It doesn’t include crank length, but 165mm is not much shorter than 170mm
We don’t know what the OPs original crank length is/was, and even “just” going from 170/165 is close to the equivalent of a 2 tooth change in chainring size. It is the equivalent of a 2 tooth change if moving from 172.5 to 165.
We do know that the OP is currently using a 50T ring, so your suggestion of switching to a 52 on the 165s is likely at minimum the functional equivalent of putting a 54 or larger on his current bike, somewhere between a significant jump in gain ratio and a huge jump in gain ratio. We can’t actually know which. Maybe you can “adjust” to a difference of that magnitude via changes in cadence, but most riders simply can’t.