After the longest drought in the game’s history, The New Frontier Update, also known as patch 7.33, has arrived in Dota 2. It did not disappoint.
Before the update, some information leaked online. But Valve took full advantage of the opportunity and released a series of riddles for players. However, regardless of whether you got the answer right or wrong, the patch update is finally here. Let’s go through it.
The reworked heroes
In the previous patch, many heroes did not receive the love they deserved, as players were more keen on picking heroes like Morphling and Nature’s Prophet. However, although those heroes were not nerfed nor touched, several others received a major rework on their abilities in the new update.
Arc Warden was one of them. His ultimate ability, Tempest Double, has received its variation of Arc Warden’s abilities. For example, when Arc Warden’s Tempest uses Flux – Arc Warden’s first ability – it will have more damage than the Arc Warden but reduced slow speed.
Clinkz’s abilities also received a rework. Strafe – Clinkz’s old ability – is back, and his most annoying ability, Searing Arrows, is replaced by Tar Bomb. His ultimate ability is now Skeleton Walk instead of Death Pact, which has become his third regular ability.
Muerta received an Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard upgrade. Her Aghanim’s Scepter gave her the new ability Parting Shot. Now being available to play in Captain’s Mode, it will be interesting to see how teams go about playing her in the remaining DreamLeague Season 19 matches.
Of all the heroes who received a rework in the patch, Alchemist will likely be joining the meta. Despite some of the hero’s abilities receiving nerfs, its ultimate ability, Chemical Rage, received buffs. With the recent buff to Radiance in the patch prior, Alchemist could become the meta hero for The Berlin Major.
However, if Alchemist finds its way back to the meta, its nemesis Morphling is already a step ahead to stop him. Furthermore, Alchemist counter-heroes like Sladar received minor buffs to have a more viable laning stage. Ursa, another Alchemist counter, also remains untouched.
How the meta could shape up
In this patch update, gold gain from farming lane creeps is reduced as a way to encourage more in-game action.
However, tempo-controlling cores like Ember Spirit and Pangolier got major nerfs too. The gold gained from each kill received reworks, making early kills more impactful. Neutral Creeps received some updates as well. Their abilities will now scale as the match progresses.
Thus, Chen is likely to make a comeback, as many professional players are fond of playing him. Heroes like Lycan and those that normally build Helm Of Dominator would get contested a lot in this meta, as it would grant an advantage to teams with more neutral creeps.
Meta heroes like Drow Ranger, Spectre and Terror Blade will likely fall off since these heroes take time to come online and this meta will shape up upon early team skirmishes. In contrast, heroes like Gyrocopter, Monkey King, Weaver and Razor would likely come back to the pubs as safelane hard carries because they can contribute to early-game team fights and also scale well into the late game.
Perfect for punishing teams that group up, Earth Shaker and Axe would likely be contested more often for the offlane role. Saving heroes like Oracle, Shadow Demon, and Outworld Destroyer will also be seen more often in this patch as Black King Bar receives reworks.
It will be interesting to see what players will do.
New attributes and a questionable decision
In patch 7.33, a new attribute, known as a Universal attribute, is introduced, which provides its new hero group 0.6 damage from each stat, of any attribute. Heroes in this attribute group consist of Void Spirit, Timbersaw, Magnus, Batrider and others, and are likely to be centred more on their initiating and crowd-controlling abilities.
Thus, the heroes of this group can control the tempo of the game quite well. It is also important to note that this attribute group contains the most cheese heroes of any other group.
Finally, the patch also comes with a new match-making update – Glicko – which Valve implemented to reduce players getting stuck in low-level ranks. Every account will now be recalibrated so that players can receive a more accurate ranking.
