What happened to the most popular heroes of the previous patch after the release of 7.28?

Valve finally released the new 7.28 patch to the Dota 2 client. And it made a huge number of changes. More on this - Dota 2 has released patch 7.28 Mistwoods. Added a new hero, 13 items, and an extra ability for each hero.

But in this article, we would like to compare how the most meta heroes of professional Dota 2 scenes from the previous patch were changed and whether they will lose their relevance now.

Tiny

The most popular hero of the previous patch is Tiny. In total, professional teams have chosen this hero 2,003 times.

• Tree Grab cooldown reduced from 25/20/15/10 to 16/14/12/10

• Avalanche now deals 2.5x damage to tossed units, rather than 3x

• Grow damage increased from 25/50/75 to 30/70/110

• Level 15 Talent increased from +3 Tree Grab Attack Charges to +5

• Level 25 Talent increased from -7s Avalanche Cooldown to -8s

Aghanim's Shard Ability:

Grants Craggy Exterior. Passive. Provides a 20% chance to stun the enemy for 1 second and deal 100 damage when a physical attack impacts your hero. Works against enemies within 400 range. Procs after an attack impacts, and does not affect Spell Immune enemies.

Incredibly, the new patch didn't weaken the most popular hero, but on the contrary, it just strengthened it in many aspects. Also, with the new artifact, there was returned his old passive ability Craggy Exterior. After such a buff, it is unlikely that teams will stop using Tiny in the new patch.

Rubik

The second most popular hero of the previous patch is Rubik. On the professional stage, he was chosen 1,869 times.

• Arcane Supremacy no longer provides debuff amplification

• Arcane Supremacy now provides +75/125/175/225 Cast Range

• Spell Steal now provides bonus +10/20/30% Debuff Amplification to the stolen spells

• Spell Steal cooldown rescaled from 20/18/16 to 26/20/14

• Spell Steal scepter cooldown rescaled from 2 to 6/4/2

• Level 10 Talent changed from +50 Base Damage to Fade Bolt Steals Hero Damage

• Level 15 Talent changed from Fade Bolt Steals Hero Damage to +100 Base Damage

Aghanim's Shard Ability

Allows you to use Telekinesis on yourself or an ally. Throw range is 60% longer and cooldown is reduced by 30% when targeting allies. Throw delay is reduced to 0.5 seconds.

In the case of Rubik, we can already say that the hero received a slight debuff. It mostly influences the initial stage of the game. In conjunction with the not very strong buff from Aghanim's Shard, this hero's popularity may change slightly.

Faceless Void

Let's skip a few of the heroes above and look at one of the most popular carries of the previous patch — Faceless Void. In total, he was selected on 1,321 maps.

• Base agility reduced by 4 (base damage unchanged)

• Time Lock bonus damage reduced from 20/25/30/35 to 10/15/20/25

• Level 15 Talent reduced from +275 Time Walk Cast Range to +250

Aghanim's Shard Ability

Time Walk remains castable for 1.5 second after landing. If used in this period, you will reverse your time walk back to your previous cast location. Increases Time Walk cast range by 200. (Note: Does not change health the second use)

The hero was debuffed, but the changes are so slight that it may not even be noticed. Besides, the additional ability may well be useful in capable hands. The only thing that can make players use less Faceless Void in this patch is the strengthening of other characters.

Sven

Well, we'll finish this list with Sven. At the beginning of the last patch, almost no one used the hero, and his time came only closer to the middle of the patch. During this time, the hero was picked on 1,094 maps.

• God’s Strength reduced from 110/160/210% to 100/150/180%

• Storm Hammer scepter no longer applies attacks on impact

• Storm Hammer scepter bonus range reduced from +500 to +350

• Level 15 Talent changed from Storm Hammer Dispels Enemies to +4s Warcry Duration

Aghanim's Shard Ability

Storm Hammer now applies a dispel on enemies.

This hero got a really tangible weakening. In fact, with the release of the 7.28 patch, Valve took away everything that was given in the previous one. With such changes, the question arises about the advisability of assembling Aghanim's Scepter for this hero. Of course, it should greatly affect the choice of the hero at his pick.

This time, we looked at only four meta-forming heroes of the previous patch and tried to predict how the new patch will affect their popularity. You can view the full statistics from the previous patch on our Meta tab. Besides, the statistics on the new patch have already begun appearing there.