The International 2023 is a little more than a week away, and a final balance patch has arrived before the fight for the Aegis begins.
Gosugamers recently did an interview with Tundra Esports' Leon "Nine" Krilin, in which he mentioned he was hoping for a balance patch before the start of The International 2023 (TI12). Well, it seems his wish has been granted as Dota 2 patch 7.34d has been released just eight days before group stages of TI12 begin.
For the most part, the patch has very minor changes, which is exactly what you would expect from a patch this close to TI. A slight nerf here, a bit of a buff there. Three heroes though, have received sizable nerfs based on how strong they have been recently.
Pangolier has been a part of the meta for eons now. It is high time his contest rate goes down in professional games, and the nerfs to Swashbuckle and Shield Crash might do the trick. Both these skills are really importatant for the hero in the laning stage, and increased mana costs for both will set him back.
Phantom Assassin is possibly the worst hit hero of Dota 2 patch 7.34d. She became poular and strong with the release of patch 7.34 due to the Coup de Grace chance increasing from 15% to 20%. Now it has been brought down to 17%! That's a pretty big reversal. Mortred will not be happy.
Sven has had a huge chunk of his damage reduced. The Rogue Knight was terrorizing pubs and professional games alike, and this will bring him down a notch.
Now for casual players, this may not be the biggest deal. But for pro players, who's livelihoods depend on the smallest of margins in the game, this does come as a bit of an unpleasant surprise. Team Liquid's coach Mathis "Jabbz" Friesel doesn't seem to be too thrilled.
Neither does nouns' mid laner Nico "Gunnar" Lopez.
But that's just how life in the high stakes world of professional esports is. Teams have one week to tweak their strategies - it is going to be a chaotic week with a lot of scrims and pubs.
