Dota 2 News

Former Dota 2 pro is selling his TI championship ring on Ebay for some serious cash, but it's not because he's "desperate"

I didn't expect my first news article of 2026 to be this one. Former Dota 2 pro Henrik 'AdmiralBulldog' Ahnberg is selling his TI 2013 championship ring on Ebay - yes, I double took, too. But the listing is indeed legitimate, as confirmed by the man himself, who also states that the sale isn't out of "desperation." Instead, it's simply to generate some cash, and going by the current figure, he'll likely make plenty of it.

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7.40b Gameplay Patch

[p]Patch 7.40b 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:

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[p]Fixed Dota+ Talent Pickrates and Winrates not properly aggregating[/p]
[p]Fixed "Learn Ability" toggle not closing automatically after level 24[/p]
[p]Fixed incorrect hitboxes for multiple Observer and Sentry ward cosmetics[/p]
[p]Fixed Smoke of Deceit not working from the backpack if it started in the backpack[/p]
[p]Fixed Rattlecage damage not being classified as reflection[/p]
[p]Fixed Rattlecage not working if crafted while dead[/p]
[p]Fixed Bloodseeker's Scepter upgrade not having the correct cooldown[/p]
[p]Fixed Bounty Hunter revealing his location if casting Track while invisible in the fog of war[/p]
[p]Fixed Brewmaster's Aghanim's Shard Health Regen always being active below 50% health, even if the strong drink wasn't drunk[/p]
[p]Fixed Skeletons summoned by Clinkz having incorrect attack priority[/p]
[p]Fixed Clockwerk Cogs not bouncing enemies properly with the Expanded Armature Facet[/p]
[p]Fixed Enchantress Rabble Rouser not applying to skeletons summoned by Dark Troll Summoner and Shard Golems[/p]
[p]Fixed Juggernaut's Omnislash and other abilities that require continuous vision over their target not functioning during Mars' Arena of Blood and other abilities that conditionally remove vision sharing between allies[/p]
[p]Fixed Kez Bleed Stack getting removed if the impale was a backstab[/p]
[p]Fixed Kez impale failing causing it trigger incorrectly later[/p]
[p]Fixed Kez being unable to trigger Raven's Veil mark with his first attack after casting if it was at his maximum attack range[/p]
[p]Fixed Kez being able to trigger Marks twice during Raptor Dance with specific settings and items configuration[/p]
[p]Fixed Largo's Catchy Lick not dispelling allies if they are under the effect of Black King Bar[/p]
[p]Fixed Largo's Catchy Lick dispelling High Five[/p]
[p]Fixed Largo's Amphibian Rhapsody HUD not showing for people who have disabled map_enable_portrait_worlds[/p]
[p]Fixed Largo's Froglings blocking neutral camp respawns[/p]
[p]Fixed Lotus Orb not dispelling when copied by Largo's Aghanim's Shard[/p]
[p]Fixed Linken's Sphere not being copied by Largo's Aghanim's Shard[/p]
[p]Fixed Lina's Combustion also combusting Croak of Genius damage[/p]
[p]Fixed Spirit Bear not breaking Phantom Assassin's Blur[/p]
[p]Fixed Oracle's Fate's Edict interactions with Debuff Immunity[/p]
[p]Fixed Oracle being unable to dispel the disarm portion of Fate's Edict on allies[/p]
[p]Fixed Phantom Lancer's shard illusion not benefting from Illusory Armaments[/p]
[p]Fixed Rubick losing abilities when dying or stealing another ability while casting Amphibian Rhapsody with Aghanim's Scepter[/p]
[p]Fixed Shadow Demon Disruption effects not being visible if Shadow Demon himself is in Fog of War[/p]
[p]Fixed Spectre's level 25 talent not applying to all types of illusions[/p]
[p]Fixed Tiny's Avalanche lasting 0.2s longer than intended[/p]
[p]Fixed Troll Warlord's Battle Trance dispelling Ice Blast when Ice Blast's kill threshold is triggered while Troll Warlord is stunned and Troll Warlord has Battle Trance cast queued[/p]
[p]Fixed Ursa roaring when casting Earthshock with Aghanim's Shard[/p]
[p]Fixed Visage Familiar recall ability not working[/p]

Dota 2 patch 7.40 adds new hero Largo, whose ultimate has one of the coolest mechanics I've seen in ages

In a surprise to absolutely no one, my favorite Dungeons and Dragons class is Bard. As both a musician and support main, it's the perfect blend of buffs and damage, with a dash of charisma on the side. Dota 2 has always kept itself pretty close to its fantasy roots, with characters like Dragon Knight, Drow Ranger, and Enchantress, but now it's got Largo, who may as well be 'Frog Bard.' Performing (pun intended) exactly as expected, his focus is on buffing allies and bestowin' mighty fine curses on his foes, while his adorable little froglings help to deal damage. As someone who's just got back into League of Legends, I can feel Valve's MOBA calling to me.

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Introducing Largo and Patch 7.40

Dota is an ensemble cast, but keen observers looking through the collection of rogues, wizards, druids, and knights (not to mention two characters named "ranger") may have noticed the absence of that most maligned of hero classes: the bard. At least, up until now.

Introducing Dota's newest hero: Largo, the bard.

Unlike bards with your traditional bard powers (singing about current events and chord changes), Largo is the shamanic head of the bardmonk order. He tailors every song to his exact circumstances, raising his allies' spirits or, if necessary, their foot speed as they run toward battle (or away). As a frog, his prehensile tongue has, shall we say, all kinds of tricks. You can read a little about his past, or you can help explore his future in Dota right now.

Today's update also includes gameplay patch 7.40. (As is tradition, the patch notes are too long to fit in this blog, so we made a whole site to hold them and show some highlights.)

Largo is taking over the main menu in Dota for a bit, but the Monster Hunter event is still ongoing and there's plenty of time left to craft whatever you're working towards. Since it's the holidays, we're putting the Dota 2 x Monster Hunter Expedition Pack on sale and granting everyone who owned it already a special early-purchase voucher material bundle. On top of that, we're giving everyone who logs in over the holidays a free bundle of crafting materials. Happy hunting!

Speaking of holiday festivities, some of the usual shenanigans have made their reappearance, reminding us all of the true spirit of the holidays: pelting your enemies in the face with snowballs.

We hope everybody in the Dota community has a safe and happy holiday, and we'll see you next year.

The International 2026 Live Event Broadcast RFP and Broadcast License Requests

The International returns to Shanghai, China in August 2026, and we’d like to invite all companies interested in producing and distributing regional language broadcasts of The International 2026 to apply now.

For the Live Event Broadcast Production of this year's show, we’ll be accepting proposals for Russian and Spanish language broadcast partners. 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 below that pertains to the correct request:

Production companies seeking a commercial license to produce a regional language broadcast of The International 2026 without additional access to the event can apply here.
Streaming platforms interested in restreaming the official broadcast feeds to their platform can apply here.

Fans interested in trying their own hands at casting are welcome to create strictly noncommercial casts from DotaTV that follow the Dota 2 Community Streaming License, and do not need to make an official request.

Please reach out to [email protected] with any additional questions.

Thanks in advance to everyone interested in working with us to bring The International 2026 to life.