The long awaited Dueling Fates update hits Dota 2 on Monday afternoon, two days earlier than expected, bringing a smorgasbord of changes to the Valve-developed MOBA. And the addition of new heroes is just the icing on a cake the Dota 2 community will enjoy for months.
Two new heroes join the Dota 2 roster this week: Pangolier and Dark Willow. The former is a sword-wielding armadillo who excels at slowing enemies, charging forth to harm the other team with his Rolling Thunder ultimate. The latter is a fairy, or another small winged humanoid, that carries a lantern seemingly powered by an even smaller spirit. Willow specializes in support abilities and ranged damage and her Terrorize ultimate sends enemy units scurrying back to their home fountain in fear. Both debuted with their own unique Immortal items, now available for purchase from the in-game store. Ancient Apparition’s appearance and ambient effects were also updated this week.
The Dueling Fates patch also introduces a brand new game mode: Dota Turbo. The new match type speeds up the Dota experience by increasing gold and XP rewards, increasing base ability damage and decreasing the effectiveness of creeps and towers. The goal is to deliver a faster experience for players who don’t always have time for the hour-plus skirmishes that occasionally arise in standard Dota 2 matchmaking. The arrival of Update 7.07 also heralds the beginning of ranked seasons, following the popularity of similar rankings tied to recent events (like TI7).
Other minor changes include an improved Ping Wheel, the emote system used to communicate with other players without typing, and a new voice pack for owners of Juggernaut’s Bladeform Legacy Arcana. Steam Workshop creators now have access to four more heroes (Ancient Apparition, Jakiro, Pangolier and Techies) and can also create head gear for Phantom Lancer.
A detailed breakdown of all the gameplay changes, including item and ability tweaks, can be found on the Dueling Fates section of the Dota 2 website. While we typically republish that sort of information here, the list of changes delivered this week is just too long.
Dota 2 is currently available for Windows and OS X.
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