The last patch before The International 8, Patch 7.19 is here. It’s a relatively small patch but it has a lot of much needed balance changes. As always, I’m only going to cover the most important changes, so let’s get right into it!

Patch 7.19

• Daily Bonus Hero changed from 2 Mangoes to 1

There have been a lot of complaints on Reddit and many other Dota communities/forums related to randoming and daily bonus heroes. Everyone wanted Valve to completely remove the concept of bonus heroes, at least from Ranked Matchmaking because high skilled players can very easily abuse having 2 mangoes for free at the beginning of the game. Patch 7.19 did not completely remove bonus heroes but this is a step in the right direction.

Bloodseeker:

•  Thirst bonus rescaled from 16/24/32/40 to 7/18/29/40
•  Level 25 Talent reduced from +20% Max Thirst and Damage to +18%

Bloodseeker is a hero that can create a lot of chaos in the early and mid-game, and he has been quite a popular pick recently. He is a strong laner because of his Bloodrage and he can become a really scary hero when enemy heroes are getting out-harassed in other lanes. The changes in 7.19, makes the hero less chaotic. The first change reduces Bloodseeker’s capability to take advantage of enemies getting harassed in other lanes. The second change is not extremely impactful, but it hurts Bloodseeker’s late-game a little bit. The hero is still a durable laner, but these changes will definitely reduce his pick-rate a lot.

Crystal Maiden:

• Crystal Nova manacost increased from 100/120/140/160 to 130/140/150/160

Maiden was one of the most popular supports in the recent meta and was considered the best laning support. This was due to the fact that she could easily dish out a lot of AOE damage consistently with Crystal Nova. This change from Patch 7.19 hurts CM quite a bit, as Crystal Nova was the main reason why CM got popular in the first place. The hero is still very strong and I predict that she will still be one of the stronger support picks at TI 8.

Necrophos:

• Reaper’s Scythe Scepter cooldown increased from 55/40/25 to 60/50/40
• Ghost Shroud self-magic resistance reduction increased from 30% to 40%
• Reaper’s Scythe cast point increased from 0.5 to 0.55

Necrophos was one of the best, if not the best hero in the recent meta. This hero was incredibly strong, versatile and it was very popular because you could send him into any lane. He is extremely durable and can dish out constant harass with death pulse. The first and third changes are not extremely impactful, but the second change definitely is. 40% reduction in magic resistance is nothing to scoff at. Using Ghost Shroud can very easily go wrong for Necro now, hence the players will need to use it more cautiously. The Reaper’s Scythe Scepter cooldown was also absolutely ridiculous at level 18, and the first change was definitely much needed.

The hero is still very strong and will definitely be one of the more staple picks at TI 8.

Pudge:

• Meat Hook cooldown increased from 17/15/13/11 to 27/22/17/12.

The Meat Hook range buff that Pudge received in the previous patch, finally made him a staple meta pick after 7 years. He has always been the most picked hero in pubs, but at the same time he has always been a cheese pick in the pro scene until patch 7.18. This cooldown nerf of Patch 7.19 is extremely hard-hitting. Many players liked to keep Meat Hook at level 1 or 2, and max out Rot and Flesh Heap recently. This made Pudge very scary, as he could be extremely tanky due to Flesh Heap, right from the early-mid game. Looks like Icefrog did not intend for this to happen, because as of now, players can no longer reap all the benefits of Meat Hook by keeping it at level 1 or 2 due to the high cooldown.

This nerf is very bad for Pudge but I don’t think it will completely kill the hero. In the laning phase, the high cooldown will not matter too much, because Pudge doesn’t need to use Meat Hook so frequently anyway. It takes quite a while for Pudge to reposition himself and get a nice angle, after missing one Hook. But players will not be able to max out Flesh Heap now and this will definitely hurt the hero’s recent playstyle. We will have to wait and see how much this will affect his pick-rate.

Templar Assassin:

• Psionic Traps damage reduced from 250/350/450 to 250/300/350

TA was one of the strongest mid-laners in the recent meta. The hero got absolutely ridiculous at level 18 and there were many complaints about this. The main reason for this was that TA’s traps could kill an entire creep-wave at level 18. Essentially, what this meant was TA could push out creep waves in three lanes, and farm the neutrals at the same time, making her one of the fastest farming heroes in the game. This nerf will force TA to use 2 traps now if she wants to push out waves as 1 trap will not be enough to kill an entire creep wave. This was a much needed change but it will definitely not remove the hero from the meta.

This was a very interesting and a much-needed patch, as some heroes were still relatively overpowered compared to others, and we cannot have that at TI 8. I have a strong feeling that all the 115 heroes in the game are viable now and will be picked at TI 8, which is what all these balance patches are meant for.