How to Gain MMR in Dota 2 Patch 7.34+

Each Dota 2 patch introduced by Valve and IceFrog changes the game significantly. But some patches do this to a greater extent than others. Dota 2 patch 7.33 and its subsequent updates, made the game a lot more complex than it used to be.

MOBA games are sophisticated by nature because they constitute a mixture of RPG and RTS elements. This potent mix, when scaled, results in close to a thousand notions that need to be learned by a new player. Not to mention the fact that new heroes are introduced with almost every new update.

How Dota 2 Patch 7.33 Changed the Game

Dota 2 patch 7.33 is regarded by many as Dota 3. The fact that the map became much bigger and that new elements were introduced (such as two Roshan pits, Tormentor bosses, Universal heroes, and so on) resulted in a change of play style.

You simply cannot play the game the way you did prior to the release of Dota 2 patch 7.33. Its subpatches merely introduced balance changes, so they can be skipped for the most part. However, the main update features numerous changes that are very significant. So it must be studied carefully. This could easily take you several hours.

The Key Features of Dota 2 Patch 7.33

In Dota 2 patch 7.33, a player must pay attention to and take advantage of more than half a dozen features:

The Map’s Farm Potential

Before this new patch that changed Dota 2 completely, there wasn’t enough farm for everyone on a team. Now there’s so much farm that the only real limit is a team’s ability to move around safely and kill the neutral creeps.

To take advantage of the numerous creeps that spawn every minute and can increase your GPM considerably, you must build not only damage, HP regen, and mana regen, but also mobility. Boots of Travel are a lot more valuable than they used to be.

Of course, buying them early will set you back in terms of damage and team fight potential, but they are still great if you can kite the enemy side and farm non-stop.

Apart from pushing the lanes, which should be done at all times, players can now farm an additional six neutral camps on each side of the map.

The Improved Mobility

Overall, heroes have received a mobility boost. But the map itself helps as well. If you want to quickly teleport from Radiant’s safe lane to Dire’s safe lane, you can use the Twin Gates. Just make sure to place some wards around them to avoid getting ganked and killed right after you exit.

On this Dota 2 patch, everyone can benefit from a Blink Dagger or at least a Force Staff. Luckily, support heroes have a lot more networth and they don’t need to buy Aghanim’s Shard because of the Tormentors. Most of the items that used to empty their coffers are now cheap or entirely free. This means that their impact is much greater than before.

The Roshan Pits

Roshan no longer spawns near the middle of the River. Instead, it spawns in one of the two pits located near the Radiant and Dire safe lanes. Every 5 minutes, the dragon changes his location and does so utilizing the Twin Gates. When he is alive, a team’s positioning can make the difference between success and failure.

Naturally, everyone is trying to ward the area around the pits and especially the one surrounding Roshan’s current location. After the first few Roshans are killed, subsequent dragons can drop very powerful items, including Cheese, Refresher Shard, and Aghanim’s Scepter.

Tormentors

Tormentors are mini-bosses that can be very hard to kill. They usually require two or three heroes to deal and absorb damage. They spawn at the 20-minute mark and every 10 minutes after that, assuming that they are killed immediately after they respawn.

Their rewards are significant and will enrich a team by several thousand gold. Furthermore, they can be stolen, so it’s generally a good idea to kill them as soon as they spawn. Otherwise, you might lose a team fight and then get punished by the enemy side. Instead of losing a tower or two, you’ll lose your Tormentor.

New Items

Dota 2 patch 7.33 changed neutral items significantly. Neutral creeps no longer drop a specific neutral item. Rather, they drop a Neutral Token, which can be turned into the Neutral item of your choice. This makes it possible for players to customize their builds a lot more accurately.

Overpowered items like Wraith Pact are no longer in the game. Powerful new items were introduced. One example is Harpoon, which can be used to pull enemy heroes toward you when they are trying to escape.

Another powerful new item is Phylactery, which is great for all heroes who need survivability stats in the early game.

Among the neutral items that were introduced by this Dota 2 update, Vindicator’s Axe and Dandelion Amulet are among the most useful.

Boosters and Consumables

The new map offers all kinds of boosters and consumables. You can find a Shield Rune that greatly reduces all incoming damage for about a minute. You can also get consumables from the Lotus Pools. These consumables give you lots of HP and mana instantly.

Another very valuable thing is the Wisdom Rune. This rune spawns in a special place on each side of the map and grants heroes lots of experience. For any support hero that’s trying to get to level 6 or 12 a bit faster, these runes are a must-pick.

Hero Changes

Needless to say, most heroes received massive changes in this patch. If you’ve played at least one hundred games since it was released, you probably know just how difficult it is to deal with Legion Commander, Morphling, and other heroes that are dominating the 7.33 meta.

In some cases, heroes that used to be very strong deal far less damage. Meanwhile, others tend to win every battle and require a fix. In Dota 2 patch 7.33c and 7.33d, Medusa got nerfed significantly because her win rate was approaching 60%!

It will be interesting to see how the next Dota patches will change the game, but for now, it’s all about winning the lanes and then dominating the map to expand your lead by farming more than the opponent.

The teams who need to compete in The International Regional Qualifiers often show the rest of the Dota 2 community what works best and why. But the meta is also shaped by pub games, which constitute the perfect testing ground for professional players like Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi before The International Regional Qualifiers start.

How to Gain MMR in Dota 2 Patch 7.33

Gaining MMR requires you to take advantage of every broken hero and item build that the game has to offer before it gets nerfed. Here’s what you can do in patch 7.33 to greatly improve your odds of success:

Pick the Highest Win Rate Heroes

Regardless of the role you are playing, some heroes are much stronger than others. For example, if you’re a support player, you should be playing Rubick and Silencer a lot in this meta.

But if you are a carry player, Morphling and Medusa are excellent choices. Medusa got nerfed multiple times in a row, but she’s still broken if you buy the right items and become tanky enough to survive during the first 15-20 minutes.

In the offlane, Legion Commander is the most terrifying hero to pick. Her win rate is incredibly high because of the Blade Mail build. You can simply purchase this item and nobody will want to attack you. The armor bonus it gives you and the amount of returned damage is absolutely ridiculous.

Add to that Legion’s own damage and all the bonus damage that you tend to gain by winning duels and you’ll understand why LC’s pick rate in Dota 2 patch 7.33 is around 25%, which means that she is played in a quarter of all games.

Pick Fast Farmers

Heroes like Templar Assassin and Medusa tend to be very strong in the 7.33 meta because they can quickly go from camp to camp and reach a GPM of 600-700 after the laning phase.

Alchemist is also a great choice but you need a team to back you up. Otherwise, you’ll get killed several times in the laning phase and your game will be ruined. This hero needs to stay at least 2000-3000 gold ahead of the enemy carry in order to have a real advantage. His natural skills are not that great in team fights.

Abuse Overpowered Items

Items like Blade Mail, Harpoon and Pavise are excellent choices if you want to gain MMR. But not every hero can benefit from those items. The objective is to make yourself either hard to kill or hard to defend against.

One thing to keep in mind in the new version of Dota is that your item choices are effective only if they are part of a wise strategy. If you buy items that are excellent for team fighting but your team just farms, the balance of power may shift and before you realize it, you’ve lost the ability to win fights. Many games are lost because of this.

Header: Valve Corporation