Patch 7.41f Just Nerfed Half the Heroes You Were Told to Abuse

Patch 7.41f Didn't Flip the Meta — It Attacked the Heroes Abusing It

Patch 7.41f isn't one of those updates where you open Dota and suddenly need to relearn half the game. Valve went for something much more surgical: take the heroes and items getting too much value, shave down the exact numbers enabling them, and force players to work harder for the same timings.

Bounty Hunter's Track economy got hammered. Earth Spirit has fewer Stone Remnants to work with. Shadow Fiend gets less damage from his soul engine. Lina, Keeper of the Light, Necrophos, Treant Protector, Lifestealer, Enigma and several other heroes all lost something meaningful.

At the same time, Anti-Mage and Ursa received direct offensive buffs, Heaven's Halberd got cheaper, Mars got tankier, and a few overlooked heroes picked up smaller improvements that could matter once people actually start testing them.

7.41f isn't asking you to learn a new Dota. It's asking whether the build, matchup and timing you trusted yesterday still works today.

Bounty Hunter's Track Economy Took a Serious Hit

Bounty Hunter received one of the clearest nerfs in the entire patch. Track self bonus gold dropped from 130/225/320 to 80/160/240, while allied bonus gold fell from 50/90/130 to 40/80/120.

At max level, the self payout falls from 320 to 240 bonus gold. That's exactly a 25% reduction. One Track kill won't suddenly ruin the hero, but Bounty's economy was never about one kill — it was about chaining successful Track kills until a normal-looking fight produced an abnormal amount of gold.

Five max-level Track payouts now give Bounty 400 less bonus gold than they did before. Ten mean 800 less. That's enough of a difference to matter when the entire point of your hero is accelerating from successful movement around the map.

Failed Rotations Hurt More Now

Bounty naturally spends time away from conventional farm. He scouts, moves between lanes and waits for opportunities to turn Track into kills. The stronger the Track payout, the easier it is to justify sacrificing normal farm for that playstyle.

7.41f makes that calculation harsher. If you spend a minute moving toward a target and nothing happens, there isn't as much bonus gold waiting to compensate you on the next successful attempt.

That puts more emphasis on clean target selection. Tracking a hero your team can actually kill, converting the kill quickly and moving into another objective becomes more valuable than wandering across the map hoping something eventually happens.

The Talent Changes Matter Too

Track wasn't the only part of Bounty's kit touched. His Level 10 Shuriken Toss slow bonus dropped from +0.6 seconds to +0.35 seconds.

At Level 20, Track Grants Shared Vision was replaced with +190 Shuriken Toss Damage. Shared Vision now appears at Level 25, replacing the previous +250 Shuriken Toss Damage option.

That means some utility that previously arrived at Level 20 has effectively been pushed deeper into the game. The hero still has his information game, burst and ability to punish isolated targets, but the progression around those strengths isn't as generous.

Bounty Hunter still gets paid for winning fights. Valve just stopped paying him quite so much.

Earth Spirit Now Has to Respect Every Stone Remnant

Earth Spirit's base attack speed dropped from 100 to 95. That's the simple part. The more strategically interesting nerf is Stone Remnant charge scaling.

Charges changed from seven plus one every four hero levels to seven plus one every five levels. His maximum also moved from 14 charges at Level 28 to 13 at Level 30.

For most heroes, losing access to one charge of something sounds minor. Earth Spirit isn't most heroes. Stone Remnants are integrated into the way he moves, controls targets and extends his spell combinations.

Resource Management Matters More Than Before

Rolling Boulder, Geomagnetic Grip and Magnetize all make remnant availability strategically important. The hero is at his best when he can enter an engagement, spend resources to disrupt it and still have enough left to continue playing the second phase of the fight.

Slower charge growth makes waste more punishable. Throwing out a remnant for movement that accomplishes nothing, missing an important setup or spending too aggressively before an objective can leave fewer options when the real engagement begins.

Short fights may not expose that difference every time. Long, chaotic fights are where it becomes more interesting. If both teams disengage and re-enter, every remnant spent earlier starts affecting what Earth Spirit can do later.

His Late Talents Were Rebuilt Around Different Damage Options

Earth Spirit's talent tree also moved significantly. The Level 20 +25% Magnetize Damage and Duration talent was replaced by +35 Magnetize Damage Per Second.

The Level 20 +175% Rolling Boulder Damage from Strength talent became +200 Geomagnetic Grip Remnant Damage. Then at Level 25, the old +250 Geomagnetic Grip Remnant Damage talent was replaced by +250% Rolling Boulder Damage from Strength.

So this isn't simply a charge nerf. Valve also moved where several late-game damage options live, meaning experienced Earth Spirit players have real reasons to reassess talent choices instead of automatically following the previous tree.

Earth Spirit still has the toolkit. 7.41f just makes wasting pieces of that toolkit more expensive.

Shadow Fiend's Soul Engine Is Weaker

Shadow Fiend got hit directly in Necromastery. Damage per soul changed from 1.35 plus 0.15 damage per level to 1 plus 0.8 damage every six levels.

Shadowraze also lost scaling: bonus damage per soul decreased from 3 to 2. His Level 15 Presence of the Dark Lord armor reduction talent was reduced from +2 to +1.5.

These aren't random nerfs scattered around the hero. They all target offensive output tied to the systems Shadow Fiend uses to turn a successful lane and accumulated souls into pressure.

Why the Shadowraze Change Matters

Shadowraze rewards players for controlling distance and repeatedly connecting spells. The soul-based bonus amplified that pressure as Shadow Fiend accumulated resources.

Dropping the bonus damage per soul from 3 to 2 doesn't remove that mechanic. It lowers the reward attached to it. Clean razes still matter, but having a strong soul count does less work for you than before.

That makes execution slightly more important. If your entire trade depends on the numbers carrying an imperfect sequence, the margin is smaller now.

Greedy SF Games Need Re-Evaluation

Shadow Fiend players love converting safe space into more farm, more souls and eventually a timing where approaching the hero becomes terrifying. The question after 7.41f is not whether farming is still good — of course it is — but whether the same amount of greed produces the same payoff.

When offensive scaling is reduced, skipping a favorable fight to squeeze out more farm carries a slightly different opportunity cost. Some games may reward joining your team earlier instead of treating maximum accumulation as the automatic answer.

Shadow Fiend can still become a monster. The numbers simply demand more from the player before he gets there.

Lina Lost Power at Both Level One and Full Fiery Soul

Lina took several nerfs at once. Base Intelligence dropped from 30 to 28, bringing her Level 1 damage down from 51–59 to 49–57.

Fiery Soul's attack speed bonus was reduced from 8/16/24/32 to 7/14/21/28, while its duration dropped from 18 seconds to 16.

Those changes attack two different parts of the same strength. Lina starts with less raw damage, and maintaining her attack-speed engine gives a smaller reward for a shorter period.

The Lane Gets Slightly Less Comfortable

Two points of Level 1 damage can matter in repeated last-hit and deny contests. It doesn't transform the matchup by itself, but Dota lanes are built from dozens of small interactions, not one giant calculation.

The Fiery Soul changes then continue that pressure as levels arrive. Lower maximum attack speed means less output at full stacks, while the shorter duration gives Lina less time to preserve those stacks between actions.

The hero still has range, burst and scaling. What 7.41f removes is some of the efficiency that made maintaining momentum feel so rewarding.

Keeper of the Light Got Hit Three Different Ways

Keeper of the Light lost 10 base attack speed, dropping from 100 to 90. Chakra Magic's cooldown reduction was also lowered from 3/4/5/6 seconds to 2.5/3.5/4.5/5.5 seconds.

Spirit Form Illuminate healing fell from 70% to 60%, although the Aghanim's Shard version remains unchanged at 100%.

Together, these changes reduce several different forms of efficiency. KotL attacks more slowly, removes slightly less cooldown from an ally's ability, and provides less baseline Illuminate healing during Spirit Form.

Chakra Magic Is the Quiet Nerf to Watch

Chakra Magic is powerful because its value isn't isolated to Keeper himself. The spell interacts with whichever ally can best exploit additional mana and reduced cooldowns.

A half-second reduction at every level sounds tiny when written in patch notes. Across repeated casts on an ability-dependent teammate, however, the difference keeps appearing.

It doesn't remove the combinations that made Chakra useful. It simply lowers the efficiency of repeating them.

Necrophos Is Easier to Knock Off His Sustain Loop

Necrophos received two direct sustain nerfs. Sadist's Hero Kill Multiplier dropped from 6 to 4, while Ghost Shroud's Restoration Amplification decreased from 55/65/75/85% to 45/55/65/75%.

The Ghost Shroud change is particularly easy to understand: at every ability level, the restoration amplification is 10 percentage points lower than before.

Necrophos still wants extended fights where regeneration and repeated spell usage can grind opponents down. The difference is that the sustain loop has less numerical support behind it.

Killing Someone Doesn't Refill the Tank as Hard

Sadist rewards Necrophos for participating in kills, helping him transition from one successful moment into continued pressure. Reducing the hero-kill multiplier means that reset is weaker.

Combine that with lower Ghost Shroud restoration amplification and there is a clearer opportunity to keep pressure on Necrophos rather than watching him recover as efficiently after a kill.

He's still built around sustain. Valve simply made that sustain easier to challenge.

Treant Protector Got One of the Broadest Nerf Packages

Treant lost three base Intelligence, dropping from 20 to 17. Nature's Guise invisibility linger after leaving trees was cut from two seconds to one.

Leech Seed now costs 35 mana, while its Damage to Healing conversion was rescaled from a flat 20% to 10/15/20/25%. Living Armor's minimum damage block also dropped from 20 to 10.

Finally, the Level 10 +3 Living Armor Heal per Second talent was replaced with +3 seconds of Living Armor duration.

Early Treant Is Paying the Biggest Price

The Leech Seed rescaling tells the story. Instead of getting 20% Damage to Healing immediately, Treant starts at 10%, reaches the old 20% value at Level 3 of the ability and eventually exceeds it at Level 4 with 25%.

That shifts power away from early points while introducing a mana cost at the same time. Add the Intelligence reduction and Treant has more reason to care about resource management during the opening stages.

Nature's Guise also gives him less forgiveness after leaving tree cover. Cutting the linger from two seconds to one means movement between protected areas needs to be cleaner.

This is a good example of a patch nerf that doesn't delete one famous ability. Valve instead shaved several advantages from different parts of the hero.

Lifestealer Lost Some of His Safety

Rage cooldown increased from 20/19/18/17 seconds to 21/20/19/18. His Aghanim's Scepter Infest duration against enemies dropped from five seconds to four, while the Level 10 movement speed talent fell from +20 to +15.

Each individual change is manageable. Together, they reduce some of the flexibility that makes Lifestealer difficult to pin down.

Rage is available slightly less often, the Scepter interaction controls an enemy for less time, and the early movement-speed talent provides less mobility.

And His Item Ecosystem Took a Hit Too

This becomes more interesting when you look beyond the hero. Satanic lifesteal dropped from 30% to 25%, while creep lifesteal fell from 18% to 15%. Mask of Madness moved from 24% to 22% lifesteal and from 14.4% to 13.2% against creeps.

Those aren't Lifestealer-specific changes, but 7.41f clearly has sustain-heavy right-clicking under scrutiny in more than one place.

Several Popular Carry Items Are More Expensive

Daedalus' recipe increased from 900 to 1000 gold, pushing its total cost from 5100 to 5200. Heart of Tarrasque moved from 5200 to 5300.

Octarine Core took a larger recipe increase, from 200 to 400 gold, bringing its total cost from 4900 to 5100. Dragon Lance's recipe rose from 450 to 550, taking the item from 1900 to 2000 gold.

Because Hurricane Pike contains Dragon Lance, its total price consequently increased from 4450 to 4550 gold.

A Hundred Gold Isn't Always Just a Hundred Gold

Looking at these changes individually makes them appear tiny. But completed items matter at specific moments, and being short of the recipe when the enemy walks toward Roshan can be completely different from already having the finished item.

The real cost of an increase isn't simply how much longer you need to farm. It's whether an objective or fight occurs during the extra time required to finish the purchase.

That's why item nerfs can matter without changing a single stat. The finished item is identical; the window where you don't have it becomes longer.

Manta, Mjollnir, Shiva's and Silver Edge Were Nerfed Too

Manta Style's ranged Mirror Image damage dropped from 28% to 25%. Mjollnir's Static Charge duration was reduced from 15 seconds to 12.

Shiva's Guard lost Arctic Blast damage, falling from 260 to 225. Silver Edge's Shadow Walk cooldown increased from 22 to 23 seconds while its bonus movement speed dropped from 22% to 20%.

Again, the theme is efficiency. These items still perform the jobs players buy them for, but several of their secondary advantages are weaker.

Silver Edge Gives You Less Movement Freedom

Silver Edge still provides the interaction players need when Break matters. What changed is the convenience surrounding that interaction.

One additional second of cooldown and two percentage points less bonus movement speed make Shadow Walk slightly worse as a repeated map-movement and positioning tool.

If you're buying Silver Edge specifically because the matchup demands Break, the core reason remains. If you're buying it partly for how freely it lets you move around fights and the map, that side of the item has been trimmed.

Heaven's Halberd Went the Other Direction

While several major items became more expensive, Heaven's Halberd's recipe dropped from 450 to 350 gold. Total cost moved from 3400 to 3300.

That's a clean 100-gold reduction on an item whose disarm can directly interfere with heroes that depend on uninterrupted right-click uptime.

The contrast matters. Some carries are paying slightly more for familiar offensive progression while a defensive answer to right-click damage became slightly cheaper.

If the enemy carry's entire fight depends on being allowed to attack, check inventories before assuming their next timing belongs to them.

Anti-Mage Got a Real Damage Buff

Mana Break now converts 65% of mana burned into damage, up from 60%. That's a direct improvement to a mechanic Anti-Mage activates simply by doing what he already wants to do: hitting mana-dependent targets.

Battle Fury's Chop Tree cooldown was also reduced from four seconds to three. That's specifically a reduction to the active tree-cutting cooldown — not a direct increase to Battle Fury's cleave or farming damage.

A Buff Doesn't Automatically Mean Anti-Mage Is the Pick

The Mana Break change makes successful Anti-Mage engagements stronger. It doesn't remove the conditions required for Anti-Mage to reach them.

He still needs space. He still cares enormously about enemy control and tempo. He still hates games where the opposing lineup can occupy his map before his economy gets going.

But when the draft already makes sense for Anti-Mage, 7.41f gives him more damage without asking him to change his basic game plan.

Ursa Might Have Received the Most Interesting Clean Buff

Ursa's innate Maul had its Health As Damage value increased from 1.25% to 1.75%.

That's an increase of 0.5 percentage points, or 40% relative to the previous 1.25% value. Unlike a tiny base-stat adjustment, this directly improves a scaling damage mechanic.

Ursa still needs to reach targets and maintain contact long enough to do what Ursa does best. But once those conditions are met, Maul is contributing more than before.

And Halberd Becoming Cheaper Is the Catch

There is an immediate counterweight sitting elsewhere in the same patch. Heaven's Halberd is cheaper, and disarm is exactly the kind of effect a right-click-dependent Ursa doesn't want to deal with.

That's what makes the change interesting rather than automatic. Ursa himself got stronger, while one of the tools opponents can use to interrupt his damage became easier to purchase.

The draft and item battle around the hero may matter as much as the buff itself.

Centaur, Enigma and Ember Spirit Were Trimmed

Centaur Warrunner lost two base damage, taking his Level 1 damage from 64–66 to 62–64. His base movement speed dropped from 300 to 295, and Hitch A Ride cast range was reduced from 250 to 200.

Enigma's early Eidolon attack range was reduced from 425/450/475/500 to 380/420/460/500. His Aghanim's Scepter Black Hole pull speed dropped from 175 to 150, while the Level 20 Eidolon Damage talent fell from +40 to +30.

Ember Spirit received a smaller early-game hit: base Agility decreased from 22 to 21, reducing his Level 1 damage from 52–56 to 51–55.

None of these changes completely rewrite the heroes. They're targeted reductions to lane strength, mobility or scaling utility — exactly the kind of adjustments that define a letter patch.

Invoker, Mirana and Winter Wyvern Have Less Room for Repetition

Invoker's Cold Snap cooldown increased from 18 to 19 seconds. His Aghanim's Shard Ghost Walk also no longer deals damage to non-hero units.

Mirana's Celestial Quiver base charge restore time increased from six to seven seconds. Sacred Arrow's maximum stun was reduced at the first three ability levels from 2.6/3.4/4.2 seconds to 2.3/3.2/4.1, while remaining five seconds at Level 4.

Winter Wyvern's Arctic Burn cooldown became 29/26/23/20 seconds instead of 26/24/22/20. Cold Embrace's Max HP Heal per second also fell at the first three levels from 2.25/3/3.75% to 1.5/2.5/3.5%, while remaining 4.5% when maxed.

There's a pattern here: several abilities are weaker earlier while retaining more of their previous strength once fully leveled. That shifts pressure toward the stages of the game where every skill point matters.

Slardar, Spectre, Undying and Hoodwink Also Lost Early Efficiency

Slardar's base health regeneration dropped by 0.25, while Slithereen Crush damage was reduced from 75/150/225/300 to 60/140/220/300. The spell eventually reaches the same 300 damage at Level 4, but its early levels are weaker.

Spectre's Desolate changed from 23 plus 2 damage per hero level to 23.5 plus 1.5 per level. That means the scaling grows more slowly as levels accumulate.

Undying also lost 0.25 base health regeneration, and Decay's mana cost increased from 100 to 110. Hoodwink lost one base Strength, dropping from 17 to 16.

These are exactly the changes players tend to ignore because none of them look spectacular in isolation. But lanes are decided through repeated trades, spell casts and resource exchanges. Small early-game nerfs accumulate.

There Are Buffs Hiding Between All the Red Numbers

Disruptor's base Intelligence increased from 20 to 21, taking his Level 1 damage from 47–51 to 48–52. Warlock's base attack speed increased from 90 to 95.

Mars gained one base armor. Broodmother's Insatiable Hunger mana cost dropped from 80 to 70.

Batrider's Intelligence gain increased from 2.9 to 3.2, while his damage gain per level moved from 3.5 to 3.6. Chen's Strength gain increased from 2.0 to 2.2, and Zealot's respawn time now decreases by one second per hero level from its 60-second starting point.

None of these numbers justify instantly declaring a new top hero. They do justify another look at heroes players may have already dismissed.

Small Buffs Are Where Early Meta Reads Get Interesting

Everyone notices the hero receiving the giant nerf. That's easy. Finding value in a small buff is harder because you need to understand whether that number improves something that was actually holding the hero back.

Mars getting armor matters in situations where physical trading was already close. Broodmother paying less mana for Insatiable Hunger matters when repeated resource expenditure is important. Disruptor gaining Intelligence and damage slightly improves the basic interactions he performs constantly in lane.

None of those effects need to make a hero broken to make the hero more comfortable.

The Biggest 7.41f Theme Is Early-Game Efficiency

Look across the patch and a pattern starts appearing. Lina loses starting damage. Centaur loses damage and movement speed. Ember loses Agility. Hoodwink loses Strength. Treant loses Intelligence. Bane loses armor. Undying and Slardar lose regeneration.

Mirana's early Arrow stun gets shorter. Winter Wyvern's early Cold Embrace healing gets weaker. Slithereen Crush loses early damage. Keeper's Chakra provides slightly less cooldown reduction.

Valve didn't need to destroy these heroes. Reducing small advantages in the first several levels can be enough to give opponents more opportunities to contest lanes that previously felt too efficient.

Some of the most important 7.41f nerfs aren't designed to kill heroes. They're designed to give the other player a chance to fight back earlier.

The Item Economy Is Shifting at the Same Time

That's what makes this patch more interesting than a simple list of hero nerfs. Several heroes are losing efficiency while expensive items simultaneously become slightly harder to complete.

If your hero already had a narrow timing, another 100 or 200 gold on a core item matters more than it does for a hero that can comfortably farm for another five minutes. If your lane was also weakened by a base-stat nerf, the effects can stack.

On the opposite side, Heaven's Halberd becoming cheaper means defensive itemization can arrive sooner. A carry doesn't play against patch notes individually — they play against the combined economy of both teams.

The Real Winners of 7.41f Might Not Be in the Patch Notes

Direct buffs are only the first layer of a Dota patch. The second layer is every hero that becomes more comfortable because something they hated playing against just became weaker.

If a lane bully loses damage or sustain, matchups against that hero can become easier without the opponent receiving a single buff. If a snowball hero generates less bonus economy, slower lineups potentially get more time. If a defensive item becomes cheaper, heroes capable of buying it gain another tool against physical carries.

That's why a tier list produced immediately after a patch should never be treated like a finished answer. The direct changes are known immediately. The matchup consequences take games to discover.

Draft Strength Is Relative

A hero doesn't exist in isolation. Being unchanged while several bad matchups get nerfed is effectively different from being unchanged in a patch where those matchups stay dominant.

The first wave of adaptation will focus on obvious buffs like Anti-Mage and Ursa. The more interesting second wave will be the heroes that start appearing because Bounty Hunter, Lina, Keeper of the Light, Treant or another uncomfortable matchup is less oppressive.

That's where the meta can move without another patch ever being released.

What You Should Actually Change in Your Games

You don't need to throw away your entire hero pool because 7.41f landed. You do need to stop assuming your old timings are guaranteed.

• Bounty Hunter: value successful Track rotations more carefully because every kill generates less bonus economy than before.
• Earth Spirit: treat Stone Remnants as a more valuable limited resource, particularly when a fight could have multiple stages.
• Shadow Fiend: respect the reduced soul and Shadowraze scaling instead of assuming the same soul count produces the same offensive pressure.
• Lina: account for lower starting damage and weaker, shorter Fiery Soul bonuses when evaluating early trades and sustained damage.
• Keeper of the Light: remember that Chakra Magic and baseline Spirit Form healing both provide less value.
• Necrophos: don't rely on the previous level of post-kill sustain or Ghost Shroud restoration.
• Treant Protector: manage early mana and tree movement more carefully after multiple early-game nerfs.
• Anti-Mage: take advantage of stronger Mana Break when the draft already gives you a legitimate Anti-Mage game.
• Ursa: test the stronger Maul scaling, but keep an eye on the now-cheaper Heaven's Halberd on the opposing team.

Don't Copy Yesterday's Item Timings

Daedalus costs 100 more. Dragon Lance costs 100 more. Hurricane Pike consequently costs 100 more. Heart costs 100 more. Octarine Core costs 200 more.

Those aren't enormous differences individually, but Dota doesn't wait for your shopping list. Roshan can spawn while you're short of a recipe. The enemy can smoke while you're carrying components. A tower can fall before your finished item reaches your inventory.

Before taking a major fight, check the actual item — not the timing you remember from the previous patch.

And check the enemy inventory too. Halberd getting 100 gold cheaper can be just as relevant as your own offensive item becoming more expensive.

What to Watch as the 7.41f Meta Develops

The first few days after a letter patch are usually messy. Nerfed heroes get declared dead before players adjust. Buffed heroes get called broken before opponents start drafting around them.

The useful question isn't simply which hero's number went up. Watch how builds change.

Does Bounty Hunter compensate for reduced Track income with cheaper progression? Do Earth Spirit players become more conservative with remnants? Does Shadow Fiend adjust when he joins fights? Do Lina players change how aggressively they maintain Fiery Soul? Does cheaper Halberd become a more common response to heroes like Ursa?

Those decisions are where the actual meta starts appearing.

Patch 7.41f Is About Taking Away Free Efficiency

That's the thread connecting most of this update. Bounty Hunter gets less free economic acceleration from successful Track kills. Earth Spirit gets less freedom with Stone Remnants. Shadow Fiend receives less offensive value from souls. Lina loses some early damage and attack-speed efficiency. Keeper provides less cooldown reduction and baseline healing. Necrophos has weaker sustain.

Several late-game items require more gold. Several sustain tools got weaker. Several heroes that were strong early lost small pieces of their laning advantage.

On the other side, Anti-Mage gets more Mana Break damage, Ursa's Maul scales harder with health, Heaven's Halberd is cheaper, and smaller buffs create new reasons to revisit heroes like Mars, Disruptor, Warlock, Broodmother and Batrider.

No single change needs to completely redefine Dota for the patch to matter. When enough small efficiencies move at once, the difference shows up in lanes, item timings, fights and eventually drafts.

The biggest mistake after 7.41f isn't continuing to play a nerfed hero. It's continuing to play that hero as if nothing changed.

Adapt Before Everyone Else Does

Don't replace your hero pool because a number turned red. Test the new limits. Find out whether your old lane still works, whether your usual item arrives before the fight you built around it, and whether the matchup you used to avoid is actually as bad as it was before.

That's where letter patches create an edge. The changes are public immediately, but understanding what they mean takes longer.

If you want to see where your own games are actually breaking down, run your latest match through AutoPsy and examine the decisions behind your timings instead of relying on memory. And if you want to test a hero matchup directly, take it into 1v1 duels and find out whether the matchup still plays the way you think it does.

7.41f didn't reset Dota. It changed the margins — and Dota is a game where the margins decide everything.