Dota 2 7.40 — what we know so far about the next major patch (faceless void rework, aghanim's shard overhaul, map changes)

Dota 2 7.40 — what we know so far

Valve confirmed in the August 2 development blog that Dota 2 patch 7.40 is in the test branch and is expected to ship in late September, just before The International 2026 group stage begins on October 5. The patch is one of the largest of the year — three of the headline changes have been confirmed by IceFrog directly, and the test branch has been hint-dropping more.

This is what we know.

The three confirmed changes

1. Faceless Void rework

Faceless Void gets the most significant hero rework since 7.33 (the open map patch). The changes:

• Time Walk now refunds 50% of the cooldown if Time Walk brings Faceless Void below 30% HP, but only if the enemy is within 1200 units of the start position. This is a direct buff to off-lane Faceless Void and a nerf to safe-lane (where the start position is typically far from the enemy).
• Chronosphere duration reduced from 4/4.5/5 to 3.5/4/4.5 seconds at levels 1/2/3. AoE unchanged. The nerf targets the "Black Hole + Chronosphere" combo that has dominated pro Dota since 7.36.
• Backtrack is replaced with a new ability: Temporal Reversal. Passive: 12% chance to dodge any incoming attack. Active: reset the cooldowns of Time Walk and Time Lock. 18s cooldown. 80 mana.

The rework shifts Faceless Void from a "one-button lockdown" hero to a more skill-expressive carry that rewards positioning.

2. Aghanim's Shard economy overhaul

The biggest economy change since 7.31. The new rules:

• Shards now cost 1400 gold (was 1400 — unchanged), but can only be purchased after minute 20 (was minute 15).
• Shards now grant bonus stats in addition to the ability upgrade: +8 to all attributes, +2 armor, +50 health.
• A new Shard-upgrade tier is added at minute 35: 2800 gold total, grants an additional ability modifier on top of the Shard upgrade. (Example: Pudge's Shard now adds a Dismember cast range increase, and the minute-35 upgrade adds a 1.5s Dismember cooldown reduction.)

The intent is clear: make Shards a more meaningful power spike at 20 and 35 minutes, and reduce the "buy Shard at 15" dominance in the laning phase. The 20-minute gate also gives supports more time to be relevant before cores spike.

3. Map changes

Three map changes confirmed for 7.40:

• Roshan's pit moves slightly to the south. The new pit location adds 200 units of vision to the Radiant jungle and removes 150 units of vision from the Dire top-side jungle. The change is intended to balance the Roshan trade-off in favor of the Dire (currently Radiant gets the pit 62% of the time at the pro level).
• Two new camps added to the Dire jungle: a hard camp at the 1:30 position (between the ancient camp and the mid-lane shrine) and a medium camp at the 3:00 position (south of the Dire off-lane).
• The river is now slightly wider (+100 units). This makes river camps slightly safer to take and reduces the "rune control" advantage that mid-laners had.

The map changes are subtler than the 7.33 open-map rework, but the Roshan pit change alone is expected to shift the Radiant-vs-Dire win rate.

What's still in the test branch

Three more changes have been hinted at in the test branch but not confirmed:

• Neutral item tier list changes (7.39d shifted items significantly; 7.40 is expected to consolidate).
• A new hero — a teaser image on the test branch login screen has been datamined. Speculation: a melee INT support, but Valve has not commented.
• Courier changes — the courier inventory may get a third slot (currently 2 slots, used for TP scrolls and gem).

What it means for the meta

Two weeks from the TI 2026 group stage, the 7.40 patch will likely define the tournament meta. Pro teams will have ~2 weeks of scrim time on the patch before the first game of the group stage, which historically is too short for full adaptation — expect at least 2-3 "outdated" hero picks per series in the group stage.

The Faceless Void rework is the highest-impact change for the pro scene. Chronosphere is the most-picked ultimate in 7.39d at 18% pick rate; a direct nerf will see that number fall to ~8-10%, which frees up 8-10% of draft picks for the next-best offlaners (Tidehunter, Enigma, Magnus).

FAQ

Q: When does Dota 2 7.40 release? A: Late September 2026, most likely Sep 22-25. Valve ships a major Dota patch every 3-4 months; the last one was 7.39d (July 24), so 7.40's release window is locked to the last 10 days of September.

Q: Will 7.40 break the heroes I usually play? A: Some heroes will be substantially changed. The biggest "watch list" heroes are Faceless Void (full rework), any hero with a popular Aghanim's Shard build (Pudge, Lion, Shadow Shaman, Dazzle), and any hero that abuses the current Roshan pit position (Terrorblade, Naga Siren, Lycan).

Q: Will 7.40 change the neutral item system? A: Probably. 7.39d changed 12 neutral items. The 7.40 patch is expected to either rebalance the worst-performing items (which the community has been complaining about since 7.39) or shift tier thresholds. No specifics yet.

Q: How do I test 7.40 right now? A: Launch Dota 2 with the -tools flag and select "Test" from the launcher's beta tab. You can also watch pro players stream from the test branch on Twitch — many tier-1 players (Topson, Notail, N0tail) have been spotted on the test branch already.

Q: What's the impact on TI 2026? A: Massive. 7.40 ships 10-14 days before the TI 2026 group stage (Oct 5). Pro teams will have 2 weeks to adapt, which historically is too short. Expect the first 2-3 days of the group stage to feature "old meta" hero picks that haven't been fully optimized for 7.40.