Dota 2 Patch 7.27 – Venture into new meta and item builds

Players rejoice as Dota 2 receives its much needed major update immediately after the BEYOND EPIC League concluded. It has certainly been a while since the Dota 2 game last got updated with significant changes. This time around, it seems like Icefrog has opted to tweak item mechanics instead of the heroes.

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Dota 2 Zoo Meta is over

Perhaps the most frustrating “cheese pick” to encounter in-game is Lycan with Necronomicon. Lycan specializes in providing incredible buffs to summon units. Include another pushing hero such as Nature’s Prophet or Beastmaster, and it would be an impossible line-up to fight against.

Depicted as the “Zoo Meta”, it’s no stranger in the pro scene either, with Lycan and Beastmaster being the most banned heroes at BEYOND EPIC league. Although Lycan did not receive direct nerfs, his win rate still took a deep blow from 52% to 46%. All thanks to the modifications on his go-to item, Necronomicon, mainly the removal of Archer Aura, which provides movement and attack speed buff to destroy buildings faster.

We’re all Centaurs now

Ever got into a match and somebody just banned Centaur? It must have been a real bummer. Well, fret not, as the item Blade Mail now has a passive ability which has a 20% chance of returning damage inflicted by the attacker. In layman’s terms, Blade Mail gives any hero a taste of Centaur’s passive ability, Retaliate.

It was a refreshing change to Blade Mail’s item mechanic until people found how overpowered it is to have multiple Blade Mails. Players bought up to 6 Blade Mails in a game because the passive effect was stackable upon each other.

This led to frustrating games for opponents as they could not do anything to the abusers. It’s actually ridiculous that a scenario this wild was not tested before it was released to the public. Well, it’s not the first time something similar happened.

Thirsty for Mana

A rather obscure nerf to mana-reliant heroes is the tweaks on the Sage’s Mask item.

Often purchased by support heroes as starting item, the item received a slight 22% discount, however, at the cost of drastically reduced effectiveness in mana regen. Players would now need to purchase more mana regen consumables such as Clarity or Mango during the laning phase. To put a cherry on top, couriers now have 15% lower movement speed when carrying consumables. Therefore, support players who want to continuously spam their skills will not be enjoying these massive nerfs.

Nonetheless, this might just promote unconventional right-clicking support heroes who benefit from health regen items. Unlike the Sage’s Mask, the Ring of Regeneration also received a similar reduction in cost but still has decent health regen to trade blows while harassing foes.

Putting an end to Axe Backdooring

Abundantly performed in low-level pub games, the fun yet irritating method to play Axe is to simply cut the creep wave behind the first enemy tower. This causes the lane to push further into the enemy tower. Unless the opponents have practical wave clearing skills, it would be rather frustrating to miss last hits on creeps.

With new 7.27 update, lane creeps will not be aggroed by the enemy hero if there’s no nearby opposing hero. In the pro scene, however, there’s a more conventional application of creep aggro. Teams would pull the enemy creeps all the way to their tower as it will affect the enemy team’s lane equilibrium while maintaining their own.

Initially, the first wave of creeps are not affected by hero aggro to avoid teams from performing the ridiculous tactic. But all it did was prolong the inevitable. Anyways, we are just glad to sweep the awful Axe Backdoor meta under the blankets.

Goodbye, Purple Ancient creeps

Last but not least, perhaps the most supported change from the patch, which is the removal of the Prowler Camp. More commonly known as the Purple Ancient creep, the neutral creep has been irritating to deal with ever since its introduction from patch 7.00.

Finally, after 4 years, players can have ease of mind when stacking the Ancient camp without the fear of spawning these abominations.

Farewell, Purple Ancient creep, you won’t be missed.

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