Introducing The Balance Of Power

The new Balance of Power has arrived and with it, new items, hero abilities and a massive change to the map.  This patch will change the game quite a bit, with new meta, new ward spots and a new jungle. Mainly the map, it has changed, mainly how runes are contested and which are the better rune spots, ganking spots, and easiest way to farm the jungle. So let’s get into it.

 

Arcane Rune

This causes all spell cooldowns to be reduced by 30% and mana costs to be reduced by 50% and it lasts for 50 seconds. Your spells cost 50% less mana.  To me, this is game breaking for early/mid game, while ganking you can cast your spells twice in a shorter time period.  Carries might be willing to let the supports get this rune during the early game if they want to go for a gank. An earthshaker fissure which takes 15 seconds to cool down will now only take about 10.5 and they can cast it twice. About that Tiny Toss Avalanche combo? You can do it every 12 seconds now. Carries also benefit a lot from this during the mid to late game from the cooldown bonus.

 

Items

Faerie Fire

 

75 gold and gives +2 Damage. Can also be consumed to to restore 75 HP. Cooldown: 5 seconds.

 

Faerie fire is the equivalent item to the mango, a good item for hard carries and supports who need some extra damage in the early game for those last hits as well as that burst HP when ganked. Probably for Anti-Mage, Phantom Lancer or Faceless void for the carries, and Crystal Maiden, Lion and Bane for supports.

 

Dragon Lance

 

Recipe: Ogre Club 1000 gold + Quarterstaff 875 gold = Total: 1875 gold

+ 10 Strength; + 10 Attack Speed; + 10 Damage; + 130 Attack Range (ranged heroes only, does not stack). Can be disassembled.

 

This item might be suited for AGI DPS heroes like Drow Ranger or Sniper. The Quarterstaff can be made into a butterfly if needed later on and the ogre club into a BKB if needed. This is a good transition item if you’re falling behind and easy some easy last hits to get back into the game.

 

Aether Lens

 

Recipe: Energy Booster 900 gold + Ring of Health 850 gold + Cloak 550 gold = Total: 2300 gold

 

+ 250 Mana; + 8 HP Regeneration; + 15 Magic Resistance; + 200 Cast Range; + 8% Spell Damage

Cast range improvement affects targeted spells and distance related spells, such as Venomous Gale. Does not affect AoE abilities like Poison Nova.

 

The item that break the game.  This item is so strong and believe me when I say that, Aether Lens will make your supports very happy. Crystal Maiden, Rubick, Dazzle, Winter Wyvern, Lion, Lina, Sand King and even Wisp can stay farther back during team engagements and still be effective with their spells. It’s a bit expensive to farm for a support but it will be worth it.

 

Iron Talon

 

Recipe: Quelling Blade 200 gold + Ring of Protection 175 gold + Recipe 125 gold = Total: 500 gold

 

+ 2 Armor; Bonuses of Quelling Blade

Active: Lets you target non-player enemy units to remove 40% of their current HP. Cooldown: 14 seconds.

Note: Cannot target ancients. Has normal 4 second cooldown when used on Trees.

 

Iron Talon can be useful for carries who are behind on their farm. The +2 armor from the Ring of Protection can be a nice little buff on top of the quelling blade. The active ability will also allow you to farm faster.

 

Overall these are good transition items that heroes can use which will shake up the meta and give those falling behind a chance to get back before getting the big items.

 

Heroes

 

Death Prophet

 

Witchcraft is replaced with Spirit Siphon.

 

Creates a spirit link between you and the target, draining 20 + 1/1.8/2.6/3.4% Max HP per second and slowing movement speed by 6/10/14/18%. Lasts 4 seconds.

Cast Range: 500

Buffer Distance: 300

Has 1/2/3/4 charges, 45 second replenish[?]

Mana cost: 70/65/60/55

 

Spirit Siphon synergizes with very well with how DP is played, in that you want to keep beside your opponent while your ult spirits are running wild. Now you can also drain their hp on top of all the spirit damage.

 

Other DP changes:

Base movement speed increased from 280 to 310

Crypt Swarm cooldown reduced from 8 to 8/7/6/5

Silence cooldown reduced from 15 to 15/14/13/12

Exorcism spirit count increased from 8/14/21 to 8/16/24

Exorcism spawn rate decreased from 1 ghost per 0.1 seconds to 0.3 seconds

 

Since Witchcraft (the skill that gave your other spells lower cooldowns) is gone, they kind of balanced it by making the base hero a bit faster and with lower cooldowns. Exorcism’s cooldown was not buffed still so that makes DP still a bit of a hard hero to play as a tower pusher. But Spirit Siphon might address her being squishy with low armor at the early game.

 

Doom

 

Lvl death is replaced with Infernal Blade.

Passive/autocast attack ability. Ministuns for 0.3 seconds and applies a 4 second burn that deals 40 + 1.25/2.5/3.75/5% Max HP as magic damage.

Cooldown: 16/12/8/4

Mana cost: 40

 

Doom has a limited mana pool at the start so 40 mana is a bit steep for the early game. But Infernal Blade is very good mid-late game just for the ministun and 4 second cooldown. You can quickly chase down heroes and just kill them. Synergizes very well with Doom’s ultimate. You only want the ministun later on though since this is magic damage which is pretty much negated already mid-late game.

 

Other Doom changes:

Base Attack Time increased from 1.7 to 2.0

Scorched Earth damage/heal reduced from 12/23/34/45 to 10/20/30/40

Scorched Earth movement speed from 16% to 14%

Doom cooldown increased from 100 to 125

 

Faceless Void

 

Backtrack is replaced with Time Dilation.

 

Applies a debuff to all nearby enemies (650 AoE) for 6/7/8/9 seconds. Causes time to be frozen on all enemy abilities, causing their cooldowns to make no progress while they have this debuff. Slows movement and attack speed by 4/6/8/10% for each locked ability.

Cooldown: 34/28/22/16

Mana cost: 50

 

Time Dilation is a good counter for heroes with low spammy skills. Lina, Bristleback, Timbersaw and other nukers. Those that can be a real pain while FV’s doing his work inside the Chrono.

 

Other FV changes:

Timewalk no longer slows units

Timewalk now undoes any damage taken in the last 2 seconds

Timewalk cooldown rescaled from 19/17/15/13 to 24/18/12/6

Timewalk mana cost reduced from 90 to 40

Timewalk range reduced from 700/900/1100/1300 to 550

Timewalk cast point reduced from 0.35 to 0.2

 

They made timewalk into a positioning skill rather than a chasing/escaping tool. There is a reliable backtrack built into it as well. The cooldown is better at 2 onwards so you really want to skill this up. The mana reduction also reflects how this is meant to be spammed now.

 

Lone Druid

 

Synergy is replaced with Savage Roar.

 

Causes enemies in a 325 AoE around you or your bear to run away with 20% movement speed bonus for 1.2/1.6/2/2.4 seconds towards their fountain.

Cooldown: 28/24/20/16

Mana cost: 50

Note: An entangled hero will not be able to move still. Spirit Bear also has this ability, but the cooldown is shared with your hero.

 

Other LD changes:

Spirit Bear attack damage increased from 33 to 35/45/55/65

Spirit Bear movement speed increased from 320/320/330/340 to 320/330/340/350

Rabid duration increased from 10 to 18/22/26/30

Rabid movement speed increased from 5/10/15/20% to 10/15/20/25%

True Form Health Bonus increased from 250/400/600 to 300/600/900

 

Riki

 

Reworked Permanent Invisibility to include Backstab

Riki grants 0.4/0.6/0.8/1.0 (% of agi) damage when attacking from behind.

Invisibility Fade Time: 6/5/4/3 seconds

Note: No longer grants 6/8/10/12 HP regeneration

 

Blink Strike back to basic ability without charges

Damage: 20/40/60/80

Cooldown: 16/12/8/4

Mana cost: 50

 

New Ultimate: Tricks of the Trade

Riki phases out of the world for up to 3/4/5 seconds, attacking every enemy from behind in a 450 area around him. He attacks once when phasing out and then once per second while being phased out. Cooldown: 90/80/70

Mana cost: 75

Cast Point: 0.4

 

Other Riki changes:

Strength growth reduced from 2.0 to 1.6

Agility growth reduced from 2.9 to 2.2

Base armor reduced by 1

Smoke Screen no longer slows turn rates