Dota 2 - Ward
The International 2019 is still over the horizon, but it's never too early to start exploring new treasure ideas for this year's event—which will have a theme focused on overgrown, enchanted jungle ruins. With that in mind, we invite all Dota 2 Workshop creators to venture into their flourishing imaginations on the hunt for new designs to include in this year's Collector's Cache to see what concepts bear fruit.

As a slight change this year, please keep in mind that while we're happy to see item sets that feel at home in overgrown jungle ruins, artists should not feel constrained to working only within this year’s event theme. We're interested to discover any high quality designs, regardless of motif. However, as in the past, we would still like to ask artists to avoid the use of any concepts that involve human skulls, blood, and gore.

Make sure to mark your submissions with the "Collector’s Cache 2019" tag when tendering items to the Workshop. All submissions must be on the Dota 2 Workshop by Sunday, May 12th. We encourage all Dota fans to regularly visit the Workshop and vote through the Queue to ensure your voices are heard in the selection process.

In the meantime, our merchandise partners are also ready to create some new designs for this year's Dota 2 merchandise release. If you've got a concept you think will resonate with fans, submit your design to the Workshop with the "Merchandise" tag and see how much community support springs up.
Dota 2


Valve has announced a couple of new Steam features ahead of this year's GDC - although neither are to do with sorting its abject mess of a store curation policy.

Steam Link Anywhere extends the ability to connect to your PC and play games remotely via the Steam Link hardware or app on a supported phone, tablet or TV. Now, you'll be able to connect to any other computer running Steam and play games remotely via the internet, too.

The feature is described as being in early beta still - only those with beta firmware will see it at present. Valve warns you'll need a good connection.

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Dota 2 - Valve
Custom Games API:
- Added GetDedicatedServerKeyV2 which utilizes a new approach for securing/generating the keys. Any custom game that relies on GetDedicatedServerKey to communicate with its backend will want to switch to the V2 version as soon as possible.
- To give custom game authors time to switch to the new system, GetDedicatedServerKey will remain unchanged until 3/31/2019, after which will be automatically switched to V2.
- When playing on local/unofficial servers, GetDedicatedServerV2 will return special values to make the state more clear for developers (e.g. “Invalid_NotOnDedicatedServer”).
Dota 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Matt Cox)

Mars! What is he good for? Absolutely loads of wars.

Another hero has joined the ranks of Dota 2. He’s a spear-chucking, shield-wielding melee carry who is big into war, because he is literally the god of it. I bet you Legion Commander fancies him.

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Dota 2 - Ward


Mars, god of war and first son of heaven, has now joined the battle of the Ancients.

Abandoning the callous ways of his past and embracing a new identity unburdened by the legacies of his father's archaic pantheon, Mars has turned over a new spear. Vowing to tear down the remnants of the savage old world to build a new empire, Mars is at last ready to assume the true mantle of leadership over gods and men, a position he now realizes has been wasted for eons by the petty whims of Zeus.

Learn more about Mars and his abilities here. Or, better yet, launch Dota 2 yourself and get ready to impale your enemies for the glory of the god of war.

Drow Ranger Remodel



Never one to seek the spotlight, Drow Ranger thought to sneak into the lanes without announcing her redesigned model, but the glory of Mars' arrival has shone a light across the battlefield that not even Traxex can escape.
Dota 2

We first got a heads up that Mars, god of war, would be joining Dota 2 back in August of last year. The day has come at last, and Big Red is here and playable right now.

"The warrior deity Mars thrives in the heart of strife, guarded by the bulk of a deadly shield as he skewers enemies with his legendary spear," reads his page on the Dota 2 site. "He revels in facing opponents in an arena ringed with loyal spearmen—who guarantee that no one escapes and that whatever odds he's facing, the god of war can dictate the terms of battle knowing the crowd is forever on his side."

Here's a look at his abilities and ultimate:

Spear of MarsMars can hurl his spear, impaling the first enemy it strikes and even nailing them to any trees or walls they happen to be standing in front of.

God's RebukeThis is a nifty and wide-ranging shield bash, which knocks back and damages foes.

BulwarkMars can block some damage from physical attacks when struck from the front or the sides.

Arena of BloodHis ultimate basically builds a scary stoneghenge around himself, which will block attacks and movement from enemies outside it. Enemies trapped inside will get jabbed by spears from Mars' undead warriors, who spawn around the edge of the arena.

Dota 2 - Valve
Added some previously unavailable heroes to Ability Draft
* Beastmaster (Hawk is not draftable)
* Lone Druid
* Io
* Monkey King (Primal Spring is not draftable)
* Shadowfiend (Shadowraze Medium and Presence of the Darklord are not draftable)
* Techies (Minefield Sign is not draftable)
* Meepo (Divided We Stand is not draftable)
* Rubick (Spellsteal is not draftable)
Will-o-wisp and Tag Team are now draftable in Ability Draft
Dota 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Matt Cox)

I’m not big into numberwang. Vast numbers of people playing a game might indicate that it’s fun, or it might indicate that it’s Ark: Survival Evolved. (I haven’t played Ark and it could be amazing, this is irresponsible journalism and I will hand in my badge and gun shortly.) Point being, it’s more interesting to write about what has made a game popular than the fact that it is so.

Right. Now I have to convince you this animated graph of the most played Steam games from the past four years is fascinating.

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Dota 2 - Valve
* The Rubick Arcana Bundle now includes a Voice of the Magus Cypher item that lets Arcana owners choose whether to use the Arcana voice or the original Rubick voice. This item will appear in Arcana owners’ inventories shortly.
Dota 2 - Valve
Removed Flowing Entropy from the Treasure of the Amaranth and instead included Enduring Solitude. Including the Flowing Entropy set was an oversight - Collector's Cache sets are intended to remain exclusive.
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