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A few days ago, Valve released Dota 2 patch 7.26, but it only consisted of three changes and were meant to slow down the pace of the game. The patch notes mentioned that item and hero changes would come in later, once the community had settled in with the initial set of changes. It seems like IceFrog and Valve believe we are settled in, which is why Dota 2 patch 7.26a is here and it brings with it the promised item and hero changes along with one general change to the experience gained from engine kill streaks. The entire set of patch notes can be found here. For now, let’s look at the important ones that are bound to impact the meta the most.
GENERAL CHANGES
In the first iteration of 7.26, the gold gained from killing streaks was reduced by 50%. The experience reduction will be felt more at lower levels for smaller killing streaks. It will lead to players getting 10 XP less for ending any killing streak which is only 10% for a ‘Beyond Godlike’ streak but is 33% for a ‘Killing Spree’ streak, which are the ones you encounter earlier on in the game. This adds to the changes from earlier that are meant to slow down the game.
ITEM CHANGES
(I) Boots
Movement speed is another factor alongside gold that is taking a hit this patch. The bonus movement speed from agility was removed and now the movement speed for all boots has been changed to a fixed value instead of a percentage. The percentage increase affected any bonus from items and talents along with the agility as well, so it had the potential to ramp up movement speed. When IceFrog thought of slowing things down, he literally came up with a solution to slow everyone down.
(II) Spirit Vessel
Even though it is costlier than it was before patch 7.26, 20% of the debuff is now passive which means it will have a lot more use with 0 charges than before. The passive and the active add up to 55% reduction in HP regen as compared to the earlier 60%, but the passive aura should make up for it. This should be a strong item in the upcoming meta. The only problem is the increase in cost comes along with 10% reduced gold from all sources, which makes getting it a lot slower than before. Yasha (8%) and Drums of Endurance (12%) are the only items now that offer a percentage increase in movement speed.
(III) Silver Edge
Well, this lasted just one patch. With the added damage, 50% reduced regen (along with the 4 second ‘break’) made the item extremely strong. Mid heroes started making it as one of their first items. It’s still a good item though, owing to the new added damage (increased from 40 to 45 from patch 7.23 to patch 7.24).
(IV) Eye of Skadi
It seems Silver Edge’s loss is Eye of Skadi’s gain! The reduced regen debuff has been transferred to Eye of Skadi, and the good thing about it is, it doesn’t just last for a specific duration. It lasts for as long as you keep hitting the target and it goes through magic immunity as well. This change should make Eye of Skadi a strong item again, especially against high HP regen heroes like Alchemist.
(V) Nullifier
The Nullifier debuff is now exactly like Shadow Demon’s ultimate, Demonic Purge, the only difference being Demonic Purge pierces spell immunity. However, if Nullify is used on a hero and the hero pops his/her BKB, the effect will continue to dispel the hero. Nullifier is a good item, but a 4725 gold item being countered by a basic dispel made it bad. This buff from patch 7.26 should see a lot more Nullifiers being picked up.
HERO CHANGES
(I) Alchemist – Loser
Alchemist is the king of gold, and when the games gold and his gold together get hit nerfs at the same time, the king is bound to run into some trouble. Besides that, there are now two items which offer passive counters to Alch’s HP regen during chemical rage – Spirit Vessel with its aura and Eye of Skadi. You don’t have to be dependent on Ancient Apparition to be present in the game to hit him where it hurts.
(II) Chaos Knight – Winner
Chaos Knight has been the recipient of buffs for innumerable patches, with no success of getting him popular in the professional scene. One of these patches, it is bound to happen and this might just be it.
(III) Chen – Loser
Chen is one of those heroes that keeps getting hit with nerfs but still gets picked, reason being he is a unique hero. The reduction in Divine Favour HP regen will only last in the laning stage and early game, but the nerf applies to the allied heroes as well as Chen’s creeps. It won’t stop him from being picked, but it will make the lane with Chen more vulnerable in the early game.
(IV) Clinkz – Winner
Like Chaos Knight, Clinkz is eventually bound to look good with all the buffs thrown his way. There is an increased mana cost to go with the increased damage, but a Soul Ring and a few Clarity Potions should fix that. The added damage will help Clinkz contest lanes better and get those early game pickoffs to get the Death Pact damage.
(V) Death Prophet – Loser
Death Prophet has been seen in all three lanes recently (mostly as a core, on the off chance a position 4 support). She is a strong hero that also perfectly suits the deathball meta, which 7.25 was. DP will feel the movement speed more than others because of not one, but two nerfs to her movement speed (one is only when Exorcism is used for the first two levels, but it still is a nerf in the early game). The slowed down game coupled with these nerfs will surely lead to a drop in Death Prophet’s pick and win rate.
(VI) Phoenix – Loser
Phoenix is definitely one of the big losers with nerfs to Fire Spirits and the Scepter upgrade, which was gaining popularity. Now, the Scepter only lets Phoenix consume and ally and refreshed cooldowns, but now more Sun Ray. You do get that option from the level 20 talent, but that means no more additional stun duration, which took the Supernova stun from 3 seconds to 4.25 seconds.
(VI) Pugna – Loser
Both of Pugna’s changes are targetted to make him weaker in the laning stage. Pugna depends on the Decripify to harass the opponent in the lane and if playing against a mana dependant hero like Lina, the Nether Ward had a part to play as well. Still makes him a potent position 4 hero, but we might less of Pugna in a core role after patch 7.26a.
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