Dota Underlords released its latest update, which introduces contraptions to the game. These are placeable items that when on the board behave like regular units. That means you can drag them around and they can affect gameplay in combat. Even better is that contraptions do not count against the unit cap.
The introduction of contraptions has resulted in these item changes:
- Barricade
- Newly added Tier 2 Contraption.
- Has 400 Health and 20 Armor.
- Two placeable barriers to block enemies and ranged attacks. Immune to spells.
- Target Buddy
- Newly added Tier 2 Contraption.
- Has 1000 Health and 10 Armor.
- Taunts enemies and draws fire. Can equip items.
- Healing Ward
- Newly added Tier 3 Contraption.
- Has 200 Health.
- Heals friendly units within 1 cell for 20hp/s.
- Tombstone
- Newly added Tier 4 Contraption.
- Has 2000 Health and 20 Armor.
- Ally and enemy heroes spawn zombies when they die within 2 cells of the Tombstone.
Ace Tier
It's not all contraptions, as the new update also adds the notion of Aces. Basically, tier five units are now called Aces, and each is the capstone to its associated alliance. Aside from its regular abilities, each ace unit offers a new ace effect that is activated when you have at least one level of its associated alliance. When at least one level of an alliance is enabled, and when an Ace unit appears in the shop, the chances of it being an ace unit associated with that alliance is increased by 15%.
Gyrocopter, for example, is the Ace for the Deadeye Alliance. The Ace effect is that it gives Deadeye units True Strike. If you've played Dota Underlords, units that have True Strike canot miss. Units in the Deadeye Alliance are Gyrocopter, Bloodseeker, and Sniper.
Now let's take a look at the Warlock Alliance. Basically, the bonus of the alliance is that when Warlock casts a spell, they form a link with an ally. When either hero deals damage, both units are healed by a certain percentage. In the update, the Warlock Alliance's ace is Disruptor. The Ace effect is that the bonus of the alliance is now applied to two units instead of one.
There are also Alliance Changes like Shaman now requiring two heroes instead of three to activate. Warrior, meanwhile, now gives bonuses at 3/6 heroes instead of 3/6/9.
A full list of changes that came with the update can be viewed here.
