It was leaked on the test server a few days ago, but today winter has finally come: Winter Wyvern, a new Dragon Mage, has landed in the Auto Chess arena. The cold, flying lizard is part of another small patch, just one week after the latest chess pool roster change added Sven and Lich to the field.

Costing just $1 in the shop, Winter Wyvern is a cheap addition to any lineup. Out of her abilities in Dota 2, developer Drodo Studio has chosen 'Cold Embrace' to be Winter Wyvern's special effect in Auto Chess. When reaching full mana, Winter Wyvern will target an allied piece and freeze it, making it immobile. That may seem clumsy, but the upside to the effect is that said frozen piece will receive a big burst of regeneration. With the cheap and therefore accessible Dragon, a composition including the likes of Dragon Knight seems like a very viable strategy to opt for quickly.

Aside from adding Winter Wyvern, the patch mitigates some of the frustrating item RNG in Auto Chess. Now, if you haven't gotten an item after you've killed five neutral creeps consecutively, you'll be compensated by a consumable: either a Mango (which provides mana) or a Tango (which provides health).

Full patch notes:

- New piece Added: Winter Wyvern ($1 Dragon Mage)
- If you didn't get any droppable items from 5 consecutive neutral creep kills, you will be compensated a consumable item (Tango or Mango in random) for your Courier.
- New mechanism: Target change: If the current target are physically immune while alternative targets are present in the attack range, chess pieces will now consider attacking other enemy pieces.
- Balanced Sven's God's Strength bonus damage from 100%/200%/300% to 100%/150%/200%.
- Unchecking Bullet Chat now affects player chats only. Combination info is always sent in Bullet form.
- Io will no longer benifit from Auto Combination when on bench.
- Redecorated Sladar, Viper, Tinker, Disruptor, Sniper, Abaddon, Death Prophet, Templar Assassin, Venomancer, Beastmaster and Necrophos with the latest TI9 theme cosmetic items.
- Fixed a bug which secondary abilities (such as Fiery Soul and Acidic Spray) can be casted repeatedly when taunted by Axe's Berserker's Call.
- Fixed incorrect portrait views of Batrider and Abaddon.