A new Dota Underlords patch and a hotfix is out! This update seems like the last changes to the game we’ll see before the big update drops. Let’s get right into it.
General Changes
- Fixed an issue where units could be forced to attack untargetable units (example: Pudge hooks an undying unit).
This is a really nice fix – Helm of the Undying is already a strong item and this issue made it even stronger. So many times I’ve watched my Bounty Hunter throw his Shuriken at an undying unit. I’m glad this won’t happen anymore.
- Fixed an issue where all damage done by Medusa’s Ace Effect, where all Scaled units do damage to units near them, would be credited to Medusa only.
Just a DPS chart visual fix – interesting to see that they’ve fixed this but not the issue when you have multiple Batriders but only the one who has initially applied the stack gets the credit on the DPS chart.
Hero Changes
Enchantress
- Nature’s Attendants: Fixed an issue where the wrong heal amount was displayed on the ability tooltip.
More visual fixes – always a good sign that they’re keeping on top of things such as this. It’s especially important when it is affecting the numbers on ability tooltips as this ends up misinforming players.
Lone Druid
- Summon Spirit Bear: Fixed an issue where Entangling Claws would never be cast.
I’m so glad they fixed this: Lone Druid is now playable again!
The biggest part of Lone Druid’s kit is the fact the bear can provide hard CC on a target. The fact he was lacking that due to this bug made him very hard to justify as a choice. Now it’s fixed I expect to see him fit into more compositions once more, especially with how strong Druids currently feel.
Viper
- Max Mana is now 50.
This change means Viper will build his max Mana faster and therefore be able to cast his ability faster. Unfortunately I’m not a huge fan of his new ability so it’s probably not a massive deal that this change has happened but it’s still a step toward making him more playable again.
Item Changes
Big-Time Contract
- Players can now get more than 1 of this item again.
With the change to the Bloodbound alliance (as listed below) I think this is an acceptable change as multiple contracts are nowhere near as dominant as they previously were, therefore this change just adds more flexibility and options into our item choices.
Target Buddy
- Can no longer be healed.
Interesting change – I assume this will mean our units will no longer target the Buddy with healing when they could have targeted a unit. However this means Area of Effect healing that would have healed the Buddy now won’t. I’d say this is a slight nerf to the Buddy but not one worth concerning yourself over.
Alliance Changes
Blood-Bound
- Changed to: When a Blood-Bound unit dies, it gives +125% Attack Damage, in addition to any existing Blood-Bound bonus it has, to a random friendly Blood-Bound unit.
This is a really interesting change – first off it’s a pretty big nerf to the Bloodbound alliance as a whole. It means that the buff goes to one unit instead of all other units, although the stacking effect is still in play (multiple blood-bound bonuses can stack on the same unit) so it’s not completely unplayable.
These changes coupled with the return of multiple Big Time Contracts probably mean the Bloodbound alliance is in a weird spot now. They’re nowhere near as dominant as they were with multiple contracts but with only 2 units in the Bloodbound pool this is definitely a big nerf to the alliance as it stands currently. I’d speculate that this means more Bloodbound units will be coming into the game in the future, otherwise the change wouldn’t make too much sense.
Overall I’d say the only saving grace here is the return of multiple Big Time Contracts – it enables some more “fun” compositions to be played but still the alliance is definitely weaker.
Savage
- Changed to: Allied Savage units gain +[4, 8, 15] Attack Damage each time they land an attack on an enemy or cast a damaging spell.
This affects Venomancer and Sand King, the only Savage units with damaging spells.
So as they’ve written – this change means that Venomancer and Sand King now gain a stack when they cast their abilities. However this only applies 1 stack even if multiple enemies are hit so the change isn’t a huge deal and I don’t think it makes a massive difference to this alliance and it’s playability moving forward.
Hotfixes
- Fixed an issue where, once a unit’s channeling was interrupted, it could never cast at a higher power than that. This affected Keeper of the Light and Windranger. If their casts were interrupted, any later casts would be at the same power level, even if in the later casts they successfully channeled the entire channel time.
This is a huge fix – the bug was severely affecting channelled ability damage and with this fix it’s bringing those units back to where they should be (and subsequently the builds they are played in) which is great in terms of balance. The biggest change with this will be that it’s another “buff” to Mage boards. I expect to see even more Mage compositions being played than before.
- Fixed the longstanding issue where more than one of the same type of Demon would still invalidate the Demon alliance.
This is also huge – no longer will we be punished for playing 2 of the same Demon. This will increase the power of early-game Knights with 2x Chaos Knight 2* and the late-game power of 6 Warrior boards running 2x Doom 2*. Overall I think it’s quite a big deal and I predict it’ll impact board strength more than we realise. The ability to run 2 of the same Demon in the early-game and still retain the buff can lead to interesting power-spikes.
- Tweaked Savage numbers to [7, 15, 25] from [4, 8, 15].
This change is a good one. I think this will make the new Savage alliance playable in early-game now and I’m interested to see if they can keep up in the later stages of the game. It’s definitely a good balance decision from the dev team here.
Summary
Overall I think the new Underlords patch is great for the game. It’s a good set of changes to get us ready for the big Underlords patch and I’m glad they decided to put it out now so the game is in a better spot moving into this new upcoming big patch.
Biggest things here definitely come from the hotfix rather than the new Underlords patch, but considering the close proximity of their releases they are basically the same thing. The main change I’m noting is the fix of longstanding bugs which now that they’re fixed it will buff some units/compositions and potentially make the Meta a bit healthier as a result. The demon bug fix in particular is the one I am personally most excited about.
All in all I am happy with these changes and I’m glad we got them now. Looking forward to the big Underlords patch but I think the game is still fairly enjoyable right now so I’m not going to complain if they take a little longer than we expected to get this big patch ready.
Thanks for reading!
