Dota 2 7.30 update: The biggest changes you need to know

Dota 2's much-awaited 7.30 update is finally here. While there weren't a lot of sweeping changes made to the game — this will be the patch The International 10 (TI10) will be played on, after all — there is still a lot of new stuff to be excited about.

While you can check out for yourself every change that was made in the patch notes here, we've listed down the biggest changes that you need to know about below:

Clinkz and Tinker have been reworked

While most of the hero changes in the 7.30 update were comprised of nerfs and tweaks to help balance the metagame for TI10, Clinkz and Tinker are the two exceptions as their skillsets have been reworked.

Clinkz's Strafe ability has been removed and replaced with Burning Barrage, a channeling ability that works just like Drow Ranger's Multishot skill but with the arrows traveling down just one line. At max level, Burning Barrage shoots six arrows that deal 60% of Clinkz's attack damage while applying attack modifiers over a 2.7 second channeling time.

Burning Barrage has a very low manacost and a 20-second cooldown at max level, allowing Clinkz to cast it at least twice during a team fight. This new skill still primarily fulfills the same function that Strafe did, which is to give Clinkz burst damage potential after coming out of Skeleton Walk's invisibility. However, Burning Barrage now allows him to potentially burst down multiple targets that are standing near each other instead of just one with Strafe.

Burning Barrage also doubles as wave-pushing tool that gives Clinkz more flexibility as a carry hero, which could make him a new popular pick for the position 1 role in this new patch.

Tinker's rework makes him more of a defensive hero early on as his March of the Machines basic ability has been swapped with Defensive Matrix, an ability he acquired after purchasing Aghanim's Shard. In addition, he no longer needs to purchase Boots of Travel as he now gets his signature global presence from a new sub-ability called Keen Conveyance.

As a basic ability, Defense Matrix grants 50% Status Resistance and absorbs up to 320 damage on an allied target on max level. The skill has a fairly quick 12 second cooldown and 100 manacost, which makes it a fairly spammable ability even without using Rearm. Now that March of the Machines is an Aghanim's Shard ability, the robots spawned by the ability now deal 30 damage to enemies that it hit on a 190 manacost.

Meanwhile, Tinker essentially gets a free Boots of Travel once he reaches level six and skills Rearm. Keen Conveyance is a sub-ability for the hero's ultimate that allows him to teleport to friendly buildings on level one, friendly units on level two, and friendly heroes on max level.

Now that March of the Machines is an Aghanim's Shard ability, Tinker is no longer a flash-farming midlaner that teleports from lane to lane and mows down creepwaves with March of the Machines.

Instead, Tinker now seems more like an offlaner or position 4 support that protects his allies with Defense Matrix while keeping enemies at bay with Laser and Heat-Seeking Missile. While he can still get March of the Machines by the 20-minute mark, it will be already too late for him to use it to farm and it will instead be better used as a defensive tool to keep the lanes pushed.

With Keen Conveyance providing free global presence and negating the need to purchase Boots of Travel, Tinker can instead use his gold to buy utility and support items to better support his team.

No more carry Axe

The carry Axe build that became very popular in the previous patch has been struck by the nerf hammer into oblivion. Instead of granting Axe an extra chance to proc Counter Helix with his attacks, Aghanim's Shard now causes Counter Helix to apply a six-second stacking debuff to enemies it hits that reduces their attack damage by 20% on top of increasing the passive's proc chance by an additional 10%.

With this change, carry Axe is no more. However, the new Aghanim's Shard is a nice pickup for the hero in its natural role as a tanky, initiating offlaner. If you see an Axe trying to build Manta Style and Aghanim's Shard in your pubs, then you are free (and entirely justified) to report them.

Aside from Axe, a number of popular heroes from the previous patch — such as Broodmother, Dragon Knight, and Terrorblade — have also received significant nerfs.

New neutral items, more drops per tier

While the 7.30 update didn't give neutral items the major rework that many expected they would get, Icefrog did make it so that five items will now drop for every tier while adding eight new items to the pool. With that said, Faded Broach, Ironwood Tree, Imp Claw, Illusionist's Cape, Minotaur Horn, Orb of Destruction, and Ballista have all been removed.

Pig Pole and Tumbler's Toy are two new tier one items with some wacky effects. Pig Pole turns the owner into a pig and grants them 10% increased movement speed while Tumbler's Toy pushes your hero forward (with an appropriately funny sound effect to boot).

Brigand's Blade and Fae Grenade are tier two items with gank-oriented effects. Brigand's Blade passively gives its owner bonus damage the more health their target is missing while Fae Grenade has an active ability that grants vision over a target to help its owner track them down.

Blast Rig is a tier three item that deals damage and applies a 100% Blind debuff to all enemies within a 300 radius when its owner gets attacked.

Meanwhile, Ascetic's Cap and Witchbane are tier four items that provide a lot of utility. Ascetic's Cap passively protects its owner from debuffs by granting them 50% Status Resistance for three seconds. Witchbane, likes its name suggests, works great against spellcasting heroes as it grants its owner bonus magic damage the more mana their target has while also having an area of effect Dispel active ability.

Finally, Arcanist's Armor is a defensive tier five item. It passively grants five bonus Armor and 20% Magic Resistance to all allies in a 900 radius on top of an active ability that grants a 35% damage reflection aura to nearby allies for five seconds.

In addition, Flicker and Spider Legs have received well-deserved nerfs.

Flicker now Blinks its owner in place if they received any damage in the last three seconds, ensuring it is no longer broken when held by already elusive heroes like Puck and Phantom Lancer while still making it a great defensive tool thanks to its Dispel active.

Spider Legs is no longer considered a 'boot' item and had its movement speed bonus reduced from 65 to 25. This change makes it so that slot-starved heroes can no longer sell their boots and rely on Spider Legs for movement speed, though the item is still good for a burst of speed and unobstructed movement.

Aeon Disk nerfed, Silver Edge, Mage Slayer, and Helm of the Overlord reworked

Aeon Disk was THE item of the previous patch, with heroes across all positions picking up the item for its absurd defensive ability regardless of the game state. It was due for a big nerf in 7.30 and Icefrog did it by increasing its already long cooldown with every use.

Once Aeon Disk's effect has been triggered, its cooldown gets increased by 20 seconds with the increased cooldown cap set at 165 seconds. For reference, Aeon Disk's cooldown for its first three uses are 105 seconds, 125 seconds, and 145 seconds with all further uses having a 165 second cooldown.

Meanwhile, Silver Edge, Mage Slayer, and Helm of the Overlord — all items that were neglected in the previous patch — have received significant reworks.

Silver Edge now requires Shadow Blade, Crystalys, and a 350 gold recipe, reducing its total cost from 5,650 gold to 5,300 gold. The item now passively grants its owner 60 bonus damage, 40 bonus attack speed, and a 30% chance to deal 160% critical damage. In addition, attacks that break out of invisibility deal a guaranteed 160% critical strike with a 175 bonus damage.

Mage Slayer now requires Oblivion Staff, Cloak, and a 400 gold recipe, further reducing its cost from 3,250 gold to 2,400 gold. It grants 20% bonus Magic Resistance, 20 bonus damage, 15 bonus attack speed, 10 Intelligence, and 2 mana regeneration on top of its magic damage reduction debuff.

With its significant cost reduction, Mage Slayer is now a more attractive pickup whenever you're facing magic damage-heavy lineups. Only a few players were buying the item in previous patches as its previous cost meant it was picked up too late for its debuff to really matter, hopefully its cheaper cost makes more players pick it up.

Finally, Helm of the Overlord now requires Helm of the Dominator, Vladmir's Offering, and a 1,000 gold recipe, which increased its total cost to 6,050 gold (only a 50 gold cost increase from its previous version).

While the item can now only dominate one creep, though it will be much stronger than before, it now also grants the three bonus armor, 1.75 mana regeneration, 18% bonus damage, and 15% Lifesteal from Vladmir's Aura in a 1,200 radius. This should make Helm of the Overlord a more attractive situational pickup that grants a lot of utility, so you could see heroes like Chen and Dark Seer getting this item.

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