6.86 Global Changes

By KawaiiSocks on Dec 16, 2015 05:24 UTC

The wait is finally over and Dota 2 has received a massive update which will most definitely have a huge impact on the game. Love it or hate it, there is no turning back and the game we all know is going to be different in many regards. Unlike most patches, this one does not simply change the balance of power on the battlefield, but changes the battlefield itself. Many familiar heroes will see changes which will alter their playstyle completely, while others might find new paths to victory with the new items. It is still Dota, but it will take some time adjusting to it and we are here to help you with that.

Unlike previous patch note analyses, we shall not go over all the small number tweaks, but rather focus on the most important changes. There is very little to discuss when minor nerfs/buffs are concerned and most players will be able to drive conclusions of their own. So, without further ado — 6.86 Patch Analysis.

Geography and Biology

Added Arcane Rune

Causes all spell cooldowns to be reduced by 30% and mana costs to be reduced by 50%. Lasts for 50 seconds.

This rune is quite strong at practically any stage of the game. My initial thought was that it is incredibly overpowered and too gamebreaking, but it is probably not the case, since it will rarely result in a huge DPS increase.

Early game, a caster mid, such as Zeus, Lina or even Shadow Fiend can get a decent advantage over the enemy with cheaper spam. In the later stages, it can make active heroes a lot more potent - imagine Bristleback or Ember Spirit with this cooldown reduction.

Yet all of this falls into the situational category and the situations where this rune is going to be absolutely overpowered are going to be as rare as with pretty much every other rune. What Illusion was to Naga Siren and Chaos Knight, what Haste was to Templar Assassin and what Double Damage was to practically any carry is what Arcane is going to be to casters, which seem to be the focus of this patch.

The other reason this rune addition is somewhat necessary, is the slight Bottle nerfs. 30 mana less per full bottle (3 charges used) is indeed a big deal in the early stages of the game.

Hero base HP increased from 150 to 180

With a focus on casters and Arcane rune the 30 HP buff to all heroes seems logical. It also makes a lot of squishy heroes better off and increases the value of early-game armor/damage block. It also slightly buffs the offlane.

Creeps now arrive slightly closer to the top dire tower and bottom Radiant tower
Moved the Radiant hard camp closer to the Dire offlane
Swapped Medium and Hard camp in Radiant Jungle

Quite a lot of changes to the Dire offlane. This change promotes parity between Radiant and Dire in terms of creep pulls for the offlane, which might be what the game needed. Frankfurt Major was not significantly Dire favored (~60%) and many top teams (EG and VP in The Summit 4 for example) now actually go for Radiant when they get the chance, hence this change is justified, despite Roshan Advantage.

Centaur Courser now has a stacking magic resistance aura (20% for units, 5% for heroes)
Hellbear now has a stacking magic resistance aura (20% for units, 5% for heroes)

This change aims to counterweight potential neutral creeps abuse with the Arcane rune, as well as force certain heroes to be more active rather than catch up using stacked camps. Storm Spirit, Lina, Shadow Fiend and many others will take a huge hit to their flash-farming and this indirect nerf seems logical, given the state the game was in the previous couple of patches where the jungling catch-up mechanism was way too strong on certain heroes. It is also an indirect buff to splash/cleave heroes, since they are comparatively better off, as well as an interesting way for Chen and Enchantress to protect their herd. In fact, this change might make heavy pushing strategies viable again.

Dragonhide Aura's stackable armor increased from 2 to 3
Ancient Dragons armor reduced by 1
Added a new ability to Ancient Black Dragon, Fireball + Show details
Ancient Thunderhide's Frenzy is now unit targetable
Hill Troll Priest's Mana Aura increased from 2 to 3
Satyr Banisher's Purge cooldown reduced from 5 to 3 seconds
Satyr Tormenter's Unholy Aura HP regen increased from 4 to 6
Satyr Tormenter's Shockwave distance increased from 800 to 1200
Satyr Tormenter's Shockwave speed reduced from 1050 to 900
Satyr Tormenter's Shockwave damage increased 125 to 160
Dark Troll Summoner's and Hill Troll's attack range reduced from 500 to 400
Dark Troll Summoner's attack damage increased by 6

Fireball and Frenzy are incredibly strong active abilities — a 300 AoE 85 DPS void zone is good on its own, but with a set up can become completely crazy (both in terms of fighting and farming), while a 75 AS increase which can be kept on a single target indefinitely is a boost which cannot be underrated. Of course, so far the only heroes who can actually utilize these spells are Chen and Lifestealer, so it is a decent buff to them.

Other changes are not as exciting, but the extra 2 regeneration from Satyr Tormentor can make a lot of difference for the offlane Doom, while making camps harder to farm. The shockwave buff/nerf is also slightly better for pushing the lane.

The Banisher Purge can be situationally overpowered - it is a very strong slow which can get rid of things like Omniknights [missing skill: omniknight-repel-5264], Guardian Angel and many others.

Finally, the underrated Hill Troll Priest's Mana Aura might become a thing to help mana intensive heroes — it is actually already quite decent on Doom and can be even used by Chen to boost his midlane by a huge margin — with 30 HP/sec heal and 3 extra mana regeneration, the potential is comparable to Harpy bullying.

Roshan's base armor increased by 1
Roshan's Base Attack Time increased from 1.0 to 2.0
Roshan now has +100 Attack Speed

Roshan is now capable of fighting back better, making him slightly riskier in the earlier stages as well as nerfing AS slowing heroes. Overall, it is not a big change.

The big 5 - hero ability reworks

Death Prophet

Base movement speed increased from 280 to 310
Crypt Swarm cooldown reduced from 8 to 8/7/6/5
Silence cooldown reduced from 15 to 15/14/13/12
Exorcism spirit count increased from 8/14/21 to 8/16/24
Exorcism spawn rate decreased from 1 ghost per 0.1 seconds to 0.3 seconds
Replaced Witchcraft with a new ability, Spirit Siphon

No mana cost reduction on Crypt Swarm and Silence is a rather high price to pay for an ability which seems strong on paper, but will probably be quite underwhelming in practice. A 300 units break distance is rather small and it will unlikely allow the hero to use it effectively until later into the game with proper itemization. Fortunately, the cast time on it seems smaller than on her other spells — for a spell which breaks at 300 it can make a lot of difference. Another important thing to note is that it is pure damage and it pierces spell immunity. Even if it breaks right after the initial cast, it is still going to deal some damage and slow for 18%. A reliable slow is something the hero direly needed.

Overall, the hero seems a lot stronger early in the game with a possible mid dominance — Arcane rune is certainly going to be helpful, given how limited the mana pool on the hero is. Later in the game she can actually become a much better fighter with a good sustain without losing much in the pushing department. Given how meta has a high chance of shifting towards more active pushing, she will be an excellent fit.

Doom

Base Attack Time increased from 1.7 to 2.0
Scorched Earth damage/heal reduced from 12/23/34/45 to 10/20/30/40
Scorched Earth movement speed from 16% to 14%
Doom cooldown increased from 100 to 125
Replaced Level Death with a new ability, Infernal Blade

With the lowest BAT in the game, it is pretty safe to say that Doom's days of being the auto-attacking core are numbered. His utility build was already stronger than right click one and the changes introduced in this patch only solidify this.

The nerfs to Scorched Earth are well-justified, as the spell was too strong even after the 6.85b, but the overall impact of this change is not going to be huge.

What is going to be rather huge is the new DoT which replaced LVL? Death — for a decreased manacost and cooldown, the ability got lower damage and "melee cast range", while disabling blinks. It is also no longer conditional — the whole level multiplier mechanics was weird to say the least and it might be a change for better. The mini-stun component also pierces spell immunity now, which was one of the LVL? Death downsides — you sometimes had to commit Doom on a sub-optimal target just to break a strong channeling. It is also a 160+X magic damage DoT at level 1. Sigh...

Riki

Strength growth reduced from 2.0 to 1.6
Agility growth reduced from 2.9 to 2.2
Base armor reduced by 1
Smoke Screen no longer slows turn rates
Reworked Permanent Invisibility to include Backstab
Blink Strike back to basic ability without charges
Added a new ultimate for Riki, Tricks of the Trade

A multitude of decent stats nerfs and the loss of regeneration from Cloak and Dagger hardly outweighs a better skill progression and a new exciting ultimate, which is essentially a "channeling" Sleight of Fist in a slightly smaller AoE. Given a proper set up it can be one of the most devastating spells in the game.

On the negative side, we have a rather huge cooldown on the new ultimate - it does feel slightly out of place for a rather active hero. The "Big Ultimate" is not exactly what was expected of the hero previously, however, his new Cloak and Daggers, which combined the important aspects of two previous spells will probably allow for the legacy playstyle, albeit with a lower effectiveness and higher risk.

Lone Druid

Spirit Bear attack damage increased from 33 to 35/45/55/65
Spirit Bear movement speed increased from 320/320/330/340 to 320/330/340/350
Rabid duration increased from 10 to 18/22/26/30
Rabid movement speed increased from 5/10/15/20% to 10/15/20/25%
True Form Health Bonus increased from 250/400/600 to 300/600/900
Replaced Synergy with a new ability for Lone Druid, Savage Roar

Getting rid of Synergy was probably among the better options for the hero — these "skill to improve other skills" barely added anything interesting to the heroes in the game. Savage Roar, however, is not exactly the replacement we were expecting. It is not a bad spell by any means, and it does fit the "rat" theme of the hero very well, yet as an independent ability is seems underwhelming.

It is not exactly a disable in the common sense, but rather an escape mechanism. A very unique one, since it forces your opponent to move, rather than move yourself. In fights it has the potential of becoming either an amazing setup or a reliability — there are simply too many scenarios of how it can work.

Is the hero viable now? He does seem a fair share stronger, given how he practically haven't lost anything, but only gained a new ability. At the same time, it is all going to depend on the meta. With a heavy pushing strategies potentially coming into play, Lone Druid might not find a place for himself - he can't outpush well and he can't push as fast as Death Prophet, for example.

Faceless Void

Timewalk no longer slows units
Timewalk now undoes any damage taken in the last 2 seconds
Timewalk cooldown rescaled from 19/17/15/13 to 24/18/12/6
Timewalk mana cost reduced from 90 to 40
Timewalk range reduced from 700/900/1100/1300 to 550
Timewalk cast point reduced from 0.35 to 0.2
Replaced Backtrack with a new ability, Time Dilation

The hero now definitely allows for more "clutch" plays and flashy highlights, but is he stronger? No longer being a one-trick pony might suit Faceless Void well, given how his ability to stay alive is no longer reliant on random. The Time Dilation seems like a very strong spell, since if used correctly and against the right targets, it can ensure a very good teamfight even without the chronosphere. The possibility of 10-20% slow for 9 seconds is also quite scary.

I would not be surprised, if we see Faceless Void get Blink Dagger in the current patch. He frequently was an initiator for the team and with the Time Walk rework his initiation will no longer be as efficient. Additionally, Blink Dagger does not telegraph your movement prior to the initiation, giving less time for the enemy to react.

It will probably take time before the hero is fully figured out, hence we shall not speculate more, however his abilities do seem promising and a lot more unique.

New Scepters

6.86 feature a multitude of new Aghanim's Scepter additions and they all look quite promising. Some of them can be actually considered core on their respective heroes.

Bristleback

Nasal Goo is no longer targeted, instead it applies Goo to all enemies around you in 600 AoE when casted

Apart from the obvious AoE slow aspect, there is also the "quality of life" improvement with the new upgrade. By no longer requiring to target the enemy the spell is going to be a lot easier to use and will help against juking enemies. Given how the hero benefits rather well from stats/mana, it might be a worthwhile pick-up.

Drow Ranger

Marksmanship now causes her attacks to splinter on the target and split into two arrows affecting two random units in a 375 radius. The splintered arrows deal 50% damage each. Primary target still takes full damage.
The split arrows act as normal attacks, carrying all attack modifiers.

Good stats and better farming on a hero with an already decent farming potential — this upgrade seem exceptionally strong. It gives the hero much needed HP and allows for better scaling into the late game. Given how she already has naturally high damage/attack speed, it might be the case she no longer needs to go full glass cannon to be effective. The fact that all UAMs work from split arrows makes it even better. Her slow is among the strongest in the game and I will not be surprised if we see more of her in the future.

Kunkka

Ghost Ship now drags enemies within a 200 AoE of it towards the crash site. It now starts from where you are, rather than behind you, lands in the same position it normally would have.
Enemies are still able to perform actions while being pulled by the Ghost Ship.

It gets to the destination faster and actually pulls heroes with it to the stun location - this is easily among the most essential items on support Kunkka and can be good on core one as well.

Additionally, the changes to Tidebringer which now allow you to use it when you want to do so (same mechanics as Liquid Fire) makes the hero a lot stronger in practically every position. Overall, the hero seems to be substantially buffed and has the potential of getting into the pro scene. Probably in the Chinese region at first — they are the only region which never completely gave up on the hero so I strongly recommend watching some Chinese tournaments if you are interested in playing/learning the hero.

Magnus

Changes Empower to be an allied hero aura. Affects ranged heroes for half values and causes them to deal splash damage around the target in a 200 AoE.
Can still be cast on units, but does not stack.

+25% base damage and +25% splash damage on ranged targets seems not worth it, to be honest. Might be good paired with naturally high damage ranged heroes, but otherwise this upgrade is completely skippable — it just doesn't offer much, since you can just cast Empower on the allies which need it.

Pudge

Reduces cooldown of Meat Hook to 4 seconds and increases damage from 360 to 475

The previous upgrade is now part of the Dismember, so it is already a decently sized buff to the hero even without the upgrade. The upgrade itself is... amazing, really. Even without the extra damage, being able to hook every 4 seconds and having mana for multiple hooks might as well bring hero into the professional scene and high level public matchmaking. A combination of Hook-Dismember-Hook deals tons of damage, while unreliability of Hook as an initiation tool is outweighed by the increased amount of tries you get in a time period. It is going to be interesting to see how it plays out, but I have extremely high hopes for these changes.

Sand King

Doubles Burrowstrike cast range and applies Caustic Finale poison to heroes
Note: No longer grants previous Scepter bonuses.

The previous upgrade was honestly not worth it — a Veil of Discord actually gave comparable amount of extra damage at half the price. This, however, is potentially a game changer. With double the range on Burrowstrike, there might no longer be need for a Blink Dagger. The difference between 1100 and 1200 range is minuscule and the animation is almost instant, since you will not lose a lot of damage damage from the Epicenter

This theory will certainly need testing, but in the right hands Blink-less Sand King might work.

Shadow Fiend

Requiem of Souls waves now return back to Shadow Fiend dealing 40% damage on the way back.
All of the damage the Requiem does to heroes on its way back heals you.

A 40% damage increase on ultimate and potentially a great heal - not exactly what the hero needed, unless you go for a very situational Eul's Scepter of Divinity build. Becoming a right-clicking machines is the ultimate goal for the hero and the upgrade seems quite out of place.

Tidehunter

Causes Gush to become a ground targeted wave ability that travels for 1800 range.

AoE: 240 Projectile speed: 1500 Cooldown: 7

Ok, 1800 range is huge and it is pretty much the only thing going on for this upgrade. Being able to hit multiple targets for an AoE slow and armor reduction is pretty good, but is it worth 4200 gold? In my opinion - it can, but there are better options such as Mekansm, Force Staff or even a Solar Crest, all of which cost less.

However, it can be good against certain initiators — hitting them with a fast projectile over a huge range can be fight-turning.

Ursa

Allows you to cast your ultimate while disabled and reduces cooldown from 50/40/30 to 30/24/18 seconds.

This is actually a really good upgrade — being able to live through practically any burst even from a blink-initiation is something only Abaddon can boast, and he is not exactly the best core material. If your team lacks saving mechanism, Aghs pick up can be the best thing you can get. And the cooldown reduction almost ensures multiple uses in a single fight.

Vengeful Spirit

Causes you to spawn a Vengeance Illusion when you die. The Vengeance Illusion deals 50% damage, takes 150% damage, and is able to use all of your abilities (but not items). The Vengeance Illusion lasts until she revives.

If I understand correctly, the item auras will still work, yet even if they didn't, it would still be one of the best upgrades not only in this patch, but in the game as a whole. Not only will your team benefit from your death with damage reduction from Vengeance Aura, but they also get to retain the +damage one, making a [missing skill: dazzle-weave-5236]-level swing in DPS output of both teams, only without the need to wait for it to get stronger.

New items

Faerie Fire

Costs: 75 gold

Provides: + 2 Damage

Use: Consume the Faerie Fire to restore 75 HP. Cooldown: 5 seconds.

It is quite unclear what this new item is useful for - for 75 gold it gives very little in terms of damage for it to make an impact, so the idea behind it has to be the burst heal, akin to Enchanted Mango with its burst mana. It can be good as a starting item for a mid hero who might get ganked, since in the borderline cases it will probably allow him to secure an extra last hit he otherwise would not, effectively giving back half the price of the item. Otherwise - probably a very mediocre consumable with a very narrow use for it to have a huge impact on the game. Though, you can start with 6 of those for +12 damage and 450 HP.

Dragon Lance

Requires: Ogre Club (1000) Quarterstaff (875)

Total: 1875

Provides:

10 Strength
10 Attack Speed
10 Damage
130 Attack Range (ranged heroes only, does not stack)

Can be disassembled.

A very interesting item which would be terribly good if it had better stats/was more expensive. In its current form it might be a slot for most of the game for the core, but will probably be disassembled later on to get better items.

Interestingly, most of the community have though that this item will be good on heroes with an already high attack range — Lina, Sniper etc. is what came to mind the most. Personally, I feel it is going to be a lot better on heroes who have crippled range instead — Luna and Vengeful Spirit are probably the heroes who need some extra tankiness early on with the added benefits of increased damage and AS. For the most part it will ensure their safety in the fights both due to higher range and HP pool, but in case of Luna it will also make clearing ancient stack a lot easier. Templar Assassin might also benefit from this item, since the $Refraction$ Refraction nerf (it is now visible to enemies) will make her a lot more susceptible to damage — both extra information and the psychological effect come into play in this case.

Aether Lens

Requires: Energy Booster (900) Ring of Health (850) Cloak (550) Total: 2300

Provides:

250 Mana
8 HP Regeneration
15 Magic Resistance
200 Cast Range
8% Spell Damage
Cast range improvement affects targeted spells and distance related spells, such as Venomous Gale. Does not affect AoE abilities like Poison Nova.

Another very interesting item. There are so many uses for it — nuke range increase, disables from the jungle, 1400 range Shallow Graves etc. The 8% damage on it is rather unimpressive and will probably be meaningful with either very high damage nukes or spammable spells, but given its low cost, it is understandable.

Probably the most utility can be derived from Impale-like abilities, since it will actually extend the damage range. Can also be good for strong channeling spells like Fiend's Grip and Shackles — it is going to be harder to interrupt them.

There are many uses for this item and it is a nice addition to the game.

Iron Talon

Requires: Quelling Blade (200) Ring of Protection (175) Recipe (125)

Total: 500

Provides:

2 Armor

Bonuses of Quelling Blade

Active: Lets you target non-player enemy units to remove 40% of their current HP. Cooldown: 14 seconds.

Note: Cannot target ancients. Has normal 4 second cooldown when used on Trees.

A rather peculiar early-game jungling item, which seems to niche to be picked up often. For 125 gold you get an active which will substantially speed up taking the large/medium neutral camps, but it doesn't really progress into anything. Probably a very good item if you are pressured in lane and/or you can/want to move to jungle early on to let your supports get their XP and items, but unless you really need that 2 extra armor and you are being pressured in lane heavily, it is going to be rarely worth it — lane creeps still give more XP and jungles should be generally stacked anyways, for you to take them after with a quick sweep. Given the changes to the neutrals, it might be necessary for some heroes, but I can't really name one which should consider this a core item. The closest to this are probably Bloodseeker and Legion Commander.

ymbt

16/12/2015

1st...
is this for real?

Overkill of ASE

DP nerfed, Kunkka buffed, looks like Dota wants me to stop playing it

Murranji

Iron talon is good on ursa since his slow jungling is one of the only drawbacks of the hero. Unlike other carries he rarely/never builds items which let him flash farm a jungle camp.

Safur

Kunkka yes!

Jun

I feel like the aether lens would work pretty well on Zeus. At the moment you're forced to get a blink dagger to get decent positioning to get your bolts off. I wonder how it interacts with static field. Thoughts?

Still dont know why puck gets so little changes. Clearly noone gives a puck anymore.

Silent

Kunkka new meta confirmed.

Wingmann Whifferfeld

well, since they destroyed WW, I can't see anything positive about the patch. Any more nerfs, Valve?

Keemchemo

How come you didn't say anything about Silencer?

He's the biggest change in the patch notes tbh.

RIP huskar

Boundless Strike in Gaben...

huskar ww dead..

LC and PUDGE OMG....pudge already so dominant in low-middle skill dota wtf are these insane buffs?

sven damage increase by SEVEN wow....lc aghs very interesting...she could basically win every single duel if she targeted the supports

Shinsuke Nakamura

Valve destroyed WW. Whyyyy? Are you forcing us to stop playing DotA 2?

Lawerok

You should have mention awsesome iron branch upgrade!

The DarKNovA

Dragon Lance is the thing that I like the most in this patch.
Everyone I talked about it though immediately thought of it being useful for low range heroes (which makes sense, since it has a much larger proportion boost for low range), and definitely something Morphling can opt for as first item.

Captain Underpants

OMG!!!Riki might be back guys.Not very good for me as i like to play support T___T

LyCaN (add my smurf)

Niche item? that item allows you to take care of ursa warriors easily pretty early in the game as lycan, it's a core on him.

Jabba the Mutt

void looks fun, time dilation is like a poor man's time lapse, i think dragon lance has most appeal as a disassemble option for midgame-lategame transition

Questo commento è stato modificato 16/12/2015

♣Oldsoul♣

fuck this patch

cornflake

AM I THE ONLY ONE HERE WHOS EXCITED TO PLANT TREES AND GROW MY OWN TREE FARM IN DOTA????

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

This article didn't mention the most important part of the Doom changes -- He no longer has a way to pop linkens before using his ult.

Noctis Lucis Caelum

You failed to mention a very important thing. Hero stats are now enabled in client thereby rendering you guys almost redundant. i mean the main reason i used to even drop by was to check my stats. Miss you dotabuff after the update

T0RTUR3.iRDT

Nothing about Arc Werden synergies?

the gold reduction on courier is glorious, always left with 45 gold and wanting another clarity or iron branch. With the branch plant, it seems awesome (happy little trees!), but i wonder if it consumes the branch to do it

Raider

When will come the update, because its not in the game...

lelekelelep

Post about the map would be great, haha...
Dotabuff also needs to have better analytical tools than in the client to stay online

paani,

Steam not sowing the upgrade, isn't it available yet?,

Renegade

I like the direction of this patch and I think that the game in general shall be made very interesting with plenty of variations. Also Venge buff is ridiculous MingLee

Lorelei

does Aether Lens work on things like sandkings burrow? making it longer then blink ( with ags ofc)
Also does work on pudges hook?
it also nearly doubles the range of dp's new ability?
seems like a very strong item just for the range, considering its pretty cheap.

eNr

DOOM cannot cancel LINKEN anymore, why don't you even say a thing on it? Silencer biggest changes no comment on it. Anyway Kunka support will be this meta, aghs rush and RP + SKEWER - like ulti incoming. It will be op in pro scene, fail in pub scene i think. It's also true that Void will rely on Blink now and will be able to fight without chrono (you can exit the fight with timewalk after you got damaged). I don't understand why did they KILL WW, that's not a nerf it's a hero kill...sad cuz Ember is still OP...

✪ -HaBBu. ♥҉҈҉҈҈҉

PIT LORD not coming this patch?

SAVESOIL.ORG

im done with dota now

Président® Salted Butter

R.I.P. Winter Wyvern. Fuck you Icefrog.

KawaiiSocks

@Great White
What Wyvern? There is no such hero in dota.

LESBIAN WEREWOLF

Enchantress is gonna be an interesting pick now, widespread jungle buffs mean a more reliable earlygame, and Dragon Lance gives you 70% Aghanims' effect for about 40% of the price as well as the HP she needs so badly.
With Aghs that's a straight up 870 attack range, which can be huge when it comes to being effective in fights for such a squishy hero and could give her a lot more lategame potential.

(also note Dragon Lance says the item doesn't stack on itself, but Aether Lens says nothing and has 8% magic resist which is minimal, and possibly intended to be stacked? >:D )

keymillo

Questo commento è stato cancellato 16/12/2015

^^ that's a scam and if you click that link your steam account will be gone.

SalekHard-

VIper + dragon lance + orb of venom = gg

they just killed huskar..theyr politely removing berserkers blood
and they buff ck legion ursa more...

Blueberryrabbit

Zackychan

With low casting range for the Spirit Siphon, I can see blink dagger as core for this particular hero. It'll be like Exorcism > Dagger > Silence > Spirit Siphon > Crypt Swarm. Another interesting changes that many people seem to missed is the nerf to Dark Seer Ion Shell that can be purge. Since Oracle Fortune's End can not only be cast enemy but also on ally, it will be the direct counter to Dark Seer Offlane due the purgability.