Dota 2 - krAnk0r

For four straight days, sixteen teams battled their way through an intense Road to the International: Playoffs. Now, Xtreme Gaming, BB Team, Team Tidebound, Heroic, Pvision, Nigma Galaxy, Tundra Esports, and Team Falcons will vie for the Aegis in a double elimination bracket at The International 2025 in Barclays Arena in Hamburg, Germany, starting on September 11. Congratulations to everyone still in the running — we can't wait to see even more great Dota.

Attending The International
For those of you descending into Hamburg to cheer on your favorite Dota teams and players inside Barclays Arena in person, we've got some important information to share.

[h5]Schedule[/h5]
The International Pre-show starts at 9:30 AM CEST, with the Opening Ceremony getting underway at 10 AM CEST and the first matchup slated to start shortly after. Click here for the full schedule of play.

[h5]Meet the Teams[/h5]
We will be holding meet and greets with teams and talent at the arena. More information on times and locations will be provided onsite.

[h5]Crimson Witness and Badge Binding[/h5]
Commemorative pins and badges will be available daily for pick-up on the South side of Barclays Arena outside Main Entrances E1 and E2. Once you have them in your hands, make sure to bind your daily badge to your Steam account to ensure you're eligible for Crimson Witness Treasure drops on the First Blood of each game at The International. Each badge binding is valid for a single day.

[h5]Venue Details[/h5]
To help keep things running smoothly, here's a rundown of all the venue details you should know:
  • What time do doors open? Arena doors open every day at 8 AM CEST, two hours before the first match.

  • How do I pick up my tickets? Tickets will be available in your AXS account as well as a PDF via email. Make sure to save your ticket to your phone's wallet ahead of the event for smoother entry.

  • What happens if there is an issue with my mobile ticket? Please reach out to AXS support regarding all ticket-related inquiries. There will be a Will Call office to assist you on-site at the event as well.

  • Can I sit anywhere or will there be preassigned seats? All tickets are General Admission. This means ticket holders can sit in almost any available seat except for reserved sections (i.e. for press or pro players).

  • Is re-entry permitted? Yes. On your way out you must scan your ticket when you are exiting the building, otherwise re-entry will not be permitted.

  • What is allowed inside Barclays Arena? Arena policies can be found here. Please note bags cannot be larger than an A4 size.
[h5]Secret Shop at Barclays Arena[/h5]
Don't forget to hit up the Secret Shop inside the arena for this year's full event collection, including a TI 2025 exclusive not found online or at any other shop. The Secret Shop is open only to event attendees. Inventory is limited and available while supplies last.

[h5]Mouz Side Shop[/h5]
For fans arriving early or already in Hamburg, a Secret Side Shop will be open to the public at MOUZ Esports HQ (Glockengießerwall 1, 20095 Hamburg) starting September 9 and running through September 12. No event ticket is required to shop in person, and this shop will carry exclusive merch only available at this location.

Watching The International Online
If you're one of the millions of Dota fans around the globe tuning into The International online, we've got a handy list of options below. From Twitch to YouTube to Steam, The International will be streamed on multiple platforms in multiple languages.
If you're just joining us now and want to see what you've missed, you can catch up on Road to The International: Playoffs matches here!

The Secret Shop Online

The Secret Shop once again has two separate storefronts this year, depending on what part of the globe you're in. We Are Nations offers both US deliveries and international deliveries, and Perfect World offers domestic China deliveries and international deliveries. Each store offers different items, so make sure to check out both.


The Voice of The International Chat Wheel

You don't need to be in Hamburg to feel like you're a part of The International. For the duration of the event, everyone has four all-new seasonal chat wheel voice lines to bring the gravitas of The International into every match you play. Remember, with great gravitas comes great responsibility. We trust you'll choose your moments well.


Fantasy & Predictions

Lastly, we'd like to congratulate everyone who correctly predicted the placement of all sixteen teams at the Road to the International. All zero of you. That's right, despite millions upon millions of predictions, exactly no-one got this right. (0.02% of you got at least ten right, so if that's you, it's time to be proud.) To everyone whose fantasy and Road to The International predictions didn't pan out, now's your chance to get your predictions for the main event locked. World-class Dota at the best esports event of the year resumes on Thursday. We'll see you there.

Dota 2 - krAnk0r

Right now, millions of Dota players are already studiously constructing new Fantasy rosters, loyally repping favorite talent and player bundles, and endlessly serenading enemies and allies with the freshest of voice lines. If you're not one of them, there's no better time than now to dig in. Because as you read this, final preparations are well underway in Hamburg, Germany — and The International 2025 is almost here.

The Road to The International

The Road to The International: Playoffs kick off with sixteen teams vying for the Aegis of Champions, but only eight will survive the first trials on the path to victory.

The action 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 overall series record. A fourth series win will earn a team an automatic berth at The International; a fourth loss will result in elimination.

After five rounds of Swiss, three teams will have secured spots in The International and three teams will have been eliminated. The ten remaining teams will face off in a special elimination round, with the five winners advancing to The International and the five losers failing to join them.

This first part of the tournament runs from Thursday, September 4th through Sunday, September 7th, and every series on Sunday carries the threat of elimination.

The International

The International itself begins Thursday, September 11th in Barclays Arena, running across four days and culminating with the Grand Finals on Sunday, September 14th.

Tickets for Saturday and Sunday are sold out, but you can still snag spots for the first two days over on AXS. Thursday offers the chance to catch the live component of the Opening Ceremony, along with a ton of top-tier Dota. As an added bonus, all eight teams who reach The International will have at least one signing session at the arena on Thursday or Friday. Stop by for a little face time with your favorite squads.

We'll be back to provide more details about on-site events, badges, Crimson Witness drops and more as we move closer to the show.

Tournament Streams

If you read all the above, you're well aware there's an immense amount of Dota in store. In fact, it's physically improbable to catch every single game live. That said, we know some of you are going to try it, so here are all the links you need to know for your valiant attempts:

We've also handed out a dozen broadcast licenses to help you connect with your local community and watch together online.

The Secret Shops

As some of you may have noticed, WeAreNations already have a ton of new swag available online.

They have two handy links, depending on where you are:
NA Storehttps://na.dota2secretshop.com/
International Storehttps://int.dota2secretshop.com/

Our friends over at Perfect World are also offering a new collection for this year:
For fans in Chinahttps://wmsjdj.world.tmall.com/
International Storehttps://pwrdesports.aliexpress.com/store/1103775565

Finally, for those of you with an eye for flashy furniture, our longstanding partner Secretlab will once again be supporting all stages of this year's tournament with both chairs and desks custom built for The International 2025. Players will navigate their TI journeys ensconced in full Secretlab setups, featuring the TITAN Evo chair and MAGNUS Pro Sit-to-Stand Desk.

Short Film Contest

The Dota auteurs turned out and now it's time for us to tune in and select our finalists. We've narrowed the submissions down to get the reel rolling, but we're calling on fans everywhere to help us vote for the rest. The nominees will be available to vote on in the client until Tuesday, September 2. The top ten entries selected by the community will be shown during The International, where we'll also announce the overall winners.

As mentioned, we'll be back with more badge, treasure, and other event info next week for those heading to the venue to join the fun. For now, we'll leave everyone with a set of TI wallpapers to help freshen up the themes on your flat-screens as we head towards the big show.

Dota 2 - flynnch

We have added a Team Supporter's Club bundle for Yakutou Brothers, available for purchase now. As a reminder, 50% of all sales of Team, Talent, and Community bundles go to the contributor and 30% go to the prize pool of The International.

Additionally, over the last few days we have fixed the following issues:

  • Fixed buying Team Bundles without being able to participate in Fantasy & Predictions not granting the user sticker capsules

  • Fixed a couple spots in both Roshan pits where heroes could hide without being seen by others in the pit

  • Fixed client not showing correct armor reduction amount when reflecting Nasal Goo from a Bristleback with the Snot Rocket facet

  • Fixed Gyrocopter's Sidegunner attacks being blocked by an allied Mars' Arena of Blood

  • Fixed Invoker's Ice Floe not slowing enemies if they had previously been affected by Invoker's Ghost Walk with the shard upgrade

Dota 2 - Unicorn Princess

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

  • Fixed emoticons from previous fan content bundles that were supposed to be permanent being unavailable

  • Fixed basic talent stickers all looking like a specific player sticker from 2022

  • Fixed accounts ineligible to participate in The International Predictions & Fantasy being able to circumvent the rules

  • Fixed one prediction being missing for Road to the International: Playoffs on certain resolutions

  • Fixed rare client crash when viewing your fantasy roster

  • Fixed common client crash when viewing anything on a mac

  • Fixed the Tyrian Regalia item "Tyrian Bloodfeather Feast" incorrectly showing as owned if the player had the Queen of Pain Arcana

  • Fixed sales of Talent Sticker Bundles not contributing to the prize pool

  • Fixed bots in locally hosted matches not purchasing any items

  • Fixed default Pudge bot never casting Meat Hook

  • Fixed Arc Warden's Tempest Double being able to summon a Tempest Double by capturing an experience shrine on the double, gaining a level, and then skilling Tempest Double

  • Fixed Meepo's Poof ocassionally inadverently getting into the wrong alt-cast state

  • Fixed Nature Prophet's Teleport and Io's Relocate using the wrong sounds when the teleport finishes

  • Fixed Silencer's Last Word not triggering Spell Absorbtion, Phylactery or Khanda

  • Fixed Troll Warlord's Fervor incorrectly granting bonus attack speed and gaining stacks when Troll Warlord is broken

  • Fixed Troll Warlord's Berserker's Rage incorrectly granting bonus stats when Troll Warlord is broken

  • Fixed rare server crash with Witch Doctor's Death Ward

  • Fixed rare crash with Marci's Dispose

Dota 2 - kyled

The International Team and Talent Bundles

The International draws near: All sixteen teams are set to head to Germany, and we've just now announced the full on-screen talent roster in-game. Like Dota itself, The International is a global affair, with team members hailing from more than thirty countries and talent representing even more.

Recognizing those players and personalities, this year we're continuing The International's tradition of offering team and talent supporter bundles in game. Each bundle contains content created by the team or talent in question, including loading screens, stickers, voice lines, and more. 50% of every sale goes directly to the team or talent and, this year, an additional 30% from each supporter bundle sale will go into the prize pool for the tournament.

The International has four official language broadcasts, but even that's not enough to reach Dota players everywhere. All around the world fans gather to support their local communities in their language and so for the first time, we've added supporter bundles for some of the larger community broadcasts as well. We've selected a few of the community broadcasts with the largest audiences this year, including Brazilian Portuguese, Filipino, and Ukrainian. (As with the individual talent bundles, 50% go to the group in question and an additional 30% to the prize pool.)

You can browse all the team and talent bundles from the main menu. Whether you have a favorite player, a favorite broadcaster, a favorite community, or you're just hunting for the best voice line, now's your opportunity.

Games And Rewards

Enough about the professionals: Let's talk about you.

Millions of fans go into The International with, let's say, strongly-held opinions. Which region is strongest? What's the real reason pros keep picking that hero with a 16% winrate? Was Earthshaker buffed enough?

The only thing better than being right is being able to show everyone who was wrong how right you've always been. With that in mind, we've taken the most popular features from The International Compendium over the last few years and we're making them available to every Dota player for free: Fantasy and Predictions are available right now, and include leaderboards so you can compare yourself against your friends and the entire Dota community.

"But," you say, "these leaderboards are temporary and my rightness needs to last forever." We hear you. That's why this year we're also introducing the Tyrian Regalia, a collection of Immortal items refashioned for this year's International color. They aren't for sale: These account-locked items are exclusively rewards for the top-ranked predictors and fantasy managers. If you want them, the only path is victory.

In the spirit of fair competition, we've also banned more than 75,000 win traders, smurfs, and other bad actors. At all levels of play, Dota is a game best enjoyed on an even field.

Wrapping It Up

The International is just a couple weeks away. Whether you're here to cheer on your favorite teams, or here to match your skills against the millions of other fans in the audience, or whether you're just here to watch the games unfold, we're glad to have you. We'll see you when the games start.

Dota 2 - Dota Workshop

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

  • Ctrl+Alt pinging enemy abilities or items will now display that the ability or item could be on cooldown

  • Fixed an issue with quickbuy where, if a stackable item existed in inventory and another was marked for buy in quickbuy, the item would keep being bought as long as gold and stock were available

  • Fixed an issue where Quartero rewards could not be claimed

  • Fixed green range indicator appearing briefly when casting abilities with quickcast on press

  • Fixed Mjollnir description stating that Chain Lightning deals bonus damage to illusions

  • Fixed Alchemist losing bonus damage gained from granting scepter when dying

  • Fixed a bug where Bristleback's Seeing Red facet caused enemies in vision to disappear when the buff expired

  • Fixed Dark Willow's Cursed Crown and Silencer's Last Word debuffs sometimes expiring without triggering

  • Fixed allies being able to target Dark Willow while she has Shadow Realm active

  • Fixed Ember Spirit not getting remnant charges from allied hero kills when having the Aghanim's Shard

  • Fixed Invoker's twister interval not matching twister radius

  • Fixed Invoker's Tornado cast range being different than it's travel range

  • Fixed crash with Kez Katana bleed

  • Fixed Kazurai Katana overhead damage numbers not representing spell amplification

  • Fixed Kazurai Katana impale causing its non-damage effects to debuff immune targets

  • Fixed Kazurai Katana shard lifesteal applying to triggered attacks

  • Fixed Grappling Claw attacking targets outside of the melee buffer range when landing

  • Fixed Grappling Claw being able to escape Kinetic Field

  • Fixed Raptor Dance giving inconsistent amounts of invulnerability with cast speed bonuses

  • Fixed Falcon Rush gaining rush speed incorrectly in some scenarios

  • Fixed Shodo Sai Cancel sub-ability granting magic stick charges

  • Fixed a parry interaction that could cause Kez to Echo Slash into the 3rd dimension

  • Fixed Lycan's Wolf Bite casting on allies that have disabled help

  • Fixed Morphling being able to retain Necrophos Sadist stacks when morph ends

  • Fixed Pugna being unable to use Magic Stick or Magic Wand while channeling

  • Fixed Queen of Pain Bondage visual effects pointing towards enemies if they are invisible

  • Fixed a crash in Shadow Demon Demonic Purge

  • Fixed Snapfire being unable to target ethereal units during Mortimer Kisses

  • Fixed Tusk shards disappearing for all players when Tusk goes into snowball

  • Fixed Weaver's bug bug where Hivemind XP was granted when a Swarm beetle attacked an allied hero

  • Fixed Zeus +1 Heavenly Jump Target talent giving +2 attack speed slow

  • Fixed workshop tools not loading due to XML/CSS issues

Dota 2 - kyled


In addition to gameplay patch 7.39d, today we're shipping a new dashboard feature in Dota. For years now, outside of events, the dashboard's mostly just shown the results of your last match. We crunched the math on this, and it turns out that means for half of all players, every time you boot up the game all you're rewarded with is a sad reminder of your last loss. We're optimistic we can do better.

So we sifted through mountains of feedback until a clear pattern stood out: players like hero cosmetics. We sifted still further: What kinds of hero cosmetics? It turns out: free ones.

We can work with that.

Today we're introducing Quartero, a completely trustworthy new character who wants nothing more than to sit on the main menu of Dota and give you free cosmetics while you play games.

The only catch is that there is no catch: It's all free. Dota matches are already full of triumphant highs and devastating lows. Think how much more fun they'll be now that every game gets you that much closer to brand new content, helped along by a brand new character with a brand new tragic backstory that, trust us, he's more than happy to tell you all about. (Try and get him to shut up about it.)

And of course, Quartero's Curios isn't meant to replace the big Dota events we're working on—it's a smaller, free feature designed to run alongside them. When things are quiet, you might see more of Quartero on the dashboard. But when the next major event rolls in, he'll happily slide aside to make room.

Dota 2 - Dota Workshop

Patch 7.39c 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:

  • Allow items which are locked for combining to be delivered by the courier

  • Fixed Abaddon's Mist Coil not dealing self damage when cast on enemies with The Quickening facet

  • Fixed several bugs where changing styles in the armory didn't update your model's appearance in demo mode.

  • Fixed a bug where changing styles while previewing an item in demo mode would not update the large preview in the armory.

  • Added a new setting hero specific setting for Rubick to allow players to configure what quickcast mode should be used by stolen spells.

  • Fixed Ghost Walk's duration being refreshed every time Aghanim's Scepter was dropped or picked up.

  • Fixed Elder Titan being able to repeatedly get the same Damage and Debuff Immunity buffs by alt casting stomp without casting Astral Spirit

  • Fixed Lich's Level 25 "Frost Shield Provides +50 HP Regen" working on units with pip-based health (Undying Tombstone, Shadow Shaman Mass Serpent Wards, etc)

  • Fixed Exorcism spirits not respecting the equipped cosmetic

  • Fixed a bug where items could not be dragged from a courier's inventory to the stash, but could instead only be put in the stash via the Return Items ability

  • Fixed not showing an error message when requesting delivery and the courier is dead

  • Fixed courier preserving its orders through death and respawn

  • Fixed Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave dealing infinite damage and healing when cast on a unit with very high status resistance

  • Fixed units forever being stuck at 1hp as a knock on effect of something doing infinite healing

  • Fixed "Owned By:" tag showing up on items used while in fog of war on dire side only

  • Fixed Undying level 20 talent not spawning Tombstone on death

  • Fixed being able to activate a watcher when two allies decapture the same watcher

Dota 2 - Unicorn Princess
Patch 7.39b 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:

  • Fixed a number of miscellaneous client and server crashes
  • Fixed various crashes related to the new Settings menu
  • Fixed an issue with moving whole items in quickbuy
  • Fixed the Quickcast Dropdown not showing if in Direct Cast Bindings and in the quickcast selection
  • Fixed an issue where units other than the hero, Spirit Bear, or courier could purchase items in quickbuy
  • Fixed an issue where courier could grab from stash when at the secret shop
  • Fixed keys being bound to the Alt Modifier triggering other unintentional actions
  • Fixed setting of Network Quality not applying
  • Readded missing settings such as enabling the Query Panel, enabling Queued Orders on the HUD, and enabling ability videos within tooltips
  • Introduced a new setting to disable per unit hotkeys while in custom games
  • Fixed being unable to bind TP Scroll and Neutral Item with Direct Cast Binds
  • Fixed an issue where the Transfer Items courier ability would grab from stash if the courier was in shop range
  • Fixed courier not respecting queued orders after transfer
  • Fixed crashing the game client when an item from your inventory is dragged into your current item Guide when it's set to edit mode
  • Fixed Fullscreen Brightness slider being inverted
  • Fixed the MMR Recalibration button not functioning
  • Fixed an issue where heroes could sometimes be permanently stuck in a death transition state if death occured while affected by Vhoul Assassin's Envenomed Weapon debuff and other sources of negative health restoration
  • Fixed the Settings keybinder blocking input if the Settings is closed while in the middle of binding a key.
  • Fixed courier not grabbing stash when ordered to transfer items when leaving the fountain
  • Renamed "Structures Require Hold/Stop to Cancel" to "Capturing Structures Require Hold/Stop to Cancel"
  • "Capturing Structures Require Hold/Stop to Cancel" now only affect capturing Watchers and Outposts. Channel cancel behavior of Twin Gates and Underlord's Fiend's Gate has moved back to "Teleports Require Hold/Stop to Cancel"
  • Now courier will continue to execute its last order when switching to Auto-Deliver mode
  • Courier HUD panel now has distinct states for waiting at Secret Shop and for generic moving (vs. going to a shop or delivering to a hero). Fixed a ? showing up when the courier is moving without a hero destination.
  • Fixed custom games crashing if a team had more than 7 players
  • Fixed Show Team Items toggle state in the shop not persisting
  • Fixed being unable to bind the following abilities
    • Centaur Warrunner's Work Horse
    • Disruptor's Electromagnetic Repulsion
    • Dawnbreaker's Solar Guardian
    • Timbersaw's Twisted Chakram
    • Elder Titan's Move Astral Spirit
    • Io's Spirits in and out abilities
    • Pangolier's Roll Up
    • Tinker's Keen Conveyance
    • Keeper of the Light's Solar Bind/Recall
  • Fixed Roshan's Roar not playing the fx/animation
  • Fixed Helm of the Undying applying it's duration bonus multiple times if more attacks landed on an already dead target
  • Fixed Helm of the Undying counting near lethal damage as a hero kill, resulting in granting too much additional time
  • Fixed Serrated Shiv's hit particle effect playing when the attack starts rather than lands
  • Fixed Book of the Dead not playing a sound on cast
  • Fixed Bloodseeker's Bloodrage bypassing Linken's Sphere when cast on enemies
  • Fixed Bloodseeker's Bloodrage silence piercing debuff immunity on enemies
  • Fixed "Select Hero" during Dazzle's Nothl Projection selecting Dazzle instead of the Projection
  • Fixed Disruptor's Electromagnetic Repulsion with Transferrence not being affected by cooldown reduction when manually cast
  • Fixed Elder Titan's spirit not automatically returning if using Echo Stomp when Titan has the shard
  • Fixed Hoodwink and Ogre Magi's ultimate abilities not being levelable via hotkey
  • Fixed Invoker's Vector Targeted Ice Wall not casting directly perpendicular to Invoker when the vector end point distance was below a certain threshold
  • Fixed units tethered to IO appearing in Fog of War if they had a cosmetic with ambient particles equipped
  • Fixed Kez' Flutter Katana dealing less damage than intended
  • Fixed Kez' Flutter Katana damage being consumed for no effect in some scenarios
  • Fixed Kez' Raven's Veil going on cooldown if Raptor Dance was interrupted
  • Fixed Kez' Grappling Claw slow still being removed when the attack landed
  • Fixed Kez' Grappling Claw not slowing long enough
  • Fixed Kez' Raven's Veil going on cooldown if Raptor Dance was interrupted
  • Fixed Kez Flutter being consumed by Talon Toss, Falcon Rush, and Katana Impale's fake attack
  • Fixed Lone Druid's Spirit Bear not being able to purchase secret shop items from quickbuy
  • Fixed stash not showing up when Lone Druid's Spirit Bear is selected
  • Fixed Magnus' Reverse Polarity not playing stun animations on enemies
  • Fixed Monkey King's Changing of the Guard sub-ability being stealable
  • Fixed Monkey King Demon Trickster cosmetic issues when casting Changing of the Guard
  • Fixed Muerta's Quick Draw sometimes causing Gunslinger to proc more often than intended
  • Fixed Muerta playing incorrect VO when hitting with Deadshot enhanced with Aghanim's Scepter
  • Fixed Necrophos' Ghost Shroud not increased incoming healing
  • Oracle's Prognosticate in-world rune timers are now alt-pingable.
  • Fixed Sand King Aghanim's Scepter Stinger attacks radius being lower than intended
  • Fixed Shadow Fiend Requiem of Souls not fearing enemies if Shadow Fiend died right after the cast was complete
  • Fixed Timbersaw's Whirling Death healing more on Strength and Universal heroes than expected
  • Fixed Void Spirit's Sanctuary not increasing the barrier amount
  • Ability Draft: Fixed toggling autocast on Quill Spray in Ability Draft won't do the Hairball swap until you have shard.
  • Ability Draft: Fixed Ogre Magi's Learning Curve Facet to work with all abilities (requires Ogre Magi hero model drafted)
  • Ability Draft: Fixed many cases of missing or incorrectly added talents
  • Fixed the Spring 2025 Heroes' Hoard initially having incorrect trading and gifting settings.
  • Made it less likely that the Dota+ item suggestor would run out of late-game items to suggest
  • Fixed quick-buying Dota+ suggested items to not buy multiples when clicking quickly
Dota 2 - krAnk0r

If you ask people their favorite season, nobody picks Spring. Why? Because Spring is terrible. It's too warm to ski, too cold to swim, it rains a lot, and there aren't even any free-candy monster holidays like you get in the Fall.

In fact, the only good thing about Spring is Dota's sometimes-annual Spring Update. So the good news is it's here, it's called Spring Forward 2025, and it's pretty great this year! The bad news: this marks the point of Spring where there's nothing left to look forward to. Hopefully you can just power-Dota your way through to Summer.
...

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