The moment fans have been waiting for has arrived. Yesterday, Valve released Patch 7.20 for Dota 2 as promised by them following the conclusion of The Kuala Lumpur Major.
Patch 7.19 lasted longer than expected for most of the Dota 2 community, 4 months after the conclusion of The International 2018. Patch 7.20 brought in major changes such as reworks, new items and mechanic removals.
Main Highlights
The main highlight of Patch 7.20 is the removal of the item, Ring of Aquila. The item is a staple early game pick-up for agility carries. Even offlane tanks buy the item once in a while due to its benefits to stats, mana regeneration and armor. The Ring of Aquila joins the exclusive group of removed great items along with the Iron Talon and Poor Man’s Shield.
Terrorblade, the meta pick in Patch 7.19, did not suffer much negative changes contrary to the community’s expectations. The hero was considered one of the strongest hero of the patch due to his ability to farm quickly and safely at the same time. To further highlight his strength, teams contested for the Terrorblade in 81 games during The Kuala Lumpur Major. Teams picked him 49 times and banned 32 times. At 49 picks, Terrorblade had the highest for a hero during the tournament. In 7.20, he only suffered nerfs to his ultimate (no longer pierce magic immunity) and cooldown of his basic skill, Reflection. The changes do not affect his ability to escalate into a monstrous late game powerhouse.
Most of the heroes affected by the patch went through ability reworks. However, nothing can be said whether the changes are positive or negative as the patch is only a day old. Some of the reworks brought in interesting mechanics. One of them is Brewmaster‘s ability rework which allow him to combo with “fire element” effects. Another interesting change is Ogre Magi‘s ultimate affecting offensive-cast items.
New items and item reworks were added in 7.20 such as the Holy Locket and Ring of Tarrasque. These additions give players variations in build for their favourite heroes. An important note is that these new items affect the recipes of some of the items in-game.
Map Rework
Patch 7.20 introduced a rework to the map. One of the main changes in the reworked map is the spawn points of Bounty Runes. These new spawn points encourage teams to aggressively contest Bounty Runes. Previously in 7.19, the runes spawn on higher elevation thus teams have to risk running up high ground to contest the runes. However, the runes now spawn in much lower ground in 7.20 due to the rework.
Other changes
Several other game mechanics were altered or added into the game in Patch 7.20. Some of the notable changes are:
- Change to ‘Root’ mechanic – ‘Root’ now stops teleport and mobility but no longer stops channeling.
- New ‘Leash’ mechanic – Similar to ‘Root’ but allows normal movement. Only applied to certain heroes.
- Boots now give percentage-based movement speed instead of flat amount
- Teleport scroll now has its own item slot and hotkey
- More spells and passives no longer pierce spell immunity (mostly slows)
- Secret and side shops now highlight available items instead of showing a filtered view
For the full list of changes in Dota 2 Patch 7.20, you can check it out here.
Feature image from Valve.
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