Dota 2’s latest patch is here, and with it, new metas and new strats are developing, allowing players to try out new things. The gameplay update was expected, with the best Dota 2 teams slowly preparing for The International. But, if you’re not yet familiar with the patch, you can check out some of patch 7.34 general and item changes. But right now, let’s focus on the biggest hero changes.
7.34 was one of the patches that affected pretty much every hero. However, some heroes received a lot more changes and adjustments than others, so let’s learn what’s new. (You can expect more information from us about the win/loss rate following the new update soon.)
Arc Warden
Arc hasn’t been a popular hero in the last 2 years because most professional and PUB players used him only as a counter. It seems like this may continue to be the case, but 7.34 added a few interesting changes.
For starters, the Tempest version of Magnetic Field will now provide 80 base bonus damage instead of a magical attack bonus. Tempest Double is also new because this is now a point-targeted ability that has a 700-cast range.
Arc Warden also has the following talent changes:
- Level 10 – +250 HP instead of +200
- Level 15 – +25 Magnetic Field Attack Speed/Bonus Damage instead of Magnetic Field Attack Speed and Bonus Magic Damage +30
- Level 20 – Magnetic Gield Cooldown reduction is 8s instead of 9s.
Bane
It seems like Bane will be one of the hottest heroes in Dota 2 Patch 7.34. His Brain Sap now goes through debuff immunity, and Nightmare grants him +45 AS, and the units won’t be woken up when he deals damage.
Fiend’s Grip is also new because the ability will remove the Nightmare effect from the target, allowing Bane’s allies to attack it. Besides those changes, the hero’s level 10 talent decreases its CD by 3s instead of 2s, and his level 25 increases the damage and healing to +250 instead of +200.
Bristleback
One of Dota 2’s most robust heroes also received several poignant changes that will make him a lot more appealing. Patch 7.34 made Viscous Nasal Goo have 3 more stacks, but it’s no longer affected by Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade. Instead, this item will now affect the hero’s Bristleback.
When people purchase this item, Bristleback can turn his back towards targets and release 6 Quill Sprays, dealing damage to everything. This ability will make the hero a lot stronger in team fights, and he’ll have more burst damage.
Hairball is another ability that’s new’ it applies 2 stacks of Viscous Nasal Goo and only 1 stack of Quill Spray. The ability has a 10s cooldown instead of 20s, and it costs 40 mana instead of 75.
If that’s not enough, Bristleback’s talents are also buffed as follows:
- Level 10 – +20 instead of +15 damage
- Level 20 – Quill Stack Damage +25 rather than +20
- Level 20 – +25 HP regen instead of +20
Centaur Warrunner
If we check the Dota 2 Reddit, we can find tons of complaints about the new Centaur Warrunner and the fact he’s incredibly strong. In patch 7.34, Valve’s buffed the Centaur’s Double Edge by decreasing its cooldown and damage. The hero also has a new Aghanim’s Scepter ability, but that’s not what makes him so dangerous.
Alongside those changes, Valve also allowed his Hoof Stomp to have no cast time. Instead, he has a 0.5s wind-up time before using it. The stun itself is the same but has slightly less range than before. With that said, what makes him so dangerous is that he can ‘cast’ it before blinking in, and the ability’s effect will be used no matter what happens.
There have been examples of Centaur Warrunner stunning Enigma while the latter is casting Black Hole. In other words, the hero’s stun works similarly to Sand King’s Blink + Ult combo.
Invoker
When talking about heroes who have become much more successful after patch 7.34, we need to include Invoker. The hero got tons of new things, so we’ll try to summarize everything:
- Quas now grants 1 STR and no longer provides HP regen. Instead, it increases Invoker’s spell lifesteal.
- Wex now grants 1 AGI and no longer provides AS. The ability will reduce Invoker’s cooldown.
- Exort will now grant 1 INT instead of 2, and it won’t provide bonus damage. Instead, the ability will grant Spell Amplification.
- In addition to these changes, Invoker is no longer an INT hero because he’s moved to Universal.
- Cold Snap will now heal Invoker every time it procs, the Freeze Cooldown is decreased, and the mana cost is down from 100 to 90.
- Ghost Walk will grant the hero 80 HP regen and mana regen.
- Tornado’s lift duration is increased early on and its mana cost is down from 150 to 140.
- Alacrity now costs 90 instead of 100 mana
- Sun Strike deals 200-550 instead of 120-540 damage
- Deafening Blast costs 250 mana instead of 300
Lone Druid
The next name that deserves to be on the list is Lone Druid. He’s one of the heroes following patch 7.34 who received a bigger rework than others. It’ll be interesting to see what’s going to happen with him in the future, but here’s everything new for now:
- Lone Druid’s Bear is now a Universal creep-hero unit with 0 base attributes and will not get anything with levels. Instead, all attributes from buffs or items will affect the bear as if it’s a universal hero. The bear can’t receive any EXP, but it will gain 90 HP and 5 damage with Lone Druid’s level.
- The bear also has its own Shard and Aghanim’s Scepter. Getting a Shard will grant an ability called Fetch. The latter will root a unit or rune and drag it towards Lone Druid for 2.25s, during which the bear has a 20% MS penalty. The dragged target will take 300 damage over the duration of the ability, and the bear will not have a MS penalty if it’s dragging a rune. Choosing a Scepter will allow the Spirit Bear to attack at any range from Lone Druid and stay alive even if he dies.
- Spirit Link is now upgradable by Aghanim’s Scepter. If Lone Druid gets the item, he can share the ability’s bonus with the bear for the 20s. During that time, the armor and AS bonus shared is increased by 35%, and the Bear and LD can heal themselves.
- True Form will no longer increase BAT
There are tons of other important hero changes in Dota 2 Patch 7.34 you should know, so we suggest going through the full patch notes closely. We’ll keep an eye on the stats and give you an overview of the most successful heroes over the next few weeks, so make sure to follow blix.gg for more information.
