The Dota 2 WePlay AniMajor starts next week and we know what that means right? A new update is heading our way, and Icefrog does the expected again with Update 7.29d. It’s not a big update but the nerfs are sure to have the teams scrambling to find new strategies before the tournament begins.
Let’s take a quick look first at the item changes. While only a few, these can have a big impact especially for players who favor Strength-based heroes. In particular, the Lifesteal and Health Regen Amplification of these items were reduced:
- Sange: from 24% to 20%
- Sange & Yasha: from 25% to 22%
- Kaya & Sange: from 25% to 22%
- Heaven’s Halberd: from 24% to 20%
Additionally, the damage block of Vanguard has been lowered from 70/35 to 64/32.
Strength You Say?
Now for the hero changes, let’s start with Strength heroes. Axe, for example, won’t be as viable with the shard proc chance halved to 5%. Meanwhile, the cooldown for Berserker's Call has been increased by one second for each level.
Bristleback, on the other hand, may fail to chase opponents. One of his Level 10 talents has been changed to +15 damage, from +20 move speed. Making it even harder to chase down enemies is the cooldown for Viscous Nasal Goo now increased to 1.75 seconds. The scepter AOE of the skill has been lowered to 900.
If you play Tiny, you may be in for some bad news since The Toss buyback is no longer effective. That means buying back while being tossed no longer teleports the player to where they died. It’s also the same with Timbersaw and his Timber Chain wherein buying back while Timber Chain is being cast no longer teleports players back to where they died.
Still, on strength heroes, the Mortal Strike skill of Wraith King has been increased and scaled. From the static four seconds, the new cooldown is 5.5/5/4.5/4 seconds. The mana cost for Vampiric Spirit was increased as well.
Other Hero Changes
Broodmother has been a favorite in recent updates, and once again she gets a spotlight in the new patch. The shard update for Spin Web no longer lowers web charge time and Insatiable Hunger's lifesteal has been reduced across all levels.
It’s also not a surprise to learn that Medusa has a bit of a nerf. The scepter upgrade for her Mystic Snake now reduced the stone duration to 1.3 seconds from 1.5 seconds. Her talents were also changed in which Level 15 and 20 talents have been swapped, so to speak:
- Level 15
- From +35% Mystic Snake Mana Gain to -1.5s Mystic Snake Cooldown.
- Level 20
- From -3s Mystic Snake Cooldown to +35% Mystic Snake Mana Gain.
Read more about the changes here.
So what do you think of this new update?
