First Blood update for Dota 2 will add LAN games, improved Armory mode

Dota 2 is getting its first major update since it came out of beta. The update, titled the First Blood update, is adding a bunch of things to the MOBA game, the biggest of which is the ability to play matches with others through LAN. When the update hits the game on September 23, up to ten players can set up a LAN connection and play with next-to-no latency. Check out our Dota 2 review.

There will also be a new game mode, dubbed Captain's Draft. In the game mode, when a match starts, a pool of 24 heroes is randomly generated, of which 8 are strength heroes, 8 are agility and 8 are intelligence. This will be the pool of heroes from which players will pick. After the pool is created, it carries on like the tournament mode that is used for competitions where teams take turns picking and banning heroes.

AXE SMASH!

Another new feature will be an improved Armory mode, where players will have better control over all of their in-game equipment, such as character skins and announcers. It will essentially be a more powerful management tool for when you want to pick your favourite courier, for example.

Along with the update, the much-awaited Portal Pack will also be hitting the Dota 2 store. Valve hasn't revealed how much the pack will cost, but it will include quite a few goodies, the most important of which will be the GlaDOS announcer pack. Other goodies in the pack include Aperture Science Wardcores, where the sentry wards and observer wards are replaced with AI cores from Portal and a new Portal HUD skin.

There are also a bunch of bug fixes for the Mac and Linux versions of Dota 2. Note: While the Portal Pack is paid, the update itself will be free and automatically pushed down through Steam.