Dota 2 released update 7.24 which offers a lot of interesting changes. Gameplay is sure to change as Snapfire and Void Spirit are now available in Captain's Mode. That should give fans interesting games to watch in the future.
Shrines Removed
Another big change is that the new update removes the Shrine. For those following, there were two shrines before, but in patch 7.23e, this was reduced to one. Replacing the shrines are the Outposts, which are now in the primary jungles instead of the side lanes. In addition, Outposts now start as owned by their respective teams, though they can still be captured by the other side at any time. Vision has been lowered as well and now offers 700 ground vision rather than the 1,400 flying vision.
Aside from this change to the Outpost, the lane bounty runes are now in the secondary changes. These two changes are sure to bring some exciting battles to every match.
Neutral Items
With this new update, heroes are getting a dedicated neutral items slot. This allows them to equip a maximum of one neutral item. Players will need to be more strategic moving forward, especially with how to allocate the neutral items.
The fountain is also going to have a Neutral Item Stash which means that neutral items can now be stored in them instead of the fountain floor. In addition, when right clicking on an available item in the new UI, it is placed in the stash or courier which can then be delivered to the player. Still on neutral items, they can now be teleported to a player's Neutral Item Stash.
Courier Changes
Update 7.24 also brings changes to the Courier. For example, passive gold income is no longer disabled when a player’s Courier dies. The bounty has been increased from 25+5*Level for each player to 30 + 7*Level while the respawn time is now 60 + 7*Level, up from 50 + 7*Level. However, it’s going to be a bit difficult to kill Couriers as movement speed has been increased from 280 to 290.
On the somewhat “negative” side, Courier can no longer plant wards at level 15 and can no longer use items at level 25.
Talents
What else is there? Well, the new update has removed all GPM talents. This could give an advantage or disadvantage to heroes, depending on how you look at it. Take Crystal Maiden as an example. Her Level 15 Talent is now -2s Crystal Nova Cooldown rather then +150 Gold/Min. Dark Willow now has +40 Bedlam Damage rather than +120 Gold/Min.
Hero Changes
That said, we look into significant hero changes, some of which were to top heroes during the recently concluded Leipzig Major.
Disruptor, for example, has the manacost of Thunder Strike increased and scaled from 130 to 130/140/150/160. That's not all as the Static Storm Scepter no longer increases the duration to 7 from 5.
Unsurprisingly, Doom has been nerfed. Strength gain in now 3.7 instead of 4.0 while the Devour HP regen has been lowered to 3/7/11/15. Scorched Earth now reduces movement speed instead to 9/11/13/15%.
Still, Grimstroke could be a good option with its Base intelligence increased by 2. Grimstroke Talents have been changed as well. As earlier mentioned, GPM is no longer available and now Level 10 Talent offers +100 Ink Swell Max Damage. Level 15 Talent now have Cast Range increased to +175 while the other one increases Spell Amplification to +15%.
You can view all the changes that arrived with Update 7.24 here.
