Well, it’s not Crownfall Act IV, but nevertheless Dota 2 received a new patch today in the form of gameplay update 7.37d. The patch, released by developer Valve late on Oct. 1 for North America, or in the small hours of the morning for the rest of the world, has made some big tweaks to items and some smaller fixes to heroes.
The biggest victim, current favorites Arcane Boots and Gleipnir. The (formerly) cheap items with a lot of utility both got hit with increases to their costs, with Arcane Boots’ recipe going up to 475, and Gleipnir’s recipe to 550.
Image Credit: Valve
Beyond the costs, Arcane Boots now give less mana regen and the replenished mana active has been nerfed from 175-150. For Gleipnir, the nerfs are worse, with the damage, attack speed, health bonus and chain lightning damage all getting nerfed.
Speaking of health bonuses getting nerfed, Valve also seems have made some efforts to tackle the much-discussed health creep that’s seen heroes regularly become unkillable tanks. Solar Crest get a nerf, and Spirit Vessel got a buff, meaning high health targets are probably going to have, well, less health.
In another dramatic change, the “stats double at 25” series of items, Bracer, Null Talisman, and Wraith Band, now no longer double their stats. This is a strange change, but hard to question at the moment.
Heroe-wise, some of the most frustrating heroes from TI13 got hit with nerfs, with Dragon Knight, Lone Druid, Luna, Monkey King, and Windranger all getting hit by nerfs, deservedly. Notably Windranger got her whirlwind facet, the one that lets you kill everyone around you at the press of one button, that made her one of the best heroes at TI13, severely nerfed.
Lone Druid, a hero that has perhaps caused 50% of all the bugs in Dota 2 this year had his Bear Necessities facet nerfed, meaning now you might not find unkillable spirit bears ruining your games anymore.
There’s also been some attempts to make Tusk’s other Facet, Tag Team, a little bit more appealing, but honestly, Drinking Buddies still looks like the better option.
These changes will definitely affect the upcoming DreamLeague Season 24, so adjust any of your Dota 2 betting expectations, especially if the teams had Windranger or Tusk mains.
Overall, the biggest thing is that this isn’t Act IV of Crownfall. Instead, with Dota 2 patch 7.37d we get the new Crownfall Cache II and these needed balances. Still, it would have been nice to get the hero and new Act we were expecting!
