DOTA 2 7.00 : The Game As You Know It Will Never Be The Same

The day is here. Teased back in August, Monkey King will finally be released for DOTA 2 today, bringing along with him changes and updates that will change the game forever.

Sun Wukong – The Monkey King

Forget everything you’ve learnt about DOTA 2 till this point. Well, apart from the main objective and the hero names, though you might want to add another name in your memory. Sun Wukong, a.k.a Monkey King, the slippery tree-hopping, shape-shifting legendary ape is sure to boggle your mind. A melee carry with great escape potential, He has abilities like Mischief to transform into a rune or an Iron Branch or a tree, using his surroundings to his advantage. His Ultimate, Command, lets him call a horde of monkey warriors to his aid, reigning chaos on the battlefield. If that wasn’t enough, he also has the ability to jump around on trees, waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce upon the unsuspecting enemy. Good luck jungling with him around!

Talent Trees

Adding a completely new feature to the game, each hero will now have a unique talent tree, allowing them to choose one of two bonuses at levels 10,15,20 and 25. These can be used to adapt your hero to the tide of the battle, and can heavily affect your play style within the game. Note, that once you choose a bonus, the other one will not be available at higher levels. Think fast, and think well.

HUD Changes

The new patch also adds a number of significant changes to the game UI, bring some fine-tuned adjustments to make sure you stay at the top of your game. The HUD now gives players a better vision on the map and a variety of ways to see what’s happening around them. The hero console has also been reworked to occupy less space on the screen, and makes upgrading the abilities much easier than before.

A major feature is the backpack, which allows you to carry three more items, in addition to your 6-slot inventory. The backpack items cannot be activated, but you can use these to carry recipes so make sure that you don’t need to wait for the courier to slog around to get your big item. You can also switch the items between your inventory and the backpack, but moving them will put them on a six second cooldown before they become active.

Pregame Changes

7.00 patch puts a lot more emphasis on the pregame, differentiating between the Pick Phase and the Strategy Phase. The Pick Phase is now similar to the Heroes Gallery layout, making it easier to use different filters. You now also have the option to suggest a hero to your teammates by Alt-clicking on their portrait, highlighting the hero on their screens.

After selecting the hero, the 30-second long Strategy Phase begins. It allows you to decide your lanes and ward positions, and also predict enemy lanes. You can also buy the starting items before you spawn at your fountain, thus making the pregame phase much more challenging as the both the teams can now start moving around as soon as they enter the game.

Hero Remodels

Gameplay changes and a new hero aren’t the only things going on. Viper, Slardar and Enigma have spent some time working on their appearances as well. Check out the badass looking heroes below:

From the deeps, I rise, and so do my biceps.

Cloaked in poison (and spikes).

Conflict is eternal. No less so are my abs.

There are a number of significant and complex changes to the gameplay. The Rosh pit has been moved, there are new ward locations, new ancient creeps and the whole jungle has been reworked for both the sides. The heroes and items have all undergone some updates as well, with the addition of Aghanim’s Scepter to Slark, Sniper, Riki, Chaos Knight and many more. Existing Scepter upgrades have been reworked as well, including Zeus’. You can go through the complete changelog on the DOTA 2 website.

The 7.00 patch is live, though not everyone has managed to update yet. For those who haven’t gotten the update, expect it to arrive anytime today. For those who have already tried it, let us know how you feel about the new game (let’s face it, that’s pretty much where we’re headed).

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