Prepare to unlearn EVERYTHING!
So, ummm. The game of Dota 2 has changed in a BIG way. First of all, normally these giant patches hit the original DOTA first, then making their way over to Dota 2 about a week later.
That didn’t happen.
This patch hit Dota 2 first, and has turned the game upside-down. Here’s my thoughts on this insane patch, along with most of the patch notes. See the complete patch notes here.
*Note: My thoughts on the Hero changes are coming soon! All of the information hits the character limit for a single post.
General Changes
*Note: I will not be going over all of the General Changes. Only the ones I think are big enough.
- Buyback prevents gaining unreliable gold (creeps, neutrals, etc) until your normal respawn time finishes
- When buying back, 25% of the remaining respawn time will be added to your next death
Woah, HUGE change to buybacks. Not only will you stop getting farm gold, but your next respawn timer is going to be relatively huge! More thought will have to go into each buyback and will likely be held for dire moments only (i.e. when your base in under attack).
- Creeps now meet a bit closer to the tower in your offlane
So, the equilibrium has changed. It’s okay to block creeps in your safe lane! I don’t know that dual lanes will come back (you can’t dual lane if the enemy trilanes), but it could potentially happen.
- Non-Ancient Neutrals now split XP with all heroes in the AoE instead of just the team that killed them
Direct buff to sneaky invisible Heroes who can now just leech a massive amount of XP from these camps. Wards just became even more important.
- Swapped the medium pullable Neutral Camp with the small camp
- Jungle Camps XP bounties reduced
Woah. All my experience of stacking and pulling camps is NULLIFIED! Shit. That, and jungling in general took a massive hit. GET OUT OF THERE, NATURE’S PROPHET!
- Day/Night length decreased from 6 to 4 minutes
WHY MUST I RELEARN EVERYTHING AHHHHHHHH. This is actually a huge change, and you can expect Night Stalker players to be smiling ear-to-ear (flap-to-flap?). Entire gameplay strategies will be forced to change around this.
- Roshan will respawn at a random time between 8 and 11 minutes after death
- When Aegis expires unused, it heals the hero fully over 5 seconds (regen dispels on damage from players or buildings)
WHAT?! Timing Roshan exactly is now impossible, and Aegis got buffed! Holy shit, this will make the game so much more interesting to play and watch.
- Starting gold increased from 603 to 625
- Random Gold bonus reduced by 50
- Gold for ending a spree changed from 75->600 (3x->10x) to 125->1000
- Your gold income is now 1 per 0.6 seconds, up from 1 per 0.8 seconds
Supports, rejoice! More starting gold and more Gold Per Second! AUGH THERE ARE TOO MANY GAME-CHANGING CHANGES HERE. I haven’t even got to the Heroes yet!
- Melee Barracks HP regen increased from 2.5 to 5
- Ranged Barracks HP regen decreased from 2.5 to 0
- Ranged Barracks HP reduced from 1500 to 1200 and armor increased from 5 to 10 (same EHP vs physical damage)
So, getting the Melee Barracks is now way harder than getting the Ranged Barracks. I love this change, since everyone goes for the Melee first, as it has a larger impact on the game. A perfect example of how the game is evolving around the way people play it. So awesome.
Item Changes
*Note: I will not be going over all of the Item Changes. Only the ones I think are big enough.
Animal Courier
- Movement speed increased from 300 to 350
- HP increased from 45 to 75
More HP on the Courier is HUGE! Getting your Courier sniped sucks, and it just got that much harder. However, with the change to the Flying Courier, maybe it got easier? Hmmm….
Flying Courier
- Cannot be purchased until 3 minutes after creeps spawn
OH MY GOOOOOOD! This. Is. Huge. This kills “bottle crowing” until 3 minutes into the game, which is an amazing change if you ask me. I’ll be happy to see a mano-e-mano fight in mid without an infinite supply of mana.
Gem of True Sight
- Gold cost increased from 850 to 900
One day Gem will cost 2,000 gold.
Linken’s Sphere
- Linken’s Sphere can now be cast on an allied hero to transfer the buff
When on cooldown it does not work on you. Goes into cooldown when cast and once the buff is used up.
If the cooldown ends and the buff has not been used up, the buff ends and does not trigger another cooldown.
700 cast range
This is HUGE!! This adds so much more versatility to Linken’s. There are going to be some amazing moments when an ally is saved with a clutch Linken’s Transfer™ at just the right moment. I can’t wait to see how this changes teamfights or ganking attempts.
Observer Ward
- Duration increased from 6 to 7 minutes
- Killing Observer Wards now grants a 50 gold bounty
Always nice to see a duration increase! With the increase in money supports (well, technically everyone) are getting, placing wards less frequently is another indirect buff to support gold! I love the bounty put on the Ward as well, rewarding teams who de-ward and forcing players to be a bit more cautious and aware. The bounty isn’t insane, but it still adds a lot.
Sentry Ward
- Duration increased from 3 to 4 minutes
- No longer gives permanent vision around it
- Gives ground vision in a 150 area around it for 12 seconds when placed
I like this change. The increase in duration is obviously great, but I always felt it was weird that a Sentry gave any real vision at all, and clearly Icefroc and Co. felt that way as well. Now it only provides that vision temporarily, while permanently doing what it’s intended to – giving true sight.
Shadow Blade
- Shadow Walk cooldown increased from 18 to 28
Big ole nerf to Shadow Blade here, and all the Heroes who love it so much (Alchemist, Sniper, etc.). I think this is a good change, and makes it more of an “oh, shit!” use item than an “use it all the time always” item.
Tango
- Charges increased from 3 to 4
- Gold cost increased from 90 to 125
- Is no longer shareable
- Tango can be targeted on an allied hero to create a 1 charge non-stacking tango item in their inventory. If the inventory is full, the item will be placed on the ground. This item has a 60s cooldown.
THEY CHANGED TANGOS?! ID NOTHING SACRED ANYMORE?! Seriously though, Tangos are changed! I like the new changes: not being able to directly share them, but to “transfer” a charge (which takes up an extra inventory slot) is a nice change. Also, more charges! And more money, but I think that’s just to keep them more in line with the increased gold rates (aka inflation).
Tranquil Boots
- Reworked Tranquil Boots
Previous Tranquil Boots
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Active Boots:
+ 75 Movement speed
+ 3 Armor
+ 3 HP Regeneration
Ability: Heal – Restores 250 HP over 20 seconds while out of combat. 60s cooldown. 25 mana cost.Broken Boots:
+ 25 Movement speed
Restores when the last 10 seconds don’t have 3 instances of damage.Can be disassembled
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New Tranquil Boots
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Active Boots:
+ 85 Movement speed
+ 4 Armor
+ 10 HP RegenerationBroken Boots:
+ 60 Movement speed
+ 4 Armor
Restores when you haven’t attacked or been attacked in the last 13 seconds.Cannot be disassembled
This is a big game changer. Tranquil Boots are now not completely useless when they’re “broken!” In fact, they’re pretty solid even when broken. HUGE buff to all Heroes who already use this, and I won’t be surprised if more and more Heroes start to lean towards these cheap boots. So awesome!
