Dota 2 has released patch 7.28 Mistwoods. Added a new hero, 13 items, and an extra ability for each hero
On December 18, Valve released the long-awaited 7.28 Mistwoods patch. The update includes a new hero, 13 new items in the shop, new neutral items, and the addition of a fifth ability for each hero. The update is already available for download and takes 1.24 GB.
New Hero — Hoodwink
After the update release, Hoodwink became the 120th hero in Dota 2. The heroine became the eighth original character added to the second Dota.
In the heroine's biography, it is reported that she grew up in the green forests of Krimwohl, but due to deforestation, she was forced to leave her home and move to the misty Wood Tomo'kan. Now the heroine strikes out against any who dare try to further pacify the wilds — happily taking what she likes from their belongings.
Added a new item Aghanim's Shard, which gives the hero a fifth ability
A key feature of the update is the appearance of a new item in the shop. When activated, the hero permanently gets a new ability or an improvement of an existing one. A new item can be purchased after 20 minutes of the game and costs 1400 gold.
Valve has done significant work to add the ability to use this item for every hero. For example, Batrider's ultimate with Aghanim's Shard can be used on an ally, after which he gains 80% magic resistance. Later we will analyze the strongest and most interesting of the added abilities, but for now, you can check out the full list of new abilities in Valve's changelog - 7.28 Mistwoods.
New items in the shop
In addition to the Aghanim's Shard already described above, 12 more items have been added to the shop.
Three improvements for Blink Dagger deserve special attention. Each of them receives an additional bonus after moving the hero, allowing them to choose the most optimal option for each character class depending on the situation.
Added new neutral items and deleted some of the old ones
A lot of work has been done with neutrals items as well. A total of 14 new items have been added to the game for each category, and the same number of items have been removed from the game. Some of the remaining items were balanced.
Balance heroes and items
With the patch release, each hero has been balanced. It affects both the abilities of the hero and its characteristics or talents. The situation is the same with items from the shop: some have undergone significant changes, and some have been completely removed from the game. Later we will analyze the most significant changes, but for now, you can check out the full list of changes in Valve's changelog - 7.28 Mistwoods
General game changes
Finally, let's talk about general changes to the game. Unlike the last major updates, the game map remains the same. But other aspects have been changed:
- Game now starts at night time and turns to day once creeps spawn
- Neutral creeps no longer increase their bounty over the course of the game
- Neutral stacked gold bonus reduced from 40% to 30%
- Roshan armor growth increased from 0.325 to 0.375
- Radiant Ancient camp is now easier to stack
- Added lore to all items
- Rearranged some items in the shop (mostly ordering based on cost changes in recent years, but also in some cases moving from one category to another. Consumables are unchanged.)
- When combining, items will attempt to be placed into the slot of their component that has the most similar active effect. For example, Magic Wand will combine onto Magic Stick, Bloodthorn will combine onto Orchid Malevolence, etc.