Dota 2 Patch 7.21c: Viper & Hand of Midas Gets Nerfed

Valve has once again made important changes to Dota 2, and this time it comes in the form of Patch 7.21c. The patch comes right as the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor is set to begin later this week. This isn't new for Dota 2 tournaments, as Valve released last month's Patch 7.21b just a few days before the ESL One Katowice 2019.

In terms of general changes, the new patch once again increased the XP earned when being denied to 35 percent from 30 percent. This was increased from 25 percent to 30 percent in 7.21b. What this tells us is that Valve, through IceFrog, is reminding players that they want faster games in Dota 2.

Hand of Midas once again receives a change as well, with gold bonus reduced to 160. Under patch 7.21b, this item already had its gold bonus lowered from 200 to 180. Clearly Valve wants to change the meta as too many players were buying Midas.

That said, the patch brings with it various changes to the heroes.

Sniper was given good changes, with Headshot damage now at 30/60/90/120 from 20/50/80/100. Replenish rate for Shrapnel has been improved from 55 to 50. Queen of Pain received a good buff as well. Base damage is the same, but base intelligence is now higher by 3. Sonic Wave was increased to 340/430/520 from 320/410/500.

With the 7.21c patch, fans once again get to see Templar Assassin and Storm Spirit. In 7.21b, Storm had manacost for his Static Remnant lowered with cooldown to Electric Vortex reduced. He once again receives a buff, as Electric Vortex no longer slows him. The same is true for Templar Assassin, where in the previous patch her Meld debuff would stack. For 7.21c, agility gained is increased to 2.8 from 2.6, with bonus damage of Refraction also increased to 25/50/75/100 from 20/40/60/80.

Kunnka sees a major change in the new update. Tidebringer no longer provides a bonus on denies. This may slow him down, but he remains a strong mid hero. Other carries also experienced slight nerfs with Troll Warlord having the damage offered by his level 20 talent lower from +50 to +40. Ursa's movement speed has also been lowered by five.

The biggest nerf for this patch belongs to Viper. This hero was strong, with Team Secret utilizing the hero in a number of their matches during the ESL One Katowice 2019. Viper's agility gain in this patch has been reduced to 2.8 from 3.3. Poison attack slow was also lowered from 25/30/35/40 percent to 10/20/30/40 percent. The biggest impact is the change to Nethertoxin. For one, the manacost is no longer a constant 75. It instead scales to 70/80/90/100. Further, the AoE damage no longer stacks with itself. The upcoming tournaments will be a good gauge if Viper continues to be picked.

A complete changelog of the 7.21c patch can be viewed here.