Zet, the Arc Warden
Zet the Arc Warden is a character that I wasn't very familiar with -- for whatever reason, I just never actually tried him out in play, despite him being around for quite a while. I'm 99% sure that he was represented with the Gnoll model in the original Dota 1 of all things, too, which was an extra bit of hilarity for me. I do like how he looks visually, leaning more towards a weird spacey sci-fi look as opposed to the mostly fantasy-leaning characters of DOTA 2. From those arms that are just disembodied streaks of energy connecting a bunch of metal gauntlets together, and that huge Mysterio-style dome head, it's definitely a very memorable appearance. Apparently, Zet has a very complex backstory, too. Apparently, when the "primordial mind" that existed before the beginning of the world splintered into the Dire and the Radiant -- the two Ancients that draw in heroes from all over the land to fight for them -- a third fragment became sentient, and said fragment is, well, Zet. It was Zet, back in the day where his power was godlike, who banished the Radiant and the Dire onto the world that Dota 2 takes place in (which may or may not be called "Earth"), and a weakened Zet, fighting for harmony, became the warden of these ancients... and eventually, Zet's power was not enough to hold them in place, causing the Dire and the Radiant to break free from their lunar prison and begin the conflict anew.Which means that Zet's backstory is actually the one that's most tied into the core conflict between the Dire and the Radiant, the two ancients that all these heroes are fighting for. Except, well, Zet himself has ended up being so shattered from his task as a warden that he's a mere shadow of himself, struggling to keep his mind together, only driven by the singular purpose of ending this conflict as soon as possible. I do really like that the Arc Warden is apparently now turned into a creature of disharmony, having to summon lesser fragments of its original god-like self to assist him, despite Zet himself really loathing disharmony. Overall, a visually interesting hero with a pretty cool backstory to boot!
Black Arachnia, the Broodmother
Probably my favourite hero in DOTA 2 is the Broodmother. Named "Blackarachnia" after the Transformers: Beast Wars character, Broodmother is... well, a giant spider with an appropriately monstrous face that ramps up the creepiness of a real-life spider, as well as a pretty badass black-and-red set of colouration that really makes her look very threatening. We have at least two or three more bug-themed heroes in Dota, but Broodmother is easily my favourite due to how she plays mechanically. She will spin massive webs (you have a limit depending on what level your Broodmother is), and on these webs, the Broodmother is able to go invisible and hide and get increased speed, all the while she launches her parasitic eggs onto unfortunate enemies to make little baby spiders to help her farm and kill enemies. And should any unfortunate enemy hero wander into her web, Broodmother will be able to activate her "Insatiable Hunger" skill to basically attack very, very quickly and murder the shit out of anyone who comes near. I don't really talk about game mechanics a lot in these reviews, but I feel like Broodmother's ability set really ends up making you really feel like you're playing as, well, a "Brood Mother" of a hive of spiders.Apparently, according to her DOTA 2 lore (I remember that her DOTA 1 lore just made her a boring Nerubian Queen) she is a lava spider that rules over the tunnels underneath the volcano called Mt. Pyrotheos. Some asshole vizier built his base atop the Broodmother's hive, under the correct assumption that the spider-infested tunnels of the volcano would make it hard for anyone who tries to steal his treasures... and I love the little description that the Broodmother finds this constant stream of thieves and cutpurses to be nutritious and delicious... but "a less-than-nurturing environment for her innocent offspring". The Broodmother then killed the vizier after failed negotiations, but that didn't deter adventurers from coming onto her home-base and killing her little babies, and she eventually burst out of the mountain and intends to "rid the world of each and every possible invader". Mother of the year, everyone! Also, as seen here, the cosmetics team really had a lot of different spider-themed alternate outfits for Broodmother. An amber insect themed one, a hairy tarantula-esque one, a metallic steampunk armoured spider, one with lots of spikes, one with weird little tumour-like globs... hell, even one that makes her look like some sort of deep-sea crab monster.
Xin, the Ember Spirit
We met the Earth Spirit in Strength, so here's the Ember Spirit, representing fire. And like the Earth Spirit, this is another one whose appearance is based on traditional chinese soldiers. Honestly, a pretty damn great look, really looking streamlined yet not fragile, with a pair of badass burning blades and that black-and-red armour that just looks pretty damn cool. The three spirits don't really have backstories that tie into each other, though, which is a bit of a shame. Apparently, Xin was a dead warrior-poet in a certain temple, whose teachings lasted for generations even though he was killed, his order destroyed and his students scattered to the winds. The celestial of fire apparently was so touched by how Xin's teaching endured, and ended up resurrecting Xin, rebirthing the warrior-poet once more to train and teach. It's such an interesting aspect to tie into flame. Fantasy settings tend to associate flame with the ability to destroy, consume or a phoenix-like renewal at its best, but the "fires of knowledge" is a pretty interesting avenue to take. Darkterror, the Faceless Void
Y'all know that I like my cosmic horrors and Lovecraftian horrors, and the Faceless Void over here is probably the closest among the many, many different monstrous creatures in DOTA 2 to fit that bill. Originally represented by a Faceless One model in DOTA 1 (to those who aren't as familiar with Warcraft III, it's a Cthulhu-man) the Faceless Void's new facelift in DOTA 2 turned him into a different sort of horror... looking like some sort of being carved from stone, yet has pruple skin. He looks more like a weird demonic marble statue come to life. I am a huge fan of the weird hammer-like head he has with runic markings etched onto it, with no feature save for a snarling mouth. He runs around with these cult-like wrappings and a massive glowing mace, and apparently the Faceless Void comes from a realm outside of time, and like several other heroes that came from other dimensions, the Faceless Void is participating in the Ancient conflict because of certain reasons us mortals are not meant to know. All of the Faceless Void's abilities relate in some point to a creature able to mold and change time in some way -- "Time Walk" allows Faceless Void to reverse time on his own injuries while also speeding up time so he appears to teleport. "Time Dilation" slows the movement of his foes as well as their cooldowns. "Time Lock" allows Faceless Void to stop time briefly after every other attack. And "Chronosphere" (another Transformers homage) is basically a gigantic sphere similar to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's The World, where time stands still within the sphere and everyone is frozen except for the Faceless Void. Aurel, the Gyrocopter
Of course the Gyrocopter unit from Warcraft III gets adapted into a DOTA 2 hero. And while the shape of the ramshackle flying machine is different compared to the original Warcraft III model, the spirit is the same -- a crazy bearded pilot riding a flying death-trap of rotors, engines and explosives. This is another one that the Dota 2 visuals team went to town on because there's a whole lot of modifications you can do to make your Gyrocopter's flying machine look even more crazy looking. That "Swooping Elder" skin that makes the thing look like a goddamn boat-helicopter is probably my favourite. The Gyrocopter's most memorable thing is easily his voice acting. Dwarven units in Warcraft III already have some of the most quotable lines, but the completely batshit crazy lines they made up for Gyrocopter in DOTA 2 has definitely made him so, so much more memorable than he would've been otherwise. Generally, as much as I love thematic cohesion in these video games, I really always do like characters like Gyrocopter or Timbersaw who manage to make up equivalents of real-life modern-day technology, but giving it a funky steampunk/magic-punk feel. A huge fan of this one, especially since his model actually has chunks and parts of its anatomy move and clatter around.
I absolutely love Gyrocopter's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade, too. To those who don't know what Aghanim's Scepter is, it's an item that upgrades the ultimate abilities of some heroes. For Gyrocopter, instead of an upgrade to his final ability, it instead adds a "Side Gunner", an automatic turret that just shoots a random enemy every second. Hilarious.
Yurnero, the Juggernaut
The Juggernaut was originally just a reuse of the Fel Orc Blademaster model from Warcraft III, which had vague samurai inspiration in his voicelines and design. When the import to DOTA 2 happened, they went all in with Juggernaut being treated as a Japanese samurai homage, complete with a big-ass glowing katana, plus samurai-like pants and gauntlets. The thing that made the Juggernaut far more memorable than just being a generic samurai ripoff, though, is that mask. I'm not sure what is it about eyeless masks that makes it so cool, but Yurnero the Juggernaut rocks that badass rune-etched masked pretty well. Juggernaut's cosmetic items tended to replace his mask or his sword, and none of the mask-changes actually reveal what he looks like beneath. Apparently, the Juggernaut never takes this mask off due to cultural reasons (very anime) and apparently he's essentially a ronin -- he was exiled from the Isle of Masks for defying a corrupt lord. Said Isle sunk into the seas due to a catastrophic event, leaving Yurnero as the last of his order that combines ritual and swordplay. Also, as a walking shout-out to Final Fantasy VII with his ultimate ability, Omnislash.
And Juggernaut is another one that I really, really fell in love with thanks to his amazing voicework, courtesy of David Scully. Most of the time he's this calm samurai man delivering badass lines and whatnot... but then activate some of his sword abilities and he suddenly yells "JUGGERNAUUUUT" and hams shit up, and play him for a while and you realize what a snarky asshat Yurnero actually is, all delivered with a dry, deadpan wit.
Medusa, the Gorgon
I'm pretty sure that Medusa was the spotlight of an article on a ratty, poorly-written gaming magazine that my friend showed me, which ended up being what was my entry to Dota, and eventually the Warcraft franchise in general. Of course, I ended up gravitating towards other heroes and never really used Medusa a whole ton, but she has a special place in my heart. Like most modern-day depictions of the ancient Greek monsters, Medusa isn't just a hideous woman with a head of snakes, but rather has the lower body of a giant snake. You can thank Clash of the Titans for that. Medusa's got a pretty cool look overall, though, from her armour to her bow to her stone-monster fanged face. Originally, for the longest time, Medusa didn't really have a whole lot of snake-themed abilities, with her "Chain Lightning" and "Split Shot" and "Purge" skills being more of an artifact of Medusa's original inspiration, the Naga Sea Witch hero from Warcraft III. Nowadays, she's got an actual Stone Gaze ability as well as snake-manipulation skills, which is pretty cool.
Medusa's backstory is also pretty neat, being a nice little twist on the old Greek legends. She's still the youngest and the only mortal one out of the three Gorgon sisters, but instead of being cursed thanks to rape or a tragic backstory, she ended up begging her god-like mother to take away her beauty in order to rescue her sisters... and she's now a powerful snake-woman sorceress now. And Medusa quickly realized that this new powerful form is true beauty. Honestly, not much to really say here -- Medusa's a design we've seen multiple times over in various fantasy settings at this point, but it's still a classic one that endures for a reason.
Morphling
Like Medusa, yet another 'classic' fantasy setting creature. Morphling's based on the Water Elemental from Warcraft III, which in turn is based upon the Water Elementals from Dungeons & Dragons, and as such, most video games based on fantasy tended to have some sort of creature similar in design to this genie-like being made of water. Morphling's backstory far more badass than just a bunch of sentient water, though -- he's apparently originally a freaking comet. The comet traveled through a certain 'blackness between worlds', and was 'made strange' thanks to it, before it eventually plummeted onto the world of Dota-2 (is there a name for this plane?) and was born as a capricious being similar to the tides of the oceans itself, and when he beheld a war between mortals, the Moprhling began to morph to resemble the forms of the soldiers on the battlefield, 'playing every part' there. While in practice this 'morphing' ability is only available with Morphling's ultimate Morph ability, mechanically, Morphling is able to slowly re-distribute his Strength and Agility stat points, the only hero to be able to freely do so, and thus become tankier or more speedy depending on what you need. I am not familiar enough with the subtleties of Morphling's Attribute Shift ability, but it sure sounds pretty cool. I kiiinda wish they had gone a bit further in reinventing Morphling instead of just making him still look like a generic Water Elemental, although at least his different cosmetic items does make him look pretty dang cool. Slithice, the Naga Siren
There were a bunch of snake-eel people in Warcraft III, can't you tell? Frankly, I'm surprised that with all of its race-scrubbing that took out orcs and goblins and whatnot, Slithice is still termed the "Naga Siren" specifically. And she's... basically similar enough to her original Warcraft III model, except with two arms instead of four, and with a far more majestic head-piece of yellow fish-scale things. Which may or may not be organic. She's basically the lady mermaid version of Slardar, and a more humanoid one (although being a fish-lady, her mammaries are apparently just cosmetic). Honestly, she does look pretty dang badass, and her lore is a pretty interesting one. Slithice is a powerful Siren of the Slithereen race, using her voice as her greatest weapon (which she also uses as one of her abilities). And apparently, for the Slithereen race, they're such perfectionists that they are not allowed to fail. Slithice's battalion had to defend her city against an army of marauders under the command of Maelrawn (if you forget, he's Leviathan's Cthulhu-lite god). And under all that chaos and death... Slithice is cast out for the failure of her losing a single chalice. And she's banished to search for the stolen chalice, because no riches can compare to the lost chalice -- she must replace it with the very thing that's lost, or not return at all.
Which... honestly, once you get past the whole 'oh shit, what a cool, exotic culture' backstory, is kind of a shitty deal for Slithice, isn't it? She can't repay her honour with treasures that's worth more than what she misplaced? Is everyone who misplaced a cup just banished from the Slithereen race? Why is she banished to the land, when it's Maelrawn's cultists that presumably stole the treasure? Honestly, I'm just assuming that Slithice is living a far, far better life running around stabbing random monsters in the DOTA battlefield for gold.
Nyx Assassin
Originally "Anub'arak, the Nerubian Assassin" in Dota 1, a direct copy of a Warcraft III character, Anub'arak was renamed the Nyx Assassin during the import to Dota 2, although it's pretty impressive how much of the classic Crypt Lord beetle-centaur-monster design they managed to keep. Nyx Assassin has essentially the same sort of silhouette, yet still manages to look a lot different. His beetle legs look more... spindly and crab-like as opposed to the original Crypt Lord's massive, bulky legs, whereas his head is now kind of hollow and is mostly just the red helmet and two lower-jaw fang things. I've already been a huge, huge fan of the original Warcraft Crypt Lord design, but they just improved it with Nyx Assassin, making him even more buggier and cooler looking. And that's not even getting into the cosmetic equipment! We've got giant bulky beetle, space ritualistic assassin, member of the Zerg, Space Demon Bug, Egyptian Pharaoh, undead mummy, Dark Souls boss fight... and that's just half of the cosmetic options for Nyx Assassin here.
He's also given a brand-new backstory, where Nyx Assassin is apparently a member of the lowly Zealot Scarab... but instead of being born as a mere worker beetle, the Nyx Assassin was gifted by the goddess Nyx, chosen among many larvae to be given with an extract of the goddess herself, shaped into an assassin that's able to channel the power of his goddess. What's that power for? Well, to freaking kill, of course. And honestly, that's all Nyx Assassin is about. An enlightened bug that's happy to murder and murder all the while chanting Nyx Nyx Nyx Nyx Nyx like a maniac. Nyx is pretty fun to listen to. I like him.Razor, the Lightning Revenant
Razor's always been pretty cool, even back in Dota 1. He's this ghost-like figure of armour inhabited by a lightning spirit with glowing eyes, and when they did the jump to Dota 2, they took that already-cool silhouette and made him even cooler with a full-face mask and a straight-up electric whip. And his name is freaking Razor. You can't get more gloriously just edgy-cool than that! Honestly, he's just so straight-up simply 'cool' that I can't really think of much to say here. Apparently Razor acts as some sort of maze-keeper for the Dota-world's version of the underworld, whipping the souls to move faster to their eternal rest. Not the most lengthy backstory, but one that's badass enough. Not much to say here. He's pretty cool.Riki, the Stealth Assassin
Riki (originally "Rikimaru") the Stealth Assassin is kind of a unique hero, in that the moment he learns one of his skills, he ends up basically getting permanent invisibility whenever he's not attacking -- and invisibility is something that's definitely a huge, huge premium in this game. And as thus Riki's always been a character that's more defined by his gimmicky gameplay more than anything, as there are strategies involved in fighting against a team that has a Riki among their ranks. Riki himself as a character design is pretty standard -- the original model from Warcraft III was a purple Satyr-man, and Dota 2's Riki really doesn't change a whole ton, just gave him a cooler animesque face. I did like the short blurb of history, because apparently Riki, as an unfavourite middle son of a royal family, he was so invisible to his family and the court that he was able to escape an assassination attempt on his family, before going off to become a horned Ezio Auditore. Nevermore, the Shadow Fiend
There are a lot of Shadow X's in Dota 2 among the more evil heroes, but I think Nevermore's easily the most memorable. Because, y'know, "Nevermore" is just such a badass name, y'know? Very edgy and kind of something you see in every fanfiction out there, but still, there's a reason it became popular. Nevermore was, if I remember Dota 1 correctly, one of the handful of heroes that used a modded, custom-made character model as opposed to just transplanting one from Warcraft III's files. And... and Nevermore's design is kind of a pretty classic monster design, y'know? The wraith and ghost-like demonic form, full of spikes and eyes and mouth that glow with hellfire and brimstone, with a lower body that fades away into nothing but shadows?
Nevermore also has a pretty awesome gimmick. In addition to some bog-standard evil demon magic blasts, Nevermore will passively grow stronger depending on how many 'souls' he has killed (an enemy hero is worth 12 souls, apparently), essentially becoming stronger the more he consumes. In desperation, he can unleash all of the souls he has taken into himself in the "Soul Requiem", dealing massive damage to the enemy. His flavour text is pretty neat, noting how no one knows what Nevermore does with the souls he collects. Devour them? Mount them? Is he merely a puppet? Does he "pickle the souls in necromantic brine"? The only way to be sure is to see for yourself, apparently. Anyway, pretty badass demon man.
Slark, the Nightcrawler
Another one whose Warcraft III counterpart is obvious, Slark was originally, of course, a Murloc. Well, a Murloc as they were in Warcraft III, where their movements were more... creepy looking than comical. And Slark basically takes all of the creepiness of a Murloc's movement in the original Warcraft III games and ramps it up and turned the comical fish monster into, well, a badass Nightcrawler expy, teleporting and hiding in shadows and whatnot. Once we make the jump to DOTA 2, Slark is still a dimunitive fish-man, but a far, far more badass-looking one. With a wacky accent to go with, Slark now has the angry, angry face of a particularly nasty fish-monster, and he's now part of the Slithereen race alongside Slardar and Slithice. Apparently sometimes you just have huge long snakey eel lower bodies, and sometimes you have human legs with fins.
Slark's design is pretty great, honestly, from the pretty cool fish-face, to the weird giant pufferfish he wears on his shoulders. And just like Leviathan and Slardar, he's got a whole lot of wacky custom cosmetics he can wear. Where Slardar and Slithice were members of the higher Slithereen society, Slark is instead a criminal in Dark Reef prison, and Slark basically re-enacts the plot of Prison Break, being the baddest and the worst of the prisoners within. He discovered a plot to escape by a group of criminals call the "Dark Reef Dozen", basically wormed his way in... and then apparently killed all of his supposed allies as they enacted their plan, with Slark escaping while the Dozen died to cover his escape. Pretty cool fish-boy!
Terrorblade, the Demon Marauder
Terrorblade, the Demon Marauder (originally "Soul Keeper" in Dota 1) is a pretty cool looking hero. Originally reusing the model of Illidan Stormrage, they kept the general silhouette of a winged, horned demon-man wielding two impractical-yet-cool blades consistent... yet reinvented Terrorblade so much that he genuinely feels like a brand-new character as opposed to some of the more... well, more obviously "copyright-filed-off" reinventions. But Terrorblade just looks straight-up metallic and inhuman, with his body seemingly made up of metallic segments arranged to form the humanoid torso and those metal upside-down angel wings. His weapons actually hover around his hands and spin around them, and the huge, glowing void within his face and the neat way that the horns are arranged really end up striking a very, very different visual look from Illidan.
Originally, in Dota 1, which borrowed its lore from Warcraft, Terrorblade and Magina the Anti-Mage were twin brothers and the twin sons of Furion (yes, Malfurion Stormrage), but the two were distanced and given new backstories in Dota 2. As his new moniker of "Demon Marauder" might clue you in, Terrorblade is apparently kind of like Hellboy -- an outlaw demon that hunts other demons. He broke every law of hell, stole from the greater demons, and was consigned to the "hell within Hell", where demonkind imprison their own. Terrorblade is supposed to gaze eternally and be tormented by the twisted reflection of his own soul, but like any comic book protagonist out there, end up triumphing over it and ended up taking control of his darker self -- which ends up fuelling into his reflection-based powers, as well as his ultimate Metamorphosis ability. Turns out he's not merely a metallic demon, he's a reflective-surface-based one, and that's a pretty neat little concept.
Lesale Deathbringer, the Venomancer
One of the two poison bros in the game, the Venomancer started off his Dota 1 career by using the easter egg Starcraft Hydralisk model. Come Dota 2, he's been reinvented into a hideously mutated cobra-monster, which, while not quite as inherently badass as the scythe-armed Starship-Troopers-meets-Aliens Hydralisk, is still pretty badass. I do rally love the two smaller snake-heads that presumably also function as arms, and Venomancer's face and spiky snake hood rally does look pretty damn monstrous. Always love those segmented lower jaws, a welcome feature in any hideous reptilian monster. Surprisingly, though, unlike other bestial heroes in Dota 2, the Venomancer was once a human herbalist called Lesale, who ended up attempting to study the poisonous creatures living in Jidi Isle. A mishap with a poisonous reptile and a hastily-concocted antidote ended up with Lesale collapsing and being consumed by the poisonous swamp, very Swamp-Thing-esque, and seventeen years later, what was once Lesale rose as, well, this hideous master of poison, the Venomancer -- part reptile, part plant, and all poison. Viper, the Nether Drake
So over the course of Dota 1, the hero called Viper was originally represented with the Couatl model, before replaced with the more badass shadow-dragon Nether Drake model. It's very, very interesting that despite spending most of his time in Dota 1 as a dragon made up of shadows, Dota 2 decided to return Viper to his original roots of being a giant winged poisonous serpent and essentially did a more draconic version of his original Couatl model. Honestly, while the "drake" part of Viper's moniker is certainly still there with his badass bat wings and that awesome dragon head, I'm genuinely not sure where the "nether" part even is. All of Viper's abilities have always been more poison-based anyway, so I guess the Nether Drake part is just a hold-over from old Dota? Anyway, he's a pretty cool poison dragon monster. Viper's just a pretty cool, if standard, design. His lore is honestly pretty simple, just a captured pet of a sadistic wizard who quickly learned to overthrow his master by utilizing his inherent poisonous abilities.
Skitsurr, the Weaver
Originally "Anub'seran, the Nerubian Weaver", we've got some significant changes to good ol' Weaver here. With all of the Nerubian lore exorcised from Dota 1, the Weaver likewise was no longer a mere servitor of Anub'arak, but rather a unique creature with his unique abilities. And honestly, a pretty badass design, too. His new design is a pretty interesting combination of an ant and some sort of crustacean, with two humanoid arms slapped on. As you can probably tell... I'm always a huge fan of these bug-based monsters, and I definitely am a huge, huge fan of Skitsurr here.
The Weaver, despite looking just like a huge bug, is actually a far, far more powerful figure, apparently part of a race of Weavers, god-like beings that maintain the fabric of creation. But Skitsurr was not content at just weaving and maintaining, because he wanted to create. I can... I can honestly relate to that. Skitsurr wanted to leave his mark, something that was uniquely his, and instead of just maintaining the fabric of the universe, he started making changes to his domain. This caused the other Weavers to cut Skitsurr off, removing him and casting him away... but now he's free to create his new world! Hooray! Except... he has to tear down the old world at the seams to weave his new reality. Oh no, that's bad! His abilities are honestly all pretty awesome, with a neat balance of bug-themed ones ("The Swarm" generates little Tremors-style worm monsters) and ones where he just bends and breaks reality, either by phasing through time itself ("Shukuchi", named after that technique you often see in manga), causing his attacks to be witnessed and felt multiple times, and his ultimate ability, Time Lapse, basically just allows Weaver to rewind time, all King Crimson-like, if he doesn't like what happens. Honestly, we've got a bunch of reality-warping god-like beings in Dota 2, but other than maybe the Arc Warden, none that I like flavour-wise as much as good old ant-boy here.
And here we go with the rest of the Agility heroes. It's not that I dislike them, I just... don't have a whole ton to say about them.
The Anti-Mage
Originally called "Magina", but now he's apparently just Anti-Mage. And... he's basically just a dude in a pretty neat set of fantasy clothes with a neat set of curved blades that is part of a monastery who was destroyed by an army called the "Legion of the Dead God", and the Anti-Mage ended up witnessing this as a child before escaping, swearing to avenge his masters and eliminating magic all together. Basically, y'know, every other superhero tragic origin story rolled together into one, with a dash of Eren-Yeager-style "All of [X] is eeeevil and I will kill them all!" He's interesting, from a gameplay standpoint, because he will fuck up anyone that's too reliant on magic spells, and his design certainly isn't unpleasant, but man does he look so much less interesting than so many other characters here and his backstory is basically the most basic one you hand to a novice D&D player with the expectation that it's a generic placeholder one that you'll expand in future sessions.
Clinkz, the Bone Fletcher
I love Clinkz. "Clinkz" is just a hilariously fun name to give to what is supposed to be a scary, undead skeleton that's permanently burning thanks to a curse, with the ability to move faster than the wind, launching barrages of burning arrows and summoning a legion of the dead. And his name is fucking "Clinkz!" That just adds such a degree of fun whimsy to a character whose relatively dark backstory is played and told straight -- Clinkz was once a sworn protector of a land called the Hoven, and when Clinkz slew a particular demon that threatened his homeland, he was blessed with a blessing from a sorcerer for killing a demon, that of "Life Without End". Unfortunately, said blessing ended up taking place just as Clinkz was being burnt to death by hellfire from said demon, meaning that his "Life Without End" ends up with Clinkz as a permanently-burning skeleton archer. Oops! He's honestly still pretty cool, and it's nice to have some of the more spooky undead enemies look relatively simply like Clinkz here. Strygwyr, the Bloodseeker
Gondar, the Bounty Hunter
What is it about Bounty Hunters that made them so cool? Was it the Wild Wild West, or general pen-and-paper RPG tropes, or was it Boba Fett and his space bounty hunter ilk that ended up making what's essentially someone who goes around and kills for money to be such a cool fantasy job? Whatever the case, though, Gondar's a pretty cool looking one. I'm not sure what he's supposed to be. Some sort of lanky goblin? Regardless, that under-jaw face scarf is a very simple but cool little fashion accessory, and his asymmetrical weapons are pretty cool. A simple dagger on one hand, and a weird upside-down blade he wields like a tonfa. And also one of his abilities involve launching giant shurikens at people. Gondar's backstory is pretty simple, he's this legendary Bounty Hunter that everyone fears, with a billion million stories behind him. And I do really love just how his ultimate ability ends up really embodying a Bounty Hunter's job -- "Track" basically makes Bounty Hunter always have vision of a chosen prey, deal extra damage to his prey... and best of all, get extra gold from killing said tracked hero, because he just got paid for his bounty. Very flavourful!Traxex, the Drow Ranger
Perhaps one of the few heroes who changed the least from her Warcraft III inspiration, which, obviously, was Sylvanas Windrunner. This one is a drow, though, a dark elf. Not a Forsaken Undead Banshee High Elf like Sylvanas, so despite them having a penchant for dark leather, capes, hoods and archery, they're totally different, right? It's actually interesting that Dota 2 doesn't actually adapt the mysterious, dark-skinned Drow race from D&D, but instead the "Drow" in the Dota-world are actually short, trollish ugly folks that adopted the humanoid Traxex, who was raised and trained in Drow arts... but Traxex, finding herself towering over her family and with features that are symmetrical and wart-less, began to feel insecure and found herself ugly and whatnot. It's actually a nice little subversion in the backstory of what was originally one of the more fan-servicey characters in Dota 2. Anyway... cool design, but honestly, these sort of elven archers are a dime a dozen in fantasy games. Always cool, but nothing super exciting, y'know? Sylla, the Lone Druid
I genuinely don't know why druids have always been a class that I never really found appealing, either in World of Warcraft or Diablo or Dungeons and Dragons or whatever. I never hated the class, and conceptually, someone who's so in tune with the nature, plants and animals around him so much that he can command them and even take their forms has an air of appeal to it. But I dunno. I just never really cared for them as much, y'know? And Syllabear is kind of your archetypal D&D druid. Old man, with clothing that's a mixture of generic robes and weird scavenged animal/plant parts, with a pet bear and also the ability to become a bear? Sylla (originally Syllabear, a pun on syllable) is just kind of there. Visually he's kind of a classic design and a pretty neat one, but I really don't find him all that interesting. His backstory is basically him being the Chosen One of his clan to be given a whole ton of vitality as his entire clan passed away, giving Sylla the charge to plant a Seed when all civilization has left the world. A pretty interesting backstory, I suppose, which is something that Syllabear has over someone like Anti-Mage, but still, he's kinda just there. Meepo, the Geomancer
Originally represented with the Kobold model in DOTA 1, with a name that's a homage to a Dungeons and Dragons' kobold character called Meepo, Meepo has changed from being a vaguely rat-inspired little humanoid into a far more... ratty goblin-creature. I'm honestly not quite sure what animal Meepo's new model is supposed to draw from, but it sure fits into the scrappy, skeevy tone that voice actor Nolan North gives him. Meepo's first three skills sort of falls in line with him being a "Geomancer" and a digger.... but the main appeal of Meepo is his ultimate ability, "Divided We Stand", where Meepo splits himself into multiple Meepos. And unlike other heroes that create illusions, all of the Meepos are as real as the original, able to use all of Meepo's abilities and items... with the caveat that if any single Meepo dies, all of the others also die. We're never really given any real explanation as to why Meepo is able to create such life-like copies of himself, because his lore is more of a snippet of Meepo rambling about him spelunking into the Riftshadow Ruins and something-something about a magical artifact within, but I do really like the fact that whatever it is that has changed Meepo and allowed him to split is so unique that it doesn't follow the same rules for illusions with Mr. "primal force of the universe" Chaos Knight or Mr. "one of the ancients that started this whole war" Arc Warden. Design-wise, Meepo's not the most interesting one, admittedly, but I really do love his wacky mechanics.
Luna Moonfang, the Moon Rider
A pretty cool lady warrior riding a giant armoured panther! Luna's another one whose model, like Traxex or Bloodseeker, is just straight-up cool. Again, not super-creative and ultimately just a lady in a set of cool (if strangely bodysuit-looking) armour with her huge pet panther and her endless supply of chakrams. Luna's backstory is basically tied to Mirana, who we'll cover after this, because Luna was once a barbarian who ended up fighting and eventually befriending the giant panther-creature, and ended up being chosen by Mirana, the Princess of the Moon
On the other side of the Selemene storyline is Mirana, the Princess of the Moon (originally Mirana Nightshade, Priestess of the Moon). She, too, is a lady in fantasy-elven clothes that goes around riding a huge cat, this time something that's definitely not a white tiger with stripes shaved off, trust us. Mirana was once a blood princess "in line for the Solar Throne" but abdicated her throne for the chance to become a servitor of Selemene, and ends up basically prowling the same Nightsilver Woods that Luna and the rest of the Selemene worshipers prowl. Basically, kind of similar to Luna, except with the whole added 'princess' stuff in her backstory. Again, design-wise she's not bad, but overall just kinda boring. Sun Wukong, the Monkey King
Yep, he's just straight up Sun Wukong from Chinese legends. With Mars, Zeus and Medusa drawing from different real-life legends, I guess Sun Wukong is enough of a general-domain character for them to justify including him? He's a pretty faithful depiction of the legends surrounding him, with the extending staff or the ability to turn his hair into clones of himself. Sun Wukong's backstory basically is a religion-free version of his original myth, with him being freed from imprisonment under a mountain after an attempted rebellion against the elder gods... and now Wukong has to guide a monk an acolyte to his destination and learn humility and absolution. Honestly, Wukong's a pretty fun adaptation into Dota 2, with a lot of amazing voice lines, a lot of flavourful abilities and generally looking pretty dang cool. I'm also pretty sure he's the very first Dota 2 hero to be completely original and not based on a pre-existing hero from Dota 1, too, so unlike a vast majority of Dota 2 heroes, there isn't an equivalent model in Dota 1 to compare to. Pretty cool!
Donte Panlin, the Pangolier
Another one of the completely Dota-2-original heroes is Donte Panlin, the very French Pangolier, who I genuinely would've brushed off as a generic animal-man-with-fantasy clothes if not for his glorious, glorious set of voice lines. Seriously. Donte Panlin was introduced into the game way after I stopped playing Dota 2, but man, his voice lines are just so fun to listen to. He's a pretty fun character all around, just this over-exaggerated, charismatic Don Quixote wannabe that is just all about that swashbuckling, maiden-wooing life, y'know? And sometimes he rolls up into a ball, like pangolins do, and whacks onto them while trading witty quips, as you do. Pretty hilarious character, and just looks at how he lovingly trash-talks every single god damn hero in the game if he kills them. Absolutely love his trailer, and the fact that his pangolin scales apparently translate into a cape that trails behind him. That's neat. Mortred, the Phantom Assassin
We've got a lot of assassins in this game, huh? Phantom Assassin is always the one I forget about, because she's just... well, she's just a pale lady in armour with a huge weapon, and she's just kind of there. Riki the Stealth Assassin is a satyr-man with a unique gameplay mechanic, while Lanaya the Templar Assassin has got these cool Psylocke-purple blades, but Mortred is just... there. Her backstory's interesting enough, even if it does seem like a lighter, less dark-cult version of Elder Scrolls' Dark Brotherhood -- she's part of an organization called the Sisters of the Veil that kill people seemingly at random, and their members are seemingly interchangeable, of course, except for this one -- Mortred, who is the most infamous and stands at the pinnacle of Phantom Assassination. 'Kay!
Azwraith, the Phantom Lancer
Azwraith is the another character from Dota 1 who had a completely unique fan-made model (one that was apparently meant to represent Kimahri from the Final Fantasy franchise) instead of reusing Warcraft assets, and it's clear that originally he definitely was meant to be an expy of sorts of the mythological Sun Wukong, sharing a lot of abilities similar to the Monkey King (most evidently his duplication) but being off-brand enough with his blue skin, his cat-like features and being a 'lancer' instead of fighting with a jingu bang. Phantom Lancer's pretty cool, all in all, even if he does kind of fall into the same category of "he's just a cool-looking fantasy dude, I really strain to say anything about his design". His backstory is that in defending his homeland from an evil wizard, a magical explosion granted him the ability to basically create phantoms, allowing Azwraith to become his own army. Kardel Sharpeye, the Sniper
Originally the Dwarven Sniper, Kardel Sharpeye is now just... a weird, pink-skinned dude that's still totally a dwarf but we're not calling him a dwarf because of trademark reasons. I always felt that Dota 2's Sniper model's proportions are a wee bit off, but I kinda feel like it's also intentional to really highlight the oddity of the Keen-folk. He's a dude with a beard an an accent and a big honking gun and he shoots people! His backstory is that he's such a great sniper he ended up fulfilling a part of a prophecy, and he's sent off in exile to finish the rest of the prophecy, or something along those lines. I like playing as Sniper, he's pretty damn simple to pilot, but he's kind of a boring design. Mercurial, the Spectre
There are a lot of ghost-people in Dota 2, and one of those is Spectre, who's just... well, she's a huge mass of glowing smoke shaped into the form of a person. Kinda like Nevermore, in a sense, except less hellfire-y. Mercurial is apparently a being that gets drawn to strife, and ends up manifesting from a higher state into something that our minds can perceive... but every time she takes "physical" form, for lack of a better term, she ends up causing her identity and sense of self to shatter. And as she unleashes her fragmented parts into combat, she slowly regains her memories and can only become part of the "one true Spectre" in the final victory or defeat of combat, reasserting her mind as she ascends into a higher form... before presumably restarting the cycle all over again as she's drawn to the next plane of conflict. Dota's got a bunch of "mind fragmented into pieces" backstories, but Mercurial's is one that's self-contained and pretty well-written. Lanaya, the Templar Assassin
Lanaya, the Templar Assassin... will probably find herself confused in the Assassin's Creed games. There. I made the easy joke. She's another pretty simple "woman in badass fantasy armor" design, although as mentioned before, the fact that her abilities involve her summoning Psylocke-esque energy daggers and whatnot makes her a thousand times cooler than someone like Mortred. Lanaya's backstory isn't the most complex -- she's just someone who ended up being so studious in her research of nature's laws that she ended up gaining access to psionic powers and even more knowledge, and she's basically just battling in service of this higher knowledge, all the while utilizing the powerful psychic abilities that have been granted to her. Jah'rakal, the Troll Warlord
Oh, hey, after so many other races like goblins, elves, orcs and dwarves that are retconned into other things, it's kind of refreshing to see someone retain their old Dota-1 race with the Troll Warlord. Sure, Jah'rakal is now blood-red instead of the original Amani green that he was, but he's still basically essentially a Warcraft troll without the prominent tusks and the scoliosis. It's a neat, if not the most impressive, design, and the backstory is basically just, well, trolls are a rowdy, violent punch. And Jah'rakal is a particularly nasty and violent one that even the other trolls want nothing to do with. And a young Jah'rakal ended up slaughtering his entire tribe, vowing to be the Troll Warlord -- a warlord with an army of one. Kinda like Axe, but a lot more vengeful and less black comedy. Ulfsaar, the Ursa Warrior
Ulfsaar, the Ursa Warrior... he's a big bear-man! Not to be confused with Sylla, who is a man who shapeshifts into a bear! Or the Beastmaster, who is a man who summons bears! There were a lot of bear models in Warcraft III. Ursa Warrior's... he's a pretty simple monster design, even if that face does look a lot less monstrously bear-like. He's a simple giant bear-man, and his backstory is that he's a big bear-man from a tribe of bear-men, and he's a good boy and also it's super scary to see him in game because he will murder the shit out of you with his bear strength. I really don't have much to say here. He's cool. I like that in a game where you have literal gods running around, demons that collect souls, the ancient personifications of the forces that hold the world together, mighty champions with reality warping powers... and there's this dude who's just a big angry bear.Shendelzare Silkwood, the Vengeful Spirit
Our last Agility hero it the Vengeful Spirit, who in the original Dota was the vengeful ghost of one of Mortred's victims, but was given a whole new lore involving the "Skywrath" race in DOta 2. Apparently Shendelzare was once a member of the Skywrath race, and was essentially in running for the leadership position of the Ghastly Eyrie... until her sister robbed her of a birthright, with Shendelzare barely surviving an assassination attempt that costed her precious wings -- the symbol of superiority for the Skywrath race. She ended up driving a bargain with the dark being Scree'auk, who transformed her into this half-ghostly state, able to launch Magic Missiles, swapping people on the battlefield and unleashing howls of terror, turning her into a one-woman Punisher. She's a hero I use a lot as a support character when I play Dota, mostly due to the ease of playing her and using her stuns. Not the most exciting hero to end on, but one that's near and dear to my heart. And besides, her basic design and that weird moon-shaped disc weapon looks pretty neat. 
No comments:
Post a Comment