Notable Changes In The New 7.34e Patch
Valve has just released a small patch, 7.34e, that balanced some of the most broken heroes in the previous patch. Several items were also nerfed in the update.
Bristleback, Spirit Breaker, Primal Beast, and Chaos Knight were some of the most contested heroes at The International due to how well they fit in the meta. To no surprise, these four heroes had significant nerfs applied to them.
Bristleback
Quill Spray (2nd Skill):
- Maximum damage reduced from 550 to 500.
Bristleback (3rd Skill):
- Damage threshold increased from 225 to 300/275/250/225.
Hairball (Aghanim's Shard):
- Cast Range decreased from 1500 to 1000
- Cooldown increased from 10s to 13s
Level 20 Left Talent:
- Quill Spray Stack Damage decreased from +25 to +20
Though killing a Bristleback can still pose problems, the damage he inflicts has been reduced, making it less complicated to kill him without the whole team dying.
Spirit Breaker
Charge of Darkness (1st Skill):
- Cooldown increased from 21/18/15/12s to 22/19/16/13s
- Aghanim's Scepter Cooldown increased from 8s to 9s
Greater Bash (3rd Skill):
- Damage multiplier against creeps decreased from 1.5x to 1.3x
The cooldowns of Spirit Breaker's abilities didn't take too much of a hit, and Midas + Octarine Core still seems like a solid build on him. However, the biggest nerf can be found in his third skill.
He can no longer one-shot waves with Charge + Phase Boots. He must use Bulldoze and/or Shadow Blade to kill a wave in one charge, significantly slowing down his farming speed.
Primal Beast
Trample (2nd Skill):
- Mana Cost increased from 90/85/80/75 to 90
Pulverize (Ultimate):
- Cooldown increased from 36/32/28s to 40/36/32s
Level 25 Left Talent:
- Level 25 Talent Pulverize Duration decreased from +100% to +67%
Mid-Lane Primal Beast players have been skipping Soul Ring and only using a Bottle for mana regeneration. The mana cost increase on his second skill will cause the hero to have mana problems.
Other than that, Pulverize got a decent cooldown nerf, and the broken Level 25 talent has finally been nerfed.
Chaos Knight
- Base Damage decreased by 5
Chaos Strike (3rd Skill):
- Lifesteal penalty against creeps increased from 40% to 70%
Phantasm (Ultimate):
- Mana Cost increased from 75/125/175 to 100/200/300
One of Chaos Knight's most vital points is his strength in lane. He has high damage and can sustain himself with his Lifesteal, which is why he can be played in the Offlane. The five damage reduction will reduce his overall damage, including crits, and the Lifesteal penalty makes it harder for him to heal himself in the laning phase.
The mana cost for his ultimate has almost doubled, which causes a problem since Chaos Knight players don't go for mana items, usually depending on the mana regen from Oblivion Staff that builds into an Echo Sabre. Good Chaos Knight players always farm with their Ultimate, so players will run out of mana in the early to mid game.
Though we did get a patch, the community wasn't too happy with how underwhelming it was. Spectre, one of the highest win rate heroes at The International, only got one point of armor reduced as a nerf.