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The Mistwoods Update – Welcome to Dota 3

The Mistwoods Update is a massive Dota 2 patch that changes the game completely. It doesn’t just add a... Radu M. | 18. December 2020

The Mistwoods Update is a massive Dota 2 patch that changes the game completely. It doesn’t just add a new hero to the pool, called Hoodwink. It adds numerous items and abilities to it as well, plus hundreds of other changes. In effect, we are invited by Valve to Dota 3 and relearn much of the game that we’ve come to love.

Hoodwink, the Newest Hero

Hoodwink is the centerpiece of The Mistwoods Update, or at least that’s what you would be tempted to think if you hadn’t read the patch notes. This hero is similar to Windranger in many ways, but still has a unique flavor. Her abilities are great for clearing waves quickly, stunning multiple enemy heroes, surviving ganks and dealing a massive amount of damage to a single distant target after a long channeling duration.

At a first glance, Hoodwink looks like a perfect midlaner, although it is not yet clear how good this hero will feel when thrown into the midst of combat. No doubt, she will have numerous counters, but also great partners to combo with. Given what Sharpshooter does (her ultimate ability), the best hero to combo with seems to be Faceless Void.

However, given that you can target the deadly bolt while channeling it, we may actually see Woodwink played even in the absence of heavy lockdown heroes. Keep in mind that the ultimate ability does 600/1000/1400 magical damage. This is enough to kill a support hero at almost every stage of the game.

Aghanim’s Shard Ability

One of the biggest innovations of The Mistwood Update (patch 7.28) is the Aghanim’s Shard ability. This ability will either enhance one of your hero’s natural abilities or add a new one. And you can obtain it after just 20 minutes by purchasing an item. Just take Bounty Hunter for example. If you unlock his Aghanim’s Shard Ability, his allies will gain 50% of the Track speed boost, as well as 800 vision around the target.

The improvements offered by Aghanim’s Shard Ability range from good to spectacular. And because you get it around the middle portion of the game, the drafting patterns and the meta will change completely. At the professional level, we may see massive changes in the pecking order as a result of this.  The best captains will probably still adapt faster than everyone else, but it’s hard to predict who will find the winning formula first and who will struggle. Given how complex the game has become as a result of the changes, matches will be more unpredictable than ever.

New Items

More than 10 purchasable items have been added to the game.  Among them, the most impressive seem to be the upgraded Blink Daggers. There’s one for Intelligence heroes, one for Agility heroes, and one for Strength heroes. They do cost a massive amount, but their benefits are enormous.

Just take the Swift Blink, which is the Blink Dagger upgrade for Agility heroes. It requires 3 components: Blink Dagger, Eaglesong, and a recipe (1750 gold). But it grants you +25 Agility and when you land at your destination, you gain +30% phased movement speed, + 40 attack speed, and +40 damage for 6 seconds. For a hero like Templar Assassin, this is the perfect item to buy in the early game. No doubt, many people will skip the Desolator for this.

Other items included in The Mistwood Update are Fluffy Hat (125 health for 250 gold), Falcon Blade (+150 HP, +1.6 mana regen, +10 damage), and many others. Some of them are expensive while others are intended for the early game. What I like is that many of them provide the opportunity to upgrade existing items or use existing item parts to create more potent combinations.

One example here is Helm of the Dominator, which can be upgraded to level 2 by buying an Ultimate Orb and a recipe (1600 gold). This upgraded mask allows you to convert Ancients. At the same time, the minimum health of the converted creature is increased to 1800, while the stat/armor/hp regen go from 6/6/6 to 20/8/8. Buying this mask quickly on an offlaner or support hero could give you massive benefits and allow you to push towers with ease.

Another great new item is Wind Maker. You can build it from a Euls, a Mystic Staff, and a recipe (1600 gold). And among other great benefits, this item allows you to Cyclone allies. No doubt, this will allow supports to save their cores much more often.

Removed and Changed Items

The Mistwood Update removed and nerfed some of the most abused items, such as Ring of Tarrasque (no longer in the game) and Heart of Tarrasque (no longer has out of combat regen). Nerfs upon nerfs have been applied to stat-giving items such as Eye of Skadi, but not all of the old items were treated with the same harshness. Some of them got much needed buffs that will no doubt make them very popular. For example, Drum of Endurance now has 8 charges instead of 6, which is a substantial increase.

Desolator was nerfed again, not that it required such a nerf. It now provides just 55 damage instead of 60, as well as a -6 armor reduction for 7 seconds. For 3500 gold, this is no longer appealing. I have a feeling that players will seek to come online with their heroes much faster and go for cheaper items instead. The standard Deso + Blink on a Templar Assassin is likely to become a thing of the past, especially now with the new Blink Dagger upgrades.

Another big item that got nerfed is the Hood of Defiance. This item only provides 20% magic resistance, which makes it just a little better than a simple Cloak. Which is why I don’t think it will be bought anymore. People will just take the Cloak and then look for other ways to improve their resistance to magical damage.

 

Photo credit: Valve