Minor gameplay changes fall into place in Dota 2’s 7.08 patch

Three months after the whirlwind of 7.07, or the Dueling Fates update, Icefrog has released the 7.08 patch, or the Spring Cleaning 2018 update. It’s also the first in a series of gameplay patches that will be released every two weeks leading up to The International 8.

On one hand, Dota 2’s 7.08 gameplay patch is only a “minor” patch, the first of many in this grand experiment. But changes are changes, and it’ll be good to keep track in case you’re wondering why your Shackle feels a little squishy.

For instance, Alchemist isn’t just getting a mention because he’s at the top of the list—he’s seeing some major buffs to his talents, including some Unstable Concoction tweaks. Plus, he attacks a bit faster when you use his ult, Chemical Rage.

Lina’s also seeing changes, as her intelligence is increased, and she has a more narrow spread of damage, from 18 to 12. This means that she can do 6 more and less damage - less RNG, but more reliable.

Plus, Shadow Shaman got a few small hits that will be substantial to frequent players of this popular, aggressive support. His Ether Shock cooldown now scales, from 14 at earlier levels to 8 at its highest level. Shackles also do less damage over time in earlier levels, from 120 at level one to 60.

Meanwhile, in the realm of items, Battle Fury’s bonus damage for non-hero units doesn’t apply to illusions anymore, and the bonus itself has been reduced. Black King Bar’s cooldown is now a solid 70 seconds, and Blink Dagger’s was bumped up from 12 to 14.

On top of the hero and item changes, the Spring Cleaning update brought a few tweaks you need to know. We’ve included some of the highlights of these changes below—plus, the full listing of item and hero alterations that come with this patch.

UI/Gameplay Alterations

• Runes can now be pinged via the Minimap
• Buildings now show an effect when getting hit under backdoor protection
• Holding Alt now shows Sentry Ward AoE
• Disassembling is now allowed while dead
• Consumed Tomes now show up on the post game screen
• Skills can now be leveled up during a pause
• Buying items while dead will now go to your inventory directly, rather than the stash
• When returning to base with your items after failing to deliver due to death, the Courier will now put them back in your stash
• Wards will no longer combine from two different player sources
• Items now combine out of your stash immediately when you die (and not reincarnating), rather than waiting until you respawn
• Walking into shop range now clears backpack item move cooldowns
• Added allied visual effect to indicate which unit is the target for Tusk’s Snowball
• Added visual effect for the Death Pact buff
• Added a Psionic Trap buff counter

General Gameplay Updates

• Wards now require a constant 2 hits to kill (both Observer and Sentry Wards)
  [This means instead of requiring a certain amount of damage to reduce its HP, you just need to hit it twice.]
• Tier 1 Tower armor aura increased from 1 to 2
• Bounty Runes:
  Base XP reduced from 25 to 0
  Bounty Runes: Gold Growth increased from 2/min to 4/min
• Roshan now has 25% Status Resistance
• All Pick: Drafting time per hero selection reduced from 30 to 25 seconds

Items

Aeon Disk

• Health threshold reduced from 80% to 70%

Battle Fury

• Creep Bonus damage reduced from 60% to 50%
• Creep Bonus no longer works with illusions

Black King Bar

• Cooldown rescaled from 80/75/70/65/60/55 to 70

Blink Dagger

• Cooldown increased from 12 to 14

Enchanted Mango

• Mana restore increased from 150 to 175

Faerie Fire

• Heal increased from 75 to 85

Force Staff

• Time it takes for the full distance to be traveled increased from 0.4 to 0.5

Hurricane Pike

• Time it takes for the full distance to be traveled increased from 0.4 to 0.5
• Cooldown increased from 18 to 23

Meteor Hammer

• Cooldown reduced from 40 to 28

Soul Ring

• Recipe increased from 185 to 200

Spirit Vessel

• Recipe cost increased from 600 to 750

Heroes

Alchemist

• Chemical Rage base attack time improved from 1.4/1.2/1.0 to 1.3/1.15/1.0
• Level 10 Talent increased from -5s Unstable Concoction Cooldown to -8s
• Level 15 Talent increased from +350 Health to +400
• Level 20 Talent increased from +360 Unstable Concoction to +400

Ember Spirit

• Sleight of Fist Hero Damage increased from 20/40/60/80 to 25/50/75/100

Enchantress

• Base damage reduced by 3

Jakiro

• Reduced attack backswing from 0.5 to 0.3

Juggernaut

• Blade Dance damage reduced from 200% to 180%

Leshrac

• Split Earth manacost reduced from 100/125/140/160 to 80/100/120/140

Lina

• Base intelligence increased by 3
• Base damage random variance reduced from 18 min/max damage spread to 12

Lion

• Mana Drain now slows the target by 14/16/18/20%

Lycan

• Shapeshift cooldown increased from 120/90/60 to 130/105/80
• Base armor reduced by 1

Medusa

• Mystic Snake cast range reduced from 800 to 700
• Level 10 Talent increased from 12% Evasion to 15%
• Level 15 Talent increased from +15% Mystic Snake Mana Steal to +20%
• Level 20 Talent reduced from +800 Mana to +700

Morphling

• Morph cast range increased from 600 to 1000
• Morph manacost reduced from 75/100/125 to 50
• Morph Replicate cast point removed

Nature’s Prophet

• Wrath of Nature cooldown reduced from 90/75/60 to 70/65/60

Omniknight

• Degen Aura range reduced from 300 to 275
• Purification cast range reduced from 450 to 400

Oracle

• Fortune’s End manacost reduced from 110 to 75

Pangolier

• Rolling Thunder cooldown increased from 50/45/40 to 70/65/60

Pudge

• Rot slow rescaled from 30% to 20/24/28/32%

Pugna

• Level 15 Talent increased from +1 Nether Ward Health to +2
• Life Drain damage increased from 150/200/250 to 150/225/300 (Scepter now only removes cooldown)

Shadow Fiend

• Necromastry max souls reduced from 18/24/30/36 to 12/20/28/36

Shadow Shaman

• Ether Shock cooldown increased from 8 to 14/12/10/8
• Shackles total damage reduced from 120/200/280/360 to 60/160/260/360

Tinker

• Base movement speed reduced from 305 to 290

Tiny

• Toss cooldown increased from 8 to 11

Tusk

• Snowball can no longer be cast while rooted

Windranger

• Windrun manacost reduced from 60 to 50
• Level 20 Talent changed from +1 Shackleshot Target to +0.5s Shackleshot Duration
• Level 25 Talent from +30% Ministun Focus Fire to +35%