Upamanyu Acharya
Dota 2 7.00 was announced right after the Grand Finals of the Boston Major. A new patch always means theorycrafting, buzz and excitement – but amidst all this thoroughfare it’s important to look at the big picture. It’s a huge patch, and this guide will try and break everything down for you. Read the patch notes in its entirety here.
The Map has Changed, the World has Changed. Everything has Changed.
Roshan is now in the middle of the river on the North Side. “Powerup Runes“, the new name for all runes that aren’t Bounty Runes, don’t spawn at 0, and only one rune appears now. Just like it used to be. Bounty Runes appear in the 4 (yes, 4) jungles now. There are also 4 ancient camps now with Bounty Runes and Shrines near each.
Shrines: a new building that’s like a mini fountain. You can kill an enemy shrine after you destroy all their tier 2 towers, and you can TP to your own shrines. Allied heroes on your team can activate your own shrines once every 5 minutes to get a slightly weaker version of Fountain Regen.
Talents, Backpacks, Roots, Levels and Illusions
At level 10/15/20/25, all heroes get a choice to choose between one of two “talents” in the talent tree. Arguably the biggest change of the patch; this gives it an entirely new dynamic, one that will take time for everyone to adjust and learn. Every hero now has 8 talents, which for 113 heroes is quite a lot to remember, aside from the inevitable balancing challenges.
A “backpack” now exists where you can have 3 additional items with you at any time, all of which will be muted ie. no passive or active effect. This is useful for carrying around recipes and managing item buildups.
A slew of mechanics changes such as Root stopping more movement spells (Burrow Strike, Phantom Strike) and new dispel features have been added. Pretty minor changes here.
As far as hero levels go, the gist of it is, heroes now arrive at level 25 slightly earlier than they used to. AoE gold for kills is slightly less. Oh, and illusions now give Gold and XP, and also do much less damage than they used to against buildings. RIP Terrorblade (again).
backpack changes makes old c9 imbalance now
— iceiceice (@iceiceicedota) December 12, 2016
Monkey King
We wrote an article when Monkey King was announced at TI6 about everything we knew about the hero. The Chinese leak we referred to turned out to be Chinese and therefore wrong, but the core hero concepts remain. Monkey King can turn into different things around the map; runes, trees and even couriers. This means my dream of being a Tango (Shared) idling in the middle lane with Radiance while I whittle down the entire enemy team is now real.
Monkey King’s abilities are like old PL with an added Earthshaker fissure. This hero changes the game forever; no longer will you be able to look at innocuous Iron Branches lying around without being PTSD’d into memories of Monkey King.
As usual, there’s a new comic and new arcana as well. This time there’s also a great looking Monkey King Terrain, which means I’ll have to Western Union even more money into GabeN’s wallet. NotLikeThis.
Interesting Hero and Item Changes in Dota 2 7.00
Pocket Riki is real: Riki’s new Aghs increases ultimate duration by 4 seconds and allows you to target an allied hero, hiding inside them for the duration. The radius that you attack in follows the allied hero. 1000 Cast Range.
Lycan has been reworked: It’s been removed from Captains Mode and the hero focuses a bit more on previously underutlised ablities. Howl now gives extra HP but slightly less bonus damage; its effects are doubled at night time.
Necrophos has a new ability called that replaces Sadist. It makes you ethereal and provides an AoE slow. Oh, and Aghs doesn’t disable buyback or deal extra damage, instead reducing Reaper’s Scythe cooldown by quite a bit. Also the ancient changes means our favourite strat is back.
Meepo clones now share full attributes without Scepter. Earthbind no longer interrupts channeling spells (it previously did on initial cast but not refresh). My MMR isn’t high enough to know how this hero works but I’m told this changes the hero a lot.
Visage has been reworked, Arc Warden has been added to captain’s mode, tons of new heroes have received Aghs upgrades (even Anti-Mage), and pretty much every hero has been irrevocably changed by the game around them.
Helm of the Dominator isn’t associated with Morbid Mask and doesn’t have lifesteal anymore. Morbid Mask is more expensive and gives additional Damage. Mask of Madness now gives more movespeed bonus and silences you while reducing your armor by 5 – a throwback to the way it used to be. The biggest change might be Rod of Atos, which now gives a guaranteed 2 second Root at 1000 range. Atos+MoM Sniper incoming.
Easier to See, Easier to Flame. New HUD and Pregame!
The new ingame HUD is more sleek and fits the design elements introduced since Dota 2 Reborn. The items look good, the shop looks good, and our HUD skins have been converted to the new look. The only problem we have with it is, it looks a bit too small. On larger screens it’s very noticeably smaller, but you can see a lot more of the map this way.
In addition to this, the pregame has been completely revamped: you can now put clothes on your hero, predict enemy lanes or even pre-buy items during a compulsory 30 second “Strategy Time” after picking phase.
Viper, Slark and Enigma Remodel
In conclusion, if there’s one thing to be overly gleeful about with Dota 2 7.00, it’s that Slardar doesn’t look like a slug now.
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