posted by EskayDota,
7.20 is finally here! With 37 heroes having abilities reworked in addition to the abundance of smaller changes, who are the ones you should be spamming in your pubs?

Slark, the Nightcrawler



Slark received some of the biggest buffs indirectly. Not only were his abilities improved, but he is also the only hero with a non-ultimate spell that can put enemies into the leashed game-state. The leashed state prevents teleports and mobility spells, meaning if you’ve pounced an enemy, they will struggle to get away.

The fishy inmate also received buffs to his ultimate, increasing the duration with levels. The most notable of changes to the hero is that any hero dying with the Essence Shift debuff on them allows Slark to permanently steal 1 agility. Over the course of a number of team fights, this has the potential to be incredibly valuable.

The only drawback to the new changes to the hero is the rework to Force Staff, where the only change was that it now breaks the leach from Slark’s pounce. If you’re having trouble with Slark in your games already, this might be an advisable purchase.



Jah'rakal, the Troll Warlord



The majority of bashes in the game were reworked. Troll Warlord’s was completely removed, and now instead applies an ensnare. This allows the hero to buy Basher and Abyssal Blade, previously items that were restricted on the hero.

On top of this change, the hero was one of the ones that received a large number of buffs. His ensnare chance percentage was changed to scale with levels, Fervor stack limit was increased, and his ultimate was reworked in a big way.

Troll’s ultimate is now one of the strongest things in his arsenal. A handful of buffs are applied to Troll during his new Battle Trance, including huge attack speed, movement speed and lifesteal buffs, but mainly, Troll cannot die and cannot be slowed. If this doesn't win you MMR, we're not sure what will.



Aggron Stonebreak, the Ogre Magi



Already showing up in the meta as a core, Ogre Magi’s changes might make his role even more ambiguous. One to pick in your pubs, Multicast now affects items that have a target. The potential for multiple silences, hexes, and other point target items could be huge in team fights.

This new interaction only works with offensive items. This means that even midas can be multicast. The possibilities for how this hero is played have opened up in a big way. There is now a lot more viability to builds that would have previously not have worked in such a synergistic way.

On top of the huge improvement to his ultimate, Fire Blast and Bloodlust cooldown was reduced and Ignite cast range was increased. General buffs and a huge improvement to his ultimate make Ogre Magi potentially much more viable as a core, or maybe just an even stronger support.



Gondar the Bounty Hunter



Another hero with a sizeable rework, Bounty is definitely a hero to watch out for in your pubs. With a number of changes to Jinada and Shadow Walk, Bounty’s role in a game suddenly has much more to do with his name.

Jinada, previously the passive that gave Bounty Hunter a crit now just deals bonus damage, a perk which was removed from Shadow Walk. On top of this, it now steals gold from enemies when primed. At max level on a 3 second cooldown, Bounty Hunter can steal 30 gold from an enemy every 3 seconds.

A few minor reworks to track and Bounty suddenly seems like he is a much more viable pick. With improved strength gain and starting strength, the problems that Bounty seemed to encounter have been addressed.



Magina the Anti-Mage



Somewhat ignored in the last patch, Anti-Mage has received a pretty big buff this time around. Turning Spell Shield into another ability that does the same thing, except it incorporates a free short-duration triggerable Lotus Orb. Often people built Anti-Mage with Aghanims as a necessity to compliment the hero, but that upgrade has now been built in to his abilities.

Already instantly more viable, this adds a skilled element to the hero; something people often complain about when going against him. Farming patterns and efficiency aside, Anti-Mage has something that will help him fight towards the earlier parts of the game. Starting at around 4200 gold stronger than he was last patch, Anti-Mage is certainly one to help you increase that MMR of yours.



What are your favourite changes this patch? Have your say in the comments below!



Teaser credit: Valve (Ocean Conqueror Loading Screen)

  • EskayDota
    EskayDota

    EskayDota

    Sam Kennard
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