Dota 6.88b – Minor update and patch

Dota 6.88b has been released as a minor update and patch. The intention seems to be to balance gameplay out going into TI6, but does not appear to be significant enough to cause a significant upheaval in strategies or the meta. The changes have already gone into effect as of July 12th when the update was released.

Dota 6.88b – a minor update and patch was released one day before The Summit 5 LAN and merely weeks before TI6 kicks off.

The biggest hero changes are seen by meta favorites, Timbersaw and Terrorblade and include buffs to lesser played heroes such as Sand King and Outworld Devourer.

According to several players such as Ylli “Garter” Ramadani of ProDota Gaming and Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann of Escape Gaming – the changes are relatively small enough to not cause a real shift or change in the Meta and were designed to balance things out slightly.

The only general change in gameplay includes buff to lane creeps giving XP when denied by neutrals.

The full list is detailed below from the Dota 2 update log.

Dota 6.88b changes

* Timbersaw – strength gain reduced from 2.1 to 1.8

* Death Prophet – base strength reduced by 1

* Death Prophet – Spirit Siphon base health drain reduced from 16 to 14

* Terrorblade – Metamorphosis manacost increased from 50 to 100

* Terrorblade – Metamorphosis no longer lingers after reincarnation/death

* Faceless Void – Time Dilation manacost increased from 50 to 75

* Elder Titan – Astral Spirit vision reduced from 450 to 400

* Beastmaster – Boar XP bounty increased from 59 to 60/70/80/90

* Riki – Blink Strike damage reduced from 60/80/100/120 to 55/70/85/100

* Lane Creeps – now give 20% of XP when denied by neutrals rather than 0% (normal player denies give 50% XP)

* Outworld Devourer – Astral Imprisonment damage increased from 75/150/225/300 to 100/175/250/325

* Outworld Devourer – Arcane Orb intelligence duration increased from 60 to 80

* Ogre Magi – Bloodlust manacost reduced from 75 to 50

* Meepo – agility growth increased from 1.9 to 2.2

* Visage – Stone Form cooldown reduced from 26 to 20

* Silencer – Arcane Curse damage increased from 14/21/28/35 to 14/22/30/38

* Brewmaster – Boulder damage increased from 50 to 50/100/150

* Brewmaster – Dispel Magic damage to illusions and summoned units increased from 500 to 850

* Legion Commander – Press the Attack’s attack speed bonus increased from 60/80/100/120 to 65/90/115/140

* Sniper – turn rate improved from 0.6 to 0.7

* Sniper – night vision increased from 1000 to 1100

* Warlock – Golems HP increased from 900/1350/1800 to 1000/1500/2000

* Bloodseeker – Thirst bonus rescaled from 10/20/30/40% to 16/24/32/40%

* Zeus – Lightning Bolt ministun increased from 0.1 to 0.2

* Centaur Warrunner – Stampede slow duration increased from 1.5 to 1.8

* Shadow Fiend – movement speed increased from 310 to 315

* Treant Protector – Living Armor cooldown reduced from 32/26/20/14 to 30/24/18/12

* Pudge – Dismember strength based damage increased from 30/40/50 to 30/45/60%

* Sand King – Sand Storm cooldown reduced from 40/30/20/10 to 34/26/18/10

* Sand King -Epicenter manacost reduced from 175/250/325 to 150/225/300

* Magnus – Empower cleave AoE increased from 225 to 240

Featured image of TanakhT cosplay -courtesy of battleforce and taken by Al Baal.