The patch notes for Dota 2 update 7.36 have been released and they bring some massive changes to every single hero in the game with the addition of innate abilities and hero facets.

Two big additions lead the patch notes for 7.36; the addition of innate abilities for every hero and hero facets, a new system that will give you more strategic options in each match. These two additions mean every single hero in Dota has been changed.

Innate abilities are passive skills that each hero will automatically have unlocked at the start of a match. Some offer new abilities, for example, Dawnbreaker reveals the whole map to allies when the sun rises, while others will grant a fifth level to a skill and have it auto-skilled at level one, such as Kunkka's Tidebringer.

We saw some innate abilities implemented in previous patches, with the likes of Medusa’s Mana Shield and Alchemist’s Greevil’s Greed being added previously, but now every hero in Dota has one.

The other big addition is hero facets, which is a choice between two or more bonuses for your hero at the start of a match. After selecting your hero you can pick a facet that will give you some kind of bonus, with the idea being you pick the one that best fits the role you want to play. For example, as Alchemist you can choose to get 250 extra starting gold, as was teased in the incomplete patch notes, or you can pick reduced cooldowns during your ultimate.

Again every hero has a choice between at least two options, with some such as Chen and Witch Doctor having more than two options. At first glance these seem to be reasonably role-specific for many heroes, but no doubt some will prove to be harder choices than others.

With multiple changes to every hero, the full patch notes are worth a look to see what they have going on. Outside of the new additions and hero changes, some items have been changed, including Roshan’s Banner which gets a much-needed rework. But the main focus of this update was on the heroes and their new toys, which will take weeks to fully figure out.

The second act of the Crownfall story has also launched, with The Deserts of Druud over the world map expanding the cavern crawl style meta game with new story options and another fishing mini-game. Our Crownfall service has also been updated to help our customers finish up Act I or gain an advantage in Act II so you can fully enjoy Dota 2 Patch for yourself until Late June for Act III to show up. 

With a patch this big and the success of the initial Crownfall release you can expect to see player numbers rocket up again over the coming days. We may have been waiting far too long for this update, but once again it is a good time to be a Dota player.