An Overview of the new Underlords update | 5th Sept, 2019

A new Underlords update is out and I’m honestly quite baffled that Valve is giving these updates such random names instead of just using the number system that we have for Dota. I’m not complaining though, because it’s really fun to play the game right now, and its all due to these frequent updates. Let’s get started with ‘The Update Where Tusk and Friends get Mighty Stylish”.

General Changes

• Uncap Proto-Pass XP, up level cap to 99.
• 2-star and 3-star visual upgrades for Alchemist, Bloodseeker, Crystal Maiden, Sand King, and Tusk.
• Animation improvements.
• When a unit in the shop can combine into a 3-star unit, the 3-star version rather than the 2-star version is shown.

Its good to see that Valve is improving the visual effects of the game ever so often. When Dota 2 first came out, it looked nothing like the Dota 2 we know right now. If you watch old videos of Dota, you might be surprised at how awful it used to look compared to how it looks now.

I’m expecting the same for Underlords. Although the game already looks great, I can think of many features and visual improvements Valve can add to make the game look even nicer. However, Tusk and friends do look mighty stylish right now, so I’m sure Valve is on the right path.

• FX optimization and improvements.
• Added framerate option on mobile. Now you can select from the default (30FPS), 60FPS, and 15FPS (battery saver), as well as an option to up to 60FPS only while plugged in.

The 15 FPS option makes me happy because running Underlords drains my phone’s battery very quick. Its also good to see that the devs are working on optimizing the game even further.

Gameplay Changes

• Melee units can now target barricades if no better targets are available.

It was awkward to see Melee units just stand around and do nothing when they were unable to reach a target protected by barricades. After the new Underlords update, they can at least chew through the barricades to reach their target.

• Assassin targeting and Blink Dagger targeting is now a bit more random between left and right when selecting the farthest target.

This is a great change for Assassins and Blink Dagger users. Previously, it was quite easy to counter these units as it was easy to predict where they would land.

However, this might also be bad for these units sometimes, since they might end up where you don’t want them to be. But the good part is that the enemy will have no control over it.

Hero Changes

Arc Warden

• There is now a 3 second cooldown on creating another clone whenever a clone dies.

On reading this change, it feels like Arc Warden is very underwhelming now. I haven’t tried him after the patch yet, but this is a very harsh change.

Creating a fresh clone over and over again was this hero’s main point of attraction as it could be very hard to deal with if you don’t have good AOE damage.  Now you can just kill the clone and reach the hero easily.

Sand King

• Fixed an issue where duration was not set properly, leading to Caustic Finale doing the timer-expired rather than the on-death damage much of the time.

Well, now we know why Sand King was so bad in the previous patch. I will give Sand King another shot and see if he’s any better now. The change looks great on paper, but we will soon find out how much it really improved the unit.

Tidehunter

• Ravage now applies its damage after the stun is applied, so the Shaman Ace Effect interacts properly.

If you have the Shaman Ace Effect, enemies affected by Hexes, Silences or Stuns will generate -200% mana.

Previously, Ravege’s stun was being applied first and the damage was being dealt later, causing units affected by ravage to generate less mana for the damage done by Ravage.

Now, they will start generating less mana only after the affects of Ravage.

Tiny

• Tiny can now toss target buddy.

The Underlords dev team keeps showing their affection towards memes and their community. That’s why we love them so much.

On a serious note, I doubt this change would make any difference, gameplay-wise.

That was my overview of the new Underlords update. I write about Dota Underlords, Dota 2, Esports and Gaming in general. I’d love it if you followed me on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks for reading.