Dota Underlords reveals The Big Update Part Two

The Big Update is going to bring about a lot of change to Valve’s Dota Underlords. There’s a ton of new content coming, including new heroes and new alliances. The update is so large that it’s been broken up into many pieces. Yesterday we covered Part One. Today, we’ve got all the details on The Big Update Part Two.

The champ is here

The next new Alliance arriving on the Dota Underlords scene is the Champion Alliance, which is unlike anything else we’ve seen in the game. Usually, you will hire a certain number of matched heroes, two or three, from the same Alliance to receive that Alliance’s bonus. The bonus will affect all other members of the Alliance.

But the Champion Alliance doesn’t have a unique bonus. Instead, it receives all the other Alliance bonuses you have active on the board. And it’s an Alliance of one, not requiring you to have more than one Champion Hero to receive the effect.

What’s interesting about this is that it introduces a new play style to Dota Underlords. Instead of focusing on a few specific Alliances and making sure there is a lot of synergy between all your units, you could hire heroes from a wide range of Alliances and use all their bonuses to supercharge your Champion Alliance Hero.

The Legion Commander is the first new hero unveiled in The Big Update Part Two. She’s also the only hero that is a member of the Champion Alliance. Interestingly, they’ve chosen to create an entire new Alliance for this one hero. She easily could have joined the Brawny, Knight, or Warrior Alliances. But with The Big Update, Valve must be looking to make big gameplay changes.

The Legion Commander gets the ability Duel, which works almost the same way it does in Dota. She will automatically target the lowest health enemy on the board, and they are forced to attack each other. If either hero dies during the duration, the winning hero gains a permanent damage bonus. So, getting Legion Commander early on and winning Duels could snowball her into a serious powerhouse later in the game.

Brute force

The second, and final, Alliance we’re being introduced to with The Big Update Part Two is the Brute Alliance. Whenever Brutes attack an enemy they deal additional damage and also apply a damage debuff to that enemy. They prefer to attack enemies who do not have the damage debuff, meaning they will spread it around the board. Brutes will work well in a lineup that prolongs combat. Pair them with heroes and Alliances that can survive longer, and they’ll be a devastating force against your enemies.

Two new heroes are joining the ranks of the Brute Alliance. The first is Lifestealer with his Feast ability. Feast allows him to heal for a percentage of his target’s maximum health when he attacks them.

The second Brute on the block is Magnus. Magnus can use Empower to enrage an ally, granting them extra damage and cleave temporarily. Imagine a Magnus empowering a buffed up Legion Commander to cleave down a line of heroes with one powerful swing. The tactics and synergies in Dota Underlords are what make the game so intricate and exciting.

And that’s it for today’s coverage of Dota Underlords The Big Update Part Two. If you’re interested in checking out the game, you can pick it up on Steam for free.