Dota 2: A noob’s guide to Patch 7.06 general changes
Valve has released a new patch (7.06) for Dota 2 and it is filled with surprises. From creeps, items, and heroes to shrines, buildings and neutrals, IceFrog did a lot of rework to the game. Dota 2 has now reverted to the game it used to be from the insane fighting game it is now.
Let us dive into the details of patch 7.06 and analyse each and every aspect and how it affects the gameplay.
1.Deny Mechanics
1.1 – Creep denies now grant the denying team 30% of the XP bounty
This change looks very simple to the naked eye but further analysis shows how it adversely affects the midlane. Previously, the denying team used to get no XP while the opposing team used to get only 50% of the XP. But, this rework adds a bonus 30% XP to the denying team. This means that you level up much faster as you deny your own creeps. Midlaners like Invoker benefit from this a lot.
Given a little head start, a ranged hero with a high damage output can easily outgun the enemy midlaner. The 30% the opposing midlaner loses is gained by the denying team.
1.2 – Normal deny XP increased from 50% to 70%
Before 7.06, the denying team used to get no XP bonus while the opposing team used to get 50% of the XP. This time around, the XP gained by the opposing team has been increased to 70%. But, there is a catch to this. The denying team gets the remaining 30% of the XP.
This change discourages people from abandoning their lanes and going into the jungle to farm. Therefore, a free lane is a boon to the opposition as they get more XP and can snowball harder.
Look out for more denies being made than usual in the professional scene.
Statistics
Pre-7.06
Let us assume that a creep gives 100 XP. A deny gives the denying team no XP while 50 XP is given to the opposing team. Here, the XP difference for a single deny is 50. For two denies, the XP difference is 100 and so on.
7.06
Let us stick to the same assumptions. A deny gives the denying team 30 XP while the opposing team gets 70 XP. Here, the XP difference is 40. So, each deny increases the the difference but it is less than the pre 7.06 patch.
As the number of denies increase the XP difference becomes lower than the pre 7.06 times.
2.Shrines
2.1 – Shrines now start on cooldown and become available at 5 minutes
IceFrog had already made the offlaner’s job much more difficult by nerfing the iron talon. But, the introduction of Shrines made it a lot easier for them to breathe. This time around, the shrines have been nerfed as they have a initial cooldown time of 5 minutes. Therefore, the offlaner cannot play aggressively in the first 5 minutes of the game.
Any sign of an aggressive play is punished as the offlaner has to go all the way to the base to replenish his health and mana. In the meantime, the safelaners can secure the last hits and also the denies and can start snowballing early in the game.
Be careful offlaners!
2.2 – Reduced Shrine count in base from 5 to 3
The number of Shrines in the base have been reduced from 5 to 3, making the job of high ground push easier than before. 3 shrines in the base also means that the players have to make trips to the fountain more frequently than before.
2.3 – Shrines mana regeneration growth per minute reduced from 1 to 0.75
This again, is a small nerf to the shrines as the mana regeneration growth has been reduced from 1 per minute to 0.75 per minute. Therefore, in a game, the mana regeneration becomes 75% of what it used to be before the patch.
Next: The post Kiev Major Shuffle Mega Thread
3.Lanes
3.1 – Added an extra melee creep in mid lane for the first 15 minutes
An extra melee creep has been added in the midlane for the first 15 minutes before the creeps are upgraded. This means, there is a chance for the midlaners to gain more XP than usual by claiming the deny as well as the last hit. Midlane mechanics are going to change a lot in the coming days.
3.2 – Creeps meet a bit closer to the offlane tower
Like a shining light in a sinking ship, IceFrog has granted a small buff to the offlaners by letting the creeps meet a little closer to their tower. If the offlaners can deny their own creeps, they can farm right under their tower.
3.3 – Creep aggro duration reduced from 2.5 to 2.3
Creep aggro duration has been reduced from 2.5 seconds to 2.3 seconds. This means that the creeps hunt you for a lesser amount of time. Therefore, you can easily harass your opponent and take less damage than usual from the creep aggro. This again, is a huge nerf to the offlaner as a ranged safelaner can harass the offlaner with ease.
3.4 – Creep aggro cooldown increased from 2.5 to 3.0
A big nerf to the offlaner again. A ranged safelane support can easily harass the offlaner without having to worry about the creep aggro for an additional time of 0.5 seconds. This might seem to be a slight nerf. In fact , it is going to play a huge role in the early game with the shrines activating 5 minutes after the game starts.
3.5 – Lane creeps vision reduced from 850/800 to 750
A nerf to a ranged midlaner as they cannot target a melee target from huge distances now as the ranged as well as the melee creeps give only a vision advantage of 750 units.
4.Neutrals
4.1 – Neutrals now spawn every minute instead of every 2 minutes
This is actually a buff for junglers and carries in the game. Instead of spawning once every two minutes, the neutral camps now spawn once every minute. This means more neutrals to be farmed in the jungle.
4.2 – Neutrals now give 20% less XP and Gold
Neutrals spawning every minute is a big buff but has to come with some price. Therefore, the neutrals now give 20% less XP and gold.
Let us do some calculations here. Assume that a neutral camp has 3 creeps that give 100 gold and 100 XP each. That amounts to 300 gold and 300 XP in one camp. Let this assumption be for the pre-7.06 patch. After reducing the 20% XP and gold, you get 80 XP and 80 gold per creep. So, you get 240 gold and 240 XP per camp. But, if you stack the camp, you get 480 XP and 480 gold in two minutes. As a result, you have a 60% increase in XP and gold if you stack your camps. Huge boost!
4.3 – Neutrals XP and Gold now increased by 2% every 7.5 minutes
Neutrals XP and gold now increases by 2% every 7.5 minutes. So, in a typical 45 minute game, you get a 12.6% XP and gold increase by the end of the game.
5.Creeps
5.1 – Siege damage type vs structures increased from 150% to 250%
5.2 – Siege creeps HP increased from 550 to 825
With both these buffs to the siege creeps, timed pushes become more popular as one wave can clear both the tier one and tier two towers.
5.3 – Siege creeps spawn rate reduced from every 7th wave to every 10th wave
Huge buffs must also bring some nerfs to the siege creeps. Now, instead of spawning every 7th wave, they spawn on the 10th wave. Therefore, timed pushes are really important.
5.4 – Extra Ranged/Siege creeps now spawn at 40 minutes instead of 45
This change is to end the games earlier instead of prolonged games like the ones this patch.
6.Attributes
6.1 – All hero strength growth increased by 0.3
A HP boost to all the heroes means that teamfights under enemy towers seem to be a little more difficult.
6.2 – Regeneration coming from strength increased from 0.03 HP per point of Strength to 0.06
The regeneration coming from one point of strength has doubled now. If you have 20 strength , you used to get a regeneration of 0.6. But now, you get a regeneration of 1.2. Junglers viable again?
6.3 – Reduced base HP regen by 0.25
6.4 – Intelligence’s Spell Amplification from 1% per 15 to 1% per 14
This may seem like a very small change but as the intelligence increases, we can see a big change in the spell amplification.
6.5 – Mana per point of Intelligence reduced from 12 to 11
Now, per point of Intelligence gives 11 mana instead of 12. So, if you have 30 intelligence, you are getting 30 mana less than before.
6.6 – Base mana increased from 50 to 75
Base mana has been increased from 50 to 75 to cover up for the mana reduction per point of intelligence. This is actually a nerf for intelligence heroes like Silencer, Skywrath Mage as their mana pool mostly depends on their intelligence.
7.Economy
7.1 – Reduced melee creeps base XP bounty from 45 to 40
Due to the extra addition of one melee creep in the midlane, the gold bounty on all the melee creeps has been decreased.
7.2 – Reduced melee creep gold bounty upgrade from 3 gold per cycle to 1 gold per cycle
7.3 – Melee/Ranged Barracks team bounty reduced from 275/225 to 225/150 to each player
7.4 – Roshan team bounty reduced from 200 to 150
7.5 – Shrine team bounty from reduced 150 to 125
7.6 – Death cost from 100 + NW/50 to 50 + NW/40
7.7 – Tier 3 Tower Team Bounty from 240 to 200
7.8 – Tier 4 Tower Team Bounty from 280 to 200
Changes from 7.4 to 7.8 are changes made to counter balance buffs to pushing.
8.Remaining Significant Changes
8.1 – Roshan now drops cheese from the second death instead of the third
We are now going to see early Roshan lineups so that Cheese, a very important part of a team’s play can be obtained really early.
8.2 – Illusion gold/XP bounty from 5 + Level to 2 * Level
8.3 – Illusion building damage reduction from 50% to 60%
Both the above changes are heavy nerfs to illusions as they deal less damage to buildings and and give more gold and XP bounty at higher levels.
8.4 – Buyback cooldown increased from 7 minutes to 8 minutes
Buyback cooldown has been increased from 7 minutes to 8 minutes so that the games which drag on for a long time finish much before.
If you want to see an entire overview, you can watch Nahaz’s video on Patch 7.06. The video is 44 minutes long. So, take your time and watch it while we analyse hero buffs and nerfs in our next article.