Dota 2 Wraith Night: A new hero, new features, ranked match making and no more Skeleton King

Although today’s Dota 2 Christmas event announcement says Frostivus Eve, there really has not been any news about the actual Frostivus Event. Instead, we are given Wraith Night (another Dota 2 in-game Christmas event with new features), a new hero, and other game-related updates. Looks like we’re going to be busy this holiday season!

No more Skeleton King?

That’s right. Apparently, Skeleton King has gotten tired of being resurrected so many times and had finally banked on a once-in-a-millennium ritual that could bring him back to life for good — the Wraith Night. According to lore, during this night, monsters are imbued with Wraith Night essence that can be absorbed and accumulated by Skeleton King after those monsters are killed. He will still be unplayable, as this ritual renders him in a trance until he is ready to be re-awakened as the Wraith King.

While it’s cool that Valve managed to turn this whole image-change thing into a storyline and event, one possible reason that they are doing this is because Blizzard owns the rights to the character Skeleton King from the Diablo series. Due to copyright issues, Skeleton King can no longer be used in Dota 2, but it is still in Warcraft 3 (WC3) DotA.

The rewards of Wraith Night

Just because it isn’t Frostivus doesn’t mean we aren’t getting anything. Players who participate in Wraith Night will receive Phantom Fragments, which can be used to redeem Wraith-Night Reliquaries of different tiers —Wraith-Night Offering and Wraith-Night Tribute. These rewards are lockless so you don’t need a treasure key to open them.

Aside from the Phantom Fragments, players can also receive Shining Fragments, which will only be dropped if someone from the team activates the Wraith King’s Favor in-game. This will increase the number of Shining Fragments and that can be used to redeem the Wraith-Night Ossuary, which can contain unique gems and socketed items. You can also use Shining Fragments to redeem a recipe to craft a relic of the Wraith King.

New Hero: Legion Commander

Legion Commander finally sets foot on the main client’s next patch update. The hero has major changes appearance-wise from the WC3 DotA version. In Dota 2, Legion Commander is female and does not have a mount, but nonetheless remains the same hero gameplay-wise. For those who need their memories refreshed or are simply new to the hero, here’s her current skill set.

Aside from that, Legion Commander also gets her very own Arcana item —The Blades of Voth Domoth. This item grants the following changes to Legion Commander: