The arenas might be different, the star players might change, and every year new teams will rise while others fall. But while many things change, one thing is constant: The International remains a chronicle of the same journey, following the best Dota team in the world as they conquer every obstacle, overcome every challenge, and carve their names into the Aegis.

The original TI was a five-day event, hosted on the show floor of GamesCom in Cologne. Valve has been hosting The International for more than a decade since, and every year we've learned new things — everything from booth design to sponsorships to specific details of tournament design. Every year we try to capture the best parts of prior decisions while looking for opportunities to try some variations that might work even better.

So, with tickets going on sale soon (details below), we wanted to walk you through this year's tournament format.




We set out this year to create a structure such that every single match had stakes, and that those stakes were clear to the teams and the viewers. We wanted to do this without losing the massive amount of foundational, tournament-meta-defining games that fans of the group stage enjoy every year. And at the same time, the new format needed to avoid issues we've seen in previous years, where individual round robin games didn't matter at all, or only mattered to teams that weren't in the match.

This year, The Road to The International starts with a five-round Swiss bracket: Over the first three days, sixteen teams will play best-of-three matches against other teams with the same series record (a 2:0 team will face another 2:0 team, a 1:3 team will face another 1:3 team, etc.). A fourth series win will cause that team to automatically advance to The International; a fourth loss will cause that team to be eliminated.

After five rounds of Swiss, the three teams with four wins will have secured their spot in The International and the three teams with four losses will have been eliminated. The ten remaining teams will face-off in a special elimination round (strongest against weakest) with the five winners advancing to the International and the five losers being eliminated.

Swiss formats come with unique challenges, and we've taken special care to make sure fans can know in advance when their favorite teams are playing, and that no team with a winning record ever has to play two series in a row (including a last-game-of-the-night followed by a first-game-of-the-morning).

The Road to The International runs from Thursday, September 4th through Sunday, September 7th, including both the Swiss rounds and the following elimination rounds. In total, the Road to The International will eliminate eight of the sixteen invited teams and the other eight will advance to the arena for The International.




The International starts Thursday, September 11th and runs in the arena for four days, culminating in the Grand Finals on Sunday, September 14th. The eight teams that advanced from The Road to The International will compete for the Aegis in Barclays Arena in front of thousands of fans.

All eight teams start in the upper bracket of a standard double-elimination bracket, seeded based on Road to the International performance (highest against lowest). All matches are best-of-three except for the Grand Finals, which are best-of-five.


Single-day and multi-day bundle tickets for The International will go on sale on AXS starting 10am CEST, Tuesday, April 15th. We can't wait to see you there.

Patch 7.38c is out now and you can check out the patch notes here.

In addition, over the last few days we've addressed the following issues:

• Added missing patch note line from 7.38 patch notes "Roshan no longer drops Aghanim's Blessing"
  
  
• Fixed Tormentor spawning on top of the Player's Hero at 15 minutes when demoing a terrain
  
• Fixed -createhero sometimes creating a hero with no facet
  
• Fixed the Combat Log displaying non-visible enemy's channelling of Twin Gates
  
  
• Fixed it being possible for a hero to get their position or hero model angle stuck if Roshan's grab animation is interrupted
  
• Fixed Haste rune duration not correctly upgrading with the rune cycle
  
  
• Fixed being able to generate infinite teleport scrolls by buying then selling boots of travel
  
• Fixed various scenarios where players could learn if their enemy activated a smoke of deceit while in fog of war
  
  
• Fixed Alchemist Scepter granting buff visually always displaying as having given 1 scepter to enemies
  
• Fixed Bristleback's Quill Spray damage from Aghanim's Scepter counting as reflected damage
  
• Fixed being able to get negative networth on Dazzle by stashing a teleport scroll, buying a teleport scroll on your courier, having no teleport scroll on your hero, buying and selling boots of travel multiple times, giving the teleport scroll on your courier to dazzle, casting Nothl Projection, then using your courier to deliver your stashed teleport scrolls to Dazzle while the ultimate is active
  
• Fixed Clinkz's Tar Bomb not procing Magic Wand when set to autocast
  
• Fixed Doom's Devil's Bargain buyback being calculated incorrectly
  
• Fixed Hoodwink's Level 20 Talent Sharpshooter Provides Truesight have a blindspot along the path
  
• Fixed Kez's Echo Slash first hit being unable to trigger Shadowhawk's bonus when used from invisibility
  
• Fixed Kunkka's Level 25 Spell AoE talent not applying correctly to Tidebringer
  
• Fixed Lycan's Howl and Feral Impulse not applying correctly to Aghanim's Shard Wolves
  
• Fixed Magnus' Skewer not destroying trees if Magnus doesn't have an Aghanim's Shard
  
• Fixed Marci's Rebound being cancelled incorrectly when affected by Slark's Pounce and debuff immune
  
• Fixed Marci's Rebound vector targeting being inaccurate if the target location is too close to the Rebound target
  
• Fixed Medusa's Venomous Volley working on illusions with Split Shot active
  
• Fixed Gleipnir active triggering Nyx Assassin's Spiked Carapace stun
  
• Fixed Muerta's Level 15 Calling Regeneration Talent not lasting for the full duration when used in conjunction with the Dance of the Dead Facet
  
• Fixed Naga Siren's Deluge setting the maximum and minimum speed of an enemy to 240
  
• Fixed Pangolier's Fortune Favors the Bold debuff being visible on enemies when the enemy doesn't have vision of Pangolier
  
• Fixed Puck's Phase Shift stopping the invulnerability but not the channeling when using certain items
  
• Fixed Puck's Puckish incorrectly considering all projectiles disjointed using invisibility as spell projectiles, restoring more mana and health than intended
  
• Fixed Razor's Static Link incorrectly showing an alt-cast state when gaining shard
  
• Fixed Riki's Tricks of the Trade stopping the attacks and invulnerability but not the channeling when using certain items
  
• Fixed Slardar unintentionally getting additional assists from puddles he created
  
• Fixed Templar Assassin's Meld not applying to both attacks if Meld was used twice in quick succession
  
• Fixed Windranger's Focus Fire stopping if she loses and regains sight of her target while under the effect of her Windrun with Aghanim's Scepter
  
• Fixed Winter Wyvern's Winter Blast creating splinter projectiles for invisible units around the target hit by the initial projectile
  
• Fixed Winter Wyvern's Winter Blast splinter projectiles not correctly disjointing from invisible units if the target hit by the initial projectile has vision over the invisible unit
  
• Fixed Witch Doctor's Death Ward Scepter not correctly applying the 50% bonus accuracy to the bounced projectile
  
• Fixed Vengeful Spirit's Scepter illusion instantly being killed by Tormentor when casting Wave of Terror from afar
  
• Fixed Zeus's Heavenly Jump's tooltip not correctly reflecting AoE increases to the vision radius Zeus gains after jumping
  
  
  
• Ability Draft: Fixed Pangolier getting Roll Up shard upgrade without drafting Rolling Thunder
  
• Ability Draft: Fixed Kez getting Shodo Sai abilities without drafting them

Immortal Draft Changes:

• Immortal Draft rules will now be used if any player is above 8500 MMR (roughly the top 0.5% of players). (Previously, the cutoff was 6500 MMR, roughly the top 1.5% of players.)
  
• Immortal Draft games do not show up in public match history. Replay access is restricted to game participants, and these games are not listed in Web APIs.
  
• Players who are above 8500 MMR (the top 0.5% of players) are now required to register an official name to queue for ranked. This name cannot be changed and will be displayed during the pre-game player draft phase of Immortal Draft games. Approximately half of players at this rank already have an official name registered.
  
• Players above 8500 MMR who are guaranteed to play an Immortal Draft game may not queue for ranked as a party. Unranked is unchanged.
  
• Changed the way MMR gain/loss works in Immortal Draft games to better take into consideration the possible outcomes based on player draft choices.

In summary:

• If your MMR is 8500+, all of your ranked games will be Immortal Draft. All matches will be private. You're required have an official name registered. You cannot queue for ranked matches as a member of a party. Unranked is unchanged.
  
• If your MMR is 6500+, your ranked games will only be Immortal Draft if matched with a player above 8500 MMR. Otherwise you'll play using standard ranked match rules. Unranked is unchanged.

Patch 7.38b is out now, along with a new Dota Plus season. You can check out the 7.38b patchnotes here.

In addition, over the last few days we've addressed the following issues:

• Fixed Clinkz Burning Army skeletons being able to auto-cast Tar Bomb
  
• Fixed Templar Assassin Hidden Reach effects being visible to enemies
  
• Fixed Sven Level 10 Talent +10% Vanquisher Bonus Damage not working properly
  
• Fixed Ability Draft loading screen being stuck during draft phase when there are fewer than 10 players in the lobby.
  
• Drow Ranger Precision Aura from illusions no longer overrides her own bonus agility
  
• Fixed Ancient Apparition Ice Blast Shatter Threshold flickering when clicking on an enemy affected by ice blast
  
• Ability Draft: Doom: Devour: fixed player losing ability in first slot for the rest of the game after casting Devour
  
• Ability Draft: Doom: Devour: fixed permanently gaining passive aura from neutral creep
  
• Fixed Roshan Timer being broken when Templar Assassin Third Eye innate is active.
  
• Fixed Mark for Sell items not being collected by the courier if the courier did not start in the fountain when ordering it to deliver
  
• Fixed Mark for Sell items being returned to the hero if they were in the courier's inventory when delivering other items.
  
• Refined the alt-click chat messages on the Roshan Timer to match other alt-click messages.
  
• Refined alt-click chat messages on the Madstone indicator to better match other alt-click chat messages.
  
• Fixed Drow Ranger with the Sidestep Facet not triggering Silencer Last Word when Multishot finishes
  
• Fixed Viper Nosedive, which caused the caster model orientation to enter a bad state, allowing Rubick or any hero in Ability Draft to exploit this with certain abilities, causing them to remain permanently in the world.
  
• Fixed Jakiro Liquid Fire not working in Ability Draft
  
• Fixed Spell Lifesteal Amplification from Kaya (and it's combined items) not working

Over the last few days we've addressed the following issues:

• Fixed heroes in Ability Draft not having innate abilities
  
• Fixed Lotus Pool timers showing regular Dota game mode timings in Turbo
  
• Fixed minimap icons not showing for live spectators in player view
  
• Fixed some camps' spawnboxes being taller than Kunkka's Torrent height
  
• Fixed Tormentor spawning in undesirable locations while in Demo Mode
  
  
• Neutral Tooltip is better at guessing enchantment level
  
• Fixed Ironwood trees not providing extended healing duration when consumed with Tango
  
• Fixed Ninja Gear usage while smoked allowing you to re-apply Smoke of Deceit to your allies
  
• Fixed Phylactery not slowing enemies on proc
  
• Fixed Pirate's Hat causing the Death Cost tooltip to display a slightly incorrect amount
  
• Fixed Pyrrhic Cloak reflecting reflected damage
  
• Fixed Revenant's Brooch on Illusions dealing more damage than intended
  
  
• Fixed an issue where Scurry and Death Pact would have more than the max number of charges if the corresponding talent was taken after the ability was skilled
  
• Fixed various issues with Morphling's Morph
  
• Fixed various issues with Winter Wyvern's Winter's Curse
  
  
• Fixed Anti-Mage Magebane's Mirror not reducing mana when the caster doesn't have enough mana to spend
  
• Fixed Arc Warden's Flux with Aghanim's Scepter occasionally still silencing even if Flux was dispelled
  
• Fixed Crystal Maiden's Blueheart Floe not leveling up with Freezing Field
  
• Fixed Dazzle not getting Desolator charges when killing heroes while a Nothl Voyager
  
• Fixed Dazzle not getting Urn of Shadows charges when killing heroes while a Nothl Voyager
  
• Fixed Dazzle's Aghanim's Shard not providing Healing Amplification while in the Nothl Realm
  
• Fixed Dazzle's Nothl Projection not benefitting from Poison Touch talent upgrades in certain situations
  
• Fixed Dazzle's Nothl Projection granting more Town Portal Scrolls than desired in certain situations
  
• Fixed Dazzle's Nothl Projection putting Aeon Disk on cooldown
  
• Fixed Dazzle's Nothl Projection putting Refresher Orb going on cooldown
  
• Fixed Dazzle's Poison Touch debuff duration not increasing when used before casting ultimate (and in reverse)
  
• Fixed Dazzle's Soul being able to use Hand of Midas
  
• Fixed Dragon Knight's Corrosive Dragon's spells and Damage over Time effects getting blocked by Physical Block
  
• Fixed Dragon Knight's Wyrm's Wrath applying debuffs to teammates when denying
  
• Fixed Dragon Knight's Wyrm's Wrath with the Fire Dragon Facet unintentionally dealing damage to towers
  
• Fixed Dragon Knight's Wyrm's Wrath with the Fire Dragon Facet proccing twice per hit when in Elder Dragon Form
  
• Fixed Dragon Knight's Wyrm's Wrath with the Fire Dragon Facet AoE bonus not stacking with other sources of increased AoE
  
• Fixed Hoodwink's Level 20 Sharpshooter talent having blind spots in its vision path
  
• Fixed Invoker with Aghanim's Scepter gaining more levels of Quas, Wex, or Exort than intended
  
• Fixed Io's Tether not healing tethered targets from damage dealt with Aghanim's Shard
  
• Fixed Lion's Impale not benefitting from AoE bonuses if the AoE bonuses were acquired after leveling Impale
  
• Fixed Monkey King clones stealing gold with Pirate's Hat
  
• Fixed Morphling's Adaptive Strike with Flow facet not stunning targets if Morphling Morphed while the projectile was traveling
  
• Fixed Pangolier's Shield Crash Barrier putting Blink Dagger on cooldown when the barrier fully blocks the damage
  
• Fixed Primal Beast's Ferocity stacks being uncapped in certain situations
  
• Fixed Rubick being able to accrue Arcane Accumulation stacks from Nothl Projection's End Projection
  
• Fixed Rubick with an Aghanim's Scepter not receiving the Aghanim's Scepter upgrade from a stolen Shackles
  
• Fixed Puck's Phase Shift being interrupted by certain commands
  
• Fixed Riki's Tricks of the Trade being interrupted by certain commands
  
• Fixed Techies' Minefield Sign with Aghanim's Scepter triggering during the Cast Point
  
• Fixed Templar Assassin's Meld with Hidden Reach taking longer than expected to reach max attack range
  
• Fixed Windranger's Killshot executing targets at slightly higher than the stated thresholds
  
• Fixed Windranger's Level 25 Talent Focus Fire Kills Advance Cooldown by 18s not working correctly

Much like the galactic water miners in the movie and possibly the book Dune Part 2, Dota has always been the only game in any genre that believes water is the most valuable resource in both the Dune-iverse and our universe, the universe. It's kind of crazy, then, that it's taken more than a decade for us to finally prove that bold claim by saying it out loud in print.

And if that was all we did, it would be enough. But we didn't stop there. We've re-made the river that runs through the Dota map. Not only is it wider, its current can speed your movement. Conversely, the new river's new evolving, amphibious creeps can drastically slow your movement by killing you.

And that's not all: How about a new resource! "Waterstone?" you say. In retrospect, that would have made sense. But it's actually called "Madstone" and you can use it to craft your own unique neutral items. Which is crazy, so the name actually fits pretty well.

We've also made some other map updates, replaced wisdom runes with much cooler wisdom shrines, and made a bunch of quality of life changes. It's all too much to detail in one blog post, which means you'd be out of luck unless we made a page dedicated to describing all the stuff in great detail. Which we did.

Well folks, you knew this was coming. We warned you it was coming. We even extended its coming. But now it's no longer coming, because it's here. No more last minute reprieves, no more entreaties from sad-eyed pets. We're doing it. Depending on when you read this, it's already done. Crownfall has been archived.

One consistent and recurring bit of feedback we got from the community over the course of Crownfall was what a bummer it would be not to be able to play their favorite minigame now that the event was ending. (No one agrees on what the best minigame is, but everyone has a favorite.) We agree — waiting in a matchmaking queue goes a lot faster with a game of Dragon Chess — and so we're happy to announce the Crownfall Archive, a collection of all the minigames and comics from all four acts, accessible from the main menu to everyone, regardless of whether you unlocked it while the event was active. (We've also preserved your progress through each of the Act I-IV maps for posterity.)

Additionally, if you're still sitting on any Crownfall rewards like candy or Crownfall Coins, you can continue to redeem them through the Archive.

We've really enjoyed getting to tell a story taking place in the realms of Skywrath, Druud and Icewrack. But there are so many more realms to explore. And so it's time for us to put the Ghastly Eyrie behind us, at least for now, and point our compasses at some new guiding stars. We'll see you there.

Snakes, as any biologist will tell you, are fascinating creatures. They don't have skeletons. They don't have brains or organs. They just have one tube-like muscle that makes up their whole body, a mouth, two eyes, and a butt. That's it. An animal shouldn't be able to be alive with that few body parts, and yet somehow the snake surmounts all of those obstacles and manages it.

It's at this point in the blog post that we should admit that the biologist we contacted about all this never actually returned our calls, so we had to guess at a few of the details in the previous paragraph. But honestly, we don't need a stupid snake expert to tell us that snakes look cool. They look cool on armor, on weapons, on bodies, even on hats. If you've got something that's cool already, and you put a bunch of snakes on it, it might actually explode, so watch out.

As you may have guessed, we're proud to announce the all-new 'Charms of the Snake' treasure, stocked up with nine community-made item sets ready to slither around your favorite heroes and wrap them in some scaly styles, just in time for Lunar New Year to ring in the Year of the Snake.

Each treasure opened will grant a serpentine set for Snapfire, Medusa, Shadow Shaman, Naga Siren, Razor, Earth Spirit, or Templar Assassin. You'll also have a chance to unlock a Rare Lich set or Very Rare Necrophos set. You can purchase 'Charms of the Snake' treasures directly for $2.49 to get in the spirit of the Lunar New Year and join the slinky fashion fun.

The International 2025 is coming to Germany in September. Companies interested in producing and distributing regional language broadcasts of The International are encouraged to apply now.

Like in recent years, proposals for the Live Event Broadcast Production of The International in Russian, Chinese, and Spanish language broadcasts will be accepted. The RFP (Request For Proposal) documentation and instructions for submissions can be found here.

For those seeking additional licenses and feeds, please fill out the form that pertains to the correct request:

• Production companies seeking a commercial license to produce a regional language broadcast of The International 2025 without additional access to the event can apply here.
  
  
• Streaming platforms interested in restreaming the official broadcast feeds to their platform can apply here.

As a reminder, DOTA 2 fans can create strictly noncommercial casts from DOTATV following the DOTA 2 Community Stream Policy here and do not need to make an official request.

Please reach out to theinternationalrfp@valvesoftware.com with any additional questions.

Thanks in advance to everyone interested in working with us to bring The International 2025 to life.

Amidst all the TI announcements and Crownfall conclusions, you might not have noticed that the humble Dota 2 Workshop is busier than ever. With a community of talented artists contributing lots of new stuff that we shipped throughout the year, sales of community-generated Workshop content generated more revenue for contributors in 2024 than any year since 2015—and that community of talented artists could also include you!

That's right: We're once again inviting all workshop contributors to spin up some new sets for any of your favorite heroes—including two newcomers who have been waiting eagerly in the wings to join the cosmetic fun. Artists can also include submissions for both Ringmaster and Kez, who are now enabled in the workshop.

To be considered, we request that all submissions be on the Dota 2 Workshop by the end of day on April 6th, 2025 PDT. Please make sure to mark your work with the "Spring 2025" tag when tendering items to the Workshop to ensure they aren't overlooked. (As usual, please avoid concepts involving human skulls, blood, and gore.)

Dota fans everywhere are of course encouraged to regularly visit the Workshop and vote through the Queue to ensure your voices are heard in the hunt for the treasures of tomorrow.