A week after the release of Dota 2 patch 7.35, the first balance patch has been released to bring a bit of parity to the overpowered items and heroes.
Dota 2 patch 7.35 was released a week ago, and it was a bit of a surprise release. The patch came out of nowhere, right in the middle of ESL One Kuala Lumpur, but it was more than welcome by the majority of the Dota 2 community. With the release of a major patch, there are always bound to be some broken items and heroes, which was the case with patch 7.35 as well. Amongst the items of patch 7.35, Khanda and Solar Crest stood out in some crazy ways. But to bring some stability to all the craziness, Dota 2 patch 7.35b has been released.
The headline for patch 7.35b is the nerf to Solar Crest. After the release of patch 7.35 last week, everyone was making that item in pretty much every position.
But with the nerfs in patch 7.35b, it will be more of a support item. Self cast now doesn't provide nearly enough benefits as having an ally cast Shine on you. Also, the 100 mana will be a huge deterrent in spamming the Solar Crest active. It will now have to be used wisely, gauging when a team fight might be approaching.
Amongst heroes, it might be time to revisit Lycan as a viable option. Lycan was buffed in the Dota 2 patch 7.34e, and has now received buffs again. The wolf is at your door!
Another hero who was buffed in patch 7.35b was Phantom Assassin. PA was unlucky not to feature heavily at TI12. She started out patch 7.34 strongly, but after nerfs in the balance patches, was not strong in patch 7.34d, the patch on which TI12 was played. But now, she might be a decent pick to work with after receiving buffs for multiple spells.
It is, however, a sad day for the small group of players who enjoyed building Khanda and five Divine Rapiers on Spirit Breaker and nuking enemy heroes from the base. The Khanda effect on Charge of Darkness now applies at the end of the Charge. Let's see how many players still have the bravery to go with the degenrate build now!
There are no massive changes as such in Dota 2 patch 7.35b, which tracks with how balance patches work. The first one or two are typically the smallest, fixing issues with the major patch. This should make Dota 2 a lot more fun to play over the holidays with fewer broken strategies and more new ones up for discovery.
