Outworld Destroyer is getting huge buffs in Dota 2 update 7.28b

With the Dota Pro Circuit league qualifiers mostly done, Valve is cleaning up its game in anticipation of the season’s start. 

Part of that work includes the launch of update 7.28b. The patch brought changes to a long list of heroes and items, and while most of them are small, they should add up to a big shift.

The most heavily impacted hero is Outworld Destroyer. Though the intelligence carry has been among Dota 2’s most consistently strong heroes regardless of the meta, Outworld Destroyer was dealt a harsh blow in the initial 7.28 update that left him with the lowest win rate of any hero at every level of ranked play. Valve is addressing this with a series of buffs that will keep the hero’s newer set of tools intact, but with more stats to keep him relevant prior to the late game stages.

Outworld Destroyer got a significant buff to his base stats, with more base armor, base movement speed, and HP regen. His agility gain was also increased, giving him an extra bit of armor and attack speed.

Astral Imprisonment got a broad buff with better damage and increased mana steal. Sanity’s Eclipse’s base damage was also increased, scaling from 200 to 400 at max level. Essence Flux also got its chances of activating increased from 25% to 30%. Finally, Outworld Destroyer’s talents were also improved with the level 20 Sanity’s Eclipse multiplier being improved and Arcane Orb’s damage boost being increased from 1.6% to 2%.

Ideally, these will combine to allow Outworld Devourer to return to his previous form. Whether this will be a net gain relative to his previous iterations will remain to be seen.

Aghanim Shard abilities get big changes in Dota 2 update 7.28b

The biggest change to Dota 2’s gameplay in version 7.28 was the addition of Aghanim Shards. The item gives either a permanent upgrade to a skill, or a new skill entirely, for just 1,400 gold. Naturally, this requires repeated balance tweaks.

Most of these are relatively minor, such as Dark Seer’s Normal Punch dealing more damage to illusions and Ogre Magi’s Fire Shield saw its mana cost increased. Some were much bigger, though.

Clockwerk’s Jetpack got a number of buffs, with its cooldown and mana cost reduced and its movement speed increased. Grimstroke’s Ink Over got a similar treatment, with its cast range and damage being increased and its slow improved. Riki’s Sleeping Dart had its cooldown and mana cost reduced while its debuff was increased in strength.

Make sure to check out the full patch notes on the official Dota 2 blog.