DotA 2 update makes life a little easier for supports

With the first of the new bi-weekly patches dropping, let’s take a look at the changes to the economy and how supports now have a little extra spending money.

While overall starting gold is reduced by a little, the cost of purchasing a courier has been dramatically dropped, costing only 50 gold down from the original 200. This should allow supports to better manage their personal economy, enabling them to be a bit better equipped for the early game skirmishes.

Secondly, a change to the way that stacking neutral camps works now benefits players who successfully stack and clear their own camps. Heroes that successfully stack and clear their own camp now receive a 15% bonus gold bounty, whereas no bonus is given if one hero stacks and another clears. An audio cue now plays once a camp is successfully stacked, with neutral camps also displaying an icon of the hero that stacked it, to make it easier for players to see who will get the benefit of the bonus gold.

The third major change comes with some changes to the map itself. A tree has been removed in the radiant jungle, to the top right of the blue crystals near the ancients, while the tier one mid lane towers have been shifted a little closer to the river. This should make map rotations in the area a little more dangerous for the enemy, combined with the extra gold supports can now spend on vision.

Want to read the patch notes in full? Check out the official update page here. These patch notes aren’t the only big news to come to DotA 2 in the last couple of days, check out our coverage of casters Merlini and LD stepping down from casting roles here.