With the upcoming release of the last original DotA hero, Abyssal Underlord a.k.a. Pit Lord, DotA 2 players are all left with one question: “Will DotA 2 release an original hero?” Well, Valve has finally answered this question. During the major DOTA 2 tournament, a cinematic trailer was shown to the public which features DotA 2’s first original hero named “Monkey King”.
The teaser was shown at the end of the event after Pit Lord made a quick appearance at Team Kaci and Team Slacks’ 10v10 game. Although no actual gameplay was featured in the 52-seconds trailer video, it clearly showed the complete appearance of Monkey King and a little idea about his lore. The champion itself was based on Sun Wukong, a mythological hero of the Chinese novel “Journey to the West”.
In the video, Monkey King talks about his story while fighting with Beastmaster in the jungle:
“Over the course of my journeys, I’ve been called many things. A warrior. An animal. A trickster. Out of all the names I’ve been called, one has always remained my favorite: King.” – DotA 2 Gamepedia
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guGFT27SavM]
Since the video was released, there were many speculations that Monkey King will not be a laning hero but a jungler. And based on the fighting scenes in the video, one can clearly assume that Monkey King will feature a mix of melee and magic-based attack. The latter can pretty much be proven when he was able to produce several clones of himself, as shown near the end of the trailer.
The Monkey King will be voiced by Matthew Mercer, the same person who gave voice to Overwatch McCree.
No further information was given about the upcoming hero but as stated the Monkey King will be released this Fall along with the New Journey update. On the other hand, Abyssal Underlord will be available in the game this August 23 so better get those gaming PC ready.