Dota 2’s latest patch has arrived, and support players should be happy to hear that the movement speed has returned to flat bonuses.
This will allow slower heroes like Crystal Maiden to get back in the selection, although heroes who are innately faster like Pugna and Legion Commander will still run her down. Still, this change is a huge boon for the current meta as it’s geared towards balance rather than favoring heroes who are already effective at roaming the map.
Naturally faster heroes also got their movement speed reduced as well. Razor, Slardar, Spirit Breaker, and Death Prophet all got their movement speed decrease, either their base speed or ones that are given by their skills.
Snowball lineups slowed down
And speaking of speed, 7.26a has also addressed the nigh-unstoppable snowball of lineups geared for early time fights and aura-oriented picks. Mandatory items for early push strategies like Vladimir’s Offering, Mekansm, and Pipe of Insight have all their recipes bump higher.
This slight increase in cost will increase the time it will take to complete these necessary team fight items, which will give the opposing faction more time to complete their essentials. Another item change that made players perk up is Spirit Vessel.
Although its Soul Release has had its debuff decrease from 60% to 35%, it also transformed the effect from single-target to a 1200 AoE damage instead. This makes SV an even more essential component for team fights that addresses the threat posed by several items and lineups.
The Skadi patch
Silver Edge, on the other hand, got nerfed as its regen debuff has been completely removed. The effect got transferred to Eye of Skadi, making the artifact a near mandatory for carries in late-game scenarios.
On top of the slowing effect and blanket increase in stats, Skadi now reduces all healing, regen, and lifesteal by 35%. This is an incredibly useful item to pick up as it immediately addresses the threat posed by sturdier heroes like Timbersaw or ones who are constantly healing like Necrophos.
Heroes who are almost always building Skadi like Medusa will be happy with these changes, and it would be interesting to see how much impact this will bring in the current meta. Overall, this is a great patch from Dota 2, and the community has received the changes with general positivity.
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