DOTA 2 and Tekken 7 Adds New Characters
DOTA 2 and Tekken 7 Adds New Characters
Brand new characters are arriving at the end of the year to DOTA 2 and Tekken 7, their developers announced. While some specifics and exact release dates remain under wraps, character names and some powers have been revealed.
DOTA 2 Adds Two New Characters for Fall 2019
DOTA 2 will add two brand new characters to its already massive roster of toons players can choose. The first announced Snapfire is an elderly goblin grandma who rides a cute dragon-lizard and likes baking cookies. The colorful and fun character is a notable departure from the action-y and high fantasy characters already existing in DOTA 2.
Don’t let Snapfire’s jovial nature fool you. She is a badass who carries a shotgun that packs serious firepower. Snapfire seems to have both combat and support abilities. She is a ranged fighter with her shotgun, and her dragon-lizard also sprouts fire.
The baking is not just an appealing character trait. Snapfire can distribute cookies to her allies, possibly healing them during combat. The announcement trailer showed Snapfire cold-bloodedly annihilate Batrider and Timbersaw, who also happens to be her nephew.
Valve’s second announcement was for Void Sprit, a character some fans have speculated to be in the making for some years. He joins a trio of elemental brothers, the Storm Spirit, the Earth Spirit, and the Ember Spirit.
Whereas Snapfire is fun, Void Spirit is a serious character. Void Sprit can teleport anywhere by controlling an astral plane. Its weapons and skills have not yet been revealed.
The Void Spirit wields a staff with some type of energy emanating from it, but it’s not clear if the staff can act as a weapon. His primary skill so far is being able to teleport anywhere on the map.
New Character Plus the Return of an Old One for Tekken 7
Tekken 7’s Season 3 is about to unfold sometime early in 2020. There will be two new additions to the popular fighting franchise. Bandai Namco announced the return of Zafina, a well-known character from Tekken 6 who have been absent from earlier seasons. There’s a brand new character as well, named Leroy Smith.
Zafina is the Egyptian martial artist quite well known for her unpredictable fighting style. The new trailer revealed Zafina with a new weapon—a demonic claw—sprouting from her left arm. The character retains her multiple stances, including a spider stance shown in the trailer.
Leroy Smith is playable in 2020, but he will make his debut at the end of 2019, Bandai Namco said. He is described as a "seasoned master of martial arts.” The character pictures show him with an aged face and silver dreadlocks. He wears a white outfit with gold jewelry.
The new character is a Wing Chun expert with a tragic backstory. Leroy Smith grows up in a Gotham-style New York devastated by gang warfare. As a child, Leroy and his family get in the middle of a gang gunfight. Leroy gets shot and sees the rest of his family murdered. Luckily, Leroy falls into a river and ends up washed out into the ocean, where a merchant ship picks him up.
Leroy leaves the U.S. with the ship and ends up in Hong Kong, where he becomes a martial artist. After travelling the world for some 50 years, Leroy returns to New York to avenge his family. He is able to overcome the enemy gangsters with brutal single-handed blows.
In New York, Leroy learns that Mishima Zaibatsu, an evil corporation, is responsible for the gang warfare of the past. He joins the King of Iron Fist fighting tournament sponsored by the company to infiltrate and destroy it.
Leroy’s backstory demonstrates that he uses heavy punches and flurry of blows to take down his opponents. His exact fighting style is still a mystery. He, along with Zafina, would showcase new moves for Tekken Season 3, according to announcements.
The launch event for the upcoming season showed a teaser video with Solid Snake from Metal Gear, setting off wild speculation that the classic character would make a guest appearance in the Tekken universe. Bandai Namco shot down these rumors, claiming that the event organizers, not them, decided to include the teaser as a joke.
There will be guest characters from other beloved franchises however, including Akuma from Street Fighter, Negan from The Walking Dead, and Noctis from Final Fantasy 15.
