While most people were probably relaxing during the weekend, the Dota 2 community was all abuzz. That’s because Valve dropped Patch 7.29, as Season 2 is about to start, which introduces a new hero as well as bringing in some massive changes to the game.
When we say massive, we mean massive as Dota 2 commentator and analyst Kevin "Purge" Godec has an almost nine-hour video breaking down Patch 7.29, and you can watch it below:
New Hero
The new hero joining the battle is Dawnbreaker. In terms of appearance, she’s like Omnikinght though with a bigger hammer. Skills-wise, well imagine Thor but instead of thunder and lightning, you have Light instead. Don’t believe us? Let’s take a look at some of her skills.
Her Starbreaker skill has her whirling her hammer thrice to deal damage and on the final strike, smashes her hammer down which damages and stuns enemies. Next, Celestial Hammer lets her throw the hammer to damage all enemies caught along the way. The hammer either flies back to her after a time or when she recalls it.
Her Ultimate Skill is Solar Guardian and it creates a pulsing effect near an allied hero in a target location, after which she then flies to that location. Pretty much like what Thor did when he arrived in Wakanda at the height of the battle in Avengers: Infinity War. Guess what’s the name of Thor’s new hammer? Stormbreaker.
You can learn more about the new hero here.
Main Gameplay Changes
One of the biggest changes with Patch 7.29 is on the terrain. Everything in the jungle for both Radiant and Dire has been changed. You’ll probably also find some of the usual spots of the Ward Cliffs moved while the tree lines got changed. The Outpost has been moved as well with its vision lowered to 500.
Other changes that could impact gameplay affect TP scrolls. First off, the cost is now 100 from 90, which makes it a bit expensive. Plus, all players now start with one scroll instead of three. However, each time a player dies they get one scroll for free. This should be good news especially to supports that need to use their gold on other items.
There are two extra changes that players should love and one of them is Couriers no longer have vision when they’re inside Roshan’s pit. This is actually a good improvement considering how it has been abused. The second is Neutral Items now fly towards the hero instead of dropping under the dead unit. This should save even a little time.
Players should be happy to know as well that the hero-to-hero item transfer range is increased to 300 from 150.
Runes
While this is under gameplay changes, we decided to make it separate since the changes also have a big impact on gameplay.
There’s now a Water Power Rune that spawns at both Power Rune locations, which is near the mid lane, but only at the minute two- and minute four-marks. This is going to be significant later.
Before the patch, there were four areas where Bounty Runes spawned. Two in respective jungle areas and two in the river for a total of four runes. In 7.29, you can only find two runes, and they now spawn every three minutes. Finally, if nobody picked the first runes, they will stick there alongside new spawns.
Changes to Items
For items, many have been nerfed like those related to movement speed or cast range. These include Tranquil Boots, Boots of Travel, Eul’s Scepter of Divinity, and Octarine Core.
Remember when we said Water Power Rune is going to be important? Well, it’s probably because of the change to Tango. Tango pooling is no longer available in the Strategy Phase UI. That part may be okay for most players but everyone may not like the new shared Tangos expiring after 40 seconds. That means it has to be shared a little later and then used at once. So how does the mid-lane recover? They must use the Water Power Runes.
A big change as well is on Abyssal Blade, now having a melee ability that replaces the blink effect. This is clearly good news for those who prefer to stay in the backlines like support players.
Finally, Patch 7.29 nerfs the “zoo” strategy by removing the Necronomicon. Players who use the likes of Enigma, Lycan, and Beastmaster may now need to come up with a different strategy.
By the way, it’s also worth mentioning that the neutral item Royal Jelly has been removed as well.
So I’m A Spider? So What?
This brings us to heroes. Like the items, several changes were made on heroes but the biggest rework would have to be Broodmother.
Insatiable Hunger is no longer her Ultimate Skill, which is indeed great, and it got replaced by Spawn Spiderlings. Not only is the skill upgraded to ultimate but the changes make sure it is befitting of the title. For example, this debuff no stacks. That means the more time it’s used on a particular hero, the more spiders come out when that hero dies.
So what happens to Insatiable Hunger? It’s now a basic ability and may actually make Broodmother a bit more versatile than before.
Her Silken Bola is no longer a shard ability but a basic ability, and buying the shard now improves this skill. Her first skill, Spin Web is still there.
If you’re a fan of Broodmother, you’re probably thinking we missed a skill. We didn’t actually because Incapacitating Bite has been removed.
You Have Our Full Support
As mentioned there were a lot of hero changes yet some support heroes had a bit of buff, especially on their shard abilities. The first is Crystal Maiden who, once she gets the shard, can now move, cast, and attack during Freezing Field. It’s good for mid to late game.
Up next is Dazzle. Before the patch, the shard allowed him to automatically perform a basic attack every time he used an ability, for up to four extra targets. If you think that was good, then the new one is probably better. This time the shard gives Dazzle the ability to have his Poison Touch hex affect targets for 1.25 seconds. Now take note that his Poison Touch can hit multiple targets.
Finally, there’s Bane. The shard upgrade now causes Brain Sap to become a 550 target AoE spell with secondary units healing for 25%.
You can read all the new changes that arrived with Patch 7.29 here.
What about you? What’s your favorite change in Patch 7.29?
