1.Imba Spirit hit with the hammer
Ember Spirit's
new magic damage build, with a Veil of Discord and 15 percent Spell
Amplification courtesy of his Level 10 talent, was obnoxious to play
against and the sheer strength of the hero shone in his remarkably high
win rate in both competitive play and high level public play. He had a
54 percent win rate above 5,000 MMR, which is considerably higher than
pre 7.00.
The
combination of bringing his Spell Amplification down from 15 to 12
percent, as well as disabling Active Fire Remnant during Root effects
should bring the hero back on a level pegging with several of his
midlane counterparts.
Considering how effective the Root effect is against heroes such as Storm Spirit and Mirana,
the change to Ember makes total sense. The previously uncatchable Xin
in pub games may now be fodder should you coordinate properly. Add to
that the change to the interaction of Octarine Core and Blade Mail – meaning
that you can no longer spell lifesteal from Blade Mail – means that the
popular build will also be less effective, yet still viable. A series
of gentle tweaks have hopefully brought the hero back to a fine balanced
state.
2.Lycan re-enters the fray
Necrophos, Techies, Treant Protector and Lycan
were all temporarily removed from Captain's Mode due to their intrinsic
hero changes when 7.00 hit. The first hero to make it back into the
mode prevalent in competitive gameplay is Banehallow, the Lycan.
The melee strength hero underwent a series of changes and with Helm of the Dominator's
rework, he seemed fairly strong when played in a similar style to
previous. Summons have always benefitted from his howl, aura, and with
Helm it just adds another aura to his strong toolkit. In the DAC
qualifiers, Lycan was picked up three times in the limited matches where
he was available and won two of the three.
Liquid showed their dominance over B)ears with the hero, and NP then utilised it to beat Team Onyx.
In the second game of the best of three, Onyx picked the Lycan
themselves, but didn't manage to utilise the hero to the same potential
and fell to defeat.
3.Helm of the Dominator weakened
One of the items that emerged as the biggest surprise package was the new Helm of the Dominator. Previously, the item offered lifesteal and was a component in building Satanic,
but with the 7.00 revamp it became a very well rounded item stat-wise
and also had a fantastic aura. Initially reactions on many a patch
analysis video were that the item would be utilised mainly on supports,
but people quickly started to notice Artour 'Arteezy' Babaev of Evil Geniuses picking up the item on almost any carry he played and it became extremely popular.
The
aura remains strong, but the stat bonus has been adjusted to bring it
on par with other items of a similar cost. Additionally, they stuck a
constant creep bounty on dominated creeps so if you managed to kill one
of the high movement speed pests, it now provides adequate reward.
4.Alone Druid rightly adjusted
Lone Druid
was the second most contested hero in the DAC qualifiers. The hero had a
77 percent pick or ban rate across the 53 recorded games and
considering he was still prevalent after 7.02 went live, it shows the
sheer strength of the hero.
Like
Ember Spirit, Lone Druid was almost reinvented with the introduction of
7.00. Professionals started to play the previously unheard of build
where items would be kept on the hero and not on the bear. This was in
part due to the heroes talents allowing him to become a right clicking
machine with incredible range and a powerful escape at the ready. It
comes as no surprise that the talents that encourage the dubbed Alone Druid build have been nerfed and his bear was gently buffed.
Whilst the changes are comprehensive, it remains to be seen whether or not it's enough to put the pros off picking him.
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