Dota 2 patch 7.34e just dropped, and it’s not the big, post-The International patch everyone is hoping for — but the return of Frostivus might just change that.
This Dota 2 patch, released almost a month after the end of TI12, only affects 29 heroes and six items. The biggest nerfs were targeted at heroes that became omnipresent at The International, while the buffs seem relatively conservative for heroes that are probably still low-tier. For example, Winter Wyvern’s slight base heal increase — 10 across all levels — and a 0.2s buff on Leshrac’s Lightning Storm slow at max levels are probably not the catalyst to push these heroes into the meta.
Patch 7.34e hits some of the most powerful meta heroes and items of TI12 — but are they enough?
The heroes most affected include Kunkka, Bristleback, Chaos Knight, Spirit Breaker, Primal Beast, and Dazzle. Arguably, these heroes were the top stars at TI12, and three of them even feature in the final game of Team Spirit’s championship-winning run — while the other three were banned.
The two best hard supports at TI12 — Ancient Apparition and Treant Protector — also received some hefty nerfs. Treant lost yet more mobility with his base movement speed reduction, and Ancient Apparition’s Ice Vortex now deals less damage, while his ultimate lasts for a shorter time, making his anti-healing easier to play around.
Item nerfs include the popular Hand of Midas and the omnipresent Heart of Tarrasque-Blademail, while small buffs came for Pavise, Vladimir’s Offering, Eternal Shroud, and Helm of the Overlord — all of which had little presence over the past few months in terms of their competitive impact.
Still, it’s hard to see any of these changes making large changes to the meta. The tanky era is likely going to go on for a while longer — but fans are hoping that the upcoming Frostivus update will freshen things up again.
This year’s Frostivus update is “bursting with new features, new cosmetics, and some surprises”
Valve is promising an update for the holidays — Frostivus is coming to town to tide fans over winter. This marks the return of the holiday event, which last happened in 2019.
The update is “arriving with a sack stuffed to bursting with new features, new cosmetics, and some surprises,” according to Valve’s written blog post.
While Frostivus doesn’t usually come with an update, 7.34e’s relatively low impact compared to usual post-TI patches might be a sign that this year’s winter update is going to bring more drastic changes to the game. Plus, Valve’s promised battle pass is still not here, and this could be the start of a new holiday tradition for Dota 2 fans.
The 2018 version of the event introduced a new PvE game mode, a co-op survival event called Frosthaven, along with the Rubick Arcana. Frostivus 2017 featured a series of custom games created by Dota 2 fans — like Mario Party’s myriad minigames.
You can read the full 7.34e patch notes here.
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