Dota 2 update adds ghost knight Abaddon and new fixes

Dota 2 developer Valve has rolled out a new update to its recently-released MOBA, this time adding new ghost knight Abaddon and his phantom steed. There's also a bunch of new fixes. Get the patch notes here.

Valve published the update's patch notes along with the above image of Abaddon. He's got a diverse skill set but leans towards a supporting type. Here's a breakdown of his abilities:

• Death Coil: A targeted ability, Death Coil can either damage enemies or heal allies. It has a respectable 800 unit range and can be used to finish off fleeing enemies or a last minute save on your friends. Casting this ability not only consumes mana but also costs some of Abaddon's health. The cost is dealt as pure damage, and can also be used to deny yourself if your death is certain.
• Aphotic Shield: A shield that blocks damage and damages enemies, this is ability has a ton of uses. You can place it on any allied unit, meaning heroes or creeps. When it has blocked a certain amount of damage, the shield explodes dealing the total absorbed damage in large AoE around the target. It also removes certain negative buffs and stuns.
• Curse of Avernus: Abaddon’s passive ability, Curse of Avernus affects enemies and allies alike with different effects. Whenever Abaddon strikes an enemy they will have their movement speed reduced. In addition any ally that attacks the affected target will have their attack speed and movement speed buffed for a short duration. This also works on towers.
• Borrowed Time: This ultimate is why Abaddon is simply one of the hardest to kill heroes in the game. When activated most negative buffs are removed and any damage Abaddon takes will instead heal him for that amount. If the ability isn’t on cooldown, Borrowed Time will activate automatically when Abaddon reaches a critical threshold. Also any projectiles will be dodged if Borrowed Time is activated before they hit.

What do you think? Are you tempted to use Abaddon? You'll find the rest of Valve's most-recent patch notes below. Thanks PCGamesN.

GAMEPLAY
- Death Prophet: Fixed AI on Exorcism spirits that caused them to sometimes be less efficient and linger on units far from you
- Doom: Fixed Doom not disabling Flak Cannon
- Huskar: Fixed being able to attack while he is leaping in Life Break
- Jakiro: Fixed Liquid Fire debuff being removed by Manta/BKB
- Lich: Fixed the order of damage instances on Frost Nova
- Omniknight: Fixed his spells not working on Mechanical units
- Phantom Assassin: Fixed Stifling Dagger projectile speed traveling a little too slow
- Sven: Fixed Storm Bolt aoe not hitting invisible units
- Fixed Siege not getting increased damage when the Ranged Barracks dies
- Fixed Buckler and Mekansm +2 active armor buff stacking
- Fixed Vladmir’s Offering not working on Siege units

TRAINING
- Added match making option to opt out of Limited Hero mode
- Fixed some players not receiving item rewards after completing training tasks
- Play Tab will now remember your previous selection
- Fixed various progression bugs in Mechanics II
- Fixed disabled skill assignment using CTRL+Ability when in tutorial

COMPENDIUM
- Added Player Card rewards. Unlock the Smeevil Crab mount by stamping complete teams
- Added the International Fantasy Challenge.

UI
- Added a hotkey to Select All Units
- Added a hotkey to activate Speed Burst on your flying courier
- Minor reorganization to control settings page
- Fixed Replay Speed Decrease hotkey missing from the configuration panel
- Increased the maximum number of total spectator slots from 14 to 22
- Removed Favorite hero count limit
- Moved Solo Only Matchmaking to a setting on the main Find Match tab.
- New Tournament Drops:
… When a player reaches a Godlike streak
… When a Courier is killed
… When a player buys a Divine Rapier
… When Earthshaker Echoslam’s 5 heroes
- Fixed Quick Cast bug preventing use on neutrals/couriers

VISUAL
- Fixed Global Silence not showing the visual effect on Familiars even though they are silenced
- Updated ability icons for Dark Seer and Dragon Knight
- Added new disarmed effect
- Fixes for a few portrait based effects, such as Enigma’s vortex

AUDIO
- updated Mekansm SFX.

PLATFORM

- Added support for Mac OS X

Minimum Mac OS X Requirements:
OS X Lion 10.7 4GB RAM, 4GB Hard drive space. nVidia 320M or higher, or Radeon 7000 or higher, or Intel HD 3000 or higher

- Added support for Linux

Minimum Linux System Requirements:
Ubuntu 12.04, dual core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz, 4GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 8600/9600GT, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2600/3600 (Graphic Drivers: nVidia 310, AMD 12.11), OpenGL 2.1, 4GB Hard Drive Space, OpenAL Compatible Sound Card

Mac and Linux support is early and experimental. They will be remain in Dota 2 Test until the testing phase is complete. For reporting bugs, please see the Dota 2 GitHub at https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Dota-2/issues For community discussion of the Mac and Linux versions head to the Dota 2 Dev forums at http://dev.dota2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=447

WORKSHOP
- Added Mok mandrill courier
- Added Defense Grid announcer
- Fixed orientation on Bounty Hunter’s Jinada Glows on workshop items
- Fixed Nether Ward effect orientation for workshop items
- Added support for workshop authored effects on Kunkka’s weapon

BOTS
- Bots will no longer stare at a dropped gem, futilely trying to destroy it.