Dota 2 released Update 7.25 and, as expected, brings significant changes to the gameplay. This time it's all about the All Pick Mode. There's also the increase in both the gold and xp bounty for hero kill sprees along with main changes to the game. Of course, the usual fixes and balance to the items are heroes are also here.
There are a lot of changes, so we'll just give you the highlights.
All Pick Mode
The update reworks how players choose heroes. If you're not familiar, it used to follow this format:
- Team 1; Picks 1 hero
- Team 2: Picks 2 heroes
- Team 1: Picks 2 heroes
- Team 2: Picks 2 heroes
- Team 1: Picks 2 heroes
- Team 2: Picks 1 hero
With the update, there's now going to be five rounds with each Radiant and Dire getting to pick one hero each at the same time. The catch is that the selection is hidden and only revealed in the next round. If the two players pick the same hero, the player who picked it second is given additional time to choose another hero. It's clear that communication is going to be even more important for teams now.
It's not just picking, as banning heroes has also been reworked. Before, half of the voted heroes were banned. The update now makes sure that each ban has a 50% chance of success. If less than 10 heroes are banned, heroes automatically roll for banning based on their ban rate at the player's MMR bracket.
Main Gameplay
Power Runes now initially spawn at four minutesm though subsequent spawns still happen every two minutes. However, they no longer spawn on both sides of the map upon the 40-minute mark.
For the hero kill sprees, the increase includes:
- Gold Bounty from 60->480 to 200->690
- XP Bounty from 400->1800 to 500->2040
Additional changes include, among many others:
- Radiant Ancient creeps are now easier to stack
- Tier 1 neutral item drop rates increased from 10 to 14%
- Fountain attack damage increased from 275 to 300
Item Changes
There's a lot of item changes as well, so we will start with the Neutral Items. Many of these items have been buffed. Philosopher's Stone, for example, has gold income increased to +70. Iron Talon should be interesting as it now works on Ancients. This should be good news to those who want to farm fast, assuming of course they get it on the random drop.
For the usual items, the biggest change would have to be the Boots of Travel. For starters, it's no longer active. However, while equipped, it upgrades the Town Portal Scroll with these new features:
- Lowers cooldown to 40 seconds,
- Can now target units, and
- Does not consume a charge on usage.
In addition, the movement speed is increased to 38/44%. Talking about Town Portal Scroll, the cost of the item has been increased to 90.
Bloodthorn has been reworked as well and now needs Hyperstone rather than Crystalys. This means the effects of the item are now:
- Attack damage lowered to +30,
- Attack speed increased to 85, and
- It no longer gives passive critical strike chance.
Some good news as well for Battle Fury users since instead of Demon Edge and Recipe, it now needs Broadsword and Mithril Hammer. This gives players some extra damage while trying to form the item.
Hero Scepter Ability Changes
Finally we go to hero changes. We start with Scepter reworks. For Bounty Hunter, getting Aghanim Scepter for the hero now results in Jinada being applied to Shurijen Toss. In addition, the case range is increased to 650 while the cooldown is reduced to six. For Crystal Maiden, the timer for the Freezing Field Scepter Frostbite is now 2.0 from 2.5.
Juggernaut's scepter change is just as interesting. It now gives Swift Slash, a new skill. This lets Juggernaut perform a mini omnislash which lasts for 0.8 seconds. It has a cast range of 650, manacost of 100, and cooldown of 15.
Void Spirit now has a Scepter upgrade making Resonant Pulse a charge-based ability with two charges and can also silence enemies for two seconds. Snapfire also now has a Scepter upgrade and its an ability known as Gobble Up. This allows the player to swallow an allied creep or hero and then spit it towards enemies. Upon impact it stuns enemies in the area for 1.5 seconds and leaves a glob on the floor that deals 100 DPS for three seconds. Units swallowed can stay inside for a maximum of three seconds. Other features of this new skill are:
- Impact radius 400
- Cooldown 40 seconds
- Cast Range 150
General Hero Changes
As for general hero changes, there are also a lot of modifications. For now we look at two of them. The first is Gyrocopter which has his attack backswing lowered to 0.65, though his strength gain is now 2.5. His skills and talents have been reworked as well:
- Flak Cannon
- Attack count lowered to 2/3/4/5
- Cooldown reduced to 20
- Duration reduced to 10
- Call Down
- Missile two damage increased to 200/275/350
- Cooldown increased to 90
- Talents
- Level 20 Talent increased from -25s Call Down Cooldown to -50s
Then there's our lovable Ursa. Ursa has been popluar lately so it's no surprise the hero is getting reworked. Changes include:
- Fury Swipes
- Damage increased to 10/20/30/40
- Overpower
- Attack count reduced to 3/4/5/6
- Cooldown reduced to 16/13/10/7
- Manacost scaled and reduced to 55/60/65/70
- Enrage
- No longer has a Fury Swipes multiplier
- Duration scaled and increased to 4/4.5/5
- Cooldown reduced to 50/40/30
- Now grants +50% Status Resistance
- Talents
- Level 25 Talent changed from Enrage +80% Status Resistance to +3 Overpower Attacks
You can view all changes in Update 7.25 here.
