Gameplay Patch – 7.06

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Today’s patch introduces the 7.06 Gameplay Update, which focuses mainly on adjustments to general gameplay mechanics. Featuring changes to denies, lanes, shrines, and more, there are a host of details to check out before your next match. Head to the 7.06 Gameplay Update page for a full list of changes.

Phantom Assassin is finally a good hero again. We've done it. Having Desolator and Satanic stack single handedly saved the hero. No more Vlads rush nonsense. Now you can go phase/mask/aquila into deso into BKB every single game and PA can finally 3-shot people like she's supposed to.

Hand of Midas nerfed. I told you so : Midas change last patch was a straight up buff.

OSfrog finally understood that respawn time manipulation is a stupid mechanic and removed it. Who knew? It's not like it was tried on Meepo and Necrophos and it completely broke the game...oh wait.

But seriously I'm really worried about some changes. The new Heaven's Halberd is broken. Supports get buffed for no reason, and again OP utility items that prevent cores from dealing damage in teamfights : Ghost Scepter, Blade Mail, Glimmer Cape and now Heaven's Halberd - not to mention Solar Crest that was hardly nerfed. Again encouraging lame rat dota when cores pop BKB and hit buildings. I hate defensive items for that exact reason. If you can't kill heroes then people will only focus buildings.

Aether Lens is way too good now. Literally 100% mana regen for free, the RoH was wasted anyways.

Illusion heroes are all in the dumpster now. Naga got rekt, TB and CK got hard nerfs, and PL is still bad.

Rod of Atos and Shiva's Guard were nerfed for no reason.

Clinkz made unplayable by killing his ult uptime for no reason.

The game could very well regress to a 6.83 style Troll/Storm/SF/Lina meta - with 6.84 style defensive items...urgh.

Well, at least Pugna is probably a decent hero now. OP lens with mana regen + ult finally fixed to no longer be countered by fog. It even gives true sight now.

Legion Commander aghs is *insanely* good now.

My impression : 4 heroes that make the patch interesting


And the rest is typical OSfrog patch.

Halberd hasn't been an item in Dota for several years so it may as well get some limelight for a patch or two before it gets reworked or nerfed again. It's too expensive to be another cancer support item, and I think it's just right now.

RoA didn't get a straight nerf - it is worse as a final item now on pretty much everyone who would buy it, but it has a somewhat easier buildup, especially for supports. On Lina I get it right after Phase Boots and I have free slots which I'd rather fill with 2 Bracers than Vitality Booster.

I too didn't understand a hard nerf for Clinkz, was totally uncalled for.

Desolator
No longer a Unique Attack Modifier

OMG finally a dream that came true Deso life steal for huskar baby (god I've been waiting for this for years)


Heaven's Halberd
Can no longer be dispelled by Spell Immunity

WoW is it my birth day?

Solar Crest on enemies changed from 25% Miss chance on target to 25% Truestrike chance on attackers

That's actually a buff cause its active on enemies was kinda meaning less now it is a nice counter against evasion heroes like PA or troll war lord or BM

and i can't say any thing about urn of shadows just HA

I really liked to rush Aether Lens on Crystal Maiden when the circumstances allowed it. +250 mana to comfortably skill level 2 Freezing Field at level 12, increased cast range, and enough health regen to not need Tranquil Boots at all. Oh well.

I'm more surprised to see consumables as recipes for other items. Never thought IceFrog would ever go that way.

Holy moly, the new deny thing will be insane. Looking forward to people being rewarded/punished even more for last hitting abilities. It was also mean that heroes with a good animation and good damage will reign supreme, especially in the mid lane.

Neutrals spawn every minute... this is insane - combined with the bounty runes and stuff it could make both offlaning and jungling much more viable. Also good for flash farmers like AM and stuff. Could see the return of Chen and Enchantress.

Overall strength buff and intel nerf. INTerestrength.

Creeps are worth even less gold.

Buyback CD increased by a minute. This is probably to balance a late-game focused meta soon.

Cheese for second rosh, this is nice for heroes like ursa but also really good for teamfighting compositions.

Respawn talents are GONE. Thank goodness, but these new ones look pretty good. Here are my favourites:

Summons a Golem on death (!)
Shadow Shaman: +4 Wards Summoned (Level 20)
Io: Tether Stuns (Level 25) IT"S BACK BOIS
Nature's Prophet: Removed Teleportation Cooldown (Level 25) But... is it better than 8 treants?
Techies: +250 Attack Damage (Level 25) LOL!

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Items

Aether Lens build up finally makes sense.
Deso now stacks with skadi and lifesteal. pretty freaking strong imo
No one wants to buy your mangoes. :(
Force Staff buff, nice!
Heart nerf, imo. No one buys it for the HP, most buy it for the strength. Better on heroes like AM and Spectre, however.
YES OBS WARD 60 it was triggering my ocd
Atos looks like an insanely strong support item
WTF why does soul ring require a mango that makes no sense

I like how consumables can be upgraded into items if you don't use them now. Interesting, really.

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Heroes

Axe aghs looks really good.
bane scepter looks broken.
mag aghs is meh
Medusa aghs looks strong but you would never buy it.
Monkey King Basher interaction removed. Thank goodness.
WTF nightstalker E what is this LOL
Oracle Q is finally a root instead of ms 0 nice
qop 25 cancels all blink daggers in an aoe for like 12 seconds. That's pretty strong imo
deso sk is a thing (kappa)
Silencer Aghs finally useful for core silencer
Treant Q doesn't stop spells now. Hmm.
No more bs windrunner 25 talent, but now she gets invis (I'm assuming no fade time too)

Force Staff now gives 6 HP regen. Just go forcestaff like a normal CM :=)




Halberd was actually a really popular pickup in the major. I remember it being picked up to shut down heroes like Medusa and it completely broke the game already. I was expecting a nerf to the item for its popularity in the major actually. Instead OSfrog being OSfrog buffed it.

Halberd is a cancer offlaner item, not a support item. All that matters is that like blademail, there's gonna be one in every game.

It's Silver Edge all over again. It's completely unfair to some specific heroes and makes them unplayable. Medusa is a great example. Gyrocopter too. Clinkz as well (as if dumpstering his ult and nerfing bloodthorn wasn't enough, that's a sad Clinkz). And as a Luna player you should know what it's like to be a sitting duck for 5.5 seconds.
It kills the game balance durably and I hate that.

Note that the Silver Edge victims still haven't received their compensation yet. Bristleback is still crying in the corner.

Offensive active items in the game :



Defensive active items in the game :



Building protections in the game :

Glyph. 5 second immunity on a 5 minute cooldown.


Everything in this game is made so that you can't kill anyone in teamfights. For some reason OSfrog decided that this game isn't about killing heroes.

This game is about killing buildings.

Idk what point are you trying to prove with your defensive/offensive item count. Let's count defensive/offensive abilities too then, got any doubts which are more common?

Most active items are support items, naturally supports want to keep themselves and the team alive and not deal more damage or jump in stunning stuff left and right.

Anyway I don't see the problem with defensive support items as a concept, as much as i dislike the continued support buffs, it would be very unfun to get instagibbed by a hero who has five times your networth in every fight and can shrug off anything you bring to the table because heeeyyy even 5 seconds is still a hell lot of time.

My point was that the game is basically ruled by active items now, much more than by abilities.

Active items have an effect that is just as powerful as spells, and most of them are really cheap. But active items are much better than spells in that 1) they have an instant cast point, and 2) they can be used when silenced, often dispelling or at least making the silence useless.

Heroes only have 2 or 3 spells (passives don't count). But heroes can have up to 5 active items. Active items are significantly more important than spells in game impact and yes I think it's a problem that they're overwhelmingly defensive.



Why? Supports should stay alive with proper positioning. Do you think it's fair that you pretty much need a Scythe of Vyse initiation to kill a support now, because they all have ghost/glimmer/forcestaff/dagger? I love how a change that's supposed to make the game more complex and "skill based" actually makes it more forgiving to bad plays from supports.



If they can't use their 5 second BKB to kill heroes they'll use their 5 second BKB to kill buildings.

We're already knee deep in a meta of Trolls, Morphs and AM's popping BKB to kill rax whenever it's up. This is what this defensive meta leads to and it's dumb.