Evolving Dota 2 with Patch 7.17
The latest patch for Dota 2, Patch 7.17, brings a range of changes to items and heroes, setting the stage for The International 8 in August.
With 93 individual lines of text in the change log, this patch introduces numerical tweaks to rebalance the game. Heroes and items that dominated the current metagame have been toned down, while those that have fallen out of favor or have been ignored for a while have received buffs.
One significant change is the movement speed bonus of Eul’s Scepter of Divinity, which has been reduced to 30 from 40. This nerf affects heroes like Death Prophet, Leshrac, Skywrath Mage, and Zeus who rely on this item.
Other items, such as Moon Shard, Talisman of Evasion, and Refresher Orb, have also undergone attribute adjustments.
Among the heroes, Alchemist stands out with a buff to his ultimate ability, Chemical Rage. It now applies a basic dispel upon cast, allowing Alchemist to remove slow effects by simply pressing the R key. This improvement could turn Alchemist into a significant threat in the TI8 qualifiers.
Leshrac, who has been popular in the meta recently, has received a nerf to his Lightning Storm ability. It now has a fixed cast range of 650 units, instead of scaling up gradually and reaching a maximum range of 800. However, the rest of his kit remains powerful, so it remains to be seen if this change affects his pick rate.
The faerie dragon Puck has been out of favor for a while, but this patch aims to change that. Waning Rift now silences for 1.5 seconds at level one, a significant increase from the previous 0.75 seconds. This adjustment could make Puck worth picking again if players adopt a skill build involving Waning Rift.
To explore the full list of changes, check out the patch notes on the game’s Steam Store page or within the Dota 2 client.
Dota 2, Patch 7.17, balance changes, The International 8, metagame, heroes, items, nerfs, buffs, Alchemist, Leshrac, Puck.