Dota 2 Patch 7.41c Sends Lone Druid Into Hibernation

Dota 2 patch 7.41c is here, and it has brought much-needed changes to the meta. The most broken heroes received sizable nerfs, while a few unpicked heroes get some love.

The patch features some changes to Tormentor, neutral and basic items as well. But for the most part, it is the changes to heroes that will most shake up the meta.

Dota 2 patch 7.41c turns Lone Druid into a gummy bear.

Let's start with the obvious subjects first. Lone Druid received pretty huge nerfs. His Bear costs more mana and has a longer cooldown. The hero received other nerfs, but the increased downtime on summoning Spirit Bear is the biggest deal. In the past, you could kill the bear and see it knocking on your base 10 seconds later. While this is still possible, it is significantly more rewarding to kill the bear now.

Two other heroes received large hits from the nerf bat. Queen of Pain has a longer cooldown on max level Shadow Strike, along with a smaller AoE. While Alchemist's overall farm has been reduced. It's unlikely you will find all of Alchemist's allies with Aghanim's Sceptre at 30 minutes now.

The overall biggest loser is Batrider, though on first inspection we didn't expect him to lose nearly a 6% win rate. For a mobility-based hero, losing 10 movement speed is a death sentence, but that's not all! Firefly and Lasso both deal less damage. How's that for fun?

Overall, we find the nerfs make sense, though some are somewhat confusing (Why did Dawnbreaker take a hit?). So we are grateful for a meta shift in the upcoming DreamLeague 29. 

IceFrog gives Bard Frog some love.

Valve didn't just nerf the most egregious heroes. He also gave some underused heroes much-needed love, beginning with his namesake, of course.

Largo's high-level talents are significantly better, with two catchy licks available at 20 now and doubling the value of Frog Stomp at 25. Still, it's a pretty small buff overall.

The big winners are Timbersaw, with his bigger mana pool and starting damage, and Lycan, thanks to his significantly better early health regeneration and wolves. While the jury is out on Timbersaw being back in the meta, Lycan has often been ignored in favour of Beastmaster. With Beat nerfed, it might be the time for werewolves to rise up as the apex predators of the patch.

Dota 2 patch 7.41c takes good steps to address the most annoying playstyles of the patch (mainly Lone Druid and Alchemist). A few heroes get much-deserved buffs, and honestly, this feels like a pretty great letter patch. The question now is, will Dota 2 patch 7.41c be the one used for TI and EWC? Or will we get another update soon?
 
READ MORE: Esports Foundation Club Partner Program: Understanding the Engine Behind EWC

Featured Image Source: Valve