The long-awaited patch update has finally arrived! Following the expiration of the Nemestice Battle Pass, Valve has released the anticipated 7.30 patch update, the first major patch in months. While most of the updates are typical balance changes including minor tweaks here and there, Valve has also added a few massive, game-changing changes. Several neutral items have been replaced, with a few heroes being reworked, and some general game mechanics have been completely overhauled. Here are the top 10 biggest changes that have been revealed in the 7.30 patch update.
10 biggest changes in the Dota 2 7.30 gameplay update
1. No More Cooldown Reduction Stacks
Cooldown percentage reduction no longer stacks, except for sources of flat cooldown reduction. This means that stacking Octarine Core with Arcane Blink or any items with cooldown reduction stats no longer works, however, abilities and hero talents that provide cooldown reductions can still be stacked. Players who love to abuse low-cooldown stats on heroes like Puck might have to take this change with a heavy heart.
2. Neutral Items: Farewell To Seven, Hello To Eight
Neutral items have had a topsy-turvy journey since its first introduction in the game and it is not a surprise to see more being added and removed in the latest patch. Neutral Creeps now drop five neutral items per tier and aside from that, we bid goodbye to seven neutral items and welcome eight new ones.
Seven neutral items have been removed and the list is as follow,
Faded Broach
Ironwood Tree
Imp Claw
Illusionist’s Cape
Minotaur Horn
Orb of Destruction
Ballista
Eight neutral items have been added and the list is as follows,
Pig Pole - Tier 1
+6 to all stats.
Active: Turns the owner into a pig for 4 seconds and grants +10% movement speed.
Tumbler’s Toy - Tier 1
+200 mana.
Active: Propels your unit forward 300 units - like a mini Force Staff.
Brigand’s Blade - Tier 2
+10 damage and +10 attack speed.
Passive: When attacking an enemy, deals +7% damage for each 10% HP the enemy is missing - the lower the HP of the enemy, the more damage is dealt.
Fae Grenade - Tier 2
+20 movement speed.
Active: Throws a Bomb to an enemy (900 range) dealing your attack damage and applying a debuff that provides vision of the unit and deals 20dps for 7 seconds.
Blast Rig - Tier 3
+8 armor.
When attacked by a hero (300 range), an explosion is triggered, dealing 300 damage to all enemies within a 300 radius and applying a 100% blind for 2.5 seconds. This has a 20 seconds cooldown.
Ascetic’s Cap - Tier 4
+300 health and +10 health regen.
Passive: Whenever a debuff from a player controlled source would be applied to the owner, grant 50% status resistance for 3 seconds.
Witchbane - Tier 4
Passive: Causes your hero to deal extra magic damage to its target - 4% of its max mana on attack.
Active: Dispels all enemies and allies within 300 radius.
Arcanist’s Armor - Tier 5
+5 armor and +20% magic resistance.
Active: Gains a 35% damage reflection aura in a 900 radius affecting allied units for the next 5 seconds.
3. The Notorious Flicker Receives Heavy Nerfs
The neutral item Flicker is known for its game-changing function that has received a lot of love-hate comments from the community. Its ability to instantly dispel debuffs with a low activation cooldown alongside its mini-blink function had people calling for its removal from the game. It is not a surprise that Flicker finally received some heavy nerfs. The neutral item now has a 5 seconds cooldown instead of 4 and it now blinks in place if the owner received damage in the last 3 seconds, ensuring Flicker owners to not slip out easily from ganks or teamfights.
4. The New Silver Edge
Silver Edge’s new form is looking fearsome. Valve has added changes to its recipe and it now needs Shadow Blade, Crystalys, and a 350 gold recipe. This means that it now grants +60 damage, +40 attack speed, and a 30% chance of 160% critical damage. Another huge addition to its update is when the owner attacks while equipped with a Silver Edge, breaking out of invisibility, the hero will deal a guaranteed 160% crit with 175 bonus damage. Heroes like Kunkka will likely thrive when equipped with this item due to its massive critical damage output.
5. Axe Cuts No More..
Axe has been the talk of the town ever since it blew up in the meta as a carry hero. The Aghanim’s Shard + Manta Style in-meta build witnessed exciting games from the pro scene. However, with the new update, it seems like Axe will likely revert to its old offlane playstyle. His shard has been reworked - it causes Counter Helix to apply a 6s stacking debuff that reduces attack damage by 20% and increases Counter Helix chance by 10%. A couple of his talents have also been tweaked, with his Level 10 talent now being +12% magic resistance instead of +9 strength and his Level 15 talent being a +30 Counter Helix damage instead of +300 health.
6. Broodmother Can Now Set Up Traps!
Among tons of heroes that received ability tweaks, Broodmother’s changes are pretty significant. After the spider’s dominance in the previous meta, the 7.30 update brought heavy nerfs to the hero. Broodmother’s movement speed (including her spiderlings) now depends on her HP when walking on her spinned webs. The mana cost of Spawn Spiderlings is now 120 instead of 100 and the damage has been reduced from 300/370/440 to 240/320/400.
The more interesting update is the rework of Broodmother’s Aghanim’s Scepter function. It grants two charges of an active ability, Spinner’s Snare, which is a ground-targeted ability that spawns a wide, invisible Web line. Enemy heroes that trip on the web will make it visible and become rooted, then receiving 100 dps for 4s. Multiple heroes can trip on the same line until its duration expires. Broodmother’s allies will also receive a ping-like notification on the minimap when a web captures an enemy. The Aghanim’s Scepter rework definitely gives an Arachnid-version-of-Techies vibe and it’s definitely worth looking forward to.
7. Clinkz Has Been Reworked (Again).
If it isn’t another rework on the poor skeleton. Clinkz has been through a great deal of changes over multiple patch updates and it is no different in 7.30. Clinkz’s ability, Strafe, has been removed and replaced by Burning Barrage. Its new ability channels for a few seconds, shooting arrows in a target direction from a range. The arrows deal 60% attack damage to all enemy heroes in the direction. Searing Arrows received slight mana cost reduction and players can no longer cast spells (except for Death Pact) without breaking Skeleton Walk’s invisibility.
Apart from those, Clinkz’s talents have also received minor modifications.
Valve
So far, the rework on Clinkz's ability seems to be powerful as we can already see pro players spamming him (and stomping their opponents) in pubs. We will have to see if the Bone Fletcher’s newest update can stay for long or if it will receive another overhaul in the future patches.
8. Dawnbreaker Won’t Make It to TI10
Dota 2’s latest hero, Dawnbreaker is one of the heroes that received a bunch of significant updates. One of her abilities, Starbreaker has been nerfed as it no longer ignores movement restriction abilities such as Kinetic Field. The ability will also no longer be cancelled if rooted, but the movement will be interrupted.
Aghanim’s Shard has been added for the hero and it now grants magic immunity during Starbreaker, further increasing her endurance.
The addition of Aghanim’s Scepter for Dawnbreaker buffs her global ultimate, Solar Guardian. It will speed up the channeling time, grant allies in the area a massive +60% evasion, and increase Heal Per Pulse when the hero is airborne. This can potentially turn teamfights or enemy ganks to your team’s favour more efficiently.
Dawnbreaker’s talent tree has also received tons of modifications.
Valve
All of these changes for the new hero seem exciting but we shouldn’t miss the fact that Dawnbreaker has not been added to Captains Mode (CM). The International 10 will take place in two months and a last-minute addition to CM is highly unlikely to happen. It seems that Dawnbreaker will have to keep her cosmic powers dormant and watch TI10 take place from the bench.
9. Pudge the.. Jungler?
As the most-played Dota 2 hero in the server, any changes made to Pudge will always be significant.
His Aghanim’s Shard Dismember cast range has been reduced to 300 instead of 400, which will make it slightly harder for him to save his allies.
The latest update modified the hero’s Meat Hook ability, changing the mana cost to a consistent 135 and allowing it to instantly kill any non-ancient creep it hits, similar to Mirana’s Sacred Arrow. This will be interesting to see as Pudge players might start using his Meat Hook to secure ranged creeps, siege creeps, or probably disappear into the jungle with five to six Clarities to do mysterious business.
10. A New Era for Tinker
The 7.30 patch update took the Dota 2 community by storm when it introduced massive changes to Tinker. His Laser ability now deals 100% damage on a small AoE but it only blinds ( Shrink Rays, if Aghanim’s Scepter is picked up) the main target. Both Shrink Ray’s bonus cast range and HP reduction have been reduced from 400 to 300 and 15% to 10% respectively.
Defense Matrix, which was previously Tinker’s Aghanim’s Shard upgrade, has been made his basic third skill, replacing March of the Machines. Most of Defense Matrix’s stats have been nerfed to fit as a basic skill, although its cast range has been increased and its cooldown has been halved. The mana cost for Rearm has also been modified and it now has a sub-ability, Keen Conveyance. This sub-ability can teleport Tinker to any friendly building, creeps, and heroes as the ability upgrades.
Tinker’s shard ability is now March of the Machines instead of Defense Matrix. Both the mana cost and Robot Explosion Damage has been scaled to a constant amount, 190 and 30 respectively. Aside from that, Tinker also had his tweaks on his talent tree.
Valve
With the swap between Tinker’s main farming spell and the Aghanim’s Shard shield, plus a free teleport as a sub-ability, the old Tinker playstyle may have to be buried in the past. Dota 2 fans will have to anticipate more flashy plays from Tinker, at least from the first 20 minutes of the game, as the hero puts more science in action.
Honorable Mentions:
Aeon Disk Now Has an Increasing Cooldown
It seems like the only item that can save you from getting caught off guard and being burst to death has gotten some heavy nerfs. Aeon Disk had been a popular item in the previous meta, countering fast bursts potential lineups. Aside from its bonus HP reduction from 300 to 250, it now has an increasing cooldown of +20s every time it triggers. The cooldown will stop increasing upon reaching 165s.
Valve
Outworld Destroyer’s Insane Shard
Outworld Destroyer (OD) received only a few updates but it is undoubtedly game-changing. Its ability, Arcane Orb, now affects Roshan, which places the hero among those who can easily take down the beast and secure the Aegis.
The update has also allowed allies of OD to move during Astral Imprisonment at 40% movement speed - visible, untargettable, and unable to perform other actions. Players have uploaded videos showing the shard's capability to save allies from spells like Chronosphere, Black Hole, and Arena of Blood.
A lot of interesting changes have been implemented in Valve’s recent Dota 2 7.30 patch update. Although some of these changes listed might seem significant and game-changing, we are yet to witness players explore and experiment with the modified heroes and items. Unpredictable strats and combos might just come into sight the next few weeks so Dota 2 fans and players will need to keep their eyes peeled.
