Dota 2 Patch 7.38 | All New Changes & Additions

The newest Dota 2 update, titled "Wandering Waters", brings in many changes, from the game's map to Roshan's location, as well as changes to neutral items and creeps. There's a lot of content to unpack here, so let's get into the nitty-gritty of things right away.

Major Map Changes

Streams & Rivers

Both sides of the map have a stream of water running through it, starting from Tier 3 and ending at Tier 1. Going downstream will give you a boost in both your movement speed and your maximum movement speed. Basically, making you infinitely faster, regardless of how fast your hero is already. 

This really benefits heroes who already have high movement speeds or potential for high movement speeds. So Windranger and Centaur Warrunner will have extreme movement speeds, especially during their movement buffing abilities.

The currents of the stream run down from the Tier 3 tower to the Tier 1 tower. There are two currents: Strong and Moderate. The strong current starts from Tier 3 and ends at Tier 2, where you'll find a waterfall and a neutral ward. If you are in the direction of the current, you'll get the max movement speed, but if you are at an angle, you'll only get half. There is no penalty if you are going upstream.

There is also a stream emerging from the middle of the main jungle and going into the side streams. These streams have moderate currents, making them useful when juggling. The safe bounty rune now spawns in the center of the jungle stream.

New Neutral Camps & Creeps

There are some new camps found along the streams, called flooded camps. Here, you'll find some of the new amphibian-neutral creeps. So, Chen, Doom, and people rocking the Helm of the Dominator will have new creeps to play around with.

There are two camps on the side streams, one easy and one medium; there is also a medium camp in the jungle stream. These camps are special in that the creeps in these camps upgrade to the next tier every 5 minutes. Basically, every 15 minutes, the camps increase by 1 Tier. This can only happen twice, though, so in 30 minutes, the flooded camps will be two ancient camps and one large camp. Beware, however, as blocking the camps will prevent them from upgrading to the next tier.

Shrine of Wisdom

Wisdom Runes are replaced by Shrines of Wisdom. These act similarly to the Wisdom Runes but are now located where the Ancient Camp was in that area. The Shrine of Wisdom activates every 7 minutes, and upon activation, you need to stand within 300 units of the center of the Shrine for 3 seconds. This activation can be paused by enemies entering the 300-unit area. 

So, unlike before, you'll get to use the Shrine only after you eliminate or zone out enemies that you are contesting or otherwise are being contested by. If you have multiple heroes in the area that are on the same side, it'll pick a random one, favoring those with the lowest XP.

Lotus Pools

Lotus Pools act very similarly and are located in the same place as on the previous map. So, you'll have to stand within 300 units of the center; enemy heroes within the area pause the timer, and having multiple allied heroes in it will give the lotuses to a random hero. There are some new quirks, however. The speed at which you gather them increases as you gather lotuses, going to a minimum of 0.3 seconds.

You also have great lotuses spawn instead of regular ones at 35 minutes when Tier 4 neutral items spawn. Greater Lotuses spawn at 60 minutes when Tier 5 neutral items spawn.

Roshan Pit

Roshan has changed places again. He is now back at his old place in the river, basically, the same place as it was in older versions of the map. However, you'll now have one Pit at the top and one at the bottom.

Roshan himself starts at the bottom Pit. After 15 minutes, he'll basically follow the day/night cycle and switch pits every 5 minutes. So, he goes to the top at night and the bottom in the day. He walks between the two pits and has increased resistance and move speed. He still tramples and stuns while moving. However, he will pick up heroes along his path and throw them, dealing damage and stunning them.

He does this three times before ignoring everything and just beelining towards the opposite Pit. You also basically get the Rosh Icon that you get to see while spectating. It will mark if Roshan is alive and when the next chance for him to spawn is. You'll also get to see which Pit Roshan is on the mini-map. Overall, all of this helps in utility.

Tormentors

There is now only one Tormentor in the game; it rotates and is being spawned either in the top corner or the bottom corner of the map, based on whether it's day or night. It is on the opposite cycle, so it'll appear opposite to the Roshan and will always show up on the Radiant side first. Upon eliminating it, it will grant 250 gold as well as the Aghanim's Shard it used to provide. On death, it will leave behind an area of healing effect, similar to the Witch Doctor's Rejuvenation.

General Map Changes

The map has undergone about a dozen menial changes, including the location of teleporters and watchers and the positioning of the jungles and jungle camps. 

Neutral Item Mechanics

There's a new mechanic pertaining to neutral items. It basically changes it entirely and adds on the changes from the last update. If you can't recall, the last patch made it so that Neutral Creeps drop certain kinds of tokens at certain periods. 

Now, instead of that, you'll be getting a new resource called Madstone. For every camp you clear, you will get two Madstone, with an ally receiving one Madstone. You need to accumulate 15 to craft a neutral item. Each neutral item now has two components: Artifact and Enchantment. 

The Artifact remains the same as the neutral items, where you get certain abilities from the items and basically have the active effects of the items. The enchantment adds tiered upgrades between a few types of passives. So, you will get to pick between all the types of passives you want and create a bunch of combinations based on your hero and role.

Naturally, there are also a few new neutral items, or rather, artifacts. You can still only craft neutral items at certain points of the game and not at a moment before. Tier 1 Neutral Items require 5 Madstone, and after that, everything else requires 10 Madstone each.

Other Changes

There's a myriad of changes to heroes, hero facets, and a few new facets have been added as well, there's only a really long list that's best learnt in-game. That's basically all from the update, so what are you waiting for? Go take a look yourself.

Also, check out our other guides on Dota 2:

• Dota 2 Nest of Thorns Guide
• Dota 2 | 3 Easiest Heroes to Play
• Dota 2 Guide | Best Items for Carries
• Dota 2 Guide | Best Items for Supports