It takes a few tries to get a patch right, and Valve always follows up its major updates with more tweaks. Most recently, for example, patch 7.35b quickly addressed some of the broken aspects of the post-7.35 meta.
The biggest winners of patch 7.35 were heavily targeted in 7.35b, and the nerfs were also quickly reflected in their win rates. These poor heroes only terrorized the meta for less than 10 days before Valve’s nerf hammer came crashing down.
Following patch 7.35b, I closely watched new trends and how previous ones behaved on Dota 2 stats websites like STRATZ and Dotabuff. Here are the biggest winners and losers of Dota 2 patch 7.35b.
Winners of Dota 2 patch 7.35b
Juggernaut, Lycan, and Bristleback are the winners of Dota 2 patch 7.35b. While some of these heroes received individual buffs, others benefited from key items in the game becoming less powerful.
Juggernaut
The spinning nightmare is back, and Blade Fury once again became one of the deadliest laning spells in the game. It costs less Mana at early levels with a fixed cost of 100, and Blade Fury is also now more powerful on a damage-per-tick scale.
Juggernaut has been especially dominating the lower Dota 2 ranks, and he’s generally paired with support heroes with stun or slowing abilities. Following the changes, Juggernaut’s 46.5 percent win rate jumped up to a modest 50 percent.
Lycan
Is Zoo Back? It turns out it might be as Lycan slowly continues his march back into the meta. In patch 7.35b, one of Lycan’s favorite items, Vladimir’s Offering, became cheaper, and it can now be disassembled.
Lycan himself also received nice buffs. His wolves deal more damage now, and Shapeshift makes him more tanky while granting him more damage. With the latest upgrades, Lycan’s win rate grew by 2.1 percent, and he’s now sitting at 47.3 percent.
Bristleback
Bristleback refuses to fall out of meta. It’s one of the easier heroes to play in Dota 2, and his passive ability received a buff in 7.35b. Bristleback, the ability, has a lower damage threshold now, meaning more Quill Sprays will be burst around. This small change helped boost Bristleback’s win rate to 52.4 percent from 50.3.
Losers of Dota 2 patch 7.35b
Losers of patch 7.35b were called winners first. However, they won so much their reign was cut short. Leshrac, Outworld Destroyer, and Timbersaw are the biggest losers of Dota 2, as their win rates fell off a cliff after the patch.
Leshrac
The mighty have fallen. Leshrac rose to the after-patch 7.35 buffed items like Shiva’s Guard, Veil of Discord, and Bloodstone. These three items were heavily toned down in patch 7.35b, and Leshrac himself also received notable nerfs.
As a result, Leshrac’s jaw-dropping 58.3 win rate crashed down to 50.2 percent, so he round-tripped all of his win rate gains.
Outworld Destroyer
Like Leshrac, Outworld Destroyer (OD) also benefited heavily from the Shiva’s Guard buff. It was the time of Intelligence heroes, and OD was also on the stage. In addition to these items getting the short end of the stick, OD’s kit was also nerfed rather harshly. Both his early game and late-game capabilities were hit, tanking his win rate to 52.6 percent from 59.6 percent.
Timbersaw
Timbersaw was finally getting decent play time on the back of Bloodstone changes, but Valve didn’t have any of it. Timbersaw’s early game was nerfed with Mana’s cost, and Reactive Armor changes. When those combined with losing a significant Mana source, Timbersaw’s win rate fell from 55.5 percent to 50.7 percent.
