Dota 2 4th March Patch – Content Analysis

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

Front End Changes

Hero Portrait Updates

Batrider's Portrait

New vs Old Portrait

Hero Texture Updates

Invoker's Textures

The textures used on Invoker's default Forge Spirits now have texture masks.

Gallery

Cosmetic Item Updates

Invoker's Items

The existing custom Forge Spirits have all been updated to support a higher resolution texture, thus improving their quality.

Slide the comparison slider all the way to the right to see the new version.

Arsenal Forge

Gallery

Grievous Ingots

Gallery

Iceforged Spirit

Gallery

New League Passes

deafESL Dota 2 League Season 2

"The deafESL brings the second season to life dedicated to the deaf community! It will stream games from two divisions, composed of teams from around the world."

The Monster Invitational

"Four of the top American Dota 2 teams fight it out live in Austin, TX at SXSW for $15,000 and the title of 'Monster Invitational Champion.'"

SLTV Star Series Season 9

"SLTV Star Series returns with Season 9 taking over the entire globe! Teams from China, Europe, America, & Korea will compete for a base prize pool of $80,000! Bundle includes the SLTV Star Series Season 9 Ticket, SLTV Loading Screen, and the Frozen Star Lich set. The Lich set will unlock styles the more games you view!"

Includes SLTV Loading Screen

Includes Frozen Star Lich Loading Screen

Includes Frozen Star Lich Set

Tier 2 (Requires 75 games viewed)

Tier 3 (Requires 150 games viewed)

UI Updates

Non-Hero Item Shuffling

It is now possible to set non-hero items up for shuffle, allowing the game to cycle through the announcers, wards, HUDs,... that you own during each game.

Loading Screen Tips

The loading screen will now display a range of random tips at the bottom of the screen.

• "If the hero in your lane is missing for some time, tell your teammates so they don't get ganked!"
• "You can level up your abilities by holding Control and hitting the ability shortcut key"
• "Make sure someone on your team is buying wards to ensure you get map vision"
• "Be sure your team has a courier so that you can stay in your lane gaining experience and gold, instead of needing to return to the shop to buy items."
• "Sentry Wards reveal invisible units and enemy wards."
• "Illusions and other creeps don't dispel Smoke of Deceit, only heroes do."
• "Roshan is a lot easier to kill if you reduce his armor."
• "Make sure you bring items to restore your health and mana into the lane at the start of the game."
• "You can level up your abilities by holding Control and hitting the ability shortcut key."
• "Make sure someone on your team is buying Observer Wards to help increase map vision."
• "Holding Alt will display additional information in the tooltips of several abilities and items."
• "Shift-clicking on shop items will add them to the quick buy."
• "Last hitting a tower gives you more gold."
• "You can Alt-click your abilities to expose their cooldown to your teammates through chat."
• "You can Alt-click enemy heroes in the top bar to message your teammates that they are missing from the lane."
• "When Roshan has been killed, he will respawn after 8 to 11 minutes (randomly determined)."
• "Neutral creeps spawn at the 30 second mark, and then at every minute mark thereafter."
• "Shift-Clicking actions or abilities allows you to queue them."
• "Some spells can be dodged with blink dagger or invisibility."
• "Some projectiles can be dodged with smoke."
• "Attacking from an uphill position gives you an advantage as the opponent can miss or lose you in fog of war."
• "Try building a Pipe of Insight to negate the enemies magic area of effect damage."
• "Shivas Guard and Assault Cuirass are great for boosting your team's armor in an area of effect (AOE)."
• "When a tower is attacking you, attack-clicking on an allied creep will reset the tower's target."
• "Abilities that do physical damage have their effectiveness reduced by armor."
• "If a ward is placed close to a neutral creep camp, it will prevent the creeps from spawning."
• "Monkey King Bar will give you true strike, which prevents you from missing uphill strikes and prevents your enemies from evading your attack."

In Game UI

The waiting for players UI has been updated with a new style.

The Fantasy Points spectator UI panel has been updated to include the extra tracking numbers such as healing done, tower kills, roshan kills and stun duration.

Survey UI

The Survey UI has been updated with different icons.

Match Quality

Self Cooperation

Team Mate Cooperation

Back End Changes

Updated Strings

The string for the prize pool calculation on the tournament tab has been updated to make it shorter in order to prevent it from cutting off.

"dota_watch_totalprize" "Total Prize Pool: $%s1 (Contributed: $%s3)"

Strings for the new shuffle system.

"DOTA_HS_ShuffleSlot" "SHUFFLE"

"DOTA_HS_ShuffleTip" "Shuffled slots will select a new item after every match played"

Strings for the updated Fantasy Points panel.

"MD_KILLS_L" "KILLS"

"MD_DEATHS_L" "DEATHS"

"MD_ASSISTS_L" "ASSISTS"

"MD_STUNS_L" "STUNS"

"MD_HEALING_L" "HEALING"

"MD_TOWERS_L" "TOWERS"

"MD_ROSHANS_L" "ROSHANS"

New Workshop error.

"DOTA_ItemTest_Error_NoManifest" "Zip file does not contain manifest.txt."

Styles for the new SLTV Lich set.

"DOTA_Item_Frozen_Star_Belt_Style0" "Small Bindings"

"DOTA_Item_Frozen_Star_Belt_Style1" "Medium Bindings"

"DOTA_Item_Frozen_Star_Belt_Style2" "Large Bindings"

"DOTA_Item_Frozen_Star_Neck_Style0" "Small Mantle"

"DOTA_Item_Frozen_Star_Neck_Style1" "Medium Mantle"

"DOTA_Item_Frozen_Star_Neck_Style2" "Large Mantle"

"DOTA_Item_Frozen_Star_Back_Style0" "Small Frozen Star"

"DOTA_Item_Frozen_Star_Back_Style1" "Medium Frozen Star"

"DOTA_Item_Frozen_Star_Back_Style2" "Large Frozen Star"

The updated waiting for players panel will now show battle bonuses and tool tips to show their values.

"dota_waitingforplayers_boost_earn_local_player" "Your Battle Points rate: %s1%"

"dota_waitingforplayers_boost_earn" "Battle Points earn rate: %s1%"

"dota_waitingforplayers_bonus" "Bonus: %s1%"

Workshop Importer

Invoker's Forge Spirits

Invoker's Forge Spirit's submission limits are now the following:

The texture size is now 512x512 up from 256x256.

The polygon count is now 1800 down from 2400.

Treant Protector

Treant Protector's item slot values are now inside the heroes data file, which suggests he may soon be added to the Workshop requirements page.

Unreleased League Passes

League of Dota Season 3

Includes a custom ward.

Item Drop List Updates

Common Item's Drop List

Items Added

• Bobusang's Axe
• Bobusang's Fist of the Predator Owl
• Bobusang's Jacket
• Braid of Delicacies of Butchery
• Bright Moon Mokdori
• Bright Moon Somae
• Cleaver of Delicacies of Butchery
• Epaulets of the Lucent Rider
• Face of Delicacies of Butchery
• Hook of Delicacies of Butchery
• Shadow Tracers
• Style of the Lucent Rider
• Wings of the Ember Crane

Uncommon Item's Drop List

Items Added

• Adornments of the Ember Crane
• Belt of Delicacies of Butchery
• Bobusang's Merchandise
• Bobusang's Sunshade
• Bright Moon Chima
• Emblazoned Arm of Delicacies of Butchery
• Shadow Calvaria
• Shadow Claws
• Tail of the Ember Crane

Rare Item's Drop List

Items Added

• Bobusang's Tobacco Fix
• Bright Moon Jeonmo
• Glaive of the Lucent Rider
• Guard of the Lucent Rider
• Shadow Spine
• Shoulder Block of Delicacies of Butchery

Legendary Item's Drop List

Items Added

• Lucentyr

Predictions For The Next Hero