Dota 2 7.20 update: New items analyzed
An analysis on all the new items introduced by the 7.20 update: Ring of Tarrasque, Holy Locket, Crown, and all the Sange, Yasha, and Kaya variants.
All the analyses, articles, and statistics on the 7.20 update:
In the following days and weeks, I will publish several articles on the 7.20 update. Stay tuned as I will cover most aspects of the game, general and specific game changes, new and old items, most popular heroes in pub and pro games, and more.
Ring of Tarrasque
Cost: 700 gold
Bonus:
+150 Health
+3.75 Health regeneration
Upgrades into Heart of Tarrasque and Holy Locket.
The Ring of Tarrasque is a direct competitor of the Ring of Health as a laning stage item. They both provide health regeneration, but the latter is slightly more expensive and does not give extra HP (the Ring of Health has a 850 gold cost and grants +5 Health regeneration).
“We must not compare their stats and cost to find out which is the best choice in our games. Our preference depends solely on the upgraded items.”
You might contest this statement pointing out that the 150 bonus health points of the Ring of Tarrasque are more useful when fighting versus casters as they enhance your survival chances against magic burst damage, while the extra health regeneration of the Ring of Health is better when facing physical harassers.
In the end, we are talking about basic items you buy because a certain hero requires health regeneration to survive the laning phase, but eventually we will upgrade them into stronger ones.
The Ring of Tarrasque upgrades into Heart of Tarrasque and Holy Locket.
The Ring of Health into Hood of Defiance, Vanguard, Helm of the Dominator, Perseverance and follow-up items.
For example, the Ring of Health is usually bought both on Anti-Mage and Spectre.
With 7.20, the former will keep getting it because the Perseverance is one component of the Battle Fury, instead the latter might prefer the Ring of Tarrasque. The Heart of Tarrasque is powerful on a late game Spectre, and you won’t be forced anymore to buy the Vanguard or the Hood of Defiance.
All the new Dota 2 7.20 items - Image: @wykrhm
Holy Locket
Cost: 2,650 gold.
Requires:
Void Stone (850)
Ring of Tarrasque (700)
Cloak (550)
Recipe (550)
Bonus:
+200 Health
+4 Health regeneration
+3 Mana regeneration
+15% Magic resistance
Passive ability: Holy Blessing
Amplifies heals and regeneration you provide by 25%.
The bonus stats are standard (I always appreciate having more magic resistance), but the main reason you want to acquire this item is the passive ability.
Many supports with healing spells will love the Holy Blessing as it boosts their healing capabilities. Omniknight, Dazzle, Witch Doctor, and Oracle are suitable examples and will probably buy it in most games.
Generally, healing spells with a low cooldown - such as Dazzle’s Shadow Wave - will have the greater benefits. You can heal all your team every six seconds for 175 health points instead of 140.
Heroes with healing abilities like Chen, Treant Protector, Warlock, and Winter Wyvern are also potential candidates, but it is still too early to understand on how many of them it will become a core item.
The Holy Locket works with self-regenerative abilities
It is worth to note that the Holy Blessing doesn’t increase only your heals but also your health regeneration. I have tested it in-game and it does work with Slark’s Shadow Dance, so you can regenerate at a higher rate.
There are several not-support heroes with abilities that grant them health regeneration. For example, Alchemist’s Chemical Rage, Broodmother’s Spin Web, Timbersaw’s Reactive Armor, Dragon Knight’s Dragon Blood, etc. The list goes on, but probably we will never buy the Holy Blessing on them because we must take into consideration also the stats provided, and this item gives zero offensive power.
Talking about healing and self-regenerative abilities, the Holy Locket would be useful also in combination with Necrophos’ Death Pulse and Enchantress’ Nature’s Attendants.
Combo with other items
The Holy Locket amplifies any heal the owner of the item provides, so it also boosts the active abilities of items such as the Mekansm and the Urn of Shadows. This is an added value you must think about depending on your hero and the item build.
Crown
Cost: 450 gold.
Bonus:
+4 Strength
+4 Agility
+4 Intelligence
Upgrades into Rod of Atos, Drum of Endurance, Veil of Discord, and Dagon.
There isn’t a lot to explain. It is a balanced item bought in the laning stage if later on you will upgrade it into one of the items listed above.
Heavenly General loading screen for Storm Spirit - Valve
Sange, Kaya, and Yasha
I decided to talk about all the related items in this article as separating some of them on the general item analysis would make things more complicated for the readers.
Sange: now provides +12% Status Resistance instead of Maim.
Heaven’s Halberd: now provides +14% Status Resistance instead of Maim.
Sange and Yasha: now provides +16% Status Resistance instead of Maim.
The status resistance bonus is a buff for the Heaven’s Halberd because usually you select it as a supportive or defensive item.
Many carries buying the Sange and Yasha might not love the change. For example, a melee auto-attacker as Bloodseeker used to purchase it in order to obtain useful stats, increase his movement speed, chase the opponents and slow them down with Maim. Now, you lost the movement slow debuff, which might affect your ganking capabilities as a melee hero.
Sange
Recipe cost reduced from 700 to 650.
+16 Strength
+8 Attack damage
+12% Status resistance
Yasha
Recipe cost reduced from 700 to 650.
+16 Agility
+12 Attack speed
+8% Movement speed
Kaya
Recipe increased from 500 to 650.
+16 Intelligence
+8% Spell damage
+12% Mana loss reduction
Before 7.20, the Kaya was a not upgradable item. IceFrog had to rebalance the cost of the recipes as now all the swords can be combined. All the three upgraded variants have a cost of 4,200 gold.
Sange and Yasha
+16 Strength
+16 Agility
+16 Attack speed
+12 Attack damage
+12% Movement speed
+16% Status resistance
Yasha and Kaya
+16 Agility
+16 Intelligence
+16 Attack speed
+12% Spell damage
+16% Mana loss reduction
+12% Movement speed
Kaya and Sange
+16 Strength
+16 Intelligence
+12% Spell damage
+12 Attack damage
+16% Mana loss reduction
+16% Status resistance
Let’s start pointing out that neither of these items is incredibly strong, overpowered, or a must on any hero. Generally, if your hero benefits from one of the three basic swords, you now have more upgrading options depending on the hero, your play style, and the enemies faced.
The Kaya’s upgrades are a great addition to the game as before several heroes bought this sword mainly for the mana loss reduction, and afterwards were forced to keep a low-cost item in their inventory also in the late game.
All the variants provide similar bonuses
+16 to a first stat
+16 to a second stat
The variants with Sange:
+12 Attack damage
+16% Status resistance
The variants with Yasha:
+16 Attack speed
+12% Movement speed
The variants with Kaya:
+12% Spell damage
+16% Mana loss reduction
Sange and Yasha remained pretty much the same. Probably, it will be the most bought upgrade because it provides bonuses that are useful for many cores.
Yasha and Kaya is the best option for carries (especially agility-based ones) with a big mana usage who can make a good use of the mana loss reduction. Some examples are Medusa, Viper with the magic damage build, Storm Spirit, Gyrocopter, Lina, and Silencer carry.
Kaya and Sange is the defensive variant for those who need the mana loss reduction but not the extra movement and attack speed. I don’t think it will be very popular. One might claim that the status resistance is very useful on a carry, but you can’t just rely on a crowd control mitigation - the Black King Bar is always mandatory in team fights to prevent any disable.
Header image (Dazzle Yuwipi loading screen) and patch notes - Valve
