Valve has revealed the details of the DOTA 2’s New Frontiers update. This is the biggest update to the game that it has seen in years, including literally.
The New Frontiers name alludes to the widest change it features: a new map with 40 % more terrain. The map has been designed so that the lanes should still be the same distance to each other as before. Rather, the extra room gives players more resources to find, as well as breathing room for broader strategies. This could lead to longer games as well, but also, those games could be more evenly contested.
The second most meaningful change New Frontiers is matchmaking, and this news is probably most welcome to its highest skilled veteran players. Valve is switching over from its old Elo algorithm, to an entirely new algorithm called Glikco.
Of course, we don’t know the finer details of how this new algorithm will work, but Valve says that you can treat its debut as the start of a new matchmaking season. And both algorithms will run simultaneously for some time, so that Valve can ascertain that Glicko is doing a better job than Elo.
There are even more changes coming with New Frontiers. In fact, there are so many changes that Valve recommends players just jump back into the game to learn the finder details, because it will be easier and faster to find out that way. With that said, we’ll summarize a few highlights:
Roshan the Immortal has two new pits to spawn from, in the northwest and southeast corners of the new map. His drops have also changed, with his third death dropping either a Refresher Shard or Scepter depending on which pit he is in.
There are now two gates that connect each map corner to the safe lane towers. Players can just teleport to any map edge they prefer.
Lotus pools now appear on the left and right sides of the map, in proximity to where the creep waves meet. These pools spawn fruit that gives players mana and HP. The fruit can also be stockpiled to make larger, higher-value fruit, though Valve won’t say how many levels you can scale the fruit.
There are two new neutral creeps who hold Aghanim’s Shards instead of Rohsan. These are called Tormentors, and they’re considerably more difficult to defeat. They have megashields to protect them from most damage, and they get stronger with each respawn.
Watchers can work with you or your opponent player, depending on the actions either of you take. Whoever kills Roshan gets the Watchers on their side.
Defender’s gates function to easily keep enemies out of your base while you can easily get in. Think of them as a backdoor you can use while your opponents are attacking your frontgate.
You can also pick up Wisdom Runes, that give XP boosts, Shield Runes, which give you shield, and 12 new creep camps. The outposts have also moved to new locations.
If you are interested, you can read the rest of the details here. You can also watch the official trailer below.
