Snapfire and Slardar hit with big nerfs in Dota 2 update 7.24

It took Valve longer than usual, but Dota 2 version 7.24b has arrived.

The qualifiers for Dota Pro Circuit Majors are often followed by relatively hefty balance updates, but when one didn’t come in the days after the ESL One LA Major qualifiers, fans wondered if Valve was gearing up to give 7.24a a long run on live servers. That apparently isn’t the case, given the arrival of 7.24b.

While this patch doesn’t change too much compared to other recent updates, there are still plenty of notable changes to both heroes and items.

Judging from these changes, Valve seems particularly concerned regarding mid-game items. That resulted in three of the most popular mid-game damage items being nerfed.

Desolator now gives just 50 damage instead of 60. The armor reduction debuff from the item was also nerfed from -7 to -6. Though tie item is still a viable option, this offers much less benefit than it previously did.

Diffusal Blade was also given a hard shot, with its mana burn attack modifier being reduced by 20%, from 50 to 40. Stacking Bracers will be slightly less effective now, with the magic resistance effect of the item being dropped from 5% to 4%. Finally, Maelstrom and Mjolnir had their Chain Lightning passive’s bounce distance reduced from 900 to 650, making it slightly less effective for farming.

All of this will likely combine to slow games down a bit. Whether that’s a good thing when pro teams are already more willing to take their time to close things out remains to be seen.

Void Spirit, Snapfire lead Dota 2 update 7.24b nerfs

Dota 2 update 7.24b delivered a number of nerfs to heroes. None were buffed.

Two of the heroes changed are Void Spirit and Snapfire. The two heroes were added to the pool for official events following the DreamLeague Leipzig Major, with the ESL One LA Major qualifiers being their Dota Pro Circuit debuts. Both received fairly extensive play, with both landing among the top-10 most contested heroes in drafts during the qualifiers.

Void Spirit received a light nerf, with his movement speed being reduced from 305 to 300. This makes him slightly less elusive and less capable of setting up his impactful spell combinations.

Snapfire received a much heavier nerf. Firesnap cookies were made less effective at high levels, with its stun now scaling from 1.6 to 2.2 instead of 1.6 to 2.5. More importantly, Mortimer Kisses was made significantly weaker, with its damage being reduced by 20% at all levels.

Likely the hardest-hit hero overall is Slardar. Sprint now comes with a mana cost, while Bash of the Deep does less damage at all levels. Finally, Corrosive Haze’s armor reduction was dropped by two points across the board.

The changes don’t end there, with Batrider, Enchantress, and Tiny all receiving some notable tweaks. The full patch notes can be found on the official Dota 2 blog.