Monkey King coming to Dota 2 – new hero announced at The International 2016

At the close of day 5 of The International 2016 main event (12 August) Valve unveiled the first new hero for Dota 2 that is not a port of a hero from the original game - the Monkey King. The hero will launch as part of the New Journey Update this fall.

Although Monkey King was teased in version 6.79 of the original Dota, and could be battled as an Easter egg boss, he was never fully realised as a playable hero. As for the Dota 2 incarnation, there are no details available as to the hero's abilities and play style, although a few inferences can be made from the teaser trailer above.

The Monkey King is a popular concept in Moba games, having manifested in some form in Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends, and Smite. The character is based on Sun Wukong, from the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West.

This is the second new hero announced at TI6, with the first being the long-awaited Pit Lord successor, revealed to be The Underlord.

As we head into the grand Final of The International 2016 tonight (13 August), there are three teams in with a chance to win the biggest prize pool in eSports history - a slice of the whopping $20.5m prize pool.

In the lower bracket final, Digital Chaos will face reigning champions Evil Geniuses in their last shot at getting into the grand final to battle The Wings Gaming. The winner of that match will have earned a cool $9m (£7m).

Dota 2 is an online battle arena game contested between two teams of five players and fought using a huge roster of hero characters with unique abilities that suit certain tactics and suit particular situations.

The final day of The International 2016 takes place from 6pm BST on 13 August and can be watched on Twitch (embedded below), or through the Dota 2 client if you possess the free game via Steam.

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