Dota 2 Patch Introduces Significant Hero Changes
Just a week after the latest major event, Dota 2 has released a new patch with some interesting updates for heroes.
One of the heroes who received major changes in this patch is Lifestealer, a popular pick in the recent Dota 2 Asia Championship. His spells “Open Wounds” and “Rage” have been nerfed significantly. “Open Wounds” now costs 140 mana on its first level, an increase from the previous 110. However, the mana cost can be reduced with skill points. The other nerf is to Lifestealer’s “Rage” spell, which scales his attack speed while granting magic immunity. The attack speed scaling has been reduced from 50/60/70/80 to 40/50/60/70.
Another familiar face in the Dota 2 Asia Championship was Alchemist, who was frequently banned due to his power in the mid and late game. Two of Alchemist’s spells have been nerfed. The radius of “Acid Spray,” which decreases armor and damages enemies, has been dramatically reduced from 625 to 400 on the first level. Additionally, the cooldown of Alchemist’s ultimate, “Chemical Rage,” has been increased by 10 seconds, now taking 55 seconds to refresh.
However, one support hero who received substantial buffs in this patch is Lich. Lich’s ability “Sacrifice” allows him to instantly kill neutral units on the map, including enemy creeps, enabling him to gain experience at a faster rate compared to other supports. This ability now has a lower cooldown.
But the real buffs for Lich come in the form of his ultimate, “Chain Frost.” The cooldown of the spell has been significantly reduced, and the slow percentage on opponents hit by it has been increased from 30% to 50%.
The patch also continues to tweak the talent points for certain heroes. These talents provide passive bonuses such as increased gold gain and damage increases on specific spells. One of the standout changes is for Shadow Shaman at level 25, where he can choose between a 3-second increase on his stun or adding 350 extra damage to his spell “Ether Shock.” These upgrades are a game-changer for the support hero.
