Thoughts on 6.78

Kaolin: Absolutely pants on head stronk for surviving in a lane. Hard to gank, good surviveability and seems to even scale decently into the lategame without a doubt.

Nerif:
Insane support. That is all. Holy pineapple is he a good support.

Note to newer dota players: New heroes aren't in captains mode and often have new mechanics that are broken, but after the community has adjusted to them and tested them fully they'll be rebalanced to fit into the game (You have no idea how broken rubick initially seemed) and then added to captains mode.

I like the changes to batrider, will make his early game much more mana dependant for solo kills and he'll have far less vision even as a flying unit.

The new change to bloodseeker is quite nice, i could actually see him be run as a support or jungler now with certain carries since a low cooldown dispel on command is amazing against certain heroes.

Bounty hunter change should help his early ganks.

Bristleback didn't need a buff IMO, but well, let's see where this takes him.

Brood incapacitating bite is insane now, you literally can't play against her without MKB or something like it.

Centaur finally in CM, woo.

Clinkz earlygame reliance on strafe buffed by lowering its cooldown? Yes please.

Aw, too bad with the Clockwerk nerfs.

Damn the frog really wants CM to be picked, her ult is very dangerous now and her aura is insane earlygame for herself.

About time dazzle was allowed to heal magic immune allies.

Not sure how i like the change to DP but i guess since she wont need level up silence that much she can get more into witchcraft earlier which will end up as more MS in the end.

Damn the disraptor buffs are neat, makes his farming between stuff a lot better and his damage is a tad bit better. Might even be more viable mid like this.

Holy pineapple the new doom aghanim change is insane. TIME TO GO FAST ON DOOM.

JESUS CHRIST THE CHANGE TO DRAGON KNIGHT IS AMAZING, NO NEED TO SAVE SKILL POINTS FOR DRAGON FORM TO LEVEL 3 INSTANTLY.

ES buffs are meh, now if valve would just change it so he functions like in WC3 he'd go back to a top pick already.

Hm, new enigma malefice is quite nice actually. Better for chasing IMO.

Yay, some love for shredder.

And gyro flak cannon got a bigger CD, it was required, was too good at both farming and teamfighting with such a low CD.

Still don't think burning spears are worth much, a rework for that skill is required too IMO. And not sure if it'll really do much for him, still too weak IMO. But well he was removed from captains mode, maybe i'm wrong.obviously he'll be harder to burst but you'd get a BKB on him anyway later on, and obviously the attack speed is glorious, but now he might lack damage. I want to test him before giving a verdict.

Not enough to make invoker super viable again, needs base damage buff.

Hm, small nerf to wisp i guess.

And small buff to juggernaut.

Kotl slightly squisher.

Slight kunkka buff, neat.

LC is in CM already, damn that's scary with the new duel.

And wow that lich buff is huge, don't know if we'll see him though.

And ouch, lifestealer earlygame just got hammered.

Lel 10 extra attack range on lina. Icefrog, what are you smoking.

20 second CD on FoD on lion, holy pineapple, lion aghanim is now actually quite good.

Ah, armlet bear was nerfed and spirit bear bounty increased, nice nice. He's still viable but a lot less safe to play.

LORD OF AVERNUS BUFFED, pineapple YEAH.

Lycan armor buff? Helps him jungle.

RP damage decreased, i like this change, teams have realized that he's actually not the best thing since sliced bread.

Damn new stone gace is dangerous, but still having to face her for 2 seconds is a lot. Not sure if it'll make her viable, but she's been removed from CM and the CD has been buffed, we'll have to see. Still wish her earlygame was buffed a bit without buffing her lategame.

Hah, cute buff to meepo.

Yay, more buffs for potm, i hope she becomes a pick, maybe as a support or an off-laner again. And pineapple yeah starfall will not target dead units anymore with second fall.

Morph lategame buffed, not sure i agree with this, his lategame is fine, but his earlygame is pomegranate. We'll have to see, he'll at most be a situational pick i feel with this weak laning.

Also damn the necrolyte aghanim upgrade is insane. Absolutely insane, if you go all in on the enemy carry with it lategame he can not buyback and you might just win outright with that, even if your entire team dies in the process you can buyback and then deathpush while the enemy carry is gone.

I like the nyx change.

NS buff is neat.

Don't like the OD buff, he's already insane in lane, he just needs something to help him handle BKBs somehow, but well, maybe buffing his laning to the point where he crushes everything and being ungankable is a way of making him viable

Damn Omni aghs is nice lategame, suddenly it's an extra fortification.

Lategame pudge more tanky, yay.

Pugna push buffed, also neat.

Also SK mid just became a whole lot better with the new sandstorm change.

No more vision with shadow poison, oh well.

pomegranate SF ult is crazy now for lowering enemy carry damage if its a stat-heavy hero.

Silencer buff is nice, but not sure if aghs is worth it.

Hm, SK still needs a way to stick on targets, but it's nice i guess.

100% on natural order, holy pomegranate.

And icefrog still don't know what to do with Terrorblade after years.

"You can now toss units to runes" lmfao.

I like the changes to troll, battle trance was too stronk definitely.

Fury swipes duration buff is quite nice actually.

VS more tanky, i like.

pomegranate viper just got a lot nicer in pubs, not sure about competitive viability, but definitely a lot nicer for pubs.

Lol that int buff for WW.

WD maledict cast range buffed? About time.

(((((((( nerf for my janggos.

AC stacking with vlads? That's great news lategame for teams with melee carries.

Further nerf on BKB? Hmm. I don't mind it.

Bloodstone can kill yourself, lmfao. It's quite nice though, you can suicide and heal allies when you want to and not give a kill to the enemy.

Glad bottle crowing wasn't changed and the courier movespeed was just nerfed. It'd ruin a lot of the competitively viable mid heroes.

Dust buff? Huh, i guess that's neat.

Gem can no longer be destroyed? pineapple.

Blink buff? I love it.

Lothars nerf on damage? Eh, still good item overall.

Nerf on earlygame wards? Lovely, can't block camps in jungles as easily and will have to use them wisely.

Lolbuff to radiance. I hope it doesn't bug out and allow batrider to trigger napalm on it, AGAIN AGAIN.

Yay, SnY is now officially a semi-decent item. For more heroes than lifestealer and slark that is.

Lol shadow amulet fade time decrease.

Desolator buff? Eh, it's okay.

Love the changes to captains mode though. Going to make it far more interesting as far as picking and banning goes, this could shake up the list of heroes used a lot and increase viability heavily.

Buyback nerfed? Well the frog wants shorter games and wants lategame fights to end the game if one team wins, so it makes sense.

Buff to towergold for team? Awesome.

BD protection buff is neat, makes pushing against it a lot harder.

((((((
* Swapping a hero that you randomed now costs you 100 gold
Say it aint so, now i can't random something good and then have someone pick me a hero and start with 875 gold.