On May the 15th a new Dota 2 was released. In this article, we will be analyzing Dota 2 7.06 General Gameplay mechanics, such as; Deny Mechanics, Shrines, Lanes, Neutrals, Creeps, Attributes and Economy.
DENY MECHANICS
Creep denies now grant the denying team 30% of the XP bounty
Normal deny XP increased from 50% to 70%
Now what Dota 2 makes it special is its denying mechanics, making it one step harder compared to other ARTS out there.
On the previous patches, denied creeps only give 50% less experience. In 7.06 however, Valve made a small modification but it has a very huge impact to the game in the long run – creep denies now grant the denying team 30% of the xp bounty. These changes are very crucial in each team’s laning phase especially in mid. Not only that, normal deny xp was also increased from 50% to 70%. Very interesting to see how competitive games approach to this new mechanic.
SHRINES
Shrines now start on cooldown and become available at 5 minutes
Reduced Shrine count in base from 5 to 3
Shrines mana regeneration growth per minute reduced from 1 to 0.75
(Photo : youtube.com/hOlyhexOr)
Dota 2 7.0’s new map and rune spawns were seen by many as something that makes the game less interesting during the early phase. It eliminates the chance of having a contest between teams in taking up the bounty rune. Moreover, “shrines” were also introduced in 7.0 which gives the opposite team a hard time trying to get the steal the bounty and possibly securing a first blood.
The nerf to shrines could probably lead into seeing more rune or first blood contests just like games prior to 7.0 update.
LANES
Added an extra melee creep in mid lane for the first 15 minutes
Creeps meet a bit closer to the offlane tower
Creep aggro duration reduced from 2.5 to 2.3
Creep aggro cooldown increased from 2.5 to 3.0
Lane creeps vision reduced from 850/800 to 750
As what was mentioned earlier, the mid is the most affected lane in this patch compared to the other lanes. The change in deny mechanics plus the additional melee creep in mid lane for the first 15 minutes offers a possibility for dual laning in early game.
Dual mid laning is viable seeing that it can accommodate two heroes but for sure that won’t be the case in pub games.
NEUTRALS
Neutrals now spawn every minute instead of every 2 minutes
Neutrals now give 20% less XP and Gold
Neutrals XP and Gold now increased by 2% every 7.5 minutes
Dota 2 6.xx allowed the creep camps to spawn every minute. This gives avenue for supports to create stacks of creeps that will somehow help the carries to farm easier and faster.
In Dota 7.xx, Valve changed the spawn time of creeps to two minutes. That gives an average of 100 golds per spawn. But in this most recent patch, Dota 2 7.06, Valve gave back the creep spawn per minute. Although has 20% lesser xp and gold, it can spawn twice; meaning, you it can provide an average of 160 golds in two minutes. Still pretty good thing for junglers and LC spammers.
CREEPS
Siege damage type vs structures increased from 150% to 250%
Siege creeps HP increased from 550 to 825
Siege creeps spawn rate reduced from every 7th wave to every 10th wave
Extra Ranged/Siege creeps now spawn at 40 minutes instead of 45
Siege creeps spawn more often with 150% more hp an deals 160% more damage. Seems like Valve wanted to decrease the chances of straight snowballing. These changes, although not very big deal in general, makes it more difficult to create tower pressure in early game.
This however has an impact to the solo offlaners during the laning stage. In this patch, it would ideal to pick tanky offlanes especially that all heroes receive a strength buff mentioned on the next item below.
ATTRIBUTES
All hero strength growth increased by 0.3
Regeneration coming from strength increased from 0.03 HP per point of Strength to 0.06
Reduced base HP regen by 0.25
Intelligence’s Spell Amplification from 1% per 15 to 1% per 14
Mana per point of Intelligence reduced from 12 to 11
Base mana increased from 50 to 75
This is a small detail but cannot be overlooked. The base hp regen is reduced, which makes a lot of the heroes to have a 0 hp regen during the start of the game. Most of the heroes have 0 base regeneration prior to Dota 2 7.06 except for the following:
(photo snipped from dota2gamepedia.com)
ECONOMY
Reduced melee creeps base XP bounty from 45 to 40
Reduced melee creep gold bounty upgrade from 3 gold per cycle to 1 gold per cycle
Melee/Ranged Barracks team bounty reduced from 275/225 to 225/150 to each player
Roshan team bounty reduced from 200 to 150
Shrine team bounty reduced from 150 to 125
Death cost from 100 + NW/50 to 50 + NW/40
Tier 3 Tower Team Bounty from 240 to 200
Tier 4 Tower Team Bounty from 280 to 200
Economy changes can be summarized into two: objectives and structures give lesser gold, and melee lane creeps give lesser xp and gold bounty. That gives two other options for teams to acquire greater amount of gold: one, killing enemy heroes especially cores, and two, farming in jungling uninterrupted. The second choice is not viable to all five players on the team, thus, the most effective way is to acquire enemy kills. The key is to have successful ganks and rotation as early as possible.
By the looks of it, Valve is encouraging more actions and team fights in this meta –reducing bounty on creeps and structures – which is a solid action to make Dota 2 a more entertaining esport event.
