Dota 2 Patch 6.83 News Update: Valve Cancels Christmas With Shifting Snows Feature Instead
While Valve canceled the Dota 2 Frostivirus, they released the new Patch 6.83 Shifting Snows to bring fans a bit of festive cheer and have also teased a new engine update to come next year.
Valve's new patch not just brings back the snow covered map, but is also filled with hero balancing, a lot of frosty treasures, and a sneak peek of Winter Wyvern, the upcoming hero in the game.
Patch 6.83 introduces the new Bounty Runes to replace the runes seen at the start of the game, with a prize of 100 gold and experience points to the first player to nab them. The illusions in the game also deals less damage now by as much as 25 percent.
The Ranged and Melee Barracks also give out less gold this time with 100 to 150 worth of gold to the player who dealt the last hit, which is a far cry from 352 gold to 370. However, players will be happy to hear that each player gets his or her share of the gold at around 75 gold.
To match the new snowy, wintry theme, the update also comes with new items available at the Dota store and some general tweaks and fixes to the gameplay.
A new item in particular is the Treasure of the Frosted Flame chest, which rewards players with new armor for the Legion Commander, Luna, Shadow Shaman, Sniper or Drow Ranger, or even a set for Hexgill the Lane Shark or Tiny.
Healing Salve also dropped down in price from 115 to 110; while the Sniper's shrapnel costs only 50 in mana compared to the previous 120, lasts longer from 9 to 10 and is now deemed ineffective against buildings.
For interested players, a full list of changes is currently available at Dota 2's official Shifting Snows page.