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In a turn of events everyone and their grandparents saw coming, a new Dota 2 update, entitled "Three Spirits", has introduced a massive number of new features including two brand new heroes, crafting, socketing, in-game coaching, and the return of everyone's favourite Diretide Halloween event.
The new heroes arrive in the form of Earth Spirit and Ember Spirit, two characters previously only available in the original DotA mod for Warcraft 3. Earth Spirit focuses on strategically placing Stone Remnants around the map to increase his effectiveness before using his powerful strength to create boulders which deal massive damage, while Ember Spirit focuses on using fire and speed to his advantage. The extremely large update has also introduced a total skin overhaul for Storm Spirit, making his appearance far more consistent with his new cousins while removing the obvious similarities to his Blizzard-designed counterpart.
Also included is a new in-game coaching system, which functions similarly to the same feature in Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, allowing experienced players to spectate and inform less experienced players about how to play specific heroes or strategies. The coaching system features a number of advanced tools unique to Dota 2, including the ability to teach multiple students at the same time and to draw exclusively on those students' mini-maps.
Another feature borrowed from Team Fortress 2 is crafting, which now allows players to turn their unwanted items into new cosmetic items of similar or increased quality using specific recipes which are collected by finishing matches or by opening new "Ancient Scroll Cases". Socketing, on the other hand, is brand new, and allows players to imbue existing items with special gems to add whole new properties, including new animations, particle effects, statistical displays, and more. Each item can hold up to 5 total gems, allowing for plenty of individual customisation. Also new is the "Showcase View", an alternate perspective which allows both players and spectators to zoom in on the action much closer than before.
A whole host of new cosmetic items have been introduced in the form of "Player Items", which are specifically themed after certain professional players. Once purchased, the items will keep track every time the owner spectates a tournament or professional game featuring the chosen player, allowing enthusiastic spectators to show support for their favourite players and personalities. The update has also added three new treasure chests, one in the form of the returning "Ghastly Treasure of Diretide", and two themed after new heroes Earth Spirit and Ember Spirit.
As previously mentioned, the update also features the welcome return of the Diretide Halloween gamemode, which will run from November 14th until the 28th. Valve previously mentioned that Diretide has been updated to make the gamemode more fun to play, as players must now repeatedly kill Roshan over and over. The teams who kill Roshan the most amount of times in a single game will receive the new Platinum Roshan courier as a reward. The Three Spirits update is now available on the main Dota 2 client, so get out there and get killing!
If you're looking to learn more about this major new update for Dota 2, be sure to check out the announcement post over on the Dota 2 blog, which also features a lengthy changelog discussing a number of changes not mentioned here, including a new Lanepicker for the hero selection screen and a whole lot more.
Storm Spirit has had a makeover and is ready to party alongside his new cousins, Earth Spirit and Ember Spirit.
The new heroes arrive in the form of Earth Spirit and Ember Spirit, two characters previously only available in the original DotA mod for Warcraft 3. Earth Spirit focuses on strategically placing Stone Remnants around the map to increase his effectiveness before using his powerful strength to create boulders which deal massive damage, while Ember Spirit focuses on using fire and speed to his advantage. The extremely large update has also introduced a total skin overhaul for Storm Spirit, making his appearance far more consistent with his new cousins while removing the obvious similarities to his Blizzard-designed counterpart.
Also included is a new in-game coaching system, which functions similarly to the same feature in Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, allowing experienced players to spectate and inform less experienced players about how to play specific heroes or strategies. The coaching system features a number of advanced tools unique to Dota 2, including the ability to teach multiple students at the same time and to draw exclusively on those students' mini-maps.
Another feature borrowed from Team Fortress 2 is crafting, which now allows players to turn their unwanted items into new cosmetic items of similar or increased quality using specific recipes which are collected by finishing matches or by opening new "Ancient Scroll Cases". Socketing, on the other hand, is brand new, and allows players to imbue existing items with special gems to add whole new properties, including new animations, particle effects, statistical displays, and more. Each item can hold up to 5 total gems, allowing for plenty of individual customisation. Also new is the "Showcase View", an alternate perspective which allows both players and spectators to zoom in on the action much closer than before.
A whole host of new cosmetic items have been introduced in the form of "Player Items", which are specifically themed after certain professional players. Once purchased, the items will keep track every time the owner spectates a tournament or professional game featuring the chosen player, allowing enthusiastic spectators to show support for their favourite players and personalities. The update has also added three new treasure chests, one in the form of the returning "Ghastly Treasure of Diretide", and two themed after new heroes Earth Spirit and Ember Spirit.
Diretide: Given!
As previously mentioned, the update also features the welcome return of the Diretide Halloween gamemode, which will run from November 14th until the 28th. Valve previously mentioned that Diretide has been updated to make the gamemode more fun to play, as players must now repeatedly kill Roshan over and over. The teams who kill Roshan the most amount of times in a single game will receive the new Platinum Roshan courier as a reward. The Three Spirits update is now available on the main Dota 2 client, so get out there and get killing!
If you're looking to learn more about this major new update for Dota 2, be sure to check out the announcement post over on the Dota 2 blog, which also features a lengthy changelog discussing a number of changes not mentioned here, including a new Lanepicker for the hero selection screen and a whole lot more.
