6.84 Patch Analysis

Guess what guys.

Can't spell analyse without anal.

:DDDD

My thoughts on all this freaky **** that's going on.

GENERAL

AoE Bonus Gold component based on Team Net Worth difference reduced by 25%
AoE Bonus XP component based on Team XP difference reduced by 40% Nerf to comeback mechanics, sad but we saw it coming.

Melee lane creep bounty reduced from 43 to 40 (-7%)
Range lane creep bounty reduced from 48 to 45 (-6.25%)
Hero kills (the non-net worth portions) are worth 10% more Creeps are now worth less compared to Heroes. This is the opposite of the change I suggested a while back, but the net result - a buff to snowballing - is the same result.

Reduced the direct hero last hit bounty by 100 and redistributed that gold into AoE gold (in ratio of 100/75/40/25/20 for 1/2/3/4/5 heroes) Solo killing is just as effective, but this was a HUGE buff to assist farmers like Necrolyte and Spectre.

AoE Bonus Gold is now distributed based on the relative net worth amongst the heroes involved in killing the hero by +/- 25%. This gives supports a lot more gold, resulting in faster doto.

The amount of AoE Bonus Gold given is now increased/decreased by up to 20% based on the dying hero’s relative rank in net worth amongst all the enemies on that team.This is the replacement comeback mechanic. Basically I don't see this being much different from the current one, as generally the person on a Holy ***** spree has a massive networth.

Instead of Buyback temporarily preventing unreliable gold gain, it now reduces all gold gained (including hero and aoe gold) by 60% This seems like an odd change, I guess to prevent ridiculous gold rubberbanding. Overall I think this a nerf to buyback except in rare circumstances.

Melee Barracks team bounty increased from 175 to 275
Ranged Barracks team bounty increased from 100 to 225
Tier 2 and 3 towers armor reduced from 25 to 22 Another buff to pushing.

Extra melee creeps additions spawn time changed from 17:30/34:00/50:30 to 15:00/30:00/45:00
Extra range/siege creep additions spawntime from 45:30 to 45:00
Creeps now meet slightly closer to the Dire safelane To compensate for the reduced gold for creeps, you get more of them earlier. This makes the laning stage less important and the midgame more important. More on this later cause I see this as pretty huge, especially in games which verge on the long.

Ancient Black Dragon bounty reduced from 199 to 170
Ancient Black Drake bounty reduced from 50 to 40
Ancient Rumblehide bounty reduced from 83 to 65
Satyr Tormenter gold bounty reduced from 104 to 84
Hellbear health reduced from 950 to 700
Hellbear bounty reduced from 65 to 50
Ogre Frostmage bounty reduced from 52 to 40 Nerf to some neutrals. This balances out things so that the camps are more equal based on gold/xp/easy to kill values.

Reworked Mud Golems:
**** those guys. Buff to Chen and Enchantress I guess, and to an extent Alchemist.



Hero kills achieved by units under your control now provide XP credit to your hero (Affects things like Spirit Bear, Golems, Familiars, etc getting kills) This is more a balance than an actual change.

Melee attacks now miss if the target is farther than 350 range more than their attack range IceFrog: Preventing ****ups with a Force Staff since 6.84.

Reduced All Pick drafting time from 40 to 35 seconds per turn Sure

The following abilities no longer ignore units classified as Ancients (Neutral Ancients, Warlock's Golem, etc): Ice Vortex, Mana Void, Berserker's Call, Blood Rite, Bladefury, Omnislash, Torrent, Ghost Ship, Smokescreen, Static Remnant, Primal Roar, Earth Spike, Heartstopper Aura, Shrapnel, Golem's Immolation, Sticky Napalm, Primal Split's Immolation, Call Down, Invoker's Tornado, EMP, Chaos Meteor, Sun Strike, Ice Wall, Deafening Blast, Pulse Nova, Eclipse, Battery Assault, Rocket Flare, Shadow Poison, Dispersion, The Swarm, Kinetic Field, Static Storm, Ancestral Spirit, Echo Stomp, Overwhelming Odds, Stone Gaze, Earth Bind, Poof, Rip Tide, Nyx's Impale, Fire Spirits, Supernova, Mystic Flare, Dark Pact, Suicide Squad, Ravage, Demonic Purge, Fortune's End Primarily a Warlock nerf than anything else.

Damage Block no longer affects physical spells (previously it affected some physical spells and some not) Buff to a lot of Physical damage Heroes. Not a huge one, more of a bug fix, but can make a difference.


Cast behavior while turning to cast has been adjusted. I read this and gotta be honest had no ****ing idea what it meant. Halp?


Reworked the Item Silencing and Passive Disabling behaviors.

That makes things a LOT easier to explain for newer players. Also buff Doom. **** yeah!

Hex no longer applies the Break mechanic

Silence no longer disables Invisibility U wot m8? Not sure how this interacts with Riki.

Moved Ring of Health, Voidstone and Orb of Venom from Secret Shop to the Base
Moved Platemail, Talisman of Evasion and Ultimate Orb from the Base to the Secret Shop
Added Voidstone and Mantle of Intelligence to Side Shop Now is easier to assemble a Battlefury is what I get from this.

Runes now have a higher hit box priority over units ******** rune camping nerfed.

Armor now shows decimal places in the hover tooltip

Fixed buyback respawn timer penalty being reset if you die holding Aegis Kinda important? Idk.

The following heroes are no longer restricted from buying Basher/Abyssal (but they are still restricted from activating Bash): Spirit Breaker, Faceless Void, Slardar and Troll You'd only want this for the Abyssal stun. I don't see this changing these Heroes too much.

HEROES
Abaddon

Borrowed Time can now be cast while disabled (same rules as Morphling's Morph)


Alchemist

Unstable Concoction countdown can now be seen by enemies
Unstable Concoction now has an area targeting cursor
Greevil's Greed now grants 4x gold bounty from Runes
Alchemist can now cast Aghanim's Scepter to directly grant any allied hero all Aghanim's Scepter bonuses as a buff (the hero upgrade and the stat upgrade). The scepter is consumed in the process. Multiple instances of this buff do not stack. Alchemist can target himself as well
It's nice, but I don't think it makes that much difference. Actually, Alch got nerfed on Concoction. The Aghs thing though... utility Alchemist meta? I mean, this could be huge on carries with good Aghs but slot-starved effects... like Tiny. Holy ****. Does this really work like Alch giving the target a non-slot consuming Aghs permanently??? If so that's massive.

Ancient Apparition

Chilling Touch buff can now be removed by clicking on the buff icon above the health bar Sure.


Axe

Berserker's Call cast point from 0.3 to 0.4 Meh, is a bit of a ****-all.
Counter Helix now triggers when attacks land rather than when they start RIP Sniper trolling team attempts :(
Culling Blade movement and attack speed bonuses reduced from 40% to 30% This was needed.


Bane

Brain Sap mana cost from 125/150/175/200 to 100/125/150/175
Units affected by Nightmare no longer provide vision Damn son... nice gimmicky buff apparently. Baiting achieved.
Nightmare End can now be used by Bane to end all other existing Nightmares
Enfeeble still ****ing ********.


Batrider

Flamebreak damage changed from an instant 75/150/225/300 damage to 50 damage per second for 1/2/3/4 seconds Makes a single value point a lot better. Sucks later on though.
Firefly damage reduced from 20/40/60/80 to 10/30/50/70 Somehow I don't think this was Bat's problem.


Beastmaster

Beastmaster base damage increased by 4
Wild Axes cast point from 0.5 to 0.4
Call of the Wild Boar attack point from 0.633 to 0.5 A series of small buffs which just make a neater all-round Hero.


Bloodseeker

Thirst bonuses scale from 100 to 25% HP instead of 100 to 0%
Thirst vision threshold from 30% health to 25% No ****ing way this needed nerfing. Really, IceFraud?


Bounty Hunter

Bounty Hunter Intelligence growth increased from 1.4 to 2.0
Shuriken Toss damage from 100/200/250/325 to 150/225/300/375
Shuriken Toss cast range reduced from 650 to 400
Shuriken Toss mana cost from 90/115/135/155 to 120/130/140/150
Track's Shuriken Toss bounce range from 900 to 1200
Track now shows how much gold the enemy is carrying in the debuff tooltip This is the only thing I really see being a big deal. It's a neat thing. However, with meta changing, I think Booty Hunter will perhaps be pretty sweet now.


Brewmaster

Primal Split units no longer provide a bounty when killed (was 11-35 depending on level) ...had no idea they did this.


Bristleback

Bristleback movement speed reduced from 295 to 290
Viscous Nasal Goo armor reduction rescaled from 1/1/2/2 per stack to 1/1.4/1.8/2.2 Pretty much a **** all.


Broodmother

Incapacitating Bite is no longer a Unique Attack Attack Modifier
Insatiable Hunger attack damage from 60/80/100 to 60/90/120 Did Brood really need a buff?? Though I guess this just buffs her lategame so it seems legit.


Centaur Warrunner

Return now triggers when attacks land rather than when they start
Added Aghanim's Scepter upgrade to Centaur: Stampede reduces all incoming damage by 70% and allows allies to run through obstructions (trees, cliffs, etc). Destroys trees You ****ing WHAT? I actually choked when I read this. The **** were you thinking?


Chaos Knight

Chaos Bolt minimum damage from 1/50/75/100 to 75/100/125/150 For the sake of fun I am saddened by any nerf to his RNG, even if it does buff a hard carry.


Clinkz

Skeleton Walk cooldown from 20 to 20/19/18/17
Death Pact cooldown from 45/40/35 to 45/35/25


Clockwerk

Rocket Flare speed from 1500 to 1750


Crystal Maiden

Crystal Nova movement and attack slow from -30 to -20/30/40/50
Crystal Nova slow duration from 3.5/4/4.5/5 to 4.5
Frostbite cooldown reduced from 10/9/8/7 to 9/8/7/6
Freezing Field cooldown from 150/120/90 to 90
I can accept these.


Dark Seer

Ion Shell duration increased from 20 to 25 seconds
Wall of Replica damage dealt by illusions from 70/80/90% to 60/75/90%
Wall of Replica duration from 15/30/45 to 45
Wall of Replica mana cost from 200/300/400 to 125/250/375
Minor changes that don't really change a lot about the Hero.

Dazzle

Poison Touch level 4 damage from 32 to 36


Death Prophet

Exorcism spirit count from 4/12/21 to 6/13/21 Hero still blows.


Disruptor

Kinetic Field duration from 2.5/3/3.5/4 to 2.6/3.2/3.8/4.4 YEOWCH. The extra duration could make a nice difference, especially with the support gold coming in.


Dragon Knight

Breathe Fire now also reduces base damage by 20/25/30/35% for 8 seconds Well ****. I like this, makes the skill blow a lot less than it did before.
Corrosive Breath damage is now lethal
Elder Dragon Form's Splash Attack damage percentage radius from 100/200/250 (for 100/75/50% damage) to 150/225/300
I still don't think the Hero is that good. His lategame was never a problem, it was everything else.


Earth Spirit

Boulder Smash damage from 125 to 50/100/150/200
Geomagnetic Grip manacost from 75 to 100
Geomagnetic Grip damage from 50/125/200/275 to 50/100/150/200
Magnetize can now be dispelled
Fixed Hex not interrupting Rolling Boulder if cast during the initial 0.6 seconds
So this works out to a slight nerf which is good 'cause Ebola Spirit was ****ing ******ed.


Elder Titan

Echo Stomp channel time from 1.8 to 1.6
Echo Stomp cooldown from 15 to 14/13/12/11 Keep buffing this Hero please. But good start.


Enchantress

Untouchable attack slow from 30/60/90/120 to 40/70/100/130
Enchant can now be cast on controlled units to refresh the Enchant duration YES. YES. YES.
Impetus now pierces Spell Immunity Do you REALLY want to encourage those ****wit Midas Enchantresses? This at least gives her better snowballing, which seems to be a theme this patch...


Enigma

Midnight Pulse cast point improved from 0.3 to 0.2
Black Hole now does a constant 55/110/165 damage per second regardless of proximity to the center
Black Hole mana cost from 275/350/425 to 275/325/375
Read Beastmaster; small buffs that are accepted but not game-changing.

Gyrocopter

Rocket Barrage no longer has a cast point (Previously had 0.3)
Call Down missile two slow duration from 3 to 4

Huskar

Inner Vitality cast range increased from 550 to 800
Inner Vitality cooldown from 25/22/19/16 to 22/18/14/10
These changes do NOTHING to address the Hero's current problems. He needs less low-HP vulnerability, not more healing. As usual, the Huskar buffs hit the wrong spot. If not careful, he'll end up just like pre-rework Bloodseeker.

Invoker

Invoker Int gain from 2.5 to 3.2
Invoke no longer triggers cooldown if it only swaps the ability slots Now those Invokers with OCD can hit more keys with less downtime! Buff to me :D
Sun Strike cooldown from 30 to 25
Max level Deafening Blast (Quas, Wex, and Exort all at max level) is now a non-targetable circular wave released in every direction around Invoker
Nice. Level 25 Invoker is ****ing awesome, I can't wait.

Io

Relocate double click now teleports to fountain Quality of life change more than anything else.

Jakiro

Jakiro base strength increased from 24 to 25 Confirmed tankier than most Strength Heroes at level 1. Wew.
Macropyre duration increased from 7 (14 Scepter) to 10 (20 Scepter)
Macropyre area of effect increased from 225 to 240

Juggernaut

Blade Fury cooldown from 30/25/22/18 to 42/34/26/18
Blade Fury now has the same Spell Immunity on cast dispel behavior as other Spell Immunities
Healing Ward movement speed from 450 to 420
Omnislash no longer ministuns on cast
Using items/abilities in Omnislash no longer requires facing direction
Did he really still need nerfs? I don't think so.

Keeper of the Light

Mana Leak cooldown from 16 to 16/14/12/10 Can't spell imbalance without ****ing Mana Leak.
Chakra Magic now adds a buff that that reduces the cooldown of the next spell its target casts by 1/2/3/4 seconds. Buff lasts 12 seconds. ...expect to see this abused with every nuker from here to East Africa. Do you WANT to see Lightning Bolt on a 2 second cooldown?!!!
Scepter Illuminate heal percentage from 75% to 100%

Kunkka

Kunkka no longer turns to cast Torrent
Torrent cooldown reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
X Marks The Spot mana cost from 80 to 50
Nice buffs that make support Kunkka more legit.

Legion Commander

Moment of Courage counterattack chance from 16/18/20/22 to 25%
Moment of Courage lifesteal from 20/40/60/80% to 55/65/75/85%
Moment of Courage cooldown from 0.9 to 2.7/2.1/1.5/0.9
Added Aghanim's Scepter upgrade to Legion Commander: Duel lasts until either Legion Commander or her target dies. Ends if duelists are ever more than 2,000 range apart.
Well. This is interesting. The perma-Duel seems... really weird. Will have to see how it plays out. I'd rather kill people within 5.5 seconds than within 7 seconds, which is likely what will happen.

Leshrac

Leshrac movement speed from 315 to 320
Lightning Storm cast point from 0.7 to 0.6
Lightning Storm slow duration from 0.75 to 0.7/0.8/0.9/1
Mid Leshrac is buffed. I think IceFrog is trying to transition Lesh into a core Hero, which is fine by me as that's how I play him anyway :D

Lich

Ice Armor cast range from 800 to 1000
Chain Frost projectile speed from 675 to 750
Take them, but don't expect them to do much.

Lifestealer

Feast is now considered as normal bonus damage (can Crit and Cleave off it) Damn son, where'd you find this? Battlefury Naix is still going to suck but Daedalus will be sweet.
Open Wounds lifesteal increased from 15/20/25/30% to 50% Lifestealer + Lina. Ez katka.
Added Aghanim's Scepter upgrade to Lifestealer: Grants a new skill, Assimilate. Assimilate allows Lifestealer to target an allied hero and swallow them, allowing them to hide inside of Lifestealer. Any healing Lifestealer receives is shared with the assimilated hero. The assimilated hero can release itself at any time by clicking on the buff icon to erupt outward and deal 300 damage to enemies in a 700 area of effect. If Lifestealer dies or assimilates another hero, the currently assimilated hero will automatically exit. Issuing any order with your hero, a few seconds after being assimilated, will take you out.
The Aghs seems ****ing weird. Still, a buff is a buff.

Lina

Aghanim Scepter-upgraded Laguna Blade no longer increases cast range. Now a squishy Hero has to get closer to deal her damage. I like this change at a second glance, it makes playing her a lot more risky.

Lone Druid

True Form is no longer removed on death
Battle Cry armor increased from 5/10/15 to 6/12/18
Battle Cry damage increased from 50/75/100 to 60/90/120 The skill needs an uptime buff rather than much else.
Added Agahnim's Scepter upgrade to Lone Druid: Allows Spirit Bear to attack at any range from Lone Druid, and prevents Spirit Bear from dying if Lone Druid dies. Oh, dayum! This is going to be a ridiculously good mid/lategame item for the Druid as now you can do some insane splitpushing. I'm talking Naga levels of stuff.

Luna

Luna base armor increased by 1 Sure.
Eclipse per unit cap increased from 4 to 5
Improved Aghanim's Scepter: Allows Eclipse to be cast on an area within 2,500 range. Grants obstructed vision of that area. Can also target any allied unit to center Eclipse on their location, even while moving (can double click or target Luna) There still won't be anyone buying Aghs on Luna :D

Medusa

Split Shot and Mana Shield are no longer removed on death

Meepo

Geostrike damage from 7/14/21/28 to 8/16/24/32
Divided We Stand no longer causes Meepo to respawn 20% faster

Mirana

Starstorm's second hit range from 175 to 325, and the second hit now strikes the unit closest to Mirana So this makes Mirana more effective as a ganker. The snowballing era begins again.

Morphling

Adaptive Strike now has a 1150 speed projectile This means the spell is now disjointable, which is huge. A well-targeted nerf.
Added Aghanim's Scepter upgrade to Morphling: Grants a new ability, Hybrid. Allows morphling to target an ally, turning himself into a hybrid illusion, removing the Morphling himself. This hybrid illusion can cast non-ultimate abilities and has your original attributes. Lasts 20 seconds. When the duration ends or the hybrid dies, your hero emerges (cannot end prematurely). Cooldown: 140, Manacost: 200, 600 cast range. Note: Ability is not available while you have a Replicate living. So wait. Cast this on an ally and you become them, but keep your stats and can cast their abilities? Weird as hell. Use on a Terrorblade for fun times :D

Naga Siren

Ensnare cooldown from 14 to 12
Ensnare is now dispellable
Ensnare is no longer removed if the target becomes Ethereal Yeah, it was pretty ridiculous.
Added Aghanim's Scepter upgrade: Song of the Siren Scepter now regenerates you and nearby allies by 6% of maximum HP per second for up to 7 seconds. Oh good god why

Nature's Prophet

Sprout cast range increased from 600 to 625/700/775/850
Sprout duration increased from 3/3.75/4.5/5.25 to 3/4/5/6
Nature's Call treant base damage from 22 to 28
Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded Wrath of Nature now spawns a Nature's Call treant whenever it kills a unit. Killing a hero will spawn a stronger treant (3x damage and health of a normal one). RAT DOTA RETURNS.
I for one welcome our new furry overlords.

Night Stalker

Void attack speed slow increased from -35 to -50 (now matches movement speed slow)

Nyx Assassin

Using Spiked Carapace no longer removes Vendetta
Added Aghamin's Scepter upgrade to Nyx: Adds a new ability, Burrow, with a one second cast time. While Burrowed, Nyx Assassin is invisible and unable to move/attack, but has 40% damage resistance, and regenerates 1.5% of his health and mana per second. Nyx Assassin's abilities also have improved properties while burrowed: Mana Burn and Impale have 50% increased cast range, Impale Cooldown is reduced from 13 to 9, and Spiked Carapace instantly stuns any enemy units within a 300 area of effect without requiring them to hurt him first. Casting Vendetta causes Burrow to end. So if I get this right, he's turning into a turret of sorts? This makes him a lot more teamfight-initate focus, especially with the Spiked Carapace part of this.

Omniknight

Purification cast point from 0.5 to 0.4

Oracle

Purifying Flames mana cost reduced from 55/70/85/100 to 50/60/70/80
Purifying Flames cooldown reduced from 3 to 2.5
Purifying Flames can now target non-hero units
False Promise no longer makes the target invisible
False Promise now continuously removes debuffs and disables, instead of only when first cast
False Promise duration from 7/8/9 to 6/7/8
False Promise cooldown from 20 to 80/60/40 Is this a nerf or what? I don't know... it's a pretty odd rework.

Outworld Devourer

Aghanim's Scepter Sanity's Eclipse upgrade now affects everyone in the area of effect with Astral Imprisonment after it deals its damage
Aghanim's Scepter Sanity's Eclipse upgrade no longer always triggers the mana drain and does not increase the damage multiplier by 1 Soo... you provide 4 seconds of free setup time. And get 68 bonus Int for landing a good ult. Seems situationally awesome.

Phoenix

Fire Spirits now does an obstructed reveal of the area it hits for 1 second Can now be used to scout.

Puck

Waning Rift damage increased from 70/140/210/280 to 100/160/220/280 Buffed as a value point, which is the usual build.

Pudge

Rot move slow from 20% to 20/22/24/26% He is really being pushed as a roamer now isn't he?

Pugna

Decrepify enemy slow from 50% to 30/40/50/60%
Decrepify enemy magic damage amplification from 50% to 30/40/50/60%
Decrepify duration from 2/2.5/3/3.5 to 3.5
Decrepify cooldown from 12/10/8/6 to 15/12/9/6 Similar to what they did to OD's aura not long ago; switching the scaling around.
Life Drain damage and restore per second from 120/160/200 to 150/185/220
Life Drain cast range from 1100 to 900/1050/1200
Pugna's Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded Life Drain no longer increases cast range

Riki

Smokescreen no longer slows attack speed
Smokescreen now reduces turn rate by 30% I like this.

Rubick

Null Field now also affects creeps Minor pushing buff.

Sand King

Caustic Finale duration from 8 to 6
Caustic Finale now always triggers (via unit death or when its duration expires). If triggered by timer expiration, it deals 30% of the damage
Caustic Finale no longer resets the duration on a unit that already has the debuff
Caustic Finale now applies a 20% move slow when the damage triggers (via unit death or when timer expires). Slow lasts for 3 seconds. This is interesting. It'll still be limited by the long-*** duration, but it can make a neat teamfight buff.

Shadow Demon

Shadow Poison mana cost from 50 to 40
Demonic Purge Aghamin's Scepter upgrade now applies Break (disabling passive abilities). Suuuuure. Let's buff one of the best Aghs effects in the game. Demonic Purge is almost equivalent to a Hex now, and you get 3 of them.

Shadow Shaman

Shadow Shaman base strength increased from 19 to 21
Shadow Shaman strength gain increased from 1.6 to 1.8

Silencer

Silencer base movement speed from 300 to 295
Last Word initial enemy cast allowance window from 5 to 4 seconds
Last Word no longer disarms
Last Word now applies a 14/16/18/20% movespeed slow whenever it triggers So, I think this goes a way to buffing Silencer as a right-click carry despite the speed nerf. The slow on Last Word gives him some chasing power. But he'll likely still be played as a support.

Slardar

Slithereen Crush damage from 50/100/150/200 to 75/125/175/225

Sniper

Sniper agility gain from 2.9 to 2.5 Ow. That's nasty.
Shrapnel recharge time increased from 40 to 55
Shrapnel delay increased from 0.8 to 1.4 seconds
Shrapnel now gives vision when the shrapnel lands rather than instantly Oh god. Maybe it needed a nerf, but this much of a nerf? And the things later on really make me wonder how much attention IceFrog is actually paying to the game...
Headshot can now miss
Assassinate damage from 355/505/655 to 320/485/650
RIP Sniper, your time in the pro tier was short but entertaining when people weren't vegetating for an hour.

Spectre

Reality no longer kills the target illusion, it now swaps positions This is a buff to her teamfight - making constant Realities to move position not waste your ultimate. Also solves any and all kiting issues you may have, which were basically none to begin with.


Spirit Breaker

Empowering Haste cooldown from 16 to 12

Storm Spirit

Storm Spirit movement speed reduced from 290 to 285
Ball Lightning flying vision from 1000 to 400
**** you. The **** did you think to fix with this? Storm's still ****ing broken. You nerfed the two least broken parts about the bastard. Still snowballs hard (even harder with the gold changes!). Still wins his lane. Still gives me ****ing ebola. **** off.

Sven

Warcry armor bonus increased from 4/8/12/16 to 5/10/15/20 Support Sven buffs? Guess it kinda needed it. Now I gotta try out the Sven/TB combo, speaking of which coming up...

Techies

Land Mine activation delay reduced from 1.75 to 0.5 seconds
Stasis Trap Activation delay from 2 to 1.5
Stasis Trap Detonation delay from 2 to 1.5
Suicide Squad, Attack! cooldown reduced from 180/170/160/150 to 160/140/120/100
Minefield Sign cooldown from 120 to 360
Minefield Sign now requires Techies to walk precisely to the targeted spot
Minefield Sign now has an area of effect targeting cursor
Minefield Sign now has a limited lifetime of 180 seconds
Techies Aghanim's Scepter upgrade now causes the Minefield Sign to make all Land Mines, Stasis Traps and Remote Mines within 125 area of effect immune to True Sight. Can only have one sign out at a time

So basically
Techies is now a mad-dog teamfighter/base defender.
He might actually see some legit play with this.
****in' nice.

Templar Assassin

Meld cooldown from 7 to 6

Terrorblade

Reflection cast range from 275 to 325
Reflection illusion outgoing damage from 40/50/60/70% to 40/60/80/100%. Minor buffs that do nothing to solve the Hero's issues. He's still utter trash tier and can't get much better with the gold changes. I've said it before and will keep saying it, Sunder has to ****ing GO.

Tidehunter

Kraken Shell damage block increased from 10/20/30/40 to 12/24/36/48. This means he farms Ancients better and earlier, and is less vulnerable in lane.

Timbersaw

Reactive Armor now triggers when attacks land rather when attacks begin Unlike the other two changes of this type, this is actually a really notable nerf to Timber's durability.
Reactive Armor max stacks increased from 4/8/12/16 to 5/10/15/20. Which is somewhat offset by this.

Tinker

Laser hero blind duration increased from 3 to 3/3.5/4/4.5
Rearm mana cost from 150/250/350 to 125/225/325
Aghanim's Scepter Laser no longer has additional cast range
Aghanim's Scepter Laser now refracts to visible enemy heroes with a 550 bounce range. Can it be? Tinker has a GOOD AGHS now? Laser is now an insane teamfight spell, and depending on circumstances may have buffed Tinker back to hard carry status.

Tiny

Toss grab radius increased from 250 to 275
Toss now grabs the closest unit rather than a random unit This means that Tiny with Aghs can now Avatoss people more easily.

Treant Protector

Eyes in the Forest area of effect reduced from 800 to 700

Troll Warlord

Berserker's Rage no longer provides +15 damage
Ranged Whirling Axes no longer provide 800 vision
Melee Whirling Axes no longer provide 500 vision
Battle Trance duration reduced from 7 to 5 seconds
Berserker’s Rage is no longer removed on death
So uhh
Like Storm
These nerfs to basically nothing to the Hero.
He's still ********-tier broken.
Please.

Tusk

Ice Shards mana cost reduced from 120 to 90
Ice Shards cooldown from 18/16/14/12 to 19/16/13/10
Ice Shards vision reveal from 0.5 seconds to 2 seconds
Snowball speed is now a constant 675
Snowball no longer auto-loads units in 100 range
Tusk can now add allies to Snowball while it is moving
Added Aghanim's Scepter to Tusk: Adds a new ability called Walrus Kick. Kicks the target back 900 units. The kick slows by 40% for 4 seconds. 12 second cooldown. I like this! Like a reverge Geomagnetic Grip.

Undying

Soul Rip is now considered one damage instance on the enemy
Removed Tombstone Zombie targeting from Soul Rip
Tombstone Zombies now require 1 attack to kill rather than having 30 health (zombies require 2 hits from creeps). I hate playing against this Hero with a passion so I will rejoice at any nerfs especially to that ****ing tombstone

Ursa

Reworked Enrage

Umm
I don't know what to say about this
It makes Ursa much more bursty
But nerfs his sustained damage, ergo his carry potential
Very odd changes that I don't see the need for

Venomancer

Venomous Gale tick damage from 0/30/60/90 to 10/40/70/100

Viper

Viper Strike cooldown reduced from 80/50/30 to 70/50/30

Visage

Gravekeeper's Cloak recharge time from 6 to 4
Familiars no longer have 300/450/600 health
Familiars now require 4 hero attacks to be killed (creeps/illusions do 1/4 damage, towers do 1/2)
Sweet little buffs, no longer gets plowed by Axe.

Warlock

Fatal Bonds cast range increased from 900 to 1000
Fatal Bonds cast time from 0.5 to 0.2
Chaotic Offering Golem's health regeneration from 15/30/45 to 25/50/75
Hmm. Ok. Impressive buffs.

Weaver

The Swarm duration rescaled from 14/16/18/20 to 16
The Swarm damage from 15/20/25/30 to 20
The Swarm attack rate from an attack every 1.35 seconds to 1.4/1.25/1.1/0.95. Is this a DPS increase or not? At early levels, yes... but later on? I don't know.
Geminate Attack now launches the second projectile 0.25 seconds after the initial one fires instead of after impacting the target
Geminate Attack no longer has a range limit
Added Aghanim's Scepter upgrade to Weaver: reduces the cooldown of Timelapse to 20 seconds and allows Timelapse to target allied heroes. 1000 cast range. I don't see this being utilised. Weaver is by nature a carry, who tends to fill the #1 position. This is an ability more suited to a #3 or #4.

Windranger

Shackleshot cast point from 0.3 to 0.15 NOOOOOOO. WHY WOULD YOU BUFF THE MOST SOUL-CRUSHING STUN IN THE GAME... at least make it disjointable.

Winter Wyvern

Enabled Winter Wyvern in Captain's Mode
Reworked Winter's Curse
Arctic Burn is now dispellable
Arctic Burn damage per second from 6% of health to 8%
Arctic Burn damage type from Pure to Magic
Arctic Burn no longer pierces Spell Immunity
Splinter Blast speed increased 500->650 (1.35 to 1.0 seconds max)
Splinter Blast debuff is now dispellable
Cold Embrace now behaves as normal regeneration instead of 0.1 interval heals
So, stuff we generally saw coming. This is an indirect nerf to Troll as he can now be kited... somewhat.

Wraith King

Added Aghanim's Scepter upgrade to Wraith King: Allies who are near Wraith King (within 1200 aoe) when slain become Wraiths for 5 seconds, delaying their death. They can continue attacking, casting, etc. When the duration ends, the hero dies, and credit for the kill goes to whowever landed the original killing blow. Utility Wraith King is going to be pretty mad dog now. Run this with a Spectre for extra hilarity!

Zeus

Thundergod's Wrath area vision reduced from 1000 to 500
Fixed Thundergod's Wrath sometimes hitting invisible units depending on the order of player slots. Not a lot of change there, except the vision is rather nasty.

ITEMS
Enchanted Mango

New consumable

An interesting little thing, probably going to be utilised for mana-intensive junglers or roamers. Will be able to swing a lot of teamfights.

Lotus Orb

New item formed from Perseverance, Platemail, and a recipe

So. Another utility item, going to be used probably by tanky offlaners or #4 supports on carries who aren't fans of BKB like most illusion Heroes.

Glimmer Cape

New item formed from Cloak and Shadow Amulet

I don't really see the niche this item fills, or who will build it. Perhaps someone more experienced will.

Guardian Greaves

New item formed from Arcane Boots, Mekansm, and a recipe

Certainly a way to scale Mek into the lategame... that Guardian Aura seems a bit insane.

Moon Shard

New item formed from 2 Hyperstones and a recipe

This is an item I want to talk about as it affects a lot of Heroes, and non-Agi carries in particular. Heroes like Tiny and Outworld Devourer really suffer from mediocre attack speed, which this item can go a long way to mitigate without clogging item slots. I can see it being picked up early on as it gives more IAS than Mask of Madness with none of the downsides, albeit at much greater cost. Lategame, it can be consumed. Basically, if a game goes long enough, you may very well see a Tiny or OD with max attack speed... which is a really scary prospect. I'll experiment a bit with this for sure as it seems pretty damn sweet. Oh, and that passive. Pretty good, eh?

Silver Edge

New item formed from Shadow Blade and Sange and a recipe

This is a ridiculously good ganking item that basically combined Sheepstick and Shadow Blade for less than a Hex itself. It'll be the dream of Heroes like Kunkka and certain Shadow Fiend builds.

Solar Crest

New item formed from Medallion of Courage and Talisman of Evasion

This seems to be the patch of a ****ton of utility items. It also makes PA's Blur a bit redundant :D As if she needed nerfs.

Octarine Core

New item formed from Mystic Staff and Soul Booster

So I think we'll be seeing a lot of this on every spellcasting semicarry ever. Invoker, Zeus, Lina... if Spell Lifesteal works on OD or Silencer, expect them to get it too.

ITEM ADDITIONS
Observer & Sentry Wards

Observer and Sentry Wards now stack into one inventory slot. Double clicking toggles which ward type is currently active. Oh, hell yes! This gives supports another inventory slot to play with. A much needed change that makes playing #5 a lot easier.

Upgraded Boots of Travel

Boots of Travel can now be upgraded by purchasing the recipe again. Allows you to target and teleport to allied heroes. Moar rat dota? **** yeah.

ITEM CHANGES
Skull Basher

Strength increased from 6 to 8
Damage reduced from 40 to 25
Bash now deals 60 bonus damage
Bash cooldown increased from 2 to 2.3
Mathematically the same damage but more RNG dependant. Strength buff is nice but meh. Generally an all-round nerf.

Abyssal Blade

Damage reduced from 100 to 85
Bash now deals 60 bonus damage
Bash cooldown increased from 2 to 2.3
See above.

Energy Booster

Cost reduced from 1000 to 900
Neato.

Arcane Boots

Replenish radius from 600 to 900
Replenish no longer costs 35 mana to activate
Supports are getting so many buffs today, Jesus.

Bloodstone

Recipe increased from 800 to 900
INDIRECT STORM NERF **** YEAH. Still broken.

Armlet of Mordiggian

Attack Speed from +15 to +25
Unholy Strength no longer grants +10 Attack Speed
Unholy Strength strength gain period from 0.7 to 0.6 seconds
A very minor Armlet buff. But it's still a buff to the best item in the game :)

Quelling Blade

Changed from full damage bonus to base damage bonus
Quell damage bonus from 32/12% to 40/15%
Quell no longer deals bonus damage to Roshan
Chop active ability now kills wards rather than dealing 100 damage
Chop active ability range increased from 350 to 450 when targeting wards
Makes dewarding for melee Heroes easier, and buffs laning for carries.

Battle Fury

Battle Fury now requires and provides the bonuses of Quelling Blade
Quell bonus is now 60% for melee heroes and 25% for ranged heroes
Attack damage reduced from 65 to 55
Cleave radius from 250 to 280
Should read: Gives Anti-Magic an extra item slot so he can carry around more stuff! Basically BFury is even more of a farming item now in a meta which encourages snowballing and assist farming. S A D B O Y Z

Black King Bar

Black King Bar can now be sold Since you can't buy a new one, I don't really see the point of this? Even a 5 second BKB is pretty good.

Blade Mail

Damage Return cooldown reduced from 17 to 15

Blades of Attack

Cost reduced from 450 to 420
Hehehe... blaze it.

Phase Boots

Phase duration from 4 to 3.6 seconds
Why?!!!

Boots of Travel

Teleport cooldown from 50 to 45
More ratting yet again.

Buckler

Armor Bonus radius increased from 750 to 900

Butterfly

Flutter duration from 8 to 6 and bonus movement speed from 20 to 25%

Clarity

Duration from 40 to 45
Total mana restored from 150 to 170
Ally cast range from 100 to 250
Makes roaming more effective.

Cloak

Magic resistance from 15% to 20%
Now it's even better as a casual item.

Vanguard

Damage Block chance increased from 67% to 75%

Crimson Guard

Damage Block chance increased from 67% to 75%
Guard active damage block increased from 50 to 55
Guard active area of effect from 750 to 900
Just a few little buffs to make it better.

Desolator

Damage decreased from 60 to 50
Recipe cost decreased from 900 to 300
Is now cheaper, but scales even worse. Definitely an early-or-never item now.

Diffusal Blade

Diffusal Blade now works on ranged illusions for half the value
This could have potential. I don't see it being used on guys like Terrorblade though.

Divine Rapier

Damage increased from 300 to 330
Not sure what this will do? Indirect Medusa/Gyrocopter buffs?

Dust of Appearance

Movement speed slow from 15% to 20%
Probably to counterbalance the new invis item.

Drum of Endurance

Endurance attack speed bonus increased from 10 to 20
Yeah it kinda did nothing before.

Eaglesong/Reaver

Cost reduced from 3300/3200 to 3200/3000


Eul's Scepter of Divinity

Cyclone mana cost increased from 75 to 175
A painful nerf, but it was definitely needed.

Eye of Skadi

Cold Attack slow duration for ranged heroes from 3 to 2.5 seconds
This really doesn't do too much.

Flying Courier

Vision from 400 to 300
Speed Burst speed from 650 to 800 speed

Force Staff

Health regeneration increased from 3 to 4 health per second

Ghost Scepter

Cost reduced from 1600 to 1500
All attribute bonus decreased from 7 to 5
Did people ever buy this for the stats?

Gloves of Haste

Attack Speed increased from 15 to 20

Headdress

Regeneration Aura radius increased from 750 to 900

Healing Salve

Healing duration from 10 to 8 seconds
Ally cast range from 100 to 250

Heart of Tarrasque

Recipe cost increased from 1200 to 1400
Health regeneration increased from 2% to 3.25% of total health per second
Regeneration disable time increased from 4 melee and 6 ranged, to 5 melee and 7 ranged
I think this works out to a nerf.

Linken's Sphere

Spellblock cooldown reduced from 17 to 16

Magic Wand

Requirements from Magic Stick + 3 branches + Recipe, to Magic Stick + 2 branches + Circlet
All attribute bonus from 3 to 4

Mask of Madness

Berserk movement speed bonus reduced from 30% to 17%
Dear god yes. However, it's nerfed as a farming item too.

Mekansm

Restore active and Mekansm Aura radius increased from 750 to 900

Mjollnir

Static Charge no longer jumps to units that are invisible or in the fog of war [?]
Static Charge cast range increased from 600 to 800

Necronomicon

Necronomicon Warrior/Archer health from 400/600/800 to 600/700/800
Necronomicon Warrior damage from 25/50/75 to 45/60/75
Necronomicon Archer damage from 40/80/120 to 60/90/120
Necronomicon Archer Aura move speed from 3/6/9 to 5/7/9%
Rescaled to be better at lower levels now I suppose.

Observer Ward

Observer Wards now come in single increments
Cost and restock time reduced by half and stock doubled
Observer Wards now provide a 50 XP bounty when destroyed
Attacking a ward can no longer miss (same for Sentry Wards)
WARDING WARS INCOMING. Should be fun to watch.

Orb of Venom

Poison Attack damage over time can now be lethal
Umm... why?

Pipe of Insight

Insight Aura now also provides a 10% Magic Resistance aura to nearby allies (does not affect the equipped hero)
Insight Aura radius increased from 750 to 900
This again is to counterbalance new changes regarding buffs to nukers. It's pretty nice nonetheless.

Power Treads

Attribute bonus increased from 8 to 9
So carry buffs?

Quarterstaff

Cost reduced from 900 to 875

Radiance

Radiance recipe from 1350 to 1425
Radiance Burn now causes affected enemies to have a 17% miss rate
Oh... ok. This needs some attention. Radiance has just become a utility item, and even more of an early fighting item rather than one used for farming. The Spectre radiance rush fighter build may very well be used now.

Refresher Orb

Reworked components and bonuses

Is now slightly more expensive and gives worse stats. Another nerf to an item that was to be honest rarely bought.

Rod of Atos

Intelligence from 25 to 30
They keep buffing this item and it's already pretty good.

Satanic

Unholy Rage duration increased from 3.5 to 4 seconds

Sentry Ward

Attacking a ward can no longer miss (same for Observer Wards)

Shiva's Guard

Freezing Aura enemy attack speed reduction improved from 40 to 45

Stout Shield

Cost reduced from 250 to 200
Damage Block chance reduced from 53% to 50%
Damage Block blocked damage reduced from 20 (10 for ranged) to 16 (8 for ranged)
This gives melee Heroes more gold to play with early on. Also assists Crimson Guard builders somewhat.

Tango

Can now be used on to eat Wards. Eating a ward heals for double the amount, 230 HP over 16 seconds.
Has a 450 cast range when targeting Wards
I find this amusing for some reason.

Town Portal Scroll

Teleport cooldown increased from 65 to 70
Teleport no longer removes Ethereal state when it is cast
Odd changes.

Urn of Shadows

Casting Soul Release on an enemy already under the effects of Soul Release now refreshes the existing debuff rather than applying a seperate instance.
A barely noticeable nerf.

Veil of Discord

Recipe from 1250 to 1100
Cooldown reduced from 30 to 20
Duration reduced from 25 to 16
Mana cost reduced from 75 to 50
Small buffs.

Vladmir's Offering

Lifesteal decreased from 16% to 15%
Now grants 10% lifesteal to ranged heroes
Now requires Headdress instead of Ring of Regeneration. Vladmir's Offering now provides +2 all stats, and Vladmir's Aura now provides 3 health regen.
Ranged lifesteal? Seems pretty cool if you ask me. Downside is that it is more expensive now but still has a great buildup, making it a good item still.

_____________

There we go! My analysis of the patch notes thus far. Now onto my assumptions.

Gold Changes
So they nerfed gold gain, but made a lot of items cheaper to compensate. I do believe it will work out to roughly the same over the course of the game.

Hero Changes
Troll and Storm still ****ing broken. This relates to the meta as well as their pathetic nerfs.
The gold changes give a lot more for assists and hero kills, especially on rich heroes. This suggests a buff to snowballers. However, the assist gold increase indicates that teams want to do this together, which is a big buff to 5-man gankers like Bounty Hunter. Henceforth, I expect we'll see him in the new meta, alongside assist farmers. Think Necrolye, Spectre, any Radiance builder.
My belief is that teams will look something like supports, offlaner/mid, one of which will be a snowballer, and a carry with some snowball potential, or who can get a lot of assists. As such, I think some teams will experiment with Spectre (making me happy) and we may even see some variants on the global strategy. The new items also place a lot of emphasis on teamwork and disabling.
The addition of Moon Shard is a big buff to carries with low attack speed like Tiny, Outworld Devourer, and to some extent the aforementioned Spectre. As these Heroes all have good ganking power, especially in packs, I foresee a lot of roaming and 5-man ganking - a much more active Dota than the ricing we've seen.

As for game length, I am unsure. I think it'll stay at about the same, maybe slightly less as towers have lower armour.

As with always, we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Please +rep me for the effort.

I'll do this before i forget and then continue to read:



It is to prevent ****ing up blink initiations. From what i can tell from the [?] next to it, when queuing blink > Call on Axe for example it you didn't have the right facing the queue would mess up, think blink wouldn't go off and that's why you see dude's calling mid air. This is to fix that primarily.

I'm sure there's more to it than that but that seems to be the biggest thing. More a fix than change.

I'll continue reading now.

Nice to read, loled at reactions to storm and troll :p

+rep

• Morphling uses Hybrid to become Lifestealer.
• Morphling uses Assimilate to consume ally #3.
• Lifestealer uses Assimilate to consume Morphling (and also ally #3).
• Lifestealer and accumulated posse infest ally #4.
• Io Tethers ally #4 and is now Pit Lord.

His new replica thingy doesn't work on ulties sorre.

Assimilate is not an ultimate.

Here is a gif: http://gfycat.com/UnfinishedTatteredAplomadofalcon

I think that this is bringing back Tinker. with the Octarine Core, and the buff to his aghs, he should be able to carry hard again. he wont be able to farm as much with the gold changes, but ganking will help him snowball harder.

Also, with Lifestealer does this mean that naix could jump out of a a hero, and the hero in naix could then jump out of him? Super gank naix with a support, say Enigma, and someone like Storm Spirit.

EDIT: I just looked at that gif, and I see. thats kida what i was talking abaout. seem really op...

Sadly does not work because you only have normal skills :(.
icefraud why?
I wanted to steal Rubicks ult with my Morphling so we can have his ult two times

My summary:

Lots of changes...you need to consider them in totality instead of individually.

Seems like a definite reversion of the ricing based meta. Less gold for farming/jungling, more gold for killing heroes. Towers are a little weaker and rax worth more...so pushing is buffed a little.

More importantly, lots of changes to the way gold is distributed - seems supports are due more income, and give less away when they die. Makes sense, kill richer heroes for richer rewards.

Several of the new items and agh's abilities are pretty far out, should be interesting to see how they develop. Especially since some are now "consumable" - i.e. you can become >6 slotted in a more legit way than carrying extra inventory on the courier.

Interesting hero changes, too many to go into in summary. The big losers seem to be Sniper and Troll Warlord...not exactly unexpected. Lets see how it plays out before passing judgement on whether it was too much/not enough eh?

What about octarina core on huskar with aghs?