A brand new Dota 2 update has just launched, and as you might expect, it has brought with it a whole host of balance changes. However, unlike the usual patch where the list of hero tweaks is so long it takes a good ten seconds to scroll through them, the newest Update 7.27 is almost entirely focused on the items themselves.

The biggest change is that the vast majority of items that once provided raw stats as an additional benefit have now been tweaked to offer something else instead. For example, the always useful Mekansm now no longer gives +4 to all stats, but instead has a +3 armor aura. While the power of the affected items is likely to remain quite similar, this does make certain builds a lot more squishy and prone to being ganked, which seems to be a focus in Update 7.27.

I say this because the base experience gained from killing heroes has been increased from 40 to 100, while the gold gained from killing blows has been beefed up from 99 + 7.2 * Level to 120 + 8 * Level. So while I have no idea what the new meta is going to be like, so far it looks like aggression is the name of the game, and in my eyes that's always a good thing since farming for 40 minutes isn't exactly the most exciting of gameplay styles.

You can find the full list of changes, as well as read more about Update 7.27, over at the Dota 2 website. Have fun!