As promised, Dota 2 dropped Update 7.27 and there are a lot of new things to digest. This one has some General Updates along with many Item Changes. There are no hero changes in this one as that will come later. That’s right, this is just a first part of what is clearly a massive update.
Before we go into the item changes, let’s take a quick look at some of the general stuff. For starters, it’s interesting to see that Icefrog may want to have faster games. Hero kills base XP was increased to 100 while Hero kill last hit gold has been upped to 120 + 8*Level. In addition, passive gold income is now 95, an increase from 85, with Bounty Runes now offering reliable gold.
There’s also the usual map changes with the highlight being that midlane creep camps are now Small instead of Medium. So what else? Well, Outpost, a relatively new feature, has undergone changes. With the new update, Outposts can no longer be stolen by the other team unless one of the T2 towers is destroyed. This should allow for interesting strategies as before the update, it was possible to steal the Outpost even before the match started. In addition, it also now reveals the enemies that are channeling it.
That said, let’s look at some item changes. Fans of Necronomicon are sure to be disappointed as this item got a lot of nerfs. Archer Aura is no longer available and mana regen has been lowered to 2/3/4. Attack damage has been nerfed as well. There’s a large chance that this change could result in the item not being used in the game.
Support players should be happy, though, with the cost of Smoke of Deceit being reduced to 50 from 80. Sentry Ward also had its cost lowered to 85 from 90. That’s sure to be a lot of “savings” for those who want support heroes.
Players should also be excited to try out new items. There’s Blitz Knuckles, which costs 1000 gold and when equipped, gives +35 Attack Speed. This item is also now part of some other upgraded items like:
- Replacing Quarterstaff for Monkey King Bar
- Combined with Broadsword and Shadow Amulet for Shadow Blade
New as well is the Voodoo Mask. At 900 gold, this gives players +12 Spell Lifesteal (2.5% against creeps). Like with Blitz Knuckles, it can also be combined with other base items for upgraded items like:
- Combining with Sould Booster to make Octarine Core
- This lowers the total cost of the item from 5900 to 5000
- However the item no longer gives bonus intelligence
Other items have already undergone interesting changes. Silver Edge now requires Echo Sabre instead of Ultimate Orb. With this, the item now gives +40 Damage, +45 Attack Speed, +12 Strength, +10 Intelligence, and +1.5 Mana Regen. These are in addition to the benefits given by the components.
Dropped items have changes as well. Those saving for items can get a breather with the damage reduction of the Philosopher’s Stone which was lowered to -30 from -35. The change for the Mango Tree is also interesting. Pickup range is now increased to 300 and now comes with a minimap icon. This should be easier to find. In addition, this item no longer drops if another consumable item has dropped in the same tier.
There’s no doubt there is a lot to process and you can read all of that here.
What are your thoughts? Which changes did you like? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
