Grimstroke is the newest Dota 2 hero—and you can play him right now

Dota 2 continues to expand its diverse set of heroes, with Valve presenting two new heroes on Aug. 24.

As the second-to-last day of competition at The International 8 came to a close, Valve revealed two new cast members in the Dota 2 canon—Mars and Grimstroke. The biggest surprise, however, was that Grimstroke appeared in the game the very same day.

The support hero comes equipped with four unique spells. Grimstroke’s ultimate ability, however, is without a doubt one of the most brutal in the entire game: “Soulbind binds an enemy hero to its nearest allied hero in range, preventing each from moving away from the other,” according to the official Dota 2 website. The kicker is that if one hero affected by Soulbind is hit by a spell, that same spell will also hit the secondary hero as well—enabling the team with Grimstroke on it to cast absurd combos like double “Doom” or “Laguna Blade.” 

Although Grimstroke is already available to play, Mars still remains a mystery. While some of the hero’s assets were discovered in the game earlier this year, no further information beyond his announcement has been made public. 

The introduction of the two heroes was only the most recent of several announcements made at this year’s iteration of The International. Perhaps the biggest surprise came on the first day of the tournament’s main event. Following the opening ceremony, Valve CEO Gabe Newell entered the stage to provide an introductory speech, in which he announced that every person attending the event would be given a free copy of Valve’s highly-anticipated card game Artifact, as well as access to game’s beta later this year.

So in anticipation of the final day of The International 8, why not queue up a few games with Grimstroke before the matches begin.