Warlock in Patch 7.41f: attack buff and Eldritch Summoning changes

Hello! Today I’m taking a look at Warlock in the context of Patch 7.41f, and the reason is pretty simple: the hero has once again received a small but noticeable balance tweak, and before that he had already gone through a major rework of his innate ability. For a support with a very clear game plan, this is exactly the kind of case where even minor adjustments can change how the hero feels in the mid game and in late fights.

Role and abilities

Warlock is an Intelligence ranged support whose role is pretty clearly reflected in his buttons. He doesn’t so much build the game around personal damage as he creates chaos in teamfights: he links enemies, heals or harms them through a versatile spell, and at the right moment calls down a powerful teamfight ultimate.

• Fatal Bonds links several visible enemies, and part of the damage one of them takes is shared with the others. This is one of those abilities that is especially valuable in drawn-out fights and against grouped-up heroes.
• Shadow Word affects a target and units around it: it heals allies and deals damage to enemies. Aghanim’s Scepter increases its area of effect.
• Upheaval is a channeled ability that slows enemies, deals damage to them, and grows stronger over time. With Aghanim’s Shard, if Warlock dies, an imp explodes and deals damage around him.
• Eldritch Summoning is the innate ability that makes the imp automatically chase nearby enemies, especially heroes affected by Fatal Bonds, and explode when it reaches its target. Aghanim’s Shard increases the imps’ health and explosion damage.
• Chaotic Offering is the main tool for initiation and turning a fight, and it is around this spell that Warlock most often builds his presence in the game.

Looking at his skill set, Warlock remains a hero who loves clustered fights and punishes poor positioning hard. I think his value will always depend not only on numbers, but also on how often teams are willing to fight in confined spaces and stand inside his pressure zones.

Changes in recent patches

If we go from the newest to the oldest, in 7.41f Warlock received a straight buff to his base attack speed: from 90 to 95. It doesn’t look revolutionary, but for a support hero any improvement to lane comfort and last-hitting feels better than it seems on paper.

• 7.41f: base attack speed increased from 90 to 95.
• 7.41d: Upheaval got its cooldown reduced from 60/50/40/30 to 45/40/35/30 seconds.
• 7.41d: the level 25 talent was buffed — the bonus to the number of linked enemies on Fatal Bonds increased from 4 to 5.
• 7.41: Eldritch Summoning no longer upgrades with Chaotic Offering.
• 7.41: the health of the lesser imps in Eldritch Summoning changed from 50/130/210/290 to 5 + 15 per level.
• 7.41: the explosion damage of the lesser imps changed from 25/70/115/160 to 20 + 20 every 3 levels.
• 7.41: the movement speed of the lesser imps changed from 300/315/330/345 to 297 + 3 per level.
• 7.41: the lesser imps’ damage changed from 10–11/14–15/18–19/22–23/26–27 to 20–21.
• 7.41: Aghanim’s Shard now increases the lesser imps’ health by 80 and explosion damage by 45.

What stands out to me most here is 7.41 itself: the hero’s built-in pressure through the imps was effectively reimagined. In practice, this makes him less tied to the old interaction logic and more predictable in how he scales through levels and Shard. For a support, that’s usually a plus, unless the hero starts depending too much on a single narrow power window.

Statistics

According to OpenDota over the last 7 days, Warlock took part in 226,973 public games, and his win rate was 49.9%. By this metric he ranks 59th out of 127 heroes, and by games played he is 67th. Looking only at the raw number, the hero looks fairly even: he isn’t collapsing, but he also isn’t breaking into the upper half of the table.

• Herald — 50.8% win rate
• Guardian — 51.4%
• Crusader — 50.9%
• Archon — 50.3%
• Legend — 50.0%
• Ancient — 48.4%
• Divine — 46.9%

The ranked breakdown shows a familiar picture: in the lower and mid brackets, Warlock sits a little above the middle, while in Ancient and Divine his win rate drops noticeably. I think that makes a lot of sense for a hero that requires at least a minimal understanding from the team of fight timing and how to play around his area pressure.

In professional matches on OpenDota over the latest period, Warlock showed up infrequently: 9 picks, 4 wins, and 4 bans. That gives him a 44.4% win rate, and that sample size points more to situational interest than to the hero being a stable priority.

Items and matchups

According to OpenDota in professional matches, Warlock’s item build is pretty predictable: he likes early team utility, and by the mid and late game he shifts into more utility-focused initiation and teamfight amplification.

• Start: Iron Branch, Tango, Blood Grenade, Observer and Sentry Wards, Magic Stick, Sentry Ward.
• Early game: Boots of Speed, Arcane Boots, Null Talisman, Shadow Amulet.
• Mid game: Arcane Boots, Glimmer Cape, Aghanim’s Shard, Pavise, Staff of Wizardry, Solar Crest.
• Late game: Aghanim’s Scepter, Glimmer Cape, Force Staff, Blink Dagger, Solar Crest, Refresher Orb.

The matchup picture is interesting too. Warlock looks best against heroes you can heavily punish for grouping up or for relying on a fight around a single point, but there are also opponents against whom it is clearly harder for him to execute his plan.

• Best against: Wraith King — 24 games, 75.0% win rate; Riki — 24 games, 66.7% win rate; Phantom Assassin — 32 games, 65.6% win rate.
• Worst against: Bane — 60 games, 31.7% win rate; Keeper of the Light — 85 games, 31.8% win rate; Chaos Knight — 26 games, 34.6% win rate.

I’d отдельно note that this list includes some very unpleasant opponents for Warlock: against them, according to OpenDota, it is noticeably harder for him to force a comfortable fight. For a hero that likes a prepped teamfight, that matters a lot.

Conclusion

Warlock in 7.41f didn’t get a huge shake-up, but I wouldn’t write this patch off as purely cosmetic. A small buff to his base attack adds comfort, and the earlier changes to Eldritch Summoning have already made the hero more understandable and, I think, a bit cleaner in how he scales. Statistically, he looks more stable than outstanding: roughly a comfortable fight support, but not a hero you want to build everything around without thinking twice. We’ll see whether that will be enough for him to show up more often in pubs and avoid falling off in higher brackets.

Source: official Dota 2 and OpenDota data.

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