Dota 6.78 Changelog Key Analysis

• Ancient Apparition: Ice Vortex cooldown decreased from 6 to 5 
• Ancient Apparition: Ice Blast base AoE increased from 225 to 275 
• Ancient Apparition: Added Aghanim's Scepter (Ice Blast duration increased from 8/9/10 to 17)

AA's ultimate finally have an ASU and I believe this will soon be core on him. Ice blasts blocks Regeneration, deals dps and has a shatter effect. Furthermore the debuff goes through BKB. 17 seconds is almost double his duration. A great counter to armlet users (preventing armlet toggle) and Heroes that depend on Life steal. I am believing and hoping that AA will see the competitive scene soon enough.

• Batrider: Flamebreak manacost increased from 80/100/120/140 to 140

Now level 1 Flamebreak will not be as spammable while keeping it at level 1 until Bat starts to Max it. BR users have to manage his mana more effectively.

• Bloodseeker: Strygwyr's Thirst now gives you bonus 3/4/5/6 armor when active
• Bloodseeker: Bloodrage dispels the target before applying its buff
• Bloodseeker: Rupture damage is now HP loss

3 big changes for bloodseeker, additional armour for Thirst allows him to dive towers/ tank Heroes easily similiar to Nightstalker. Blood rage can help to debuff Ghost Scepter or debuff allies who have negative buffs. Rupture that goes through BKB and not affected by magic reduction is great forcing carries that need mobility (Sven Spirit Breaker) to not be able to deal as much damage as possible. There was also a hilarious bug on Dota1 where Rupture affects courier and assures a kill on every courier that appears.  (Take a look on my later post on Bloodseeker's Rupture.

• Brewmaster: Aghanim's Primal Split units now gain your current level of Drunken Brawler
• Brewmaster: Fire Spirit no longer upgrades damage with Aghanim's Scepter (still does the same amount of damage output due to the inclusion of Drunken Brawler)

Brewmaster have already been seen in the competitive scene much and its ASU is already strong enough. Adding a Critical / Evasion to the summons will no doubt increase their DPS by a decent amount. Here are the numbers for level 4 ASU:
Earth : 179-191 (Piercing damage)
Storm : 174-186(Piercing damage)
Fire : 180

Dodge Chance: 10/15/20/25%
Critical Chance: 10/15/20/25%
Critical Damage: 2x 

• Bristleback: Quill Spray hit memory increased from 10 to 14 seconds  

 I believe this is a huge buff for our recently added Hero, this means the maximum numbers of stacks done by Quill Spray itself increased from 3 to 4. If you doubt BB's killing power here's a video.

• Broodmother: Incapacitating Bite miss chance from 10/20/30/40% to 30/40/50/60%
• Broodmother: Spawn Spiderlings unit count increased from 1/2/3/3 to 1/2/3/4 

An extra spiderling is nice, but I doubt this will bring Broodmother back into the competitive scene ever since her spiders have been nerfed to oblivion.

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• Spawn Spiderlings & Spawn Spiderite they now take more damage from towers (50%-125%).
• Spawn Spiderlings now do more damage to heroes (75%->100%) and less damage to towers (70%-40%). 

The miss chance would definitely make her the best 1v1 right click hero but still doesn't fit her role as a pusher well. Silence + Slow + Miss makes a hero really helpless though.

• Clockwerk: Power Cogs no longer knock back magic immune units

The great teamfight disruptor have been nerfed ! Its really difficult to fight a teamfight even with magic immunity where there are cogs in the middle. Nevertheless I think this is a good nerf, there is simply no reasons for cogs to affect magic immune units, its already a powerful spell by itself.

• Crystal Maiden: Brilliance Aura mana regen increased from 0.5/1/1.5/2 to 1/1.5/2/2.5
• Crystal Maiden: Freezing Field explosion AoE increased from 215 to 230
• Crystal Maiden: Aghanim's Freezing Field's attack speed reduction aura increased from -20 to -50

The mana regen is nice, it could involve Strats where heavy mana users dont need a KOTL or Wisp but simply a CM Aura, the rest of the buffs arent really that impactful, she needs to have an Ultimate Rework.

• Disruptor: Thunder Strike from 3 strikes over 4 seconds to 4 strikes over 6 seconds
• Disruptor: Thunder Strike damage per strike decreased from 50/75/100/125 to 40/60/80/100
• Disruptor: Thunder Strike AoE increased from 200 to 240

Oh. Its a sad change since many people are using Thunder Strike as a 4 seconds counter for Glimpse (Glipse sends a unit back to where he was 4 seconds ago, so the point when he got hit by the first strike will be the point he will be sent back to if you cast glimpse on the last strike.[OUTDATED]) Overall, its a decent buff to the skill itself but most people are getting Glimpse max then followed by Barrier and Thunder Strike only for the vision for glimpse. Good thing is now it lasts for 6 seconds giving a longer vision timing to glimpse.

• Doom: Doom now disables Feast, Backtrack, Dispersion, Juxtapose, Bristleback and Blood Bath
• Doom: Aghanim's Scepter upgrade duration reworked (duration doesn't count down while near Doom)

Doom being the ultimate shut down spell should be able to disable most passives so I believe the buff was called for. HOWEVER... the new ASU is insane. Doom has no problem producing a Scepter because of Devour and shouldnt have problems farming EHP as well as Movement speed items. With this he is ultimately a Hero that can really shut down another Hero until he is taken down. He will become a high priority target in fights but with proper set up such as Tidehunter, eventually you will be fighting a 4v5 game.

• Dragon Knight: Corrosive Breath passive from Level 1 Elder Form now carries over to Level 2 (the DPS)

It was an old trend for DK to skip Lvl 2 Elder Form for the DPS and Damage to towers. Guess now no longer will anyone do it. Its great against TA and the new trend being LIVING ARMOUR.

• Earthshaker: Turn rate improved from 0.4 to 0.6
• Earthshaker: Fissure range increased from 1200 to 1300
• Earthshaker: Echo Slam now considers illusions as heroes

The reduced turn rate will allow ES to quickly turn around and stun Heroes when fleeing. ASU Echo Slam now counters illusion based hero. Take note that Echo Slam without ASU damage has no difference if it was 1 Hero and 4 Creeps or 5 Heroes together. ASU upgrades causes Echo Slam to bounce twice on Heroes.

• Elder Titan: Ancestral Spirit vision type from Flying to Ground
• Elder Titan: Natural Order aura increased from 20/40/60/80% to 25/50/75/100%

 Elder Titan used to be able to use his Spirit to scout out juking Heroes with his flying vision ( vision unobstructed by trees/ cliff) and he still needs to buff for his aura's range.

• Enchantress: Aghanim's Scepter bonus attack range increased from 165 to 190

Sproink. Too bad carry Enchantress is only in pubs or games that have already won.

• Engima: Malefice scaling reworked (now 3 ticks with 0.25/0.5/0.75/1 sec stun and 25/40/55/70 damage per tick 75/120/165/210 damage)

This is a huge nerf to Enigma's early game ganking abillity. He now not only needs levels on Conversion but on Malefice as well. Nevertheless Enigma's main role is to land decent black holes.

• Gyrocopter: Flak Cannon cooldown increased from 20 to 30

Huge nerf. Many might ask why? Teamfights are often decided within 15-20 seconds, most of the time there wouldnt be enough time to cast a second Flak since they would all focus on you or you have probably dealt enough damage leaving lone heroes around. The thing is this, the gap between its duration (15s) and its cooldown (20->30) has widen from 5 seconds to 15 seconds. In the previous version, Gyro can cast his Flak Cannon, wait for about 10 seconds and let the team initiate the teamfight, this will allow him after 10 seconds to cast a second Flak cannon within a fight. Right now its harder to do so due to its cooldown increasing but his duration is kept at 15s. His Rocket Barrage and Calldown and still skills that are strong and might still see him around. But soon he will be facing competition from Medusa as a Ranged hard carry.

• Huskar: Base Strength increased by 3
• Huskar: Burning Spears DPS increased from 4/8/12/16 to 5/10/15/20
• Huskar: Life Break HP cost increased from 35/30/25% to 40/35/30%
• Huskar: Berserker's Blood Reworked (now has 4/5/6/7% magic resistance and 8/12/16/20 attack speed per stack)
• Huskar: Removed from Captain's Mode

This hero has been in the heat for a few days. Main changes are, his Beserker's Blood damage has been removed and instead replaced with Magic Resistance and Attack Speed. His previous weakness was to burst him down when he is trying to deal damage with many counts of Beserker's Blood which now is no longer possible and have to rely on Physical / Pure damage to take him down when he is at low life. Let this image depict how strong this Magic Resistance is.

Huskar, Hood, Null Field vs Laguna Blade (rank 3) (Source : Reddit)

Some might say that his DPS have been reduced, umm... Lets take a look at two factors which I might say his DPS has actually increased. The increase DOT of Burning Spear as well as IAS. The increase in attack speed ( which nearly doubled) will synergise well with Burning Spear racking up many stacks.

I am actually quite happy for this change. It allows players to play this Hero according to his original style and build. I have seen many players skip Spears all-together and get it with Lifesteal because of Beserker's blood which now is no longer possible as BurningSpears are now core on Huskar as his main DPS.

• Lich: Chainfrost bounce count increased from 7 to 10

I doubt this change will make a difference on how lich is played. He still needs a huge amount of set up as many players can still run away from Chain Frost or simply Pop a Bkb. However a well delivered combo can still wreck teams simply with chain frost.

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  Lifestealer: Open Wounds cast range decreased from 600 to 200/300/400/500

Another one of the Heroes heavily in the competitive scene who has been nerfed. This will definitely make Lifestealer's early gank more difficult without the initiation power / set up. Now he requires another Hero to set up Open Wounds for him to use to net kills. This also forces him to add early levels into Wounds if he wants to be able to gank.

•  Lion: Mana Drain break and cast range improved by 100 (750/1100 -> 850/1200)
•  Lion: Aghanim's Finger of Death CD decreased from 160/100/40 to 100/60/20

Mana Drain's buff in range makes it almost impossible to walk out of it. Maybe someone might try putting him at Mid playing Impale Mana Drain to control the enemies mana since bottle crowing is no longer viable
The ASU buff is a little late (its previous ASU upgrad was practically useless) possible to get it off twice in a fight (if you manage to survive).

• Lone Druid: Spirit Bear now has its HP drained by Armlet when active
• Lone Druid: Spirit Bear bounty increased from 100 to 300

HUGE nerf to Syllabear, since Armlet was thought of as a core in LD. Now it could either go two ways. Armlet Toggle or skip it entirely and go for Basher etc. The increased bounty is also huge, now LD has to think twice before sending in his bear to pull creeps when playing the offlane. Seems like every patch has a huge nerf to LD but is still being played every now and then.

• Magnataur: Reverse Polarity damaged decreased from 150/225/300 to 50/125/200

I dont see this as a huge nerf as it still has his low CD, long stun duration and positioning effect. Nevertheless Magnus took a huge hit from the nerfing of Bottle Crow.

• Medusa: Stone Gaze Reworked
  
  Any unit facing Medusa will have its attack, movement and turn rate reduced by 50% until the end of the spell. If you accumulate 2 seconds time (in total) facing Medusa, you will turn to stone.
  
  Stoned units are disabled, have 100% magic resistance and take extra damage from physical attacks.
  
  View Angle Spread: 85
  Gaze Duration: 6 seconds.
  Stone Duration: 3 seconds
  Bonus Physical Damage: 30/40/50%
  AOE: 1000
  CD: 90
  Manacost: 200
  
  Note: Kills illusions instead of petrifying them
   

 This is the second time Medusa has her ultimate reworked (initially was a single target purge). Now she has lost her purging abillity to become a skill that disables Heroes in a AOE. So any hero facing her for a total of 2 seconds will be stunned and take no magic damage but extra physical damage. Here is the catch, IT GOES THROUGH BKB. Which is insane for a Teamfight ultimate which has such a huge AOE. Some might say yea just dont face her, with the reduced turn rate as well as follow up from other big AOE skills, its quite easy to get caught. Its level 1 ultimate is almost as good as the level 3 one. I feel they should make it debuffable by BKB, turn rate and movement speed slows to start from 30/40/50% and make her CD longer. Currently its broken if used well, just that most Medusas I have played with have been farming 24/7 and not contributing causing their lost.

• Necrolyte: If a unit dies under Reaper's Scythe, it will be credited to Necrolyte
• Necrolyte: Aghanim's Reaper's Scythe causes buyback to be disabled on heroes it kills for that death

Another hot topic,  currently its the only skill that prevents buyback. This could be crucial for playing against Heroes that always have the cash to buy back and go back into the Teamfight (Wisp , Furion , Tinker, Spectre, Meepo) shutting down Nature's Prophet and blocking his cooldown solves you the problem of killing him twice whenever he buybacks. However this part of the skill is an ASU, still requiring him to farm a Scepter which in others way only increase the ultimate's power by a small margin. The new mechanic where Necro will always get the kill on units under the effect of his Ulimate will always ensure that he will get the Hero regen most of the time.

• Nyx Assassin: Mana Burn drain and damage decreased from 5x Int to 3.5/4/4.5/5x

Now Nyx has a dilemma, after maxing impale and getting lvl 1 in both skills, which skill should he max first. If he max Spikes, he might not have enough burst damage to take out lone supports. If he max spikes, he might not get a long enough stuns during teamfights. This change causes Nyx to be unable to keep Mana burn at level 1 until he maxed everything else as now it scales. His level 1 burning power has also been reduced.

• Omniknight: Added Aghanim's Scepter (Global and affects buildings)  

I am hoping for him to see the competitive scene soon, too bad the building effect is only on ASU. Coupled with refresher he could have Fortification for a long period of time. Other than that I don't see much use it getting your Omniknight farmed so much for.

• Phantom Lancer: Spirit Lance, Dopplewalk, Juxtapose and Phantom Edge illusions damage dealt decreased from 25% to 20%

Many people upon seeing this which scream "OH a lost in 20% damage from PL illusions ! NERFEEDDDDD" wrong. Most of his DPS comes from mana burning your sorry butt using his mighty Blade of Diffusial. So good luck with that. Nevertheless its still a nerf and lets see how much this impacts the CANCERLANCER. #cureforlancer

• Pugna: Nether Blast structure damage increased from 33% to 50% 

I could foresee him getting picked more often as a Mid Solo or Safe Lane solo, once level 7 he can go to a lane and blast towers for 150 damage with such a low cooldown bringing them down easily.

• Razor: Unstable Current movement speed bonus increased from 3/6/9/12% to 4/8/12/16%
• Razor: Eye of the Storm strike interval decreased from 0.75/0.65/0.55 to 0.7/0.6/0.5
• Razor: Eye of the Storm duration increased from 20/25/30 to 30

Small buffs for Razor, I still don't think that its enough for him to be played that often, currently he is just a weird heroes with mixed roles.

• Sand King: Invisibility fade delay when exiting Sand Storm improved from 0.3/0.6/0.9/1.5 to 1.5
• Sand King: Sand Storm now has a smoother damage interval (1->0.5, total damage is the same)

I had a debate with my friend whether this justifies keeping Sandstorm at lvl 1 since its fadetime is long enough. The damage and duration scales well, getting a high level sandstorms might let you have a decent DPS when people start to ignore you in a Teamfight. smoother damage interval hurts TA and Treant since their charges will quickly deplete.

• Shadow Demon: Shadow Poison no longer gives vision over the targets with the debuff

Decent nerf but should have been done long ago.  

• Shadow Shaman: Aghanim's Mass Serpent Wards damage increased from 53-59/74-79/94-100 to 85-90/105-110/125-130 

His ASU now grants a huge increase in DPS for him, currently ASU is a core and now its even better. There might be a chance of him getting picked up instead of Bane since Naix is falling out of favor now.  

•  Silencer: Global Silence now affects sleeping units
•  Silencer: Added Aghanim's Scepter for Silencer (Adds CotS to all units and increases duration by one) 

Now Global Silence + Naga's Songs combo is smoother to carry out. His new ASU is decent at most, CotS is still very situational and the damage is still quite small. I have yet to try this out but I'd rather my Silencer farm better utillity items.

• Skeleton King: Critical Strike Reworked (Allows you to temporarily trade Critical Strike for a 7 second 20% max life drain) 

This grants Skeleton King a grand total of 2 Actives ! (Take that Lifestealer) You can cast a 500 range temporary Life drain from another hero for 7 seconds but result in you losing the Critical Passive. It doesn't deal fatal blows. I guess throwing a stun + this skill could net you a kill at times. 20% max HP is quite a bit of damage (200 dmg on a 1k hp unit) I just feel it should not have such a huge cast range.

• Slardar: Sprint cooldown decreased from 40 to 28 

This is huge for Slardar, casting Sprint too early will cause it to be in cooldown not allowing you to chase on certain important targets. But fear not, right now it cooldown and duration gap is only 8 seconds.

• Spirit Breaker: Charge of Darkness will now also Greater Bash its target 

This is pretty game changing,  I'm seeing a few teams picking him up as a 3, Charge + Ulti on a BKB Hero can wipe out his BKB instantly and followed up by chain stuns.

•  Tidehunter: Ravage AoE rescaled from 825/925/1025 to 1025

Its finally back to its pre-nerf state. But still the spell's speed has to be faster to prevent Rubick from stealing it.

• Timbersaw: Base Strength increased by 3
• Timbersaw: Int growth increased from 1.8 to 2.4
• Timbersaw: Chakram initial manacost rescaled from 125/150/175 to 75/125/175
• Timbersaw: Chakram move speed increased from 800 to 900

Its possible that Timbersaw could be played now, his stats gain has improved solving some of his early mana issues. Chakram's mana cost reduction allowing to spam his ultimate more often. Some players are no longer considering Bloodstone a core. this 0.6 int per level grants around 10 mana per level more.

• Troll Warlord: Battle Trance cooldown increased from 20 to 30

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  Troll Warlord: Battle Trance duration decreased from 10 to 7

 Huge nerf to a pub stomper, this Hero is still not allowed in CM mode for Dota 2 but has been nerfed due to its pusher power / teamfight DPS increase. Wonder if he will ever be picked in the competitive games.

• Ursa: Fury Swipes duration increased from 6 to 15

Its so hard to lane a melee Hero against Ursa now, after he gets a few stacks off you he is going to hit like a truck. They already reverted Fury Swipes buff duration back to 6 seconds for Roshan as players were able to solo lvl 1 roshan with 1 stout shield + salves.

• Vengeful Spirit: Strength increased from 16 + 2.3 to 18 + 2.6

Granting 38 more starting HP along with 6 more HP per level. As it builds up its about 100 more HP at level 1. Decent buff, gives her a decent amount of tankiness after swapping into dangerous enemy lines.

• Witch Doctor: Maledict cast range increased from 400 to 525 

No more hard to land Maledicts due to his new cast range, he doesnt have to put himself at risk whenever he tries to maledict. Works well with Paralyzing casks slow speed resulting in a large gap between WD and the target.