Why Dota 2 Patch 7.36a Was Necessary

Dota 2 patch 7.36 introduced massive changes to the game, giving each hero two new characteristics: an innate ability and a facet. Combined with numerous buffs, nerfs, and ability reworks, these characteristics created a completely different meta.

But the problem was that some heroes became overpowered literally overnight, while others became unplayable. Two heroes that started to be picked a lot were Templar Assassin and Juggernaut. Their win rates had increased by more than 8%, which is a rarity in Dota 2.

Usually, the goal of a patch is to increase or decrease the win rate of a hero by several percentage points. But when the buff or the nerf proves to be stronger than anticipated, it can quickly lead to a huge imbalance.

The Ridiculous Buffs

Here are just two examples of buffs that made some heroes highly attractive after Dota 2 patch 7.36.

Templar Assassin, who had been one of the least successful heroes in the game, had her Psi Blades turned into her innate ability, in a way that removed the need to put a point in Psi Blades early on. On top of that, her base HP regen was increased by 0.75, her base attack time by 0.1s, her attack range by 50, and her attack projectile by 100.

Furthermore, her Refractor facet gave her twice as many damage instances for each Refraction. And the ability itself gained a health barrier that blocked 60 damage per block instance. This meant that TA could often block two or even three attacks per instance instead of one.

In Dota 2 patch 7.36a, the barrier was decreased from 60 damage to 50 damage. Meld was also nerfed from 260 damage to 235 damage. And the range of Psi Blades was reduced from 550 – 750 to 350 – 700. This makes it harder for TA players to harass lane opponents without putting at least one point in this ability.

For Juggernaut, Dota 2 patch 7.36 gave him a +10% damage against opponents that face him and two powerful facets that further increase his damage. Plus other bonuses: Blade Fury applies a strong dispel when it expires while Blade Dance’s critical chance is always 35%. What varies now is the critical damage percentage.

Dota 2 patch 7.36a nerfed Bladeform’s linger duration by 1s and the agility gained per stack by 1%. It also nerfed Blade Fury’s damage per tick by 5, the bonus damage of Omnislash by 5, and the mana cost of Swiftslash by 25. The cast range of this last ability was reduced by 100.

Header: Valve