Here are some of the most important changes in patch 7.28a.
Even though patch 7.28 was released just five days ago, it didn’t take too long for Valve to realize that some things had to change. The addition of Aghanim’s Shard basically changes the game and the way many heroes work. As a result, some of the changes were not initially planned, which is why Valve released a follow-up balance patch.
As expected, the latest changes bring along several nerfs. However, there are also a few buffs. The heroes that changed the most are Outworld Destroyer and Lifestealer, both of which felt underwhelming after 7.28, to say the least.
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Outworld Destroyer
Besides the fact that Outworld Devourer is now called Outworld Destroyer, he is nowhere near as strong as he once was. What’s interesting about OD is that the hero was changed several times in the last couple of years. In the last few months, the deadly mid laner was mainly picked to counter certain heroes in the game, but he was never the go-to option.
Since 7.28 made the hero even worse, Valve decided to buff the hero. As a result, he will now have a little bit more movement speed, two buffs to Arcane Orb and Sanity’s Eclipse, and two improvements for his level 15 and 25 talents.
Unfortunately, OD is one of the heroes that doesn’t benefit a lot from the new Aghanim’s Shard. That’s why we probably won’t see him that often unless Valve buffs him even more.
Lifestealer
In case you didn’t know, Lifestealer was one of the best carries in the previous patch. Because of this, everyone expected Valve to nerf him. Instead of reducing the power of most spells, IceFrog actually removed Open Wounds and made it to be an Aghanim’s Shard ability.
Needless to say, this had a negative effect on the hero’s overall performance because this ability gave LS a lot of kill potential. Following the changes, it is pretty much impossible to secure a kill during the laning stage unless the hero is paired up with a support that has a stun.
Patch 7.28a included four buffs to the hero and should be enough to “resurrect” him. Perhaps the most notable one is the 4% increase to Ghoul Frenzy at level one. Instead of slowing down the enemy by 6%, it now has a 10% slow, which should have a big impact on LS’s overall early game kill potential.
Besides the slow, LS also got three extra damage, which should make right-click creeps even easier. Rage also got a movement speed buff, meaning that Naix should be able to chase down his enemies way faster than before.
Last but definitely not least, the mana cost for Open Wounds is now down to 75 (it was 125 before). This should help the hero because Lifestealer usually has mana issues. Unfortunately, you still need to purchase an Aghanim’s Shard to use this spell, so keep that in mind.
Arc Warden
Another hero that should be mentioned is Arc Warden. His base strength was reduced from 25 to 23, which was expected because he was really tanky early on. Besides that, his level 10 talent now gives +200 Flux Cast Range (instead of +250). Plus, the Level 20 Spark Wraith Damage talent now provides +125 damage, rather than +150.
Despite the nerfs, we still think that this is one of the strongest mid laners in Dota 2 right now
Don’t forget to read the full patch notes. In addition to the heroes we’ve mentioned, there are many other noteworthy changes that you should take a look at. Don’t forget to follow ESTNN if you need more information about Dota 2.
