Despite the humble name, Dota 2's Patch 7.38 is one of the most ambitious updates the team has ever done. As you would expect, with great changes come great balance problems! So much so that even Valve, a developer that is notoriously slow and cautious, has now released three hotfixes in a relatively short amount of time in order to iron out all of the kinks.
The newest of the bunch, Patch 7.38c, brings with it a couple of changes to the Dire side of the map, as well as a plethora of rebalances for the freshly reworked neutral items. The all-powerful Mana Draught has been nerfed yet again, though I imagine it's still going to be the best item for any spellcaster, while the somewhat mediocre Pollywog Charm and Ripper's Lash have received a small yet still very relevant buff.
As for the heroes, core Abaddon has been smacked over the head by the nerf bat, while the actual Bat Rider's Flaming Lasso has been made more reliable and will no longer break when hit by a forced movement effect like Muerta's Dead Shot. Chen's 'Convert' creep is now considered a creep-hero and can no longer be Midas'd or Dagon'd, Dazzle is much weaker as a damage-focused core, while Faceless Void's Time Zone facet has been heavily nerfed, though despite this support Void continues to be surprisingly powerful.
You can check out the full list of these changes, as well as all of the details behind the map adjustments, over at the official website.
Personally, I hope we get a quality-of-life focused update in the nearly future because Dota 2's gameplay is starting to get a bit clunky. Movement commands in certain areas of the map are sometimes being ignored, the pathing around trees is horrendous, and the announcement spam on the side of the screen has reached such absurd levels that I can't even parse what's happening there after the fight is done, let alone during one. I do believe we're due for another Spring Cleaning update!
Whatever the future may bring, I'll make sure to let you know once Valve announces their next move. Until then, I hope you land all of your Pudge hooks... just not on me!
