Valve has recently released a new patch in the Dota 2 client. The changes are mostly minor. The game developers tried to change the heroes' power balance and work of some items, therefore the meta isn't to change dramatically. But there are some updates we should pay attention to.
Before we start discussing the updates let's say that...
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THERE ARE NO GLOBAL CHANGES IN THE PATCH!
The game economics wasn't modified. There are also no changes in the landscape. All the objects have the same characteristics (towers, outpost, and throne). There are no completely new mechanics. New heroes were also not added.
The global strategy on the map will not change. Teams will try to win the lines to develop their advantage through fights for objects. That's why despite its bulk, the patch changed only the heroes' balance of powers.
Marci is added to Captains Mode
Marci is popular among the players of all rankings. On Divine-Immortal rankings, her pick rate is 10% and her win rate is 51%. She is mostly used by offlaners and supports of the 4th position.
She is characterized by mobility on the map, control, big damage, and the ability to regenerate health with lifesteal. Marci has a high strength growth and good attack damage at the initial stage. At the laning stage, Marci can make kills and dominate the lane, when paired with a high-damage hero. After getting a level, the hero can kill enemies alone because of her ultimate.
Marci buffs her carry wonderfully, can initiate a fight and change the positioning of the enemies. She is especially strong during the mid game and can change into a third (or fourth) core hero in the late game. That's why she is highly unlikely to drop out of the particular map.
There is no data yet to analyze the hero's performance on the professional stage, but we are sure that Marci will be used. Her abilities are great for team play, and in capable hands, she can lead teams to new victories. An example of the "capable hands" is the professional player for Evil Geniuses, support Cr1t.
Black King Bar was fixed
In the new patch, the cooldown is increased from 75 to 90 seconds. The item was asking for a major fix for a long time, and the developers finally answered our prayers. How will it influence the game process?
- The item won't be the first to be farmed. That is, we won't see BKBs on the 15th-20th minute. Now it is unreasonable to buy the item that gives a small increase in damage and strength, doesn't accelerate farming, and doesn’t give key damage to heroes or buildings for 4,050 gold. And the item is used once in 90 seconds. It would be more efficient to buy it after the 25th-30th minute along with stats and damage items to finish the map more confidently.
- Spell immune heroes will strengthen their positions in the meta. Lifestealer, Juggernaut, and Legion Commander will appear in public and in the professional arena more often and will have a significant advantage over other heroes. While before any hero could become spell immune after purchasing Black King Bar, now the above-mentioned characters will become more relevant as you won't need to spend money on the item.
- Heroes with a focus on magical damage will be even more relevant. Pipe of Insight with its magic resistance will be farmed more often, and strength heroes will become more popular, as it helps resist magic during the mid game.
- In the last patch, players often picked up Refresher Orb for BKB activation. This tendency will only strengthen. The players will buy this item for more heroes.
- Teams now need to take measures to protect themselves from magic. They will use both magic resistance items and saving abilities. That's why a stable saving five is now more likely to appear at the peak (Dazzle, Oracle, Abaddon).
- The timing of BKB use will be just as important as Roshan's one. If a hero spends an active item ability carelessly, its opponents will try to impose their game. This mistake may become fatal.
Did the developers choose the right course to change the Black King Bar? We will be able to answer this question after some time. But we should note that Valve reacted to the imbalance issue and tried to make some changes.
Revenant's Brooch is the new imbalanced item
In patch 7.31d, the cooldown was reduced from 45 to 25 seconds, but it now starts after all attacks run out. Its attacks deal magic damage and have true strike. It can attack ethereal units.
The item was popular on the heroes with Intelligence attributes (Storm Spirit, OD, Silencer, Puck, Void Spirit, and Dark Willow). Heroes could destroy all the maps when picking up this item, and only BKB could save the situation. After the BKB fix and the Revenant's Brooch improvement, the heroes picking up the item will become even more relevant in the meta.
At the same time, Ghost Scepter loses its relevance. It was usually picked up by supports to become immune to quick damage. But now it can be dispelled more often and there's less point in buying it. However, the Ethereal Blade upgrade is still relevant: you can control the enemy carry.
The item still costs a lot — 6,200 gold, but with a good start, it can appear before the 25th minute. In this case, some Void Spirit can deal huge magic damage himself, which will be extremely difficult to survive.
The saving supports will return to the meta and the safe lane will become weaker
There is one more crucial change in patch 7.31d: the duration of Healing Salve is halved when cast on an ally. We remind you that Healing Salve grants 30 health regeneration to the target for 13 seconds.
Let's remember elementary-school arithmetic. A hero that activates a «flask» on themselves will replenish 30x13=390 health in addition to the main regen. Healing Salve will work for 6.5 seconds on allies and will regenerate 30х6.5=195 health. It is clear that now it is more profitable for an ally to buy their own regen than to ask someone to buy an additional «flask.»
This will dramatically change the lineups and playing style on the safe lane:
- Tango will become more valuable. You can buy a bunch of leaves, stock up on branches, and ensure an increased hp regen. The heroes can sacrifice their starting items that increase stats for that;
- Dazzle, Oracle, Abaddon, Warlock, and Omniknight will break into the meta again. These characters can heal allies in the early stages which makes life easier for their carry. It will be enough to have a lot of mana regen to permanently regenerate resources for themselves and their ally;
- The requirements for the carry hero perhaps will also change. Now it will be either heroes with big health regeneration on the early stages or heroes that can reflect damage or have lifesteal. Such heroes as Spectre, Bristleback, Lifestealer, Brootmother, and Juggernaut may start to be used more ofteThe first two heroes can survive the damage with the help of healing supports, while the other carries can regenerate their health during the swaps;
- In some cases, teams will have to sacrifice their hard lane to strengthen their safe lane. We may see the return of "triples" on the easy lane for the safer farming of the first-position hero.
In the last patch, emphasis was placed on lane dominance. If the lane was won, the carry could join the fight or take the farm from the whole map with the starting items. And now on the safe lane with limited resource regeneration from Healing Salve, it will be harder to make swaps, actions will be less risky, and a support's aim will be to "provide their ally with all the resources to help them stay on the lane for a long time."
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