Valvehas just unleashed what is likelyDota 2’s biggest update ever. It’s so big that the patch notes have their own website. And it’s not just a page with a few fancy gifs and embedded videos either–this page goes on for miles detailing a new map, major gameplay changes, matchmaking changes, and UI changes.
We’ll start with the most significant change of them all in The New Frontiers update. Dota 2’s map is now 40 percent larger by area. The lanes, towers, and bases are all where you remember them, but the map has been stretched out at the sides to make room for tons of new stuff. The upper left and lower right corners of the map are now home to the Twin Gates, allowing quick and easy travel from one end of the map to the other. These corners are also the new home of Roshan, who is both tankier and has updated drops.
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In the middle of the map, new Shield Runes will provide players with some extra temporary health, while Watchers provide vision of certain areas for seven minutes. Jungles have been reconfigured to account for 12 new Creep camps, which now scale over time to be harder than before.
There’s also a new loss mechanic called Wisdom Runes. These are located just outside your base and provide XP to “keep a losing game from spinning out of control.” There’s also a new Defender’s Gate leading straight to the Wisdom Rune for your team, so if your base is under siege, you may always duck out for a quick XP boost before rejoining the fight.
Starting with the major gameplay changes, we now have a new Hero Attribute. The new Universal Heroes will be made up of existing heroes (including the recent Void Spirit hero) that will now receive 0.6 additional damage from any attribute, not just Strength, Agility, or Intelligence.
The kill formula has been reworked so “early game kills [are] more impactful and motivate players to gank other lanes.” There’s also reduced gold scaling from lane creeps, so killing creeps will become far less profitable than killing other players as the game progresses.
All heroes–and I do mean all–have been rebalanced. There’s a giant list of specific changes that take up the bottom two-thirds of The New Frontiers' update page, but the biggest changes were reserved for Muerta, Clinkz, Arc Warden, Ogre Magi, Alchemist, and Medusa. Various items have been reworked as well, such as Black King Bar, and there are 14 totally new items.
Dota 2’s matchmaker has also received an overhaul. It uses a new algorithm that promises fairer games that are found faster, although you’ll have to go through a short calibration period.
There’s way more going on in The New Frontiers update, socheck out Valve’s site for more. The New Frontiers is available now in Dota 2.
