Dota 2 Launches Update 7.38: What’s New and Improved

Overview of Dota 2’s 7.38 Gameplay Update

The 7.38 Gameplay Update for Dota 2 introduces a plethora of gameplay enhancements and modifications.
Players are encouraged to navigate through Wandering Waters, where water currents significantly alter movement dynamics.
Numerous adjustments have also been made to various heroes, enhancing their gameplay experience.

In February 2025, Valve unveiled an exciting patch for the acclaimed multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) title, Dota 2. This update, titled the 7.38 Gameplay Update, emphasizes exploration of the new environment known as Wandering Waters. Players can utilize powerful water currents to expedite their journey to the safe lane and customize their gameplay with craftable Neutral Items. Community feedback on the patch has been largely positive, indicating widespread satisfaction with the changes.

Dota 2 made its debut in 2013 as a direct continuation of the fan-favorite Defense of the Ancients (DotA) mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft 3. Today, it stands as one of the most prominent live-service games alongside titles like Final Fantasy XIV, Apex Legends, and Helldivers 2, boasting a vibrant esports scene.

Patch Highlights of Dota 2 7.38

Enhancements to Core Mechanics

Damage per attribute for Universal Heroes has been reduced from 0.7 to 0.45.
As a result, the Base Damages and attribute gains for several heroes have been recalibrated.
Players can now allocate Skill Points to All Attributes starting from level 2, instead of the previous level 6.
Reflected spells inherit all bonuses from the initial cast, including:

Hero upgrades via facets
Talents-based bonuses
Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard upgrades

The Slow Resistance mechanism now increases the minimum movement speed based on the percentage of slow resistance owned.
The Glyph of Fortification’s creep duration has decreased from 4 to 3 seconds.
Movement speed bonuses during nighttime have been eliminated for all units.
Newly acquired items in a hero’s backpack possess a 3-second grace period allowing for immediate swap into the main inventory without cooldown, applicable only once per item per hero.

Wandering Waters Exploration

Flooded streams now traverse the outer rim areas, providing new pathways and gameplay strategies.
Streams originate near the T3 towers, extending down to the T1 towers with distinct currents.
Players gain increased movement speeds when traveling downstream, while there are no penalties when moving upstream.
Streams are classified into two zones:
- Strong Current: Grants up to 150 bonus movement speed
- Moderate Current: Grants up to 100 bonus movement speed
The layout of watchers, camps, and pathways has been modified to accommodate the new stream dynamics.
Radiant and Dire jungles also include moderate current streams connecting to outer streams near the T2 towers.

Key Map Changes

Roshan’s New Role

Roshan has returned to the river, with designated pits positioned near each sidelane—top closer to Dire’s jungle and bottom nearer to Radiant’s.
The active Roshan pit alone will be represented on the minimap.
Roshan will begin in the Bottom Pit and will transition between pits following the day/night cycle.
He now has basic 25% slow resistance and gains an additional 25% slow resistance when traversing between pits.
A unique mechanic allows Roshan to grab and throw a hero encountered en route, leading to a stunning effect and damage based on the target’s current health.
A Roshan status icon has been added to the minimap, indicating his state and potential respawn timing.

Changes to Tormentors

Tormentor spawns have been repositioned to map corners, with only one active at a time.
At death, Tormentor grants 250 gold to all team members, further tied to the day/night cycle.
Abilities scale based on game time rather than player deaths.
A new ability, Alleviation, enhances health regeneration for nearby units upon Tormentor’s demise.

Alterations to Lotus Pools

Healing Lotuses can now be automatically gathered by heroes within 350 units of a pool’s center.
The time required to collect each subsequent Lotus diminishes by 30%, enhancing efficiency.

Introduction of Shrines of Wisdom

New Shrines of Wisdom replace the previous Wisdom Runes, activating every 7 minutes to provide experience.

Updated Bounty Runes Mechanics

The spawn interval for Bounty Runes has extended from 3 to 4 minutes, with adjusted gold rewards.

Changes to Lifesteal Mechanics

Lifesteal mechanics have been standardized across all abilities, enhancing consistency.

Additional Terrain Modifications

Various terrain elements have been refined, including adjustments to neutral camps and map features.

Explore Wandering Waters in the 7.38 Gameplay Update. Run with the currents to get to your safe lane faster, forge your own destiny with craftable Neutral Items and dive into a deluge of new changes and improvements.https://t.co/We1vp5I65w pic.twitter.com/5ek0c5gvZt — DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) February 19, 2025

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