On the night of 14-15 August, Dota 2 developers released a new patch. In general, this patch doesn't contain any additional game content, only a lot of changes to the meta. We have selected only the most important ones for you. The full list of updates can be found at this link.

Changes to items

There are not as many changes in the items as there are changes in the heroes, but we feel obliged to tell you about the main change.

From now on, the mana recovery boost and vampirism boost from stacking multiple Kaya-based items will no longer stack. This will affect Storm Spirit the most, as it was used very often.

Top 5 buffs in patch 7.37b

There are actually too many changes to the heroes to cover here, so we'll only tell you about the most interesting buffs. Here are the top 5 buffs of this patch:

Invoker
In this patch, the aspect called Elitist has been strengthened, namely the increase in additional damage from spells per sphere. It was 2/3/4/5/6/7/8%, now it's 3/4/5/6/7/8/9%. But the most interesting thing was that now using spheres during invisibility does not remove this effect from the hero.  

Magnus
Next, let's talk about Magnus. First of all, his base Agility has been increased by 3, which is a nice boost considering the versatility of this hero. Also, the innate ability Solid Core has received a boost, and now it also gives +20/30/40/50% to slowing resistance (improves with Reverse Polarity). Also, don't forget about talent boosts: Talent level 15: The duration of the bonus to attributes for a hero affected by Reverse Polarity has been increased from 15 to 20 seconds. Level 15 Talent: Attribute bonuses for a hero affected by Reverse Polarity are now stacked instead of updated.

Mirana
Its Solar Flare aspect, which gives maximum damage/attack speed, has received a nice buff. Now the time to reach the maximum effect is 6 seconds instead of 8. Additionally, the damage of Starstorm on the second target has been increased, and Aghanim's Scepter has been slightly strengthened. Finally, we'd like to tell you about a small but pleasant change in the range of Leap to 25 from talent level 10. These buffs make it clear that Valve is trying to bring this hero back into the mix.

Witch Doctor
Let's start with the level 15 talent enhancement: the bonus to Maledict's radius has been increased from 100 to 125. And now let's move on to the most interesting things. Aspect of Cleft Death, now Death Ward has a primary and secondary target, the damage of the primary target has been increased to 55/90/125, and the damage of the secondary target is 65% of the primary target.

Muerta
The last interesting enhancement for today is Muerta's base armour, which has been increased by 1. The Offrenda aspect has increased its range, and the mana consumption of The Calling ability has been reduced from 145/160/175/190 to 140/155/170/185.

Top 5 nerfs in patch 7.37b

We've already talked about the buffs, so it's time to talk about the main nerfs of this patch.

Ember Spirit
Probably the strongest mider of the last patch, who also performed well on the pro stage. There are quite a few changes, so let's start in order. First up are the talents: Talent level 10: Flame Guard barrier health bonus has been reduced from 200 to 165.Talent level 20: Sleight of Fist bonus to additional damage to heroes has been reduced from 55 to 50.

Also, the nerf's innate ability Immolation has been affected: the negative effect that deals periodic damage now disappears without delay. The damage per second has been reduced from 10/20/30/40 to 10/18/26/34. And the last nerf to this hero is Sleight of Fist's ability Recharge increased from 12/10/8/6 to 13/11/9/7 seconds. These changes should affect the priority of the hero and allow for competition for copper. We will find out if the developers managed to change at least something over time.

Tinker
Dota 2 has never seen such an increase in winrate after a patch as Tinker. After the recent changes, this hero has become a super-powerful support thanks to the healing from March Of The Machines. Therefore, his weakening looks logical, namely: Nerf of the Repair Boots aspect, which reduces the healing per second from 15/25/35/45 to 14/21/28/35. Also, the same March Of The Machines ability has had its mana cost increased. They were also joined by the Defence of Matrix ability. In general, the nerf looks interesting, but we will find out very soon whether it will affect Tinker support.

Ursa
A powerful caretaker from the last patch that needed a nerf. Maul's innate ability has been weakened, health in the form of damage has been reduced, and the Earthshock ability has been reduced, as well as the duration of the Enrage from Aghanim's shard. And of course, the talents at level 15 and level 20 were swapped.

Legion Commander
The hero, who was not very popular in the last patch but had quite good winrate, received a weakening of Stonehall Plate, namely the barrier duration from 8 to 6 seconds. Now it lasts as long as the attack boost. It is not known whether this nerf is significant, because usually this barrier in the tech file was always destroyed instantly.

Venomancer
We think you've seen videos on various social media before of this hero dealing 100k damage in the late game. This nerf is designed to take away that possibility. The innate ability Septic Shock now only counts one debuff from each ability or item, for example, Shiva's Guard now counts as one effect instead of three. After these changes, the hero is still powerful, but it's hard to call him an imba. Let's wait for the statistics from the matches to see if this nerf is enough or not.

Conclusion

In this patch, we saw both nerfs that target specific problems in the meta, such as Ember Spirit or Tinker support, and the strengthening of competitors in these positions. We will continue to monitor the changes in the meta and keep you up to date with all the developments in the Dota 2 world.