Dota 2 Patch 7.38 Removes Neutral Items!

The long awaited Dota 2 patch 7.38 is here and  it was worth the wait. Massive changes are here to nearly every aspect of the game. Roshan is moved, Neutral Items are gone, new facets are around, and multiple abilities have been reworked.

It would take hours to go through, test, and understand every new change that Dota 2 patch 7.38 has brought to the game. We expect a lot of unexpected mechanics to show themselves in the coming days. For now here are the biggest changes introduced in the latest gameplay update.

The biggest changes in Dota 2 patch 7.38

A whole new (watery) world

Slardar's greatest strength is his versatility. (Credit: Valve)

The Dota 2 map has received an overhaul, with a lot more rivers in it. The side lanes now have a running body of water from the middle of the lane that connects to the outermost parts of the map.

The changes aren't just visual, water now has a big impact, as it speeds up heroes moving downstream. The river in the center of the map doesn't have a stream though.

All in all, this is an interesting and much needed map change. While we aren't certain how this will impact the game overall (apart from buffing Slardar), we like the visual aspect and the increased map diversity.

You can't steal wisdom runes anymore

Well, firstly wisdom runes have been removed, so I guess that isn't the best title. But, Wisdom Runes have been replaced by Wisdom Shrines. Instead of picking up runes, players channel the shrine for three seconds.

Shrines won't activate if an enemy is nearby, so a pesky Bounty Hunter can't come up and just take your rune. This stops a snowballing team from getting further ahead and taking both Wisdom Runes, shutting down enemy supports.

This is a much needed change, and one that will allow teams that are behind to ensure they get their ultimates at a somewhat reasonable time.

Roshan is back in the river 

After years of spending his time at the edge of the map, Roshan is back to the middle of it. He still has two homes he rotates between but those places are near the center of the map.

Roshan will also move from one side of the map to the other, instead of teleporting. This re-location makes it a little easier for teams to contest Roshan, as now teams won't have to worry about opponents buying back and using the outposts to win the fight.

Bye bye Neutral Items, hello Madstones

Good bye, old friends.

Yeap, after a long time with Neutral items, they are gone. Finito, bye bye neutrals, we... will sort of miss you.

But, while Neutral items are gone, Madstones are here. These are a new resource that allows you to craft a... Neutral item.

How it works is you select a base item, which gives you an active ability. Like Pig Pole, you get the ability to turn into a hexed unit with bonus movement speed.

Then you select an Enchantment to add on top of it. This will buff up Pig Pole with specific traits. Like maybe more health, or more movement speed, you decide.

We like that we now have a choice in how we build those items, but this will likely be min-maxed within two weeks into having only a few base items and enchantments being worth picking up. For now, both look very nice.

Universal heroes are significantly better now

While on first glance we can see that Universal heroes lost a lot of damage at max  level, they also gained significant stat growth as well, often to all three of their stats.

This makes Universal heroes more durable, with faster attack speed, and more mana to use. Take Broodmother for example, she now has an extra 0.6 strength gain, 0.8 agility, and 0.6 intelligence growth. That is a massive extra two stats per level, well worth losing 45 damage by level 30.

Of course you still lose damage from items that provide stats, but.... still, we see it as an overall buff.

There is a lot to digest in Dota 2 patch 7.38 and we haven't even gotten to heroes yet. Stay tuned for more content on the latest update.!

READ MORE: PGL Reaffirms Commitment To Dota 2 In 2027

Featured Image Source: Valve