Dota 2 patch 6.85 has just been released. The patch is said to bring some balance into the game, and the professional Dota 2 players have just a little more than a month to get used to the changes before Frankfurt Major in November 2015.
Dota 2 Update 6.85 has brought a big change in the game's homepage on steam. According to Dota2.com, the homepage was rearranged to accommodate the chat panel, which will remain open while the player is in the lobby. Furthermore, the Neighborhood Channels are new features added to the chat panel and are accessed automatically as soon as the game is launched. These channels reportedly will make it easier for the player to connect to other players within the closest Dota 2 community. For now the Neighborhood Channels are only available to select regions but will available to the rest of the Dota 2 community worldwide.
Most importantly, this Dota 2 Update 6.85 has brought changes to the game itself by nerfing and buffing some heroes, items and, creeps. According to the games patch notes at Dota 2.com, the siege creeps will be just like the normal lane creeps for spell targeting rules and now they also have 80% magic resistance. The two neutral creeps were given new abilities. The Ancient Thunderhide has received War Drums Aura, which provides +15 Attack Speed and +15% Attack Damage while Ancient Black Drake gets Dragonhide Aura, which provides +2 Armor, stackable. Now the Ancient Dragon Camp units have -2 armor.
Dota 2 Update 6.85 has empowered some heroes as well. According to JoinDota, Phantom Lancer and Anti-Mage will benefit from the item Manta's Mirror Image range/melee cool down is reduced from 50/35 to 45/30. Laning will also be easier for these two heroes if with Ring of Health and Void Stone being reduced by 25 gold each. Another winner in this update is the Undying once he gets Aghanim's Scepter. With this item, his skill "Decay" will now steal 10 strengths per hero hit, a big leap from 4 without the scepter.
On the other hand, Dota 2 Update 6.85 gamers who play with Lina may not be so happy that the damage of her Light Strike and Laguna Blade have been reduced. Moreover, according the JoinDota, Storm Spirit's farming potential has been reduced because its Static Remnant now has a fixed mana cost of 100 at all levels. Also, the Bounty Hunter would now have to work harder to make his teammates happy as the Track allied bonus gold is reduced from 50/100/150 to 40/80/120, not to mention that track vision now is limited to target whereas before the area around it was also visible.
Overall, many may be happy that the damage of the Techies landmines are now reduced by 50%. A lot has complained about how annoying those landmines are. Now your hero is less likely to die stepping on one landmine. However, don't expect just one landmine because it's now and cheaper to scatter them.
What is your favorite Dota 2 Hero? Are you happy with these changes? Read more of the games patch notes at https://www.dota2.com/685.
