Dota 2 patch 7.33 introduced 12 new neutral camps. Here, we take a look at how much more farm there is on the map in terms of neutrals and its distribution.
When an ages old map increases by a size of 40%, it needs to be filled up by something. Dota 2 patch 7.33 increased the map size significantly, and a lot of new concepts were introduced to go with the new map. One of the things to fill up the huge map was an old concept – neutral creeps. Neutral creep camps – of which there were 16 before – were increased to 28 as 12 new camps were added.
Added 12 new neutral camps on the extended rim of the map. Most of them are bound to 4 new named areas: The Well, The Graveyard, The Statue, and The Mines. Any unit receives a special buff while staying there.
● The Well: 2 Hard and 1 Medium neutral camps. Located below the Radiant Safe lane under T2 tower. Units here are granted Well Wishes buff: +1.5 Mana Regen.
● The Mines: 2 Hard and 1 Medium neutral camps. Located above Dire Safe lane over T2 tower. Units here are granted Mighty Mines buff: +4 Health Regen.
● The Statue: 1 Ancient neutral camp. Located on the left from Radiant Offlane between T1 and T2 towers. Units here are granted the Stalwart Statue buff: +2 Armor.
● The Graveyard: 1 Ancient neutral camp. Located on the right from Dire Offlane between T1 and T2 towers. Units here are granted Graveyard Glyphs buff: +5 Attack Damage.
● The remaining 4 camps are Easy and Medium camps near new Outposts and Twin Gates. They don't belong to any named areas.
Now just to get an idea, let’s take a look at the average gold and experience each type of neutral camp provides. It differs slightly based on the creeps that have spawned in a camp, but the deviation is not too high from the average values. All gold and experience values were taken from Dota 2 Wiki.
Small camp – 59 gold, 90 XP
Medium camp – 74 gold, 117 XP
Large camp – 101 gold, 153 gold
Ancient camp – 164 gold, 314 XP
With the new camps, this is how the neutral camps are distributed based on the region of the map.
Big jungle – 3 large camps, 2 medium camps, 1 small camp
Small jungle – 1 ancient camp, 1 large camp
Safe lane edge of the map – 2 large camps, 2 medium camps, 1 small camp
Offlane edge of the map – 1 ancient camp
The gold and experience offered by each region is shown in the image below. The big jungle has the highest gold and experience to offer, which is not a surprise. The second highest gold is from the new set of neutral camps on the edge of the safe lane. This image here is shown only for the Radiant side, but it is the same for the Dire side of the map as well. The small jungle comes third followed by the offlane edge, which just has the one ancient camp.
Some quick math will tell you that the overall gold from neutral camps has increased by 75% and the XP has gone up by 76%, which is a significant boost to the overall gold and XP available on the map.
This new set of camps is bound to have a massive impact on how the meta develops. For starters, there is more than enough farm on the right side of the map for Radiant for two heroes to farm. 919 gold every minute is a lot of gold, especially in the early and mid game. And there is also 1438 XP every minute, which is like consuming two minute 30 Tomes of Knowledge pre patch 7.33, just to have an idea. But the beautiful thing about the new set of neutral camps is that now, teams don’t have as much of a disadvantage if they lose their mid tier 1 tower early on in the game. Previously, it meant both jungles being exposed to the enemy, but now, the edge of the map camps have the additional component of having tier 2 tower protection. Of course, that doesn’t apply to the ones on the safe lane edge, which don’t belong to any of the four named areas. But for the other four camps, that is a relatively safe farming space.
Now if it’s only one hero that’s prioritizing the jungle, the most farm dense area of the jungle is the one that combines the left side of the big jungle and left side of the safe lane edge camps. That area, which is shown below, has four large camps and two medium camps and provides 552 gold and 866 XP per minute. Combine that with two creep waves every minute (one creep wave between 15 minutes and 30 minutes gives 196 gold and 297 XP), that is a total of 748 gold and 1163 XP every minute. Of course, no hero is going to be able to get all of that gold and experience every minute, unless you are in a 1 v 0 custom lobby. And even then, that would be difficult to do! But that is the maximum the area has to offer.
But that area is still susceptible to smoke ganks, even with a tier 1 mid tower and tier 2 bottom tower standing. The safer area is the one with two ancient camps and one large camp to the left of the map, near the offlane. That region can net you 429 gold and 786 XP from the neutral creeps every minute, and combined with the lane creeps, those numbers go up to 625 gold and 1083 XP. That is a lot of gold in a small, compact area! For heroes like Medusa, Sven and Templar Assassin, who can kill ancient camps from early on in the game, this is a good place in the mid game to ramp up your farm. If you have good supports, you might even get a few stacks!
There are lot of new possibilities to establish strong farming patterns in the meta evolving around Dota 2 patch 7.33. The newly introduced neutral camps will have a strong influence on shaping the meta and determining which heroes are strong picks.
