The new patch has been out for over a week now, which I feel is enough time to do a rundown in both win rate and play rate. I was picky in my data samples because of Techies. So I’ve chosen to compare all 6.82 data including 6.82b, with that of one week in September, a full week with Techies already in the game. Techies addition to Dota 2 should thus have much less of impact on this post. Note that all percents are raw percents, and show actual changes in the percent values.

Gains

A lot of increases seem to be due to longer games and the Tier 1s being up for longer. Spectre and Omni received minor changes, but skyrocketed to win rates over 60%. There has only been one other time in the past 2 years where a hero had a win rate over 60% in the last two years; when Centaur Warrunner was added in October 2012. Even Spirit Breaker and Drow Ranger at their worst couldn’t consistently break 60%, and I can’t ever recall a higher win rate. Medusa is another interesting gainer – as she now has a 53.55% win rate – which makes her one of the stronger carries in pub Dota. Lets see if the pros take any notice of her. Some of the hero rises are also a bit odd; Earthshaker and Phoenix are somewhat unexpected.

As for play rate, reworks and remodels take the top 3 spots, but Bloodseeker is entirely ignored. He only went up 0.5%, which is pretty negligible given the time frame. Axe went up, probably as people thought it was the best hero to try out Crimson Guard on. While Spectre was probably as people caught win of the win rate changes, although there’s been a lot of Crimson on her too. People were obsessed with Aghanim’s last major patch, but far less fuss for the new Aghs, with Bane, Phoenix and Puck’s changes mostly ignored, while Timbersaw and his foe Treant managed small gains off the back of their Aghs.

Losses

Nerfs to the forever annoying global Tinker and Nature’s Prophet caused some happy losses, while Bloodseeker’s rework will take some getting used to. Phantom Lancer didn’t drop anywhere near enough, off the chart above at only -1.17%. I find Clinkz’ fall rather interesting, I assume people’s experimentation with orbs has resulted in less wins for the hero. This is likely as he’s already improving in win rate as the days tick by. This list isn’t overwhelmed with “early game heroes” either, it’s primarily nerfed heroes. Chen and Bane are highlights, although they both happen to perform incredibly badly against Phantom Lancer, who did get a massive surge in picks post patch. Lone Druid also had a solid loss.

I removed Techies from the play rate, as he’s been decreasing as people move on from the original addition to the game. But apart from that it’s primarily the heroes who were nerfed. Tiny’s decrease is likely not to last; his win rate went up as seen in the first section. Although Tiny was not directly changed in the version, his win rate still shot up a remarkable 2.51%, which is notable.