In Dota 2 finally released the long-awaited patch, which changed the meta, and removed the heroes that have been playing for a long time from the pedestal. There have been changes not only to heroes, but also to items and forest units. Balance edits will definitely change the gameplay, and changes the boring meta. I propose to break down these changes in more detail, and to understand how strong these changes are.

Changes to neutral creeps

The changes affected some neutral creeps, which changed their passive abilities, base damage and some active buttons. For example, Ogre-Gromila will only apply the annoying stan when his health drops below 70%. He will stop giving unexpected stans, and thus ruin a lot of things. These ups may affect the meta by adding many Summoners to it.

Major item changes

There are a lot of changes, so I propose to cite the changes of the most important items, which in the last patch were imba, and for their money gave a huge advantage.

MAGE SLAYER

This item played very strongly, and still does, but it gives fewer bonuses. Its passive ability is to reduce magic damage to enemies, and increase resistance to magic. This item kept many intoviks out of the game by significantly underpowering their damage. Now it costs 200 gold cheaper, and the bonuses it gives have been significantly reduced. The item becomes a balance item, and will still be purchased by many players.

BLACK KING BAR

After the revamp, the Black King Bar works differently. It does not fully protect against magic, but only gives increased resistance to it. The patch changes upgraded it a lot and added 10% to the resistance. Now it will be much easier to absorb magic damage.

SHIVA'S GUARD

Shiva's GUARD, as well as the Veil of Discord that preceded it, have been toned down. The item was bought on many characters, because it was conveniently collected, and also gave good bonuses. Now the cost of the recipe has been raised by 350 gold, as well as significantly cut the bonuses that gave Discord. Other small items that were good on laning have also been changed. This will make the game harder for many characters, and will affect the meta overall.

Major Character Changes

Here are the major changes that have weakened many meta heroes that have been strong throughout many patches. We suggest looking into these changes in a little more detail.

FACELESS VOID

One of the strongest heroes for a long time. He was one of the main picks/bans in tournaments, and also had a great winrate in publikes. He got his base armor reduced, cut his second ability, which now works much weaker on line. Also weakened the talents at level 15 and 20, which significantly increased his DPS. Now the hero will play much weaker, but he will still be a very strong character, and one of the most important lieutenant kerry.

LION

One of the strongest Sapports has finally gotten weaker. His line stage has been significantly weakened, and his abilities have been weakened as well. Decreased the deceleration from the third ability and its burst range. Increasing the cooldown duration of the first ability will affect the hero, and reduce his winrate.

PHANTOM ASSASSIN

Phantom assassin on the contrary, not badly upgraded. The hero started to have a very low winrate after she was heavily nerfed in one of the previous patches. Her dexterity has been significantly increased, as well as reduced ability cooldown and increased the range of the first ability. Now the hero will feel better not only in the public, but also on the professional scene.

WITCH DOCTOR

His changes became one of the main changes. The hero had a very strong ultimate that could bury the enemy team in solo. It gave pure damage, and couldn't miss the target. Now this has been changed, and it works like normal attacks, with the possibility of misses. This will weaken the hero considerably, and throw him out of meta.