Muerta is the new Dota 2 hero! What we know about Valve's 124 MOBA characters: Dota 2 release date, abilities, role in the game
Yuriy SheremetBefore the start of The International 2022 Grand Finals, Valve made the expected announcement. The Dota 2 developer company showed a new, 124 Dota 2 characters - Muerta.
Accompanying the screening of a fresh inhabitant of the battlefield of the Ancients was a short cinematic. You can’t squeeze a lot of information out of him, but we tried.
We collected in one place all the information currently available on the new Dota 2 hero, and also added our own thoughts about Muerta to the text.
Muerta release date in Dota 2
What is already known is the release date of the new Dota 2 hero. Muerta will step onto the battlefield of the Ancients in early 2023.
Knowing Valve, the concept of “in the beginning” can be, and most likely will be, loose. But even then, we can try to anticipate the potential timing of the character's appearance in the game.
The most possible period seems to be from February to May next year. The current extreme hero Primal Beast appeared in the game on February 23, 2022. Prior to that, Hoodwink was released in April 2021. It seems that it is in the interval between February and April that we should expect the release of Muerta in Dota 2.
In addition, the character may be released after the Chinese New Year. In 2022, the start date for the celebrations in the Celestial Empire dates back to January 22.
Muerta's abilities
Next, we start the analysis. Everything we know about Muerta comes from a short 40 second video.
Based on it, one can understand that Muerta is closely connected with the afterlife, as even her name hints at. In addition, it is understood that the character can change shape.
In the video, we see how Muerta, armed with a revolver, changes her appearance for a few seconds. It looks like it's a Chemical Rage type ability on Alchemist: Muerta gets a buff that gives bonuses to attributes and so on.
At the same moment, another detail flashes: after the “transformation”, souls appear near Muerta. Perhaps this will be another ability of the heroine. Here you can fantasize about the connection with the conditional Necromastery of Shadow Fiend: the character accumulates souls for certain actions, after which he can call for their help. Moreover, they can work both on enemies, inflicting damage and debuffs on them, and on allies, which is hinted at by the fattest reference.
In addition, the appearance of souls in the video is a direct reference to the Day of the Dead, which takes place annually in Mexico. According to legend, the souls of the dead visit their homes on this day. The holiday is celebrated every year on November 2, and therefore it is not surprising that Valve decided to introduce this particular hero on October 30, 3 days before the annual celebration.
Another detail that catches your eye when watching the video is candles. Perhaps this is nothing more than a stylistic design, but the focus on them is noticeable.
Role of Muerta in Dota 2
Probably the most trembling question is what role does Muerta have in Dota 2. One scenario is seen here - Muerta will be a killer, not otherwise.
Muerta's carry position is hinted at by several details at once: the very image of the hero, her weapons, and hints of abilities in the introduction video. What can we think, the very name of the character directly sounds like “death”. Who else brings death in Dota 2? That's right - curry.
Also, the position of the carry fits into the order of releases of the heroes: the last “canonical” character of the 1st position can only be called Monkey King. It's been a long time since we've had a character taking down opponents one by one.
History of Muerta
Muerta's past is shrouded in mystery, but something can still be guessed. So, for example, the heroine is linked to a persona in Phantom Assassin Exile Unveiled.
Asan (the Phantom Assassin skin with the Exile Unveiled item) is closely related to the Order of the Veil, and Muerta herself seems to be as well. In the performance video, the heroine recalls the ill-fated Veil, which in Dota 2 can have a sacred meaning that links the world of the living and the dead.
Alternatively, Muerta may be the goddess of death herself, or else Skreog. Given Valve's fondness for mythology and folklore, it's likely that the new heroine also belongs to the celestials, or in her case, the inhabitants of the underworld.
In any case, Muerta does not look like a filler character that does not really influence the inner workings of Dota 2. We are waiting for her appearance in Dota 2, which will make sure of the above, or vice versa.
Yuriy Sheremet – Expert in mobile gaming and esports among shooters and MOBA games.
At EGamersWorld, Yuriy, as in 2020 when he joined the portal, works with content, albeit with adjustments to his area of responsibility.