This article is brought to you by StatBanana, the best Dota 2 strategy tool.
As expected, Dota 2’s latest update, Patch 7.22g, is full of changes for heroes that were used a lot at The International 2019.
These buffs and nerfs seem pretty minor for most heroes, which is probably a good way to start the post-TI9 meta shift. That will likely be a trend as the offseason continues and Valve tries to balance the game with no major competitive events going on.
The biggest changes were some nerfs to a handful of the heroes that saw the highest usage or had the most impressive performances at TI9. Here are a few of the highlights.
Io
- Level 10 Talent changed from Spirits Apply Slow to +90 Gold per minute.
- Level 15 Talent changed from +75 Spirits Hero Damage to Spirits Apply Slow.
- Level 20 Talent changed from +150 Gold per minute to +75 Spirits Hero Damage.
Carry Io isn’t dead. The level 15 and 20 talent changes do hurt its viability, but only in terms of important teamfights in the late game—specifically, the level 15 change since the damage increase was really helpful for the offensive set.
These nerfs fix some timings for ability farming, putting Io on the same timing as other carry characters when it comes to reaching their full potential. There won’t be anymore sheer steamrolling, but the character is still viable in its newly-minted role.
Support Io will probably make a bit of resurgence in pubs, though, which should make a lot of players happy.
Alchemist
- Greevil’s Greed gold bonus per stack reduced from four to three.
- Chemical Rage no longer provides mana regeneration.
- Level 15 Talent reduced from +50 Damage to +30.
- Level 25 Talent reduced from -0.2 Chemical Rage Base Attack Time to -0.15.
Pour some chemicals out for the bane of PSG.LGD because he just dropped off a cliff.
Without his mana regeneration from Chemical Rage, he goes from a character that could be spammed every match and fit into most drafts to a very situational pick at best. Combined with the bounty hit and other nerfs to his talents, these might be some changes that he doesn’t come back from, at least not in the near future.
The devs might have taken it to an extreme here, but if Valve feels that the changes were too much, it can easily give him a boost in the next patch. But Alch was the most contested hero at TI9, being picked or banned in 89.12 percent of all games, so it makes sense.
Enchantress
- Base damage reduced by four.
- Nature’s Attendants heal reduced from 10/11/12/13 to 7/9/11/13.
- Impetus damage reduced from 16/22/28 percent to 14/20/26 percent.
Unlike Alchemist, Enchantress is still very playable despite getting a handful of nerfs.
The heal scaling is a lot more manageable for the early game, making her easier to kill. She isn’t dead in the draft, but her pick rate will definitely fall as better options start to rise.
Elder Titan
- Astral Spirit cooldown increased from 17 to 23/21/19/17.
- Astral Spirit buff is now dispellable.
The big daddy of TI9 wasn’t safe from getting hit either. After being played in 175 games on the biggest stage with a 50 percent win rate, of course the phaser was going to get hit.
You won’t be constantly seeing a spirit flying around in the early game anymore because the cooldown was increased on the front end. But outside of that and now being able to dispell those buffs, he’s still solid.
Chen
- Holy Persuasion maximum creep level reduced from 4/5/6/6 to 3/4/5/6.
- Divine Favor heal amplification reduced from 8/12/16/20 percent to 6/10/14/18 percent.
- Divine Favor active cooldown increased from 120/100/80/60 to 140/120/100/80.
- Level 15 Talent increased from -30s Divine Favor Cooldown to -40s.
Chen unsurprisingly got some massive nerfs too since he was one of the most crucial picks in some big games as a support. His passive healing ability got hit hard and even getting a better cooldown reduction at level 15 can’t save Divine Favor.
Those are the biggest changes, but there are also a lot of good buffs for characters like Clockwerk and Drow Ranger. Now, it’s time to see how the meta settles when the next season approaches.
