Meet Snapfire, Dota 2's adorable next hero

The next hero coming to Dota 2 is Snapfire, an elderly goblin who bakes cookies, carries a shotgun, and rides a giant lava-spewing lizard. She seems a lark, as long as you stay on her good side. Valve announced Snapfire today during their huge Dota tournament, The International, to arrive in a future update for the free-to-play MOBA. It's a mystery for now how she plays and what her abilities are, but come watch her introduction video and you might have a few guesses.

The only explicit description Valve give is that Snapfire is "an explosive new hero riding into Dota 2". We can guess at what some of her abilities may involve, at least, based on the video. The guns popping out her saddle, her lizard pal burping molten goop, her shotgun, maybe even giving cookies to other characters... who knows which are cinematic flair and which she'll use to murder wizards. I wouldn't even begin to guess where she might fit into Dota's meta.

I do like that the lizard is a dragon in both the heat-blasting and Agamidae senses.

Snapfire is due to hit Dota 2 this autumn. That could be anywhere between September 1st and December 21st, depending on whether Valve's calendar of choice is the sacred astronomical or the heretical meteorological. Having typed that, I realise they must print their own Valve Time calendars with a dozen duplicates of every month for employees to use or tear out as necessary.