Crownfall Act II and Update 7.36 are a big change for Dota 2

The way you play Dota 2 is about to change in multiple ways, with Crownfall Act II and Update 7.36 out now and it sounds pretty exciting actually.

Crownfall Act II is an expansion to the new overworld map you can explore to do little quests, which was a fun addition in the last major update. This second part adds in a new overworld map taking place in the unforgiving deserts of Druud, along with a new story, new characters, new cosmetics, new mini-games and some "surprises". You'll be able to play all acts up until it's eventually removed when Crownfall is finished.

The biggest change is to the gameplay though with Update 7.36 adding in Innates Abilities, giving each hero a new ability for the entire game from beginning to end and every hero ability is unique. Some Innates grant a hero a unique effect. For example, Dawnbreaker reveals the whole map to allies when the sun rises.

Another big addition are Hero Facets. These are hero customizations to change the playstyle of any hero to better match up to player preference. Each hero has at least two possible Facets, and you can pick the one you want during strategy time or at the start of a match. For example: Viper can choose between adding an AoE damage burst to Poison Attack, or increasing defensive buffs while Viper remains in Nethertoxin.

Main gameplay changes:

Innate Abilities

• Innates are abilities that are present on the hero for the entire game, from the very beginning of every match. Every hero has a unique Innate
• The Innate for each hero can be viewed on the Hero page, or in-game by hovering a new icon between the hero talents and abilities
• There are two types of Innates:
  • Some Innates grant a hero a unique effect. For example, Faceless Void slows enemy attack projectiles within range, and Dawnbreaker reveals the whole map to allies when the sun rises
  • Some Innates change a hero ability to have five levels and get a free ability point at level 1. For example, Kunkka's Tidebringer and Legion Commander's Moment of Courage now start at level 1, and can still be upgraded four more times like normal

Facets

• Facets are a hero customization choice that provide the ability to better align the playstyle of a hero with a specific match or player preference. Facets are specific to heroes: Each hero has at least two Facets, and every player can choose the Facet they prefer during strategy time at the beginning of each match
• Hero Facets can be viewed on their hero page, below the hero name and tags. They can also be viewed in-game by hovering a new icon between the hero talent and abilities, on the scoreboard, or on the top bar when holding Alt
• Facets are set for all players after the strategy time, and cannot be changed during a match. Facet choices aren't revealed to the enemy team until after the game begins
• Facets can have a variety of effects, for example:
  • Viper can choose between adding an AoE damage burst to Poison Attack, or increasing defensive buffs while Viper remains in Nethertoxin
  • Wraith King can choose between summoning skeletons, or dealing additional curse damage when attacking
  • Leshrac can choose between his attacks restoring mana, or changing Diabolic Edict to explode faster but deal no damage to buildings
  • Lone Druid can choose between an improved Spirit Link, granting lifesteal in both directions, or allowing True Form to be cast on the Spirit Bear

Other

• Strategy time is extended by 15/10/5 seconds for the 1/2/3 weeks immediately after a numbered patch
• Glyph of Fortification no longer refreshes when the first Tier 3 tower is destroyed
• Glyph of Fortification now refreshes when the first Melee Barracks is destroyed
• AoE Bonuses now affect all auras and Cleave sources
• Dominated Creeps no longer allow players to bypass Backdoor Protection
• Hero Denies now grant experience to the hero who created the deniable debuff.
• Mana Bars are always visible for enemies
• Fountain Buff grants Couriers haste movement
• If Courier has no items, pressing the Deliver Courier button sends the Courier back home
• Mana Cost Reduction effects no longer work on abilities that drain mana over time
• Attack Speed Display is no longer normalized to 1.7 BAT. This means heroes’ max attack speed is always 700, and a buff that grants 20 Attack Speed will display as +20 always instead of a different number based on the hero’s BAT (No actual gameplay change, just a display change)
• Spell's Cast Range is now always listed with the new icon, which is located near Mana Costs and Cooldown
• Holding Alt displays the vision range of all Watchers in the map
• Experience gain from Abilities and Wisdom Rune will now show up separately in the post-game XP Breakdown for Dota Plus users
• Added a "LEVELS WITH:" parameter for ability descriptions to show which ability needs to be upgraded to level this one
• Ability tooltips now show icons next to ability values, indicating that those are upgraded by Aghanim's Shard/Scepter, Talents, or Facets
• Updated spectator view controls for live and replays to match vision unlinking
• Using Radiant/Dire Fog will now correctly hide members of Radiant/Dire that have had their vision unlinked and are not visible
• Using the player perspective on a player whose vision is unlinked will correctly hide units they can no longer see
• Pinging items of enemies that can't be seen currently no longer reveals information on whether those items were consumed or not
• In demo mode -createhero command supports facets by adding facet name or its number at the end of the command
• New Dota Labs Feature: "Persistent Range Indicators" -- If you hold Alt while right-clicking on either your experience indicator, attack range indicator (the stats part of portrait), or an ability/item, the game will draw a persistent range indicator in the world for it. You can only have at most one active at any given time, but it updates automatically when your attack/cast/AoE range changes
• New Dota Labs Feature: "Dynamic Health Bar Focus" -- The health bar of any hovered unit will always draw on top of other health bars
• Added the ability to type in a hero name to jump to that hero when viewing patch notes in the client

Ability Draft

• Innates have the following rules for Ability Draft
• Innate abilities that do not appear on a hero's ability bar will be automatically assigned to the hero when spawning in, but cannot be drafted
• Innate abilities that can be leveled with skill points are draftable, but will not be automatically assigned when spawning in
• All other innate abilities are disabled for Ability Draft
• Facets have the following rules for Ability Draft:
• You can choose any hero facet belonging to your assigned hero during strategy time
• Facets that grant new abilities are disabled
• Facets that replace abilities will work if you draft the ability that is being replaced
• If a facet has no effect on your hero you can still select it. In game, the facet will notate it has no effect

I think it's finally time for my return to Dota 2.

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