An explosive patch 7.14 shakes things up: Techies added to Captains Mode

After 500 days of staying out of professional tournaments, Techies finally returns to Captains Mode, along with a host of other changes in one of the biggest patches of the year.

Just a day prior to the Epicenter XL Major, Valve released their scheduled bi-weekly gameplay patch, and it is massive. Perhaps the most noteworthy change is the addition of Techies to Captains Mode. To add to this, several items have also received buffs and nerfs, as have 64 out of the 115 heroes in the game. The update comes with the clear intention to change the meta drastically, push some seemingly overpowered heroes out of it and bring some forgotten ones back. And while it did not arrive in the midst of a LAN tournament, it is sure to make waves in the coming weeks that is jam-packed with some of the biggest events of this season of the Dota Pro Circuit.

Captains Mode

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• Enabled Techies in Captains Mode

For the third time in a row, in the even-numbered gameplay patches that focus on heroes and items, a hero has been added to Captains Mode. Following Dark Willow and Pangolier, who were both made available for play in professional tournaments in patches 7.10 and 7.12 respectively, Techies returned to the scene. His brief stint at The International 2015 was controversial, to say the least, as it helped propel Evil Geniuses to victory, thanks to the capable hands of Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling. The release date of this patch marks a full 500 days that the hero has been out of Captains Mode, since his massive rework and removal from the same in the Duelling Fates patch, or update 7.00.

It is fascinating to know that all heroes in Dota 2 are now available for competitive play in professional tournaments, a feat that has not been achieved in the entire history of the game.

General

 

• First creep wave no longer draws aggro on the side lanes until they meet the other wave

The offlane has been changing its form for the longest time, going from an absolute nightmare to find farm or experience in, to a piece of cake that gives a strong laner an uncontested early game. The current state of the meta forced an ingenious, if not irritating maneuver from most position 3 players. By pulling the first wave of creeps between the enemy's Tier 1 and Tier 2 towers, to that of their own lane, a hero was guaranteed level 2 as long as no enemy creeps were denied. While this was sometimes dealt with by supports in professional games (depending on the heroes involved), the pub scene was even more comical to witness.

Heroes would go so far as to pull the first wave between the Tier 2 and Tier 3 towers before bringing it back into the lane and teleporting out to their own Tier 1 tower, forcing a double wave. The massive number of creeps not only naturally pushed in favor of the offlaner, but also made it twice as hard for the opposing safe lane carry to farm creeps by getting last hits. This all changes now that the first creep wave can no longer draw aggro by any hero or unit until it meets the other wave. It will be interesting to see what solution professional players find to make farming in the lane possible. The one most likely will be the return of dual offlanes, with supports helping out their position 3 heroes more, possibly making the mid-lane a true 1v1 scenario again.

Items

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• Skull Basher
  • Now uses Mithril Hammer instead of Javelin. Gives +25 Damage and +10 Strength.
  • Bash no longer pierces evasion
• Abyssal Blade
  • Now grants +25 Damage
  • Bash no longer pierces evasion
• Monkey King Bar
  • Now uses Demon Edge, Quarterstaff and Javelin. Gives +52 Damage and 10 Attack Speed.
  • Procs changed from 60 Pure damage to 100 Magical damage
• Maelstrom
  • Now uses Javelin instead of Gloves and Recipe.
  • No longer gives +25 Attack Speed
  • Chain Lightning damage increased from 120 to 170
  • Procs can no longer be evaded
• Mjollnir
  • Procs can no longer be evaded
  • Chain Lightning damage increased from 150 to 170

  • Attack speed reduced from 80 to 75

• Battle Fury

  • Now requires a 300 gold recipe

• Blink Dagger

  • Cooldown increased from 14 to 15

The Monkey King Bar's build has been reworked once again. This time, it addresses the concern that stacking Javelins on heroes like Windranger and Pangolier actually provide more damage than building a full MKB. While the attack speed bonus for the item was massively nerfed, it does provide more of both reliable and chance-based proc damage than it did before. Maelstrom and Mjollnir both received some interesting and much-needed changes. The items have largely been ignored due to the vast variety of alternatives available for flash-farming, wave-clearing and illusion-killing. While the removal of the attack speed bonus is definitely a nerf, especially for an item that has a passive with a chance-based proc, the removal of a recipe to an item is always seen as a buff. To compensate for it, the item also has increased Chain Lightning damage which can no longer be evaded.

The nerf to Battle Fury with the added recipe is no surprise, as the item was too popular on most melee carries, even those that did not traditionally build it. The cost of the item is now closer to what it was before its rework in 7.07, and can no longer be completed only with the help of the Secret Shop and Side Shop alone. Also, Blink Dagger has its cooldown increased once again, to a massive 15 seconds. This seems to be mostly in response to heroes with cooldown reduction talents which made them extremely elusive. The negative effect of this is that it also nerfs most of the other heroes that buy this item but don't have these talents.
 

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• Boots of Travel

  • Building prioritization range increased from 700 to 900

• Dagon

  • Manacost rescaled from 180 to 120/140/160/180/200

• Force Staff

  • Now requires a Ring of Regeneration instead of a Ring of Health (total price is still the same)

  • Manacost increased from 25 to 100

  • Health regen reduced from 5 to 2

• Hurricane Pike

  • Health regen reduced from 5.5 to 2

  • Manacost increased from 25 to 100

• Helm of the Dominator

  • Health regen decreased from 8 to 7

  • No longer grants +5 attack speed to the item holder

  • Bounty increased from 125 to 200

• Linken's Sphere

  • All Stats reduced from 15 to 13

• Magic Wand

  • Now requires a 150 gold recipe instead of a Mango

  • Now provides +3 All Stats instead of +2 All Stats and 1.5 HP Regen

  • Max Charges increased from 17 to 20

Force Staff and Hurricane Pike have been massively nerfed, bringing their build-up back to the old iteration. Not only do they have higher recipe costs because of this, but they also provide lower health regeneration bonuses than they did in the old iteration of the same build. To add salt to the wounds, the mana costs for their active abilities have been quadrupled, which is going to hurt ranged, agility cores the most. Helm of the Dominator also gets some significant nerfs, considering it has been heavily prioritized as a first item build on many heroes, mostly offlaners. The item has universally been preferred to Vladimir's Offering, an item that is actually more expensive but provides arguably smaller aura bonuses. The latter has sadly gone untouched this patch.

Continuing with the norm of the patch, another item goes back to its older iteration. Magic Wand is now very similar to its iteration three years ago in patch 6.84. Although the build needs a recipe again, the increase in the number of charges is a welcome change, one that hasn't occurred in an equally long time.
 

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• Enchanted Mango

  • On sale now from 100 to 70

  • Health regen decreased from 1 to 0.7

  • Consumed Mana restore reduced from 175 to 125

  • Daily Bonus Hero now gives 2 Mangoes

• Necronomicon

  • Duration increased from 50 to 60

• Phase Boots

  • During Phase your base turn rate is improved to 1.0 (the highest value, can still be lowered by other effects)

  • Active duration increased from 2.5 to 3 seconds

  • Active speed reduced from 24/20% to 20/16%

• Observer Ward

  • Gold/XP Bounty rescaled from a constant 100 Gold and 100 XP to grow over time with 100 + 2/min Gold and 50 + 4/min XP

• Sange

  • Recipe cost increased from 500 to 700

  • Now grants Greater Maim

• Heaven's Halberd

  • Now grants Greater Maim

• Yasha

  • Recipe cost increased from 500 to 700

• Manta Style

  • Recipe cost lowered from 900 to 500

Although the changes to Enchanted Mango seem like a nerf, the overall cost-to-bonus ratio of the item remains the same. The item may give 30% lower bonuses now, but the cost has also been reduced to the same degree. Phase Boots was buffed with the interesting addition of an improved turn rate during its active spell. While it was compensated for with a reduction in the movement speed boost, it is a better item now with the inclusion of a mechanic that is not widely prevalent in the game. The rescaling of the Observer Ward gold and experience bounty now make it more rewarding in the late game and less so in the early game. This may have specifically targetted the massive experience boost that supports get on dewarding observer wards before the start of the game.

The items Yasha and Sange, and their buildups have received some interesting workarounds. The costs for both items have been significantly increased, making Sange & Yasha quite expensive. In contrast, Manta Style is, in fact, cheaper. Because the Maim mechanic is now normalized and buffed for the smaller items, we will be seeing a lot less of Sange & Yasha and more of the alternate build-ups of the respective items.
 

Heroes

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• Alchemist
  • Chemical Rage Health regen increased from 40/48/56 to 40/55/70

  • Bounty Runes bonus gold increased from 2.5 to 3x

• Ancient Apparition

  • Chilling Touch damage rescaled from 30/45/60/75 to 20/40/60/80

  • Chilling Touch no longer pierces Spell Immunity

• Arc Warden

  • Magnetic Field cooldown reduced from 35/30/25/20 to 20

  • Level 15 Talent changed from +3s Flux Duration to +400 Flux Cast Range

• Axe

  • Battle Hunger mana cost rescaled from 75 to 50/60/70/80

  • Base movement speed increased by 5

• Batrider

  • Base strength increased by 3

• Bloodseeker

  • Blood Rite ground vision now increased to match the AoE of the spell (from 400 to 600)

  • Bloodrage cooldown reduced from 12/10/8/6 to 9/8/7/6

• Brewmaster

  • Primal Split Fire Permanent Immolation damage increased from 15/30/45 to 20/40/60

• Broodmother

  • Spiderite bounty reduced from 16-21 gold and 20 exp to 3 gold and 3 xp

  • Spiderling bounty reduced from 11-13 gold and 31 exp to 9 gold and 9 xp

  • Spiderite armor reduced from 8 to 0

  • Spiderling armor reduced from 8 to 0

  • Spiderling damage reduced from 18-19 to 14-16 (~19% less)

  • Spawn Spiderling mana cost reduced from 120 to 100

  • Spawn Spiderling cooldown reduced from 10 to 11/10/9/8

Alchemist continues to get buffed, in what seems like a desperate attempt to bring him back into the meta. However, it doesn't change the fact that the hero is extremely greedy and a weak laner. Arc Warden is getting a similar treatment. After a slew of nerfs that sent the hero into oblivion, a string of buffs follow in an effort to see the hero in professional play. A forgotten offlaner, Axe has been getting steady improvements, primarily with his spell Battle Hunger which was also emphasized with a reworked Aghanim's Scepter upgrade. The hero may see some play in the coming tournaments, albeit with a different ability build and playstyle.

To some, the changes to Broodmother may not clearly indicate whether the hero has been buffed or nerfed. However, it is clear on close inspection that she has definitely been buffed. This comes as a surprise, considering the hero proved to be extremely annoying and seemingly overpowered at the recent Dota 2 Asia Championships 2018 and StarLadder ImbaTV Invitational Season 5. The bounty for killing a host of Spiderites and Spiderlings was quite significant, usually achieved by using magical damage nukes. Now, owing to the complete removal of the armor of these units, clearing them with Cleave is also easier.
 

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• Chen

  • Hand of God heal improved from 250/375/500 to 250/400/550

• Crystal Maiden

  • Base armor increased by 1

  • Freezing Field attack speed slow increased from 30 to 60

• Dark Seer

  • Wall of Replica illusions incoming damage reduced from 300% to 200%

  • Wall of Replica illusions outgoing damage increased from 60/75/90% to 70/85/100%

  • Wall of Replica now auto attacks the hero it made the illusion of (can still be controlled)

• Dark Willow

  • Bedlam damage reduced from 60/140/220 to 60/120/180

  • Bedlam rotation duration increased from 1.5 to 1.8 seconds

  • Cursed Crown no longer grants vision after it stuns

  • Level 25 Talent increased from +1 Terrorize Duration to +1.5

• Dazzle

  • Fixed Poison Touch effective area covered not scaling properly with cast range bonuses

• Death Prophet

  • Base Health regen reduced from 2 to 1.5

• Earthshaker

  • Base damage increased by 3

 

Dark Seer may finally see some success in both pubs and pro games, with some decent buffs for a second consecutive time. It will also make the hero slightly easier to play for amateur players who are not accustomed to micro-heavy heroes. Added to Captain's Mode not too long ago, Dark Willow showed impressive results in top-tier professional Dota. Despite being nerfed time-after-time and patch-after-patch, the hero displayed massive impact in games. The hero had some questionable damage numbers on the post-game screens of matches in spite of being played as the lowest-priority hero in most lineups. Only time will tell whether the nerf to Bedlam's damage is enough.
 

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• Ember Spirit

  • Flame Guard magical damage absorbed rescaled from 50/200/350/500 to 80/220/360/500

  • Searing Chains duration rescaled from 1/2/2/3 to 1.5/2/2.5/3

  • Searing Chains now does damage in 0.5-second intervals

  • Searing Chains total damage rescaled from 80/120/240/300 to 90/160/230/300

• Enigma

  • Malefice stun duration rescaled from 0.25/0.5/0.75/1 to 0.4/0.6/0.8/1.0

  • Malefice cooldown rescaled from 15 to 18/17/16/15

  • Malefice mana cost reduced from 110/130/150/160 to 100/120/140/160

• Faceless Void

  • Chronosphere cooldown increased from 140/125/110 to 140/130/120

• Invoker

  • Invoke mana cost reduced from 60 to 40

 

The nature of buffs that Ember Spirit has been receiving lately may be concerning, even though they are buffs. Increasing the damage output of the hero does not change the fact that the hero is extremely fragile in almost all aspects. It only increases the chance that we will see a resurgence of the hit-and-run technique on the hero that makes him capable of dealing massive amounts of damage. It wasn't too long ago that we saw the magical damage dealing Ember Spirit fade out of the meta, which was a consequence of some rather imbalanced damage numbers that came out of the hero in the first place. Enigma's minor buffs are unlikely to make the hero meta again. However, it seems reasonable as buffing the hero one too many times could send him into the overpowered territory.

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• Io

  • Tether can now target Spell Immune allies

  • Tether cast point changed from 0.001 to 0

  • Tether no longer applies slow on impact

  • Spirits now apply a 20/40/60/80% movement speed slow on impact for 0.3 seconds

  • Spirits now have two fixed positions they go to, 700 and 100 (No longer granular with toggles, but just a single press action)

  • Spirits In/Out is just one ability now, alternates the direction (has a 1.5-second cooldown, the same hotkey as spirits ability. Base cooldown/duration is still the same)

  • Spirits creep damage increased from 8/14/20/26 to 10/18/26/34

  • Spirits mana cost from 150 to 120/130/140/150

  • Spirits collision AoE increased from 70 to 110

  • Spirits explosion damage AoE increased from 300 to 360

  • Level 10 Talent changed from +400 Spirits Max Range to +25% XP

  • Level 25 Talent changed from Tether Stuns to -60s Relocate Cooldown

• Leshrac

  • Lightning Storm mana cost increased from 75/90/105/120 to 80/100/120/140

• Lich

  • Level 20 Talent increased from +120 Gold/Min to +180

• Lycan

  • Summon Wolves health increased from 200/240/280/320 to 230/260/290/320

  • Summon Wolves damage increased from 17/28/37/46 to 26/34/42/50

• Mirana

  • Leap speed buff duration increased from 2 to 2.5

  • Leap attack speed rescaled from 25/50/75/100 to 40/60/80/100

  • Moonlight Shadow now grants 15% movement speed bonus while invisible

If you thought the changes to Wisp in the last gameplay patch were massive, the developers at Valve certainly didn't. With another slew of changes, most of them massive buffs, the hero is sure to be one of the top contested heroes in the coming tournaments. The fact that Tether can now target Spell Immune allies and that the level 25 talent provides a 60-second cooldown reduction on Relocate can be easily exploited in coordinated gameplay at the highest levels of the game. However, some signature IO players have expressed their disappointment over the changes.

Surging back into the meta after repeated buffs, Leshrac got his minor, customary nerf, deeming the hero too powerful in capable hands. It seems Mirana will follow Leshrac's footsteps as, much like the Dancing Pony, the hero has been getting a constant nudge to make her viable again. The most notable of the changes is the bonus of 15% movement speed to Moonlight Shadow, which makes her team fight contribution much better.
 

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• Monkey King

  • Primal Spring mana cost reduced from 130/120/110/100 to 100

• Morphling

  • Adaptive Strike Talent now has a 300 cast range buffer for the secondary targets

  • Level 10 Talent from +300 Waveform Range to +350

  • Level 25 Talent from +2 Multishot Adaptive Strike to +3

• Necrophos

  • Reaper's Scythe respawn time penalty increased from 10/20/30 to 15/30/45

• Omniknight

  • Purification cooldown increased from 11 to 14/13/12/11

  • Base armor reduced by 1

• Outworld Devourer

  • Fixed Arcane Orb not using mana if it misses the target

  • Arcane Orb mana cost increased from 100/120/140/160 to 110/140/170/200

• Ogre Magi

  • Bloodlust on self now grants you 30/50/70/90 Attack Speed (default is 30/40/50/60)

 

One of the most surprising heroes to get buffs this patch is Morphling. The hero has been going back and forth after his rework in the Duelling Fates patch, sometimes overpowered and sometimes underwhelming. The massive improvements to his talent tree, which is now arguably one of the best in the game, seem unnecessary. Increasing the multishot Adaptive Strike at level 25 to a total of four targets can do incredible amounts of damage to multiple heroes in team fights. It now seems so good, players may actually start preferring it to its alternative.

Omniknight continues getting his scheduled nerfs, possibly sending the hero into the niche pick category. Considering the fact that the hero has already lost his status of one of the most contested heroes, it won't come as a surprise if teams stop picking the hero at all.
 

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• Pangolier

  • Rolling Thunder no longer gets canceled when rooted or disabled (rolls in place instead)

  • Rolling Thunder cooldown increased from 70/65/60 to 70

  • Swashbuckle manacost increased from 70/80/90/100 to 80/90/100/110

  • Shield Crash cooldown increased from 13 to 19/17/15/13

  • Fixed Shield Crash counting Spell Immune heroes

  • Level 10 Talent reduced from +2 Mana Regen to +1.5

• Pudge

  • Base damage increased by 7

  • Rot slow reduced from 17/22/27/32 to 11/18/25/32

• Pugna

  • Base armor increased by 1

  • Level 15 Talent increased from +2 Nether Ward Health to +3

• Puck

  • Level 20 Talent from -5s Waning Rift Cooldown to -8s

• Queen of Pain

  • Sonic Wave damage increased from 290/380/470 to 320/410/500

  • Sonic Wave Scepter damage increased from 325/440/555 to 370/480/590

• Riki

  • Tricks of the Trade now attacks at a slower pace, nerfed from 0.5/0.45/0.4 to 0.6/0.55/0.5

• Rubick

  • Telekinesis lift duration rescaled from 1.5/1.75/2/2.25 to 1.1/1.5/1.9/2.3

 

It is no surprise to see a hero recently introduced to Captains Mode get nerfed at the immediate next opportunity. Pangolier may not have been the most successful hero in the Dota Pro Circuit so far, but in the right hands, his impact can actually be game-changing. Compensating for the multiple nerfs he got, his ultimate Rolling Thunder now no longer gets canceled when rooted or disabled. This is definitely beneficial to the hero in certain scenarios.

Queen of Pain's buffs may be exactly what the hero needed. Recently, players seemed to prefer leveling her other abilities as opposed to her ultimate, which dealt a somewhat low amount of damage in ratio to the mana cost of the spell. Furthermore, one of the most annoying and arguably imbalanced ultimates, after its rework, got nerfed. Riki's Tricks of the Trade deals an unbelievable amount of damage to single target heroes, spelling doom for support heroes who can't find the farm for a Force Staff or are naturally weak.
 

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• Sand King

  • Caustic Finale no longer triggers when a unit is denied

• Shadow Demon

  • Strength growth increased from 2.2 to 2.4

• Shadow Fiend

  • Level 10 Talent reduced from 10% Spell Amplification to 8%

  • Level 15 Talent reduced from +40 Movement Speed to +35

• Shadow Shaman

  • Fixed Ether Shock effective area covered not scaling properly with cast range bonuses

• Silencer

  • Glaives of Wisdom from 15/30/45/60% to 25/40/55/70%

  • Global Silence duration increased from 4/5/6 to 4.5/5.25/6

  • Level 15 Talent increased from +90 Gold/Min to +120

• Slark

  • Base HP regen increased from 2.75 to 3.25

  • Shadow Dance move speed bonus increased from 30/35/40% to 30/40/50%

• Spectre

  • Spectral Dagger mana cost rescaled from 130/140/150/160 to 100/120/140/160

  • Haunt illusion damage increased from 40 to 40/50/60%

 

A forgotten and underwhelming support, Silencer, got some much-needed love this patch. Surprisingly, the changes also indicate that the hero may be quite effective as a core now, and not just a support. The improvement to two of the most ignored agility carries in the game continues with consecutive buffs.

Slark's base health regeneration has massively gone up in recent times, making him a much better laner than he was before. The increase of the movement speed bonus of Shadow Dance was also a necessary change, as he could rarely outrun chasing enemies or catch up to fleeing ones, even before the rework of attribute bonuses. Spectre received a treatment similar to her last few buffs, making the hero potentially too strong in the late game. With a level 25 talent that can now make Haunt illusions deal upto 100% damage, the question remains whether her early game is strong enough to propel her to that stage.
 

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• Spirit Breaker

  • Greater Bash move speed bonus increased from 15% to 17%

  • Netherstrike's knockback now pushes the enemy twice the distance

• Storm Spirit

  • Level 15 Talent increased from +300 Health to +400

• Sven

  • Cleave distance increased from 570 to 625 (same as Battle Fury)

  • Cleave end radius increased from 300 to 330 (same as Battle Fury)

• Terrorblade

  • Base HP regen reduced from 3 to 1.5

  • Reflection illusion now disappears when the reflection slow debuff is removed

  • Sunder minimum HP rescaled from 25% to 35/30/25%

  • Sunder cast range reduced from 550 to 475

• Timbersaw

  • Whirling Death attribute reduction now considers bonus attributes (instead of only base)

  • Whirling Death attribute reduction lowered from 15% to 13%

• Tiny

  • Tree Grab area damage reduced from 100% to 30/40/50/60%

• Treant Protector

  • Leech Seed duration increased from 4.5 to 5.25 (1 extra pulse)
     

The improvement to Sven's Cleave ability may be limited in nature, but it is one that will surely improve the hero's viability in the meta. Considering how many carry heroes have been building Battle Fury lately, even though they traditionally did not, Sven seems all the more appealing now.

Sooner or later, Terrorblade was bound to get hit with a nerf bomb. The hero is the one of the most preferred and impactful carry heroes in the game. Players in both the professional and pub scene have been abusing the hero due to his insane farming potential, early game tower pushing capability and team fight survivability thanks to Sunder. The nerfs to his ultimate will impact the hero the most, though it may not push the hero completely out of the meta.
 

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• Tusk

  • Ice Shards duration reduced from 7 to 4/5/6/7

  • Snowball Speed reduced from 675 to 600/625/650/675

  • Frozen Sigil no longer provides flying vision (ground only now)

• Underlord

  • Firestorm overtime percentage based damage no longer affects Roshan/Ancients

  • Dark Rift mana cost from 75/150/225 to 100/200/300

• Undying

  • Tombstone spawn interval improved from 4.5/4/3.5/3 to 4/3.5/3/2.5

  • Level 15 Talent increased from +30 Decay Duration to +50

  • Level 20 Talent increased from +4 Tombstone Attacks to +6

• Ursa

  • Base armor increased by 2

• Venomancer

  • Poison Nova duration increased from 16 to 18 seconds

• Visage

  • Grave Chill duration reduced from 3.25/4 .5/5.75/7 to 3/4/5/6

• Warlock

  • Chaotic Offering Golem health increased from 1000/1500/2000 to 1000/2000/3000

  • Chaotic Offering Golem Permanent Immolation DPS increased from 30/40/50 to 30/50/70

Tusk is one of those support heroes who is extremely easy to learn but has a very high skill cap. A safe, first-pick hero in most professional games, his impact has definitely been known, but never considered imbalanced. With the nerfs to three of his spells, it seems he may fall drastically in terms of both his win rate and pick rate. Underlord, on the other hand, has been a dominant force across all skill brackets, with some flashy plays in tournaments to show for. The removal of Firestorm's percentage-based damage on Roshan and Ancients was an easily predictable nerf. The ability of the hero to solo kill Roshan with just a Helm of the Dominator was clearly unforeseen by many and abused by some.

Two more unloved heroes Undying and Warlock, look quite decent after this week's patch. Although it is unclear whether they really will be preferred picks, their win rate is sure to increase in pub games. Warlock's Chaotic Offering Golems are much stronger and deal more damage in the late game than they did before. A welcome buff, considering his ultimate was reduced to nothing but a short, AOE, BKB-piercing stun, only to be followed by the quick takedown of his Golems.
 

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• Weaver

  • Health regen increased from 1.5 to 2.5

  • The Swarm attack damage from 14/16/18/20 to 18/20/22/24

• Windranger

  • Powershot damage increased from 180/260/340/420 to 180/270/360/450

  • Focus Fire attack speed increased from 350 to 400

  • Focus Fire now always fires on the target unless you are attacking another target, or pressed stop and are not moving.

• Winter Wyvern

  • Winter's Curse duration increased from 3.25/4/4.75 to 4/4.75/5.5 seconds

  • Winter's Curse attack speed bonus reduced from 85 to 55

• Wraith King

  • Wraithfire Blast mana cost rescaled from 140 to 95/110/125/140

  • Wraithfire Blast cooldown rescaled from 8 to 11/10/9/8

  • Level 10 Talent changed from +40 Wraithfire DPS to +1.5s Wraithfire Blast Slow Duration

• Witch Doctor

  • Maledict cooldown increased from 20 to 50/40/30/20

• Zeus

  • Level 15 Talent increased from +1% Static Field to +1.5%

Windranger may, in fact, be the most buffed hero this patch. Not just because of the direct improvements to her abilities, but also to the item changes mentioned previously. Maelstrom, Mjollnir and Monkey King Bar are now a lot more useful in the hands of Windranger than probably any other hero. To add to this, the removal of the evasion-piercing mechanic of Skull Basher and Abyssal Blade's Bash ability favor her. It is unfathomable what the hero needs if, even after all these advantages, she still cannot find a place in the professional meta.

Anyone watching a few matches of the Dota Pro Circuit in the last one or two months should be aware of Witch Doctor's impact on his Maledict skill. His ability to trade damage with and zone out offlaners is unparalleled. However, no one could have predicted the skill would get so nerfed. A massive 50-second cooldown at level 1 is sure to make drafters question his potential as a first pick. Minor buffs to Weaver and Wraith King certainly help, though it is clear that the heroes are quite niche, and have a host of better alternatives for the carry role.

Summary

Although this week's patch was released before the inception of a Major or Minor tournament, some have raised concern over the sheer size of it, as it arrives right on the precipice of the Epicenter XL Major. For the first time in the game's history, the community actually feels the size and rate at which the patches are coming out is too high. And no matter how much we may enjoy watching Kevin "Purge" Godec's patch analysis videos, it is important to remember that the teams participating in professional tournaments put in a lot of preparatory work before these events. Perhaps this begs the question whether the tournaments of the next season should be planned in accordance with the patch release dates.

Let us know in the comments what you did or didn't like about this patch, and what you'd like to see change or stay the same in the coming weeks!