As the calendar flipped from November to December, players were busy dissecting yet another addition to the Dota 2 patch 7.20 family.
The fourth iteration of the patch fixed several things that were driving the player base crazy after it was originally released. This update focused less on one specific error and covered more of a general area.
Here are a few of the updates that grab the eye when reading through the patch notes.
Items
Power Treads
- Attribute bonus increased from 12 to 14.
They might not increase attack speed, but the extra attribute bonus that is now even greater than before still makes this item viable.
Phase Boots
- Now has the active again instead of the passive.
This is a simple change to make fans happy and will likely move the needle very little. Quality of life changes like this do make a difference, though.
Wraith Band, Bracer, and Recipe costs increased from 220 to 240.
The 20 gold cost increase won’t change the fact that these items are going to be used and abused as openers. Only a drastic price jump or a nerf will stop players from picking these up.
Biggest hero reworks
Grimstroke
- Ink Swell max damage reduced from 160/240/320/400 to 100/200/300/400.
- Ink Swell max stun duration reduced from 2/2.6/3.2/3.8 to 1.7/2.4/3.1/3.8.
- Soul Bind cooldown increased from 80/65/50 to 90/70/50.
One of the top heroes should be a little more balanced now after his usage rate reached a peak. Out of all the changes to heroes in this update, this nerf might make character choices a little more varied in coming events.
Magnus
- Empower cleave damage reduced from 30/45/60/75 percent to 20/38/56/74 percent.
- Level 15 Talent reduced from +15 Strength to +12.
- Level 20 Talent reduced from +12 Armor to +10.
The other huge change that hit was for Magnus, a character that was gaining momentum in usage as of late. This nerf makes him a little more balanced in the early game and let opponents play out counters to late farming strategies that involve his abilities.
Melee heroes below 300 base movement speed increased by five
Players of slow-moving heroes, rejoice. This just gave every one of them a slight boost that, when combined with any other changes they may have received in this patch, could spell an uptick in their effectiveness.
Those are just the changes that stood out from a brief glance over the patch notes. If you want to check out the full list of changes, you can read the notes on Valve’s official Dota 2 blog.
