In 7.20, Dragon Knight is still a stalwart of the midlane, and now his armor passive is even more efficient with the general changes. Monkey King got a free Manta dodge, and Meepo continues to completely dominate games. But the patch has also brought forth some interesting, new heroes into the meta. A few support heroes can now also be played as cores, giving captains the type of flex pick to disguise their lineups.
At first blush, Drow's 7.20 changes were heavy nerfs. But some tweaking in 7.20b, then the addition of a proc of 120 damage in 7.20c has brought her pack. She's without her Agility ultimate and the natural survivability and armor that came with it, but now she farms exceptionally quick at just level 6. Traditionally a safelane carry, a few teams have been demonstrating her viability in the midlane, to great effect.
In the Bucharest Minor, OG.Topson hit 740GPM in 20 minutes with essentially just Wraith Bands and a Blink Dagger. While he did have a team buy him space and stack his ancients, Drow Ranger is sufficient enough with so few items that she might see a rise in pubs as well.
Rubick's Fade Bolt has always been a valuable laning tool, and now it's become a nuisance when playing against him in the mid lane. He's had his base damage increased, and a new passive, Arcane Supremacy, that makes the spells he steals better than your own. Telekinesis has since been nerfed, but that hasn't changed the skill build or the effectiveness of mid Rubick players. Fade Bolt with two Nulls and level 4 in Arcane Supremacy deals close to 425 damage before reductions. Add a stolen spell on top of it and Rubick can set the tempo for the mid game.
Since his rework, Outworld Devourer may have one of the lowest winrates of the patch, but the hero is finding much success in both upper skill brackets and competitive play. Managing his mana is no longer automatic, but he can still sustain his own mana pool with the new Equilbrium. All it takes is one Astral Imprisonment on a creep wave to essentially replenish his mana pool. He's benefitted from the new Null Talisman and Kaya derivatives, and now he has a slow and a means to flash farm. He still retains the weaknesses he has before, but he's also able to detonate enemy heroes with just a handful of Null Talismans and a Kaya.
Huskar lost his magic resistance, but gained a 2-for-1 deal with Inner Vitality essentially embedding with Beserker's Blood. His win rate has increased by 7 points, from 47% in 7.19 to 54% in just the past week. All his talents received considerable buffs, he's no longer mana dependent for his regeneration, and Bracers now gives efficient tankiness for Strength heroes. He still has a matchup disadvantage against the hero of this patch--Phantom Assassin--but now he has a disarm, with the new Inner Fire, to mitigate some of his weaknesses.
While traditionally a support, Dazzle has been favored as a core hero by quite a few professional teams. PSG.LGD runs the hero offlane, while Liquid has Matumbaman use him in the midlane. His Bad Juju was recently nerfed, and though he's no longer the first round pick/ban tier we saw at the Chongqing Major, he still offers too much to his team to be ignored. Guardian Greaves on just a 20 second cooldown is close to broken, and its passive armor boost, +15 to heroes below 20% health, is more efficient than before with the rework to armor's formula.
The hero also happens to pair well with Phantom Assassin, as well as being a great hero to counter her as well. Against Na'Vi in the Megafon Winter grand finals, Team Liquid's Dazzle and Io provided enough sustain to outlast PA's damage, at least for the duration of her BKB.
First yeah Baby
second bitch
Т Р Е Т И Й, расчет окончен
nerfed
5th
Шестой игрок
420th is too short
I really hope we get away from this Bracer-Wraith-Null meta soon, its boring seeing every hero go stat items at the beginning of the game. It remember there was a patch before 7.00 when a lot of cores would level stats over their normal skills because it was more efficient; that was also removed because its boring af
Edit: I've just seen the patch notes and am now very happy :D
karl 7.20
Дазл надежен в про руке
Ну такое
*as well as being a great hero to counter her as well*
Otherwise, great article, keep it up :)
Haha we had nothing forever and then suddenly ABCDE PATCH BOYYYYYYYYYYY
I’m not a fan of stacking the stat items. Like Peelioka said, they removed being able to level stats for a reason. Though I previously suggested that they re-add leveling stats in a reduced form(+1 only instead of the +2 from before) just so that leveling up between 19-25 doesn’t feel empty
@ETdAWESOME
Removing stat strats messed with a lot of heroes, the one that comes to mind immediately for me is Drow. Frost arrows is...fine...but getting nothing but stats, a point in silence, and aura was my bread and butter for winning games during my baby dota days. That and infuriating offlaners with kotl blast. I really would love to see it come back, it adds depth without ambiguity as I feel the talents somewhat do.
Rubick, od, dazzle but not medusa :)
Ищу 4к+ бога,отсосу за ммр,мур
879192057
Everyone can go mid except Peruvian people