6.87 Analysis and First Impressions
The wait is finally over and we are presented with an impressively bold patch. While the hero changes were largely conservative, the introduction of new items as well as general gameplay changes will make for a potentially very different game.
Overall, the game seems to be taking course into a more tanky metagame, with armor and regeneration becoming a popular theme for buffs. It is still to early to judge, however, and there are many things this patch can turn our favorite game into.
General
- Reworked Ranked All Pick. Before the picking phase begins, there is a 15 second voting phase to ban heroes. Each player votes for a different hero. Afterwards, half of the heroes that were voted on will be randomly selected and banned.
A very interesting approach to the AP drafting—the random aspect ensures that no heroes will be permanently banned in all games, while making hero spamming in the higher brackets less of a nuisance. Overall, this change should allow for more diverse games without taking away the relative simplicity of the most popular ranked mode.
- Each team now has a Scan ability, available on the minimap UI.
Scans a targeted 900 AoE for 8 seconds. Indicates whether there are enemy heroes in that area during the 8 seconds. Starts on cooldown and has a global team-wide cooldown of 4.5 minutes Note: Does not consider units inside the Roshan Pit, but does consider Smoked units. Does not show how many heroes there are, just if there are any enemies. Enemies do not know when your team casts it.
The massive cooldown on the ability will unlikely make it as game-breaking as it might look. However, it will allow for safer objective-based plays, since it is now possible to better position the team if, for example, the risky Roshan attempt is expected to be countered. It can also be used early in the game to "scout" the ward placement from the enemy team and whether their supports have teleported to the lane.
- Starting HP increased from 180 to 200
- HP per strength increased from 19 to 20
- Hero base mana increased from 0 to 50
- Mana per int reduced from 13 to 12
- Intelligence now increases your spell damage by 1% per 16 Intelligence points.
Starting HP and Mana increase of 20 and 50 respectively are easy to overlook, given all the craziness this patch is introducing, however the latter opens up a lot of new possibilities and can single-handedly introduce an array of new heroes to the competitive pool. All the Strength and Agility cores which suffered in the laning stage from the lack of mana are substantially better off, while low cooldown/manacost casters such as 
Skywrath Mage might become exceptionally relevant in the early game (at least until the 3-minute mark, due to"infused raindrops" consumable).
The spell damage scaling is once again boosting casters' ability to stay relevant throughout the whole game, however the changes are rather conservative—at 160 intellect, the 10% increase in nuke power will mean, for example, an 85 damage increase on one of the strongest damage-dealing spell in the game—
Laguna Blade. It will come into play, but not to the degree where it will be absolutely game-breaking.
- Lane Creep health upgrade increased from 10 to 12 HP
The change is mostly there to compensate for the extra nuking power of wave-clears coming from intelligence boost.
- Tier 2 towers damage now same as Tier 3
- Towers now grant an armor aura to allied heroes
- Tower True Sight range reduced from 900 to 700
Diving towers is slightly harder in the early game, and the pushes with multitude of illusions/summons are easier to deal with. It will unlikely to slowdown the dedicating pushing lineups, however. The True Sight reduction is a common theme in this patch and will generally increase the value of wards while making invisibility as a concept a lot more relevant.
Initial Bounty Rune no longer gives experience
Melee hero attack range increased from 128 to 150
Lane Creep Aggro duration increased from 2 to 2.5
Lane Creep Aggro cooldown increased from 2 to 2.5
This will not only make harassing slightly harder, but will also ensure a decent change in the creep equilibrium when using "lane tricks", such as reverting the position of melee creeps in the lane or re-aggroing enemy melee creeps to your own ranged creep. Has the potential of throwing better mechanical players off-guard, and will require them to re-adjust their habits.
- Melee Creep gold bounty reduced from 40 to 38
- Melee and Ranged Creep gold bounty upgrade over time increased from 1 to 2
- Melee creep experience reduced from 62 to 45
- Ranged creep experience increased from 41 to 90
There is no change to an overall XP a single wave of creeps gives in the early stages of the game. Later on, however, with an earlier addition of melee creeps to the wave, the overall change will result in lower XP gain and higher gold returns (15/30 minutes into the game). It will also make denies on ranged creeps hurt substantially more and since they are usually the easiest creeps to deny, it might have a substantial impact on the game overall.
Experience required to get to level 8 and 9 rescaled from 600/1200 to 800/1000
Ethereal now blocks in-flight attack projectiles fully, rather than just ones launched before Ethereal
Evasion now uses Pseudo-Random Distribution
Evasion is now calculated on impact rather than on launch
Centaur Courser health reduced from 550 to 350
Centaur Courser armor reduced by 1
The large Centaur camp now spawns 2 Centaur Coursers instead of 1
This change will make some neutral stacks even harder to flash-farm for magic caster, since Centaur Coursers were the ones who had the "cloak" aura. This is, however, counterweight by the Intelligence spell damage boost to some degree. Physical junglers will generally find this change to be in their favor, since the HP on the creeps now line-up nicely with battle-fury numbers.
- Roshan Magic Resistance reduced from 75% to 55%
- Roshan HP increased from 7500 + 125/min to 8000 + 175/min
- Roshan experience bounty changed from 1789 to 750 + 20/min
Level 1 Roshan is not nearly as rewarding as it used to be, while the changes to resistance and HP ensures that casters can contribute more to taking him down. Overall, however, he should be a lot tougher to take down—extra 50hp/min is a substantial increase on top of the flat 500 hp one.
- Double Damage and Haste no longer have special rules for being dispelled by Spell Immunity
The following buffs are now purgeable: Nightmare, Spawn Spiderlings, Malefice, Cold Snap, Corrosive Skin, and Leap movement speed buff
Minor adjustments to cast range mechanics to reduce overly long cast ranges when the target is moving quickly
Illusions now benefit from Damage Block
This change might have some strong consequences on the disturbed balance of the illusion-based heroes, since, if I understand it correctly, it will prevent 96 units of HP loss from an auto-attack on 300% incoming damage illusions. Squishier early-game illusions therefore can once again become a strong pushing power against both creeps and heroes alike.
- Captains Mode Pick time from 40 to 30 seconds
- Captains Mode Bonus time from 110 to 130 seconds
- Captains Mode: Adjusted the order of bans in the 2nd ban phase (from 1st/2nd/1st/2nd to 2nd/1st/2nd/1st)
- Captains Mode: Adjusted the order of picks in the final pick phase (from 2nd/1st to 1st/2nd)
The last change ensures that the team with the first pick does not also get the last one. In a game where Dire advantage is almost eliminated, having a better balanced drafting stage was also necessary and it is a step in the right direction.
- Removed Strong armor type, and moved affected units to Soft type, which is now renamed to Basic type
- Roshan armor type from Basic to Hero
- Dark Troll Summoner attack type from Pierce to Hero
- Thunderhide attack type from Basic to Hero
- Dark Troll Summoner damage reduced from 55-60 to 40-45
- Thunderhide attack damage reduced from 71-78 to 60-65
A simplification of the games basic rules from the wc3 was direly needed and these changes, while not changing much in terms of actual gameplay, make it more accessible.
- Harpy Stormcrafter mana pool reduced from 540 to 400
- Satyr Tormenter mana pool reduced from 600 to 400
A couple of decently strong nerfs to the amount of annoyance early-game "domination" heroes bring to the board. One less "Hadouken" and 2-3 less chain lightnings will make the game easier for solo lane heroes.
New Items:
- Bloodthorn
Requires: Orchid (4075) Crystalys (2120) Recipe (1000) Total: 7195
Provides: + 25 Intelligence + 30 Attack Speed + 60 Damage + 150% Mana Regeneration
Active: All attacks on the silenced target, including from allies, gain True Strike and a 1.35x critical hit
Cooldown: 11
Passive: Grants a chance to land a critical hit
An impressively strong late-game option for a multitude of heroes which is best suited for Intelligence heroes, but can be useful on many other cores and even occasionally supports in the uber-late.
The item grants an insane amount of DPS, however, as it is the case with 
Orchid Malevolence it will be probably be dispellable with BKB, making it a rather risky investment. Overall, it can be a great situational item for 
Windranger, [missing hero: outworld-devourer] and even 
Invoker. As if these heroes needed more late-game options.
- Echo Sabre
Requires: Oblivion Staff (1650) Ogre Club (1000) Total: 2650
Provides: + 10 Strength + 10 Intelligence + 10 Attack Speed + 15 Damage + 75% Mana Regeneration
Passive: Causes melee attacks to attack twice in quick succession. Your double attack applies a 0.6 second 100% MS/AS slow. Has a 5 second cooldown.
Note: The passive only works on Melee Heroes.
The stat bonuses make it a rather weird item and there is no clear answer as to what heroes might benefit the best from it. Heroes who get benefits from continuous auto-attacks on the same target might find it to be a great consistency booster (e.g. 
Ursa and 
Troll Warlord), but it will unlikely make it as their core item and is overall redundant in the later stages. The same goes for hard-hitting cores like 
Sven. It is very likely the hero will be able to kill the target in the said two hits, but it is still sacrificing an item slot for the later stages.
Some heroes, which rely on strong "chance" procs might find a better use for it. 
Spirit Breaker and his horrible BAT will probably benefit from the item the most, however there are heroes in the similar role, such as 
Slardar who can make good use of it.
- Blight Stone
Costs: 300 gold
Passive: Reduces armor by 2 on attack.
Available in the Side Shop.
Item is used in Desolator and Medallion of Courage.
More or less a new form of Recipe for armor-reducing items. Can be used by offensive supports in the early game—coupled with an 
Orb of Venom can make an early-game 
Bounty Hunter even scarier.
- Infused Raindrops
Costs: 225 gold
Provides: + 0.85 Mana Regeneration
Passive: Comes with 5 charges, the item is destroyed when it reaches 0 charges. When you receive over 50 Magic Damage it procs, consuming a charge and blocking 120 Magic Damage. The proc has a 4 second cooldown.
Becomes available for purchase at the 3 minute mark.
600 HP for 225 gold is an excellent deal against magical harass in the early game. Depending on the damage block priority it can also be essential on 
Ember Spirit, to prolong the 
Flame Guard effects. This item will probably be a "core" item for squishy late-game cores and even has the chance of being purchased several times.
- Wind Lace
Costs: 225 gold
Provides: + 20 Movement Speed
Available in the Side Shop.
Item is used in Drums and Eul's.
Multiple instances don't stack.
A single boot for slightly more than half of the price. This item can replace starting boot on many heroes as their safety option of choice, but will also allow for faster rotations on roaming heroes and higher chances of success.
- Tome of Knowledge
Costs: 150 gold
Use: Grants you 425 experience.
Starts out of stock, increments stock every 10 minutes.
Getting to the desired level, if you are really short of hitting it on level-deprived supports, should be the primary use of this item. The difference between a level 5 and level 6 hero can be immense in any fight. A very interesting design choice and it is too early to say whether it will have a significant impact on the game.
- Hurricane Pike
Requires: Force Staff (2225) Dragon Lance (1900) Recipe (250) Total: 4375
Provides: + 20 Agility + 15 Strength + 10 Intelligence + 4 HP Regeneration + 130 Attack Range (ranged heroes only, does not stack)
Active: When used on an enemy, it pushes you both away from each other 450 units each, and allows you to attack that target without range restrictions for 4 attacks for a maximum of 5 seconds. Does not give vision over the enemy. Works normally like Force Staff when used on self or allies.
Cooldown: 14
Cast range: 400 when used on enemies, 800 on allies or self.
A very interesting design which is rather hard to evaluate—dragon lance was only effective on a handful of heroes and for them the later progression into the hurricane pike is more or less a no-brainer, however it is still unclear whether it will open up new possibilities on other heroes. A natural carrier for this completed item, previous dragon lance carriers aside, would probably be 
Luna, since her attack modifier is not restricted by range, as it is the case with 
Medusa and 
Gyrocopter. However, this item is still built from a 
Force Staff which has little value on its own on core heroes. It might become a decent support pick-up later in the game, but otherwise it is too early to tell.
Balance Changes
Items
Skull Basher
- Bash damage reduced from 120 to 85
- Recipe cost reduced from 1000 to 750
Abyssal Blade
- Now requires Basher, Vanguard, and a 1550 recipe
- Overwhelm mana cost from 150 to 75
- Overwhelm cooldown from 60 to 35
- Bash damage reduced from 120 to 85
With a change to build-up, the item has lost 60 damage, however increases the HP pool by 250 and HP regeneration by 15. The overall cost has also decreased by 350.
In its new form, the item has gone from the late-game DPS utility item to a more safety oriented one—the requirement to have a 
Vanguard is rather unwelcome, since the effectiveness of this item has always been debated, but on certain heroes it will allow for better late-game transition. These heroes include 
Axe, 
Bristleback and, of course, the newly rediscovered 
Faceless Void.
The change to build-up also ensures that there are no extremely expensive single parts—a very necessary change for the new iteration on this item.
Aether Lens
- Aether Lens Spell Amplification reduced from 8% to 5%
Animal Courier
- Respawn time reduced from 140 seconds to 120 seconds
Armlet of Mordiggian
- Unholy Strength now grants 5 armor
Blade Mail
- Now returns damage before any kind of reduction, and returns it in the same type as it was received
- No longer ignores Spell Immune enemies
A very strong buff to the item. The change from Pure damage will hit its damage output, however the lack of natural counter in the form of spell-immunity makes for a scary counter-play against high damage lineups. An excellent item to come back into the game as well—relatively cheap and makes the enemy team's net worth work against them.
Bloodstone
- Initial charges increased from 8 to 12
The item was heavily nerfed in 6.86, as well as multitude of heroes, who benefited from the item the most. The new iteration, however, has a very high chance of being successful. The increase in the amount of charges makes it as effective on purchase as the previous Bloodstone when it comes to respawn time reduction, while granting an extra 4 mana regeneration. What it means, is that the item is no longer as time-sensitive as it used to be—if previously it was general the first or the second core item on heroes who were interested in building it, currently it can be build even later in the game for a massive increase in mana regeneration.
Butterfly
- Flutter cooldown reduced from 35 to 25
Crimson Guard
- Cooldown reduced from 60 to 50
- HP regeneration increased by 2
Desolator
- Now requires Blight Stone instead of a 300 recipe.
Diffusal Blade
- Purge cooldown increased from 0 to 2
- Mana burned by melee/ranged illusions reduced from 25/12 to 20/10
- Mana burned by melee/ranged heroes increased from 25 to 40
A rather strong buff to the mana-burning aspect of the item on regular illusions heroes with the exception of 
Phantom Lancer. The cooldown increase is a definite nerf, however scenarios in which one would want to use multiple charges in quick succession are rather rare.
Dragon Lance
- Now requires Ogre Club and 2x Band of Elvenskin instead of Ogre Club and Quarterstaff.
Drum of Endurance
- Now requires Bracer, Ring of Regeneration, Wind Lace, and a 700 recipe.
Eul's Scepter of Divinity
- Now requires Wind Lace instead of Sage's mask
Flying Courier
- Cost reduced from 200 to 150
Gem of True Sight
- True Sight radius reduced from 1100 to 900
Ghost Scepter
- Ghost Form cooldown reduced from 30 to 25
Glimmer Cape
- Mana cost reduced from 110 to 90
Guardian Greaves
- Guardian Greaves recipe from 1650 to 1700
Heart of Tarrasque
- Strength bonus increased from 40 to 45
- Health bonus reduced from 300 to 250
Net result of +50 HP.
Heaven's Halberd
- Disarm duration on ranged targets increased from 4.5 to 5.5
Hood of Defiance
- Removed one Ring of Regen from Hood of Defiance
Linken's Sphere
- Recipe cost reduced from 1325 to 1000
A massive buff to the item and a nerf to most heroes with strong single-target spells. The item has gotten a lot more affordable even for supports later in the game and is a lot more viable option in many scenarios.
Lotus Orb
- Now requires an Energy Booster instead of a 900 gold recipe
- HP regeneration increased from 5 to 6
Another great option for supports against single-target lineups. Since Aether Lens has lost some its potency, disassembling 
Arcane Boots into Lotus Orb can be a better option, even more so in aforementioned scenarios.
Mask of Madness
- Active damage amplification reduced from 30% to 25%
Medallion of Courage
- Now requires Blight Stone instead of a recipe
Observer Ward
- Gold/experience rescaled from 50/100 to 100/25
- Duration reduced from 7 to 6 minutes
- Restock interval reduced from 180 to 150 seconds
- Cost reduced from 75 to 65
A very welcome change—the reduction on duration/cooldown of the wards increase the "vision mobility" and makes adjustment to the changed circumstances easier, while the increase in gold bounty incentivises dewarding even more. With vision being one of the core Dota concepts, having less limited options is a welcome change.
Octarine Core
- No longer provides HP regeneration
- Mana regeneration reduced from 100% to 50%
A rather minor nerf that doesn't take away from the core idea of the item. It is still one of the best late-game options on heroes which benefir from cooldown reduction.
Perseverance
- HP regeneration increased from 5 to 6
Pipe of Insight
- Removed Pipe of Insight Barrier stack limit duration
Multiple pipes might becomes a thing against certain lineups. A total of 800 magical damage block can render certain heroes and even lineups almost completely useless.
Point Booster
- Point Booster health bonus reduced from 200 to 175 and mana bonus increased from 150 to 175
Refresher Orb
- Refresher HP regeneration increased from 10 to 12
Ring of Aquila and 
Ring of Basilius
- Armor reduced from 3 to 2
- Damage increased by 1
Ring of Health
- HP regeneration increased from 5 to 6
Ring of Regen
- Cost reduced from 350 to 325
Rod of Atos
- Removed chance to True Strike on the target
A small nerf to [missing hero: outworld-devourer] when he is attacking evasive heroes and/or uphill.
Sange
- Maim chance increased from 15% to 20%
- Maim slow reduced from 20% to 20/10% for melee/ranged wielders
Sange and Yasha
- Maim chance increased from 16% to 30%
- Maim slow reduced from 32% to 26%/13% for melee/ranged wielders
The item has gotten practically worthless for ranged heroes with the exception of stats it provides, but a 26% slow with a really high chance to proc make for a very reliable way of staying on target. Previously, the item was looked down upon almost in the same way as Vaguard, but the recent trends have shown its value and the buffs further solidify its position as a very strong mid-game item not only for farming, but also for fighting.
Shadow Amulet
- Cost reduced from 1400 to 1300
Silver Edge
- Now requires Shadow Blade and Ultimate Orb instead of Shadow Blade, Sange, and a Recipe. Can be disassembled.
- Backstab damage reduction increased from 40 to 50%
The new stats distribution on the item make it a better choice for non-Strength heroes. While the item has lost its slowing properties, it is now a lot more flexible and costs substantially less. A further 10% decrease on the damage output of the target make it an excellent situational choice in a variety of games on a variety of heroes.
Smoke of Deceit
- Stock replenish time reduced from 12 to 11 minutes
- No longer has a cooldown attached to your hero when used
More smokes=more action, while the cooldown attached to a hero make for a nice quality of life improvement.
Soul Booster
- No longer provides HP regeneration
- Mana regeneration reduced from 100% to 50%
Talisman of Evasion
- Cost reduced from 1800 to 1700
Town Portal Scroll
- Cost reduced from 75 to 50
Vanguard
- HP regeneration increased from 6 to 8
Veil of Discord
- Now requires Helm of Iron Will, 2x Null Talisman, and a 400 Recipe.
- Veil debuff is now dispellable
Vladmir's Offering
- Armor aura reduced from 5 to 4
Heroes
Abaddon
- Curse of Avernus slow increased from 5/10/15/20% to 8/12/16/20%
A very minor buff, but it substantially increases the value point in the passive—an 8% slow can create opening in the early game for support Abaddon. It will unlikely make the hero any more popular among the professional players, due to him being melee and having limited cast range.
Ancient Apparition
- Cold Feet cooldown reduced from 15/13/11/9 to 13/11/9/7
- Cold Feet damage timing changed from 0.8/1.6/2.5/3.4 to 0/1/2/3
The cooldown reduction is nice, however it will unlikely result in a substantial change in the playstyle for the hero. The second change, however, has a rather strong hidden potential—it is no longer possible to blink out from the Cold Feet and given a massive cast range of 700/800/900/1000, it can make the hero a lot more viable when initiating on natural blink dagger carriers.
Arc Warden
- Flux no longer slows magic immune units
- Flux is now purgeable
- Flux slow reduced from 50% to 35/40/45/50%
- Magnetic Field cooldown reduced from 50 to 35/30/25/20
- Magnetic Field duration increased from 3.5/4/4.5/5 to 3.5/4.5/5.5/6.5
- Magnetic Field now only evades attacks done from outside of the field
- Spark Wraith mana cost reduced from 100/110/120/130 to constant 80
- Spark Wraith activation delay reduced from 3 to 2
- Spark Wraith now applies a 0.4/0.5/0.6/0.7 second purge
- Spark Wraith damage rescaled from 150/200/250/300 to 100/160/220/280
- Tempest Double no longer has an HP/Mana cost
- Tempest Double ability/item cooldowns now persist on the unit
- Tempest Double no longer replicates items that drop on death [?]
- Tempest Double cooldown reduced from 65/60/55 to 50/40/30
- Tempest Double duration reduced from 20 to 12/13/14
- Tempest Double cast point increased from 0 to 0.15
- Strength growth increased from 1.9 to 2.3
- Intelligence growth increased from 2.1 to 2.6
Goodbye annoying core Arc Warden, and greetings to a utility one. With no gimmicky "I will sit in my base with rapier and midas" the hero has lost almost all of his capabilities in the core role, since he can longer safely scale and boost his GPM/XPM in a relatively risk-free manner. His potential as a support or utility semi-core, however, has increased. Getting items such as Linken's Sphere, Lotus Orb etc. can make for a very scary team to go against. The changes to Pipe of Insight also make him a perfect carrier—as stated previously, an 800 magic damage block is a massive boost.
Alternatively, having multiple aggressive utility options is also possible—the new Bloodthorn or even the usual 
Scythe of Vyse make for a very strong gameplan, when doubled.
Axe
- Counter Helix damage type from Physical to Pure
- Counter Helix damage reduced from 100/135/170/205 to 90/120/150/180
A massive direct buff to Axe couple with Vanguard and Blade Mail buffs make for one of the prime candidates for the title of 6.87 cancer. Being able to effectively dual lane in the offlane and jungle, if necessary, he makes for a very consistent and, frankly, scary hero to look out for—there are too many stars aligned well for the hero not to be effective, and he was already quite strong previously, so the professionals won't need to devise new strategies with him.
Bane
- Enfeeble mana cost reduced from 95/105/115/125 to 95
The ability has been underused in a lot of games. A massive reduction in attack damage renders several mid-game tempo heroes practically useless—no one will fear a 
Templar Assassin with 120 damage. The reduced manacost is a welcome addition, since the hero does suffer from moderate mana issues. Moreover, a global increase in mana by 50 on every hero will make points into this ability a viable option.
Beastmaster
- Call of the Wild Hawk's day vision reduced from 700/1000/1300/1600 to 500/750/1000/1250
- Call of the Wild Hawk's night vision reduced from 700/800/900/1000 to 500/650/800/950
The day vision took a massive hit of 350 untis, but it is unlikely to make the hero any less viable. Ever since the Shanghai Major the popularity of the hero in the professional scene has been growing and he was contested in at least 80% of the game in both SL | i-League Invitational and ESL One Manila.
He still has the ability to both slow and stun through spell immunity as well as farm jungle early on for increased consistency. His aura is still as potent on 0.75 BAT necronomicon warrior and even a decently sized nerf to one of his stronger abilities is unlikely to make him much weaker.
Bloodseeker
- Added Scepter to Bloodseeker:
Grants 2 charges to Rupture with 40 second replenish.
- Rupture cast point improved from 0.6 to 0.4
- Strength growth increased from 2 to 2.4
A small stat and cast point buff is unlikely to make the hero any better—he is still in this weird pub-stompy spot, where he deals exceptionally well in the lower brackets but is almost completely useless in the higher ones. The scepter upgrade is a Rubick buff at the very best, even despite the Blade Mail buffs the hero is unlikely to become relevant again.
Bounty Hunter
- Shadow Walk mana cost increased from 50 to 65
A very conservative nerf which more or less counterweights the +50 mana at the start. The hero should still remain very viable.
Brewmaster
- Replaced Earth Brewling's Pulverize with Demolish
- Primal Split Earth & Storm damage type from Pierce to Hero
- Primal Split Brewlings' armor type from Strong to Hero
- Primal Split Earth attack damage reduced from 40/80/165 to 30/60/90
- Primal Split Storm attack damage reduced from 40/80/165 to 20/40/60
- Primal Split Fire attack damage rescaled from 77/122/154 to 80/120/160
- Storm Brewling's Wind Walk backstab damage increased from 100 to 100/160/220
Not necessarily a buff, but rather a game mechanics simplification. Adding demolish to the Earth "panda" might come into play once in a while, and the previous pulverize ability was rather lackluster, but the hero will remain relatively unchanged, with the exception of higher potential burst from the Wind "panda".
Bristleback
- Bristleback damage threshold reduced from 230 to 210
- Scepter Goo range increased from 600 to 700
Coupled with the item buffs discussed previously, Bristleback is substantially better off. Having an option to go for Abyssal Blade later on also makes for a stronger late-game—something the hero lacked.
Centaur Warrunner
- Double Edge cooldown reduced from 8 to 6
- Stampede duration increased from 3.75 to 4.0
A rather minor series of buffs. The relevance of the hero is once again dependent on how certain items turn out to be.
Chen
- Hand of God no longer fully heals his creeps
A rather strong, but well deserved nerf. Chen without his army becomes quickly irrelevant as a separate entity and not being able to fully restore the ancients once they are low will take a lot away from the general appeal of the hero. He is still going to be a strong opening and early-game tempo-control, but his ability to stay relevant is diminished even further.
Clockwerk
- Battery Assault damage increased from 20/40/60/80 to 20/45/70/95
- Minor cleanup to Power Cogs push back distance/duration changed from 252/0.84 to 250/0.85
A very conservative buff to a currently very weak hero. The big problem with him is not necessarily his lackluster skillset, but rather how he is inferior to many other options. These changes are unlikely to bring him back.
Crystal Maiden
- Crystal Nova cooldown reduced from 12 to 12/11/10/9
- Arcane Aura level 4 self regen increased from 6 to 8
The hero had a decent showing at the ESL One Manila and it seems she is in a rather decent "situational" tier. These buffs are unlikely to change that, but will make her a stronger presence in the games she is already good in.
Dazzle
- Poison Touch range increased from 600 to 600/650/700/750
The whole spell is extremely weird in what it does and a random range increase doesn't really change the fact that the hero is somewhat inferior to 
Oracle and is way more situational. Personally, I love the hero, but he is not in a very good spot currently.
Death Prophet
- Spirit Siphon no longer grants vision
- Spirit Siphon damage type from Pure to Magical and no longer goes through Spell Immunity
- Spirit Siphon damage increased from 20 + 1/2/3/4% to 25 + 1/2.5/4/5.5%
- Spirit Siphon duration increased from 5 to 6
- Spirit Siphon buffer range reduced from 300 to 250
- Base strength reduced from 19 to 18
Despite the nerf to the base strength, the hero has the same starting HP, while everyone else has 20 more. The changes to the Spirit Siphon are rather harsh, since they do take away from the hero's late-game potential. That said, increased damage and duration means more MS and Substantially more damage on non-spell immune targets.
The hero should still remain relevant, but not as overpowered as she was previously seen as.
Disruptor
- Kinetic Field AoE increased from 325 to 340
Dragon Knight
- Breathe Fire attack damage reduction increased from 20/25/30/35% to 35%
- Breathe Fire cooldown rescaled from 12 to 14/13/12/11
- Base damage increased by 4
A series of rather minor buffs make for a very good hero, especially with all the item changes about to be implemented. The hero should find his place in the top 30 of the most popular heroes of the patch—he is extremely versatile, decently tanky and offers a variety of skills which have multiple uses.
Drow Ranger
- Gust cast point improved from 0.4 to 0.25
Hurricane Pike + Better Gust for the ultimate can't touch this experience. The buff to gust is a very welcome one and the hero was already rather relevant in 6.86. It will be interesting to see whether her increased popularity will bring 
Visage back from the grave.
Earth Spirit
- Boulder Smash knockback speed reduced from 1200 to 900
- Base movement speed reduced from 305 to 295
It is still the same cancerous hero we all know and love, but with weaker early-game presence and a more conditional stun. Overall, it should not influence the popularity of the hero too much—even without a very reliable stun, he still offers a tremendous amounts of damage which simply can't be ignored.
Earthshaker
- Reworked Scepter on Earthshaker
Enchant Totem becomes a 900 range ground target ability. Causes you to jump in the air and land at the target spot, casting enchant totem there. Self casting the ability will make it behave in the original form, without jumping.
The previous Aghs upgrade was a rare sight on the hero—unless you were facing Phantom Lancer, the benefits from it were easily outweighed with a simple Veil of Discord. The current added ability gives the hero a built-in blink on a 5 second cooldown makig him almost as mobile as the anti-mage. Will it replace 
Blink Dagger? Unlikely, since it is not instant and costs a lot more. Is it a viable option in the late-game? Very much so—mobility is key, especially in prolonged games and this ability can even open up potential for core-shaker.
Elder Titan
- Echo Stomp damage increased from 80/90/100/110 to 85/110/135/160
- Echo Stomp grace period for waking up units with damage increased from 0.65 to 0.8
A total of 100 extra damage (physical+magical) barely makes up for other flaws of the hero—he requires way too much setup to be effective. With a potential trend towards tankier heroes, however, he might still find his place in the meta—his aura is as potent as ever.
Enchantress
- Impetus damage reduced from 15/20/25% to 14/18/22%
- Impetus max distance reduced from 2500 to 1750
The max distance has rarely come into play, but the 3% damage decrease on impetus is a rather big deal. Given the new Hurrican Pike item, some sort of nerf was required to the hero and these small tweaks will potentially put her in a better position, where she is not one of the most contested hero in every tournament for the last several months.
Enigma
- Fixed Demonic Conversion not working on Beastmaster's Boar or Hawk
A one-button way to deal with a BKB-piercing slow is never a bad thing.
Faceless Void
- Time Walk cast range increased from 625 to 675
- Time Walk cast point increased from 0.2 to 0.3
- Time Dilation cooldown increased from 36/30/24/18 to 40/34/28/22
- Time Dilation slow rescaled from 7/8/9/10 to 8
- Time Lock no longer deals double damage inside Chronosphere
- Time Lock damage increased from 40/50/60/70 damage to 50/75/100/125
- Scepter no longer increases Chronosphere's duration
Faceless Void can become one of the prime candidates for the new Echo Sabre—an intelligence stat is never wasted on a hero with a mobility spell, while the double-attack will make the bash procs a lot more consistent. The hero has become slightly better at dealing damage and slightly worse at being a strong utility hero and this throwback to the old Void is at the very least interesting. It also makes the Waga build slightly stronger.
Gyrocopter
- Reworked Scepter on Gyrocopter
Adds a Side Gunner, fires an attack automatically at random enemy units within 600 AoE every 1.4 seconds. Same firing rules as Rocket Barrage, but does not attack while invisible and is disabled by Break.
- Base damage reduced by 4
From one completely useless upgrade to the other. If anything, it is a small nerf to Rubick, since he can't steal the side gunner.
The only real value of this "upgrade" is that is can still proc on-attack effects such as Mjolnir's lightning, but even then it is too gimmicky to be highly effective.
Huskar
- Berserker's Blood max attack speed increased from 196/224/252/280 to 220/260/300/340
A rather strong buff, especially at level 4, but the hero himself is not in a good spot currently—unless you have a perfect armlet-toggling skill, attempting to play Huskar is ill-advised.
Invoker
- Invoked Spells cast point increased from 0 to 0.05
- Cold Snap is now dispellable
- Ghost Walk cooldown increased from 35 to 45
- Tornado vision reduced from 600 to 200
- Forge Spirit Health/Mana changed from Exort/Quas based to Quas/Exort based
- Base intelligence reduced from 22 to 16—starting damage stays the same
A series of rather small nerfs to a hero who has been globally buffed with the intelligence spell damage addition. The added cast point, while miniscule, does add some time to the combos, but otherwise the hero should remain very strong for yet another patch.
The biggest change is the reversal of Spirit Health/Mana, since they will be much easier to deal with early on. This, however, doesn't take away from the late-game strength of the hero.
Jakiro
- Macropyre distance increased from 900 to 1400
- Macropyre is no longer unit targetable
- Macropyre Scepter duration increased from 20 to 30 seconds
A massive area denial and a decent combo-piece for DPS is, unfortunately, on a rather undervalued hero. While the abilities of the hero are hardly lackluster, their cast points are among the highest in the game, which makes for a very clunky hero who isn't particularly fun to play.
Juggernaut
- Healing Ward now follows Juggernaut by default
Keeper of the Light
- Movement speed increased from 315 to 335
Kunkka
- Torrent damage is now dealt evenly over 8 ticks
- Torrent stun duration increased from 1.53 to 1.6
- Torrent mana cost reduced from 120 to 90/100/110/120
- Base armor increased by 2
Support and Core Kunkka alike might becomes slightly more viable with both the manacost reduction and a flat +50 mana increase on all heroes. A +2 armor buff on an already decently tanky hero can even make for a somewhat situational offlaner and sometimes even mid.
Legion Commander
- Duel no longer ignores Disarm and Ethereal states on either target
- Duel Scepter duration increased from 4.75/5.5/6.25 to 6/7/8
Disarm is a rather weird mechanics and it rarely comes into play and the first change can be considered both a buff and a nerf, depending on the situation. The Scepter duration increase is certainly nice, but it is rare to build this item in most cases anyway.
Lich
- Frost Blast and Chain Frost slows are now independent debuffs
- Chain Frost no longer jumps to Zombies
Lifestealer
- Infest can now only target ancients with Level 2 and Level 3
- Strength growth increased from 2.4 to 3.0
A very minor nerf to the gimmicky playstyle and a very strong buff to stats growth. At level 25 it provides extra 300 HP and a decent amount of damage. And its not like the hero really needed a buff—he was rather popular in the previous tournaments already, being picked in the situations where he was a good fit. With the return of Puck and QoP (and maybe Strom Spirit), it is possible we are finally going to see some infest-bombs.
Lone Druid
- Spirit Bear's Entangle now uses Pseudo-Random Distribution
- Battle Cry damage reduced from 90/120/150 to 70/100/130
That is a nice way of balancing a slightly overpowered hero. It doesn't take away from his core concepts, but makes him not as dominant in the mid-game.
Luna
- Agility growth increased from 2.8 to 3.3
Magnus
- Base HP regeneration increased from 0.25 to 0.75
- Base damage increased by 4
Medusa
- Stone Gaze damage amplification increased from 30/40/50% to 50%
- Stone Gaze duration rescaled from 6 to 5/6/7 seconds
- Stone Gaze slow reduced from 50 to 35%
The hero got slightly stronger later in the game, however the slow reduction takes away a lot from the immediate effect of the Stone Gaze—unless your team has a way of catching fleeing enemies while dealing damage, her ultimate is still rather easy to wait-out and re-engage.
Meepo
- Base damage increased by 4
Mirana
- Added Scepter to Mirana
Passively triggers Starstorm every 8 seconds. If there are no units to affect, the spell waits until there is a nearby enemy. Does not trigger if the enemy does not see you. Passive procs are disabled by Break.
There are multiple reasons why this upgrade can be considered one the best new additions—not only does it allow you to deal 1050 reliable magic damage to a single target from invisibility, while increasing your farm speed, but it can be also used as a way of determining whether the enemy has vision on you while you are invisible.
Given how the hero has already been getting some attention, it is very likely that the addition of extra viable options will make her popular once more.
Morphling
- Replicate damage dealt increased from 50% to 80%
- Hybrid cooldown reduced from 120 to 70
An illusion capable of dealing 80% of the damage while taking 100% has a multitude of uses and can give way for support Morphling to shine. The core one doesn't really get much from this change, since for the most part his illusions are going to be used as an escape mechanism. It has the potential of being an extra farming tool, but it would require a strong stats-based core to be really effective and these are generally occupy the same team composition slot as Morphling himself.
Naga Siren
- Mirror Image illusion damage increased from 20/25/30/35% to 25/30/35/40%
- Song of the Siren Scepter regeneration rate increased from 8 to 10%
- Song of the Siren now affects units like Golems
A 5% buff to illusion damage is not necessarily reverting the damage done in the previous patches, but it is a step in the right direction. Overall, the hero is currently in a weird spot, where she is frequently outclassed by any melee hero with Radiance/Octarine build-up. Without offering anything unique, she is generally overlooked in both competitive and pub meta.
Nature's Prophet
- Treants bounty increased from 14-20 to 18-24
- Treants vision reduced from 1000/800 to 500
A massive nerf to Natures Prophet. The vision aspect, as stated previously, cannot be underrated in the game of Dota, while an average increase of 4 gold per creep is a very nice addition on top. The hero is a lot riskier to play, both in terms of micro and macro—mindlessly feeding treants was already a bad habit, which will be punished even more, especially against Aghanims NP, while the lack of scouting potential will make split-pushing substantially harder.
Necrophos
- Reaper's Scythe respawn time penalty reduced from 30 to 10/20/30
- Reaper's Scythe damage factor increased from 0.4/0.6/0.9 to 0.6/0.75/0.9
Finally, this ability in the early levels is more useful as a spell that deals damage, and not as a way of breaking the rules of the game. Overall, it should make Necrophos slightly stronger in the teamfights, but not as potent in denying the enemy their resources.
Nyx Assassin
- Fixed Spiked Carapace not preventing damage when a Spell Immune attacker damages you
- Base HP regeneration increased from 2.5 to 3.5
Omniknight
- Degen Aura no longer pierces Spell Immunity
Oracle
- Added Scepter to Oracle
Reduces Purifying Flames cooldown from 2.25 seconds to 1.0 and lowers cast point from 0.3 to 0.1
A very interesting and rather strong upgrade. It boost both healing and damage dealing properties of the hero and, while not necessarily becoming a core item, has its uses in prolonged games.
[missing hero: outworld-devourer]
- Arcane Orb Intelligence Steal reduced from 2/3/4/5 to 1/2/3/4
- Arcane Orb mana cost increased from 100 to 100/120/140/160
- Astral Imprisonment cast range reduced from 450/500/550/600 to 225/350/475/600
Recent trends have been showing that the hero might not be as strong as people tend to portray him—he barely made it into top20 most contested heroes in ESL One Manila and was slowly falling out of favor of the pub players as well. Nerfing the hero even further might be even considered unnecessary.
Yes, the new change to the intelligence has the potential of boosting his damage through the roof, but it was already extremely high and yet people have learned to play against the hero. In this current form it is very likely he will be barely touched by either pros or pub players.
Phantom Assassin
- Stifling Dagger now does a real physical attack for 60 + 25/40/55/70% of your attack damage. All attack effects work and behave as if your hero performed them.
- Phantom Assassin turn rate increased from 0.4 to 0.6
A scaling nuke is potentially what the hero was missing all along—opening up new possibilities in the item building can make the hero exceptionally scary even in the later stages. Massive range on the Dagger will allow PA to slowly poke the enemy to death in the lane and it can become a scary nuke in the late-game to a point where the fight would generally start with a couple of targets on the enemy team already at 50-75% health
Phoenix
- Supernova Scepter now also increases the number of attacks needed to destroy the Supernova to 7/10/13
Puck
- Increased Illusory Orb speed by 1
Pugna
- Nether Ward now treats Illusions as creeps for hit count calculation
Razor
- Static Link break distance increased by 100
A substantial buff to a hero who somehow lost all of his popularity despite not receiving any substantial nerfs in the recent past. The extra leeway couple with higher drain-rate will ensure a substantial amount of extra damage stolen.
Riki
- Added to Captain's Mode
- Blink Strike damage increased from 20/40/60/80 to 60/80/100/120
- Tricks of the Trade cast point improved from 0.4 to 0.3
- Tricks of the Trade cooldown reduced from 40 to 40/35/30
With all the nerfs to truesight on both towers and gem, Riki has high potential of becoming a decent semi-carry or even a strong late-game core. His skillset scales rather well and in well-coordinated games Tricks of the Trade can become a very strong tool at his disposal. Moreover, the era of flash-farming is almost gone, with many popular heroes being heavily fight-oriented, hence Riki can be a great asset and won't become a liability in the later stages.
Rubick
- Fade Bolt damage increased from 70/140/210/280 to 75/150/225/300
- Null Field increased from 5/10/15/20% to 10/14/18/22%
- Turn rate increased from 0.5 to 0.7
A value point in Null Field might be a very good idea, given how many intelligence heroes have received buffs to their spell damage, while the added damage to fade bold will more or less counterweight the added health on heroes. Otherwise the hero should remain relatively the same—the added scaling to the abilities which can be stolen is a nice buff, but it is probably going to be rather small on a support hero.
Sand King
- Sand Storm max channel time rescaled from 20/40/60/80 to 50
Shadow Demon
- Disruption illusion damage increased from 30/40/50/60 to 30/45/60/75%
- Soul Catcher cooldown reduced from 13 to 13/12/11/10
A rather strong set of buffs to a nearly extinct hero. With potential rise of Mirana, the hero might become slightly more relevant, but it is unlikely he will become significantly more popular based on these changes alone.
Shadow Fiend
- Requiem of Souls damage lines travel distance rescaled from 975/1000/1025 to 1000
- Requiem of Souls Starting Width increased from 75/100/125 to 125
- Requiem of Souls End Width rescaled from 400/425/450 to 425
- Scepter now also increases Necromastery max souls from 15/22/29/36 to 22/30/38/46
The Scepter might become a core build for the hero, since the damage from his ultimate scales much better now and given the 50% return damage it can make for a very strong nuker. Given these changes, it might even be the case that the hero will abandon his earlier mid position and will instead concentrate on farming the safe lane. The once gimmicky, but surprisingly effective Euls+Requiem combo might find its way back into the meta.
Shadow Shaman
- Mass Serpent Wards splash mechanics reworked: Now deals 75% splash in 175 AoE
Silencer
- Last Word no longer slows
- Arcane Curse base duration reduced from 7 to 6
- Arcane Curse now slows movement speed by 9/12/15/18%
- Arcane Curse cooldown increased from 18/16/14/12 to 20/18/16/14
- Glaives of Wisdom damage rescaled from 30/50/70/90% to 35/50/65/80%
With these changes the heroes teamfight capabilities have increased substantially—having an AoE slow which punishes the enemy for using spells by dealing decent amount of magic damage can make the hero viable in a multitude of scenarios and the hero is no longer just his ultimate. Given that the Arcane Curse does not wear down while the targets are silenced, an Aghanims Upgarde can become a strong global slow which can be nicely couple with other global abilities.
Skywrath Mage
- Mystic Flare Scepter duration increased from 2.4 to 12 seconds
- Mystic Flare Scepter cooldown increased from 20/10/0 to 20/10/5
The strong area denial can be considered a good thing only if the area in question is big enough for it to matter. If previously, having an already questionable Scepter upgrade could at least mean that the lockdown on enemy was that much more potent, currently, it deals less damage and only continuous flow of disables will make this ability stronger compared to the previous one.
Sniper
- Shrapnel damage increased from 12/24/36/48 to 15/30/45/60
Spectre
- Spectral Dagger slow no longer goes through Spell Immunity
- Haunt cooldown increased from 120 to 140/130/120
- Haunt Illusions are no longer unstunnable
- Agility growth reduced from 2.2 to 1.8
A series of rather minor nerfs will unlikely heavily influence the pick rate of the hero—she is still one the most potent late-game carries who is relatively easy to play and a total decrease of 10 agility is not going to change that. The early-game cooldown reduction is certainly a nice thing, which will not allow this late-game oriented hero to snowball as hard, but overall, at least in the pub environment, the hero is more or less the same.
Storm Spirit
- Added Scepter to Storm Spirit
Causes Electric Vortex to be a 475 AoE ability around your hero. Requires vision over the units to affect them.
This change couple with a Bloodstone buff might bring storm back as a very situational hero. Given his manacost on the ultimate, some new forms of Storm Spirit might emerge—maybe the hero will be played with a Blink Dagger for initiation, for example.
Sven
- Base movement speed reduced from 295 to 290
Terrorblade
- Base armor increased by 3
10 armor. That is how much armor this hero has at level 1. Given a global increase in starting HP and introduction of the Infused Raindrops, the hero might make a comeback into both pub and professional meta—he will be extremely tanky even in the early game and his DPS was never lackluster.
It is still ill-advised to pick the hero against strong magic burst lineups, but he can be a devastating force in other scenarios.
Timbersaw
- Whirling Death debuff duration increased from 11 to 14 seconds
- Reactive Armor regen and armor per stack increased from 1 to 1/1.2/1.4/1.6
A very strong buff to the hero. With both regeneration and armor increases being a common theme in this patch Timbersaw still manages to stand out as the clearest winner, while the debuff duration allows the ability to stack up to three times, potentially destroying Strength heroes. With some of the biggest buffs coming to the strength heroes, Timbersaw is very likely to be a priority pick.
Tinker
- Rearm mana cost reduced from 125/225/325 to 100/200/300
- Rearm can no longer refresh Pipe of Insight
- Base intelligence increased from 27 to 30
As one of the strongest nukers in the game, Tinker is a clear winner when it comes to the added spell damage. Further buffs in increased intelligence and lower manacost on rearm will definitely have an impact on his presence in the game—the hero is now capable of doing so much more. In the right hands and at the right time he can be even scarier than in his former days of glory.
Treant Protector
- Nature's Guise tree search radius reduced from 375 to 350
- Nature's Guise tree search grace duration reduced from 1 to 0.75 seconds
- Nature's Guise movement speed increased from 10% to 14/16/18/20%
- Leech Seed cooldown reduced from 16/14/12/10 to 16/13/10/7
To stay invisible one would need to be even closer to the trees and switching from one forest to the other is going to be harder, however it is more than compensated for with the extra movement speed, especially given the new landscape. The cooldown reduction on Leech Seed is arguable an even stronger buff and has the potential of bringing this ability into the priority position—the amount of AoE heal it will provide can outweigh the benefits of the Living Armor.
Troll Warlord
- Ranged Whirling Axes cooldown reduced from 20/18/16/14 to 19/16/13/10
- Fervor max stacks increased from 6 to 7
These changes alone are unlikely to make the hero viable—he still needs too much and offers too little. Addition of the Echo Sabre to the build might make him a more reliable core hero, but he will still be a gamble.
Tusk
- Walrus Kick cooldown reduced from 12 to 8
- Walrus Kick damage increased from 200 to 350
Undying
- Tombstone now treats Illusions as creeps for hit count calculation
Vengeful Spirit
- Magic Missile stun rescaled from 1.45/1.55/1.65/1.75 to 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8
Viper
- Poison Attack is no longer an Attack Modifier
A rather strong buff the hero desperately needed. Judging by the changes to the way 
Clinkz is being currently played, there will probably be a new build for the hero, potentially one involving more carry-oriented items. Also, having lifesteal on a naturally tanky hero can increase his relevance substantially.
Visage
- Gravekeeper's Cloak recharge time reduced from 4 to 3 seconds
- Gravekeeper's Cloak minimum damage threshold increased from 2 to 15
- Stone Form stun delay reduced from 1 to 0.85
The hero will still remain squishy if focused down, however he will regain his resistance to burst damage much faster and it is a very welcome buff. The decrease in Stone Form delay is arguably a bigger buff, however. These small numbers add up and a missed opportunity for a stun/kill can cost a lot more in the long run.
Overall, as mentioned previously, with the potential rise in popularity of the Drow Ranger, the hero might come back as her natural partner—the combo is too strong to ignore.
Warlock
- Shadow Word cast range increased from 500 to 525/600/675/750
- Fatal Bonds cooldown reduced from 25 to 24/22/20/18
- Flaming Fists damage changed from 40% chance for 80/115/150 to 100% chance for 40/50/60
A lot more reliable AoE damage is what the hero needed. With two golems on the field and under the effects of Fatal Bonds, the enemy team will melt in a matter of seconds. Moreover, the duration of the bonds is now longer than their cooldown, allowing for addition of several extra targets to the mix for 7 seconds. Or, alternatively, it can be cast on the creepwave/neutrals to kill-off fleeing enemies while they are still under the effect.
Weaver
- Time Lapse now disjoints projectiles
- Time Lapse Scepter cooldown reduced from 20 to 16
- Weaver now loses unit collision immediately when casting Shukuchi rather than after fading
Winter Wyvern
- Added Scepter to Winter Wyvern
Causes Arctic Burn to be a toggle and drains 40 mana per second. Activation mana cost is the same as the current, 120/110/100/90. No longer has limit on number of attacks per target.
- Winter's Curse cooldown reduced from 120/110/100 to 90
A very strong Aghs upgrade and a very welcome cooldown reduction on a previously nerfed ability. The hero is slowly getting into a very playable state—she is one strong auto-attack/teamfight meta away from becoming the best support once again.
While getting Aghs might be tricky on the hero and there are several more useful items which will take priority, but later in the game, with a potential tanky meta, it can deal impressive amounts of damage from a very safe distance.
Wraith King
- Mortal Strike now does a critical hit for double the value when attacking non-heroes
Depending on the rather vague definition of non-hero, this ability can be either exceptionally strong or rather mediocre. (Illusions, Spirit Bear etc. can all be classified as non-heroes)
Zeus
- Static Field damage reduced from 5/7/9/11% to 4/6/8/10%
- Static Field no longer disables Blink Dagger
- Thundergod's Wrath damage reduced from 225/350/475 to 225/325/425
Damage aside (which will be somewhat compensated for with the int. spell damage amp), the hero has received a very strong nerf—not being able to disable blink daggers on a sub 3s cooldown in 1200 AoE was one of the things that made the hero exceptionally powerful even in the late-game—at this stage clean initiation will generally mean a good fight for the initiating team. With it gone the hero will certainly lose a lot of his appeal. Most players probably don't even realize how many initiations they have prevented.
hmmmmm interesting
Can't wait to play timber in 6.87 :D
I disagree on the observer ward changes. I feel that with if dewarding becomes more prominent, supports will have to spend more money and it will be even harder for a support to get any items. Even if there is no dewarding in say a pub game, I feel that supports will still have to spend more money with the limited duration. Supports already have a small amount of money almost all of the time, and couple that with buying sentries to deward means very very late items on supports (in my opinion at least). If this is actually supremely incorrect, I have only 300 hours :P
The ranged creep experience increase is also a subtle buff to Lich.
This patch though...
Half of this patch seems like a joke...
pitlord lol
btw no veno buff? dafuq
where is AU? VOLVO GIVE ME AU
seriously ? 7 new items all of a sudden
Damn this patch is so broken! Everything coming in so newly(dont knwo if thats a word)...
The only thing i want from new update is stop matching me with retards plz ==
They needed a silencer buff in this patch...
as a mirana player, i expected the scepter to be like "for 5 seconds hero will attack freely on a target while moving". do i ask for much?
Under the Beastmaster section referring to day vision granted by Call of The Wild, there's a small typo. "untis" instead of "Units"
Under the Earth Spirit section, "amounts of damage" should be changed to "amount of damage"
Under the Legion Commander section, "the Disarm Mechanics" should be "Disarm mechanic"
Under the Outworld Devourer section, the "top20" should be changed to "Top 20"
Under the Silencer section, "Aghanims Upgarde" should be "Aghanim Upgrade"
Under the Tower section, "slowdown" should have a space
if I missed any, i'll be back
Hire me
The blink initiation on storm was exactly the build I was thinking of when I first saw the notes.
well shit cant wait to see how this all plays out
looks like im playing axe
How are the changes to Diffusal Blade "A rather strong buff to the mana-burning aspect of the item on regular illusions heroes with the exception of Phantom Lancer"?
It's certainly a nerf to PL (I don't understand while he even needed a nerf) but isn't it also a lesser nerf to other illusion heroes that use Diffusal Blade?
This patch is a nightmare for pub supports... things were already really rough, stats prove people hate playing the role and therefore don't understand it and now it's just got worse...
The warding changes although good for higher levels of play will just mean supports spend more time warding and less time doing anything else which in turn lowers their impact. The amount is scaled to make costs the same but the bigger cost of wards is in placing them, not buying them.
Unlike previous patches which added Glimmer Cape and Aether Lens there's nothing like that at all this time around. All the new items are very carry based, even raindrops which becomes available at three minutes and put massive overload on the courier because almost everyone will want this. 0.85 mana regen for that cost is pretty strong as is especially in the early game, then you have the other benefits too? Then you've got the new health increase? Which makes ganks harder? Which is what some supports are good at? And carries will have priority over the 'servants'. Geez man... I have massive reservations about this item.
Wind Lace is sort of interesting, but supports having to carry wards and possibly dust and/or smoke means their slots are already very stretched. It does build into Eul's if someone else goes Drum but that's not a good fit on every support hero.
Don't get me started on Saber. That thing is going to be silly as hell. A 100% slow for 0.6 seconds on top of the already absurd damage the likes of Sven and Faceless Void do? On a short cooldown? I sure hope supports like death!
heart actually gives 90 hp, due to the change with str
Huh can't wait to try out the echo sabre. Also getting fb might become easier with wind lace (ex. jugg). And the Shadow Fiend aghanim upgrade is a lot better than. I agree that it should be bought now because of extra 10 souls (hoping for 12) means even more damage from ult and right click. Also the ult has gotten a bit of a buff which is nice. Might go and play sf more from now >_<
just played a game as axe game, i felt bad
Why Gaben forgot the Pit Lord LoL
Looks like I'm playing faceless void, centaur, winter wyvern and bristleback tonight.
I can only imagine Arc Warden players abusing the Tome of Knowledge
@ brassmoose, centaur warrunner is definitely a good pick as his return and ult gets boosted by a heart and 2 hearts is actually a core if it gets to late game
still waiting pit lord
I dont know why everybody cries about Pitlord? you have 120 heroes right now, i'm sure you didnt master 10% of those heroes. And what is gonna happen when Pitlord comes in play? Its gonna get picked every game for first week or so, then gets forgotten cause nobody knows how to play new hero. So, please, stop being crybaby and concentrate on what you have offered.
Aww man, naga is still in the bottom :( the illusion dmg is a start but not that viable. Nobody buys aghs to naga so why buff the scepter ability ?
Im also amazed that slark didnt suffer any nerfs. And omni is still a cancer in my bracket
@ brassmoose, centaur warrunner is definitely a good pick as his return and ult gets boosted by a heart and 2 hearts is actually a core if it gets to late game
biggest update to dota since a looong time, loving every minute of it... kinda funny cuz just yesterday I was telling a friend that I got bored of dota, low and behold 1 day later the announce and release of 6.87.
od sux
What a self righteous prick
Holy shit.. so many changes.. Need to learn how to play dota all over again
Terrorblade strong in laning phase, and where is Leshrac buff?
Can I use smoke of decit versus Enchantress?
15 seconds is too short for a banning phase
What if i told u, i already mastered 90% of dota2 heros
wtf this is imba
rip enc, specter void, divine rapier arc
od, spec, invo, zeus nerfes are good
love the ban phase to not get countered immediately
Faceless void will benefit from echo sabre sir
I disagree with your opinion that flash farming meta is gone
I think heros like am sven dusa will get much more picked with the buff of the t2s and the nerf of rosh
But Bash items don't work in Void. Why u say Abyssal blade could work for him?
Hurricane pike on enc... LOL
Scepter was never really intended for a carry Morphling, it's meant to be a utility item for support Morphling. If you look at the past patches since 6.83 when the max stun was upgraded from 3 seconds to 4.25 you will see a pattern that they are trying to make Support Morphling more viable.
They have dropped the cooldown from 140 (when scepter was introduced) to 70 seconds. They have buffed the base damage of Adaptive Strike, because with the Strength Support Build it wouldn't do any damage (though the 4.25 second stun makes up for that). And now they have buffed the replicant damage to make up for the creep-like damage support morphling might have.
Morphling is like an Orge Magi but bulkier, further range / longer stun, and more escapes.
Plus with the huge buff to Axe, being able to replicate him from either an enemy to level the playing field in a team fight or as a second spinning Axe is huge. Being able to split push with Replicant Axe is quite strong.
So whenever an Axe is picked for either team, support Morphling would be a great addition.
Echo sabre
Tiny
Kappa
od sux
WK with BF... new meta, focus on creeps/ilus and people die behind it... Double crit+bf ???
@Manowar - I think he meant abyssal as an upgrade to the current Badman Vanguard Build.
Absolute cancer patch. It's like when WOW turned to shit and every hero has the same hp/mana. Despite being glass cannon and tank.