7.22 has been busy, hasn’t it? This makes it seven different patch iterations this update. Those industrious little bees at Valve have been working hard recently. Now they’ve released a new patch for us, so let’s take a look at the patch 7.22g highlights.
For the first time in a while, we get a large selection of item changes. This is the largest variety of item changes since the main 7.22 patch itself dropped. The general theme across the board is nerfing items that are generally too good. This has been done either by increasing the cost or fiddling with the stats (or both).
Hand of Midas has been made more expensive (again). This means reaching an economic equilibrium with the item such that all subsequent uses generate profit will take longer. Armour has been nerfed almost universally for the items covered in this patch. Chainmail, Medallion of Courage, Phase Boots and Solar Crest all see an armor reduction of at least one point.
In addition, Sentry Wards now take fifteen seconds longer to replenish their stock. Good news for all those invisible [redacted] out there.
Image courtesy of Valve
When we put together our list of the top 5 best new Aghanim’s Scepter upgrades earlier in the year, Broodmother’s new upgrade came in at number 2. The increase in the number of webs and the crazy movement speed boost was just too good not to include on the list.
Well, it seems Valve agree with us because Broodmother has been swatted with the rolled-up newspaper of nerf.
The first of our hero-based patch 7.22g highlights see a nerf to Brood’s Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade. The Scepter now only gives her +10 webs instead of +12. In addition, the bonus movement speed has been reduced from +30% to +20%. No more chasing Bloodseeker around the map.
Image courtesy of Valve – and a very sad Chen
Hi Chen. Welcome back to the list. Chen has been nerfed in every single iteration of 7.22 with the exception of 7.22b. It seems he’s only just recovered from the beating he took in 7.22f and now Valve has seen fit to turn on the poor lad once again.
This time Chen’s nerfs are pretty comprehensive. Holy Persuasion has its creep level cap reduced at all levels except max. Also, Divine Favor heal amplification is reduced and the cooldown is increased.
However, all is not lost! His level 15 talent boosts the cooldown reduction from -30s to -40s. Yay…
One of the most notable (and arguably most expected) of the patch 7.22g highlights is the changes to IO. Those of you who followed The International 2019 know that IO was used to absolutely devastating effect by OG. The hero was played as a core by Anathan “ana” Pham and this unexpected new playstyle took teams completely off guard.
Image courtesy of Valve
In light of this Valve hasn’t so much nerfed IO as messed with his timings a bit. His level 10, 15 and 20 talents have had a reshuffle. Valve has pushed the much-needed +75 Spirits Hero Damage to level 20, from level 15. In addition, his Spirits Apply Slow talent is now level 15, from level 10.
This means the hero comes online (if you’re playing him like ana) later in the game. Part of OG’s success with the hero was rushing an Aghanim’s Scepter on him and taking advantage of how quickly in the game his magic damage ramped up. This has now been countered with the talent reshuffle.
Night Stalker is a really interesting hero. When the clock strikes midnight he is a hero to be feared and avoided. But, come the dawn, he becomes naught more than a lamb to the slaughter.
Image courtesy of Valve
Okay, we’ve embellished that analogy a little bit, but you get the point. It’s one of the mechanics that makes the hero so interesting. Few other heroes in the game take advantage of the in-game clock mechanics as Night Stalker does.
In this 7.22g highlight, Valve has changed the mechanics of Void so that it no longer does half damage during the day time. This allows Night Stalker to deal the same amount of Void damage he would deal at night.
No longer will Night Stalker cower from the hunters during the day, like a mewing, whimpering kitten. Now, at last, he can fight back, galvanized by the increased power afforded to him by the sun’s magnificent rays…
…we’re embellishing too much again… sorry.
The change to Puck’s level 20 Waning Rift cooldown is madness. If Puck can survive a protracted fight then he can AoE silence heroes with the skill for 3.5 seconds on a 4-second cooldown. We don’t need to go into the implications of that for magic damage-based heroes.
Tiny’s Tree Volley. Why you gotta hurt us like this, Valve? Tree Volley was one of the coolest things to come out of the new Aghanim’s Scepter updates. However, it has been nerfed in almost every conceivable way, with damage reduction and cooldown and manacost increase. If you think this will stop us from buying Agh’s on Tiny though, you’re wrong. Being able to throw a literal forest at enemy heroes never loses its charm.
The post-TI patch is always a doozy. Valve makes changes to a lot of heroes based largely on their performance in the tournament. This is why we’ve seen so many changes to heroes that performed so well on the main stage.
Nothing game-breaking in this one, but keep your ears to the ground for 7.23. This will likely follow before too much longer. As always, you can read the full patch notes on Valve’s website.
Do you have a favorite or least favorite change this patch? Didn’t see an update you expected to see. Share it with us in the comments. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Featured image courtesy of Valve.
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