The latest Dota 2 update has arrived and a lot of heroes are reaping the benefits of it.
After the 7.22b patch brought a handful of pointed nerfs, 7.22c has arrived and brings dozens of buffs. Though many of these changes will go unnoticed by most players, they give a little bit of help to some of the heroes that have been falling behind in the current meta.
For the most part, these changes are small stat boosts. Axe and Tusk received some extra movement speed. Treant Protector, Invoker, Tusk, and Bloodseeker all received one more base armor. Medusa and Terrorblade have better strength gain.
There were a few heroes that received some more extensive changes.
Tinker received a variety of changes to increase his flash farming ability with March of the Machines’ early manacost being rescaled and a new +150 GPM talent being introduced at level 15. Undying received a buff in the form of a few bug fixes regarding Tombstone, with Soul Rip now being able to properly heal it and the +5 hits talent functioning properly. Faceless Void might be able to return to form as an impactful initiator with Chronosphere’s AOE being increased and Time Lock’s bash rate increasing two percent across the board.
The biggest beneficiary of all was likely Lich. The heavily retooled support hero received a bonus to base intelligence, a reduced cooldown to Sinister Gaze, increased damage to Chain Frost, and a buff to his level 25 attack slow talent. Those tweaks could add up into a return to the competitive scene for him.
Which Heroes Were Nerfed in the Latest Dota Update?
While the majority of changes in 7.22c were buffs, a few of the most popular heroes in competitive play took a hit. These generally targeted specific spells with Dark Seer’s Surge getting a reduction in bonus movement speed, Sven’s Storm Hammer receiving a nerf in early game stun duration, and Warlock’s Fatal Bonds doing less damage.
No hero got hit particularly hard, but a pair of heroes got a lengthy number of changes that ultimately added up to being slight nerfs.
After a rocky 2018, Io has returned to being a staple of competitive play and that has seen Valve once again start tinkering with it. Io’s attack range was decreased, Tether was rescaled to be weaker in the early game, and Spirits now require a talent upgrade in order to slow on impact. Offsetting this slightly is an extra bit of base armor and a decent upgrade to strength gain.
Also receiving a sizable rework is Chen. Recall has been moved from Holy Persuasion to Divine Favor. Additionally, Divine Favor’s damage aura has been replaced with a damage bonus to creeps converted by Holy Persuasion. His talent tree was given an extensive rework to adjust for these changes.
There are many more changes, so make sure to check out the full Dota 2 patch notes on the official blog.
