Dota 2 6.85 Balance Patch Released

[Omnomnick]

With the Frankfurt Major qualifiers coming up in just over a week, Valve are getting Dota 2 ready with the release of the 6.85 balance patch, which was released this evening alongside numerous other modifications to the game client. Like all balance patches, 6.85 looks to tweak the game's wide variety of heroes and items in order to limit the effectiveness of overused or abused features (I'm looking at you, Leshrac) while improving those not used quite as much. Major standouts in this update include big nerfs to Leshrac, Techies, and Storm Spirit, while Undying, Terrorblade, and Elder Titan have all received major, potentially beneficial improvements.

As always, there's a whole lot more to read about in the full patch notes, so we'll now move on to talking about the non-gameplay improvements introduced to Dota 2 alongside the 6.85 update. These include "Neighborhood Channels", allowing players to automatically chat with other players in their local regions, and a partially redesigned UI with new support for compendiums, recent game recaps, and spectating. With the Frankfurt Major starting fairly soon, these new improvements and re-balances should help keep the community happy for another few months until 6.86 rolls around towards the end of the year.