Valve teases new Dota 2 patch update

The International 2023 has come to a close with Team Spirit emerging as the second team to lift the converted Aegis of Champions twice. However, as ESL Kuala Lumpur draws near, players are eagerly waiting for a change in the meta.

Fortunately, Valve has recently teased a new Dota 2 patch update coming in a few days via in-game notification. The International 2023 gameplay changes didn't revamp the game enough for most fans.

The highly anticipated TI compendium did not include skins, making fans question its value. However, in response to the fan uproar, Valve has promised a new update that will be released after The International 2023 concludes, featuring multiple note-worthy skins.

The Broken Heroes of The Meta 

The International 2023 Meta Heroes.
Credits: Valve

Controversial heroes dominated The International Patch. Among those heroes, Bristle Back, Team Spirit Breaker, and Dazzle caused a lot of nuisance toward their opposing teams.

BristleBack

Bristleback in a short film.
Credits: Valve

BristleBack’s had the most simple playstyle in the patch. It includes withholding skill points. Players will only take a single point in Bristle’s third ability, Bristleback, which makes the hero take more damage from the enemy.

Subsequently, receiving more damage from the enemy unleashes more quills. Later in the game, the hero would pick up a reworked Aghanim’s Scepter and cause havoc on the map.

Dazzle

Topson's Dazzle is a nightmare for players to deal with.
Credits: Valve

Dazzle is another hero who rose to popularity during The International 2023 meta.

Moreover, the hero moves away from his traditional role as a support and becomes a midlaner. With Shadow Poison being the most powerful spell during the early game, the hero can have a strong laning stage. Additionally, with a reduced cooldown on his spells, Dazzle was the new “Tinker” of the meta.

Spirit Breaker

Spirit Breaker (a.k.a) SpaceCow.
Credits: Valve

Spirit Breaker was the most fearsome hero out of all the broken heroes of The International 2023 patch.

Players rush the Hand of Midas and buy Octerine Core to reduce the hero’s skills cooldown; the item build is usually followed by an Aghanim Scepter upgrade for the hero. With said item build, the hero became the most mobile hero in the game and can join any team fight anytime. Thus, Spirit Breaker was often picked as a midlaner or an offlaner.

Moreover, Team Spirit efficiently used Spirit Breaker to its full potential. Eventually, Valve noticed Team Spirit’s conquest and renamed the hero Team Spirit Breaker after the team successfully conquered their second Aegis.

The Notable Items

As heroes that have damage over time dominated the meta, items such as Baldemail and Heart of Tarrasque became the obvious choice for the players.

Beefy, Strength heroes like Primal Beast and Kunkka became the ideal offlaners and midlaners. Thus, they prioritize getting a Blademail and Heart first before getting Aghs.

Primal-Beast-Dark-Behemoth set is a cool PB skin.
Credits: Valve

The item build became a go-to item build in pubs as well. Even the two-time TI Champion Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk recommends this item build as it is a safe path to an easy MMR.

Moreover, because of these items, the team fights became long drawn-out skirmishes, with both teams kiting against each other.

Mixed Feelings

Valve has announced that the next new Dota 2 patch update will be a letter change patch, and it will be available on November 20. The community expressed mixed reactions to this announcement. Unlike number change patches, letter change patches typically have minor changes to balance things out before the next major update.

Featured Image Source: Valve

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