Techies

The Techies are as yet unreleased heroes (slated for release after The International 2014).

Having little direct combat ability, the Techies have an unorthodox, if effective, method of dealing damage to the enemy team in the form of powerful laid explosive mines and stasis traps that enable other heroes to set up a gank or retreat. Their mines, set across key points of the map -and even less conventional locations- are an effective method of denying area and guaranteeing damage if enemies dare to initiate.

They have an even more bizarre ability in the form of their Suicide Squad, Attack! which causes them to violently explode and die but deal massive damage (at early - mid game) in a moderate area of effect.

The unique mechanics of the mines mean that the Techies utilise mechanics not used by any other hero, including preemptive mine concaves and such strong area denial that they actively play a large role in securing the area controlled by friendly heroes.

The Techies have statistics aligned to those of semi-carries, but largely play a passive, defensive role throughout the game. Their unique utility is slowly lost throughout the later part of the game, but as with other supports their long cooldown ability Suicide Squad can still be quite effective.

Trivia

 * The first appearance of Techies in a Dota 2 match was before their official release in the All-Star match of The International 2014, used by Artour "Arteezy" Babaev. He has no idea how to play techies.
 * Some of Techies' lines, such as tech_rival_11.mp3 "They're going to have to glue you back together! Yeah, in Hell!", reference lines spoken by the Demoman from Team Fortress 2, another title by Valve.
 * Many of their lines also reference Counter Strike, such as tech_lose_03.mp3 "Counter-Techies Win", Tech_remotemines_01.mp3 "Bomb has been planted" or tech_failure_02.mp3 "Bomb has been defused. Darn!".
 * One of the Techies' potential lines upon attacking tech_attack_09.mp3 "See! Fore!" is a pun on the plastic explosive C4.
 * The line tech_rare_05.mp3 "Who said we couldn't count to three, huh?" is a reference to a joke about the fact that Valve has not released a single game with the number three in the title (Half-Life 3, Left 4 Dead 3, Portal 3 etc.).
 * The name Squee is probably a reference to an old Magic The Gathering card: Squee, Goblin Nabob.
 * The gag about Spoon being hidden in a barrel without the other two knowing is a reference from back in DotA, where only some time after Techies being released did people realize that there were actually three of them instead of two, the third one's feet could barely be seen under the barrel behind the other two (Techies used to be named "Squee and Spleen" and eventually became "Squee, Spleen and Spoon").
 * The line tech_items_15.mp3 "Claymore! But not that kind of claymore" is a reference to a Claymore mine used by the U.S. military.
 * Techies has the lowest base speed in the game (270) and the longest base attack range (700). In addition, they also have a measly 30 attack damage, comparable to a ranged lane creep.