The Biggest Changes in Dota 2 Patch 7.35d

Dota 2 patch 7.35d is out and while it is not the much-anticipated Crownfall update, there are still some sizable changes to the game worth discussing.

The latest patch aims to further balance out the hero meta, along with changes to matchmaking to make the game more fun and enjoyable for all players.

The biggest changes in Dota 2 patch 7.35d

Reduced gold and exp from jungle creeps

Don't worry, your carry will still afk jungle for most of the game. (Credit: Valve)

It's common for supports to stack the jungle for their cores, allowing them to accelerate to their farming items or catch back up after a tough laning stage.

Dota 2 patch 7.35d aims to slow down the pace of the game, with Mud Golems and Satyrs providing less gold overall. Experience from stacking has also been slightly reduced.

Farming jungle creeps remains a pivotal part of every game, it is just slightly less rewarding to do so right now.

Item cooldowns are longer in Dota 2 patch 7.35d

The changes to Divine won't affect 99% of heroes. (Credit: Valve)

Continuing with the theme of slowing down the game, a significant portion of items have longer cooldowns. Players are encouraged to take longer breaks between engagements and place more thought into their item usage.

Shadow Blade, Black King Bar, Manta Style, and even Magic Wand all got nerfed, with a few seconds added to their cooldowns. Most of the nerfs are directed toward core items, so the power discrepancy between supports and cores might shrink in the latest update.

Another significant nerf is to Revenant's Broach. Originally conceived as an item to counter Ghost Scepter, Broach quickly became one of the best damage items in the game, turning the user's right-click from physical to magical.

Since most heroes have significantly less magic resistance, everyone started buying Revenant's Broach and using it to one-shot enemies with big critical hits.

Dota 2 patch 7.35d prohibits attacks with Broach from being critical hits, that's a direct nerf to Phantom Assassin and Mars.

I wouldn't mind bigger nerfs but time will tell if Broach remains too strong or IceFrog got it right yet again.

Divine Rapier can now be toggled to provide 250 physical damage or 25% spell amplification, a cute change that won't matter in almost all games.

Myriad of hero buffs and nerfs

Yeah, good luck facing his army. (Credit: Valve)

It wouldn't be a patch update if a few heroes didn't get some love while others got struck with the nerf stick and 7.35d features changes to about half the hero pool.

Most of the changes are relatively small, as we expect from a letter patch. Crownfall will likely feature a far more extensive rebalance for heroes.

Chen's Divine Fervor provides significantly less armor at all levels now, an expected change for the hero as he has been picked or banned in every game across every tournament, so no surprises there.

Apart from Chen, it's hard to predict which heroes will move up or down in the meta. Chaos Knight can jungle earlier and chase enemies better, while Lifestealer had his cast range on two abilities nerfed.

Will the above changes be enough to remove Naix from the meta? it's too early to tell but we are excited to see how the patch develops.

Overall, Dota 2 patch 7.35d brings enough changes to shake up the meta until Crownfall arrives. It's unlikely that most heroes will be rotating in or out of the meta, but the changes are enough to bring back a few pocket strategies for pro teams.

READ MORE: Meta Recap: The Most Popular Heroes at DreamLeague Season 22

Featured Image Source: Valve