Heyoka Profile Joined March 2008 Temple of EE-Sama 2467 Posts #1

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Expert Thoughts



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Just as the seasons undergo inevitable change through the year, so too, must Dota. We are looking head into The International season, and with it comes the yearly pre-tournament patch that will determine the version qualifiers and the main event will be played on to crown this year's ultimate Dota world champions.



As with



We asked the busy Dota community pundits their thoughts on the patch, and got their reactions following the announcement. With the world busy doing The International preparations it's a shorter list than usual though the thoughts are no less real.





The Expert Reactions



Some really cool changes overall in this patch. The other day I lost Axe vs Viper mid due to the lack of pseudo random chance, as Bamboe won't pick me that hero anymore due to my lack of spins. Batrider no longer fog breaking trees helps him a lot, the heroes that needed to be nerfed such as Ember, Invoker, weren't nerfed too hard but were given minor balance changes. Icefrog usually doesn't adjust something to unplayability, unless its Morphling, and I prefer that over an overreaction.



Also Lina mid could be fun, as Aghs now can go through BKB. The Manta change was absolutely necessary, as it was kind of bullshit you'd know which one was which instantly. Mjollnir also needed a slight nerf too, so overall I'm satisfied despite the lack of Storm Spirit buffs.



Zephyr.Blitz (Team Zephyr) Some really cool changes overall in this patch. The other day I lost Axe vs Viper mid due to the lack of pseudo random chance, as Bamboe won't pick me that hero anymore due to my lack of spins. Batrider no longer fog breaking trees helps him a lot, the heroes that needed to be nerfed such as Ember, Invoker, weren't nerfed too hard but were given minor balance changes. Icefrog usually doesn't adjust something to unplayability, unless its Morphling, and I prefer that over an overreaction.Also Lina mid could be fun, as Aghs now can go through BKB. The Manta change was absolutely necessary, as it was kind of bullshit you'd know which one was which instantly. Mjollnir also needed a slight nerf too, so overall I'm satisfied despite the lack of Storm Spirit buffs.



This patch will definitely make the competitive scene even more exciting — we can probably expect the return of Huskar and Ursa in competitive drafts, as well as KotL, Abaddon and Vengeful Spirit as your new viable supports. I'm really looking forward to the expansion of the competitive hero pool as well, since quite a few heroes have been strengthened and buffed by this patch.



Titan.Xtinct (Titan eSports) This patch will definitely make the competitive scene even more exciting — we can probably expect the return of Huskar and Ursa in competitive drafts, as well as KotL, Abaddon and Vengeful Spirit as your new viable supports. I'm really looking forward to the expansion of the competitive hero pool as well, since quite a few heroes have been strengthened and buffed by this patch.



10 years since Broodmother was in cm. I walk through the empty streets, trying to think of something else, but my path always leads to the Brood. I stare at the screen....for hours...and try to summon the lord. I watch Weavers and Nyx Assassins but....it is no good. I pray to Bruno and Cyborgmatt and try to keep believing. But it is all meaningless. The end is near. Then I usually watch some old TI2 vods and cry myself to sleep.



Zephyr.Bamboe (Team Zephyr) 10 years since Broodmother was in cm. I walk through the empty streets, trying to think of something else, but my path always leads to the Brood. I stare at the screen....for hours...and try to summon the lord. I watch Weavers and Nyx Assassins but....it is no good. I pray to Bruno and Cyborgmatt and try to keep believing. But it is all meaningless. The end is near. Then I usually watch some old TI2 vods and cry myself to sleep.



I am really excited about the new upcoming patch. My favorite change would definitely have to be Tusk, I get the feeling we are going to see a whole bunch of Tusk highlights in competitive play. Another change I am really happy to see is how Lina got an attack range buff and how Laguna Blade can go through magic immunity with Agh's. Keeper of the Light will also be a hero where people will definitely pick more, though I don't know how strong of a hero he is going to be. If he can farm his Agh's at around 20 minutes it will be really difficult to deal with. Another hero that can rise to the spotlight would be Undying. I like the changes to all of his spells and could see him working really well in certain line ups.



Overall I think there will be a slower game pace due to a bunch of hero changes that will slow down sieging..



Liquid`wayto (TeamLiquid) I am really excited about the new upcoming patch. My favorite change would definitely have to be Tusk, I get the feeling we are going to see a whole bunch of Tusk highlights in competitive play. Another change I am really happy to see is how Lina got an attack range buff and how Laguna Blade can go through magic immunity with Agh's. Keeper of the Light will also be a hero where people will definitely pick more, though I don't know how strong of a hero he is going to be. If he can farm his Agh's at around 20 minutes it will be really difficult to deal with. Another hero that can rise to the spotlight would be Undying. I like the changes to all of his spells and could see him working really well in certain line ups.Overall I think there will be a slower game pace due to a bunch of hero changes that will slow down sieging..



A lot of people will focus their attention solely on 6.81 itself but actually I think one of the biggest factors here is the amount of outstanding bugs that have been fixed. We have been in long need for a quality of life patch and the changes will do a lot of good now that we are quickly closing on this year’s International event.



In terms of the balance patch itself I’d imagine a number of people will agree that Dota has been in a really nice place in the hands of 6.80. 6.81 aims to refine that patch and take care of some pro game nuisances such as Ember Spirit and Naga Siren plus some pub game nuisances such as Terrorblade and Phoenix. As always I think it’s best to wait and see how the competitive scene reacts to the patch, it is still very early to say but I’d imagine the competitive hero pool will continue to expand seeing as a number of heroes have received the right buffs in the areas they needed them.



Cyborgmatt (OnGamers) A lot of people will focus their attention solely on 6.81 itself but actually I think one of the biggest factors here is the amount of outstanding bugs that have been fixed. We have been in long need for a quality of life patch and the changes will do a lot of good now that we are quickly closing on this year’s International event.In terms of the balance patch itself I’d imagine a number of people will agree that Dota has been in a really nice place in the hands of 6.80. 6.81 aims to refine that patch and take care of some pro game nuisances such as Ember Spirit and Naga Siren plus some pub game nuisances such as Terrorblade and Phoenix. As always I think it’s best to wait and see how the competitive scene reacts to the patch, it is still very early to say but I’d imagine the competitive hero pool will continue to expand seeing as a number of heroes have received the right buffs in the areas they needed them.



6.80 was considered a "soft touch" patch but ended up taking the professional meta to a point widely called one of the best competitive environments ever. So 6.81 kind of has to 'improve on perfection' in that regard not — hurt any viable strategies too hard + introduce new ones; make ignored heroes compelling but not make the next Lycan; not "overnerf" one strategy or team this close to TI4 qualifiers. People are calling this another soft touch patch as a result, but there's still a lot of compelling stuff in it.



Of the ones broadly discussed already, Zeus and Keeper of the Light are definitely now viable choices, especially against Mirana. I think people aren't talking enough about Lina, who now out-ranges level 1 Take Aim Sniper. Phantom Assassin, who now has a 10-15 minute anticarry invulnerability timing if she goes aggressive early items and works really well with heroes like Slardar, VS, and Dazzle. Kunkka as a free bottle crow for any allied hero and ten freaking seconds on Ghost Ship. And of course Necro-phos/lyte/God, who is 2godly.



Vykromond (TeamLiquid.net) 6.80 was considered a "soft touch" patch but ended up taking the professional meta to a point widely called one of the best competitive environments ever. So 6.81 kind of has to 'improve on perfection' in that regard not — hurt any viable strategies too hard + introduce new ones; make ignored heroes compelling but not make the next Lycan; not "overnerf" one strategy or team this close to TI4 qualifiers. People are calling this another soft touch patch as a result, but there's still a lot of compelling stuff in it.Of the ones broadly discussed already, Zeus and Keeper of the Light are definitely now viable choices, especially against Mirana. I think people aren't talking enough about Lina, who now out-ranges level 1 Take Aim Sniper. Phantom Assassin, who now has a 10-15 minute anticarry invulnerability timing if she goes aggressive early items and works really well with heroes like Slardar, VS, and Dazzle. Kunkka as a free bottle crow for any allied hero andon Ghost Ship. And of course Necro-phos/lyte/God, who is 2godly.



After experiencing several 6.81 pub games, I've been pleasantly surprised by many heroes' performances. Although I don't think pub games directly translate to the competitive scene, they are often decent indicators of a hero's strengths and weaknesses.



Starting with more of the unplayed heroes, Undying and Tidehunter really caught my eyes with their various buffs and changes. Undying's new range buff Soul Rip significantly increase the amount of healing he grants in a chaotic fight. Though his issues with mana and late game will still remain, I think we will see a rise of aggressive Undyings in the coming weeks and months. With the patch's nerf on Centaur, there's a possibility that the new and improved Tidehunter can shine in the offlane again. Although the metagame might be a bit too fast for Tidehunter's 150 second cooldown Ravage, an early Blink on him almost guarantees free towers or won fights. I expect to see more Tidehunter, whether it's offlane or mid.



Another hero that I expect to see more of is Shadow Fiend. Already a stable pick for teams such as Evil Geniuses, SF excels as a carry that can dish out loads of Physical and Magical damage. The new buff gives him even more game against BKB buyers, and I believe there will be a trend of teams picking more Shadow Fiend for his versatility in playstyle and reliability in dishing out damage. Lastly, despite being nerfed, I believe Luna is one of the 'winners' of the patch. Already proving to be a high pick for teams like Cloud 9, she ensues dominance in pre-creep spawn fights in the jungle, thanks to her Luna's Blessing aura and her innate high mobility. If the team needs her to be an early game pusher and fighter, she can join in with Drums and BKB; if the team needs her to carry late, she is one of the best 6-slotted carries out there. A simple base agility nerf would not push her out as one of the most commonly picked carries of the metgame, so expect to see more of her.



Luminous (GD Studio) After experiencing several 6.81 pub games, I've been pleasantly surprised by many heroes' performances. Although I don't think pub games directly translate to the competitive scene, they are often decent indicators of a hero's strengths and weaknesses.Starting with more of the unplayed heroes, Undying and Tidehunter really caught my eyes with their various buffs and changes. Undying's new range buff Soul Rip significantly increase the amount of healing he grants in a chaotic fight. Though his issues with mana and late game will still remain, I think we will see a rise of aggressive Undyings in the coming weeks and months. With the patch's nerf on Centaur, there's a possibility that the new and improved Tidehunter can shine in the offlane again. Although the metagame might be a bit too fast for Tidehunter's 150 second cooldown Ravage, an early Blink on him almost guarantees free towers or won fights. I expect to see more Tidehunter, whether it's offlane or mid.Another hero that I expect to see more of is Shadow Fiend. Already a stable pick for teams such as Evil Geniuses, SF excels as a carry that can dish out loads of Physical and Magical damage. The new buff gives him even more game against BKB buyers, and I believe there will be a trend of teams picking more Shadow Fiend for his versatility in playstyle and reliability in dishing out damage. Lastly, despite being nerfed, I believe Luna is one of the 'winners' of the patch. Already proving to be a high pick for teams like Cloud 9, she ensues dominance in pre-creep spawn fights in the jungle, thanks to her Luna's Blessing aura and her innate high mobility. If the team needs her to be an early game pusher and fighter, she can join in with Drums and BKB; if the team needs her to carry late, she is one of the best 6-slotted carries out there. A simple base agility nerf would not push her out as one of the most commonly picked carries of the metgame, so expect to see more of her.



On the pub side of things, the big losers are Terrorblade and Phoenix, which isn't especially surprising given the volatility of recently ported heroes (e.g. Earth Spirit). Terrorblade and Phoenix had relatively modest first week win rates, but have each seen an approximately six percentage point increase in the following months with current win rates of 54% and 51.5% respectively. It's also likely that these numbers understate their > 4k MMR performances.



Terrorblade's level 2 kill potential will be clipped by Reflection losing half of its duration at rank 1, and this will also have more long-term consequences as most Terrorblade players currently appear to leave Reflection at rank 1 until level 12. Terrorblade also loses half a point of strength scaling per level, which might have an out-sized effect given that Terrorblade has the highest starting armor and second highest agility scaling of any hero.



Phoenix's nerfs might be less dramatic, but the x-factor here is the bug fix to attack speed debuffs. Phoenix's addition brought this bug into prominence, and no one appears to doubt that Phoenix was the biggest beneficiary to its existence. The question is quantifying how much she benefited from it, and the answer could end up being "quite a lot."



A 6.80 Earth Spirit collapse is likely out of the question for both heroes, but large drops similar to 6.78 Troll Warlord or 6.79 Spirit Breaker is what I'm anticipating.



On the buffed side of things, there's a lot of heroes getting positive changes, but the one that I feel will have the most guaranteed impact on pub play is Ursa's Fury Swipes no longer being a unique attack modifier. Most talk has been about the itemization options it opens, but there's also the matter of safety. I'm generally critical of carry junglers, but for a long time Ursa has arguably been the most productive carry jungler in disorganized play. With lifesteal now open to him at least one thousand gold earlier, he should also have the safest carry jungle by a large margin. Maybe this won't matter in public play as much as I'm expecting, but Ursa could easily be the Death Prophet of this patch.



Finally, I'm generally skeptical of Aghanim upgrades for a variety of reasons, but Keeper of the Light's upcoming Agh upgrade might be in contention for the single most relevant upgrade in the entire game. And while supports can often find it difficult to find that 4200 gold in a timely fashion, KotL already has the highest CS/min of any support in public play. Between camp stacking and safely clearing unattended lanes with Illuminate, fast scepter timings from the support position are quite plausible.



phantasmal (DotaMetrics) On the pub side of things, the big losers are Terrorblade and Phoenix, which isn't especially surprising given the volatility of recently ported heroes (e.g. Earth Spirit). Terrorblade and Phoenix had relatively modest first week win rates, but have each seen an approximately six percentage point increase in the following months with current win rates of 54% and 51.5% respectively. It's also likely that these numbers understate their > 4k MMR performances.Terrorblade's level 2 kill potential will be clipped by Reflection losing half of its duration at rank 1, and this will also have more long-term consequences as most Terrorblade players currently appear to leave Reflection at rank 1 until level 12. Terrorblade also loses half a point of strength scaling per level, which might have an out-sized effect given that Terrorblade has the highest starting armor and second highest agility scaling of any hero.Phoenix's nerfs might be less dramatic, but the x-factor here is the bug fix to attack speed debuffs. Phoenix's addition brought this bug into prominence, and no one appears to doubt that Phoenix was the biggest beneficiary to its existence. The question is quantifying how much she benefited from it, and the answer could end up being "quite a lot."A 6.80 Earth Spirit collapse is likely out of the question for both heroes, but large drops similar to 6.78 Troll Warlord or 6.79 Spirit Breaker is what I'm anticipating.On the buffed side of things, there's a lot of heroes getting positive changes, but the one that I feel will have the most guaranteed impact on pub play is Ursa's Fury Swipes no longer being a unique attack modifier. Most talk has been about the itemization options it opens, but there's also the matter of safety. I'm generally critical of carry junglers, but for a long time Ursa has arguably been the most productive carry jungler in disorganized play. With lifesteal now open to him at least one thousand gold earlier, he should also have the safest carry jungle by a large margin. Maybe this won't matter in public play as much as I'm expecting, but Ursa could easily be the Death Prophet of this patch.Finally, I'm generally skeptical of Aghanim upgrades for a variety of reasons, but Keeper of the Light's upcoming Agh upgrade might be in contention for the single most relevant upgrade in the entire game. And while supports can often find it difficult to find that 4200 gold in a timely fashion, KotL already has the highest CS/min of any support in public play. Between camp stacking and safely clearing unattended lanes with Illuminate, fast scepter timings from the support position are quite plausible.





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Editor: Heyoka

Just as the seasons undergo inevitable change through the year, so too, must Dota. We are looking head into The International season, and with it comes the yearly pre-tournament patch that will determine the version qualifiers and the main event will be played on to crown this year's ultimate Dota world champions.As with 6.80 a few short months ago, it's less of an upheaval of the Dota we know but rather an improvement on a known formula. With a number of minor changes across the board to both over and under-utilized heroes we can expect the viable pool to continue being vast and diverse, with teams like DK showing their skill through a large number of strategies.We asked the busy Dota community pundits their thoughts on the patch, and got their reactions following the announcement. With the world busy doing The International preparations it's a shorter list than usual though the thoughts are no less real. @RealHeyoka | DreamHack StarCrafty Man