Valora the Dawnbreaker is the hero nobody knew they wanted. Valve dropped Dawnbreaker as part of patch 7.29 and the celestial hammer wielding carry looks like she is going to be a lot of fun.
Valve have unleashed Dawnbreaker in patch 7.29, a brand new hero that nobody saw coming. There were expectations that the newest hero could have a tie-in with the recently launched Dota Anime series on Netflix, Dragon's Blood. However, those expectations were swiftly forgotten after players witnessed just what Valve had gifted them.
Valora the Dawnbreaker is a melee carry hero that was molded from the heart of a young metallic star. Dawnbreaker wields a celestial hammer "setting fire to the heavens with each swing of her celestial hammer". Dawnbreaker's animations are powerful and she comes with a global teleport skill, two stuns, a crit and an AOE heal.
Dawnbreaker Abilities
Starbreaker (Q)
Dawnbreaker whirls her hammer around three times, damaging nearby enemies with her attack and bonus damage. At the end of the spin she then leaps into the air for her final strike, which stuns and damage enemies directly in front of her in a 250 unit radius. Essentially a mini Juggernaut Bladestorm with also the potential to stun. The damage of Starbreaker is physical and the stun duration goes from 0.8 seconds at level 1 to 1.4 seconds at level 4.
Celestial Hammer (W)
The most entertaining of the basic abilities, Celestial Hammer allows you to launch your celestial hammer towards a location. The damage of the hammer isn't phenomenal, 60/90/120/150, however, after two seconds the hammer will return to you leaving a blazing trail that slows (35 movement) and damages enemies (20 DPS).
Alternatively you can recall the hammer earlier, which will pull Dawnbreaker towards the hammer so they meet in the middle. Cooldown of this ability goes from 18 down to 12 seconds and it's cast range starts at 1000. Mastering the placement of the blazing trail and the early recall could make for some great skill shots with Dawnbreaker.
Gameplay tip: Celestial Hammer can be cast on the minimap like blink dagger. It will automatically be thrown maximum range in that direction.
While recalling her hammer, she is immune to pushing. For example. casting Force Staff on her while she's flying to the hammer will spend Force Staff's cooldown, but it will not change her movement.
She also cannot cast Blink Dagger while flying to her hammer (if she tries, the blink will be queued to cast after she finishes moving).
Celestial Hammer does allow for movement through impassible terrain and knock down trees. This not only means it can be used to jump cliffs, but also to move through Kinetic Field or to enter Area of Blood.
Luminosity (Passive E)
Luminosity is a passive that grants a buff for every 3 attacks Dawnbreaker makes. After three attacks Dawnbreaker's next attack will be a critical hit (120%/140%/160%/180%) that heals all allied heroes around her for a portion of damage dealt (35%). Interestingly for the buff to be activated the attacks do not need to be on the same target, unlike Monkey King's Jingu Mastery.
Solar Guardian (Utimate R)
Dawnbreaker's ultimate let's you perform a super hero landing similar to Thor in the Marvel movies. Solar Guardian initially creates a pulsing effect at a location near an allied unit which damages enemies and heals allies. After a short duration Dawnbreaker will then launch into the sky and land at the epicenter of the pulse. As a result Dawnbreaker boasts a global teleport assuming an allied unit is nearby. On landing Dawnbreaker stuns nearby enemies (1.1/1.3/1.5) and deals damage (130/160/190).
Solar Guardian feels similar to Underlord's Dark Rift. However, there's a moment on the other end where she's invisible and untargetable. This means that if she, for example, teleports into Faceless Void's Chronosphere, she will not appear until after Chronosphere ends.
Even while she's not yet visible, she'll still be effected by AOE damage even though she has been temporarily removed from the map, so be careful!
What is interesting is Dawnbreaker's responses to certain heroes. The melee carry is clearly Keeper of the Light's great granddaughter which should open up many new stories in the Dota 2 lore. Patch 7.29 welcomed a whole host of refreshing changes including a brand new rune, map changes and more punishment for griefers. Catch up on all the changes here.