New Mexico-Inspired 'Dota 2' Hero Revealed During TI11

On the final day of The International 11 world championship tournament, Valve revealed Muerta, "Dota 2's" latest upcoming hero, to live and online audiences.

This new gunslinging ghost's art style borrows heavily from the traditional Mexican Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, celebration. The aptly-named Muerta features a familiar flowery aesthetic piled on top of an easily-recognizable spectral visage seen in other "Dota 2" heroes like Death Prophet.

A short teaser video showcased an up-close look at the new hero's features.

Muerta is officially described as "an enduring revenant" who can "pierce the veil between the living and the damned." She wields twin flintlock pistols imbued with spiritual energies, and several ghosts can be spotted in the background after she reveals her true form.

Valve has not yet shown her abilities. However, Muerta's description implied a planeswalker type of playstyle that explores the concepts of life and death. Her line in the teaser also mentioned a fate worse than death, which could imply the existence of an on-kill mechanic in one of her abilities.

Fans theorized that Muerta has been teased within "Dota 2" since February after the Revenant's Brooch item was added to the game. Not only does it coincide with her revenant identity, but the item logo somewhat resembles her face as well.

The Revenant's Brooch description also matches Muerta's own, as it is described as "the crest of a fallen guardian who stalks forever between the veil of life and death." In-game, the brooch grants Intelligence, mana, mana regeneration and extra damage against heroes.

The item's two abilities, Phantom Province and Witch Blade, are also worth noting. The former is an active skill that buffs the user's next five attacks with extra magic damage and True Strike, while the latter is a passive ability that laces the user's next attack with a poison that slows and deals damage over time.

Whether or not these abilities will reflect on Muerta's actual kit is unknown, but players can expect her playstyle to be somewhat in-line with this item. She is scheduled for an early 2023 release date.