Dota 2 Patch 7.41a Drops During ESL Birmingham Match

Dota 2 fans are eating good this week. Two patches have been dropped during ESL One Birmingham. The first was before the last day of the group stage, while patch 7.41a dropped in the middle of the series between Team Spirit and Xtreme Gaming.

While the patch had no impact on the match itself, it will affect all games moving forward. So let's look at what's new in Dota 2 patch 7.41a.

Biggest changes in Dota 2 patch 7.41a

Lifestealer Bonds of Madness.jpg

Consecrated Wraps gets nerfed

A much needed change. Even though the item is only a few days old, Consecrated Wraps was way too strong on release. A 360 barrier is pretty good by itself, but it also comes with 12% magic resistence, +6 to all attributes, and 250 health. For nearly half the price of a Heart, you get the same value in added health.

Even post nerf, the item still provides a ton of survavability against all forms of damage, even Pure. I believe this item will still see plenty of play and might warrant another (smaller) nerf in the future.

More nerfs to meta heroes

Several heroes that emerged as the biggest patch winers were quick to be nerfed in the latest letter update. Some were long time staples, while others just recently had the limelight shone on them.

Leshrac got a deserved nerf to Edict's damage. The reduced duration meant more explosions per second and that was adjusted in the latest update. He is also less tanky with 0.3 strength gain lost per level. He's not the only one who los some durability, as Doom lost one armor, making him very easy to bring down now (or so the comics say).

Alchemist and Lifestealer have become go-to meta carries in ESL One Birmingham. They scale well late game and Alchemist provides his team with massive power spikes thanks to gifting Aghanim Scepters. Both took desrved nerfs. But in the case of Alchemist, I believe he remains in a very good place in the meta. No other carry can buff the rest of the team like he does.

While the patch notes aren't long, they try to address the biggest problems of the previous update. While some heroes got put in their proper place, other broken heroes made it through relatively unscathed.

Featured Image Source: Valve