Supporting the Supports – Dota 2 Patch 7.09

Just two weeks after the last Dota 2 patch came out, we now have a new one: patch 7.09. Valve has certainly kept its “one smaller patch every two weeks” promise and yesterday the game went through some pretty important changes. The support players among us (you didn’t know they exist, did you?) are certainly celebrating as this new patch has made them a lot richer in the early stages of the game.

As a result of patch 7.09, heroes now start the game with 600 gold instead of 625, but compensation for this loss comes in several ways, making teams richer not poorer at the beginning of a match.

The courier cost was reduced from 200 to 50 gold. So, the poor position 5 support (aka the unlucky guy who draws the short straw and buys the courier) now has plenty of gold left to buy consumables and other useful items right out of the gate.

The initial bounty runes, instead of granting 100 gold to the hero that picks them up, grant 40 gold to everyone on the team. This means that mid and carry players no longer have to expose themselves to the risk of being ganked in order to gain some extra gold. It also means that mid laners no longer need assistance with blocking the first creep wave.

Assuming that both teams get 2 of the 4 initial bounty runes, that gives each team 400 extra gold to spend on items and consumables. The total gold difference for each team at the start of the match (compared to the previous amount) is 400 (initial bounty runes) + 150 (cheaper courier) – 125 (-25 starting gold per player) = 425. Overall, this makes supports a lot more capable and resourceful in the laning phase.

Another important change in patch 7.09 is the way in which stacking neutral camps works and the rewards it offers. A sound is now played each time a camp is stacked and the stacked neutrals have a buff with the stacker’s hero on it. Killing a neutral camp stack gives 15% additional gold to the hero that stacked it.

No doubt, this will encourage a lot of cores to buy a Helm of the Dominator and stack their own camps.

Besides these changes there are a few others of smaller importance. Once has to do with Tangoes: this consumable item now costs 90 gold and has 3 charges, allowing for more flexibility at the start of the game. Another change is related to the Tier 1 mid lane towers, which have been moved a bit closer to the river. This makes diving the mid lane hero in the laning phase a bit more risky.

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