Breaking down the most important item changes of patch 7.07

Nobody would argue that the Dueling Fates update did some serious work to the game, from the heroes to lanes and everything in between. Items were certainly not left out of the question, as while five new items were introduced and many of the existing purchases have been reworked.

Some of these changes are more stats-focused, though they pretty significantly change the way you’ll be building them. Core components of many of these items have been changed around, meaning that the final items will be seeing changes. Perhaps you’ll be more or less likely to casually carry these components as you wait for the others to roll in.

A few changes refocus the practicality and purpose of the item altogether, altering some important passive procs, like with Monkey King Bar, and actives like Diffusal Blade’s.

There’s no mistake that these changes will affect the way you execute your hero builds, so get brushed up on the biggest changes below.

Iron Talon and Poor Man’s Shield are no more

Think before you pick up slippers and a ring, as two items have been entirely removed from the game for their own respective reasons. Iron Talon, the anti-creep/neutral item, and Poor Man’s Shield have made their way to the Dota 2 item graveyard.

Iron Talon was pretty controversial, as it was considered an enabler to one of the meta’s most despised strategies, the jungle Legion Commander. And for Poor Man’s Shield, its loss may not be the worst tragedy in the world either, as you can’t actually build it into anything.

Aether Lens doesn’t have spell amplification anymore

Aether Lens used to provide a powerful cocktail of pro-Intelligence stats, including some spell amplification, but that aspect has been removed. We’re not quite sure why they got rid of this one; maybe it was a bit too powerful combined with the innate spell amplification of Intelligence heroes, who were the most likely buyers.

This doesn’t make it a bad pickup, though. All of the other stats have been drastically increased, including +30 cast range, an extra 200 mana and another 25% mana regen. Maybe it’s better than before. Almost too good.

Diffusal Blade doesn’t purge anymore

In the wake of it being just plain difficult to play against, Diffusal Blade got a serious rework, as its dispel that comes with Purge, its active ability, has been removed. Plus, it’s not upgrade-able anymore—what you get is what you get.

To compensate, there are no active charge limits anymore, and the rest of the item’s perks remain intact.

Monkey King Bar got a serious rework

The rework of Monkey King Bar shifts its purpose while keeping its damage-per-second buyers in mind. Mainly, the core item, Demon Edge, has been swapped out for the Hyper Stone, swapping out the damage for some attack speed.

The way damage works is the kicker in these changes. Previously, the True Strike perk was the main reason for this pickup. Now, this has been swapped out for Accuracy, making the miss chance nonzero for the MKB holder.

The ministun/magic-damage proc has also been swapped out, and a new Pure damage proc has been included. This requires a bit of explanation: Accuracy is applied as a debuff to the enemy, instead of it just being a chance, on its own, that the attack hits or misses. So, anytime this Accuracy procs, the Pure damage is applied. Since the old MKB used magic damage, this is a bit of a buff against spell and magic immunity.

Necronomicon’s recipe and Archer have changed

With an item change and an ability swap, the Necronomicon has been given some tweaks that pushers should know about. Archer had Mana Burn removed, but in favor, he’s been given the old Diffusal Blade-style Purge: a slow and a dispel, with a 15-second cooldown.

“Are We Heroes Yet?” Wallpaper/Valve

The Staff of Wizardry has also been taken out in favor of two Sage’s Masks. As part of this change, the mana regeneration now scales with the recipe as well, up to 150%.

Battle Fury got some tweaks

Now it’s harder to farm on the way to a Battle Fury (which is, ironically, used as a farming tool). Instead of the Claymore and Broadsword, which could be casually carried while farming, it requires a Demon Edge.

This makes the recipe 400 gold cheaper, at the cost of 5 damage. The item perks have been changed to make up for it, as the cleave distance has been bumped up, from 570 to 625, and the radius of the cleave is up as well.

Bloodstone is back to its old recipe

About three years ago, Bloodstone saw a major recipe change: Perseverance, the combination of Soul Ring and Void Stone, was replaced by Soul Ring and a recipe. Now, Bloodstone has returned to that recipe of old, requiring the Perseverance once again.

Another notable change is that it no longer has the area-of-effect heal when you die.

Early-game items have shifted

If you’re confused about why your support budget seems off, it’s likely because of the changes they’ve made to some early-game items. Possibly the biggest one is the price change of the courier, from 100 to 200 gold, though supports don’t need to worry about the flying courier since it upgrades automatically now.

Soul Ring sees a complete recipe overhaul, now requiring a Ring of Regeneration, two Gauntlets of Strength and a recipe for some serious tank potential. The Magic Wand requires a tango instead of a Circlet, bringing down the price by 65, though it kills some stats in favor of HP regen.

Tangos are now 150 gold from 125, but there are five instead of four, and Orb of Venom’s proc doesn’t disable enemy’s buffs nor Blink.

Plus, a bunch of early-game items have been given price shifts, most of which are lower now.

If you play a variety of heroes and styles and want to keep in the know, check out the official Dueling Fates update page for all of the item changes.