Cover-Credits:
As Dota 2 players adjust to the major changes that came with the highly anticipated Patch 7.33, many are starting to take notice of the significant hero buffs that have been implemented. Valve has made it clear that it wants to shake up the meta and encourage new strategies, and the hero changes are a prime example of their efforts. Some notable changes in the heroes were Phantom Lancer gaining an Aghanim’s Shard for his ultimate, which resembles a skill from Dota 1. Another notable change was Riki’s ultimate giving the hero a large experience bonus, and assist giving him a smaller bonus.
From Alchemist to Phantom Lancer, several direct and indirect buffs
While some heroes were directly nerfed, others were buffed, whether directly or indirectly. In this article, we will highlight the top 5 heroes that have been buffed in the patch, discussing the changes made and how they can potentially impact their viability.
Alchemist
The hero that often gets the most amount of gold in the game, Alchemist, has received buffs in the form of his third skill, Greevil’s Greed, becoming an innate ability. While the overall numbers in the skill were nerfed due to it becoming an innate skill, it still provides the hero with an additional skill and bonuses of Greevil’s Greed from level one. His new spell is Corrosive Weaponry which slows and reduces the status resistance of enemies that he attacks, and the debuff can stack for each auto-attack that Alchemist lands on his target. Combining this with the fact that the hero has a stun and his ability to farm extremely quickly, it has mostly been buffs for the hero.
Bristleback
Bristleback, has received some subtle buffs that could highly impact its viability. The hero’s primary skill, Bristleback, which releases quills when it takes a specific amount of damage now also provides Warpath (its ultimate skill) stacks each time the damage threshold is reached. This means Bristleback can reach its maximum number of Warpath stacks faster, giving him a massive bonus in damage and movement speed. Additionally, multiple instances of quill sprays can be triggered from a single damage source, which was not the mechanic previously, meaning that bursting Bristleback is much riskier now.
Phantom Lancer
This hero seemingly took the backseat for a very long time now, barely being picked at Dreamleague Season 19 and losing most of its games in competitive Dota 2. However, the hero has received a few buffs that have made it extremely viable for the current patch. First, its attack range has been increased by 75, which is a massive increase for a melee hero. Additionally, the hero’s Aghanim’s Shard has been changed, which now upgrades its ultimate to provide the hero with instant invisibility and increased movement speed when activated, leaving an illusion behind. This is reminiscent of its Doppelganger skill in Dota 1, which had a similar effect. This provides Phantom Lancer with another ability to escape and be elusive, which is very significant as it is a hero that relies on fooling enemies with its illusions.
Riki
Riki has been a popular pick in the recent meta, with many teams in Dreamleague Season 19 playing the hero as it provides the team with a high degree of utility and damage. The hero was even nerfed in the previous gameplay updates but was still strong enough to be picked. While its previous ability from Aghanim’s Shard, Sleeping Dart has been removed, it received buffs in his first skill and ultimate. Smoke Screen is now upgraded with Aghanim’s Shard, which reduces enemies' armor by 7 within the smokescreen and makes enemies untargetable to allies within the smoke. This increases Riki’s overall damage output and makes it difficult for players to help their allies who are in the Smoke Screen with items such as Force Staff.
Valve
Muerta
The most recent addition to the hero pool of Dota 2, Muerta, is another hero that was buffed overall with this patch. While her first and second skills have been slightly nerfed, her ultimate has been buffed, which is seen as the most significant part of her playstyle. The Aghanim’s Shard now upgrades her ultimate, providing 30% spell lifesteal for its duration, which will help her heal from her auto-attacks. Additionally, Muerta will gain 2% spell amplification every time she kills a hero or a hero dies within a large AOE of her in the duration of the ultimate. However, the biggest buff to Muerta can be seen through the change in Spell Immunity mechanics, where she would do no damage to heroes that are spell-immune while using her ultimate ability. With new mechanics being introduced, she will deal damage to heroes who are spell-immune with the damage dealt being reduced based on the target’s magic resistance.
The new patch has changed almost every single hero in the game in one way or another, giving players the ability to experiment and try new playstyles with each hero. Some heroes came out of the patch as clear-cut winners, while others may require further changes to be viable. It may still be too early to tell which heroes can become highly viable in this patch for the long term, however, it will become clearer as professional players study the patch and try out new strategies with heroes and create the next meta.
