hawk kill bounty from 30/30/65/65 to 30/40/50/60
Boar health from 0/400/400/500 to 200/300/400/500
Boar base damage from 0/26/26/46 to 15/30/45/60
Boar base attack time from 0/1.5/1.5/1 to 1.25
Boar poison slow from 0/20/20/35% to 10/20/30/40%
This is a damn fine change to Beastmaster. With a little bit of micro, he could become a very viable offlaner. Having a boar at level 1 instead of level 3 means finding cs in-lane is much easier and he can start stacking ancients from the get-go. The buff to the boar is also very welcome, previously it felt as if the boar was doing nothing in fights.
Bloodseeker
Added to Captain’s Mode
Bloodrage no longer amplifies outgoing damage if the damage has the no-reflection flag
Being added to Captain’s Mode is a big deal. You can definitely expect to see him in competitive matches, utilising Bloodrage to give the carry absurd amounts of damage. A six-second AOE silence and a BKB-piercing nuke that prevents movement are also nothing to scoff at. Furthermore, Blademail Bloodseekers just took a massive nerf, so that’s excellent news for pubs everywhere. You’ll probably still see them, but they won’t be so deadly.
Bounty Hunter
Track bonus gold for self increased from 150/200/250 to 200/275/350
Track cooldown reduced from 10/7/5 to 4
Bounty Hunter advances his claim in the ‘Holla Holla Get Dolla’ hall of fame. Being able to potentially track a whole team in 20 seconds, and then gain up to 2000 bonus gold for it is a huge deal, especially seeing as his Shuriken bounces off of all tracked targets. Bounty Hunter has just been strongly buffed and is now a lot more useful.
Brewmaster
Base Armor reduced from 4 to 2
Thunder Clap hero slow duration from 4.25 to 4
Thunder Clap cooldown from 12 to 13
Is this the end of the Brewmaster metagame? He excels in early-mid fights but now with nerfs to his durability and his best early game nuke, he may struggle to find a place in the game.
Bristleback
Quill Spray stack damage increased from 30 to 30/32/34/36
As much as I hate Bristelback and his stupid quills and his stupid snot balls and his stupid Warpath and his stupid impossible-to-killness (yes, I play support, how did you know?), this is a good buff to him. Although it’s very small, it allows him to be just that bit more dangerous in a teamfight, where previously he felt a bit weak in the early stages of engagements.
Broodmother
Spiderlings’ day vision reduced from 1400 to 1100
Broodmother hasn’t been given her own paragraph worth of changes for probably the first time in history. Perhaps Valve has finally found her a niche that they are comfortable with. As for the change? It is not a big deal, spiderling ‘wards’ are less effective. Maybe you’ll be able to get the jump on Broodmama and gank her now? But probably not, stupid free-pathing.
Chaos Knight
Reality Rift damage increased from 25/50/75/100 to 60/80/100/120
Reality Rift mana cost from 70 to 50
Phantasm illusion duration increased from 34 to 42
This is a big one. It may not look like much, but by buffing Reality Riff to be more effective, and more mana efficient means that Chaos Knight is going to be a major force to be reckoned with in the early game. And the Phantasm duration increase? This makes him a major player in the late game. Imagine losing a teamfight to a Chaos Knight, the illusions will last long enough after the fight to steam down a lane and crush towers. Yes, there has been a nerf to illusions damaging structures, but remember, Phantasm illusions do the same damage as the original, so they will still output a lot of damage. He is majorly strong now, so be prepared, Chaos comes.
Test of Faith now teleports all of your units to you when cast on yourself
Holy Persuasion max units increased from 1/1/2/3 to 1/2/3/4
Chen just got buffed like heck. His early game capabilities, especially ganking with his pets is now much easier, being able to gain more pets earlier on. Test of Faith makes walking around with Chen much easier, he no longer has to walk around with a horde of pets, he can just call them in when he needs to take a tower or teamfight somewhere. But most importantly? His Aghanim’s Sceptre upgrade which allows him to take Ancient creeps, will now work on Ancient Granite Golems and their new 15% health bonus. If these auras stack, your team could potentially have massive boosts to their overall health. This buff may just be enough to get Chen’s win rate above 41%.
Base attack range increased from 600 to 630
A good buff. Clinkz lacks lockdown, so previously it was quite easy to run from him. But now, Clinkz will be able to get an extra attack or two off that may make difference between a successful or failed gank.
Battery Assault damage increased from 15/35/55/75 to 20/40/60/80
A small buff that is unlikely to make a difference to game play. He will still be dominant in the early game, and won’t do much late game.
Crystal Maiden
Crystal Nova attack speed slow from 20 to 30
Frostbite cooldown from 10 to 10/9/8/7
Freezing Field duration increased from 7 to 10 seconds
Freezing Field explosion spawn radius and slow radius increased by 150
Freezing Field explosion damage radius increased by 50
Ladies and gentlemen, Crystal Maiden is back. As a hero that is most effective in the first 10 minutes, the previous nerfs hurt her a lot. Now, her early game nukes are going to be that much more effective. By buffing her Freezing Field, Crystal Maiden’s ultimate is a lot more powerful and she will be dangerous to ignore in teamfights. Expect to see her picked a lot more in professional play.
Base armor increased by 1
Vacuum pull duration increased from 0.4 to 0.5
Dark Seer is now literally unkillable. But in all seriousness, not a big buff, but it really cements his place as a strong offlaner.
Base attack range increased from 500 to 550
As a hero that needs to stay out of fights so he can cast as many nukes as possible, this base attack range will help ensure that. Furthermore, it makes it that much easier to zone out an off-laner.
Death Prophet
Strength growth reduced from 2.2 to 1.9
This has been needed for awhile. Although she will still be hard to chase and lockdown, reducing her strength means she won’t be as tanky. Will it remove her from the meta? It’s very unlikely.
Glimpse mana cost rescaled from 160/130/100/70 to 100
Glimpse cooldown reduced from 65/50/35/20 to 60/46/32/18
Kinetic Field cooldown reduced from 14/13/12/11 to 13/12/11/10
Static Storm cooldown from 85 to 90/80/70
Disruptor is getting buffed as heck. He hasn’t received a nerf since 6.71 and though still a tier 2-3 pick for supports, this maybe (a very big maybe) enough to see him move into tier 1 territory. As a hero that was previously considered very lucky to get off two glimpses in a teamfight, he will be able to contribute much more.
Dragon Knight
Elder Dragon Form level 3 now maintains the Corrosive Breath ability from levels 1 and 2
I never understood why this wasn’t a thing in the first place, but in all honesty, it’s not that big of a deal. The damage is fairly minimal by level 16 and the same applies for taking towers, your outright damage will be more effective than the Corrosive Breath. The slow will also be eclipsed by that of Frost Breath. Unless they stack. Which would be overpowered.
Drow Ranger
Illusions now benefit from the Marksmanship bonus
Manta Style is now definitely core on Drow Ranger. Well, I mean, even more core than it was. By activating Manta Style, you are effectively adding 160 damage per attack to your dps.
Earth Spirit
Rolling Boulder no longer reduces attack speed by 80 for 2 seconds
Rolling Boulder no longer does an additional 45 damage when used with a stone remnant
Rolling Boulder base damage increased from 90 to 100
A balance to Rolling Boulder has been needed. Its early game strength is well known and this change removes its ‘overpowered’ aspects while still keeping it viable.
Earthshaker
Enchant Totem mana cost reduced from 50 to 20/30/40/50
Does this mean we will start seeing more ‘Critshaker’ builds? In all honesty, this doesn’t do too much, but it does give Earthshaker a little bit more leeway in terms of early-game mana use.
Elder Titan
Astral Spirit damage reduced from 60/100/140/180 to 60/90/120/150
Fixed a few cases where Elder Titan could move his Astral Spirit while casting Echo Stomp
A minor nerf which may hurt Elder Titan’s early game. Overall, don’t expect to see much difference to his game.
Enchantress
Base movement speed increased from 315 to 335
A hero that I very much love, Enchantress has languished in the lowest win rate regions for a long time. She is a balanced hero but weak in a lot of areas, will this affect her game at all? I would suggest that making her the fastest hero in the game will do a lot to improve her gameplay. She lacks lockdown and often struggles to use her Impetus to full extent. It does more damage the further away they are, but the further away they are, the easier it is to run from Enchantress! By buffing her movespeed, this will become much less of an issue. It also makes her early-game jungle ganks that much more effective as well. I predict her win rate to jump a couple of points.
Faceless Void
Time Walk no longer slows attack speed
Chronosphere cooldown increased from 130/110/90 to 130/115/100
Ward unit types are no longer able to attack while inside the Chronosphere
The knee-jerk reaction to this is: ‘Yep, see you later Faceless Void’. But thinking about it, it doesn’t affect gameplay too much. Removing the Ward unit types from attacking is a direct nerf to the Faceless Void – Witch Doctor combination. However, Death Ward can just be placed outside the Chronosphere and it will still work. Sure, it requires positioning, but so does everything in DotA. The Chronosphere cooldown nerf was needed. Though I would argue that it should be increased even more, it is a nice balance that won’t remove Faceless Void from the game.
Gyrocopter
Call Down area of effect increased from 450 to 600
Call Down missile one slow amount reduced from 50% to 30%
Call Down missile two slow amount increased from 20% to 60%
Force Staff can now be used on Homing Missile
Being able to Force Staff a homing missile is very cute and I’m glad it was instituted if only for the fun it may possibly provide. On the other hand, the buffs to the Call Down are big. This ultimate just became a very important asset to a teamfight. 60% slow after taking 550 magic damage? There will be no way to run from Rocket Barrage after that. Expect to see Gyrocopter’s win rate go right up.
Inner Vitality base health regen from 2/4/6/8 to 10
Inner Vitality regen bonus when hurt form 30/45/60/75% to 20/40/60/80%
Inner Vitality’s early game suck is well documented, but this may be just enough to be worth a value point early on. With this, Huskar is going to be even more of an early-game beast. Who even needs to go back to base?
No longer requires turning to perform any actions
Haha, yes! This is amazing, this is excellent. I never realised I wanted this until I saw it. On an analytical level, this makes Wisp really strong now, its cast and animation times have just been blown out of the water and you can expect to see it becoming first ban/pick material in professional games. On a child-like glee level, this is the funniest thing that I never thought of, why the hell does a floating ball even need to turn around? It doesn’t even have a back! Heeheehee, thank you Icefrog.
Liquid Fire damage reduced from 15/20/25/30 to 12/16/20/24
Keeping in line with Valve’s decision to try to remove pushing strategies from the game, Jakiro has received a nerf. In my opinion, rather than lowering its damage, it should have just made it less effective against structures. It isn’t a powerful spell, but its strength against buildings did need a nerf. He will probably fall out of favour from the professional scene somewhat.
Juggernaut
Base agility increased from 20 to 26
Blade Dance critical strike chance rescaled from 15/20/25/35% to 20/25/30/35%
This is interesting. A whole six base damage, and one armour point for a carry known to be most effective in early game. This could result in a lot more games with a snowballing Juggernaut, especially with a buff to the critical strike in the early levels. It probably won’t bring him into the meta, but Juggernaut just got a whole lot stronger.
Keeper of the Light
Chakra Magic mana cost from 25/45/65/85 to 25/35/45/55
Blinding Light blind duration increased from 3/4/5 to 4/5/6
It makes me happy to see Gandalf getting buffed. The mana cost reduction to Chakra Magic makes sense, what’s the point in ‘giffing mana’ if half of it is used straight away? Furthermore, heroes who are mana hungry in the early game can expect better supply. The buff to Blinding Light is also pretty big. An extra second of blindness could be majorly painful, especially against heroes with high attack speed such as Troll Warlord.
X Marks the Spot enemy delay from 1/2/3/4 to 4, and allied delay from 2/4/6/8 to 8
X Marks the Spot cast range from 500/650/800/950 to 350/550/750/1000
X Marks the Spot cooldown from 14/13/12/11 to 19/16/13/10
X Marks the Spot Return mana cost reduced from 50 to 0
Though there will be a lot less, ‘Umm so I X Mark him and then I Torrent? Or do I Boat first when it’s at 3 seconds? Or do I wait some more?’, I can confidently say that every Kunkka player will still mess this up. The hero will now be a little bit less challenging for new players. Don’t expect to see much difference in higher level pubs
Diabolic Edict duration increased from 8 to 10 seconds
Lightning Storm slow duration increased from 0.5 to 0.75
Lightning Storm cast range increased from 700 to 800
I think Icefrog really wants to see Leshrac enter the meta. His spells are consistently being buffed, and though he is situational, he can output a lot of magic damage. With his magic dps so high, he should be starting to be played as core more often in pubs. However, as long as you buy a Pipe or a BKB, these changes won’t affect your game too much.
Chain Frost cooldown from 145/115/60 to 120/90/60
Why does this spell keep getting buffed? Yes, I know, just split up and you’ll be fine. But in an uncoordinated pub game, where everyone sucks except you, this spell wrecks face and causes a lot of damage. Well, expect it to continue wrecking face for now, especially at early levels.
Lifestealer
Infest now allows you to control the unit you are in using a sub-ability
Apparently a lot of people are crowing over how amazing this spell is going to be, it will be the most game-changing thing ever. Honestly, there is only one situation which I can see being useful. If you need to run, jump into an enemy creep (that’s not in deny range) and then run away so the enemy can’t attack you. Besides that, what else will you do? It will be just like having a Helm of the Dominator except worse because you have to be inside the creep the whole time.
Attack projectile speed from 900 to 1000
Dragon Slave damage increased from 100/170/230/280 to 110/180/250/320
Dragon Slave mana cost increased from 90/105/125/140 to 100/115/130/145
Light Strike Array damage rescaled from 90/150/210/280 to 120/160/200/240
Light Strike Array mana cost increased from 90/100/110/125 to 100/110/120/130
Light Strike Array stun duration increased from 1.6/1.8/2/2.2 to 1.6/1.9/2.2/2.5
Fiery Soul duration increased from 9 to 10
Icefrog loves Lina, it’s no secret, she hasn’t been nerfed since 6.50, so he must be in agony to see her languish around a 45% win rate. These buffs make her already high magic damage even stronger, and the Fiery Soul duration means that even casting Dragon Slave and nothing else will still get her up to three stacks eventually. Expect her win rate to move up a few points, extra damage and stun duration never hurt a character. But as her spells still require positioning and accuracy, and she is still very squishy, don’t expect her to move into positive territory.
Base attack damage increased by 7
Mana Drain drain interval from 0.25 to 0.1
The Mana Drain interval isn’t a big deal, it just makes the spell an extra 0.15 seconds faster. The 7 point increase in base damage is quite useful though. This will make zoning out offlaners much easier, or if he is being played as a core, he will now be more effective in his cs.
Lone Druid
Removed the cast time on Spirit Bear’s Return
Battle Cry cooldown increased from 30 to 60
Battle Cry duration reduced from 8 to 6
Battle Cry bonus damage increased from 20/40/60 to 50/75/100
Battle Cry bonus armor increased from 2/4/6 to 5/10/15
The changes to Battle Cry mean that instead of Lone Druid being able to engage and re-engage into a fight, he has one small period where he will be a major force to be reckoned with, after which he will be vulnerable. Overall, I think this is a nerf. Not being able to spam Battle Cry means much smarter use of it. It could mean that a tower isn’t taken or a team fight is lost if Battle Cry is unavailable. Basically, it leaves less room for error on a hero that already punishes inattention.
Moon Glaive level 4 bounces increased from 5 to 6
Eclipse beam count increased from 4/7/10 to 5/8/11 (Scepter increased from 4/8/12 to 6/10/14)
A buff to Luna, but a very weak one. She has fallen out of the meta as a carry and this does nothing to rectify it. An extra bounce on a glaive does nearly nothing for her damage output, as by the time the 6th bounce occurs, its damage is less than 1% of the original attack. An extra moonbeam during eclipse means an extra 300 magic damage nuke. This would actually be okay if it were targetable, which it is not. Don’t expect to see any major differences in gameplay or meta.
Divided We Stand respawn time reduction now 20% instead of 10/20/30%
A simple rebalancing of a skill that can be highly frustrating to play against. I would suggest that this is a good move. Meepo is a powerful hero and during the late game, giving him only a 60 second death timer, as opposed to around 90, is a bit overpowered. By increasing his death time for the late game, it makes for a much more fair match.
Adaptive Strike stun max duration increased from 0.75/1.5/2.25/3 to 1.25/2.25/3.25/4.25
At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a big deal. Morphling is rarely morphed into strength to make this a useful change. However, this is a much larger buff than people may realise. Strength morphed Adaptive Strike has now become the longest single-target stun in the game, eclipsing even Beastmaster’s Primal Roar. This could usher in a new era of Morphling being played in a position 3 or 4, where his nukes are his primary source of damage. This may be a meta-changing patch note. Or not, we’ll have to see.
Night Stalker
Base attack damage increased by 4
Crippling Fear mana cost reduced from 90 to 50
Darkness now sets all enemy vision to a maximum of 675, instead of reducing it by 25%
Darkness no longer pauses the day/night timer
Darkness duration from 40/60/80 to 50
Darkness cooldown reduced from 180/150/120 to 160/120/80
I really dislike Night Stalker, as a hero I think his concept is a little flawed, and more importantly, I hate playing against him. This patch does nothing to rectify this hatred. Instead of pausing the day/night timer, the clock will keep ticking. Night Stalker players will save their Darkness for daytime, and so out of 240 seconds of daytime, 100 will be devoted to night time, effectively making the game 340 seconds of night and 140 seconds of day. This is super annoying for the other team. On the other hand, Night Stalker may be very strong now, his mana problems are helped immensely by the cost reduction to Crippling Fear, and the bonus base damage means he has become a lot more stronger and dangerous. I predict that he will start coming back into the meta. Maybe not a lot, but he will certainly be more popular than he was before.
Fireblast damage reduced from 60/120/180/240 to 55/110/165/220
Fireblast cast range reduced from 600 to 475
People finally took note of Ogre Magi’s in 6.82 where he and Skywrath Mage became the go-to supports in the professional scene. But now? His overall damage output is significantly lower and the cast range reduction means that he will have to put himself in dangerous positions to cause damage. This nerf will very possibly move him out of the tier 1 picks.
Outworld Devourer
Astral Imprisonment intelligence steal increased from 4/6/8/10 to 4/7/10/13
Astral Imprisonment intelligence steal duration reduced from 60 to 50
A decent buff to a hero that has fallen out of the meta. Already a strong laner, this buff makes Outworld Devourer even more difficult to deal with. But will it affect his mid-late game? Unlikely. His role as a glass cannon carry with strong lane presence more-or-less remains the same.
Phantom Assassin
Coup de Grace critical strike damage from 250/350/450% to 230/340/450%
Are we over the Arcana event yet? Good. This is a small nerf to Phantom Assassin’s early game, but only by a minor amount. At level 1 this only results in about 40 damage lost in a Coup de Grace strike, easily made up with a dagger, or one more normal attack.
Supernova attacks required to destroy increased from 5/7/10 to 5/8/11
Fixed Stop Icarus Dive ability sometimes being interrupted by auto-attacks
By level 16, Supernova takes one more hit to destroy. This won’t do much for Phoenix, as at this time, most teams will be able to focus it effectively, or a carry will have enough attack speed to destroy it by himself.
Meat Hook range increased from 700/900/ to 00/1300
Whhhyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!?!? Aren’t there enough terrible Pudge pickers out there already? Don’t encourage them by increasing the hook range. They’ll be missing hooks from so much earlier now.
Decrepify movement slow on allies reduced from 50% to 25%
Netherward attacks required to destroy increased from 3 to 4
Blademail no longer reflects Nether Ward damage onto Pugna
By reducing the slow on allies, Decrepify might actually be useful for saving them now, instead of just giving the enemy time to catch up.
The changes to Netherward now make Pugna even more annoying for spellcasters. Netherward is even more difficult to get rid of and can’t be used against Pugna by using Blademail. The moral of the story is, don’t play support against Pugna anymore.
Queen of Pain
Blink range increased from 700/850/ to 1300
Blink cooldown from 12/10/8/6 to 15/12/9/6
Sonic Wave now does Pure Damage and affects Spell Immune
Sonic Wave damage reduced from 350/475/600 to 290/390/490 (Scepter reduced from 350/530/725 to 325/450/575)
This is a big buff for QOP. Whereas before, a short-range blink may not be enough to escape danger, especially if the opponent is fast, Blink has just become incredibly long-ranged, even at level 1. Playing mid as QOP will be much more effective now, as she will be very difficult to gank and thus give her an innate advantage over other mids. It may be enough to ensure that she can snowball much faster. The changes to her ultimate are a welcome change. Rather than just being a simple AOE magic spell like Dragon Slave, it now does pure damage in an AOE. Because it can’t be stopped with a BKB, it can be used with impunity. It can kill couriers, and heroes with magic resistance (Huskar, Viper) won’t be able to defend against it. On a side note, it now does more damage than it did before, after taking innate magic resistance into account. Finally, because of these changes, expect Aghanim’s Sceptre to be picked up on her a lot more.
Blink Strike max charges increased from 3/4/5 to 4/5/6
Blink Strike charge restore time increased from 30 to 35
Blink Strike bonus damage from 50/70/90 to 40/70/100
A rebalancing of Blink Strike had always been necessary, it felt lacklustre a lot of the time. Adding another charge means Riki will be able to be useful for longer in a team fight. Furthermore, adding 10 damage to it at level 3 will mean that he can deal out more damage and keep him relevant at later levels when other carries may be starting to deal more dps. I would suggest that this change correlates to a higher win rate for him, especially at lower level pubs, as buffing the damage output on a right-click dpser usually does.
Fade Bolt mana cost from 150 to 120/130/140/150
Scepter Spell Steal cooldown reduced from 5 to 2
Rubick has been needing a buff for awhile. His early game is quite weak for a support and the reduction in mana cost to Fade Bolt is a step in the right direction. It won’t necessarily mean a huge change in gameplay, but the extra mana will help his early game. I also really like the cooldown change to Aghanim’s Sceptre. How many times have you sat there waiting those 5 agonizing seconds to steal a really juicy spell in the heat of battle, only to see it disappear with a second to go? The answer: too many times.
Shadow Fiend
Shadowraze damage increased from 75/150/225/300 to 100/175/250/325
Only a small change, but it could mean the difference between cs and a soul or nothing at all.
Glaives of Wisdom intelligence into damage bonus from 30/48/66/84% to 30/50/70/90%
Last Word cooldown reduced from 36/28/20/12 to 30/24/18/12
Scepter Global Silence no longer increases duration by 1 second
Further pushing Silencer into semi-carry/carry territory, the Glaives of Wisdom buff will be a sizeable increase to his dps, especially in late-game matchups. By reducing the Last Word cooldown, for the early levels, it will make laning against Silencer even more annoying. I predict a small increase in win rate for Silencer.
Skywrath Mage
Base agility reduced from 18 to 13
I’m unsure about the thinking for this one. By reducing his base agility, Skywrath’s glass bones have been turned to Styrofoam, making him even squishier than before. BUT THE PROBLEM WASN’T KILLING HIM IT WAS BEING KILLED BY HIM, WHAT ARE YOU DOING VALVE, NERF HIS SPELLS.
Sprint duration reduced from 20 to 16
Sprint cooldown reduced from 28 to 23
Amplify Damage cooldown reduced from 10 to 5
Sprint and Amplify Damage can now be spammed a bit more, making Slardar, already starved for mana, even more mana hungry than before. However, having Amplify Damage on such a low cooldown makes him a very viable pick. Half their team has negative 20 armour before a team fight even starts? No problem. It’s basically cutting out the time delay of Dazzle’s Weave. This is a very strong buff, he may even be picked in competitive as a position 3 or 4 now.
Pounce damage reduced from 60/120/180/240 to 55/110/165/220
A small nerf that was probably needed to reduce his burst damage.
Shrapnel no longer does damage to buildings
Shrapnel now has 3 charges with a 40 second replenish time
Shrapnel mana cost reduced from 120 to 50
Shrapnel duration increased from 9 to 10
This basically means that in engagements, Sniper will coat the field in DoT damage and slow. A single charge of Shrapnel will do 528 total damage, so trying to fight into three separate fields of it will have major repercussions, epecially if the charges are staggered. A full thirty seconds of Shrapnel will do over 1500 damage. Though it may not seem like a large change to Sniper, if used correctly this could turn out to be a huge buff. Also, due to it having charges now instead of a cooldown, trying to take a tier 3 against a Sniper just became that much harder.
Spirit Breaker
Empowering Haste cooldown from 20 to 16
Empowering Haste doesn’t seem to be used very much by Spirit Breaker, so it’s unlikely that this will have a large impact on the game.
Storm Spirit
Turn Rate improved from 0.6 to 0.8
This is a decent buff to a very mobile hero who will benefit from it probably more than any other hero. Though it won’t have a large impact on the game, it makes life easier for Storm Spirit players.
Warcry duration increased from 7 to 8 seconds
Scepter God’s Strength ally bonus damage from 40/60/80% to 50/75/100%
One more second of plus 20 armour? Yes please. It won’t have a big impact but it is still useful. I love the Aghanim’s Sceptre upgrade on Sven, but it is rarely bought so it is unlikely to make much difference on the game.
Added to Captain’s Mode
Land Mines damage increased from 225/300/375/450 to 300/375/450/525
DID SOMEONE SAY TECHIES IN PROFESSIONAL GAMES!? As much as I want to see techies being played by Arteezy again, it’s going to be a very rare to see them picked at all, even with the buff to Land Mines. Still expect to see immense amounts of rage every time they are picked in pubs.
Terrorblade
Reflection cast point reduced from 0.5 to 0.3
Sunder minimum HP from 25/20/15% to 20%
Poor Terrorblade, he has been nerfed all the way back into the Hell of Hells since he was introduced into DotA 2. Though probably more a buff than anything, these changes do very little towards changing the game. The real change comes from illusions doing 25% less damage to buildings. RIP Terrorblade, you had a good run in competitive play.
Tidehunter
Base movement speed reduced by 5
Ravage damage reduced from 200/325/450 to 200/290/380
Universe is probably seething at the moment, but these nerfs were well deserved. A double Ravage can already stun for over 5 seconds, it didn’t need to do 900 damage as well. Tidehunter is unlikely to leave the competitive meta anytime soon, but the damage reduction to his ultimate may very well prove to drop his win rate in pubs.
Heat-Seeking Missile damage increased from 100/175/250/325 to 125/200/275/350
Tinker was more-or-less ruined with the 6.82 patch, and this will do little to bring him back. It may make him a little bit stronger in the early game, but rockets are not the damage option later in the game.
Toss duration increased from 1 to 1.3 seconds
Grow move speed bonus rescaled from 20/40/60 to 40/50/60
The move speed change is definitely a buff to Tiny. Even with boots, he is surprisingly slow after one or two levels of Grow, but this is changed now. It will allow him to catch up to his victims more quickly after the 30-minute wind-up of his right-click attacks. Unfortunately, he has received a big nerf
in the form of an increase to the duration of Toss. The Tiny combo involves Avalanche and then Toss, as Avalanche can hit a second time after Toss is landed. However, by increasing the Toss duration the second instance of Avalanche damage is going to hit for much less. Watch his win rate drop.
Treant Protector
Eyes In The Forest’s Overgrowth damage increased from 135 to 175 per second
Eyes In The Forest cooldown reduced from 55 to 25
A situational buff. Aghanim’s Sceptre is not commonly picked up on Treant Protector as he is usually played as a 4 or 5. If he does though, this is a great buff to him, doubling the speed at which he can place tree wards.
Troll Warlord
Fixed Fervor stack count being 1 stack too slow
Fixed a small bug, results in a small buff for Troll Warlord, giving him a slightly faster attack speed when Fervour procs.
Ice Shards projectile speed from 900 to 1100
Ice Shards shard duration from 5 to 7 seconds
Walrus PUNCH! is now an enemy target ability, and is auto-castable
Walrus PUNCH! cooldown reduced from 25/20/15 to 20/16/12
Overall a buff to Tusk, but unlikely to have a major impact on gameplay. Ice Shards, when placed well can be dangerous, and this change makes them easier to land. It may mean some easier kills. The cooldown change on Walrus PUNCH! Most likely means that Tusk will now be able to get two uses in a team fight. The hero is more forgiving to newer players now, but don’t expect his win rate to change very much.
Soul Rip max units from 5/10/15/20 to 10/12/14/16
Soul Rip damage/heal per unit from 25 to 18/22/26/30
Tombstone armor increased by 1
Flesh Golem max slow increased from 15 to 20%
A big buff to Undying. Soul Rip will now be much more effective, even with less units around him, giving him a much better heal/nuke than before. Increasing the Tombstone armour is an interesting decision, seeing as it is already impossible to kill in the early game. The Flesh Golem slow is not a huge boost. The buffs to Soul Rip and Tombstone make this early-game fighter even more fearsome, and will even give him a bit more strength in the later game. Stand back and watch his win rate rise.
Vengeful Spirit
Wave of Terror cooldown increased from 15 to 20
A small nerf that won’t impact the game very much.
Gravekeeper’s Cloak recovery time from 12/10/8/6 to 6
Visage already has a very strong early game, outputting a lot of damage. Now he is also very hard to kill. Expect to keep seeing him a lot in professional games, though his presence and impact in pubs will most likely go unchanged
Fatal Bonds cast range increased from 800 to 900
Fatal Bonds radius increased from 575 to 700
Fatal Bonds were nerfed in the previous patch, and though this buff doesn’t quite make up for it, it goes some way to improving it. Now, Warlock won’t have to put himself out of position to land it, and it will be much easier to cast it on the entire enemy team. Not game-breaking, but certainly a good improvement.
Windranger
Powershot travel range increased from 1825 to 2600
Powershot max damage is now dealt after 1 second channel instead of 0.7
Powershot cast point improved from 0.3 to 0
Reduced the area of the lingering vision at the end of Powershot from 800 to 400
Focus Fire attack speed bonus increased from 400 to 500
A needed buff to Powershot. It’s a channelled AOE spell that does 360 damage, but loses strength for ever target it hits. The increase to travel range means this has definitely become a skill shot. Expect to start seeing highlight videos of long-range Windranger snipes. The increase in the maximum attack speed for all heroes is a very strong, indirect buff to Windranger who will now be even more deadly when using Focus Fire. Perhaps with this patch, Windranger will finally be moved into a semi-carry role, rather than a support/offlane.
There are a lot of minor changes to the items, so I won’t go through them all, but instead highlight the important ones.
Healing Salve, Courier, Shadow Amulet, Circlets, Pipe of Insight and Armlet of Mordiggian have decreased in price. This means most players will have several more starting items.
Eul’s Sceptre of Divinity, Medallion of Courage have increased in price. Medallion of Courage can now be cast on allies to give them armour, and the passive and activate armour value has gone up to 7. Medallion of Courage is most likely going to be a core pick up for most supports.
Magic wand has 17 max charges now. Clutch wands can be even more clutch now.
Blink Dagger is no longer disabled when 0 damage is taken. This means characters like Templar Assassin with skills like refraction will have more mobility and survivability when they have a Blink Dagger.
The big one. Diffusal Blade is no longer a Unique Attack Modifier. This means it will be able to stack with something like an Eye of Skadi, or Desolator. This makes certain heroes much more dangerous, Phantom Lancer comes to mind, or Windranger’s new buffed Focus Fire might take advantage of it. Though a relatively rare item, you might start seeing Diffusal Blade bought more often on heroes that don’t usually buy it.
Drum of Endurance, Crimson Guard, Pipe of Insight and Clarity provide more charges/duration/mana for the same price. Value for money!
Finally, Broadsword can be bought in the Side Shop. It replaces Talisman of Evasion. This means Blademail can be completed solely with Side Shop items and Battlefury can be constructed more easily.
Well that’s it! What do you think of the changes? Do you agree with what has been said here? What do you think is the most important change? Let us know in the comments!
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Here are the things I believe are worth mentioning. These mainly refers to the competitive scene.
“The following abilities no longer have restrictions when cast on Spell Immune Allies: Kunkka’s X Marks The Spot, Magnus’s Empower, Treant Protector’s Living Armor, and Warlock’s Shadow Word”
– X-marks The Spot is a great tool to start a fight/pick-off. Euls, BKB, and an ally’s spell (Shadow Demon’s disruption) are some of the ways that can break the spell. Euls is not always a great item on certain heroes, but BKB is a necessity in almost any game. This change will make it reliable throughout all stages of the game.
– Magnus’s Empower synergizes with heroes like Phantam Assassin. The only thing that will develop from this is new strategies/combos being picked up by professional teams.
– Living Armor and Shadow Word changes can be good, but it still won’t make them a top pick/ban.
“First rune spawns are now both Bounty Runes that are twice as effective (50/50 gold/xp to 100/100)”
– It helps IO get an instant bottle. It also helps offlaners.
Bloodseeker being added to Captain’s Mode. I saw how effectively EHOME uses Bloodseeker in some of their games. They put BS as a jungler which then transition into a ganker. They pick Zeus with BS which I think is a neat strategy.
I believe that the Brewmaster changes are not that effective. He will still get a fast blink dagger (depending on certain matchups) and still be ridiculously effective during early-mid engagements with his ultimate.
I definitely love the Chen buff. Although I don’t personally play a lot of Chen, I can still see how effective it would be (split pushing).
Drow Ranger: Yes, Manta Style is definitely a core on that hero as it has always been. This is a huge addition to her DPS. I still believe that she won’t be picked up that often in the competitive scene.
Elder Titan: It’s funny to see how they always nerf him since he’s such a strong hero to begin with. Overall, it just a minor damage nerf and a bug fix.
“Ward unit types are no longer able to attack while inside the Chronosphere”: I can still see WD trying to cast death ward inside the Chronosphere…lol. Overall, it’s not a big change. Like you said, it just requires a better positioning.
“Force Staff can now be used on Homing Missile”: Definitely a funny change, but I don’t see this happening very often.
“No longer requires turning to perform any actions”: I only play one game of IO in my entire Dota career so I don’t know much about this hero. Definitely a buff to IO. I actually don’t believe that it will be a first ban/pick hero (maybe against a certain team).
The Kunkka changes are pretty big. I agree with you that most players will mess up their combos like 90% of the time. The good side to this is the allied delay which is very useful for fountain trips/bottle refill.
Queen of Pain: One of my most favorite changes in this patch. The buff to her blink is such a good buff (useful in every situation). The Sonic Wave change is the main reason that I will pick her up more often and get Aghs on her. She will be more effective in team fights and early engagements.
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Having mainly written short stories for fun, Daisy Cormac has finally forayed into the world of writing online, expecting nothing but trolls, flamers and criticism. But Daisy plays DotA, so this is nothing new.
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