Ability details for Dota 2’s next hero may have leaked ahead of next patch

It has been almost four months since we last heard about Dota 2’s newest hero, Muerta, and any details on the deathly duelist. However, in another set of leaks from internal game files, it appears fans may have an early glimpse at some concepts of her abilities. 

The Mournful Revenant is still set for an early 2023 release, according to Valve’s announcement at The International 2022 last October, though this is the first real information we have received since then thanks to DOTA_DM on Telegram.

All of the files in the game are using placeholder imagery ranging from sketches, concept art, or straight-up memes in the case of the “stick_em_up” ability. 

In the case of the file names, all of them are labeled bird_samurai, corpse_mother, or gunslinger—with several of the gunslinger placeholder imagery being from Gyrocopter’s abilities such as Rocket Barrage or Homing Missle.

Not a lot of other data is featured in this leak, but the names of some moves do point to potential concepts for some of Muerta’s abilities. 

For example, Fan the Hammer likely means Muerta will unload a full six shooter’s salvo or two into a target while Reload is pretty self-explanatory. Powered Rounds should provide some form of power up to her shots while Hail of Bullets could hit enemies from a further distance at the cost of damage—the same can be said about Trickshot. 

On the corpse_mother side of the files, which is widely considered to be Muerta’s in-game file name, Life Link, Soul Swell, and True Love will likely play into her more ghostly abilities. And who knows what the bird_samurai abilities like Avian Assault and Plumage Party will be reworked into, if they appear at all, since the only connection Muerta has to a bird is the potential use of feathers in her design. 

Related: Dota 2’s newest hero Muerta might be from the original game

This isn’t the first big Dota leak to happen over the last week, with multiple items being discovered in the game’s files ahead of what could be the next major patch.

And if these leaked Muerta abilities are also real, it could point to the new Dota 2 hero being added in an upcoming patch too—which lines up with the last hero, Primal Beast, which was released last February too.