Not much to say here, let's go!
Kaldr, the Ancient Apparition
Atropos, the Bane Elemental
Ish'kafel, the Dark Seer
Mireska Sunbreeze, the Dark Willow
Another one of the newer heroes, one that was added into the game alongside Donte Panlin, Mireska Sunbreeze the Dark Willow is basically another example of fairies in fiction returning back from happy-but-mischievous Tinker Bell expies into the mischievous-and-malicious ones of lore. Mireska is apparently particularly special among her own kin, being an asshole among a race of assholes. She grew up in Revtel, a nation of thieves, and while she was the daughter of a faerie merchant king, she grew bored of the whole deal, and ended up burning the entire family estate to leave cause a whole ton of mischief in the world. Design-wise, she looks to be just a generic fairy lady with butterfly wings carrying a lantern, but I really do like how her 'hat' of flower petals are actually part of her physiology, and, like Donte Panlin, Mireska is a character with an immensely exhaustive voicework, trash-talking and acting haughtily towards every single person she meets. Even when meeting a friendly ally, she tends to basically give backhanded compliments. Also worth noting is that she comes with an additional 'pet', the little pink wisp Jex, and it's an interesting design. A little blob with a skull-like mask-face, weird fleshy bug wings and arms? That's pretty cute... until Mireska activates Jex for one of her two ultimate abilities (as a newly-created hero, Mireska's skills are a wee bit different compared to most of the Dota-1 imported heroes), where it's revealed that Jex's an even bigger psychopath than its mistress.Enigma
Another one with the elemental-esque genie body shape, Enigma is... kind of an enigma. Originally "Darkchov" in Dota 1, this name was removed to make him even more of an enigma. Nothing is known of Enigma's background, apparently, only stories, legends, and mysteries.. and he is apparently a universal force and a consumer of worlds, basically something akin to beings like Galactus or the Anti-Monitor or Unicron. He's a being that devours universes, but of his origin, no one knew. Was he a great alchemist that tried to unlock the secrets of the universe, but was cursed into this being? Was he an ancient being, a personification of gravity, the personification of the abyss? A piece of the original darkness before the gods created worlds? My favourite origin story about Enigma, and what I think is perhaps the coolest, is the last one given in his backstory -- Enigma is a sentient black hole, the first collapsed star, a unique being travelling the world for enigmatic purposes. He's got a pretty cool texture going on, and, like Io and Chaos Knight, Enigma is another Dota 2 hero based on one of the four fundamental forces of the universe. Enigma, of course, represents gravity. Basically, he's one of the many, many eldritch abominations beyond mortal comprehension that runs around the Dota 2 world.CARL, the Invoker
Speaking of mechanically unusual classes is the Invoker. Whose real name, according to some snippets of dialogue in the game, is actually "Carl" (a hilarious shortening and bastardization of Kael'thas, the hero that this dude is based on in Dota 1). Design-wise, the Invoker isn't anything impressive. He's a generic elf-looking handsome dude with your typical gaudy and overblown fantasy wizard/mage garb. But Invoker's notable for how his skills level up. Invoker only remembers three spells: Quas, Wex and Exort, and the order that you level these up in will cause one out of ten different actual spells. So if you, the player, casted Wex-Wex-Wex, the Invoker will unleash the EMP spell. Cast Quas-Quas-Wex, and the Invoker will cast Ghost Walk. Cast Wex-Exort-Exort, and the Invoker will summon a motherfucking meteor.And I absolutely love this. It's a neat little wink-and-nod to how Dota 1's original Warcraft III engine meant that each hero only had four skills, despite most of these heroes supposedly being these god-like beings of power. The Invoker, mechanically, puts yourself in the shoes of an actual wizard who has to memorize how to cast a whole ten spells at a moment's notice. And this is reflected in Invoker's lore, which emphasizes how much the fact that magic was the act of memory, how real, potent magic depended on the caster's memory -- how ordinary wizards were content to know two spells, and the the best could only manage three or four. Except the Invoker, which had such great talent and memory that he's able to cast so much more. He has ten favourites (which are the ten you can cast in-game), and apparently goes around essentially like a goddamn Pokemon collector, learning spells, casting them once, and then forgetting them from his memory if they're not required. One of this was apparently an immortality spell, causing the Invoker to wander around the world as an immortal man. An immortal and haughty man, who is a massive dick of a showoff. An immortal and haughty man named Carl.
Jakiro, the Twin-Head Dragon
Two-headed dragons are cool, right? That's why we love our Hydras and our Yamata-no-Orochis. And having multiple elements under your command is also cool. Originally represented by the Chimaera unit in Dota 1, the Dota 2 update gave Jakiro's individual heads a lot more personality. See, the two-headed dragon had one head that breathed fire, and one head that breathed ice, and I really do like how the two heads actually looks different, with the ice heads having a far larger lower jaw with a beard of ice, while the fire one had cute little horns. I also love how each wings are different. We don't really learn a whole ton of lore from Jakiro, but apparently his species is called the "Pyrexae Dragons", a species that always lay two eggs at a time, allowing whichever stronger sibling to consume the weaker one upon hatching. Jakiro, meanwhile, was a mutant that hatched from a single egg, combining in a single being the entire range of fire and ice abilities that the Pyrexae Dragons have.Leshrac, the Tormented Soul
Not to be confused with but almost certainly named after Leshrac, a major character from early Magic: The Gathering sets, Dota 2's Leshrac is... it's another centaur man with antlers. And Leshrac is perhaps a prime example of basically taking the original Warcraft III design and really not doing much but make sure it looks different enough to be safe from copyright, because Dota 1's Leshrac was based on a ghostly version of the Keeper of the Grove deer-centaur people. And... this is essentially the same thing, but with his horns and shoulderpads looking a bit more crystalline, and also giving him some abs. I did love his lore, though, even if I do feel like his actual in-game skills are a bit boring -- the "Tormented Soul" is a formerly a philosopher trying to look for the meaning of existence, but was transformed by the knowledge granted to him by the Chronoptic Crystals, all Lovecraft-style, and he now exists half in one plane of existence and half in another, basically understanding the true nature of, well, nature, apparently knowing that reality is lurid and vile, and this has caused him to become basically a tormented being who fights for the impurity of nature. It's kinda interesting, but I really wished that between his design (ghostly centaur man) to his lore (being who exists in multiple planes at once and sees the impurity of the world) and his in-game skills (lightning storms, earthquakes and evil shadow blasts) there was more cohesion, y'know?Etherain, the Lich
Straight-up just Kel'Thuzad in Dota 1, the Lich ended up getting a completely new name and backstory for Dota 2. And Etherain is... an interesting being. He's skill a highly powerful undead ice-sorcerer, but he now has this whole "bound in chains" vibe going on for him, and that's always a pretty fun and interesting little gimmick to throw into an undead monster. It's also a nice adaptation of the Kel'Thuzad/Lich model in Warcraft III having chains trailing off of their arms... but not actually binding them, whereas Etherain is still clearly visibly bound. His backstory dictates that he was originally a powerful ice wizard who enslaved entire kingdoms, but was attacked by his subjects, bound with enchanted rope, and threw him into a supposedly bottomless Black Pool. He died there, but his body remained on the bottom of the not-actually-bottomless pool. Years later, a completely unrelated magician was doing experiments to try and determine if the Black Pool was actually bottomless... and ended up uncovering Etherain's body. The magician resurrected Etherain, thinking that he could question the dead man about the mysteries of the pool, but, of course, this ended up producing the mighty Lich, who slew his unfortunate rescuer. And all this because of a misunderstanding about whether a pool is bottomless or not!Nature's Prophet
Note that Nature's Prophet's "real" name was originally given as Tequoia in Dota 2, but was very swiftly removed and he is just this nameless Nature's Prophet now.
Rotund'jere, the Necrophos
Rotund'jere isn't really rotund. In fact, he looks straight-up anorexic! Also, back in Dota 1, his name was actually briefly "Necrophiliac" before the designers realized that it's not the word they wanted. Rotund'jere spent most of Dota 1 as the "Necrolyte", as in a necromancer acolyte, before becoming "Necrophos" (phos = light) in Dota 2. That's a long name history for what's essentially just an old, wizened ghost necromancer man with a giant scythe. Necrophos is apparently now a cardinal that lived during a time of great plague, and as the plague ravaged the land, Rotund'jere attempted to scheme and acquire the property of the rich nobles that are dying, going through the pretty damn heinous religious scam of "if you give money to the church, you will get spiritual rewards in the afterlife!" Rotund'jere's crimes were brought to light, and he was sentenced to death by pox... but instead of dying, Rotund'jere was instead transformed into a plague-mage, the "Pope of Pestilence", and goes around spreading disease wherever he goes. So he's no longer a ghost-man, but a disease plague-man, which is interesting.Necrophos is one of those heroes whose regular form is honestly pretty boring, but between his various cosmetic choices, has one of the coolest varieties of appearances out there. Plague doctor, skull-themed necromancer, all covered up with only glowing eyes, Evil Gandalf, a lich, a Chinese Emperor... hell, even a goddamn literal bird-man for some reason!
Nerif, the Oracle
I'm not sure what is it about that weird clockwork orb held by the Oracle looks so interesting. It doesn't show on this static image, of course, but the actual 3D model on the Oracle has it rotate and move around like a gyroscope. Oracle's design is also pretty neat, I guess -- the robes and that huge... collar or whatever behind his head is interesting, and while not the most creative thing out there as far as fantasy designs go, I do like the juxtaposition of the more traditional mage-like robes with the strange planetary clockwork technology he's got going on. He's also got blue skin with what seems to be golden flake tattoo things. He also has no legs -- that isn't just long robes. He straight up has no legs.Nerif the Oracle also has the longest lore out of all of the Dota 2 heroes, with a flavour text that's easily five times longer than your average Dota 2 hero. Apparently Nerif is one of many Oracles in the world of Cymurri, a society that was able to split their souls form their bodies, thus allowing them to see visions and prophecies. But Nerif was special -- his predictions don't only tell the future, but also alter it. At one point, this caused the Cymurri to be at war with new enemies, and Nerif got blamed for this. Nerif's next prophecy, of course, was a prediction of the destruction of the Sybil faction that demanded his removal. It, of course, came true, and caused everyone to fear Nerif. All but the King, who decided to basically trick Nerif into saying prophecies that benefited him. Of course, trying to control fate ended when Nerif gave a bizarre prediction: "it could go either way", and in the subsequent battle, the King's armies were quite literally caught in a state of broken reality, where they are in "either way", with his soldiers simultaneously dead and alive, his armies simultaneously winning and losing. It's... it's kind of similar to what happened with Leshrac, but instead of being all emo about it, the Cymurri armies and their enemies were driven to insanity. Nerif himself was apparently bound, gagged and launched away from their world, so he's... an alien? Whatever the case, he found himself in the good old world of Dota 2, among many other reality warpers. A pretty interesting design and backstory, honestly, and the Oracle's ability basically allows him to delay and alter the course of events, but causing effects to be delayed, or to cause his allies or enemies to be seemingly immune to the effects of damage or skills, and most of his other skills tended to play on the "power at a price" style, like Purifying Flames, which deals damage and a heal-over-time effect, or Fate's Edict, which makes a target immune to magical damage but also unable to attack... basically, depending on whether you want the negative side of one of Oracle's skills on an enemy, or the positive side on an ally, ends up making Oracle perhaps one of the hardest heroes to actually master in this game.
Harbinger, the Outworld Devourer
Originally the Obsidian Destroyer, based on the Obsidian Destroyer sphynx-statue-people from Warcraft III, Harbinger does actually still keep most of the essential look of the Obsidian Destroyer's original silhouette. He's part flesh and part stone, though, really emphasizing how his beast-like lower body is flesh and bone, while his head, torso and wings are stone with green energy crackling through them. The demonic head's also a pretty cool one. Not really all that much to say here, honestly -- the Outworld Devourer is just a pretty cool monster design, but instead of being a mere statue monster, Harbinger is a being that prowls the Void, the last survivor of a long-forgotten society. Despite his monstrous look, though, Harbinger awaits for the stirring of far greater creatures under the stars, waiting for the eventual return of some Cthulhu-like eldritch star-beast beyond the Void. He's a literal harbinger, waiting for the arrival of some cosmic horror, and he ended up being drawn to the conflict between the Ancients. And as powerful as Harbinger is, he's just a harbinger... of far, far worse things to come. And I do like the general mechanic of Harbinger as basically a herald of some horror beyond the stars, playing into Lovecraftian themes. Harbinger's whole deal is that how much damage he can do depends on his Intelligence stats, and the difference between his intelligence and his enemies -- the higher the gap is, the more damage his ultimate skill, "Sanity's Eclipse", does. Pretty cool stuf!Puck, the Faerie Dragon
Obviously based on the Fairy Dragons from Warcraft III, Puck's new Dota 2 design leans a lot more towards 'fairy' than 'dragon'. It's still very interesting, though -- Warcraft III's Fairy Dragon were more of a combination of lizard, frog and butterflies, and while Puck's new design does still have the general body-shape of a winged dragon-like creature, the way he holds himself and the way his torso, limbs and head is arranged, makes him look a lot more like a humanoid fairy. If humanoid fairies had lizard-like heads, four arms, two tiny legs, and multiple large bug wings. Where Mireska is a more traditional Tinker Bell like fairy, Puck is a far, far weirder looking fairy creature, and while my first impression of his new model was "why is he an embryo monster?" I have grown to really appreciate just how uncannily weird Puck looks. Puck is apparently the juvenile form of a faerie dragon, a species that lives for aeons, and thus has a bizarre, alien personality. And this means that his entire set of philosophies and priorities are utterly alien. He/she can warp reality, joke around about having fun with his friends... and then also joke around in the same happy chipper tone about the mass murder he/she just did. He's a pretty sarcastic little fairy critter that actually is pretty fun to play as a huge nuke character. One of my favourite heroes to play just because of how fun the lines of dialogue that he/she says are, honestly.
Akasha, the Queen of Pain
As I mentioned in my previous Strength hero review, Dota 2 has a lot of demons. One of them is Akasha, the Queen of Pain, based on the succubus in Warcraft III... and she's perhaps one of the few heroes in Dota 2 that actualyl remains relatively fanservice-y in her base look. Which, honestly, considering what she is, is appropriate? She's a pretty simple lady demon, though, just a sexy blue-skinned lady with bat wings and horns. Not a whole ton to write about regarding her design, but it's a pretty serviceable one. Akasha's backstory is pretty... weird, though. She was straight-up summoned from hell into the mortal pain because of some king with a huge, huge fetish for BDSM. But instead of hiring whores like any sane person would, he decided to get his wizards to summon the most demented succubus. And while Akasha was initially bound to never be able to actually kill the king... she apparently did such a great job at making the king enjoy painful sex so much that he neglected his kingdom, causing an uprising to happen, and eventually the king got killed, and the Queen of Pain is unleashed upon the mortal realms. Understandably, though, her skills in-game doesn't actually have any sort of dominatrix theme to it, mostly featuring teleportation, generic stabbing, or her ultimate ability, a Black Canary esque sonic scream.Rubick, the Grand Magus
Is Rubick my favourite design in Dota 2? Y'know, other than maybe the bug monsters, probably. On the surface, he looks like just another wizard, not too much different from the likes of Oracle, Invoker or Crystal Maiden or whatever. But it's the animations and the sheer amount of kooky character that is worked into Rubick's design. That huge eyes that just look so happy and inquisitive, the black-and-white mask, that curled-up cape... visual wise, Rubick already has a pretty interesting visual design that sets him apart as being slightly more unhinged compared to his magician brethren. But it's his animations, particularly when he's standing still, that made him particularly fun. His head just jerks around like an owl or a marionette, really selling the idea that this is an eccentric, kooky man, while his staff of green goop just constantly rises up and floats around. Rubick's whole deal is that he's not content to just learn a couple of spells, y'know? The Invoker has ten, sure, but that's not enough for Rubick. He's a bit of a cuckoo, initially not realizing that he has immense magical potential, even to become a "Magus"... and as assassination attempts began to straight-up bore him, he decided that, of course, the best and most entertaining thing for him to do is to kill a Magus himself. Okay, then! This confrontative nature caused all of the Magus-es in the land, but as they gathered and launched their spells at Rubick, he began to easily read and replicate every single spell that launched his way, sowing chaos amongst the Magus army, causing them to think that they have been betrayed by their kin, and after every single Magus lay fallen, he was unanimously voted as the Grand Magus.And while friendly fire wasn't a thing in Dota 2, and you can't actually make your enemy team think that they were betraying each other, Rubick's whole deal was Spellsteal, where he will 'steal' and hold onto whatever skill that the enemy hero used last. This meant demonic magic, reality warping explosions, time reversal... hell, even laser beams and summoning Gyrocopter's big-ass bomb. This meant that Rubick is easily the most difficult hero for anyone to use, requiring great knowledge of every other single hero in the game and what their skills are. One of his more hilarious skills that isn't Spellsteal, though, is Telekinesis, where he causes an enemy to be thrown in the air, and then fall down and damage the enemy. He's also got a gloriously snarky voice, and according to his dialogue, apparently he's the son of the great Magus Aghanim, whose scepter is one of the most powerful items in the game.
Shadow Demon
Originally "Eredar the Shadow Demon", named after a race of demons in Warcraft III, this dude is just given the name of "Shadow Demon". Okay, then? The Shadow Demon isn't the most interesting demonic design, although still one that looks pretty demonic. Huge, muscular and shirtless body; chains; beast-like claws; shadows bleeding out of his hands; a huge collar of spikes; a skull head covered with Ghost Rider like flame-smoke thing... and apparently, the Shadow Demon is unique among the demons in Dota 2. His bio notes how the likes of Doom and Nevermore really don't bother with the affairs of the material plane, being relatively single minded in their own personal goals, but Shadow Demon realizes that the bizarre world of Dota 2 is apparently a "dimensional nexus" that is key to total dominion of all realities. After all, considering the sheer amount of literal gods, extra-dimensional beings, reality warpers and all sorts of other godly creatures that have landed in the Dota 2 world, it's not too far a stretch, is it? And apparently, the Shadow Demon is the demonic equivalent of a go-getter. Arriving and impressing minor wizards and demonologists, he quickly rose in the ranks to impress master wizards, then kings and lords, who think that the Shadow Demon was merely an illusion-granting minion. But the Shadow Demon's influence was subtle, eroding the minds of his 'masters', eventually creating a massive cult of people in influence.Eventually, though, the Shadow Demon's plans was discovered when one of his minions was eaten by Nevermore, the Shadow Fiend... who then realized that some sort of coup was underway, and that the equilibrium of hell is about to be torn asunder. Nevermore and Doom eventually joined forces, destroying the Shadow Demon's cult, reducing it to a bloody splatter. But while the Shadow Demon seemed to be destroyed, a tiny speck of shadow was enough to regenerate, continuing to taint and spread the Shadow Demon's influence, and he is reborn stronger than ever. Kind of a shame, though, that despite this pretty interesting backstory, in battle, Shadow Demon mostly relies on just generic debuffs and whatnot to take down his enemies.
Raijin Thunderkeg, the Storm Spirit
We met Kaolin and Xin before, the Earth and Ember Spirits, and this is the third member of what used to be the "elemental panda" trio in Dota 1, but are just the elemental spirits here. Despite the Japanese-originated name of "Raijin" the actual design of Raijin is basically kind of a mixture of Japanese and Chinese traditional clothes. And where his two elemental brothers are calm, Raijin is all CRAAAAAZY. Voice actor John Patrick Lowrie channels his inner Robin Williams, and his voice acting is purposefully loud, boisterous, and honestly, either going to annoy you or cause you to love this happy, zip-zapping thunderball. And that's Storm Spirit's whole deal. He turns into a thunderbolt and zips around the battlefield, mocking and bragging as he does so, just happy to be alive and be zapping things. His backstory is... its interesting. An elementalist called Thunderkeg lived in a village that was doomed due to famine, and in desperation, used a forbidden spell to summon a Celestial called Raijin to bring rain. The proud celestial was enraged at the mortal's presumption, and unleashed storms upon the village. Again, in desperation, Thunderkeg cast another forbidden spell, merging his body with Raijin's, fusing the two into a single being -- a being that both had Thunderkeg's good humour, but also Raijin's crazed, primal energy.Squee, Spleen and Spoon, the Techies
I remembered when I played Dota 1, and the Goblin Techies hero was called "Squee and Spleen" for a long, long while, until the community and game developers realized that there were three goblins in the character model. Look here -- two goblins running, dragging a barrel, right? Nope, that one barrel had goblin feet under it. It's a third goblin! And so, Spoon was born. And when they imported now-no-longer-Goblin Techies into Dota 2, a significant amount of the joke dialogue recorded included the two main Techies, Squee and Spleen, talking about how, man, what a pity Spoon died in an accident, and how sometimes they can still hear his voice... despite Spoon, of course, still stuck in that barrel that one of his buddies lug around like a backpack. Techies, of course, is infamous for being kind of a joke character, because the whole point of Techies is that they go around and lay invisible mines all over the map, and, in desperation, can explode, killing themselves while dealing significant damage to the enemy. It's an... interesting gimmick for sure. I'm not the biggest fan of Techies' new redesign, although maybe that's just because I don't like the massive chin that the not-goblin in the back has, or maybe it's the orange-coloured skin tone. A group of insane demolitionists and have a thing for explosives is pretty fun, though, and I definitely do find their voice responses to be pretty dang hilarious.Boush, the Tinker
For a while, Tinker was my favourite hero for me to play, and I'm not entirely sure why. Originally a goblin with a backpack that extended into two massive giant mecha-arms, Boush's new redesign made him into the "Keenfolk", and instead of giant grabby claws, he now has a far more impressive set of cannon-arms. I also do like how his real hands are holding what I assume to be motion-sensitive remotes or something to help him control his larger arms. It's a pretty fun design, honestly, and while Tinker is certainly not the only technology-inclined hero in Dota 2 (there is Gyrocopter, Clockwerk, Timbersaw and Techies), I think Tinker's machines are the most actually modern-looking, as opposed to the more steampunky look of his other technologically-inclined buddies. He basically launches lasers, heat-seeking missiles and even an army of robotic minions on the enemies, and, I do really love how his new voice lines basically has him talk down everything un-scientific... despite living in a world and combating sorcerers, demons, gods, druids and the odd walking tree or two every single day. His backstory is kinda bland, though, just describing how he once caused an entire investigation group to be trapped in the Violet Plateau when he accidentally opened a portal and unleashed demonic darkness that consumed the land.Visage, the Necro'lic
This specific character is perhaps where I first learned of the word "visage". I like it! And I do like just what a weird creature this is. A ghostly dragon-like creature, with a bunch of armour pieces to really show just what the full extent of his body looks -- around his wings, around his draconic face, and two claw-like arms hanging below him. A pretty cool undead monster, and Visage is apparently a gargoyle that sat above the "Narrow Maze", the same underworld that souls go to that Razor looks over. And Visage sees all the souls, big and small, that go beyond... and any soul that attempts to escape the journey to hell or heaven, Visage, the "bound form of the eternal spirit Necro'lic", would hunt it down, unhindered by death itself, and will stalk its prey and destroy everything in his path to obtain the fugitive back. He's like Judge Dredd and the grim reaper rolled into one, and I think it's implied that the reason he fights in the Ancients battle is because all the other heroes are all coming back to life repeatedly in the battle (he certainly has a huge distaste for the undead, or those who pervert the souls of the dead like Nevermore), which is, I think, a neat nod to a little peculiarity of the Dota 2 mechanics. Also, considering that based on his dialogue Visage also doubles as someone who keeps demons and other extra-dimensional beings at bay, it appears that Visage might be very well be one of the most heroic characters in this universe.Auroth, the Winter Wyvern
One of the few straight-up dragons in this game is the Winter Wyvern, and considering how god-damned popular freaking dragons are, it's actually impressive how we only have four -- Auroth, Jakiro, Puck and Davion's transformation. And Puck is definitely not a typical dragon. Auroth, though, is exactly what you expect of a typical dragon, particularly the 'wyvern' body shape popularized by Game of Thrones and Skyrim. Two lower legs, two bat-like wings, and a lizard-like body. Pretty cool, if standard, draconic design, just a dragon with some icicle spikes jutting out of her head. She could look a bit different, of course, with cosmetic items that range from making her an armoured dragon, a far more icy look, an icy undead dragon (a nod to his original Frost Wyrm undead model in Dota 1), and my favourite, one that makes him a kelp-themed aquatic dragon. Auroth is apparently an ancient "eldwurm", but unlike most dragons, Auroth is a writer and a poet, wanting to add to history and record everything that has happened, researching and learning. She's a literal book-wurm! But she gets way too distracted by the actual research and studying than actually writing, and, y'know, being a battle, sometimes she ends up looting castles and raiding battles, and of course, 'accidentally' gaining glory for herself. All in the name of research of course, but her true passion is writing. She just really, really needs some time to sit down and properly write her magnum opus, but all these distractions in the world, y'know? I can relate to her. I can relate to her so bad.Batrider
In Dota 1, this dude was called Jin'zakk, the Troll Batrider, and apparently it's a reference to a super-duper obscure RPG-sourcebook only character. And... and new Batrider is... well, he's still basically still a Warcraft troll, but without the tusks, the scoliosis, and an extra set of funky goggles. I do always like the concept of people riding giant weird unconventional mounts (which is basically 99% of the mounts in World of Warcraft), and a giant bat is pretty fun! I really love the basic Batrider bat look, too, where the bat has this adorable little metal helmet going on. Apparently, according to the backstory, the (now unnamed) Batrider was taken as a child by a Morde-bat (deathbat, I guess?) when he was a boy... but proceeded to crawl out of the bat's grasp, went onto the beast's back and basically killed the giant bat. And he became kind of a thrill-seeker and adrenaline junkie, which sort of reflects into his actual game play, which basically mostly includes a whole lot of oil, flame and molotov cocktail. I'm genuinely not sure why he's considered an "Intelligence" hero, though, which I guess is one of those game-and-story segregation things.Chen, the Holy Knight
Chen the Holy Knight... is actually less of a paladin, despite how his skills are named, and more of a beast-master that basically can command (or convert, I guess) random neutral creeps to join his small army. Chen apparently hails from a nomadic tribe that were able to use magics to enthrall animals, but one time, they ambushed a group of knights called the Knights of the Fold. Chen's clan was slaughtered, but his bravery earned mercy from the Knights, and was given a choice: death or conversion, which Chen took with fervour, basically now going around riding a weird mutant rhinoceros and essentially forcing people to convert... or giving them their 'final end' if they refuse to. I do like the fact that they actually managed to make the evangelist or faith-spreader part of a holy cause actually work out as an actual in-game mechanic.Rylai, the Crystal Maiden
Crystal Maiden was originally represented by Jaina Proudmoore's model, if you couldn't tell. She's still essentially the same thing, sans midriff and with a bunch of extra woolly furs to really showcase her winter ice mage theme. She's neat-looking, I guess, just kinda generic. Crystal Maiden's mostly infamous for being the archetypal support hero. Rylai's lore notes that she is siblings with Lina the Slayer, who is a fire mage, and they have a typical siblings-with-opposite-temperament deal going on. Thanks to their opposing magical powers, they were sent off to different magical tutors, with Rylai apparently being the unfavourite sibling that was "banished" to the northern realm of Icewrack, where she eventually found a wizard hermit who taught her to control and channel her ice powers. Neat!Krobelus, the Death Prophet
Dazzle, the Shadow Priest
Disruptor, the Stormcrafter
His name is "Disruptor", huh? Okay. Originally in Dota 1, he's just straight up Thrall, one of the main characters of World of Warcraft. And he's... well, he's a red-coloured, tuskless orc. Or, well, an "Oglodi", the same red-skinned not-an-orc race that Axe hails from. He rides around on the most precious bizarre lizard-creature thing with two legs and a beard, and he's basically an electrical-controlling sorcerer. Whether it be from that hammer or those things that jut out of his back, the Disruptor is apparently a talented storm-crafter that was able to unlock the secrets of the harsh storms of the land of Druud. Disruptor ended up searching through his tribe's history, finding ancient methods to control the storm, including an ancient design for a coil... and I quote, managed to learn how to harness "the power of electrical differential", making him a walking lightning rod. Despite his name and appearance, Disruptor is apparently a man that fights with science, which I find is pretty damn hilarious and awesome.Aiustha, the Enchantress
Grimstroke
Another one of the newer heroes is Grimstroke, who is definitely based on some sort of Japanese oni. He goes around in this tattered samurai armour and this demon mask, carrying around a massive paintbrush... and anyone who's seen any sort of anime knows that he's using that paintbrush to create paintings that come immediately to life. And he's a particularly vile monster, too. He might sound sophisticated and he's a connoisseur of art, but Grimstoroke's backstory is that he sacrificed his entire people, binding the souls of his village of Ashkavor, as well as their screams, into the brush and ink, and Grimstroke would summon images of these fallen ones to fight for him. Tragically, of course, Grimstroke was originally meant to be the guardian of Ashkavor, but he betrayed them all by manipulating the ink he used for his rune-painting... but he was so power-hungry that the corruption of the ink bent to his will and consumed his village... and turned the entire village into tainted, cursed ink. And while he really doesn't give two shits about the death of his village, apparently he is remorseful enough about killing his lover that she's the one being that gives Grimstroke any sort of regret... although not enough regret, it seems, not to weaponize her, as Grimstroke's lover is summoned specifically in one of his skills, the Phantom's Embrace.Ezalor, the Keeper of the Light
Lina, the Slayer
Lion, the Demon Witch
Aggron Stonebreak, the Ogre Magi
A two-headed ogre is pretty fun, which is why they were a constant stay in all Warcraft games ever since they showed up, voiced, in Warcraft II and constantly argued with themselves. And they kept the general silhouette when they imported the Ogre Magi into Dota 2, looking basically similar to the ogre model from Warcraft, except with more clothes and a haircut. And... and the whole point of the Ogre Mage is that ogres are fucking dumb, but Aggron Stonebreak is a freak, a child born with two heads and an aptitude of magic -- and apparently with two heads, Aggron is able to function at a level most creatures manage with one. Which is just such a hilarious and pathetic description, honestly, and this translates to the Ogre Mage's dialogue -- one of the heads will sometimes cheer for the opposing team if you lose, because Aggron's a dumb! Of course, being dumb means that the ogres are apparently blessed with a quality of "Dumb Luck", where the goddess of luck apparently takes pity on the dumb ogres and blessed the ogre species to compensate for their ineptness... which means that the Ogre Magi's skill Multicast gives Ogre Magi a chance to repeat a skill he has casted before... up to four times. And if you roll high, Aggron's two heads would boast that it's "pure skill". And honestly, most of what I find entertaining about Ogre Magi is just that hilarious blurb about how pitiful the entire ogre race is.Pugna, the Grandmaster of Oblivion
Rhasta, the Shadow Shaman
Yet another former troll, Rhasta the Shadow Shaman is now a vague orange-skinned half-troll, half-something man with, uh... glowing sticks? He's still basically going through the same traditional shamanistic healer bit going on. His design is frankly a bit generic, but his backstory is interesting. He was originally an abandoned child picked up by a con-man, a fake shaman who used him to add an air of mysticism to his arts, but turns out that Rhasta could do what his mentor only pretended to be able to do. They journeyed the lands in relative peace, but their past as charlatans caught up to them, and Rhasta's mentor was killed in the process. Rhasta ended up learning that he doesn't just have healing powers, but also dark powers that he could use to murder his enemies. Another one that honestly feels a bit boring.Nortrom, the Silencer
Nortrom's armour is pretty damn cool, yeah? That purple set of robe with golden lining, that helmet, that spinning shuriken-like blade, and that fancy-ass shield... among the many "just a D&D custom character" designs, Silencer's probably one of the coolest looking ones. Apparently, in his backstory, Nortrom was bred to be the greatest magic user the world had ever seen, and he was the result of 200 years of selective breeding. But despite his pedigree, young Nortrom seemed to remain magic-less, being silent while all other children were able to summon flame or ice... but Nortrom remained silent until the day of testing, showing off that Nortrom's true magical prowess is actually the ability to take magic away from others, showing off that the lack of magic can be as potent as any magic. Nortrom then beat the shit out of his competitors, becoming the greatest mage of Aeol Drias. Kind of a cool little backstory, and one that I feel is a bit more likable than the Anti-Mage. And, of course, in-game, Silencer's famous ability, Global Silence, is him shouting "SILENCE" really loudly and causing everyone in the map to be unable to cast spells.... but, best of all, also mutes game sounds, which is a very cool little effect.Dragonus, the Skywrath Mage
The other member of the Skywrath race alongside Vengeful Spirit, Dragonus is how a member of the Skywrath race should look like. And in addition to the Hawkman-style bird wings, he's also got bird talons for feet. It's... neat? Dragonus is otherwise pretty much kind of just there. His backstory is neat, though -- he is one of those "sworn to protect the seat of royalty" knights, but is a personal friend of the princess Shendelzare... which, of course, we knew ended up being betrayed and cast out from the Eyrie. Both Dragonus's duty and the specifics of the magic he wields meant that he was honour bound to protect Shendelzare's traitorous younger sister... and he's now basically stuck in a place where he doesn't know what to do. He's honour-bound to protect someone he kind of wants to betray, while also being sure that his beloved Shendelzare, mutated into an undead vengeful spirit, very likely thinks that Dragonus is among those who betrayed her.Demnok Lannik, the Warlock
Again, there's nothing wrong with being "just a D&D character", because you can't have every single champion be like the manifestation of entropy or an extra-dimensional traveler cast due to his prophetic visions or an insect-god capable of rewriting reality... and the Warlock Demnok Lannik is, well, just a warlock. he's hooded in some obligatory hellfire-coloured garb, he's got a fancy lantern, a giant-ass staff with runes, and a big-ass demon eyeball on his stomach. And, well, his appearance is otherwise just an old man that summons evil, demonic runes and creates gigantic lava golems with furnaces for heads. The Warlock's backstory is honestly pretty simple, basically just him being a particularly inquisitive curator and head of acquisitions, who goes around collecting ancient artifacts and not really caring for the magic tied to them until one too many encounters with protector entities caused him to finally decide to learn some actual magic... which he ended up doing with such fervour, and he quickly became a mighty warlock just out of sheer obsessiveness, and even the cursed staff and his demonic lackey are more of an afterthought. I do think that he's mostly an attempt to portray a non-malicious demon-controlling warlock, and what's basically a high-achieving librarian is definitely a neat twist.Lyralei, the Windranger
Lyralei the Windranger (Windrunner in Dota 1) probably wins the award for "oh shit, I completely forgot this Dota 2 hero exists". I'm not sure why I find Windranger less memorable than, say, someone like Shadow Shaman or Phantom Assassin or Ezalor or whatever, but I just really don't find her all that memorable. She's basically just an archer, y'know? One with generic green clothes and whatnot? Her backstory is kinda neat, where her family was killed by a storm, and "the wind itself took pity on the infant Lyralei", granting her the power to move with the power of the wind and also use it to enhance her arrows. Okay, then.Zharvakko, the Witch Doctor
Another one who was originally straight-up a Warcraft character, Zharvakko the Witch Doctor was originally the troll Vol'jin... and he's been reinvented into... well, whatever this is. Some purple-skinned... man? With long limbs, and a very tribalistic face? He does look pretty flavourful as a witch doctor, with that staff full of skulls, and I am a big fan of the accent used in his voice. Witch Doctor's a hero I've used many times as a support hero, able to stun, able to heal, and able to summon this totem-like death ward that machineguns all of his enemies to death. His backstory isn't the most intricate, though, just marking Zharvakko as, well, kind of a pretty generic witch doctor who wanders around and heals people.Zeus, the Lord of Heaven
And our last hero is Zeus, the Lord of Heaven (Lord of Olympus, originally, and I'm not sure why they changed it). And like Mars and Sun Wukong, this is just straight-up the Zeus, Greek God of Thunder, transplanted into the mythology and world of Dota 2. And he's... he's a bearded man that commands lightning, although he certainly has had a nice shave compared to traditional appearances of Greek gods. And apparently this version of Zeus basically went to the mortal world because of what's essentially a bet with his wife, because he loved mortals so much that she's given him an ultimatum to go to the mortal world and prove that he's faithful... otherwise he can die among the mortals. Somehow, this also translates into winning in this battle of the Ancients. He's got a very hammy and proud outlook on life, but that's about it.
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