Five Dota 2 Heroes return to the Meta in patch 7.32d

The changes that the 7.32d patch brought to Dota 2, while they were quite minor, still had their effect on the meta. The win rate of multiple heroes at the same time changed dramatically in just one day, proving that even small innovations can affect the balance of the game. And if everything is approximately clear with the “losers” of the patch (they were the main stars of TI: Marci, Leshrac, Naga Siren), then it’s a little more difficult with the beneficiaries, because Valve is often much more willing to nerf heroes than to strengthen them, moreover, not every formal buff can give a tangible result. Therefore, let’s try to figure out which of the heroes benefited from the 7.32d update and now has a chance to gain a foothold in the meta.

Razor

In patch 7.32d, the hero received two buffs from the developers: an increase in damage from Storm Surge with Aghanim’s Shard from 150 to 175 and an additional 3 points of agility to the talent at level ten. In general, these buffs do not seem to be something incredible – the same talent for dexterity at level ten was practically not taken by players, preferring +20 damage from Plasma Field. However, even these small changes have given Razor a major boost: in two days, the character’s win rate in matchmaking increased by 2.66%. For professional players, Razor also has a decent performance: in the new patch, his win rate reached 53.6%, although a week ago it was at 45%.

Patch 7.32d significantly increased the popularity of Aghanim’s Shard with Razor – now they try to buy the artifact exactly within the 15th minute, when it first appears in the shop. And then the most interesting. A new build has started building around this item, where right after Aghanim’s Shard comes the purchase of Bloodstone. The kit also includes a defensive artifact or two in the form of the Vanguard and Hood of Defiance. And at the end of the game, players go to Aghanim’s Scepter. Razor with this build has become a frequent guest in the third position. By the way, all the “troikas” who are not used to buying Wraith Pact turned out to be active in patch 7.32d, but we will come back to this in the context of other characters.

As for Razor, with this build, the hero becomes quite armored, and the lack of offensive items is compensated by the Ultimate and the enhanced Storm Surge. At the same time, as the TI11 Nine sample proves, the hero is now working not only on the “troika”, but also on the mid. It is likely that in the next season of DPC we will see the character more and more often, and in regular matchmaking his popularity will continue to grow.

Protector of Treant

The hero received a significant upgrade to Leech Seed in patch 7.32d. The developers increased the spell’s damage and healing from 16/32/48/64 to 20/35/50/65, as well as the casting range from 400 to 400/450/500/550, reducing it from 0 .4 to 0, 3 delay before casting. Valve hasn’t forgotten about Overgrowth either – the ult’s damage per second has been slightly increased from 75 to 85 units. As a result, Treant Protector has become much more effective in the laning phase. Thanks to the Leech Seed buff, the hero can now lead much more aggressively in the early game and get early kills. Pace is something that Treant Protector has been lacking in the last few patches. A more comfortable lane with the ability to get more gold and experience out of lane, as well as getting into Blink Dagger and Aghanim’s Shard earlier, gives the hero a wider range of options later in the game.

The attractiveness of Treant Protector in the current meta is also evidenced by the statistics: since the release of the patch, the hero’s win rate in matchmaking has increased from 50.14 to 53.72%. The character also feels comfortable in games with high MMR pros – there his win rate in 7.32d was 54.3%, although recently it was at the 50% level. And if you look at the skill development of eSportsmen after the patch was released, you can see that it has really changed. Most pro players now favor Leech Seed, even though skill was not a priority before.

Lumber saw

Quite an unusual choice, as the buffs received by Timbersaw appear to be fairly insignificant. Increasing Flamethrower’s duration from 7 to 8 seconds is certainly nice, but it doesn’t make any difference, as does increasing Whirling Death’s attribute reduction bonus from 10 to 12% at level 25, because this level still needs to be reached. However, despite the minority of buffs, the hero’s progress in the new patch becomes tangible: in matchmaking, his win rate went from 46.23 to 48.40% in two days. For professional players, the numbers are even more impressive: Before 7.32d, the hero win rate was 44%, it has now reached 50%, and is likely to continue to increase in the future.

In fact, this change in the hero’s stats is not related to him, but to the Wraith Pact. In the previous meta, this artifact has become so popular that it is collected in almost every game. The team without him was in a rather vulnerable position, the purchase of the item was most often the responsibility of the offlaner. Timbersaw didn’t need this artifact at all and it wasn’t built into his build. Therefore, now that the heroes addicted to the Wraith Pact have somewhat lost ground, as the artifact has become much weaker, Timbersaw will feel much more comfortable than him.

Legion commander

Legion Commander received only one buff from the developers in patch 7.32d – Hero’s Moment of Courage counter attack chance bonus was increased from 10% to 12% at level 20. This is really a minor change, which can hardly affect something globally. However, the case of Legion Commander is similar to that of Timbersaw – the hero’s win rate and demand may increase not due to direct buffs, but due to indirect changes. Of course, we are talking, firstly, about the Wraith Pact nerf itself, which was not collected for the character under any circumstances. And secondly, the Legion Commander liked the Blade Mail buff – a key artifact in the hero build. The item now returns 5% more damage to the enemy.

All of this was reflected in Legion Commander’s matchmaking performance: in two days, his win rate went from 52.97 to 54.34%. The character looks even more solid in the hands of professional players in high MMR games: before the patch, the LC win rate was around 45%, and in 7.32d it already reached 56.7%. At the same time, the hero build remained unchanged – the first Blade Mail as the first slot, then Blink Dagger and Black King Bar – it works perfectly in the current meta.

Dark Willow

In patch 7.32d, a character that hasn’t been talked about much in recent months received a buff to the Bramble Maze, increasing its damage over time from 50 to 50/55/60/65. It turns out that at the fourth level of pumping, the hero can now inflict 75 HP on the enemy. more damage is a bit, but quite pleasant. Otherwise, Dark Willow indirectly gained little from the patch. Yes, it’s also nice that now Wraith Pact won’t reduce the damage of her from the cast, but this also applies to many other heroes as well. You can, of course, recall the insignificant boost from Veil of Discord, but according to the Dotabuff stats, the hero is taken even less often than Daedalus.

However, even these small changes were enough for Dark Willow to start improving her matchmaking stats quite dramatically: in two days, her win rate increased from 48.26 to 50.14%. But for professional players with high MMR, this trend is not observed. There the character, on the contrary, is not doing very well: in 130 matches out of 7.32d the winning percentage was only 46.2%.

***

In general, the meta is still under development, and the first matches with the participation of the best teams will have a great influence on this process. Maybe eSports will find something in 7.32d that can’t be seen in the bare matchmaking stats yet. For example, Entity supports Dmitry Fishman Polishchuk suggestedthat Pugna, whose win rate hasn’t changed at all, could enter the meta. But you can also recall Underlord, who prefers to collect several of the team’s defensive artifacts at once, each of which received a buff of 7.32d. Or take a closer look at the long-suffering Grimstroke, for which the developers have enhanced Aghanim’s Scepter ability, allowing it to be used on enemies under BKB – the change looks extremely immature, however, it has not yet affected the victory of the ‘hero Vote. And which of the characters, in your opinion, will be able to reveal themselves in this patch?