Dota 2: Analysis of 7.23e update, all XP talent removed, game lasts longer

Less than a month since 7.23’s launch, we now have ourselves with 7.23e. They are not just minor updates, but they have a huge impact on the game, and patch 7.23e is no exception. This patch adds two major changes, requiring players to spend a lot of time getting used to. Let’s analyze what 7.23e brings.

GENERAL CHANGES

• XP Outpost is now every 10 minutes instead of every 5 minutes (XP = 20*Min-50)
• Removed two non-Roshan Shrines (initial delay from 5 to 7 minutes, cooldown from 5 to 4 minutes)
• Remove all XP Talents

CHANGE SHRINE

Basically, Radiant safelane and Dire offlane don’t have shrines anymore. Radiant’s small jungle has a shrine, while Dire’s large jungle has one. Farming in the Radiant jungle is now much more dangerous, as there are no shrines to heal or teleport allies. The fact that bot lane no longer has shrines may seem like a small change, but it has the potential to have a big impact on everything from picks in Captains Mode to which lane the team will focus on. Radiant has always been popular in professional competition and has a slightly higher win rate. But with the non-Roshan shrine disappearing, there’s a good chance teams could pick Dire, especially when they’re using a core that needs jungle. Maybe even Radiant will put carry on top lane instead of bot, not only to get heal/mana from shrine, but team always have shrine to teleport to when need help.

Changing shrine activation at 7 minutes instead of 5 makes heroes stronger in lane. It forces bad laners to use more healing items (more important in mid than top) or to run to the fountain.

XP Talent removed

Outposts give teams lots of XP to snowball out of control and the heroes that benefit the most are those with XP Talent. To fix this, all XP talents were nerfed in 7.23c, but it seems like IceFrog thought it better to remove them all. There was a time when we had talent to reduce respawn time in Dota and they were removed as well. What happens next, will GPM talent be the next victim?

This move will hinder snowball in the game, but adversely affect many heroes that need XP Talent. Taking Zeus as an example, this mid laner was never the fastest to farm. Hero needs an extra 25% XP bonus to make sure he can keep up with the other cores in the game. A lot of support needs it too. Let’s wait and see how this adjustment affects the pick rate of heroes, as Weaver can easily reach level 30 quickly.

Now that XP Talent has been removed, all heroes will have new talents and you might be excited to see them. Actually, don’t get excited at all. The new talents are pretty basic, nothing special. Here is a summary of the hero changes…

HERO

ABADDON

• XP Talent now replaced with +10 Strength

BANE

• XP Talent now replaced with +20% Magic Resistance

BEASTMASTER

• XP Talent now replaced with +30 Damage

BOUNTY HUNTER

• XP Talent now replaced with +25 Damage

DAZZLE

• XP Talent now replaced with +2 Mana Regen

DROW RANGER

MARKSMANSHIP

• Bonus Marksmanship agility reduced from 35/40/45% to 28/36/44%

JAKIRO

• XP Talent now replaced with +350 Health

KEEPER OF THE LIGHT

• XP Talent now replaced with +6% Spell Amp

LEGION COMMANDER

• XP Talent now replaced with +2 Mana Recovery

OMNIKNIGHT

• XP Talent now replaced with +30 Movement Speed

ORACLE

• XP Talent now replaced with +15 Intelligence

PUDGE

• XP Talent replaced with +5 Armor

SHADOW DEMON

• XP Talent replaced with +100 Cast Range

SHADOW SHAMAN

• XP Talent replaced with +10% Spell Amp

SKYWRATH MAGE

• XP Talent replaced with +8% Spell Lifesteal

SNAPFIRE

LIL’SHREDDER

• Lil’ Shredder damage per shot reduced from 40/55/70/85 to 35/50/65/80

MORTIMER KISSES

• Mortimer Kisses movement speed slow reduced from 25% to 15/20/25%

TECHIES

• XP Talent replaced with +25% Magic Resistance

TIDEHUNTER

• XP Talent replaced with +4 Mana Regen

TREAT PROTECTOR

• Strength gain per level reduced from 4.1 to 3.7

OVERGROWTH

• DPS Overgrowth reduced from 100 to 75

TALENT

• Level 25 Talent reduced from 700 AoE Living Armor to 550

TUSK

• XP Talent replaced with +10 Heal

URSA

• Strength gain per level reduced from 3.1 to 2.8

EARTHSHOCK

• Earthshock manacost increased from 75 to 85

VENGEFUL SPIRIT

• Strength gain per level reduced from 2.6 to 2.4

MAGIC MISSLE

• Magic MIssle stun duration reduced from 1.5/1.6/1.7/1.8 to 1.4/1.5/1.6/1.7

VISAGE

• XP Talent replaced with -3 Armor Corruption

VOID SPIRIT

• Strength gain per level reduced from 2.8 to 2.6
• Base armor reduced by 1

ASTRAL STEP

• Astral Step charge regen increased from 25/20/15 to 30/25/20
• Astral Step manacost increased from 80/90/100 to 100

WARLOCK

• XP Talent replaced with +10 Armor

WEAVER

• XP Talent replaced with +8 Agility

ZEUS

• XP Talent replaced with +250 Health

In addition to the XP changes, Drow Ranger, Snapfire, Void Spirit, and Treant Protector were also slightly nerfed. The big change of patch 7.23 will be available right before the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapire, which kicks off on December 17. Teams will have to sit at the table to get ready for the longer games. Maybe we will see more Tier 5 neutral items appear than before.