Who says Valve don’t like the number three? Keeper of the Light, Nyx Assassin and Visage grace our DOTA 2 hero selection this week, and are now available to play on the test client. A few heroes also received new higher resolution textures and there has been another complete item icon overhaul. Bots are now even more methodical in their murderous nature with an AI update.
Keeper of the Light is considered one of the strongest supports in the game. He’s a gnarly old wizard on horseback. Not only can he give allies mana and teleport them from across the map, but he also has a very powerful nuke that can decimate any heroes or creeps that dare get in its way. Nyx Assassin (an insectoid zergling beetle like thing) skulks around the battlefield ready to take an enemies life with his insane burst damage potential. He also can reflect damage back at enemy heroes to make their lives even more frustrating. Finally Visage (a ghostly bat carrying two chain links as gauntlets) is another support that also exceeds at ganking/tanking. His ultimate can even chain stun enemies In a reasonable radius for six seconds if executed properly (nine seconds with Aghanims). We’ll talk about each hero in more detail in our upcoming first impressions.
Batrider has received a long awaited update on his model with some new high resolution textures. Crystal Maiden also had a touch up on her model too, IceFrog sure likes to have his heroes look dashing before they are knee deep in blood. Gyrocopter and Sand King have had their models separated into sections to enable the Steam Workshop community to work its magic.
Pending feedback by the community, Valve have decided to give the item icons another overhaul. They’re now much more distinct which should make identifying them easier for new players.
Due to no new textures or particle effects, a new hero next week seems unlikely. As Cyborgmatt suggested, Valve will be wanting to polish the game and fix any bugs in time for The International 2. Then again, we’ve been wrong before. Read the full patch notes here.