Skimming over some of the notables (bias inc)...
Centaur
- Strength growth increased from 2.6 to 3.8
- Replaced Great Fortitude with a new skill
Stampede:
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Grants you and all allied player units on the map max movement speed and zero unit collision for a short duration. Any enemy units you or your allies come into collision with take some damage and get stunned. Enemies can only be affected by stampede impact once.
Duration: 3/4/5
Damage: 100/150/200 + 2x your str
Stun: 1.25 seconds
Stampede Collision AoE: 120
Cooldown: 65
Mancost: 50
Note: Does not affect magic immune enemies
Wondered why they're giving him 2/3rds of a bracer every level, and then I saw it. Global speed and collision stuns as an ultimate. Sounds frankly awesome, and essentially is the rumored Winter Wyvern ultimate (global slow) running in reverse with some bonuses thrown on.
Clockwerk
- Hookshot now pulls Clockwerk to allies instead of getting blocked by them
- Hookshot Aghanim's upgraded cooldown decreased from 15 to 12
I've been awaiting these changes for a while, logical and quite a boost to the skill's utility. Combined with his large 6.75 buffs, I think he'll be played (I expect to see more Lifestealer if so).
Crystal Maiden
- Brilliance Aura has twice the effect on Crystal Maiden
Aggressive CM is best CM. Good buff.
Dark Seer
- Vacuum cooldown increased from 19 to 22
Punishment for misuse grows steeper and steeper. Still a core AoE strat hero.
Drow Ranger
Trueshot Aura:
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Global Aura. Gives you and all allied ranged units a portion of your agility as bonus damage.
Bonus Damage: 14/18/22/26% of your agility as damage
Note: Can be toggled on and off to affect creeps or not
Marksmanship:
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Passively provides bonus agility. If there are no nearby enemy heroes, your focus improves and the bonus agility is doubled.
Bonus Agility: 20/30/40 Agility
AOE: 375 (for double bonus)
Yes sir, I like this a hell of a lot. While the percentage bonus is less than it was on the old Trueshot (+6%/+2%/-2%/-8%), this is a pretty sizable buff. It scales better early, and not only can you toggle it off for creeps during your laning phase (doesn't push the lane at all), it's global in scope and can be thrown on allied ranged heroes, ranged creeps, and catapults at a moment's notice. She can farm in safety and buff a push on the other side of the map. Kind've a big deal.
The ult is also quite interesting. Agility-wise, it's a touch better at level 1, the same at level 11, and a fair bit worse at level 16 (+5/0/-20). That AoE is still quite small, to the extent that she can pursue a hero with Frost Arrows and still reap the double agi benefits (provided the player knows how close is too close). When farming away from enemy heroes or managing the standoff distance well, that doubling makes for quite a boost (+25/+30/+20). There is also a small passive benefit that will tip her off to heroes drawing near in the fog of war (will it have a status icon that flips off? that'd be pretty big). Oh, and it goes without saying that the doubling will probably boost the effectiveness of cross-map Trueshot pushing even more. Also worth mentioning is that this changes somewhat the worth of skilling stats: within the AoE, she gains 3.9 agility upon leveling up. Outside the AoE, she gains what amounts to 5.9 agility. Early stats could be really damned handy (they were already).
This will have the effect of amping up her team contribution (not to mention solo farming rate) considerably without requiring her to barrel into melee brawls before she can fend for herself, which should have some measurable effect on her intense early vulnerability. Think this could punch her ticket in at least a few strategies, but time will be the ultimate judge.
Luna
- Lunar Blessing bonus damage increased from 14/20/26/32 to 14/22/30/38
Not sure if this was needed, but it is nonetheless a moderate improvement to her ability to chase down ailing heroes and finish them. Last hitting will receive the most clearly felt benefit (which was already very strong). Also improves the bouncing glaives a hair.
Magnus
- Shockwave distance increased from 700 to 1000
- Shockwave cooldown decreased from 11/10/9/8 to 10/9/8/7
- Shockwave cast range increased to match its travel distance (visual thing only)
- Skewer AoE increased from 95 to 125
- Skewer range increased from 800 to 1200
- Skewer now only considers heroes a valid target for dragging in consideration with its unit cap
All improvements I've wanted since his inclusion, his reach has always felt laughably nearsighted to me. Still, I think his ultimate and cleave were reasons enough to earn him inclusion into competitive play on some level, this can only help him in that regard.
Mirana
- Elune's Arrow cooldown decreased from 20 to 17
- Moonlight Shadow manacost decreased from 175 to 75
Arrow buff is nice, but the ult buff is
awesome. Have used it enough to know just how badly it can destroy her mana pool if employed with any regularity, 100 mana off the top is a huge boost to its availability.
Necrolyte
- Heartstopper Aura damage increased from 0.6/0.8/1/1.2% to 0.6/0.9/1.2/1.5%
Fairly sizable buff (0/+0.1/+0.2/+0.3), with the added benefit of not changing the "doesn't suddenly blow up a lane if one early point" balance. Where's my aghs pure damage buff?!
Ogre Magi
- Multicast now increases cast range of Ignite by 150 per level, this is in addition to the existing AoE increase
So at level 6/11/16, Ignite's casting range will accordingly be 850/1000/1150. Massive boost to the skill's chasing or teamfight applications, but no incentive to take it any earlier than you would have otherwise (assuming you actually skilled it at all).
Pugna
- Life Drain break threshold range increased from 900 to 1100
- Nether Ward AoE increased from 700/1000/1300/1600 to 1600
The Nether Ward mana flare damage buff was already monstrous, standardizing the zap range to 1600 and buffing the ult break range is just... wow. I need to play him some more before word gets out and he has his little legs broken.
Rubick
- Fade Bolt damage decreased from 75/150/225/300 to 70/140/210/280
Love him to bits, but can't say I didn't see this coming. In terms of damage over range and damage reduction it's still really hard to beat.
Silencer
- Global Silence cooldown decreased from 160 to 140
- Global Silence duration decreased from 3/4.5/6 to 4/5/6
- Base Intelligence increased by 6
- Base Damage reduced by 6
- Curse of the Silent duration rescaled from 5/6/7/8 to 6
- Curse of the Silent hp drain rescaled from 20/30/40/50 to 20/35/50/65
- Curse of the Silent mana drain rescaled from 10/15/20/25 to 8/16/24/32
- Int Steal moved from Last Word back to Glaives of Wisdom
- Glaives of Wisdom now steals Intelligence from outside of the AOE if Silencer gets the kill
- Int Steal aoe increased from 850 to the standard 900 aoe range
- Last Word replaced with new active skill
Last Word:
==========
Targets an enemy unit placing a debuff on it. While the debuff is active, casting any spell casuses the target to become silenced and take damage. If the duration of the debuff runs out without the target casting a spell, it will still take damage and be silenced but also be disarmed.
Debuff Duration: 5
Damage: 150/200/250/300
Silence/Disarm Duration: 3/4/5/6
Cast Range: 900
Cooldown: 36/28/20/12
Manacost: 100
Note: You have basic vision over the last word target while the initial buff is on them
A lot to process, but assuming Intelligence stealing is still passive (seems that way from the wording of some of these points), I think on balance this looks like a buff. Global Silence is available more frequently, lasts longer at the first two levels, Curse deals better damage and drain, and Last Word now is far more aggression-focused. Now serves as a hybrid nuke and silence, as well as a disarm under certain circumstances, and it seems like the added vision lets you chase foes through fog of war far better than before. Good if you can kill with him, worse if you played passively and waited to be jumped on.
Sniper
- Assassinate cast range increased from 1500/2000/2500 to 2000/2500/3000
- Headshot procs cannot be evaded (the entire attack gets through)
- Headshot chance from 25/30/35/40 to 40
- Headshot damage from 30/45/60/75 to 15/40/65/90
- Headshot ministun from 0.01/0.1/0.2/0.2 to 0.25
- Shrapnel provides vision in the targeted area
- Shrapnel cast range increased from 1200 to 1800
Better chase, better interrupt power, and now effectively brings an MKB to bear 40% of the time. Think this could be enough to notch him situational appearances, especially against heroes that rely on not being hit by autoattacks (Windrunner, Phantom Assassin, Brewmaster, Arc Warden, Faceless Void[?]).
Treant Protector
- Strength growth increased from 2.8 to 3.3
- Living Armor HP regen increased from 4/6/8/10 to 4/7/10/13
So yeah, for all its hype, Living Armor wasn't nearly the bane it was foretold as becoming. Can definitely see Treant seeing play again, but it remains a matter of a skilled player exercising sublime map awareness to get his money's worth out of the hero.