Analysis of 7.14 after a week of launch

A week has passed since patch 7.14 came out – this is probably the biggest balance update before International 2018. By fixing a lot of items and recalibrating the game’s balance, Valve has helped to improve the game in pubs. and the professional arena.

Looking at the EPICENTER XL stats, there are currently only two heroes that look “problematic” and they don’t appear in every game as happened in previous patches with Tiny and Gyrocopter. Also, only 8 heroes were dropped in the tournament, and the playoffs have yet to begin.

These changes affect pub directly. With the pro arena meta expanding, so did pubs, especially in high-ranking games. We also have a change to how heroes are played in 7.14

The Maelstrom Effect

One of the biggest changes of 7.14 is Maelstrom and MKB being reworked. Both lose quite a bit of attack speed, but take extra damage dealt. It leads to new ways of playing in the game.

Maelstrom is currently used a lot in range cores, but most notably Gyrocopter and Windrander. Obviously there is a shift from the old build: instead of Boots, Drums, Yasha, BKB, Gyrocopter prefers to Aghanim’s Scepter and then Maelstrom.

GYROCOPTER

The new build is not suitable for hard-carry farming heroes, but for pacing cores – heroes who can put pressure on the opponent by creating space for a second carry or taking control of the game. wide area. Aghanim’s stat bonus is considered too low for the price, but with Yasha and Sange increasing in price, plus the green stick’s strong but underrated side gunner move has helped the item gradually assert itself with Gyrocopter.

We started seeing this build trend a few patches ago, but the new Maelstrom has stabilized this build: the item deals a lot of damage and it pairs well with the side gunner every 1.1 seconds and counts. Limited charge from Flak Cannon. This is also a farming speed booster, doesn’t require Gyrocopter to cast Flak on creeps, helping the hero save this move for real teamfights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HgjXG6JqHA

The additional damage from Maelstrom’s proc is also worth mentioning: 170 magic damage is a pretty high number when facing agility heroes with high armor, but weak health. In addition, Maelstrom is also effective against shadowing heroes – which are quite common in the meta.

This plus the extra accuracy will help against Radiance, Solar Crest, and many other heroes that have dodge or blinds available, making Maelstrom a great starter item. Not to mention, it also makes farming and teamfight extremely effective.

WINDRANGER

Windranger is one of the best heroes in the game to take advantage of the proc effect: with the super high attack speed from the Focus Fire, jumping is almost a must, giving increased damage per second (DPS) or the usefulness of this hero.

Maelstrom rework combined with direct hero buffs helps Windrander re-emerge, and that’s proven by her presence in the pro scene and win rate in pubs:

The extra damage from Maelstrom which is a strong nuke plus 50 bonus attack speed of Focus Fire has made Windranger quite successful currently in high pub ranks and achieved 75% win rate at EPICENTER XL, even though Windranger’s number of matches is only 4.

PANGOLIER

The last hero affected by the Maelstrom change is Pangolier. Pangolier synergizes with Javelin and a lot of pro players often go to at least one Javelin early game to maximize Swashbuckle’s effectiveness and it has had a bigger impact on teamfights.

Before that, the obvious build from Javelin was Skull Basher. With Swashbuckle hitting each target, a stun is almost certain to occur, making the hero useful and has better cc (crowd control). Since Basher no longer needs Javelin but this item is still one of the low cost but effective DPS items for Pangolier, the next direction is of course Maelstrom.

With enough targets, double-shifting Maelstrom with a single Swashbuckle is almost certain: the attack four times with a range of 0.1 seconds each, while the Maelstrom cooldown is 0.2 seconds. That means multi-player Pangolier Swashbuckle will grant 340 bonus magic damage to up to 5 targets with a single Swashbuckle: this is damage that can’t be ignored, especially with armor, rather than health. , which protects the enemy.

Noticeable changes in win rate

Outworld Devourer and Terrorblade are among the worst heroes in pubs, losing 7.11% and 5.97% win rate. Both heroes were completely nerfed in 7.14, but we’ll have to wait another week for the pub data.

Arcane Orb now requires more mana per hit which means it deals less damage, as the damage is calculated when it hits the target. It also means that the hero will lose flexibility in how to level up: it is difficult to continuously use Arcane Orb without maxing out Essence Aura first, which makes the hero much weaker.

Terrorblade loses half of its initial health, making the hero completely weak during laning and jungling. Additionally, Sunder’s cast distance reduction and its effectiveness no longer make Terrorblade a threat in the early game. More importantly, since this hero is used to push turrets as well as cores, it also slows down leveling.

There’s also a potential solution for TB: focusing on farming early game will help Terrorblade gain strength earlier in the game later, but with the current meta that is so fast-paced, this is probably unlikely.

Windranger, Alchemist, Arc Warden and Broodmother all gain 3% more win rate during transition period 7.13-7.14. The first three heroes mentioned have a lot of buffs that make them stronger, but Broodmother is a bit of a special case.

Many people believe that spiderling and spiderite fixes will make the hero weaker, instead of stronger: they have 0 armor, easy to ‘go to heaven’ against physical damage AoEs. They also deal less damage, making Broodmother’s minions less dangerous.

At the same time, Broodmother’s spiders also increase: spider crafting has reduced manacost and cooldown, helping to create more and faster troops, thereby creating more new disciples. All in all, this means that the enemy doesn’t have as much trouble as they did before responding to Broodmother, but not paying attention to the hero while letting Broodmother control the map and farm fast will definitely cost them.

Epilogue

7.14 is a step in the right direction. Dota has always been and should be balanced at a high level. This is being demonstrated at EPICENTER XL: the tournament has the most heroes used in the past several months, while the win rate at high ranks is also stable.

As dedicated Dota gamers, we’re often concerned about the state of the meta, but this patch has clearly helped diversify and make future tournaments and The International 2018 even more exciting.

Image source: artstation