Dota 2 Weekly Patch - 28/03/13: Bristleback Arrives

[Omnomnick]

This week's Dota 2 update will see the introduction of Bristleback, a melee strength hero who is regularly played as a tank initiator capable of spamming abilities due to their low cooldowns and mana costs. His passive ability, aptly named "Bristleback", allows Bristleback to receive reduced damage from sources coming from his side or rear, helping to make him very survival against gank-heavy heroes such as Riki. His passive ultimate, on the other hand, allows Bristleback to increase his movement speed and attack damage based on how many abilities he can stack in quick succession of one another, allowing him to potentially receive upwards of around 150 extra damage and 25% additional movement speed.

The update is also planned to ship with a huge variety of bug fixes to a wide selection of heroes including Weaver, Dragon Knight, Nyx Assassin and many more. Wisp and Beastmaster will both receive major changes to their characters, as Wisp's in-game name is changing to "Io", while Beastmaster's voice lines have been reworked and made deeper. The improved and heavily modified Vengeful Spirit model shown over a month ago will finally be included in this update, complete with updated character images and icons. Speaking of updated models; the Gem of True Sight, Magic Wand, Recipe, Iron Branch, Observer Wards and Sentry Wards have all received updated in-game ground models similar to improvements made to other items in previous weeks.

A variety of cosmetic item sets introduced to the game files in previous weeks have finally been added, including new community submitted sets for Brewmaster, Lich, Riki, Juggernaut, Beastmaster and Spectre. Additionally, a couple of new couriers are also set to be included including the "Captain Bamboo" panda and the "Speedy Snail" courier, but whether or not these will be added to the Dota 2 Store along with the pair of unreleased couriers from last week remains to be seen. CyborgMatt has uploaded a full changelog analysis to his blog and the update patch notes have been released to the Dota 2 blog.

 

[Vegeta897]

Another male strength hero. Why so sexist Valve!?

Edit: And Wisp will always be Wisp. What the hell is Io? Eye-oh? Ee-oh?

 

[Omnomnick]

Another male strength hero. Why so sexist Valve!?

Just be thankful Legion Commander is female now.

 

[morgs]

I wonder if Wisp getting a name change is because of a clash with Blizzards Wisp's which look very similar.

 

[Omnomnick]

I wonder if Wisp getting a name change is because of a clash with Blizzards Wisp's which look very similar.

Highly doubt it. A "Wisp" isn't a Blizzard created being, that'd be like saying Valve don't use the word "Dwarf" because Blizzard use that word in their games. I imagine its more so Valve just wanting to creatively separate themselves from Blizzard as much as possible.

EDIT: Vegeta, Wisp's full name is actually just "Io the Guardian Wisp", so calling her/him/it "Wisp" is still permitted I guess, in the same way that a lot of the community still refer to Night Stalker by his actual name, Balanar.

 

[Vegeta897]

EDIT: Vegeta, Wisp's full name is actually just "Io the Guardian Wisp", so calling her/him/it "Wisp" is still permitted I guess, in the same way that a lot of the community still refer to Night Stalker by his actual name, Balanar.

And they're all nerds when they do it.

 

[Omnomnick]

And they're all nerds when they do it.

Now you're a nerd for calling Io "Wisp", you nerd.

 

[Vegeta897]

Eh I dunno, calling something by a basic term instead of its proper name is less nerdy. If I called Pudge "big fat dude" I'd be pretty non-nerdy, because any normal person would probably call him that just looking at him.

 

[Dr.IndianaJones]

You're a nerd for being on a fan news site that's about games...

Take that!

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Some heroes names seem to stick like Furion or Naix but I think that's a convenience thing. The opposite sticks with potm instead of mirana. Using those names just means you're more knowledgeable and you should listen to that guy for all decision making.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Highly doubt it. A "Wisp" isn't a Blizzard created being, that'd be like saying Valve don't use the word "Dwarf" because Blizzard use that word in their games. I imagine its more so Valve just wanting to creatively separate themselves from Blizzard as much as possible.

EDIT: Vegeta, Wisp's full name is actually just "Io the Guardian Wisp", so calling her/him/it "Wisp" is still permitted I guess, in the same way that a lot of the community still refer to Night Stalker by his actual name, Balanar.

By the way, I've just seen it confirmed. Wisp is now called Io.

 

[ríomhaire]

Another male strength hero. Why so sexist Valve!?

Edit: And Wisp will always be Wisp. What the hell is Io? Eye-oh? Ee-oh?

Learn your classical mythologies bitch. Or astronomy at least. Io is a very well known moon.

Also wasn't there supposed to be some sort of triple hero update for weeks and weeks now? One that didn't include this guy?

 

[Omnomnick]

By the way, I've just seen it confirmed. Wisp is now called Io.

You've just seen it confirmed? Are you blind? Wait don't answer that.

Wisp and Beastmaster will both receive major changes to their characters, as Wisp's in-game name is changing to "Io",

Also wasn't there supposed to be some sort of triple hero update for weeks and weeks now? One that didn't include this guy?

It was presumed that Bristleback and two other heroes would be released together as their in-game files were all up to date with one another. Looks more like they're scattering the hero releases now.

 

[Eejit]

Learn your classical mythologies bitch. Or astronomy at least. Io is a very well known moon.

Also wasn't there supposed to be some sort of triple hero update for weeks and weeks now? One that didn't include this guy?

Techies will be a triple hero update.

 

[morgs]

Played a bot match as Bristlesnot and he seems pretty fun. His animations are really nice.

 

[Vegeta897]

I was in a match against him earlier and at one point, he was fleeing from us and we kept attacking him with almost no health left, but his health just wouldn't go away, I'm guessing because of that back deflection, and even my Necrolyte ult did not kill him. Freakin' annoying.