Games regularly receive updates every now and then, and it is part of the process. But in Dota 2, updates are known to surprise players and fans alike, especially in the timing. It’s no different this time and actually a sort of a shocker. That’s because Update 7.28c dropped as the DPC 2021 Season 1 is entering its final week of matches.
Several things are on the line with many teams still hoping to get a shot at joining the Singapore Major. The new update contains mainly nerfs and today we'll look at some of the big ones.
Slowing Down
For quite a while, Batrider’s play has been to farm and get the items he needs within the 10-minute mark. By mid-game, he’s a hero that becomes rather difficult to deal with. This is because of the Sticky Napalm skill, which back in Update 7.28, was buffed to ensure that it dealt 100% damage to creeps.
With 7.28c, the effect of this skill is now:
Sticky Napalm now deals 50% less damage against all creeps.
This pretty much brings Batrider to his old ways, so to speak. He’s still a good hero to choose but now a bit manageable for opponents.
Less Use of Shard
When Earthshaker gets a Shard ability, players exploit the hero for many reasons. For those not familiar, the Shard upgraded Earthshaker’s Fissure in two ways. First, it lowers the cooldown and allows the hero to walk on it. Second, every time Earthshaker casts a spell, its aftershock effect is replicated on the path of the fissure.
Combining this with Echo Slam can lead to deadly effects. The new update now changes one of the effects to:
Fissure shard aftershock replication now stuns for half duration.
It really doesn’t have much impact on Earthshaker as a pick but it’s going to change the item build. Players are now more likely to put Shard on low priority and go back to Scepter.
It’s Morphin’ Time
For Morphling, his ultimate skill Morph has been changed to:
Morph cooldown rescaled from 160/100/40 to 140/100/60.
Morph scepter bonus cast range reduced from 600 to 300.
Morph scepter now also reduces Morph cooldown by 20 seconds.
With the change in cooldown, it’s clear the nerf is targeted to the late game. This should make players think twice when using the skill and not willy-nilly. The change in cast range, meanwhile, means that Morphling may be better off looking for another item to use and get Aghanim’s much later.
Break No More
Another hero that’s worth mentioning is Nyx Assassin. Update 7.28c changed following this hero:
Vendetta no longer applies Break.
Vendetta cooldown increased from 90/70/50 to 90/75/60.
The cooldown is manageable but the first rank is sure to hurt players who use this hero. What made this hero great was not only because it was good against magical damage heroes but also passive damage heroes, the precise effect of Break.
Read more about the other changes here.
