Dota 2: Effect of Hex in Patch 7.07

Over two years ago, in patch 6.84, the Hex mechanic was nerfed the most in Dota history – it no longer applied the “break” mechanism on champions (removing the passive abilities of hexed heroes), equivalent to Reduces the power of the strongest disable in the game. That patch also introduced the Lotus Orb into the game – a dispel item that can be cast on allies. Lotus Orb limits Hex’s usefulness and increases counter potential. And over the past two years, Hex hasn’t been able to compare to Stun – for the same amount of time, Stun has always been superior.

7.07 changes it completely, turning Hex into a super powerful disable again. It doesn’t have a “break” mechanism and Hex’s duration is still reduced by Status Resistance, but it can no longer be dispelled, meaning nothing can counter it. You can Force Staff an ally from being focused, use a Dark Seer’s Surge, or prevent an ally from dying with a Shallow Grave, but there’s no way to reduce the Hex duration. This has fundamentally changed the game, with many heroes now becoming less useful or easier to deal with. This article will look at how Hex changed the game and which heroes suffer and benefit from this.

CORES

Two carries were heavily nerfed during 7.06-7.07. One of these two heroes has a strong self-dispel, while the other revolves around capture and retention. Ursa and Slark become weaker in the new patch, even though the game only has three things that can Hex heroes back. As mentioned above, Slark is heavily affected. Before that, dealing with slark often had to use AoE disables, kiting (running around) and wide vision. Now, with just one Hex, your team can stun Slark repeatedly to death without the hero being able to do anything to trigger Shadow Dance to escape. Both Shadow Shaman and Lion have more than enough power to prolong their disables and deal massive amounts of damage.

Similarly, many of the core’s moves are also nerfed. Abaddon and Legion Commander could not save teammates. Especially with Abaddon, it’s now not possible to get out of disable on its own by turning on his ultimate. Omniknight is also on this list, but Repel is more active, so Omniknight’s power is not reduced much.

Finally there’s Tidehunder, a champion that is attracting a lot of people thanks to the introduction of the Refresher Shard, but this hero can be dealt with with a Hex, and there is no option to use Ravage. All other debuffs are still dispelled and most DoT (damage over time) damage will be quickly negated, but with 3.5-4 hex seconds the team should be able to kill “Watermelon – chan” before Tidehunter recovered and protested. This is a risky gamble, but the rewards are of course high. If you have enough damage and the team is too reliant on Tidehunter in teamfight then it’s well worth the full focus on Tidehunter.

SUPPORTS

The Hex changes also hit the supports hard, but not as much as the Cores. Really, only Oracle is so affected by hex with two dispel moves Fortune’s End and False Promise. There’s also controversy over heroes like Chen and Enchantress who can take over Satyr Banisher and use its purge, but this is rare, even in the pro arena, let alone pubs.

There is also Lotus Orb, which supports supports and frequently used support cores. You don’t always have the time to cast it against projected-based disables (disable only when the skill hits an object, not when it’s just cast), but Lotus Orb is very valuable against it. 1 ton of enemy control while focusing on your own heroes – champions that are versatile or have survivability skills. This item currently depends on the case of the game and it is no longer a safe item to get in the late game. Lotus Orb is most effective against silence moves and possibly some projected-based disables where it takes time for the spell to move and affect the party’s body.

GENERAL BENEFITS FROM THIS CHANGE

When it comes to the Hex change, there are two heroes that benefit the most. With the small change, both Shadow Shaman and Lion quickly become good counters to heroes like Slark, who used to be the obsession of these two supports. Additionally, the ability to initiate combat and capture moving targets is no longer countered by the 4k gold item. This increases the potential of these heroes in long games. Therefore, it is not surprising that these two heroes are safe picks in the current meta.

But aside from those two heroes, there’s still one hero, possibly much more terrifying. This hero has a 5% increase in win rate since patch 7.07 came out. He’s always been picked and banned a lot in the pro arena. Tinker isn’t stable in the meta and always gets hit first, the potential of this carry hero can be as bright, if not more than that, of the current hard carry. With enough mana, this hero can turn the match into 4v5 or sometimes 3v5. Tinker both deals a fair amount of damage while limiting the opponent’s counter moves, as long as the initiating phase is on the right target and Tinker has space.

In addition, Tinker can prolong the game to make sure he farm enough and maybe create space for teammates to farm.

EPILOGUE

7.07 brings a lot of changes that we might have missed. But the change in Hex will definitely have a big impact on the meta, and can be compared to the meta balances in the patches.

Hex is currently the main disable in the game, so you need to understand and be careful with Hex. This doesn’t mean you should be afraid of it, however, by understanding these major changes will help you be ready for the current pub game. This knowledge will be really helpful in improving your level as well as your Rank in the current Patch.

Source: dotabuff