Dota 2 update: The New Frontiers

Sometimes Dota gameplay patches are small. Sometimes they can get pretty big.

This one... is huge.

It’s got all the things you were probably expecting — balance changes, new items, hero reworks, UI improvements. But we also included a few changes you probably weren't expecting, like a new hero attribute type and — brace yourself — the map is now 40% bigger.

But all these new gameplay features won’t matter if the match you get into isn’t a good one. So we’re also shipping some much-needed matchmaking improvements.

Excited? Confused? Head on over to the New Frontiers update page for all the details.

GENERAL UPDATES

Map Changes

● Map reworked. Expanded all 4 edges of the map. Added new paths and objectives

● Added Twin Gates: 2 portals in the corners of the map. Any player can use a Twin Gate to teleport to the other one after channeling for 3 seconds

● Removed Roshan pit from the river

● Added 2 Roshan pits in the corners of the map. As the day turns to night and vice-versa, Roshan uses the Twin Gates to teleport to the other pit: he stays on the Radiant side during the day and at Dire during the night. While going to the new location Roshan has 200 bonus movement speed, phased movement and a 200 magic damage Debuff Immunity piercing knockback

● Roshan's current pit is highlighted on the minimap

● Roshan no longer drops Aghanim's Shard on the second death

● Roshan now drops Cheese starting on the second death

● On the third death onwards, Roshan now drops Aghanim's Scepter when killed on the ● Radiant side and a Refresher Shard when killed on the Dire side

● Roshan's HP increase per minute increased from 115 to 130

● Roshan's Base Armor increased from 20 to 30

● Added 2 Tormentor mini-bosses behind the Offlane areas. They spawn at 20:00

● Tormentor has 1 Health, 20 Armor, 55% Magic Resistance and a 2500 Damage Barrier which regenerates at 100 HP/s. Bounty: 250 gold

● Tormentors don't attack or move, but they reflect 70% of damage received evenly among all heroes within 1200 radius. All reflected damage is dealt as Magical. Deals 200% damage to Illusions

● Destroying a Tormentor grants an Aghanim's Shard buff to one of the two lowest networth allied heroes that still do not have the Shard when it dies

● If all heroes have an Aghanim's Shard, then destroying a Tormentor gives 280 gold and 280 experience to each hero

● Tormentors respawn in 10 minutes after their defeat, each time increasing their barrier regen by 100 HP/s and damage reflection by 20%

● Added 2 new alternate exit paths on the base near the Offlane Tier 3 towers. These paths connect with the area where the Tormentor spawns. These entrances/exits can only be used by the team of the base they are in.

● Power Runes no longer repeat until all different runes have spawned. The first rune of the next cycle is always different from the last rune of the previous cycle

● Added a new Power Rune: Shield Rune. Grants a barrier equal to 50% of the user's max HP. Lasts 75s

● Added a new special Wisdom Rune. It appears in 2 new spots to the edges of the map on the Offlane near the T2 towers. They spawn at 7:00 and every 7 minutes after and they grant 280 experience for each 7 minutes elapsed to the hero that grabs it

● Outposts no longer grant experience

● Added 2 more Outposts to the edges of the map on the Safe lanes near T1 towers and Twin Gates

● Outposts no longer provide vision or True Sight around them

● Added 8 Watchers to the map. Inactive Watchers can be right-clicked by any hero and channeled for 1.5s in order to turn them on. When on, Watcher grants 800 radius vision over its area for 7 minutes after which it deactivates and becomes neutral again. A hero from the opposing team can channel an active Watcher for 1.5s to destroy it. Watchers respawn 2 minutes after being destroyed

● Watchers are located in the center of each main jungle, next to each Roshan pit, in the center of each triangle near the Secret Shop and by each Tormentor

● Added 2 Lotus Pools on the edges of the map near the river. Every 3 minutes each Lotus ● Pool spawns 1 Healing Lotus, up to a total of 6 available at a time. Lotus Pools can be channeled to grant 1 Healing Lotus per second. Healing Lotus is a stackable consumable that replenishes 125 HP and 125 Mana on use. Healing Lotus use cooldown: 5s

● 3 Healing Lotuses are combined into a Great Healing Lotus which restores 400 health and mana. 2 Great Healing Lotuses are combined into a Greater Healing Lotus which restores 900 health and mana

● Both teams have a vision of both Lotus Pools' content

● Added 12 new neutral camps on the extended rim of the map. Most of them are bound to 4 new named areas: The Well, The Graveyard, The Statue, and The Mines. Any unit receives a special buff while staying there

● The Well: 2 Hard and 1 Medium neutral camps. Located below the Radiant Safe lane under T2 tower. Units here are granted Well Wishes buff: +1.5 Mana Regen

● The Mines: 2 Hard and 1 Medium neutral camps. Located above Dire Safe lane over T2 tower. Units here are granted Mighty Mines buff: +4 Health Regen

● The Statue: 1 Ancient neutral camp. Located on the left from Radiant Offlane between T1 and T2 towers. Units here are granted the Stalwart Statue buff: +2 Armor

● The Graveyard: 1 Ancient neutral camp. Located on the right from Dire Offlane between T1 and T2 towers. Units here are granted Graveyard Glyphs buff: +5 Attack Damage

● The remaining 4 camps are Easy and Medium camps near new Outposts and Twin Gates. They don't belong to any named areas

Universal Heroes

● Added a new type of attribute heroes: Universal

● Universal heroes don't have a Primary Attribute, but get 0.6 damage per point of each attribute

● Captain's Draft now selects 7 random heroes from each attribute (total increased from 27 to 28)

● Single Draft now offers 4 heroes, one per attribute

● List of Universal heroes:

• Abaddon
• Bane
• Batrider
• Beastmaster
• Brewmaster
• Broodmother
• Chen
• Clockwerk
• Dark Seer
• Dark Willow
• Dazzle
• Enigma
• Io
• Lone Druid
• Lycan
• Marci
• Magnus
• Mirana
• Nyx Assassin
• Pangolier
• Phoenix
• Sand King
• Snapfire
• Techies
• Timbersaw
• Vengeful Spirit
• Venomancer
• Visage
• Void Spirit
• Windranger
• Winter Wyvern

Disables Reduction

● Duration of the majority of disables is reduced (specifics can be found in corresponding hero and item categories)

Debuff Immunity

● Spell Immunity reworked into Debuff Immunity

● Debuff Immunity is different in three major ways: the spell application, debuff protection and damage reduction

● Spell application: All spells can now be used on units with Debuff Immunity, even ones that don't pierce Debuff Immunity. Corresponding visual effects will appear and the spell will apply all of it's debuffs on target

● Debuff protection: Negative effects that don't pierce Debuff Immunity will not have an effect on the target for the duration of the immunity. However, if the Debuff Immunity expires before the debuff that doesn't pierce it, then it will take effect for the remaining duration. Negative effects that pierce Debuff Immunity take effect immediately

● Damage reduction: Debuff Immunity increases Magic Resistance and negates Pure and Reflected damage completely. These effects protect only against spells that don't pierce the Debuff Immunity. Physical Damage is not reduced in any case. Here's the list of Magic Resistance for all abilities that previously gave Spell Immunity:

• Brewmaster's Earth Brewling, Clockwerk (Talent), Dawnbreaker (Shard), Elder Titan (Scepter), Huskar (Life Break), Legion Commander (Talent), Lion (Shard), Marci (Talent), Pangolier (Rolling Thunder and Roll Up), all grant 50% Magic Resistance
• Juggernaut (Blade Fury) and Lifestealer (Rage) grant 80% Magic Resistance
• Grimstroke's Dark Portrait illusion has 95% Magic Resistance

● These mostly affect the Black King Bar, so let's summarize with a couple of examples:

• Avatar: Applies a basic dispel and provides Debuff Immunity. Grants 50% Magic Resistance and immunity to pure and reflected damage. For the duration, any negative effect on the user has no effect. Lasts 9/8/7/6 seconds
• All spells that pierce Debuff Immunity will have effect and deal their damage while ignoring the Magic Resistance granted by BKB
• If Avatar expires before the debuff then it will take effect for the remaining duration

 - Example 1: Your BKB is active. Jakiro casts Dual Breath (magical, doesn't pierce immunity) on you. You won't be slowed but you will still take damage. It will be reduced by your Magic Resistance, which is increased by BKB.

 - Example 2: Your BKB is active. Beastmaster casts Primal Roar (magical, pierces immunity) on you. You will be stunned and you will take damage. It will be reduced by your Magic Resistance, but additional Magic Resistance from BKB will be ignored.

 - Example 3: Your BKB is active. Silencer attacks you with Glaives of Wisdom (pure, doesn't pierce Debuff Immunity). You won't take any pure damage.

 - Example 4: Your BKB is active. Bane casts Fiend's Grip (pure, pierces immunity) on you. You will be stunned and will take 100% of the pure damage.

 - Example 5: Your BKB is active but expires in 1s. Someone used Orchid Malevolence (doesn't pierce immunity) on you. You won't be silenced for that 1 second, but you will be silenced as soon as Avatar expires.

 - Example 6: Your BKB is active and you're using TP. Vengeful Spirit casts Magic Missile (magical, doesn't pierce immunity). You won't be stunned or interrupted but will still take damage. It will be reduced by your Magic Resistance which is increased by BKB.

Other

● Changed Gold bounty for lane creeps:

• Melee Creep Gold bounty increase per upgrade decreased from 1 to 0
• Super Melee Creep gold bounty increase per upgrade decreased from 1.5 to 0
• Ranged Creep Gold bounty increase per upgrade decreased from 6 to 3
• Super Ranged Creep Gold bounty increase per upgrade decreased from 6 to 3

● Reworked Gold Assist formula

• Old Formula: (30 + (VictimNetworth * 0.038) ) / NumHeroes
• New Formula: 10 + ((50 + (VictimNetworth * 0.037) / NumHeroes)

● All units now gain 15 movement speed during the night. Effect is doubled for heroes, but it can be broken for 5 seconds upon attacking or taking damage from player-controlled sources (similar to Tranquil Boots)

● Base Hero HP decreased from 200 to 120

● HP per point of Strength increased from 20 to 22

● Intelligence now grants 0.1% base Magic Resistance per point

● Damage Immunity is now calculated before any damage reductions or barriers (e.g: Aphotic Shield won't be consumed if the hero is damage immune)

● Magic barriers are now calculated after magic resistance reductions (Pipe of Insight, Ember Spirit's Flame Guard, etc)

● The HUD has been updated to display current barrier values above the health bar when one or more barriers are active

● Added support for damage barriers to be shown on the health bar for the following items and abilities:

• Pipe of Insight: Barrier
• Pavise: Protect
• Abaddon: Aphotic Shield
• Ember Spirit: Flame Guard
• Tinker: Defense Matrix
• Void Spirit: Resonant Pulse

● Added special health bars to display hero attacks needed to destroy for the following entities:

• Observer Ward
• Sentry Ward
• Clinkz: Skeleton Archer
• Clockwerk: Power Cog
• Grimstroke: Phantom
• Juggernaut: Healing Ward
• Keeper of the Light: Ignis Fatuus
• Lich: Ice Spire
• Phoenix: Phoenix Sun
• Pugna: Nether Ward
• Shadow Shaman: Mass Serpent Ward
• Undying: Tombstone
• Weaver: The Swarm Bug
• Zeus: Nimbus

● The HUD now shows Attack Speed and Magic Resistance stats in the portrait area at all times

● Multiple negative effects of the same type from different abilities now will show as separate debuffs in every instance (e.g: if you are Clockwerk and you stun with Hookshot and Battery Assault, 2 separate debuffs will show)

● Health Cost is now shown in HUD similarly to Mana Cost

● Mana Cost reduction effects now only apply to Mana Cost

● Target Dummy no longer has Intelligence