Overview of Dota patch 7.20d

Patch 7.20d has been released today and it has some surprisingly big changes in it. As always, I’m going to cover the most important changes, so let’s get right into it!

General Changes:

• Melee heroes below 300 base movement speed increased by 5

Ever since boots started to give percentage-based movement speed bonuses, it was very hard for many Melee heroes to catch up with fast ranged heroes like Lich and Oracle. Although this might not fix the issue by itself, items other than boots which grant movement speed bonuses got some changes in this patch, which might fix the issue. The changes are listed below.

Item Changes:

Mask of Madness, Yasha, Manta Style, Sange and Yasha & Yasha and Kaya

• Mask of Madness Movement speed changed from +12% to +25 constant
• Yasha Movement speed changed from +8% to +25 constant
• Manta Style Movement speed changed from +8% to +25 constant
• Sange and Yasha Movement speed changed from +12% to +35 constant
• Yasha and Kaya Movement speed changed from +12% to +35 constant

All these items are very commonly purchased on carry heroes. Since they give flat MS bonuses now, carries will no longer have trouble catching up with innately fast heroes.

Phase Boots

• Now has the active again instead of the passive

The Passive Phase Boots was a cool concept but it had a lot of issues. One major issue was that the item was very strong for chasing, but while running away it were extremely bad compared to the Active Phase Boots. It will be interesting to see how Active Phase Boots will fare with the new bonuses from 7.20.

Hero Changes:

Axe

• Counter Helix damage reduced from 75/110/145/180 to 60/100/140/180
• Level 15 Talent reduced from +4 Mana Regen to +3

This hero was so strong that he managed to get picked in 7.20 as much as he was being picked up in the previous patches. His laning phase got a few nerfs in 7.20d which will not stop people from picking the hero but it will surely hinder his win-rate a little.

Brewmaster

• Primal Split cooldown increased from 140/120/100 to 140/130/120
• Level 10 talent reduced from +30 Damage to +20

One of the strongest heroes in the meta right now. The Primal Split cooldown nerf will definitely hurt the hero, especially the one on level 18. The level 10 talent nerf indirectly nerfs Drunken Brawler as well, which means he won’t be hitting as hard in the mid-game. These are some good nerfs but I am expecting to see this hero get nerfed even more.

Clinkz

• Burning Army damage type changed from Pierce to Hero type (50% vs heroes to 100%)
• Burning Army base attack time increased from 1.5/1.35/1.2 to 1.75/1.6/1.45

This hero got completely destroyed after the 7.20 rework. It was not even mentioned in the 7.20 patch notes that the Burning Army Skeletons would deal Piercing damage. Now we finally know why their damage was so low. Even though they deal Hero Damage now, the concept of the ultimate itself seems really bad and I expect this hero to get an insane amount of buffs in the future to keep him relevant.

Dazzle

• Intelligence gain reduced from 3.4 to 3.2
• Bad Juju cooldown reduction reduced from 30/40/50% to 20/35/50%

One of the strongest heroes in the patch. This hero is so popular right now that people are playing him in literally every role. Bad Juju is just way too strong right now and these nerfs from 7.20d are definitely not going to change anything. This hero will need to be nerfed a lot more to end his dominance.

Grimstroke

• Ink Swell max damage reduced from 160/240/320/400 to 100/200/300/400
• Ink Swell max stun duration reduced from 2/2.6/3.2/3.8 to 1.7/2.4/3.1/3.8
• Soul Bind cooldown increased from 80/65/50 to 90/70/50

As expected by everyone, Grimstroke became the top support pick as soon as he was released into Captains Mode. This hero is going to get the Earth Spirit/Batrider treatment now. He is going to be nerfed more and more in the upcoming patches but he is still going to be picked in pro games. The concept of the hero is just way too strong and it will be really hard to balance him unless he is reworked. These nerfs in 7.20d

Phantom Assassin

• Phantom Strike attack speed duration reduced from 2.5 to 2.25
• Blur now has a 0.4 second cast point
• Coup de Grace damage reduced from 230/340/450% to 210/330/450%

One of the most broken heroes in 7.20. PA has a baffling 68% win-rate in over 62 matches in The Chongqing Major qualifiers. The cast point nerf is very interesting and I wonder how much it will affect the hero. I don’t think it is that hard of a nerf to stop the hero from being one of the strongest carries. The other nerfs from 7.20d are barely going to change anything about the hero.

Sand King

• Sand Storm cooldown from 40/32/24/16 to 40/34/28/22
• Burrow Strike stun duration from 1.9/2/2.1/2.2 to 1.6/1.8/2/2.2
• Level 15 Talent reduced from +50 Sand Storm DPS to +40

This hero has one of the highest win-rates currently and definitely needs some nerfs. Sand King was an absolute pain to play against in the laning phase and so his early game got a few nerfs here. These are extremely minor nerfs though. They will reduce his win-rate by a little but I doubt his pick-rate will get lowered.

Slark

• Leash distance increased from 350 to 400
• Shadow Dance movement speed reduced from 30/40/50% to 20/35/50%
• Level 25 Talent reduced from +100s Essense Shift Duration to +80s

Clearly one of the strongest heroes in the meta currently. Ever since Hex became dispellable and the Leash mechanic was added, this hero became a complete monster in the mid-late game. The nerfs he got in 7.20d here seem extremely minor and it will not be enough to stop this hero’s dominance. As a support player, I hope he gets a lot more nerfs in the upcoming patches.

Check out Valve’s post for a complete list of all changes in 7.20d.

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