At first, let's have a closer look on changes in the gameplay: The ban phases have switched, letting the captain only ban two heroes during the first ban phase and three in the second. The draft is a very important component of the game, changing it will also change many games. Currently, initial bans are directed towards wooders and strong (semi-)carries. This is of course personal preference, but most likely wooders will be dominant in the first ban pool, as well as supporters. There are less viable supporters and wooders in the competitive scene and too many (semi-)carries to ban out. Banning all crucial ones in the first ban phase seems now next to impossible. In addition, teams seem to be more comfortable in letting seemingly "imba" heroes through, such as Naga Siren.
Banning supporters and wooders becomes even more important, considering the big change in gold and XP gain. It is safe to say that ganking becomes even more effective than before. Not only ganking, but also triple lanes will become more efficient and viable again. Supporters being the most important heroes in such trilanes, makes it a necessity to ban important ones out. A strong supporter can decide the outcome of the early game, even more now since he has 50 gold more to spend, as Observer Wards now only cost 150 gold.
The next change doesn't necessarily affect supporters, but it is a huge one. Icefrog decreased the Aegis reclaim-time from 10 minutes to 6. This is a huge game changer. Up until now, you could often see teams killing Roshan only to turtle and farm. 1 minute before the Aegis gets reclaimed, they'd finally start to apply pressure. Decreasing the time on Aegis makes this strategy less viable, as teams will have less time. It speeds up the pace of the game.
Many things have been said about major buffs and nerfs on certain heroes, such as Dark Seer, Naga Siren, Lycanthrope or Morphling. Yes, it is important that Dark Seer can't vacuum enemies under the effect of Siren's song. Yes, it is a nerfs that Morphling can't morph anymore while stunned. However, let's have a look on changes to less common heroes and changes, that can still have a huge impact, one would not consider at first sight. Let's start with heroes whose popularity will probably increase.
Ancient Apparition, a supporter that is casually picked, has been buffed. It may not seem significant, but if used correctly, Chilling Touch can now become useful, as opposed to being rather useless before. The way it works, you stack up damage when using it and now it also works on creeps, meaning it improves AA's last-hitting a lot. Ancient Apparition could be seen being a viable Mid-Hero now. Na'Vi's Dendi has done it before and now it makes even more sense. His attack animation is good, now he deals some solid damage and a fast level 6 on AA can setup some good ganks.
Another notable change is the buff on Clockwerk's Cogs. While Force Staff still pushes a hero out of it, said hero will still be pushed and has his mana and HP burned. Clockwerk will probably still not have any impact in the competitive scene, but this buff might at least put him in the pool of occasionally picked heroes.
Doom Bringer could make it as well into that pool, as his devour is now not level restricted anymore. He is already a good farmer, but this makes his farm even faster. He could easily farm on the lane and eat a jungle creep on the side. Going into the jungle from the start could be an option as well, but his low mana regen and pool makes it quite hard.
Nyx Assassin might join the two of them in said pool. Even though he is TI2 grand final material, he might become even better. His Spiked Carapace has been reworked and it now lasts for 2.75 seconds instead of one damage instance. All jokes aside, this actually makes him a viable pick. Ganking him becomes much harder and he becomes basically untouchable in teamfights for almost 3 seconds.
Spirit Breaker changes:
- Base strength increased by 6
- Damage increased by 9
- Charge of Darkness no longer gives a buff indicator
- Charge of Darkness speed increased from 425/500/575/650 to 600/650/700/750
- Empowering Haste no longer increases Spirit Breaker's damage
- Empowering Haste movement bonus aura rescaled from 6/8/10/12% to 6/10/14/18%
- Greater Bash now deals damage based on your movement speed (10/20/30/40% of speed)
- Greater Bash duration increased from 0.95/1.15/1.35/1.55 to 1/1.2/1.4/1.6
- Fixed Greater Bash not affecting magic immune units
Spirit Breaker has been nerfed and buffed at the same time. His biggest strength, gaining attack damage from higher movement speed, has now become percentage based. If however Spirit Breaker hits, he hits hard. The MS damage bonus has been re-scaled to 40% at level 4, which is an extra 140 damage when SB only has Power Treads and no point into Empowering Haste, which also has been re-scaled towards 18%! Add to that his higher base strength and base damage and you have yourself a new viable carry, if you feel lucky.
Unlucky are the following heroes, that have experienced some nerfs and could potentially be less popular.
Chen is often the first choice for a team's wooding hero, but people might reconsider. Only a few months after his skills have been changed, Icefrog decided to revert them back to their usual abilities, granting Test of Faith the teleportation ability. This means that Chen can no longer harass as well as send back an ally during a teamfight. At least not for 24 seconds. This might seem minor, but it is in fact crucial, especially in the early game. Being able to harass as well as sending an ally back defensively made Chen so strong. This weakens his ganking potential and makes his early game weaker. He is still a viable pick, but captains will think twice about picking him rather than Enchantress.
Another popular pick is Invoker. His base damage has been decreased by 4 points. This seems like nothing, but if you take into consideration the rather popular Quas/Wex build, Invoker's laning dominance will become weaker. His attack damage is rather low as it is already, reducing it makes it even worse to lasthit properly. Even Lion has a higher base damage than him. This might force players to get at least one early point in Exort and therefore changing their builds on Invoker.
Aside from heroes, there have been a ton of reworked items as well. Black King Bar can no longer be sold, meaning you have to buy a new Black King Bar at full cost. This makes the choice even harder. 70 minute games should become much more interesting now concerning decision making.
The item to be changed the most is probably Ethereal Blade. The weapon that grants especially Morphling the shotgun ability. Now however, other heroes could be getting an E-Blade. It no longer deals damage based on agility, but on your primary attribute. Imagine a Queen of Pain with an E-Blade, that actually deals damage based on her intelligence. Let's not even think about Centaur Warchief. While some people still question it's usefulness on other heroes, since it still requires Eaglesong to build it, bear in mind that heroes like Queen of Pain can also use attack speed, as well as armor, as they rely on a mixture of burst and right-click damage. It has never been a bad item, now it's viable for even more builds.
All changes are valid for the current 6.75 DotA version only. Still, they are very likely to be implemented in Dota 2 soonish. If people don't change the meta, Icefrog does.
Banning supporters and wooders becomes even more important, considering the big change in gold and XP gain. It is safe to say that ganking becomes even more effective than before. Not only ganking, but also triple lanes will become more efficient and viable again. Supporters being the most important heroes in such trilanes, makes it a necessity to ban important ones out. A strong supporter can decide the outcome of the early game, even more now since he has 50 gold more to spend, as Observer Wards now only cost 150 gold.
The next change doesn't necessarily affect supporters, but it is a huge one. Icefrog decreased the Aegis reclaim-time from 10 minutes to 6. This is a huge game changer. Up until now, you could often see teams killing Roshan only to turtle and farm. 1 minute before the Aegis gets reclaimed, they'd finally start to apply pressure. Decreasing the time on Aegis makes this strategy less viable, as teams will have less time. It speeds up the pace of the game.
Many things have been said about major buffs and nerfs on certain heroes, such as Dark Seer, Naga Siren, Lycanthrope or Morphling. Yes, it is important that Dark Seer can't vacuum enemies under the effect of Siren's song. Yes, it is a nerfs that Morphling can't morph anymore while stunned. However, let's have a look on changes to less common heroes and changes, that can still have a huge impact, one would not consider at first sight. Let's start with heroes whose popularity will probably increase.
Ancient Apparition, a supporter that is casually picked, has been buffed. It may not seem significant, but if used correctly, Chilling Touch can now become useful, as opposed to being rather useless before. The way it works, you stack up damage when using it and now it also works on creeps, meaning it improves AA's last-hitting a lot. Ancient Apparition could be seen being a viable Mid-Hero now. Na'Vi's Dendi has done it before and now it makes even more sense. His attack animation is good, now he deals some solid damage and a fast level 6 on AA can setup some good ganks.
Another notable change is the buff on Clockwerk's Cogs. While Force Staff still pushes a hero out of it, said hero will still be pushed and has his mana and HP burned. Clockwerk will probably still not have any impact in the competitive scene, but this buff might at least put him in the pool of occasionally picked heroes.
Doom Bringer could make it as well into that pool, as his devour is now not level restricted anymore. He is already a good farmer, but this makes his farm even faster. He could easily farm on the lane and eat a jungle creep on the side. Going into the jungle from the start could be an option as well, but his low mana regen and pool makes it quite hard.
Nyx Assassin might join the two of them in said pool. Even though he is TI2 grand final material, he might become even better. His Spiked Carapace has been reworked and it now lasts for 2.75 seconds instead of one damage instance. All jokes aside, this actually makes him a viable pick. Ganking him becomes much harder and he becomes basically untouchable in teamfights for almost 3 seconds.
Spirit Breaker changes:
- Base strength increased by 6
- Damage increased by 9
- Charge of Darkness no longer gives a buff indicator
- Charge of Darkness speed increased from 425/500/575/650 to 600/650/700/750
- Empowering Haste no longer increases Spirit Breaker's damage
- Empowering Haste movement bonus aura rescaled from 6/8/10/12% to 6/10/14/18%
- Greater Bash now deals damage based on your movement speed (10/20/30/40% of speed)
- Greater Bash duration increased from 0.95/1.15/1.35/1.55 to 1/1.2/1.4/1.6
- Fixed Greater Bash not affecting magic immune units
Spirit Breaker has been nerfed and buffed at the same time. His biggest strength, gaining attack damage from higher movement speed, has now become percentage based. If however Spirit Breaker hits, he hits hard. The MS damage bonus has been re-scaled to 40% at level 4, which is an extra 140 damage when SB only has Power Treads and no point into Empowering Haste, which also has been re-scaled towards 18%! Add to that his higher base strength and base damage and you have yourself a new viable carry, if you feel lucky.
Unlucky are the following heroes, that have experienced some nerfs and could potentially be less popular.
Chen is often the first choice for a team's wooding hero, but people might reconsider. Only a few months after his skills have been changed, Icefrog decided to revert them back to their usual abilities, granting Test of Faith the teleportation ability. This means that Chen can no longer harass as well as send back an ally during a teamfight. At least not for 24 seconds. This might seem minor, but it is in fact crucial, especially in the early game. Being able to harass as well as sending an ally back defensively made Chen so strong. This weakens his ganking potential and makes his early game weaker. He is still a viable pick, but captains will think twice about picking him rather than Enchantress.
Another popular pick is Invoker. His base damage has been decreased by 4 points. This seems like nothing, but if you take into consideration the rather popular Quas/Wex build, Invoker's laning dominance will become weaker. His attack damage is rather low as it is already, reducing it makes it even worse to lasthit properly. Even Lion has a higher base damage than him. This might force players to get at least one early point in Exort and therefore changing their builds on Invoker.
Aside from heroes, there have been a ton of reworked items as well. Black King Bar can no longer be sold, meaning you have to buy a new Black King Bar at full cost. This makes the choice even harder. 70 minute games should become much more interesting now concerning decision making.
The item to be changed the most is probably Ethereal Blade. The weapon that grants especially Morphling the shotgun ability. Now however, other heroes could be getting an E-Blade. It no longer deals damage based on agility, but on your primary attribute. Imagine a Queen of Pain with an E-Blade, that actually deals damage based on her intelligence. Let's not even think about Centaur Warchief. While some people still question it's usefulness on other heroes, since it still requires Eaglesong to build it, bear in mind that heroes like Queen of Pain can also use attack speed, as well as armor, as they rely on a mixture of burst and right-click damage. It has never been a bad item, now it's viable for even more builds.
All changes are valid for the current 6.75 DotA version only. Still, they are very likely to be implemented in Dota 2 soonish. If people don't change the meta, Icefrog does.
