Dota 2 Patch 7.20 general changes

Patch 7.20 is one of the biggest patches we’ve had in recent years and the changes are substantial. The article offers a quick presentation of the general changes contained within it and their implications.

Hero Selection

Removed Daily Bonus Hero concept

Random once again picks from the entire hero pool, but now ignores your 25 least played heroes

Random can now only be used for the first two hero picks on your team

In other words, less freedom, but in a good way I think. Too many people were trolling by randoming late into the draft.

Armor

Changed the Armor formula to: ( 0.052 * Armor ) / ( 0.9+ 0.048 * Armor)

Updated various armor values to closely align with the new formula:

Tier 1 Towers: 17 to 12

Tier 2 Towers: 19 to 14

Tier 3 Towers: 19 to 14

Tier 4 Towers: 29 to 21

Melee Barracks: 18 to 13

Ranged Barracks: 12 to 9

Ancient: 18 to 13

Fillers: 14 to 10

Shrines: 24 to 17

Everything got easier to destroy. Push strats will now be a very nice and viable way of winning the game quickly.

Root Mechanics

Town Portal Scroll: Can now be canceled and prevented by Root

Fixed inconsistencies between different Root sources:

Stasis Trap now provides True Sight

The following roots no longer interrupt channeling spells or the current action: Dark Troll Ensnare, Searing Chains, Naga Siren Ensnare, Crystal Maiden Frostbite, Entangling Claws, Nature’s Guise, and Overgrowth

No more easy teleportation for you.

Map Changes

Map has been reworked

I’m not sure why but I really don’t like the new map. Maybe it’s the unfamiliarity of it. My farming patters just got ruined.

Deny Mechanics

Denies no longer give the denier 25% XP

Creep denies now give the denier 20% of the gold bounty

This is actually really nice, but makes the midlane harder because everyone is more incentivised to try to deny their opponent’s creeps. Especially with that gold sounds being used. It’s more of a psychological effect, but it surely is effective.

Teleporting

Added a new dedicated inventory slot to hold Town Portal Scrolls

Boots of Travel: No longer shares cooldown with Town Portal Scrolls. Upon teleporting, +10 seconds are now added to your Town Portal Scroll cooldown

All of these changes provide a lot more mobility and inventory space.

Neutrals

Stacked Neutral creeps now give the stacker 35% of the bounty instead of 25%

Non-Ancient Neutrals now provide 5% more gold bounty

These changes really buff heroes who can kill massive stacks in the early game, such as Templar Assassin.

Hero Kill Bounty XP

Killing Sprees now give an XP bonus ranging from 200 to 1250

Reworked and simplified XP hero kill bounty system. No longer includes a team XP component

Welcome to +2 levels in one kill for a poor support who manages to kill a scary opponent in a team fight.

Mana and HP Regen

Reworked Mana and HP regen from attributes. They are no longer multipliers of your regeneration values

Mana Regen: Intelligence now provides 0.05 mana regeneration

Mana Regen: Removed the 0.9 base mana regen value

Mana Regen: Rebalanced mana regen values based on the formula change

Health Regen: Strength now provides 0.1 Health Regeneration

Health Regen: Strength now provides 0.1 Health Regeneration Health Regen: Base regen values reduced by 1.5

Health Regen: Rebalanced health regen values based on the formula change

All these changes look like nerfs at first glance.

Cleave and Splash Changes

Cleave damage is now normal physical damage type, causing it to get reduced by the armor of each unit impacted

Cleave abilities damage values have been rescaled

Increased standard Cleave area. Distance increased from 625 to 650, final width increased from 330 to 360

Affects: Great Cleave, Empower, Battle Fury, and Talents

Affects: Great Cleave, Empower, Battle Fury, and Talents Templar Assassin: Psi Blades can now spill off of illusions

Changed how illusions’ incoming damage is processed; it now happens at the final step

Fixed Splash damage being affected by Spell Lifesteal and Spell Amplification

Fixed Splash damage not considering armor type

Black Dragon Splash Attack damage type changed from Magical Damage to Physical Damage

Black Dragon Splash Attack now does its full damage in the 250 AoE

Similar adjustments to Dragon Knight’s splash damage described below

Black King Bar: Recipe cost increased from 1375 to 1450

Poison Sting can now be dispelled

Hex state can now be removed by strong dispels

The biggest change here is the hex behavior. It doesn’t look like much but it’s actually a big nerf for anyone who likes to buy Scythe of Vyse.

Towers and Structures

Towers no longer gain extra armor per nearby enemy hero. Tower health increased to account for some of this:

Tier 1 Towers health increased from 1600 to 1800

Tier 2 Towers health increased from 1600 to 1900

Tier 3 Towers health increased from 1600 to 2000

Tier 4 Towers health increased from 1600 to 2100

Melee Barracks health increased from 2000 to 2200

Ranged Barracks health increased from 1200 to 1300

Ancient health increased from 4250 to 4500

Well, this was clearly done to balance the armor reduction. But it’s not enough I think. Push strats will still be a very popular thing in this patch.