Patch 7.37c is out now. You can check out the patchnotes here.
In-Game Advertisements at The International
The International is a celebration of Dota and the global community of players and fans who support it, providing a chance for everyone to come together and see it played at the highest possible level by the best teams in the world.
While the heart of The International is the community — everyone who makes a short film or a cosplay outfit or a T-shirt design, everyone who yells from the audience (or their couch) to cheer on their favorite team or hero — the matches they gather to watch are its core: When play begins, the focus is on the game itself and the players battling for victory.
Over the years, we've built a number of features into Dota to help celebrate these teams and players; unfortunately during that time we've seen those features increasingly being used not to showcase team or player identity, but rather to host advertisements. This year, to remove distracting elements and allow full focus on the game and the people playing it, we aren't going to have advertisements and sponsorships in-game at The International, including in team banners, base logos, and tags in player names.
We're only a few short weeks away from opening the curtain on this year's tournament. Whether you're meeting up in Denmark, or watching online, we'll see you soon.
Introducing The Ringmaster and the 2024 Compendium
The International doesn't just draw near. Like a supernatural clockwork carnival barker out in a dark forest, it beckons. We're two weeks away from the first games of The International Group Stage, and if you're a fan of professional esports, it's time to get excited. Floor tickets for all three days are sold out, but some arena seats are still available. Whether you've already bought your tickets or you're holding out until the last possible minute, we look forward to seeing you at Copenhagen's Royal Arena in September.
As our annual lead-up to the big event, we've just released this year's International Compendium. We even called in a favor with our newest old friend, who graciously volunteered to walk everyone through it. For those of you new to The International, the Compendium is a collection of activities and rewards focused on the players, teams, and matches in this year's tournament. Out-predict, out-fantasy, and out-bingo your friends while you watch — all while earning TI-themed rewards ranging from a new HUD to brand-new heroic effigies and a flashy new versus screen to show them off on.
Lastly, as you may have noticed by our clever introductory allusions, or by looking at the image above, or by clicking any of the links in this post, or by launching Dota before reading this, today's update also includes our newest hero: Cogliostro Kettle, The Ringmaster, has arrived. He's here, he's free, and he's available to all players right now.
But why introduce him further, when he's happy (believe us, more than happy) to introduce himself? Read on for his tragic backstory.
7.37b Gameplay Patch
Patch 7.37b is out now. You can check out the patchnotes here.
Additionally, a few bugs were fixed over the last several days:
Fixed Iron Talon being affected by spell amp and damage resistance
Fixed Khanda working on illusions (now has the same behavior as Phylactery)
Fixed true sight not working correctly with Bristleback's Seeing Red
Fixed Crystal Maiden's Arcane Aura not having a range indicator for the 1200 proximity bonus
Fixed Dark Willow being unable to be targeted by teammates while in Shadow Realm
Fixed Doom's Devil's Bargain not working if he sells items via the Courier
Fixed Drow Ranger's Sidestep being cancellable by issuing an attack order
Fixed Earthshaker's Slugger applying the push to enemies that are alive in some rare circumstances
Fixed a crash related to Enchantress' Little Friends and Tormentor
Fixed Juggernaut's Level 10 Talent not applying Duelist Damage until Juggernaut dies
Fixed a crash with Lone Druid when passing Neutral Items to the Spirit Bear
Fixed Lone Druid's Gift Bearer rerolls not working correctly
Fixed Mars' Spear of Mars sometimes failing to impale one of the targets if multiple are speared with Aghanim's Shard
Fixed Medusa's Gorgon's Grasp damage being reduced by physical damage block
Fixed Phantom Lancer's Illusory Armaments Innate giving zero damage
Fixed Razor's Dynamo sometimes granting the wrong amount of spell amplification
Fixed Rubick not applying Death Rime damage when stealing Ancient Apparition's spells
Fixed Rubick crash that occured when a stolen Ghost Ship spell expired right before reaching its destination
Fixed Sand King Stinger not being stealable
Fixed Skywrath Mage level 15 talent not being updated to Concussive Shot slow
Fixed Snapfire Lil' Shredder dealing less damage than intended with critical strikes
Fixed Sniper's Headshot tooltip incorrectly stating that it works on allied creeps
Fixed Spectre Reality sound being inaudible to the enemy if she teleports to a location hidden in fog of war
Fixed Spirit Breaker's Planar Pocket spell redirection for abilities that sought new targets during redirection, causing unintended extra damage in the whole area
Fixed Techies' Blast Off! Self Damage tooltip not reflecting the correct damage type
Fixed Tiny's Toss not triggering Phylactery when the tossed target is the same as the primary target
Fixed Troll Warlord's Berserker's Rage dealing damage to himself
Fixed Venomancer Plague carrier not respecting Disable Help
Fixed Visage's Lurker tooltip using the term 'Cooldown Reduction' instead of 'Cooldown Acceleration'
Update 7.37 Is Here
Since patch 7.36 affected basically every hero in the game, it's no surprise that 7.37 is mostly focused on getting the playing field leveled again. A bunch of heroes are getting new innates and facets, and there's even a rework of Medusa. 7.37 also includes more informative tooltips, which should give you a better moment-to-moment understanding of all the variables that go into murdering someone in a forest. Check out the patch notes here!
Crownfall Act III and Collector's Cache
June has come and, as it tends to do, now left us, probably forever. You'd be forgiven for forgetting all about crowns and them falling dramatically from the heads of fantasy birds and just enjoying your summer — slowing down, taking it easy, having a picnic at the beach or just napping for a while in a hammock. Well, we hope you enjoyed it, because July has come roaring into all of our lives, and with it, Crownfall Act III: The Frosts of Icewrack. In fact, the lazy, meandering intro to this blog post is probably all the lounging around your poor eyeballs are going to get. Even as this June-esque paragraph winds its way towards a rambling sun-dappled conclusion, Act III is ramping up, July-like, to be the most eventful act yet.
Act III comes with an entirely new overworld map, located in the frigid north. It has mysteries, no small number of monsters, quite a bit of snow, and one hell of a barroom brawl. (And, as always, some surprises you'll have to find on your own.) Act III also comes with the Crownfall Collector's Cache, featuring 16 of the highest-rated sets from the last community vote.
If you've been playing along through Crownfall as each act releases and want to jump right in to the new Act III content, you can start with Act III's intro comic, The Dragon, following Shen and her allies as they land in Icewrack, searching for Kestrel and his army. If you want a refresher on how we got here, you can also read the Act I intro comic, Ascension Day, and the Act II intro, The Battle of Hell's Basin.
If you're just joining in now, this is your reminder that all of the previous acts are still available, and will remain so through to the end of Crownfall. Speaking of which, given how much the event has grown since we initially imagined it (and how much its still growing), we've also decided to extend the event end date to October.
We're looking forward to the final battle with Queen Imperia. We'll see you there.
Introducing the Steam Game Recording Beta
There are millions of Dota players around the world, and every day their adventures offer up experiences ranging from universal (a savvy swipe of an Aegis) to one-in-a-billion (a RAMPAGE by Chen) — including thrilling moments, silly moments, and everything in between. And since the only thing as fun as playing Dota is savoring those signature plays with friends, today we're excited to roll out Game Recording, a new built-in Steam feature that makes sharing those special Dota moments easier than ever before.
Game Recording lets you save your gameplay — either by recording in the background or manual hotkey activation — to replay at your convenience. Recordings in Dota 2 will include a timeline filled with game-defined markers, but you can also add your own markers at any point. Scrub through a recording while you're still playing to review things like confusing teamfights or a failed gank, or take your time after the game to find the most entertaining moments and memes-to-be that you want to share. You can easily clip the good stuff and discard the rest. Snipping and sharing your clips with friends is just a few clicks away.
Ready to get rolling? Simply opt into the Steam Beta Update in your Steam Interface Settings to join the fun. You'll be clipping and shipping highlights in no time. Need a bit more info on how it works? Head over to the Steam Game Recording webpage for more in-depth details. Then start sharing your clips through Steam or wherever you chat with your friends — we're excited to see what you make! And if you run into any issues or feel the feature is missing something, please share those thoughts as well. In the meantime, we'll keep working on improvements as the Beta moves towards full Steam release, and we'll also continue looking at ways to enhance how Dota specifically can make use of all the new features.
Dota 2 Short Film Contest 2024
The regional battles on the Road to The International have concluded, and we now know all sixteen teams destined to clash in Copenhagen this September.
But there's also another competition to remember — in which the auteurs of the Dota scene grab their pens, friends, and camera lenses and treat the community to a breadth of cinema that rivals any film festival.
That's right, it's time for this year's Dota 2 Short Film Contest, officially open for submissions. Filmmakers will have until 3:00pm PDT on August 18, 2024 to submit their short film creations of 90 seconds or less to the Dota 2 Steam Workshop to be eligible for consideration.
All Dota players are welcome to visit the Workshop to discuss, vote on their favorites, and help us select the best entries. The top ten finalists will be showcased as part of The International live broadcast. After reviewing the Workshop ratings and discussions, Valve will nominate the top entries to be featured in the Dota client for a final voting process by the community to determine the winners.
The top three selections will score prizes of $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000, and each of the other top ten finalists will win $500. (As a refresher for anyone who missed the winners last year, or wants to enjoy them again, the top three entries from last year were Chemical Rage by 4fun, Finish Pls by Keller Max, and GAME BREAKERS by Anomidae.)
Visit the Dota 2 Short Film Contest site for more information and guidelines on the submission process. And be sure to stop by the Workshop page regularly to help review the submissions you would like to see showcased at The International, coming to you live from Copenhagen in September.
7.36c Gameplay Patch
Patch 7.36c is out now. You can check out the patchnotes here.
Additionally, a few bugs were fixed over the last several days:
Fixed taunts being unequipped when changing facets
Fixed a crash related to Block of Cheese
Fixed a crash when creating items with self-restoring charges in custom games
Fixed Abaddon and Nyx Assassin not avoiding damage properly
Fixed Bloodseeker's Sanguivore healing for less than intended
Fixed Bristleback's Bristleback with Snot Rocket firing Quills when receiving large single instances of damage
Fixed Clinkz's Aghanim's Scepter not increasing Skeleton Archer health
Fixed Clinkz's Burning Barrage first attack not benefitting from Tar Bomb
Fixed Crystal Maiden's Crystal Clone always being cast towards the Frostbitten target if Crystal Clone was cast during Frostbite's backswing animation
Fixed Dark Seer's Level 10 Talent Wall of Replica Illusion Damage not working correctly