DOTA 2: 5 Things I lost after 7.20 Patch

Dota2 yearly patches change everything and that’s the way it is. Some of us yell at others “Adapt and evolve” and some of us complain about the changes, quit playing it and eventually come back. Dota2 is always evolving, be it the bi-weekly patch or mid-yearly patch or big updates once a year. Every update comes with a lot of expectation and disappointment.

Patch 7.20 is not different, a lot of players “got what they wished for” but it changed the game a lot, mechanics, game-play, heroes, talents, abilities, you name it they have changed it. Yeah, it’s totally a grieving article and you can grieve as much as you want with me. Because bro I know the feel when one single patch ruins multiple of your most played heroes and then ruins the experience more by overpowering some unwanted hero in the name of Buffs. Patch 7.20 came with a lot of disappointment and overpowered heroes but these are the worst 5 changes in Patch 7.20

#5 Traxex - Drow Ranger

When I was going through heroes and patch notes I did know that Drow Ranger will end up on this list but I thought she will be on my top 3 but apparently, the patch had more surprises for me that I am still not done and over with.

Drow was one of those heroes that you don’t want to touch when it comes to reworking and changes. She has gone through a lot of changes since Dota1 and in recent years. But she still was interesting enough and be it a mid-drow or safe lane drow it was always interesting to watch drow fitting in those drafts. She was a delicate glass cannon that was super fragile almost with no escape and heavy damage. Now that’s the thing, she was a Glass-Canon, not a Glass-watergun. This update just grabbed her and decided to throw her out of the professional matches, meta, and pub all at the same time.

When that was not enough the small patches kept punishing her. Drow without her aura and damage is nothing, and now she literally is nothing. Her win rate already dropped by 10% which is massive considering the duration and now it will just keep dropping. The rework was nothing but clear execution and now instead of a deadly glass-canon, we have water-gun.

#4 Return Aura

Was this really important? Remotely even? I did not think so. Remember when centaur first came into the world of Dota2? Everyone was chain stunning the entire enemy team with one centaur and getting rampages. Yeah, that was horrible right? But after that, he went through a lot of changes and finally became the somewhat balanced offlaner. Stun, slow, damage and tanking ability was balanced enough to make him a offlaner and not be overpowered. We somehow got used to the fact that centaur can fit in some drafts really well because of return and it was a thing that made him special. You could make 2 hearts in a pub and stand there and enemies will right click themselves to death.

Now in the new patch, the damage is just a flat number. Another execution in the name of rework. The cooldown and mana cost of the stampede is making it a less useful skill while the stun losing the little bit of damage it had. This is a disaster for Centaur lovers and I hope they do restore return at some point in the future.

#3 Cleave and Kunkka

Another ruthless and heart-wrenching part of the patch. Before the patch cleave damage used to go through the armor was unreduced by armor but now the patch made cleave damage just a physical damage which can be reduced by armor. Cleave was a way to get those nerves of a high armor hero which can’t be done anymore.

This also reminds me of Kunkka. Kunkka used to painful in the lane and in the game because of the Cleave damage, we have seen 1 hit rampages or a Kunkka solo wiping a team out of the existence but I doubt it is gonna be the same. With recent changes to cleave mechanics, cleave might not be that important anymore, and Kunkka will lose his importance too. Heroes like kunkka lost the mechanic that made them important and viable.

#2 Outworld Devourer

Do you remember the Omni-OD era or even after that. Outworld devourer was so strong for such a long time, a devastating lane-hero that also scales well in the mid and late game and destroys your MMR. Outworld devourer, however, was nerfed in previous patches and a lot of people was happy knowing OD won’t return any sooner to steal some more MMR but the fact that OD was nerfed heavily also made OD vulnerable to next updates. And that is what exactly happened, even after the nerfs he managed to sit at a pitiful 44% win rate but now OD’s win rate has gone down to 32% which is not only shocking but also pathetic. The hero that used to terrorize not only the strength heroes but any hero, in general, is not sitting at a 32% win rate and there is no sign he can come back from that hell hole in next few patches. The only hope is 7.21 and the patches after that.

#1 A Lot of Effing MMR

This MMR gain and lose comes with every patch but I don’t remember any patch where the patch was just dropped and all we saw in front of our eyes were Slark, Meepo and Naga stealing our MMR. I mean how stupid could you be to give a hero like Meepo, ransack. Why would you even do that?

I remember years ago Reddit whining about Meepo when he was sitting on a close to 50% win rate and everyone said, ok that hero is so difficult to play how can it have even a close to 50% win rate. Because remember it also counts the game where people randomized it and fed or just was learning and fed and there was a lot of Meepo-fail games. So everyone realized that probably the hero is so good that once you learn it you apparently get a win rate of 70% or something so that explains the overall close to 50% win rate and honestly I have seen Meepo with over 50% win rate but this is the first ever time Meepo is close to 70% win rate. Ransack just letting him man fight, just man up and fight and you can’t be killed. I honestly think he doesn’t even need Geostrike because you have 4 roots that you can use to perma –root anyone so Ransack is not a change, it’s a heavy buff on him.

The 2nd name that is haunting me now is Slark. Can you imagine even puck can’t phase shift if grabbed by Slark. The pounce buff was disgusting and stupid at the same time. You can’t tp out, you cant use items movement wise and you can’t even phase shift. Combine that with his permanent stat steal, this is disgusting. The fun part, if you are an agility core dying in the hand of enemy Slark, your game is over. Not only he is gaining the stat but you are the one losing permanent agility, attack speed, movement speed, damage for the rest of your game. That is pretty game breaking and overpowered. If they don’t fix Slark, a lot of players will be trying to fix their MMR very soon.

Also, I would like you all to mourn for Ring of Aquila. The ring will always be remembered. Rest in Peace.