With the Last Chance Qualifiers close on the horizon, and Cavern Crawl bringing many heroes into peoples games who have no business being there, Valve has dropped what could be the final patch before TI11. The 7.32c Gameplay Update has some fixes for neutral creeps, a lot of tweaks for heroes, and overall is prepping the game for Last Chance Qualifiers.
The patch dropped at around 1:30pm PT, September 27th, or the middle of the night for European players, with tweaks for a few dozen heroes. What this patch feels like is a statement on what heroes Valve wants to see at the TI11 Last Chance Qualifiers. And so far that means less Faceless Void, Undying, and Visage, and more Axe, Windranger, Phantom Lancer.
Neutral Creeps get Culled in Gameplay Update 7.32c
(Image via Valve)
Don’t worry, they haven’t removed any more camps. Instead, some of the power of Jungle creeps has been toned down. That’s an indirect nerf to Zoo heroes, and anyone who can mind control these little monsters. Neutral Creeps now won’t randomly cast their abilities when you walk past them at night (no more stepping on a Centaur’s hoof at night and getting stunned).
What’s more the Satyr Mindstealer also got nerfed. His Mana Aura Regen and Mana Burn was just a little too potent for laning and sustain. Having a walking, talking (snorting?), auto-attacking Mana Pot following you around was a bit too strong. So it’s been nerfed. Overall, not to many creep changes, but enough to make sure the zoo won’t be ruining LCQ games.
Item Changes in Gameplay Update 7.32c
(Image via Valve)
Bloodstone no longer costs health to activate. So I guess it’s just a Stone now. New item added in 7.32c – Stone. A magical stone that grants spell lifesteal because it is red, and for no other reason.
Biggest changes are to Refresher Orb and Refresher Shard. They now share a cooldown, so the potential for triple ultimates is gone. Additionally both items no longer tick down their cooldown while in the backpack. So no more pocketing shard and waiting for the CD. Now you have to have your Refresher for it to matter.
Hero changes in Gameplay Update 7.32c
(Screenshot by Esports.gg)
Biggest nerf comes to the hero who just got a new Arcana. Perhaps in some kind of hilarious prank to players who forked out the dosh for the Faceless Void Claszian Apostasy Arcana, Faceless Void got a nerf to their Shard, Time Dilation, and Talents.
Realistically, this is a hit towards the heroes’ carry dominance. Faceless Void synergizes with so many heroes. Now luckily, before the LCQ, the hero might just have been taken out of 100% pick or ban territory.
There’s no obvious big winners from this patch, but Axe, Windranger, and Slardar all got some nice help. Obviously Valve wants to help folks to complete that Utility Cavern Crawl Tree and get that Stonefish Renegade Set for Slardar.
The Last Chance Qualifiers for The Dota 2 International 2022 start on October 8th. For full patch notes, head to the Valve blog post.
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