A major update has been released for Dota 2, with Valve adding two interesting mechanics, changing character abilities and making general gameplay changes

Valve has released a big update for Dota 2.

Here's What We Know

Patch 7.36 introduced a huge number of changes and innovations, but the developers did not add the new Ringmaster character, which was Valve announced a new Dota 2 hero: the game will feature an unusual character - Ringmaster in early 2024.

The biggest change of the patch is the addition of two new mechanics: Innate Abilities and Aspects. Each character now starts the game with one innate ability that doesn't need to spend a skill point on. This can be either an ability that already exists in the game or a specially added skill.

There are two types of innate abilities:

• Some give a permanent unique effect - for example, Faceless Void slows down enemy attack projectiles, and Dawnbreaker reveals the entire map as the sun rises;
• Others add an extra level to a regular ability and make it available from the start - for example, Kunkka has the Tidebringer ability right away and can learn it four more times as normal. The same goes for Legion Commander and her Moment of Courage ability.

Each character now has Aspects, which are unique traits that can be selected before starting a match, and each character is presented with two options.

So,

• Aspects allow you to choose the play style that best suits you or the situation at hand;
• Aspects can be found on the hero's page above his abilities, in-game above the innate ability icon, in the score table, and on the top bar (if you hold down the Alt key);
• Aspects cannot be changed after the planning stage and are not revealed to the enemy team until the start of the game
• Aspects affect heroes in many different ways. For example, Viper can either add instant damage around a Poison Attack victim or become more survivable in the Nethertoxin area of effect, while Wraith King can either summon skeletons or inflict additional Jinx damage with his attacks.

As always, Valve has changed the abilities of most characters, the characteristics of artefacts and neutrals, tweaked the map landscape a bit, and made changes to general Dota 2 mechanics.

The patch note is really extensive and you can read it on the official website.

Source: Dota 2