Dota 2 patch 7.34b analysis

IceFrog is known to release the b version of a patch soon after the patch itself. This prevents players from gaining too much MMR by exploiting the overpowered heroes. It also helps to eliminate some of the biggest bugs before they become extremely irritating.

Dota 2 patch 7.34 turned a lot of heroes into complete monsters. Sand King, Witch Doctor, Slardar, and Invoker are just some of the names. Patch 7.34b sought to dial their power down a notch or two. It remains to be seen what their impact will be. But they’re certainly much weaker now than they were at the start of the patch.

Important changes introduced by Dota 2 patch 7.34b

Patch 7.34b introduced a long list of changes and some of the most significant ones are nerfs.

Invoker had his base armor decreased by 1. But that’s not the biggest nerf. His Wex no longer reduces the cooldown of items. And his Ghost Walk offers only around half of the regen it did before. If the hero takes damage from a player or a player-controlled unit, his regen is nullified for 3 seconds.

Invoker’s talents suffered as well. The Tornado talent (10) reduces cooldown by 4s instead of 6s. The Cold Snap talent (15) reduces cooldown by 5s instead of 8s.

All of these nerfs will make Invoker spammers think twice before picking the hero.

Witch Doctor’s nerfs are also severe. His base damage was reduced by 3, his intelligence gain per level is now just 3.1 instead of 3.3, and his Death Ward has a cooldown of 100s instead of 60s at level 1. Its attack range is 600 instead of 700. The damage is still the same, but you’ll get to use it far less frequently.

Slardar’s Bash of the Deep deals just 32 damage when sitting in water instead of 40. The level 10 talent reduces the hero’s Guardian Sprint cooldown by 2s instead of 3s. These nerfs will not deter people from playing Slardar. He’s still one of the most OP heroes of this patch.

Sand Storm used to be the highest win rate hero in the game. But now, all of his abilities have been nerfed, as well as his base damage, which was decreased by 2. Burrowstrike lost 20 damage, Sand Storm lost 75 MS at level 1, Epicenter pulses every 3.5s instead of every 2.5s when you have a Shard. And the slows are just 50% as effective.

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