Patch 7.21c, the latest balance update for Dota 2, has been released with nerfs to popular heroes such as Viper and Kunkka, as well as the Hand of Midas item.
Viper has been the most popular heroes in Dota as of late and was a key hero in recent tournaments such as ESL One Katowice 2019 and MDL Macau 2019. Despite his past reputation as a hero that wins his lane but falls off hard come lategame, recent reworks to Viper’s abilities have made him more versatile as a core hero. The popular build for Viper prior to the update saw him as a tanky midlaner that dealt a lot of magical damage with Rod of Atos and Guardian Greaves as core items.
However, patch 7.21c has nerfed some of Viper’s damage potential with tweaks to his agility gain, as well as his Nethertoxin and Poison Attack abilities.
- Agility gain reduced from 3.3 to 2.8
- NETHERTOXIN
- Nethertoxin aoe damage no longer stacks with itself
Nethertoxin manacost increased from 75 to 70/80/90/100 - POISON ATTACK
Poison Attack slow reduced from 25/30/35/40% to 10/20/30/40%
Kunkka was also a popular choice as a midlane hero thanks to his ability to win both his lane — using the damage bonus from his Tidebringer ability — and team fights for his team. His laning presence will be significantly reduced as he can no longer beat out his lane opponent on both last hits and denies.
- Tidebringer no longer provides a bonus on denies
Meanwhile, Hand of Midas became popular recently as a way to accelerate both gold and experience gain regardless of whether a match is set to last to the lategame or not. A minor nerf to its gold bonus will mostly serve to discourage players from picking it up too often.
- Gold bonus reduced from 180 to 160
Check here for the full list of updates for patch 7.21c.
