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Dota 2 patch drops Elder Titan hint, speeds loading by up to 50%

Dota2_ElderTitan

This weeks update brings significant changes to Dota 2. For starters, the update has vastly improved loading times of both the game and matches. Some users have reported decreases in loading by as much as 50%. Valve have also added the first HUD skins, which can only be found in certain chests. The biggest mystery however is the newly discovered “Elder Titan” hero, its purpose still unknown.

Help us crack the case after the break.

The original patch for the test client clocked in at over 1.5GB. That resulted in a wave of excitement and panic. The patch notes revealed that the download size this was due to changes to the file layout of Dota 2, not the addition of any outstanding heroes.
Alongside the file format changes, Valve have added new chests that contain some of the first HUD skins. They appear if you’re lucky enough to find a chest for either Morphling, Omniknight or Kunka. So far they include the Dire, Radiant, Diretide and Frostivus HUD layouts. Also added is a new chest named “Treasure of the Forbidden Lotus”, which is probably themed around the Chinese new year.
But there’s a bigger mystery. Our friendly neighbourhood patch devourer, Cyborgmatt, has made a very strange discovery. While checking the status of the unreleased heroes and their textures in the patch, most could see that Tusk’s materials and particle effects were pretty much ready to go. But there’s a new set of textures included: named the “Elder Titan”. Some speculate that it could be the Chinese version of Skeleton King, in which skeletal or bloody depictions are forbidden. Others believe it could be a hero we already know that has been renamed, but no one has made a credible link.
Then there is the other possibility, that we could be looking at a brand new hero for Dota 2.
Exciting! Here are the patch notes:

NOTE: This update has reorganized the file layout of Dota 2 to speed up loading and for future localization support. This will result in a large update and may take a while to download.

GAMEPLAY
– Fixed how magic damage is amplified when there are multiple sources of bonuses.
– Death Prophet: Fixed Exorcism healing never resetting.
– Enigma: Tightened selection area of Eidolons to make picking individual units easier when they clump
– Gyrocopter: Fixed Call Down not slowing magic immune units.
– Spectre: Spectral Dagger now properly trails invisible units.
– Spectre: Fixed various properties of Haunt illusions being incorrect.
– Tiny: Fixed Craggy Exterior working on illusions of Tiny.
– Visage: Fixed Roshan decreasing Gravekeeper’s Cloak charges.
– Visage: Fixed Gravekeeper’s Cloak not restoring its layers independently of one another.
– Warlock: Fixed Flaming Fist damage not leveling properly, damaging magic immune units, and having incorrect chance to proc.
– Fixed a bug with Radiance kill credit and illusions.
– Fixed Roshan no longer casting Slam to slow and damage nearby units.

UI
– The Smooth Drag option now works for anyone that’s spectating (whether through DotaTV or as a broadcaster).
– Reduced waiting time in hero picker during All Random to 10 seconds.
– Reworked how your personal hero performance is done on your profile page (provide feedback here http://dev.dota2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=431).
– Added preview for summoned items like the panda and watcher golem to store and backpack.
– Added the ability to filter out empty teams from the team list.

BOTS
– Fixed some incorrect timing calculations that were causing bots to miss some last hits.
– Fixed Practice vs Bots not properly selecting the nearest server.
– Fixed Death Prophet bot to know about the true range of Crypt Swarm.
– Fixed bots thrashing selling a situational item (dust, wards, TP scroll) to purchase another situational item.

WEBAPI
– Added Captain’s Mode Picks and Bans.
– Added ability upgrade order and times to each player.
– Added inventory for additional units (Lone Druid’s Spirit Bear).
– Added an API for getting match details in the order they were recorded.