Lion and Magnus Nerfed in Recent Update for Dota 2

Do you love to pick Lion and Magnus when you play Dota 2? If so, your favorite heroes just got nerfed in Patch 7.35c. What has changed?

Significant Nerfs

It looks like both Lion and Magnus were pretty formidable prior to the release of Dota 2 Patch 7.35c. This prompted Valve to make some necessary adjustments to bring them down, but the company may have applied harsh nerfs in the most recent update.

Let's start with Lion. His Earth Spike ability, which enables him to unleash spikes from the ground and stun enemies that are hit, now has a considerably long cooldown at the earlier levels. Its cooldown used to be just 11 seconds across the board. But now, it is set to 14/13/12/11 seconds. If you play Lion after updating to Patch 7.35c, you might have to change your approach if you were using this religiously in the early stages of a match.

As if that is not bad enough, Lion's Mana Drain got hit really hard. For one, the movement speed bonus to allies has been reduced from 20/25/30/35% to 15/20/25/30%.

On top of that, if you upgrade Mana Drain with Aghanim's Shard, you have to be prepared. That is because a few adjustments have been made and they are not pretty. The upgraded Mana Drain's magic resistance is reduced from 80% to 60%, the bonus break distance is now at 200 instead of 400, and Mana Drain now breaks on secondary targets if Lion loses sight of them.

While the nerfs to Magnus are not too severe, they are still worth noting. His Level 15 talent where Skewer's cooldown is reduced by seven seconds previously is now set to five seconds. With this change, you'd have to wait a couple of seconds longer before you can use Skewer again.

Furthermore, Magnus' level 20 talent, specifically the one that increases Skewer's Range by 375, has now been reduced to just 275 in Patch 7.35c.

Highlights

ITEMS

• Bloodstone

  • Recipe changed. Now requires a Void Stone (700) instead of 700g recipe. Total cost unchanged

  • Now provides +3 Mana Regen

• Bloodthorn

  • Total cost decreased from 6,825 to 6,625 (due to Orchid Malevolence change)

  • Soul Rend Extra damage on hit decreased from 60 to 50

• Dagon

  • Spell Lifesteal bonus increased from +11/12/13/14/15% to +15%

  • Energy Burst Cooldown decreased from 35/30/25/20/15s to 27/24/21/18/15s

• Diffusal Blade

  • Inhibit now has a mana cost of 25

• Disperser

  • Recipe cost increased from 400 to 800. Total cost increased from 5700 to 6100

  • Suppress no longer has an AoE

  • Suppress now always affects both the target and the user

• Kaya and Sange

  • Total cost decreased from 4,100 to 4,000

  • Status Resistance bonus increased from +20% to +25%

  • Spell Lifesteal Amplification bonus decreased from +30% to +25%

  • Health Regen and Lifesteal Amp bonus increased from +22% to +25%

HEROES

Arc Warden

• Spark Wraith

  • Duration decreased from 45s to 16s

Chaos Knight

• Reality Rift

  • Pull Distance increased from 250/300/350/400 to 300/350/400/450

Dragon Knight

• Elder Dragon Form

  • Frost Breath movement slow decreased from 0/0/40/60% to 0/0/30/45%

  • Frost Breath attack slow decreased from 0/0/40/60 to 0/0/30/45

  • Aghanim's Scepter Black Dragon Magic Resistance bonus decreased from 25% to 20%

Faceless Void

• Time Dilation

  • Cooldown Progression Slow decreased from 60% to 30/40/50/60%

• Time Lock

  • No longer has a bonus duration against creeps

• Talents

  • Level 15 Talent Time Lock Damage decreased from +40 to +30

  • Level 20 Talent Attack Speed during Chronosphere decreased from +95 to +80

So, what can you say about the changes that have been implemented in Patch 7.35c for Dota 2? Do you think that Valve may have been too heavy-handed with the nerfs to Lion and Magnus?