7.21d Dota 2 Patch Analysis

7.21d is out, and it brings a lot of balance changes to nerf the best heroes in the meta and give small buffs to all the other heroes. In this article, I have analysed all the important changes that were made in 7.21d. Let’s get right into it.

General Changes

• Dire hard camp pull is now easier to do

Considering all the advantages that Radiant already has over Dire, you would think that Dire would atleast be given the most common necessities in the lane. However, it was nearly impossible to pull the large camp close to the tower in order to pull the lane creeps (This was always possible on Radiant). The double pull with both camps is still much harder than on the Dire side, but atleast we know that the Frog is watching over the game, and slowly fixing these issues.

Item Changes

Aeon Disk

• Recipe cost reduced from 1250 to 1100

The recipe cost started out at 1350 gold, and now its available for 1100 gold. Moreover, Aeon Disk has been only getting buffs since 7.20.

In many games, support players are not able to finish this item in the late-game due to the high recipe cost. Because of the reduced gold cost, we might see more completed Aeon Disks in games now.

Guardian Greaves

• Recipe cost increased from 1700 to 1800

The popularity of heroes who build Guardian Greaves as a core item, has increased a lot recently. Heroes like Viper, Necrophos, Dark Seer and Pangolier are in the meta now, and these heroes end up making Greaves in most of their games. This change is a direct nerf to those heroes.

Rod of Atos

• Cooldown increased from 16 to 18
• Cast range reduced from 1150 to 1100

Same as Guardian Greaves, this item is very popular currently because heroes like Viper, Leshrac, Necro and Razor are in the meta. The cast range nerf is negligible but the increase in cooldown will definitely hurt all the heroes that get an Atos.

Solar Crest

• Target attack speed increase/reduction changed from 70 to 80

I was expecting this item to get nerfed because it has been a popular choice for a lot of offlane heroes for a long time now. Solar Crest is a great item to buff your carry hero during sieges, and it is also a very helpful tool when taking down Roshan.

An increase of 10 attack speed is not very impactful. However, it might make a difference in long sieges.

Hero Changes

Arc Warden

• Agility gain increased from 2.1 to 2.4
• Tempest Double duration increased from 16/18/20 to 16/20/24

Arc Warden has already seen some success recently. He was picked 11 times in the DreamLeague Season 11 Major and had a win-rate of 64%. The buffs in this patch make it the perfect time for this hero to get back into the meta.

The agi gain buff is very negligent, but the Tempest Double duration feels very strong. 4 seconds more on the double increases Arc Warden’s efficiency by a lot. More farming, more split-pushing, longer duration in fights – its all the things Arc Warden wants.

Centaur Warrunner

• Double Edge damage increased from 40/60/80/100% to 60/80/100/120%
• Level 20 Talent increased from +50 Retaliate Damage to +70

Centaur is a very common meta pick these days. But according to statistics, Centaur was not that great of a hero in the previous patch. He was picked 71 times at the DreamLeague Season 11 Major, and had a win-rate of 45%. That’s not too low, but most of the other popular heroes in the meta had very high win-rates compared to Centaur. Even in the Divine/Immortal bracket, he has a low win-rate of 44%.

The buffs he received here in 7.21d are definitely not good enough to boost his win-rate stats. But atleast he is a little bit better than before.

The level 20 talent change seems quite strong. Most players prefer to go for the other talent which is +20 Strength. But maybe some players will prefer to go for Retaliate damage now.

Dragon Knight

• Elder Dragon Form slow increased from 30 to 40
• Level 10 Talent increased from -20% Breath Fire Damage to -25%
• Level 15 Talent increased from +300 Health to +350
• Level 20 Talent increased from +150 Gold/Min to +180
• Level 25 Talent increased from +1.75s Dragon Tail to +2s

Dragon Knight has been a very boring hero for a long time now and he really needs a rework. There isn’t a lot of playstyles that a player can choose while playing Dragon Knight. He is mostly picked as a hero that can be dumped onto the mid-lane, to tank and push towers with his ultimate. Hopefully he will get a proper rework in 7.22.

For now, we got some changes that make him a little bit better than before. His talents got buffed on all levels, and the increase in slow with Elder Dragon Form level 3 is also very handy. This hero generally tends to fall off in the late-game, but with these buffs, he might be a little bit stronger in the late-game than before.

Drow Ranger

• Agility gain increased from 2.5 to 2.8
• Base agility increased by 6 (base damage unchanged)

Ever since Marksmanship and Precision Aura were reworked in 7.20, Drow Ranger has only been getting buffs. With all the buffs she has been getting to her base agility and agility gain, she is actually a decent hero to last hit with now. Previously Drow Ranger was one of the most obnoxious heroes to last hit with, because of her abysmally bad attack animation, and her low attack speed.

Currently she seems like a strong hero for Solo Mid, but the entire team must be drafted around her, to maximize Drow’s full potential.

Gyrocopter

• Base damage increased by 3
• Level 10 Talent increased from +200 Health to +250

One of the worst carry heroes in the previous patch. Gyrocopter is only good if he has an Io to support him. Even the Io-Gyro combo got nerfed when Io’s Aghanim’s Scepter talent got pushed to level 20. This left Gyrocopter as one of the most undesirable heroes in the meta.

The buffs in 7.21d are very minor and are definitely not good enough to bring him back into the meta. Currently he has way too many problems that make him a bad hero. He is very easy to gank, and takes a long time to farm. He is also very easy to counter by picking heroes like Lifestealer and Ursa who are good heroes in the current meta.

Leshrac

• Diabolic Edict damage reduced from 11/22/33/44 to 8/20/32/44

Leshrac has been a very good pub hero, but not the strongest hero in the competitive scene. He has a pick-rate of 20%, and a solid win-rate of 51.27% in the Divine/Immortal bracket. But he only had a 36% win-rate in the 33 matches that he was picked in DreamLeague Season 11.

I was expecting a small buff but instead he got a significant early-game nerf. Diabolic Edict only does 8 damage at level 1 now, which means he will be very underwhelming until he reaches level 3. This will definitely hurt his win-rate stats a little bit, even in competitive matches.

Lifestealer

• Rage cooldown increased from 16 to 18

Out of all the nerfs that Lifestealer has been getting, this is probably the biggest one. Rage doesn’t have a very good uptime anymore. Previously you could use it multiple times in a teamfight, but now you have to be very careful when you use it because it has a hefty CD of 18 seconds.

Lina

• Agility increased from 16 + 1.5 to 23 + 1.8

Lina got +7 agility on level 1. That’s 7 Attack Speed and around 1 armor. That is a big buff for any mid hero, and Lina really needed one.

Lina had a very low win-rate of 20% at DreamLeague Season 11, where she was picked 29 times. Even in pubs, she has a low win-rate of 46%.

Lina can definitely fit into the meta. She is fast at clearing waves, and she can farm neutrals quite rapidly. She has a lot of burst potential and her talents make her scale decently into the mid and late-game. These qualities combined with the buff in this patch, I am sure many Lina players will start spamming her again.

Mars

• Strength gain reduced from 3.6 to 3.2
• Spear of Mars vision AoE reduced from 500 to 300
• God’s Rebuke manacost increased from 55/60/65/70 to 65/70/75/80
• Level 20 Talent reduced from +1.5s Spears of Mars Stun to +1s

Originally when Mars came out, I felt that he was a balanced hero. That feeling quickly vanished as players started mastering that hero.

Currently, Mars is the most picked hero in the Divine/Immortal bracket, he has a win-rate of 56%, which puts him at the number 3 spot for the heroes with highest win-rates.

However, these nerfs are very weak, and I really don’t think they will stop Mars’ reign of domination in pubs currently. The biggest nerf is the -1 seconds on the stun duration of his Spear. Players might actually go for the other talent now, which is +200 damage on the Spear.

Oracle

• False Promise cooldown increased from 100/65/30 to 115/80/45
• False Promise manacost increased from 100 to 100/150/200
• False Promise cast range rescaled from 1000 to 700/850/1000

Oracle is very popular pick in the competitive scene currently. He has a pick-rate of 22% in the Divine/Immortal bracket, and has a win-rate of 52%.

Oracle’s ultimate just received a huge nerf hammer. However, Oracle is not really picked for his ultimate. False Promise is great, but his other spells are also very strong.

The nerfs are quite huge, but I doubt it will suddenly stop players from favoring Oracle.

Pangolier

• Lucky Shot can no longer apply both silence and disarm at the same time
• Lucky Shot chance reduced from 20% to 17%
• Rolling Thunder manacost increased from 100 to 100/150/200

Lucky Shot was very annoying and even uncontrollable to a certain extent. These nerfs were well deserved, but I was expecting more.

The Rolling Thunder mana cost is also quite a nerf because Pangolier is a very mana intensive hero.

Pudge

• Flesh Heap regeneration increased from 3/6/9/12 to 5/8/11/14

5 HP regen at level 1 sounds very good. It would make Pudge really durable in the laning phase. Is the HP regen good enough to take a casual point in it though? We’ll have to see if Pudge players find it worthwhile. What do you guys think?

Sand King

• Sand Storm damage increased from 20/40/60/80 to 20/45/70/95
• Burrowstrike cast range increased from 350/450/550/650 to 400/500/600/700

Although these buffs are really good, Sand King’s problem right now is his laning phase. He is not very tanky, and the early levels of Sand Storm deal the same amount of damage as before.

Sniper

• Shrapnel replenish time reduced from 50 to 40
• Take Aim active cooldown reduced from 15/12/9/6 to 9/8/7/6

Shrapnel CD got reduced, which works very well in conjunction with his 25% cooldown reduction talent at level 10. Sniper can use Shrapnel to push the lane and farm neutral stacks. Sniper is still a very niche pick though and he does not belong in the meta right now.

Zeus

• Intelligence increased from 20 + 3.1 to 21 + 3.3
• Static Field damage increased from 4/6/8/10% to 5/7/9/11%

Zeus hasn’t seen much play after his Static Field got reworked. He needs a lot more buffs than this to bring him back.

He is only good if your lineup needs a lot of burst damage against rare Agi picks like Phantom Assassin or Terrorblade.

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