6.81B Version Changelog just came out, so I thought I’d give a quick rundown of what the changes mean.

Ancient Apparition Ice Vortex slow decreased from 18/22/26/30% to 15/20/25/30%

I actually don’t think this matters too much. From what I’ve seen, a large amount of AAs max it first anyway, so it just makes him ever so slightly weaker early on.

Batrider Sticky Napalm bonus damage is now halved against non-hero units

This is huge. One of Batrider’s biggest strengths was his ability to catch up on farm; a catch-up + back-up plan if he got zoned out of the offlane. With a simple level 2, he could easy clear stacked camps with a 1-0-1 build, doing as much damage with Napalm as Firefly with simply 2 stacks. This massively hurts the rate at which he can get his core up, which will most likely delay his early game impact and his Blink. To be fair though, he can does a heap of damage.

Bounty Hunter Shadow Walk duration increased from 15/20/25/30 to 20/25/30/35

With a cooldown of 15 seconds, this means Bounty Hunter can keep in permanent invis at level 1 much easier. Level 1 has a 1 second fade time, which made it a tad awkward being permanently invis when the cooldown and duration were both 15. It also makes it much easier to abuse the fade time bonus damage ‘bug’, as you can get the bonus damage both at the end and start of every invis, and then repeat. Much more legroom than before.

Doom Devour manacost rescaled from 60/50/40/30 to 60

Devour was always too cheap, and now it’s a bit better off. This primarily means that Dooms have to be very good with mana management, as using a Scorched Earth, Shockwave, or another creep ability will have a much bigger impact on their Devour efficiency than before.

Drow Ranger Gust knockback duration increased from 0.5 to 0.6/0.7/0.8/0.9

In 6.80 it was a 0.2 duration, then in was buffed to 0.5, and now it is buffed again. It’s essentially now a 0.9 second stun at max level, which is also likely to look really awkward. Cause they’re moving the same distance as before, just much much slower. I imagine it looks like they’re falling in slow-mo.

Earthshaker Turn rate improved from 0.6 to 0.9 Echo Slam’s Initial Damage, Echo Search, Echo Damage AOE increased from 525, 550, 500 to 575, 575, 575

Fixing silly values is something IF has been doing for a while now, and Echo Slam has it this patch. As for the Turn Rate, it means ES now turns much faster. He’s actually now has the 6th fastest Turn Rate in the game. Remember how much better Void was when he got his buffed last patch? Playing ES just got a whole lot smoother, and helps counter the nerfs to creep-blocking with fissure.

Elder Titan Echo Stomp damage increased from 80/85/90/95 to 80/90/100/110

Echo Stomp is actually a tad silly in the sense that it does the damage twice. At max level it will do 110 magical damage, and then do 110 physical damage. From memory it’s because the Spirit stomps as well, for magical damage. If you have no Spirit out at the time, then one is quickly summoned on top of you just for the stomp. Effectively Stomp got 30 more damage overall though.

Enigma Midnight Pulse duration increased from 8 to 11

What’s this, like the 8th Midnight Pulse buff in a row?

Invoker Forged Spirits 33% magic resistance removed Cold Snap damage reworked from the initial and secondary proc damage of 60/30 to 7xQuasLevel per proc Deafening Blast’s Disarm is now dispelled when Magic Immunity is applied

I hate this hero, but this is a step in the right direction. The problem however is that Deafening Blast’s Disarm is probably still not Purgable. So say you’re a Slark, Invoker can just Blast your smoke cloud and it can’t be purged. So you are disarmed for a fairly long while. Hopefully next patch it will be purgable. Keep in mind though that his other skills, such as Ice Wall, still isn’t dispelled by magic immunity. Which is unfortunate.

Juggernaut Omnislash damage per slash rescaled from 175-250 to 200-225 Base Attack Time improved from 1.5 to 1.4

Omnislash is basically the same, just a tad less RNG. As for his BAT, it was 1.6, then last patch it was improved to 1.5, and now it’s improved again. Of course, this means Jugg now has the fastest BAT in Dota 2. Although technically he is 2nd, since Alchemist gets a faster one under Chemical Rage.

Leshrac Pulse Nova damage increased from 66/100/144 to 80/120/160 (Scepter from 100/150/200 to 100/160/220)

Leshrac used to be played occasionally as a solo mid, such as by Darer a few years back. I feel like a buff to his ulti is more of a buff to core Leshrac, since his other skills as really good to level up.

Lina Light Strike Array stun duration increased from 1.6 to 1.6/1.7/1.8/1.9

Attack Range jokes aside, this is also a minor but noticeable buff. Keep in mind that Lina was a bottom tier hero in the pro scene last month, but she is pretty good at what she does, and now has more room to combo with at later levels.

Lycan Howl duration decreased from 12 to 10 Howl bonus damage reduced from 20/30/40/50 to 14/26/38/50 Mirana Sacred Arrow minimum stun duration decreased from 0.5 to 0.01 (maximum duration is still 5 seconds growing linearly) Sacred Arrow minimum damage reduced by 40 (maximum damage is still 190/280/370/460 growing linearly)

Two heroes that are top of the Pro and Pub scene at the moment, in different ways. Lycans who had the Token Howl point is now not as potent, while Mirana is less stupid at point blank range. I feel like you shouldn’t nerf Lycan in a way that punishes the new token build, since having it in the game adds to his skill build order versatility. Mirana’s changes however are long overdue, and that’s coming from someone with over 300 pub games as her. For clarity, her arrow now has an extra 40 bonus damage (based on distance), and the base damage was nerfed by 40 as a result.

Ogre Magi Multicast’s passive manacost penalty on Fireblast reduced from 30/70/110 to 20/40/60 Bloodlust can now be cast on Magic Immune allies

Quite a few players have been maxing Ignite first recently, and these changes probably won’t effect that. So his early game skill builds are still very versatile. It does however buff his mid and late game much more, and makes Blood actually useful later on. Also try and keep in mind that with level 3 Fireblast now costing 50 less mana, it makes it easier to use again (late into a fight), when Unrefined Fireblast has drained more of your mana.

Omniknight Degen Aura slow increased from 7/14/21/28% to 10/18/26/34%

Omniknight and Ogre actually both have really good pub winrates, yet have basically never been picked in the Pro scene. I doubt this change does anything incredible for Omni, just makes him more annoying.

Phantom Assassin Phantom Strike bonus attack speed increased from 100 to 130 Queen of Pain Shadow Strike cast range increased from 435 to 450/475/500/525

PA is another buff to an outcast hero. Pros have been slightly experimenting with her lately, and technically this is a big increase to her Phantom Strike. QoP buffs are actually quite huge though. QoP’s attack range is 550, which means at later levels she can use dagger almost as far as she can right click. It’s also larger than Scream’s 475 aoe, which is something to keep in mind while chasing with that 4 second dagger cooldown.

Riki Smoke Screen cooldown reduced from 13 to 11 Skywrath Mage Ancient Seal damage amplification increased from 18/24/30/36% to 30/35/40/45%

Riki is a minor tweak, to an already strong skill. Skywrath however has a massive buff. He moves really fast, with solid int growth, and now a crazy 30% amp with just 1 level of the skill. Sky isn’t as level reliant now, and I honestly expect him to be seen more.

Slardar Bash bonus damage increased from 40/60/80/100 to 60/80/100/120 Treant Protector Leech Seed damage per pulse decreased from 24/36/48/60 to 15/30/45/60

Treant got the nerfs his needed, his First Blood capacity was insanely high before. Slardar got a strong, but apparently irrelevant one. In 6.80 he recieved “Bash damage increased from 40/50/60/70 to 40/60/80/100”, and I did the numbers a few weeks into the patch and found something scary. His pub winrate changed 0.03% from the change. Basically nothing. It took me massively off guard when I saw it, but it happened. Perhaps this buff will do more, but I still remember how amazed I was when his last buff didn’t do much for him pubwise.

Tusk Snowball cooldown reduced from 21 to 21/20/19/18 Walrus Punch cooldown reduced from 30/24/18 to 25/20/15 Undying Intelligence growth increased from 2.0 to 2.5

Undying is obviously a solid buff, Tusk is however a tad more interesting. Since his rework his pub win rate plummeted, but it has been steadily rising up ever since. I expect these new changes to really help Tusk later on in the game, that is if he can help his crippling mana problems.

Windranger Focus Fire manacost decreased from 150 to 75/100/125 Zeus Lightning Bolt vision and truesight duration increased from 3 to 4.5 Lightning Bolt search area of effect increased from 250 to 325

Focus Fire is one of the most underrated skills in the game, primarily because everyone believes all her other skills are more worth the skill points. With these changes however, I disagree. I think it is fairly solid to get an early level of Focus Fire, and at least have a level of it by 10. It’s honestly much better than people give it credit. Zeus however just dewards better. Generally you needed two bolts to deward a ward, with the increased duration you should easily be able to kill the ward with the vision of just one.

Mjollnir Recipe cost increased from 600 to 900 Static Charge duration decreased from 20 to 15

I actually think that’s a tad of an over nerf, but a lot of noobs didn’t even know about it before it became OP. So perhaps this was IF plan all along, at least now a heap more people are aware of it. It was something a lot of people ignored 2 years ago, and while it’s not as strong as it was a few months ago, it’s at least more known.