It’s been a long time coming but Dota patch 7.38 is finally here and it’s a doozy. We’ve got map changes for the first time in a long time, Rosh is back in the river and there are a whole bunch of new neutral creeps. These water Pokemon, I mean new Dota creeps, will only be spawning in the new flooded areas of the map. So if you’re a carry looking for some safe, easy farm, you’ll need to know what you’re up against.
Evolving creeps scale with the game
The homes of the new amphibious creeps in patch 7.38 are located on the outer rim of both the radiant and dire safe lanes, perfect for when you need some really safe space to farm. There are 4 different types of camps ranging from easy to Ancient, much in the same way as the rest of the map.
The main difference is that while they’ll initially spawn with a base level creep like easy or medium, the camps will evolve as the game progresses. After every 5 minutes of gameplay, one of the creeps in all of these camps will be permanently upgraded to the next level. But unfortunately for the pollywogs, each creep can only upgrade twice.
The upgrades also won’t happen if the camp is blocked. Those among us who are better at Dota than me can use this to their advantage and potentially block camps on the enemy side of the map, preventing them from evolving to Ancients and slowing the enemy’s farm.
Types of creeps
There’s a grand total of 8 new neutral creeps. Each type of camp will include:
- Three Pollywogs in the easy camps.
- Two Boglets and a Marshmage Apprentice in the medium camps.
- Two Croakers and a Marshmage in the hard camps.
- Two Ancient Croakers and an Ancient Marshmage in the Ancient camp.
Pollywogs
Pollywogs are level 2 creeps with 400 health, placing them right in between a standard ranged and melee lane creep health wise. They really shouldn’t pose too much trouble, even in the early game. Pollywogs in Dota do have a passive ability to boost movement speed and outgoing damage, but the difference will be pretty negligible.
While neutral camp farming isn’t common in the very early game, you can definitely secure some last hits against these little critters.
Boglets
They might not be high on the list of Dota map objectives, but farming boglets can also just give you a bit of a boost early on, especially if you’re not ready to hit higher tier camps elsewhere on the map. Keep an eye out for their active, which will stun for 0.8 seconds and deal 80/100/120/140 damage every 16 seconds or so. Just like the Pollywogs, Boglets will also have the passive aura granting movement speed and damage bonuses but their health pool is a little larger at 700.
Marshmage Apprentice
The Marshmage Apprentice is where things start to get a little bit more difficult. By the time easy camps level up, they shouldn’t pose too much of a problem but I wouldn’t recommend running straight over to these guys from minute 0.
While they have the same 700 health pool as the Boglet, they have an extra ability that may prove annoying for those who use spells to farm consistently. The water bubble ability creates a barrier bubble that protects the target from 100/120/140/160 magical damage for 10s. This ability can also be cast on a random ally in their camp that falls below 50% health.
Croaker
Croakers are the evolved form of boglets. They’re still considered a level 4 creep but you’ll need to keep an eye out for that active because this one levels things up, stunning enemies for 1.2 seconds and dealing 120/140/160/180 damage.
They also have a little something extra for heroes that use their illusions to farm like Naga Siren and Chaos Knight – the Tendrils of the Deep active will be cast on the closest enemy if there are three or more enemies within 600 radius.
Marshmage
Once an apprentice marshmage completes their studies, or 5 minutes of game time passes, they’ll upgrade to a marshmage. They too will have the protective water bubble that can be cast on their allies that protects them from 150/180/210/240 magical damage for 10 seconds. The difference is that this time, after the bubble bursts, it’ll heals the target for 50% of that amount.
This may slow down your farm a little so just be aware that if you get that tingly feeling that you’re about to get ganked, you may not be able to finish the camp off in time.
Ancient Croaker
Right, it’s time for the spicy bit. The new Ancient creeps do pack a punch and you’ll need to be appropriately levelled before taking them on. With 1250 health, they’ll take a little bit of work to take down. If you’re used to farming Ancients, I don’t think reading when the right time is will be too much of a challenge.
The ability to look out for here is again the upgraded stun. This time, the stun will be sent out in 6 directions at once so dodging is going to be difficult to say the least. The tentacles will stun enemies for 1.4s and deal 250/275/300/325 damage.
Ancient Marshmage
Last but not least! The final form of the marshmage again levels up the existing abilities. These creeps also sit at 1250 health but this time, the water bubble can protects their allies from 210/240/270/300 magic damage for 10 seconds. After the bubble bursts, heals the target and all allies in a 675 radius for 50% of that amount.
