All new gameplay updates in Dota 2 Patch 7.28

A new chapter is beginning for Dota 2 players today with Patch 7.28, which is now available for download. The new hero, Hoodwink, will be running wild in your next pub matches—and there’s still a lot to discover in the latest patch.

All heroes now have an extra ability that they’ll be able to unlock by purchasing Aghanim’s Shards. These shards cost 1,400 gold and can only be bought after the 20-minute mark. Alongside new items and spells, there are also general game updates that will change the core of Dota 2.

These changes may look supplemental to shinier alterations, but they’ll affect the overall gameplay experience even more than most of the Aghanim’s Shard skills.

Here are all of the general game updates that rolled out with Dota 2 Patch 7.28.

General updates

• A Dota 2 match now starts at night time and turns to day once creeps spawn.
  • This will make challenging the first Bounty Runes slightly more dangerous since your vision will be more limited and you’ll be prone to 5-men maneuvers.
• Neutral creeps no longer increase their bounty throughout a match.
  • This will eventually slow down the farming process of all heroes and may increase the overall game-length slightly.
• Neutral stacked gold bonus reduced from 40 percent to 30 percent.
  • This change will decrease the gold income of supports throughout a match.
• Roshan armor growth increased from 0.325 to 0.375.
  • Roshan will be harder to kill, especially during the later stages of a match.
• Radiant Ancient camp is now easier to stack.
  • Radiant-side supports, rejoice.
• Added lore pieces to all items.
• Rearranged some items in the shop (mostly ordering based on cost changes in recent years, but also in some cases moving from one category to another. Consumables are unchanged.)
• When combining, items will attempt to be placed into the slot of their component with the most similar active effect. For example, Magic Wand will combine onto Magic Stick, Bloodthorn will combine onto Orchid Malevolence, etc.
  • Combining items used to put them in the first slot with an item that would be used in the process. Meaning that if you had an Iron Branch on your first slot and a Magic Stick on your third, the Magic Wand would appear on the first slot. With this change, the Magic Wand will appear on the slot that with your Magic Stick.

Neutral Units Balance changes

• Neutral ancients magic resistance reduced from 70 percent to 50 percent.
• Ancient Thunderhide’s Frenzy ability no longer interrupts movement when cast by a neutral.
• Ancient Thunderhide’s Slam ability no longer interrupts movement when cast by a neutral.
• Ancient Thunderhide’s Slam damage increased from 70 to 250.
• Ancient Thunderhide’s Slam slow increased from 25 percent to 60 percent.
• Ancient Thunderhide’s Slam radius increased from 250 to 350.
• Ancient Thunderhide’s Accuracy Aura ability has now been moved to Ancient Rumblehide.
• Fixed Thunderhide Accuracy Aura not working properly.
• Ancient Granite Golem model size increased.
• Black Dragon Fireball cooldown increased from 10 to 15.
• Alpha Wolf unit level increased from four to five.
• Ghost Base attack time increased from one to 1.2.