Post-TI5 Digest

Hello one and everyone! Safecyn here. How about them grand finals, huh?

USA! USA! USA!

I... I'm sorry. We're American and he's been like that since Universe's six million dollar echo slam. It'll take awhile to un-break him.

USA! USA! USA!

Annnnyways, with an absolutely insanely huge tournament on our heels, it's time to start looking towards the inevitable 6.85 patch. I'm anticipating some big, big changes, because while the grand finals were fun to watch, I think everyone has to admit they were a little... stale.

The game as it stands right now heavily favors heroes that can fight early on, but also have decent scaling into the late game. As such, teams were forced to limit themselves to a specific strategy and a smaller pool of heroes than usual in order to stay relevant. Leshrac and Gyrocopter has a ONE HUNDRED PERCENT pick/ban rate this meta, even more ridiculous than the pick/ban rate of Lycan during last year's infamous deathball TI. When a team can pick Gyrocopter/ Clockwerk as their opening three times in a row, and only be denied it a fourth time by having the other team pick Clock first, there's something wrong with the game. Dota is meant to have multiple strategies that can be employed and pitted against each other, like the amazing grand finals of TI3 where Split Push went head to head with Early Aggresion and Split Push managed to come through in a clutch, nail-biting fifth game.

So, since I'm still in the process of getting out of constant Dota watching and back into playing, I'd like to give my thoughts about potential re-balances we may see in 6.85. Starting, of course, with:


If we want to reel the game back to a more balanced state without hitting a butt-ton of heroes with a nerf stick, this is where we need to look. Now, there is the simple revert, for sure, and we might see just this:

Melee lane creep bounty increased from 40 to 43
Ranged lane creep bounty increased from 45 to 48
Hero kills are worth 10% less...

Etc, etc. Alternatively, we could leave the bounties the same but completely remove the infamous 'rubber band' mechanic entirely, though in my personal opinion it's not in too terrible a spot at the moment. I think if I had to change one thing specifically, it'd be this:

The amount of AoE Bonus Gold given is now increased/decreased by up to 20% based on the dying hero’s relative rank in net worth amongst all the enemies on that team.

I'd either remove the increased reward component of this mechanic entirely, or re-scale it so that the AoE Bonus Gold was only increased by up to 10%, but still decreased by 20% {For example, if killing a hero would normally grant total AOE gold of 600, if that hero was highest in net worth on the enemy team they'd be worth 660, while if they were the lowest net worth they'd only be worth 480.)

There were a lot of spamming spell-casters this patch: seeing Lina picked up in professional play was nice at first, but when it was her every single game it started to grind on a lot of us. Picking nukes seemed to be the overall strategy for 6.84, seeing as we also saw constant Leshrac, Gyrocopter, Queen of Pain, etc, etc. It might not be entirely uncalled for to make this sort of balance change then:

All heroes' innate magic resistance is increased by 10%

This is huge, and is probably a stupid idea. But it's out there, and it's not entirely silly to think that something like this might make it into the actual 6.85 balance log. It'd certainly make Timbersaw a much more valued pick up.

Next, let's talk about mana. There's a LOT of available mana regen on the map right now. Bottle crowing, despite countless efforts by Volvo and Icefrog to dis-incentivize it, is still huge and lets people sustain in lane like crazy. Perhaps, then, it's time we did something like this:

Bottles can now only be refilled when held by a hero.

Note, that does say 'a hero', and not 'the bottle's owner'. You could still do the TP-from-base trick, and you could always give your bottle to a teammate to take back to fountain for you. This change would make runes more contested, and mana-regen items more necessary for heroes that spam spells.

One final gameplay change I'd love to see is an artifact from 6.82, when everyone was convinced that DEATHBALL NEEDED TO DIE, regardless of the fact that the Deathball strategy wasn't what won TI4. It's simple, but it really does make some strategies much more viable then they are right now:

Tier one towers no longer refresh glyph when destroyed.

There is no reason this should happen anymore. There's an argument to be made there's no reason it should have happened to begin with, because the game shouldn't punish people for picking a pushing strategy simply by design. If this change happened, all of us in the Safestack would be happy.

Update 1.1: (Partially suggested by Sando)

When stacking creep camps, the first additional stack of creeps will yield 15% less gold, the second additional stack will yield 30% less gold, etc.

Sando's suggestion was to limit the number of times you can stack a camp, but I feel that's far too big a change to the game's mechanics. The spirit of the idea is understood, though, and I feel like this is a good way of making jungle-farming less rewarding without punishing it too badly.

How you doing over there, scrub?

USA! USA! USA!

Got it. Time to move on to heroes then.


I'm not insane enough to do a full list of expected nerfs/buffs to heroes, don't worry. I will, however, focus on the main ones that we saw get picked up EVERY SINGLE GAME this patch... competitively, at least.

Batrider
Sticky Napalm damage type changed to Pure.

Perhaps this buff would need to be paired with a damage nerf to Sticky Napalm as well, but I think this would go a long way towards making Batrider viable again. After getting nerfed something like 10 patches in a row, the guy could use a little love.

Broodmother
Spiderling's damage decreased to 12-13 against heroes (still 18-19 against creeps and buildings).

Just... yeah. The spiderlings do a bit too much damage in my opinion, but I don't think hurting her jungling and pushing is called for. So... this was my solution. Weeee.

Bounty Hunter
Track cooldown now scales 10/7/4
Track mana cost increased to 100
Shuriken Toss damage rescaled to 100/175/250/325
Shuriken Toss mana cost rescaled to 100/110/120/130

When Bounty Hunter's intelligence gain was buffed last patch, Shuriken Toss was rebalanced to do WAY more damage, but cost way more mana. I personally think it was too much: a 375 bouncing nuke that mini-stuns is... awesome. Really, really awesome. Meanwhile, the rest of Bounty Hunter's spells weren't touched mana-wise, making them super easy to spam. This is one of the reasons we saw so much of him this patch.

By making the cooldown of Track scale, we make it less spammable early on, meaning that you won't be able to grant your team a super HUGE amount of bonus gold by Tracking everyone in an early team fight that goes your way. Increasing the mana cost also targets the spam-ability of this spell. I think these nerfs combined don't break the hero, but certainly bring him down to a more reasonable level.

Chaos Knight
Chaos Bolt now has a 60% change of doing magical damage, a 30% change of doing physical damage, and a 10% chance of doing pure damage.

I'm an agent of Chaos. And you know the thing about Chaos? It's fair.

Dark Seer
Vacuum cooldown increased to 32 seconds.

See, Icefrog-senpai? I can change the cooldown of Vacuum too! Noootiiiice meeeee.

But in all seriousness, the cooldown is a little low right now. A nerf here is called for, but I think that's about all that needs changing.

Dazzle
Shallow Grave cast point increased to 0.6.
Shallow Grave cast range rescaled to 800 at all levels.

I got sick of seeing Dazzle picked constantly in The International, so I was pretty happy that he was only in the ban phases of the grand finals. Shallow Grave is the only thing that really needs touching up on the hero, and I think this is enough. Make it slightly harder to split-second cast and re-balance the cast range. A straight up nerf at all levels would break the hero, I feel, which is why I re-scaled it to a constant range: stronger early on, but not the huge range it has now. Shallow Grave shouldn't be a guarantee.

Death Prophet
Strength gain increased to +2/level
Witchcraft now increases Exorcism spirit count by 2/4/6/8 (originally was 3/4/5/6).

A small buff to Death Prophet couldn't hurt right now, and would bring both her and more push-oriented strats back into viability.

Update 1.2:
Elder Titan
Astral Spirit cooldown now scales 16/14/12/10
Astral Spirit mana cost reduced to 100.

A little love for the Worldsmith couldn't go awry right now. Since the consistent buffs to Echo Stomp haven't done anything for him, why NOT give Astral Spirit more up-time and a little more spam-ability? It doesn't seem OP on paper, though in practice I could be proven wrong.

Gyrocopter
Base movement speed reduced to 300.

USA! US... wait. That's it?

Scrub! Welcome back to the land of the pleasant.

Ok, but seriously, that's... it? That's the ONLY thing you'd change about Gyro? Are you stupid?

Right now, Gyrocopter's spells are strong, but all require him to be in good positioning. There's nothing OP about the numbers themselves, just how reliably he can get in a spot to USE those spells. His move speed is currently one of the highest in the game, at 315, so bringing him down to the average of 300 would do a lot more than you think. Might even give people a reason to take an early level in Homing Missile, wouldn't that be something?

Leshrac
Base movement speed reduced to 305.
Lightning Storm mana cost increase to 100/120/140/160
Lightning Storm cooldown increased to 5
Lightning Storm slow reduced to 40%

Seeing as he was picked or banned in literally every game of the international, Leshrac is in dire need of a nerf as well, and I think this is really all that's needed. Lowering his move speed makes positioning harder, and making Lightning Storm less spammable makes it so that other heroes might actually WIN mid against him. Reducing the slow on the skill also makes landing Split Earth immediately afterwards less of a guarantee and more of a skill-shot, or makes picking up Eul's Scepter of Divinity more necessary.

Lina
Dragon Slave mana cost increased to 120/140/160/180
Light Strike Array mana cost increased to 115/130/145/160
Aghanim's Scepter no longer makes Laguna Blade do pure damage (still pierces magic immunity).
Update 1.2: Aghanim's Scepter still causes Laguna Blade to do Pure damage, but this damage is reduced to 337.5/506.25/712.5.

Nerfs all around for Lina! She was more important than Queen of Pain towards the end of the tournament there, and it's no mystery why: her insanely mana-efficient, spammable spells and her ability to instantly do nearly 1000 PURE damage to anyone made her too good to pass up. These nerfs make her more mana-dependent and also remove her ability to wipe a support out of a teamfight instantly if she gets an early aghs.

Queen of Pain
Shadow Strike duration increased to 16.
Shadow Strike now deals damage in 4 second intervals.
Shadow Strike damage over time reduced to 20/30/40/50

Right now, getting hit with Shadow Strike, and only Shadow Strike, guarantees that you can't use Blink Dagger for a full 15 seconds. That's a little ridiculous. This nerf makes it easier to escape from Queen of Pain, while also making her harass in lane just a little less capable: in particular, it makes it so that this ability doesn't cancel Bottle regen until level 2. As for the rest of her... I think it's fine, she just shines really brightly in the current meta.

Update 1.1: (Suggested by: Dimonychan)
Sonic Wave cooldown re-scaled to 140/120/100. Aghanim's Scepter now reduces cooldown to 60.

Looking over my original notes for this, I actually had intended to write this and just kinda forgot. Good on Dimonychan for pointing out how messed up her cooldown is on her ultimate. I think this is a good balance, making it scale better without Agh's but also nerfing the Agh's cooldown.

Naga Siren
Base armor reduced by 2 (starting armor is now 3.94).

I feel like Naga's sklls are mostly in a good spot, but she's a little too good at trading hits back and forth right now. An armor nerf is on point, I think, making her a little weaker early on. Another suggestion courtesy of my buddy Safebulb that I thought worth mentioning was this:

Song of the Siren now heals both allies and enemies for 6% of their maximum HP for up to 7 seconds. Aghanim's Scepter upgrade removes enemies from the healing.

I think it's a cool concept. Song of the Siren can still be used to reset fights and guarantee escapes, but loses its ability to guarantee kills on your enemies, even allowing them to purposely get caught by it to heal up. It also opens up the possiblity of using Song outside of fights to heal up, though... enh. I don't think that'd be used too much.

Update 1.1:
Shadow Fiend
Shadowraze mana cost now scales 85/90/95/100

As of right now, Shadowraze at max level does 975 damage for only 225 MANA. That's crazy! You can argue that because it's a series of skill shots it can get away with being that mana-efficient but... no. That's not a good argument, especially since this skill is mainly used for farming the jungle anyways, and there it's practically guaranteed you'll land them all.

Storm Spirit
Static Remnant mana cost increased to 100/110/120/130

I think Storm is in a pretty good place and just shines in the current meta, but a mana cost increase for Remnant might be called for anyways. Right now, he can get away with just a little too much lane harass for little mana cost, and his jungling is EZ MODE. Increasing the mana cost this way won't impact his late game too much, but just makes getting farmed earlier on more of a chore, which is where I think he needs to be targeted.

Techies

Land Mines and Remote Mines are now destroyed in one hit from heroes, four hits from creeps. Stasis Traps are destroyed in two hits from heroes, four hits from creeps.
Remote Mines now provide a 12 gold bounty when killed. (Other mines still provide no bounty.)

I honestly think Techies is in a good place damage wise, and this is the only thing that really needs to be changed. Making the mines easier to de-ward frees up more time for the enemy team to make up the gold they spent on Sentry Wards, and having Remote Mines be worth gold doesn't break the hero in my opinion: it just means that Techies needs to be more aware of where he places them and what's happening to them.

Terrorblade
Reduced strength gain to 1.3/level.

The last few patches have been going the right direction for the ol' Soul Keeper, but he's still WAY too good, if the number of times he was picked in The International is any indication. Reducing his strength gain by .1 might not seem like a lot, but it'll help burst him down at all stages of the game.

Update 1.1: Kappa.

Update 1.2:
Conjure Image illusions damage taken reduced to 350%
Conjure Image mana cost reduced to 60.

Alright, joke's over, time to really discuss the trash-tier hero that is Terrorblade. This buff allows TB to tank towers better with illusions and gives him an easier time farming up in the jungle. This buff, in conjunction with the gameplay change suggested above about T1 towers no longer refreshing glyph when destroyed, might be enough to make him at least semi-viable again.

Tusk
Snowball stationary time now decreases as more units are placed in the Snowball:
- If Tusk is alone in Snowball, it can remain stationary for up to 4 seconds.
- With one additional unit in Snowball, it can remain stationary for up to 3 seconds.
- With two additional units in Snowball, it can remain stationary for up to 2 seconds.
- With three additional units in Snowball, it can remain stationary for up to 1 second.
- With four additional units in Snowball, it can remain stationary for up to .1 seconds.
Frozen Sigil no longer affects magic immune units.

Some re-balance for Tusk, who was also picked to death in this year's championship. The Snowball nerf makes him unable to save his ENTIRE TEAM from a giant AOE spell while still keeping this unique aspect of his skill set to an extent. Also, why did Frozen Sigil affect magic immune units in the first place? Does that make any sense? Sure, Degen Aura affects magic immune units, but that's a small AOE centered on the hero, not a large AOE on a summoned unit.

Venomancer
Plague Ward Poison Sting damage now stacks with Poison Sting from Venomancer.
Plague Ward hit points now scale 150/250/350/450

Just a few buffs to make everyone's favorite snake more persistent, annoying, and relevant. It increases his overall damage output (as right now, if Venomancer attacks a hero it overrides the Poison Sting damage from his wards), and makes his wards tankier early on (their hit points ARE actually 450 at level 4. I didn't change that.)

Winter Wyvern
Winter's Curse cooldown increased to 130/120/110.
Heroes who are moved out of Winter's Curse AOE are no longer affected by the debuff.

Some minor nerfs for a hero who's in a mostly good spot. An additional 20 second cooldown at all levels gives the enemy team more time to play around her ultimate. The second nerf gives some counter-play to the spell: where previously if you were moved out of the AOE, you'd walk back to keep attacking your ally, now Pudge hook or Force Staff can save allies that aren't the primary target.

Update 1.1: (suggested by: Dimonychan)
Cold Embrace cooldown increased to 23/22/21/20

Cold Embrace is the other reason Wyvern got so much love in the last TI, and for good reason: it's amazing in extended teamfights, as well as just for sustain early on. The skill itself isn't OP, I feel, but a cooldown nerf will make it easier to deal, not allowing quite as many clutch saves in fights.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity

Cooldown increased to 25 seconds.
Mana cost increased to 210.

Just some more Eul's nerfs because... it's still pretty damn strong. Maybe these aren't necessary, but I figured I'd throw them on here. Feel free to tell me how wrong I am to nerf Eul's in the comments below.

Update 1.1: (suggested by: Sando)
Eul's scepter now resets the cooldown of Blink Dagger when cast on self.

^ This nerf is far superior to the one I suggested. Let's go with this one.

Glimmer Cape
Glimmer Cape now builds from Hood of Defiance and Shadow Amulet (new cost: 3525).
Glimmer Cape now grants 30% magic resistance and +9 HP regen, in addition to the +20 attack speed it provides.

For as useful an item as Glimmer Cape is, I think this is a more balanced build up. It's still an item for supports, as the build-up isn't bad (the most expensive component still being the Shadow Amulet), but its cost is more appropriate for the benefits it gives. Delaying this item until later on in the game is a nice added benefit to this nerf as well.

Medallion of Courage
- Medallion armor reduced: now only provides +5
- Valor active now reduces enemy/self armor by 2.5, and increases ally armor by 2.5.

Solar Crest
- Shine active now reduces enemy/self armor by 5 and increases ally armor by 5.
- Shine active now reduces self evasion by 15% and grants 15% evasion to allies.
- Shine active now gives enemies a 15% miss chance.

Medallion and Solar Crest are really powerful right now, especially when you consider they affect Roshan, making for easy Aegis early on. Reducing Medallion's overall armor, and making the actives only half-effective, makes them more balanced in my personal opinion. Keep in mind, changing the actives this way also means that the Medallion/Crest holder now always keeps half of the item's bonuses for themselves, so it's not as huge a nerf as it seems.

Update 1.2:
Pipe of Insight
Barrier active now blocks 500 spell damage.
Barrier active now blocks magical and pure damage.

A buff for the oft-forgotten Pipe, now that Glimmer Cape has made it almost obsolete. Making it able to block pure damage with its active sets it far enough apart from Cape where people might actually look at it again, and strengthens it as a pick-up against Queen of Pain, Lina, or Timbersaw. This also means that Keeper of the Light isn't impossible to push against late game.

I might be going back and editing this article as I have more ideas, or maybe I'll add a section with your ideas too, so lemme know what you think! If I predict anything correctly, I give you full permission to automatically assume that I'm Icefrog. I won't mind.