On November 30, Valve suddenly released Dota 2 patch 7.32d. Professional players noted that the update would appear next year, but the developers decided to change the power balance on the map earlier.
The patch has fixed many bugs in the game client. Now more characters' abilities work correctly, and their values match their descriptions. But what's an update without fixes and hero nerfs? We offer you to dig deeper and learn which characters were mostly affected by the update.
Bet on Dota 2 with 1xBetGeneral changes
The developers did not dare to change the map. No tree has been harmed, and Roshan is in his place. Anyway, it's too early to change the landscape, as many players just get used to playing without the small camp in the mid and with a new forest. Even TI11 champion Sneyking has recently voiced Valve's thoughts: the company wants to look at ordinary players during matchmaking in the old patch.
Wraith Pact became one of the most popular items at the last major tournament in Singapore. The totem reduces all damage to enemies within a 900 radius by 30%, deals 30 damage per second, can move, and exists for 25 seconds. The description said nothing about the damage type. Therefore the totem reduced magical, physical, and pure damage. Some Tidehunter or Enigma collected the item by the 15th-20th minute, and there is not much damage at this stage. But as its passive aura includes 24% lifesteal, 18% bonus damage, 3 armor, and 2 mana regeneration to nearby allies, the whole team gets a huge buff at any game stage. The developers saw how it had worked at TI11 and specified that now the totem reduces only physical damage. How will it influence the game? The item is still useful in the late game against hard carry heroes, and the buffs help the allies feel a little better in the fights but do not destroy the balance.
Now the players need to seek new protection from magical damage, except Black King Bar. Valve has acted like a capitalist company, making small discounts on Drum of Endurance and Guardian Greaves and increasing the Pipe of Insight magical shield from 400 to 450.
Adding values to the item will only influence its popularity a little. But if the developers add 50-100 blocked damage in the large patch and reduce the price a little, the item will be one of the ways to combat magical heroes.
Significantly nerfed
Marci
The most popular The International 11 character has been deservedly nerfed. Marci can be easily used by supports of fourth and fifth positions. Resolut1on demonstrated the whole world how to play on the character as an offlaner. Before TI11, it was used on the safe line and sometimes in the mid.
Valve originally gave the game a hero tailored for teamwork. Marci has initiation, control, support abilities, and much attack damage. When the character appeared in the Dota 2 client, professional players did not pay attention to the work of the ultimate ability, praising Rebound and Dispose. When Skull Basher and Daedalus began to be bought, many noticed the imbalance in patch 7.32c. An offlaner with a 10,000 net worth smashes the face of a six-slot hard carry.
The developers have nerfed Rebound, so that Marci doesn't jump over the whole map, and decreased Sidekick values. How will the nerf influence the hero's popularity? The character is still relevant because of her concept, but she won't carry the game in any position. The third ability accelerated farming on Marci, and now getting new items will be a bit harder. The hero will be less mobile at the laning stage, and the opponents will be able to predict jumps. The nerfs are just enough to keep Marci in the meta and not harm the game balance.
Morphling
All professionals playing on position 1 considered Morphling the best hero for carries. The character has been changed in all possible ways: Valve has tried to re-develop the most collected items, updated skill values, and added Mana Cost for changing its form. If a hero is strong, he will take his place in the new meta in any balance.
At The International 11, Morphling played with different builds but was always useful. The players saw a new imbalance in Aghanim's Scepter: the character takes the form of the chosen opponent and steals his stats. If the opponent's primary attribute is Strength, Morhling gets Status Resistance. If it's Agility, it will steal Attack Speed, and if it's Intelligence, it will steal Spell Amplification. As now there is no build through Ethereal Blade, turning into a mage is pointless, and Status Resistance can be gotten via Satanic or Sange and Yasha. Morphling's primary attribute is Agility, and additional stats let him increase its stealing buff and damage as well as Attack Speed. The hero becomes more dangerous by the minute with Aghanim's Scepter.
The developers decided that if they removed cooldown reduction, they would nerf the hero. To make Morphling leave the carry's top 1, they nerfed his Level 25 Talent by replacing 2 Waveform Charges to -40% Waveform Cooldown. Now it will be hard for the character's fans to carry the game, but the hero is usable both on the professional stage and in matchmaking.
Significantly buffed
Viper
Viper hasn't appeared in professional matches regularly for a long time. At The International 11, it was taken only four times and was useful only in half of the cases. The character is good during laning but often cannot find its tempo in the mid-game. He hardly finds farm on the map, and if he shifts to the forest, he makes very little impact. Viper kicks the enemy hero off the line early, destroys T1 in the mid, and then absorbs a lot of damage.
As matches last a lot, and the character is not so useful in the late game, it has become much less necessary. The developers decided to buff him by increasing his Corrosive Skin talents. Now Level 10 Talent Corrosive Skin Damage per second is 18, and Level 15 Talent Corrosive Skin Magic Resistance has been increased to 15%. Dendi will be especially happy since farming Nethertoxin stacks will be a bit easier. Now its Mana Cost is 70, not 85. All you need to do is to buy the Ring of Basilius or Infused Raindrops for constant mana regeneration and vacuum all forests. The developers have also buffed Nosedive with Aghanim's Shard: now its Cast Range is 375. How will the buffs affect Viper? It is still a utility hero against characters with strong passive abilities, but now he can absorb more damage and become stronger through fat and auras. If used properly, Viper can be useful in the offlane as a third damage dealer focusing on magic. Given his talent buffs, now he is a good frontliner either.
Treant Protector
Treant never appeared at The International 11. The participants neglected him, as they didn't see his profit in the old meta. The hero is mobile only in the forest, and professional players can now cut down trees with Quelling Blade. It's difficult for him to start helping others early or move from one end of the map to the other during the mid-game. He will participate in the late game only with Aghanim's Scepter and glowing trees. By the way, Treant Protector has the biggest attack damage at Level 1. Apparently, players no longer care about how hard the hero can hit his opponent in the head.
Valve urgently started improving the skills of the forgotten character. Now Treant Protector deals more damage with Leech Seed at the early stages and casts the skill from a comfortable distance. Damage per second with Owergrowth has been increased to 85. At Level 18, Treant will take 425 hit points from the opponents and hold them in his roots for 5 seconds. You will surely get control if you reach “Overgrowth Undispellable” talent at Level 25.
After the buffs, Treant Protector became more powerful on the line. The hero's global problems haven't been fixed, but he will make a lot of impact on the line in convenient matchups. Seasoned players and those with Tier 30 in Dota Plus will definitely appreciate the buffs in matchmaking.
How dramatically will the meta change?
Numerous updates in abilities indicate that Valve is not interested in a dramatic change in the balance. The developers focused on the bugs in the game client, nerfed imbalanced heroes, and buffed those who are not in the meta.
There is a chance that now pros will turn their attention to other items with auras for the entire team. Wraith Pact is still relevant, but now Pipe of Insight looks good with it. The players who spam magical heroes can now heave a sigh of relief — they can be tackled only with a Black King Bar again.
The meta with strong lines and map control will remain in the first regional DPC leagues. However, each new micropatch brings one or two heroes with high win rate and impact. We won't be surprised if it will be a character from this article, and if there is another alternative, we will tell you why it has become popular and how to use it properly!