A 3.5k MMR player's take on the Dota 2 6.82 suspect test

Okay, so before you all go crazy, I know already that Goblin Techies is going to be released next patch, but that isn't what I'm personally waiting for. I'm waiting for the 6.82/6.82b balance patch to help get rid of all of the Tinkers and Faceless Voids in my games. But if you need to know any news about techies, here's what you need to know:

1. He lays down mines that can damage, or cc someone
2. He suicide attacks for an obscene amount of damage
3. He gets a new ability that puts down a sign. It does nothing except for that. Seriously. (Mind games!?)

Anyways, if you don't wanna walk into random mines or whatever, just choose heroes with summon fodder, rush necronomicon, or just pick Zeus. The live patch for them should be in by next week.

Anyways, the patch notes released 4 days ago (sorry, I've been on hiatus lately due to some travel issues) is found on dotadb.gameguyz.com is still being suspect tested, but most of the changes aren't very game breaking.

Link to patch notes

Knowing how Dota generally balances everything, we can expect there to be a power creep forward for all of the heroes that have been under picked. The most notable changes here are Necrophos and Zeus, while Vanguard gains a much needed buff. Ogre Magi also gets a new multi cast x5 chance, and Pudge gets harder to kill at level 1 because they gave him 35% base magic resist. Faceless Void gets a slight nerf to Chronosphere cast range, and Tinker's cooldown on rearm is now 10 seconds.

There aren't that many huge changes, but they seem like they're just enough to turn every game into an instapick Zeus mid. Because really, Zeus was never picked before, and now if you look at his changes, HE LITERALLY BECOMES A GOD.

Zeus

-Lightning Bolt now purges buffs from any enemy hit

-Static Field now affects everyone hit by Thundergod’s Wrath regardless of distance from Zeus

-Thundergod’s Wrath will now hit invisible units

-Thundergod’s Wrath sight duration increased to 5

-When the mighty Zeus is slain, his killer is struck by the Thundergod’s Wrath 5 seconds after killing him.

I am quivering in fear from these changes, because Zeus having a purge (spell that gets rid of buffs) available to him at level 1, Thundergod's Wrath being buffed so much, and a revenge kill mechanic being introduced, it's just crazy to see how much Valve wants him to become competitively viable. Or maybe *Merlini might have requested for these changes to happen.

Necrophos on the other hand, is going to be really annoying to lane against. It's like having half of Enigma's midnight pulse on you while you're in lane. On top of that, they're increasing his sustain in mid. He was never one of those popular heroes, but it seems like he might just make a comeback with these changes.

Vanguard becomes a worthwhile item at last! It's probably worth picking up after 20 minutes now, since it adds so much more HP now.

-Bonus HP increased to 280

-Damage block increased to 50 for melee holders and 25 for ranged holders

-Damage block reworked slightly

Now has a 60% chance to block damage from creeps and a 100% chance to block damage from towers, Roshan and heroes.

The 10 second rearm on Tinker makes the hero easier to punish for failed rearms, and Faceless Void's nerf to his ultimate's range makes initiation that much harder to pull off.

There isn't that much to really comment on, since the notes are incomplete, but the announcement of All Random Deathmatch (ARDM) is a sight for sore eyes. We need a new game mode before the whole giff diretide thing happens again this year, and ARDM is the best mode ever!

Anyways, that's all for now! I'm still busy sorting out travel issues, but I thought I'd drop by and make some sort of post about the suspect tests going on in Dota 2.