With the Dota Asia Championships 2017 behind us, and the Kiev Major only a few weeks away, it’s highly likely that IceFrog will make a few balancing tweaks to the game. Valve will presumably want to avoid destabilizing the meta before the Kiev Major, which means the next gameplay update for Dota is almost certainly going to come out in May. Patch 7.05 will look to address any glaring imbalances revealed in Shanghai. The meta is definitely getting a bit stale in 7.04, which is ultimately a good thing for players–Patch 7.05 will hopefully shake things up a bit.
Patch 7.05 Wishlist: Alchemist Nerfs
There may be some viewers out there who enjoy watching Alchemist games. I don’t know. It’s a possibility. I’m sure the vast majority of us are sick to death of seeing Alchemist park himself in the middle lane. Even the casters and panel at DAC were complaining about the endless streak of Alchemist games. Evil Geniuses might the ones most pleased to see the hero nerfed, due to their abysmal record in Alchemist matches. It’s no wonder they start tilting whenever they see an Alch though–it’s almost impossible to shut down his farm without sacrificing the rest of your lanes. N4ow that he can give Moon Shards to his teammates (as well as Aghanim’s Sceptres), his late game impact is even higher.
More Viable Mids
When it’s not an Alchemist in the mid lane, we really haven’t seen much in terms of variety. There was a lot of Lina played at DAC, but we don’t expect her to stick around for very long. Invoker was a popular choice thanks to his ability to scale well into the late game whilse contributing to early ganks. Puck saw more play than in previous patches, but the hero appeared almost exclusively in the offlane. Death Prophet, Queen of Pain, Razor, Dragon Knight, Windranger, Viper, Mirana, Leshrac–what happened to these heroes? Are they really all unplayable? Let’s pray to IceFrog that we see some buffs for these forgotten mids in 7.05.
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Balanced Roaming Supports
Earth Spirit and Monkey King were the kings of the supports at DAC and it’s easy to see why. Monkey King’s vision, team fight contributions, scaling, and early game damage makes him invaluable. Earth Spirit offers similar ganking potential, with heaps of teamfight control. At the other end of the spectrum you’ve got Ancient Apparition unpicked despite the constant Alchemist, Slark and Abaddon appearances. Let’s hope we see some more play from the more defensive supports in 7.05.
No More Lifestealer Strats
The second most picked and banned hero at DAC, Lifestealer is still the safe lane choice. If IceFrog wants to dial back Lifestealer’s dominance, the best way might be to increase the cooldown or mana cost for his Ultimate, Infest. It’s a strong ganking tool, and offers an escape for Lifestealer when enemies try to put a stop to his farm. If you want to know why Lifestealer is popular, it’s almost solely because of how powerful Infest is.
