Rather than being a static unit tied to his pit like he’s always been, the Dota 2 New Frontiers update that was released on April 20 has turned Roshan into a mobile menace with the ability to teleport between two pits.
One is located at the top left-hand corner of the Dota map, and the other is located at the bottom right-hand corner. The old one in the river has been removed.
The big Dota boss moves between them via Twin Gates—two new features on the map located at the base of each pit. Players can use them too. He’ll be at the one on the Radiant side during the day and will move to the one on the Dire side during the night, where he’ll remain from dusk until dawn before moving back.
While moving between them, the monstrous beast gains 200 bonus movement speed, has phased moment (meaning he cannot be blocked by heroes, creeps, or neutrals), and deals 200 Magic Damage and a powerful knockback to boot on anyone who dares tread in his path.
The reason for this change is the previous position of Roshan and his pit slightly favored Dire. It was located between the Dire safelane and the Radiant offlane, making it easier for players on Dire to travel to and lock down since their outpost was conveniently above. Now that there are two pits and Roshan moves between them, it’s fair game.
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The April 20 patch also made Roshan even more souped-up, too. The amount of health he gains per minute has increased from 115 to 130. His base armor was also increased from 20 to 30. These stat changes are expected to make him scale better into the late-game, and faster too, to make him more of a threat.
The terrifying Dota boss also drops Cheese upon his second death rather than an Aghanim’s Shard, and from the third death onwards, drops Aghanim’s Scepter on the Radiant side and Refresher Shard on the Dire side.
It will be interesting to see how the changes are received, especially with peak chemistry and strategy at the pro level. We’ll find out when the Berlin Major begins on April 26.
