Valve released the global patch 7.36 for Dota 2, changing key game mechanics

Valve released gameplay patch 7.36 for Dota 2 right in the middle of the DreamLeague Season 23 playoffs. This surprised esports players, as the developers changed several key game mechanics, balanced item attributes, and hero abilities.

The full list of changes was published on the official Dota 2 website.

Dota 2 Patch 7.36 Changes:

GENERAL UPDATES

This update introduces two new mechanics for each hero: Innate abilities and Facets

Innate Abilities

Innates are abilities that are present on the hero for the entire game, from the very beginning of every match. Every hero has a unique Innate

The Innate for each hero can be viewed on the Hero page, or in-game by hovering a new icon between the hero talents and abilities

There are two types of Innates:

• Some Innates grant a hero a unique effect. For example, Faceless Void slows enemy attack projectiles within range, and Dawnbreaker reveals the whole map to allies when the sun rises

• Some Innates change a hero ability to have five levels and get a free ability point at level 1. For example, Kunkka's Tidebringer and Legion Commander's Moment of Courage now start at level 1, and can still be upgraded four more times like normal

Facets

Facets are a hero customization choice that provide the ability to better align the playstyle of a hero with a specific match or player preference. Facets are specific to heroes: Each hero has at least two Facets, and every player can choose the Facet they prefer during strategy time at the beginning of each match

Hero Facets can be viewed on their hero page, below the hero name and tags. They can also be viewed in-game by hovering a new icon between the hero talent and abilities, on the scoreboard, or on the top bar when holding Alt

Facets are set for all players after the strategy time, and cannot be changed during a match. Facet choices aren't revealed to the enemy team until after the game begins

Facets can have a variety of effects, for example:

• Viper can choose between adding an AoE damage burst to Poison Attack, or increasing defensive buffs while Viper remains in Nethertoxin

• Wraith King can choose between summoning skeletons, or dealing additional curse damage when attacking

• Leshrac can choose between his attacks restoring mana, or changing Diabolic Edict to explode faster but deal no damage to buildings

• Lone Druid can choose between an improved Spirit Link, granting lifesteal in both directions, or allowing True Form to be cast on the Spirit Bear

Other

• Strategy time is extended by 15/10/5 seconds for the 1/2/3 weeks immediately after a numbered patch

• Glyph of Fortification no longer refreshes when the first Tier 3 tower is destroyed

• Glyph of Fortification now refreshes when the first Melee Barracks is destroyed

• AoE Bonuses now affect all auras and Cleave sources

• Dominated Creeps no longer allow players to bypass Backdoor Protection

• Hero Denies now grant experience to the hero who created the deniable debuff.

• Mana Bars are always visible for enemies

• Fountain Buff grants Couriers haste movement

• If Courier has no items, pressing the Deliver Courier button sends the Courier back home

• Mana Cost Reduction effects no longer work on abilities that drain mana over time

• Attack Speed Display is no longer normalized to 1.7 BAT. This means heroes’ max attack speed is always 700, and a buff that grants 20 Attack Speed will display as +20 always instead of a different number based on the hero’s BAT (No actual gameplay change, just a display change)

• Spell's Cast Range is now always listed with the new icon, which is located near Mana Costs and Cooldown

• Holding Alt displays the vision range of all Watchers in the map

• Experience gain from Abilities and Wisdom Rune will now show up separately in the post-game XP Breakdown for Dota Plus users

• Added a "LEVELS WITH:" parameter for ability descriptions to show which ability needs to be upgraded to level this one

• Ability tooltips now show icons next to ability values, indicating that those are upgraded by Aghanim's Shard/Scepter, Talents, or Facets

• Updated spectator view controls for live and replays to match vision unlinking

• Using Radiant/Dire Fog will now correctly hide members of Radiant/Dire that have had their vision unlinked and are not visible

• Using the player perspective on a player whose vision is unlinked will correctly hide units they can no longer see

• Pinging items of enemies that can't be seen currently no longer reveals information on whether those items were consumed or not

• In demo mode -createhero command supports facets by adding facet name or its number at the end of the command

• New Dota Labs Feature: "Persistent Range Indicators" -- If you hold Alt while right-clicking on either your experience indicator, attack range indicator (the stats part of portrait), or an ability/item, the game will draw a persistent range indicator in the world for it. You can only have at most one active at any given time, but it updates automatically when your attack/cast/AoE range changes

• New Dota Labs Feature: "Dynamic Health Bar Focus" -- The health bar of any hovered unit will always draw on top of other health bars

• Added the ability to type in a hero name to jump to that hero when viewing patch notes in the client

Ability Draft

• Innates have the following rules for Ability Draft

• Innate abilities that do not appear on a hero's ability bar will be automatically assigned to the hero when spawning in, but cannot be drafted

• Innate abilities that can be leveled with skill points are draftable, but will not be automatically assigned when spawning in

• All other innate abilities are disabled for Ability Draft

• Facets have the following rules for Ability Draft:

• You can choose any hero facet belonging to your assigned hero during strategy time

• Facets that grant new abilities are disabled

• Facets that replace abilities will work if you draft the ability that is being replaced

• If a facet has no effect on your hero you can still select it. In game, the facet will notate it has no effect

ITEM UPDATES

ROSHAN'S BANNER

• Item Reworked. Now grants invulnerability to all allied lane creeps in radius

• Effect radius decreased from 750 to 600

• Creeps lose Banner's effect once they leave the radius

• Banner duration decreased from 5 minutes to 2 minutes

• Melee Hero attacks now deal 2x damage to Roshan's Banner

• Cast range decreased from global to 1200

DRAGON LANCE

Can no longer be disassembled

ETERNAL SHROUD

• Recipe cost increased from 800 to 900. Total cost increased from 3600 to 3700

ORCHID MALEVOLENCE

• Fixed Status Resistance sometimes eliminating Soul Burn's damage

BLOODTHORN

• Fixed Status Resistance sometimes eliminating Soul Rend's damage

MAELSTROM

• Chain Lightning Damage decreased from 120 to 110

OCTARINE CORE

• Health bonus decreased from +625 to +550

• Mana bonus decreased from +625 to +550

SANGE

• Recipe cost increased from 550 to 650. Total cost increased from 2000 to 2100

• No longer provides +20% Status Resistance

• Now provides +20% Slow Resistance

YASHA

• Recipe cost increased from 550 to 650. Total cost increased from 2000 to 2100

KAYA

• Recipe cost increased from 550 to 650. Total cost increased from 2000 to 2100

HEAVEN'S HALBERD

• Recipe cost decreased from 200 to 100. Total cost unchanged

• No longer provides +16% Status Resistance

• Now provides +20% Slow Resistance

MANTA STYLE

• Total cost increased from 4550 to 4650

METEOR HAMMER

• Recipe cost decreased from 400 to 300. Total cost unchanged

SANGE AND YASHA

• Total cost increased from 4000 to 4200

• Now also provides +25% Slow Resistance

YASHA AND KAYA

• Total cost increased from 4000 to 4200

• Now also provides +25% Cast Speed Bonus

KAYA AND SANGE

• Total cost increased from 4000 to 4200

• No longer provides +25% Status Resistance

• Now provides +25% Slow Resistance

• Now also provides +25% Mana Cost/Mana Loss Reduction

WIND WAKER

• Cyclone Cooldown increased from 13s to 16s

NEUTRAL ITEM UPDATES

OGRE SEAL TOTEM

• Ogre Seal Flop now plays a flail animation while hero is jumping

Esports teams are in confusion, as these extensive changes have almost entirely disrupted current hero builds. Professional players will have to adapt to the new mechanics of patch 7.36 during the playoff matches of DreamLeague Season 23.