Meet Dota 2's New Hero: Dawnbreaker

Have hammer, will smash. That's not the official catchphrase of the new Dota 2 hero but it definitely should be. Meet Dawnbreaker, the latest hero to arrive in the MOBA Dota 2. She comes at the perfect time with the Dota anime making its Netflix debut just last month. 

A new update has gone live and it's a pretty big one. With Radiant Mid change and various other map tweaks, the new update is more than just the new character, but the new character is arguably the biggest part.

Dota 2 new hero: Dawnbreaker

Dawnbreaker is a mele-heavy hero that was "molded from the heart of a young metallic star." She's a warrior from the Children of Light and wields a massive hammer like it weighs nothing. Her primary move (Starbreaker) utilizes said hammer by spinning it around in three quick moves. Upon the final spin, she slams the meaty end of the hammer down to deal massive amounts of damage to her foes. 

Her three other abilities include:

Celestial Hammer: 

• Dawnbreaker hurls her weapon at a target, damaging enemies struck along the way. The hammer pauses briefly at the destination before flying back to her, leaving a blazing trailer that slows enemies. 

Luminosity:

• After three attacks, Dawnbreaker powers up, charging her next attack with a critical hit that heals all allied heroes around her for a portion of the attack damage dealt. 

Solar Guardian: 

• She creates a pulsing effect at a location near an allied hero anywhere on the map, damaging enemies and healing allies with each pulse. After a short duration, she flies to the target location, dealing additional damage and stunning enemies upon landing. 

She looks like a pretty killer character and the lore surrounding her origins is nothing short of fascinating. Dota 2 has been getting a lot of love lately, and it's nice to see. Hopefully, the anime also drew new players in to see what all of the fuss is about. There is a reason why the Dota 2 community continues to be strong since the game's launch back in 2013, and now is a perfect opportunity for new players to see exactly what that reason is.

General updates

According to Valve, here are the general changes you can find with the latest Dota 2 update: 

• Terrain updated with various changes
• Added Water Power Rune. Spawns at both Power Rune locations only at minute 2 and 4. Instantly restores 100 health and 80 mana when used. Can be used to fill bottles. Starting at 6 minutes, Power Runes spawn as usual on one side.
• Added +2 Attributes leveling for up to 7 times (for the 7 empty levels from 1-26), and can be leveled in any order (via clicking on the talent tree circle). They will automatically be leveled if there are no other options available.
• Level 30 no longer grants all remaining talents. Instead level 27/28/29/30 will grant you the remaining level 10/15/20/25 talents
• Outposts no longer give XP at the 10/20/30/etc minute mark
• Outposts now provide XPM while controlled (XP = 2*Minute). No extra XP granted when controlling two outposts, similar to the existing rules.
  • Notes:
  • Compared to the previous version at 10/20/30/40 minutes, total XP given per player changed from 150/500/1050/1800 to 110/420/930/1640.
• The XP is provided on the minute mark
• The amount you get for each minute at the start is 2/4/6/8/10/12/14/16/18/20 for minutes 1 through 10
• Bounty Runes after the initial set are reduced by 10%
• Bounty Runes no longer spawn in the river. The amount these runes gave is now provided automatically over time through GPM.
• Bounty Runes now spawn every 3 minutes in the respective jungle area (total rune count reduced from 4 to 2)
• Bounty Runes no longer disappear when new ones spawn, they now spawn alongside the previous one if it isn't picked up
• At minute 0, Bounty Runes spawn in the jungle and at the power rune locations (4 total at the start of the game)
• Various cast ranges and movement speed talents/items/abilities have been replaced or toned down (these are included in-line with the item and hero sections below)
• Hero kill assist gold now adjusted based on the relative NW difference between the two teams. For example, if your team is down 5,000 gold and the enemy has 50,000 total net worth, your assist gold will be worth 10% more.
• Heroes now start the game with 1 TP scroll rather than 3
• Heroes now gain 1 TP scroll on death
• TP Scroll cost increased from 90 to 100
• Heroes with 1.0 turn rate now have 0.9 turn rate
• Heroes with 0.5 turn rate now have 0.6 turn rate
• Turn rate effect on time to turn improved by 20%
• Aghanim's Scepter: Roshan drop now requires you to activate it to consume it (has no effect until consumed)
• Aghanim's Shard: Now drops on the second Roshan kill, and only that one (has same activation mechanics as the Scepter drop)
• Increase building teleportation range from 575 to 800 (affects TP scrolls and Boots of Travel)
• Outpost teleport base channel time reduced from 6 to 5 seconds
• Outpost vision reduced from 700 to 500
• Captains Mode initial picking phase changed from 1st-2nd-1st-2nd to 1st-2nd-2nd-1st
• Hoodwink added to Captains Mode
• Couriers no longer have vision when inside Roshan's pit
• Wards can now be denied from full health by any allied player if the ward is placed in a spawn camp box
• Ancient neutral creeps armor increased by 1 (except for the Ancient Golems)
• Neutral Items now fly towards the killing hero, rather than spawning under the dead unit
• Hero ban count for matchmaking increased by 6 (still chance-based)
• Buyback cost reduced from 200 + NetWorth/12 to 200 + NetWorth/13
• Courier respawn time reduced from 60 + 7*Level to 60 + 6*Level
• Backdoor protection damage reduction increased from 40% to 50%
• Hero-to-hero item transfer range increased from 150 to 300
• Tree respawn interval reduced from 5 to 3 minutes
• The following abilities no longer destroy trees: Earth Splitter, Mortimer Kisses, Meteor Hammer, Macropyre.
• Reduced the radius of tree destruction on the following abilities: Wild Axes, Gust, Power Cogs, Vacuum, Fire Remnant, Relocate, Tether, Blinding Light, Skewer, Doppelganger, Telekinesis, Firesnap Cookie, Spit Out, Spider Legs, Blast Off!, Toss, Snowball, Powershot, Will-O-Wisp.

Are you excited for the new Dota 2 hero with Dawnbreaker? What do you think about the other changes with the latest game update? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below! You can also find the full patch notes, including item changes, right here.