DotA’s 7.06 update saw some changes everyone noticed like the jungle respawning every minute, Sven’s improved god strength, Windranger’s lvl 20 invisibility, Magnus’ upgraded shockwave, and Furion’s lvl 25 no cooldown teleportation…

In light of the Manilla Masters and the pair of minor tweak patches that followed, here are a few changes from the original that you may have missed!

1. DAGON COUNTERPLAY VS SPECTRE & MORPH

Haunt can be a big problem… the illusion does significant damage, cancels your blink, and gives Spectre the option to get right on top of your hero. Now you can solve that problem for less than 3000 gold by quickly zapping the illusion.

Morphling’s replicate illusion is hard to kill because unlike other illusions it takes 100% damage. With a Dagon handy there’s no need to split up and follow Morphling & his replicate when he uses it while being ganked. If he already has a replicate back in a safe location, the Dagon could also be used to pop his Linken’s Sphere instead. On top of that it can be useful when he makes an illusion of one of your allies with a strong aura, like Shadow Fiend’s presence of the dark lord.

2. OFFLANE ENIGMA IS EVEN MORE OP

Now that denies give 30% exp, Enigma can get +27 exp for each range creep he denies with conversion.

Keep an eye out for Enigma to become even more popular as a result of this change, and all the extra jungle farm on the map. Even without a shrine available for the first five minutes, offlane Enigma is still hard to punish and insanely strong when opponents lack a BKB-piercing disable.

3. NEW URN ‘RECIPE’ GIVES SUPPORTS OPTION TO BUILD CHEAP ARMOR

Costs: raindrop (225)+ circlet (165)+ ring of protection (175)+ recipe (310) = 875 gold total

Gives: +2 all stats +2 armor +1.0 mana regen

Since Tranquil Boots no longer give any, supports will still be walking around with < 3 armor well into the mid-game, unless they delay core items for a Buckler/Medallion. A couple armor from Urn is a welcome option, especially now that it is effectively 225 cheaper since everyone buys Infused Raindrop anyways (just be sure to put it in your backpack when it’s down to 1 charge).

4. DEATH PROPHET LATEGAME BUFFED

Refresh now replenishes charge-based abilities.

As it stands Death Prophet is the only hero with a charge based ability for which refresher was already a common purchase. Spirit siphon heals DP up to 33% of an enemy heroes max hp while also dealing the same amount in damage (before reductions), with a 45 second charge replenish time. Now when DP uses refresher she gets up to four additional charges on top of refreshing the rest of her kit: exorcism, Eul’s, BKB, Shivas, Ghost, etc. That is the equivalent of what would have been three minutes of siphon recharge time!

5. COMBO GHOST SHIP WITH LOWER LEVELS OF X MARKS THE SPOT

Ghost ship now spawns the appropriate distance behind Kunkka to travel the full 2000 units to the targeted location.

Nerfs to torrent’s damage and cooldown that made it less of a value point contributed to Kunkka being forgotten, but having to max torrent is less painful now that you can combo with lower levels of x mark.

6. NIGHTSTALKER GANKS FROM UNEXPECTED ANGLES

Everyone probably read “Hunter in the Night can now be activated during the night to grant 1200 vision and flying movement for 2 seconds” and immediately thought of the potential for dewarding, vision in teamfights, and escaping over terrain…

BUT this also means Nightstalker can wrap around over impassable terrain instead of giving the gank target and their allies time to respond while he is running in.

7. TIDEHUNTER BACKSTROKES INTO THE META

Gush manacost rescaled from 120 to 90/100/110/120.

Aside from this making support Tidehunter less terrible. This change means that if supports rotate to your lane before you have Arcane Boots you’re more likely able to use gush, since it only costs 90 mana at level one. Having this four second 40% slow more available in the early game gives allied supports more options, and thus makes them less predictable and more successful in their rotations. Furthermore, Aghanim’s upgraded gush now gives vision on units it hits, which is completely game changing for getting vision for contesting Roshan.

8. ZEUS 0.7 SEC STUN DURATION ON BOLT MEANS NIMBUS IS NUTS

Replaced Respawn Talent: +0.5s Lightning Bolt Ministun (Level 20)

Nimbus does not cast a bolt every six seconds like Zeus does, but rather every 2.25 seconds. With a 0.7 second stun, that means a lone opponent would be stunned 30% of the time.

With an Octarine it is every 1.7 seconds, which is 42% uptime.

With an Octarine AND Refresher, if the casts are properly staggered, a single enemy in two nimbus clouds would be stunned for 84% of the time — and this is disregarding the bolts from your hero!

9. WHEN A LVL 20 WARLOCK DIES IT DOESN’T JUST SPAWN A GOLEM…

Replaced Respawn Talent: Summons a Golem on death (Level 20)

The patch notes are a bit unclear in this regard so some confusion is to be expected. Effectively the talent casts ‘chaotic offering’ at Warlock’s death location, but does not benefit from Aghanim’s Scepter. If you’re within the 600 radius watch out, you only have HALF A SECOND to get out of the radius or you will be stunned.

10. FORMER VLADS + DESO HEROES CAN GO MORBID/ MADNESS/ SATANIC INSTEAD

Desolator is no longer a Unique Attack Modifier.

This will almost certainly change ‘the build’ on Phantom Assassin, allowing for the Vladmir’s Offering upgrade to be skipped in favor of a deso 1175 gold earlier. Leaving a a casual Morbid Mask to be upgraded into Satanic later in the game. This works out to a huge buff when you also consider that both Vlad’s and Deso would have previously been replaced in the lategame to transition into an ideal 6-slot with Satanic. Now that Desolator is no longer a Unique Attack Modifier, you’re saving gold in the early game AND in the lategame.

11. MORE DIFFICULT FOR OFFLANERS TO PEEL CREEPS ALL THE WAY TO THEIR TOWER

Creep aggro duration reduced from 2.5 to 2.3

Creep aggro cooldown increased from 2.5 to 3.0

Although peeling creeps back to the tower eventually pushes your lane, in the short term it can be a great way to get some exp in an otherwise tough situation. Now that there is a 0.7 second downtime after creep aggro expires before it can be reacquired, pulling these shenanigans puts you at greater risk.

That about wraps it up peeps, let us know which are your favorite changes of Dota 7.06 in the comments!

You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles!

“From Our Haus to Yours”