Dota 2‘s International 2018 has been having explosive games left and right all week. In between the exciting games, there was something new that Valve had to show to its loyal Dota 2 fans. Similar to last year, there was an announcement of two brand new heroes that will be coming to the popular MOBA. One of these heroes is even playable right now.
The first hero that was announced was Mars. Although barely any information was given on the hero, there are a few key things to note about the teaser for the hero. First up, it is almost a guarantee that this hero will be based off of Mars, the Roman God of War. It would not be too much of a stretch since we already have many heroes that are based off of this line of mythos.
In the trailer, we see Mars pounding a spear onto the ground, and from the ground come troops that ready themselves for battle. From this, we can assume that one of Mars’ abilities has to do with summoning units, or even possibly resurrecting creeps (a la Wraith King), to wage war against the opposing team. With new units being summoned, it does leave one wondering if this hero will be a brand new micro hero, especially since there seems to be a motif of summoning units. In addition, Mars seems to be a melee hero, but there is no indication of Mars being a strength or agility based hero. Either is a distinct possibility, but there is slight favor to Mars being an agility.
In addition, one other hero was announced. Grimstroke, the demonic-like, sumi brush wielding spellcaster, was shown off in his entirety. We got a glimpse of his backstory, design, as well as a short Source Film Maker clip that showcased Grimstroke’s ultimate. Speaking of ultimates, Valve currently has page up for the hero that will give you a basic overview of everything that there is to know about Grimstroke, including his abilities.
First up, Grimstroke is a ranged hero that specializes in a support role, and he is able to act as a disabler as well as a nuker. He also has the ability to help teammates and himself escape from dangerous situations. His ability list is as follows:
- Stroke of Fate (Q): Grimstroke winds up and paints a path of ink with his brush, damaging and slowing enemies in its wake. The damage increases with each enemy the ink strikes.
- Phantom’s Embrace (W): Grimstroke commands a phantom to latch onto his enemy, damaging and silencing it. If the phantom survives the latch duration, it rends the victim for heavy damage and refreshes Phantom Embrace’s cooldown.
- Ink Swell (E): Grimstroke covers himself or an ally in ink, silencing the target while granting bonus speed and immunity to attacks. The ink damages nearby enemies over time before bursting, damaging and stunning in the area based on how much harm it caused along the way.
- Soulbind (R): Grimstroke binds an enemy hero to its nearest allied hero in range, preventing each from moving away from the other. Unit-targeted spells that hit either hero affect both. If the bind is broken before it expires, the initial target will again be bound to its nearest allied hero in range.
The best part about this announcement is that Grimstroke is available to play right this second, so you can try him out in matchmaking to your hearts content. As for Mars, there is no set release date on the hero yet, but we can expect him out sometime this Winter, and more details about the hero will surely be revealed as that season approaches.