Dota 2 patch 7.41e: all the changes to know before The International 2026

Valve released patch 7.41e on July 30, 2026, alongside the Summer Scrub 2026. This is the version on which The International 2026 will be played, from August 13 to 23 in Shanghai: the sixteen qualified teams are already working on it.

On paper, a "patch notes letter" usually boils down to three lines of balancing. This time, Valve tweaked 56 heroes, around thirty items, and modified two cross-cutting rules that invalidate reflexes built up over several seasons: root now interrupts certain channeling abilities, and a series of toggle abilities no longer break invisibility. The Summer Scrub, for its part, fixes over 200 bugs and comes with a rebalancing of Immortal MMR.

A note on terminology: the French Dota 2 client translates the interface ("Passif :", "Utilisation :", "canalisation", "Recette :") but keeps English for all hero, item, and ability names. Checked against the French localization data published by Valve: Kaya stays Kaya, Observer Ward stays Observer Ward, Mana Break stays Mana Break. This article therefore does not translate any of that.

Root now interrupts teleportation channels

This is the most structural change in the patch. Three movement channeling abilities now fall under root's control:

• Twin Gates: the channel can now be interrupted by a root.
• Fiend's Gate (Underlord): same rule for the portal channel.
• Psionic Projection (Templar Assassin, via Aghanim's Shard): same.

Until now, it took hard crowd control to stop an opponent from escaping through a Twin Gate or repositioning their team with Fiend's Gate. That's over, and it revalues a whole category of spells and items that were mostly picked for their slow effect: Rod of Atos and Gleipnir become map control tools, and Leech Seed, Ensnare, or Earthbind gain strategic value.

Gleipnir's timing couldn't be better here: its recipe cost drops from 400 to 300 gold, for an unchanged total cost of 4,650 gold. Same logic for Shiva's Guard, recipe cost from 1,350 to 1,250 gold, total unchanged at 4,500 gold. It's not the final price that changes, it's the threshold at which you finally complete the item.

Six toggles no longer break invisibility

The second cross-cutting change is more subtle but alters a daily routine: several toggle abilities used to reveal your position the moment you activated them under Shadow Blade, Glimmer Cape, or Smoke of Deceit. In 7.41e, they can be used while invisible:

• Lightning Hands (Zeus): the toggle no longer breaks invisibility and works through silence. In exchange, the attack speed bonus drops from 30 to 20.
• Split Shot (Medusa): same, toggleable while invisible and under silence.
• Battle Stance (Troll Warlord): switching from melee to ranged no longer reveals the hero.
• Gunslinger (Muerta): the toggle no longer breaks invisibility.
• Astral Spirit (Elder Titan): the Return and Move sub-abilities as well. Stone Form (Visage): same when used to order the Familiars to attack.

The benefit is immediate on Smoke of Deceit initiations: you arrive already set up. A Medusa turning off Split Shot, a Troll switching to melee before contact, an Elder Titan repositioning his spirit during the approach — none of that gives away the gank anymore.

Mana regen amplification severely cut down

The third axis of the patch targets the Kaya line, the backbone of intelligence cores' mana. Mana regen amplification drops across the board:

Urn of Shadows also loses 0.25 mana regen (from +1.25 to +1). Taken individually, each line seems harmless; combined, they strip away the comfort that let an intelligence mid spam their spells from the very first item. Stat points and raw mana items — Null Talisman, Arcane Boots, a well-managed Bottle — are once again purchases in their own right.

Divine Rapier: stacking spell amplification is over

Divine Rapier costs 5,600 gold and grants +100 attack damage, plus a Transmute toggle that gives either +250 additional damage (350 total) or +25% spell amplification. The "amplification" mode had opened up an exploit: stacking multiple Rapiers on a ranged caster to put out absurd magic damage. 7.41e closes that door, spell amplification from multiple Divine Rapiers no longer stacks: a second Rapier now only serves for its attack damage. Zeus, already hit elsewhere, is the first one affected.

Items changing your purchases

• Butterfly: agility from +35 to +30, damage from +25 to +30. The item shifts toward a more offensive profile. Abyssal Blade: strength from +26 to +30. Hand of Midas: attack speed from +35 to +40.
• Mask of Madness: Berserk grants 6% movement speed to ranged heroes (down from 8%), and slow resistance goes from 30% for everyone to 15% ranged / 30% melee.
• Satanic: Unholy Rage cooldown from 30 to 40 seconds, a sharp nerf to carry survivability. Refresher Shard: loses its +12 health regen, +6 mana regen, and +20 damage.
• Eye of Skadi: Cold Attack's attack speed slow goes from 20% to 25%. Heaven's Halberd: Disarm cooldown from 16 to 15s. Hurricane Pike: Hurricane Thrust buff from 6 to 5s. Veil of Discord: Spell Weakness mana cost from 50 to 25.
• Orbs move up a notch: Orb of Venom to 12 damage per second (up from 10), Orb of Corrosion to 18% heal reduction (up from 16%), Orb of Frost to 15% (up from 13%) — the latter no longer applying when attacking an ally, like Batrider's Smoldering Resin.
• Chasm Stone: from 800 to 900 gold. Crella's Crozier: Rite of Rumusque's speed steal extended to 2s, Putrefaction Aura at 90% during the active.

Two tricks disappear

Urn of Shadows, Spirit Vessel, and Essence Distiller no longer gain charges from the stash when a hero dies nearby: the item must actually be carried on you. No more supports leaving their Urn in the stash while racking up charges.

Smoke of Deceit now has a fixed Disguise duration: it is no longer affected by buff duration amplifications. Finally, the Tormentor cancels projectiles in flight when it moves from one chasm to the other, which makes ranged shots noticeably less reliable.

The heroes who lose the most

• Drow Ranger: Multishot now costs 70/85/100/115 mana (up from 50/70/90/110), the arrow damage bonus drops to 80/100/120/140%, and their range is now calculated as 475 + 1x attack range instead of 1.75x attack range. The laning phase feels the impact immediately.
• Snapfire: the heaviest overhaul of the patch. Scatterblast loses its point-blank bonus (30% → 25%) and its initial width is no longer increased by area bonuses, Firesnap Cookie drops to 60/130/200/270 and Mortimer Kisses to 170/250/330 per globe, and three talents are toned down.
• Clockwerk: Power Cogs burns less mana (40/75/110/145), has reduced range at early levels, halved vision (800/400 versus 1,600/600), and no longer blocks creep camps — a widely used jungle control utility that disappears.
• Bane: Nightmare now lasts 3/4/5/6s instead of 3.5/4.5/5.5/6.5s, but fully cuts off the target's vision. Ichor of Nyctasha now goes up to a maximum of 6 Terrors, each now granting only 4% status resistance.
• Zeus: Thundergod's Wrath goes from 300/475/650 to 275/425/575. Treant Protector: base attack speed from 100 to 90, Living Armor now at a fixed 80 mana. Hoodwink: Sharpshooter now costs 150/200/250 mana, Hunter's Boomerang now has a 20s cooldown. Necrophos: Death Seeker range from 750 to 600.

The heroes on the rise

• Outworld Destroyer: Astral Imprisonment becomes instant and no longer cancels movement, the shield rises to 150/200/250/300 and the cooldown drops to 36/33/30/27s. The best buff of the patch.
• Gyrocopter: Rocket Barrage now costs 75 mana, Homing Missile now has a fixed cost of 120 mana and a 26/21/16/11s cooldown.
• Venomancer: Snakebite's initial damage from 40/60/80/100 to 40/70/100/130. Troll Warlord: base agility from 23 to 24 and Battle Trance now grants 35% slow resistance.
• Phantom Assassin: Blur can no longer be dispelled. Chaos Knight: Chaos Bolt's speed from 700 to 900, making the stun much harder to dodge.
• Ancient Apparition: Ice Blast cooldown from 60/50/40 to 50/45/40s. Queen of Pain: two Sonic Waves cast back-to-back finally stack their damage.

A special case, Legion Commander is neither clearly buffed nor nerfed: base strength and attack speed go up, strength gain goes down, and the level 25 talent no longer grants a Duel cooldown reset but instead a 30-second cooldown reduction.

Neutrals, shortcuts, and the Immortal MMR reset

On the neutrals side, Artifacts change little: Forager's Kit now harvests in 0.75s, Witchbane sees Cleanse's cooldown drop to 30s. Among Enchantments, Greedy loses income (+65/90 gold/min instead of +75/100) and Feverish changes in nature: it no longer increases mana cost by 7%, but instead reduces your maximum mana by 20%.

The Summer Scrub above all brings a long-awaited feature: customizable hotkeys for controlled units, benefiting micro-management heroes — Chen, Beastmaster, Lycan, Enchantress, Visage, Lone Druid. Reconfigure your keybinds before your next ranked match.

One last point: Valve has carried out a rebalancing of Immortal MMR, with affected players brought back below 9,500 MMR to wipe out the season's inflation. Relative rankings and leaderboard positions remain unchanged, and the eligibility threshold for Immortal Draft stays fixed at 8,500. If your number has dropped, your standing is unaffected.

What to do before August 13

Valve isn't in the habit of tweaking balance fifteen days before an event of this scale: what you learn now will remain valid throughout the entire tournament.

Three concrete priorities. Bring a root item back into your pick and buy instincts: cutting off a Twin Gate or a Fiend's Gate is now worth a slot. Rethink your buy orders on intelligence cores, since the mana comfort of the Kaya line is no longer the same. Finally, if you're taking part in Predictions and Fantasy, lock in your picks before the first match on August 13: once the whistle blows, the brackets are closed.