Valve has released the Dark Rift update for DOTA 2, introducing a new hero to the playable roster while also adding a new and improved post-game summary screen and teammate stats to profiles.
The new hero is not the Monkey King, which Valve teased a couple of weeks ago. The Monkey King, while based on a myth, is the first original hero that Valve will add to DOTA 2 this fall.
Instead, the new hero for DOTA 2 is Vrogros the Underlord, who is described in Valve's official page for the Dark Rift update as able to "conjure forth flame and crippling malice through the twist between worlds, destroying or enslaving all he encounters."
Underlord's skills are as follows:
Firestorm: Calls down multiple waves of fire that deal damage to enemies within a target area, with additional damage inflicted over time.
Pit of Malice: A pit is summoned at a target location, with any unit entering the pit not allowed to move for a certain time while taking damage. Enemy units can only be affected by the pit once.
Atrophy Aura: The aura causes enemy units nearby to lose a portion of their base damage. If an enemy dies while within the aura's area of effect, Underlord temporarily gains bonus damage.
Dark Rift: Underlord's ultimate skill opens a rift on the position of a target friendly unit, teleporting Underlord and all teammates near him at the unit's location after a slight delay.
For those who are wondering why the skills are familiar, Underlord is the DOTA 2 equivalent of the original DOTA's Pit Lord. With the Dark Rift update, DOTA 2 now contains all the content from the original custom map for Warcraft 3, as Pit Lord was the final hero from DOTA that needed to be ported to DOTA 2.
In addition to Underlord, the Dark Rift update also brings with it a new post-game summary screen that will allow players to access more information regarding their performance and that of their teammates.
Heroes will be shown with a detailed analysis on their play, including their item progression by game time and head-to-head comparisons with enemy heroes. Scoreboards will also include more details, such as how many times players killed an enemy hero, the support items and gold that each teammate contributed and their build order for abilities. In addition, several graphs can now be accessed for information on Team XP, Team Net Worth, Player Net Worth, Player Level and Player Items.
Also being added to the profiles of players are stats in the Teammates section, which will provide information on how well gamers perform in teams with other players. Stats include number of games played together, the win-loss ratio, win percentage rate, last match played and teammate performance rating.
Will Underlord and the additional in-depth statistics improve your DOTA 2 performance? Fire up the game to access the Dark Rift update, and see if you have what it takes to be in the next DOTA 2 The International tournament, which gave away over $20 million in prizes this year.
