With Patch 7.29 finally out, we’ve shortlisted some heroes as early candidates to be wary of in your pubs. We warned you!
Earlier today, Lord GabeN blessed us not only with a new hero, but an exciting gameplay patch as well. As is tradition, most of us will be diving head-on into a pub to test out the changes for ourselves. In the interest of your MMR, we've rounded up all the major hero reworks in Patch 7.29. You can thank us (and curse OSFrog) later.
The Brood Needs Food
Broodmother has always been a pub-stomping hero and smurf favourite for her ability to take over a game single-handedly. Her reign of terror has taken a hiatus lately though, as she's nowhere as strong as she used to be. Unfortunately, Brood's dominance may see a resurgence, especially with her major rework in Patch 7.29.
The hero's passive - Incapacitating Bite, has been replaced with Silken Bola, which previously was her Agh's Shard upgrade. Silken Bola used to consume a Spin Web charge to root opponents, but it was quite lackluster and rarely saw play. Despite efforts to tweak it in subsequent minor patches, there were too many other items Broodmothers would rather get.
With the rework, Silken Bola is now a strong single-target damage-over-time spell, that also causes opponents to miss a percentage of attacks. It also deals additional magic damage for every attack on the target (Go Spiderlings Go!). On top of all that, Brood's new shard upgrade turns Silken Bola into an AOE ability, giving Brood some handy AOE control.
Getting the Riki treatment, Brood's skills have been swapped around. Insatiable Hunger, is now her Q spell, whereas Spawn Spiderlings is her Ultimate Ability. Between the miss chance and slow from Silken Bola, and lifesteal from her Q, Brood's new kit makes her a formidable duelist in lane.
Along with other base skill values cranked up, and a small Agility boost, the threat this hero poses is completely different from before. There's no doubt that Broodmother will be plagueing pubs in the weeks to come.
Don't take it from us though. The changes even have notable pros fighting over picking the hero. If you need any more proof, take this cryptic tweet from renowned Brood Spammer Max "qojqva" Broecker. Mother comes.
Hoodwink Has A New Bag Of Tricks
It's been almost 4 months that we've had our hands on this fuzzy little squirrel. Despite initially being brushed off as a Windranger duplicate, Hoodwink has carved out her own style of gameplay.
Between her high damage spells, maneuverability, and range, this pesky critter can strike from way off your screen. Hoodwink gained a few new tools in Patch 7.29's update, and they make the hero even more troublesome to deal with The update added both Aghanim's Scepter and Agh's Shard upgrades for the hero.
For her Agh's Sceptre upgrade, she gains the Hunter Boomerang spell - a high damage (surprise) ability that slices through every unit it comes in contact with. Units hit have a Hunter's Mark de-buff applied, which not only slows, but increases Spell Damage taken, AND reduces status resistance.
In the Agh's Shard department, Hoodwink gains another way to remain elusive with the spell Decoy. This ability lets her send out a decoy illusion to a target location. When the illusion is attacked or hit by an ability, it is destroyed, plants a tree and casts Bushwhack on enemies around it.
Even before this patch, good Hoodwink players could run circles and snipe opponents with their existing skillset. With the new Aghanim's upgrades, the squirrels are going to run wild this patch.
Techies: Time To Blow Something Up! (more successfully)
Techies only received minor buffs to their move-speed, and cast time on Remote Mines, but that isn't the main reason we think they are strong now. The removal of Necronomicon, one of the few True Sight providing items is a big buff to all invisible/invisible unit heroes.
On top of that, despite sentries being cheaper, their range is down by 100. While that may not sound like much, that's all the more room a Techies can hide his bombs in.
That's not even mentioning the major changes all over the map, with new trees, juke paths, nooks and crannies for Techies to abuse.
Even if you'd want to find out what the pesky bombadiers are up to, the removal of the old Ward Cliffs makes the map uncomfortable and unfamiliar. This plays perfectly into any good Techies' hands.
Buffs to Kaya further help Techies get more mines out and faster than you would expect. If your draft doesn't have a way of naturally getting True Sight (like a Zeus), you're at high risk of being tormented by the trio. You've been warned.
Honourable Mentions
We've already seen Faceless Void see some play in the recent Singapore Major, to absolutely no success. In response, Ice Frog has buffed the hero all across the board as many fans have hoped for. Patch 7.29 may be just the right time for Faceless Void to shine again.
A sleight buff to Ember may see him gain popularity as well. His Shard upgrade has been improved to give an additional charge of Fire Remnant upon killing an enemy. This lets Ember Spirit players chain one kill into another with ease. Even if unsuccessful, the hero will attract flashier players who want to give it a try.
Lastly, Gyrocopter's signature ability - Flak Cannon, sees an increase in attack count. This may seem extremely minor, but bear in mind that the skill is a pivotal one for the hero. Gyrocopter relies on it not only to farm faster, but to scale into the late game and carry as well. We will definitely see Gyro picked more as a result of this change.
These are just a few of the many changes included in Patch 7.29. You can check out the full list of changes here. Stay tuned for even more detailed articles about the patch coming to esports.gg in the coming days.