The biggest winners and losers of Dota 2 Patch 7.34

The Dota 2 meta has received yet another shake-up with Patch 7.34 landing on Aug. 9. Nearly 90 percent of the hero pool—well over 100 heroes—have seen some sort of a change, with many overpowered or forgotten heroes adjusted massively ahead of a bumper month of pro play leading into The International.

Changes to items will also play a significant part in defining Dota 2’s TI meta, as well as the first adjustment to Captain’s Mode drafting in a long time hitting tournament modes the hardest. With more bans available, even the heroes who survived nerfs won’t be seen as often on both the big stage and in ranked.

With so many new features and adjustments in 7.34, we’ve picked a few heroes we reckon players will gravitate toward—and a few you should throw in the bin for now.

Winners of Dota 2 Patch 7.34

Queen of Pain

QoP’s been sitting in the middle of the pack for the last month according to stats tracking site Dotabuff. The mid laner has been a constant over the years but recently her pick rate and win rate have trended downward, and her presence at the Riyadh Masters was minimal; 10 picks at 40 percent win rate, Spectral reports.

But Patch 7.34 is set to revitalize her with buffs to her kit as a whole. A shorter cooldown on Shadow Strike makes one of the most annoying early-game harassment tools even stronger, and a slight radius boost to Scream of Pain improves her consistency as landing that Scream is critical.

But it’s a massive change to her Sonic Wave ultimate that has us interested. An undispellable knockback, increased damage gradually applied as the knockback happens, and a 10-second cooldown reduction at level three will definitely have your Dota 2 opponent’s ears bleeding a lot more often.

She’s back for her mid lane throne, folks. Be ready.

Morphling

Remember when Morphling’s ultimate first turned him into an enemy hero that could use its basic spells, then the Agh’s upgrade let you copy an ally and use theirs? Remember how it was so busted Valve removed it for allies and changed the Agh’s upgrade to a bit of stat stealing instead?

Yeah well, Valve has brought that back, except now instead of gaining your basic abilities, Morphling gets to create an illusion of you to cast those abilities—all while floating around and attacking you as normal.

And whenever he feels like it, he can toggle Morph to instantly teleport to the illusion’s location, keeping up the chase or giving him an easy escape if he needs it. To be fair, his abysmal win rates at all levels of ranked might have something to do with it, so we’ll see just how powerful this is. On paper though, my PTSD is triggering.

Earth Spirit

Cometh the hour, cometh the hero. Earth Spirit has been a quintessential part of the TI meta for the last few versions of the pinnacle event, and his absence over the past few major tournaments has meant he’s getting a boost at just the right time.

Related: Valve introduces major format overhaul for Dota 2’s The International ahead of TI12

He is no longer targetable and becomes invulnerable while using Rolling Boulder, meaning a well-timed ability will see you roll through huge abilities like Chronosphere, Black Hole, Arena of Blood, and through Song of the Siren.

The hero saw just one pick at Riyadh with an experimental magic damage build by beastcoast’s Scofield—this magic damage output is only growing stronger in 7.34 thanks to a 10 percent spell amplification boost at level 10 and a Magnetize duration and damage increase at level 15, should you select those talents.

ES has a low floor, but one of the highest skill ceilings of any Dota 2 hero, and we’re sure to see the pros take him for a spin ahead of TI qualifiers.

Losers of Dota 2 Patch 7.34

Illusion Heroes

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Any hero that creates a copy of itself has been hit heavily via buffs to items such as Radiance, Maelstrom (and in turn Mjollnir and Gleipnir), and Shiva’s Guard. Pudge’e Hook now instantly kills illusions too, for good measure.

Smaller nerfs to the champions themselves, like Phantom Lancer’s talents and Naga Siren’s reduced armor, will compound this effect. It’s not to say they haven’t had their time in the sun, however: Illusion heroes are all over the top 10 highest win rate charts right now. Don’t forget Dark Seer too: Wall of Replica illusions and Normal Punch will be affected by this too, as well as his Vacuum radius drop off.

Supports as Cores

I think it’s high time we stop this funny business of picking Winter Wyvern and Snapfire as cores. Unlike its main rival, League of Legends, Dota heroes have the luxury to flex into a number of other roles outside of their intended position in a match, but what we’ve seen out of WW and Snap last patch was borderline overpowered.

Snapfire’s attack damage application to Lil’ Shredder will be pushed back to level 25 now, and while multishot at level 20 is still significant, we’re going to see far fewer carry Snapfire’s given the level restriction. Winter Wyvern, on the other hand, now no longer deals free physical damage to enemies caught by her Winter’s Curse.

Related: Dota 2 Patch 7.34 notes: Huge drafting changes, TI meta rebalance

The heal percentage buff for her Cold Embrace and a cooldown reduction on the ultimate will push her back into her intended role as a four or five, and while we’ll no doubt still see an Aghanim’s Scepter pick up from time to time, I’d rather see her back to her days as a main support.

Meepo

What did poor Meepo do to deserve this round of nerfs? Yeah, OK, a 55.32 percent win rate (second overall) is a bit much, but after having next to no presence for so long, it’s a shame to see the Geomancer kicked back down the ladder.

Alongside changes like overall base stat nerfs and less stat growth, the Rod of Atos change almost kills the hero entirely. Meepo doesn’t necessarily need the extra health, benefiting heavily from the overall stat boost that Atos provided—as well as its Root ability, of course.

After seemingly just one patch of fun, these changes will, in all likelihood, kill off our little replicating friend once again. What a shame.