Dota 2 Patch 7.41e Destroys Zeus

Dota 2 patch 7.41e is here and it will likely be the patch The International is played in. While not adding any new items, heroes, or mechanics, the latest update does go a long way to solving some of the biggest problems in the game. 

Let's take a look into the biggest changes of the patch, and which heroes have been buffed into or out of the meta.

Dota 2 Patch 7.41e prevents Divine Rapier stacking

While most items received relatively minor changes, the biggest is how Divine Rapier works. The item can provide 350 damage or 100 damage and 25% magic amplification.

People used to stack Divine Rapiers on long-range spell casters such as Zeus and Snapfire in ulra late game to deal incredible damage from miles away. Valve has decided that type of gameplay is not fun or acceptable and now you only get magic amplification from one Divine Rapier. More does nothing for you.

Stacking it for physical damage still works, but this nerf is one of the many that hits Zeus particularly hard this patch. 

Another notable nerf is to Kaya and it's upgrades. All of them provide 10% less mana regen amplification than before. Another hit to Zeus and heroes of the same playstyle. 

Ancient Apparition gets a nice change to Ice Blast

AA has been receiving a few buffs in a row now. His innate and the Aghanim Upgrade were greatly buffed. His ultimate is a little bigger now, Chilling Touch hurts more and has a lower cooldown, while Cold Feet also does more damage.

The latest update buffed Ice Blast by reducing it's cooldown by 10 and 5 seconds for levels 1 and 2. Going from 60 seconds to 50 is a substantial increase in the hero's ability to be active around the map, and an overall strong buff for him.

Omniknight also recieved a nice buff. His heal went from 35% over 5 seconds to 40% over 4. That's nearly a 50% increase in how much heals you get per second when you use Hammer of Purity. 

Lastly, I'd like to highlight Queen of Pain. Shadow Strike is more spammable now and she can buy Refresher Orb without worrying about timingg her ultimate and missing some damage from Sonic Wave.

Zeus and Snapfire are in the gutter

The two bigges losers of the patch are likely to be Snapfire and Zues. Grandma lost quite a bit of damage on all her spells except Lil Shredder. So her burst potential isn't quite what it was before. Her best talents were also nerfed and in the case of cookie cooldown, removed. 

Zeus lost a huge amount of damage from his ultimate. It might look small but even level 1 Thundergod's Wrath 125 damage less, and that goes up to 375 when maxed. Reminder that both Zeus and Snapfire are among the heroes worst hit by the changes to Divine Rapier and Kaya.

Other popular heroes such as Drow, Shadow Fiend, and Lone Druid also recieved nerfs, though time will tell if they are enough to kick them out of the competitive scene. 

Overall, I like the changes this patch, and while it doesn't shake the game up much, it does move multiple heroes into more balanced spots ahead of The International.

READ MORE: Valve Squashes Dota 2 MMR!

Featured Image Source: Valve