As expected, Valve dropped its latest update for Dota 2 after the conclusion of the MDL Chengdu Major. This has been an update that has been anticipated by many, and it did not disappoint. Dubbed as the Outlanders Update, 7.23 introduces two new heroes in Void Spirit and Snapfire. You can read more about the two new heroes here.
There are also two new game mechanics introduced. The first is Outpost, which replaces the Side Shops. The second is Neutral Items, which is basically neutral randomly dropped items. You can learn more about Neutral Items here.
Overall, Update 7.23 does bring a lot of changes, which makes covering the update in its entirety difficult. Instead, we're going to give you the highlights of some of the changes that are sure to change the way Dota 2 is played.
General Updates
The first change that players are sure to love is that each player now has their own courier automatically. That's right. In addition, the courier now gains levels when you gain levels. Be careful, as the movement speed for couriers has been lowered to 275 and health is reduced to 70.
Economy changes should also be welcome news. Observer Wards, for instance, no longer cost gold. This means they should offer some relief to support players. Killing Observer Wards still earns gold, however it's now going to the player that bought true sight. In addition, heroes now begin with 3 TP Scrolls.
In terms of the map, the layout has again been redesigned with both Ancient Camps now on opposite sides of the map from Roshan. The Side Shops have been removed and all Secret Shop items are going to be exclusively available in the Secret Shop.
Another change is that heroes can can now level up to 30 with the XP requirements for the levels 26 to 30 being 3500/4500/5500/6500/7500. Once players reach level 30, they get to unlock the entire talent tree. However, respawn times don't increase past 25 while XP bounties max out at level 25 bounty values.
It should be noted as well that under Update 7.23, Spell Immunity no longer grants 100% Magic Resistance. Thus, all spells that are able to pierce spell immunity should now deal damage as well.
Item Changes
The biggest change by far in terms of items is that Stout Shield has been removed from the game. You heard that right. As a "replacement," melee heroes now have a passive eight damage block, which can stack with other sources of damage block.
There are a number of item changes as well and these highlights are:
- Recipe Updated
- Buckler
- Ring of Basilius
- Headdress
- Mekansm
- Crimson Guard
- Assault Cuirass
- Holy Locket
- Veil of Discord
- Item Reworked
- Vladimir's Offering
- Helm of the Dominator
- Drum of Endurance
- Bloodstone
- Selected Highlights
- Shiva's Guard
- No longer able to be disassembled
- Manta Style
- No longer able to be disassembled
- Glimmer Cape
- Can now be used on couriers/units
- Shiva's Guard
Hero Changes
There are a lot of hero changes in Update 7.23. We can't do a deep dive, but here are some of the highlights:
- Ability Rework
- Bane
- Clinkz
- Crystal Maiden
- Drow Ranger
- Io
- LIfestealer
- Lone Druid
- Luna
- Lycan
- Mars
- Outworld Devourer
- Razor
- Riki
- Shadow Fiend
- Silencer
- Sven
- Treant Protector
- Undying
- Vengeful Spirit
- Viper
- Wraith King
- Scepter Rework
- Ancient Apparition
- Chaos Knight
- Clockwerk
- Dark Seer
- Dazzle
- Doom
- Elder Titan
- Enchantress
- Faceless Void
- Huskar
- Invoker
- Kunkka
- Lich
- Lifestealer
- Lycan
- Magnus
- Necrophos
- Oracle
- Phantom Lancer
- Pudge
- Silencer
- Slark
- Sniper
- Sven
- Vengeful Spirit
- Selected Highligts
- Enigma
- Midnight Pulse damage type changed from Pure to Magical (Still Pierces Spell Immunity)
- Midnight Pulse damage increased from 3.5/4/4.5/5% to 4.75/5.5/6.25/7%
- Morphling
- Morph no longer has two different health and mana amounts. The percentage of health and mana is maintained between both forms.
- Night Stalker
- Void Scepter no longer reduces cooldown
- Void Scepter stun duration from 0.6 to 0.5
- Enigma
You can read the full notes for Update 7.23 here.
