[Update #2]: Dota 2's Patch 7.34d has now arrived with some last-minute balance changes before The International.

[Update]: Dota 2's International 2023 update has added a cosmetics-free Battle Pass alongside a Profile rework.

With the massive The International 2023 tournament fast approaching, Valve has recently started releasing more and more updates for Dota 2 in order to get as many heroes competitively viable as possible. While they've done a pretty good job with most of them, the updates have unsurprisingly created a couple of monsters as well.

So in order to sort out these issues, as well as squeeze in a few more buffs, Valve has now unleashed Patch 7.34c. As you might expect, the highlights include some major nerfs to both Gyrocopter and Nature's Prophet - two heroes that feel like they've been either picked or banned in just about every game over the past few weeks.

Nature's Prophet has lost a fair bit of his base agility, while his trees now once again provide regeneration when eaten with a tango. Meanwhile Gyro has received a barrage of nerfs, with the most relevant being the one that swapped his +3 Flak Cannon Attacks talent from level 15 to level 20, thus greatly slowing down his snowball potential. The end result is that both heroes are still perfectly playable in most scenarios, though no longer obnoxious to deal with.

Patch 7.34c has also brought with it a couple of nerfs to early game neutral items. They're mostly minor stat adjustments and likely won't impact much, though I do have to mention that Vambrace has once again lost a bit of its stats, making it a far less potent item than before. So if you're like me and you tend to default to picking it over most other options, you might want to reconsider.

You can check out the full list of changes, as well as keep track of any future updates, over at the Dota 2 website.

And if you haven't already seen, Valve has recently enhanced the visuals and massively improved the report system. While there are still some quirks that need to be ironed out, so far it's looking like a massive step in the right direction for Dota 2 and its long-standing problem with toxicity, so I must admit I have high hopes for it. Either way, the future's looking quite good for Dota 2!