Game developer Valve has announced its 127th Dota 2 hero, Largo the bard, which will be introduced in patch 7.40.
The new update brings a variety of changes to the MOBA title, including item rotations, hero reworks, terrain adjustments and more.
Largo Joins the Battle
Largo’s debut is the main highlight of the update, joining Dota 2’s character roster as a support hero from the Murkroots of Velu’Mar. His addition comes with a dedicated comic for lore enthusiasts curious to explore his background.
Here is a full breakdown of his abilities:
- Catchy Lick: Lick a distant target and pull them towards Largo, applying basic dispel. Targeting enemies also deals damage.
- Frogstomp: Throw frogs at an area, dealing damage and ministuns every second. Affected enemies suffer reduced movement speed.
- Croak of Genius: Reduce an ally’s item and ability mana cost. A percentage of their damage reverberates in the next five seconds. Affected allies that spend mana reduce buff duration by 0.5 seconds.
- Amphibian Rhapsody: Ability bar switches with three songs, each with different effects. Successful strumming on beat grants Groovin’, with stacks granting bonus armour and reduced mana cost.
- Bullbelly Blitz: Increase ally spell amplification and grants bonus magic damage to nearby teammates.
- Hotfeet Hustle: Increase ally movement speed and grant slow resistance.
- Island Elixr: Heal nearby friendly heroes.
- Scepter Ability Upgrade: Can play two songs per beat by strumming both at the same time. Strumming two songs deals 50 + 10 magic damage per Groovin’ stack to nearby enemies.
- Encore: Shard Ability Upgrade – Largo shares buffs granted to allies. Buffs applies to Largo is also granted to the nearest ally.
Details such as stats, attributes and roles can be found on Largo’s dedicated character page on the official Dota 2 website.
Hero Reworks in Patch 7.40
Alongside Largo’s addition, the patch notes also detail buffs and nerfs to the rest of Dota 2’s hero roster. However, the greatest changes in the new update lie in the reworks.
The reworks in this update notably focus on Lone Druid, Slark and Treant Protector. Lone Druid can root enemies with a new Entangle ability, and the addition of the Spirit Bear comes with a new talent tree.
Slark gains the Innate perk Essence Shift, allowing him to steal life essence with his attacks and convert them to Agility. Additionally, he gains a new move Saltwater Shiv, slicing enemies to steal health regeneration, movement speed and health restoration.
Treant Protector will also see buffs to help the hero keep pace with the best mid-lane heroes. Leech Seed will be reworked, where units are bound for a short duration and emit two healing pulses for up to five nearby allies. Treant Protector gains a Scepter Ability Upgrade for Overgrowth, which decreases the cooldown by 30 seconds and grants a variety of buffs, such as phased movement upon activation.
Other Changes Added to Dota 2
Similar to Dota 2’s previous patch, the update brings new additions to the neutral item pool: Weighted Dice, Idol of Scree’Auk, and Riftshadow Prism.
Weighted Dice is a tier one item that boosts base damage, where the value from the last hit is calculated twice, and the highest value is taken. The Idol of Scree’Auk is a tier four item granting 50% slow resistance, phased movement, and 25% evasion for five seconds when active.
Riftshadow Prism is a tier five item that allows heroes to spend 10% of their health to create a full health illusion that lasts 20 seconds. The illusion has 50% outgoing damage and takes 240% of incoming damage.
Several neutral items will also be retired as a result, including Helm of the Undying, Sister’s Shroud and Pyrrhic Cloak.
Terrain Changes have been implemented, bringing adjustments to key points of interest. According to Valve, the affected areas include the Wisdom Shrine Radiant, Defender’s Gates Radiant, Bridge Radiant, Wisdom Shrine Dire, Defender’s Gates Dire, and Bridge Dire.
The final addition to Patch 7.40 is the release of Winter Treasure Collector’s Cache to celebrate the festive holidays. The event features 16 cosmetic sets for a variety of heroes, including Primal Beast, Enigma, Silencer and more.
How Will This Affect the Esports Scene?
The addition of Largo, alongside the wave of balance changes on patch 7.40, will undoubtedly have an impact on the professional scene. However, only time will tell if Largo will become a prime pick for some of the best players in Dota 2, or be overshadowed by the most popular support heroes this year.
Fans will be able to see the update in action during DreamLeague Season 27, the first tournament of the ESL Pro Tour 2025/2026 season. The event is running from December 10th to 21st, 2025. As of writing, the event has entered the Playoff stage, where the final eight teams play for a place in the Grand Finals.
In the new year, esports fans can also look forward to the regional open qualifiers running from January 14th to 15th, 2026, as Dota 2 squads compete for a place in at ESL One Birmingham.
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