Valve released the 7.26 gameplay update even as professional teams are playing in various tournaments such as the ESL One Los Angeles and the BTS Pro Series. The update does not bring changes to hero abilities and items, at least, not yet.
What’s New In 7.26 Update?
Less Gold
- Gold bounties reduced by 10% (affects buildings, lane creeps, neutrals and heroes)
- Kill streak gold is reduced by 50%
It was a common sight to see pubs filled with fast-paced heroes such as Lycan. Once the hero farms a key set of items, he could run through the enemy lineup, especially if they did not have good early-game team fight and control.
The previous patch was very harsh on late-game heroes like Spectre and Phantom Lancer. However, with the 10% reduction in gold-bounty (it is a standard reduction for all gold bounties), Dota 2 players can expect more balanced games and less stomps.
Valve has also reduced the kill-streak gold bounty by 50%. This change follows the earlier change this year, when Valve reduced the XP gained by killing high level heroes. There were multiple instances when players would receive 3-5 levels by getting one solo kill on an enemy hero.
Attributes No Longer Give Anything ‘Extra’
Every hero has three attributes (Strength, Agility and Intelligence). In a recent patch update, these attributes would provide additional features such as Magic Resistance, Spell Amplification and Movement Speed for Strength, Intelligence and Agility respectively.
The 7.26 update removes these additional features. The magic resistance and spell amplification allowed heroes to either do more damage to opponents or become extremely tanky with few items. This change will force players to itemize differently in games.
Valve has promised more updates, with changes to heroes and items. After all, 7.26 is a new series of updates and Dota 2 fans can expect drastic changes in the upcoming patches.
