These are the worst Dota 2 patches that we hated playing

If there's one constant in Dota 2, it's that the game is always changing and evolving.

New metas are constantly being made and heroes get rediscovered all the time if they can counter the latest strategies.

These changes are introduced via patches, which feature updates that tweak heroes and items while introducing new concepts to the game such as Talents, Aghanim's Shards, and more.

Patches are usually welcomed by the pros and the community, as they change the meta and allow new heroes to take the spotlight.

However, not all patches are created equal and there have been some dark times in Dota 2's history. Join us as we relive the worst patches ever to have been played.

6.83: The Sniper/Troll patch or a.k.a. Hohohaha

Dota 2 patch 6.83 had three "spin-to-win" heroes — Juggernaut, Troll Warlord, and Axe.

Each of the heroes was impossible to man-fight against, and teams were forced to find a ranged counter to beat them. Enter Sniper, the hohohaha plague.

Sniper could deal with all the meta cores in 6.83 thanks to his incredibly long attack range and scaling ability.

Beyond that, there was also another reason the patch was reviled, and that was due to Shrapnel affecting enemy buildings, allowing Sniper to safely siege buildings at no risk to himself.

While Shrapnel dealt painfully low damage to buildings, it basically made melting towers inevitable if you didn't guard the lane.

And even if you did, there was no easy way to catch Sniper and no way to prevent Sharpnel's damage.

Patch 6.83 was unplayable if one team managed to pick Sniper. Retired pro and former Team Liquid carry Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen said it best, "Impossible to push high ground and if you lost one fight, you lost the game and it was like, that was probably not the highest quality Dota but that was the patch."

6.81b: The most obnoxious Zoo meta yet

There have been many Zoo metas in Dota 2's history but patch 6.81b is probably the worst yet.

Played at The International 2014, the teams were speed-running matches, which led to the grand finals featuring two games that took less than 20 minutes to finish.

Nikita "Daxak" Kuzmin, the carry for BetBoom Team and a well-known Visage user, described the patch as ridiculously boring.

"You'd just get yourself a zoo, you put your keyboard aside, select with mouse, click and you've won. Congratulations, you've learned a lot," said Daxak.

6.84: Disco Pony

The third most contested hero at The International 2015 was Leshrac.

This hero could demolish buildings and heroes alike while controlling enemies and moving at the speed of light. The was just one meta at TI5, and Leshrac was it.

However, Evil Geniuses took advantage of the fact that everyone would be forced to pick Leshrac in order to win the Grand Final.

In his draft analysis, EG's captain and drafter, Peter "ppd" Dager, said that CDEC was uncomfortable playing Leshrac and had relied on teams banning it against them.

By giving CDEC the first pick and leaving Leshrac in the pool, the Chinese team was forced to pick him in the first three games, losing two of them.

"In 2015, you would pick Leshrac and all his spells were insanely overtuned. There'd just be a rainbow horse running around the map killing everyone," quipped TI5 winner Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling.

6.82: Rubberband

Introducing new mechanics in Dota 2 takes time to perfect.

For example, when the Talent system was implemented, many heroes got new and interesting options which could fundamentally change the way the heroes were played. Meanwhile, some heroes such as Nature's Prophet had a level 25 talent that provided +6 Treant summons, which is not exactly the most exciting thing in the world.

In 2014, patch 6.82 introduced a new comeback mechanic, which amplified the gold heroes got from kills if they were behind the enemy team.

It was a neat idea to encourage teams to find pickoffs and take small skirmishes.

Unfortunately, the mechanic heavily favored the losing team, due to how much bonus gold they would receive from kills.

"You would have a 30k lead, you die with one hero, suddenly that 30k lead is a 20k lead. Mathematics weren't the strong point at Valve that year," said Team Secret's Clement "Puppey" Ivanov.

Otomo is a long-time gaming enthusiast and caster. He has been playing games since he was 10 and is the biggest Dota 2 fan.

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