Dota 2: Which heroes are affected the most after patch 7.20?

Which heroes benefit the most from Patch 7.20 Dota 2? And conversely, which hero is most affected?

Three weeks after patch 7.20 of Dota 2, we have three more minor patches, but they are still not enough to balance the heroes:

PHANTOM ASSASSIN

Take a look at NoPangolier’s Phantom Assassin during the Chongqing Major qualifying run, with an overall record of 6-3. Their victories are all attributed to Phantom Assassin in the hands of Naive.

Going to Desolator in the first 15 minutes of the game is what Naive needs to control the mid-game

We wouldn’t be too surprised if Phantom Assassin was nerfed after the qualifiers. Blur has a cast time of 0.4 seconds, limiting active playability. However, with the armor system reworked in 7.20, buffs for Desolator, Wraith Bands and Phantom Strike of PA, PA is still a strong hero.

DAZZLE

Dazzle’s new Ultimate, Bad Juju, brings the hero back into the meta. Base damage and animation are good, and Poison Touch becomes one of the strongest spells early to mid game. Now that ultimate reduces cooldown, Dazzle is sometimes played as a core.

VP.No[o]ne got ganked but still got 2 kills with Poison Touch

During the Chongqing Major qualifiers, the hero was played offlane by LGD.Chalice and midlane by Liquid.Matumbaman and VP.No[o]ne. While Midas offers a lot of value with CDR, pros also rush Necronomicon 1 – this item is used as a farming tool as well as in combination with Poison Touch and Shadow Wave.

SAND KING

SK’s new sandstorm is awesome. 54% win rate across all ranks – up 10% from 7.19. Sand King was nerfed in patches after 7.20, but it only reduced his win rate by 2%. Although Sand King did not have good results in the Chongqing Major qualifiers, the hero’s new buffs always make pub opponents wince.

VP.Ramzes even with 50% HP still jumped in and got a double kill.

Now, nothing can stop Slark because Dark Pact was able to break Hex again. Pounce can now be destroyed by Force Staff (but not Hurriance Pike currently) and adds Leash, preventing enemies from TP. While Slark doesn’t appear every game in the pro scene, his success rate in pub (54%) will definitely get him nerfed.

URSA

Ursa remained unchanged after 7.20, unfortunately 7.20c came out and reduced Fury Swipes from 12/18/24/30 to 10/16/22/28 along with the Agility bonus in level 15 talent reduced from 16 to 14. This change plus patches 7.19b, c, and d- nerf Ursa respectively. Overall, Fury Swipes damage is reduced by 30% at level 1 (15 to 10) and lasts 8 seconds (from 20). Hero win rate has dropped from 54.6% in 7.19 to just 48%.

CENTAUR WARRUNNER

Centaur had a peak win rate of 56% in the previous patch. Now the ratio is only slightly above 50%, a sizable drop in 7.20. It’s unlikely that Centaur players won’t get any sympathy from IceFrog in the near term, as the patches after 7.20 are mainly geared towards heavily buffed heroes. Retaliate helps in the laning phase, but this hero comes at the expense of a bunch of other nerfs. Double Edge no longer burst damage early-mid game, and Stampede’s manacost and cooldown have increased significantly. Cooldown level 1 Stampede takes nearly 2 minutes (110 seconds) and level 3 cooldown is as long as level 1 (90 seconds).

CLINKZ

To show how weak Clinkz is in this rework, patch 7.20d buffed his ultimate by 100% DPS. This change is enough to buff the win rate by 5 points to reach 51%, but Clinkz is still too different without the Death Pact. The Skeleton Army spawn rate makes it a bit cumbersome to use, but it does a decent amount of damage right now.

STORM SPIRIT

Storm Spirit is mainly affected by the new change in Boots, to the point where Phase Boots and Power Treads are no longer suitable for this hero. The original Power Treads added attack speed and damage to break through at lvle 6. Now, Arcane Boots and slowly climbing to Bloodstone are considered a more optimal way to build.

Storm Spirit used to be one of the heroes that made the most of Bloodstone’s respawn reduction, as the hero could return to the battleground anywhere on the map. but the new Bloodstone has reduced this ability, not to mention the changes related to Intelligence also affect mana regeneration. Storm Spirit in the previous patch wasn’t really that strong, although in some cases, it was really ‘cool’. Now, these cases are less and less.

According to Dotabuff