Dota 2 patch 7.36c hurt a lot of heroes. But some of them were nerfed more than others. In some cases, to the point where even specialists with hundreds of games will need to think twice before picking them.
Here are some of the biggest nerfs introduced by Dota 2 patch 7.36c.
Item-Based Nerfs
Heroes that love to buy Bloodthorn, Phylactery, Arcane Blink, and Radiance were nerfed indirectly because these items are now considerably weaker or more expensive than before. Bloodthorn no longer deals Soul Rend damage if the target manages to remove the silence before it expires.
Since this is often the case, spending almost 7000 gold on the item is almost never worth it. You’re throwing away around 3000 gold in the process if you cannot effectively silence enemies and have a guaranteed way of dealing substantial amounts of extra damage.
Some heroes used to purchase Arcane Blink for its low cooldown. But now the cooldown is 9s instead of 7s, which means that the effect is far less impressive. A casual Blink Dagger has a 15s cooldown and costs more than 4500 gold less than Arcane Blink. The staggering difference is simply not worth it for an improved cooldown.
Hero Nerfs
Valve
The heroes that were hit the hardest by Dota 2 patch 7.36c are Lifestealer, Templar Assassin, Dark Willow, Bounty Hunter, and Witch Doctor.
LS can no longer gain a lot of permanent HP just by killing creeps. The amount was reduced by 50%. On top of that, his Open Wounds now slows by 35% at level 1 instead of 50%. These two nerfs reduced the hero’s win rate from nearly 55% to 49%.
Templar Assassin also lost more than 4%. Her win rate is now close to 45.3%, which is abysmal. The difference was made by several nerfs.
Refraction’s Barrier is now 30 at all levels instead of 20 – 50. Psionic Trap slows by just 20% instead of 30% if you activate it immediately after you place it down, which is exactly what you’ll do in most cases. The level 10 talent gives just +20 Refraction damage instead of +25. The level 25 talent gives just +3 Refraction instances instead of +5.
Dark Willow’s win rate dropped by 3.1%. Her Bramble Maze was severely nerfed in two ways. The duration of the brambles is much lower than before and Bedlam can no longer be cast on allies. These nerfs were enough to make Dark Willow much weaker in a lot of matchups.
Bounty Hunter’s Track Duration was reduced by 5s. Its damage amplification was reduced by 2% at all levels. These apparently small nerfs lowered the hero’s win rate by 3%.
Witch Doctor was nerfed again, for the nth time, simply because his pick rate was 25% and his win rate was close to 54%. His win rate dropped by around 3% and his pick rate by almost 6%. The nerfs had to do with Voodoo Restoration. The facet Voodoo Festeration gives the ability a radius of 750 instead of 850 and the self-heal is now just 25% instead of 50%.
Header: Valve
