Dota 2 News

The Secret Shop is Now Open

The doors to the Secret Shop are now open — helping celebrate the majesty of The International and a global community of passionate fans with limited edition swag from this year's event.

For those watching the action online this year, we’ve teamed up with multiple merchandise partners to ensure the latest lineup of Dota 2 merchandise is accessible in more regions than ever before.

Asia (for non-ticket holders) Africa, Americas, Europe, Middle East & Oceania China

Fans that are making the journey to join us in Singapore later this month also have the option to order through https://secretshop.eclubstore.com — then conveniently pick up your order at the Secret Shop in Singapore Indoor Stadium. All you need is your event badge to execute an order for the on-site pickup.

Similar to last year, we've teamed up with Secretlab to create a brand new chair embodying the molten aesthetic of this year. The chairs will be officially revealed just before the group stage on the 14th of October, and can be found on their landing page here.

Dota 2 TI winner N0tail lost his gaming passion, but it's back

Dota 2 TI winner N0tail is the MOBA's most decorated pro player, winning two Internationals back-to-back, and walking away victorious from Major after Major. Etched into history as a true Dota titan and even forming his own org, the Dane declared his departure from pro play in 2021, remaining on the bench for the foreseeable future.

The Loadout sat down with N0tail to discuss his new Red Bull Ultimate Gaming Room, and while the excitement around a new dedicated gaming space was palpable, the OG icon reveals that his passion for all things virtual has waned over the last year or so - especially his urge to return to pro play.

"You could say that other things are just way more exciting," he states. "On one hand, it's not the same to go and sit down and just play games, because I guess there are more things and more responsibilities, but there's also an emotional aspect to it. It doesn't feel the same to sit down and play certain types of games.

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Dota 2 pros are fed up with the "outrageous" state of the Steam MOBA

Dota 2 has been in the spotlight a lot recently. It's October and The International 11 is underway, this time in Singapore. But, the way the tournament is being handled - as well as other events surrounding the MOBA - has caused pros to call into question just how dedicated Valve is to its player base.

"At one point, the TI was a celebration of the game, with a celebration of the players, with a celebration of the developers," OG Esports' JMR tells fellow pros Ceb and N0tail on Episode 41 of the Monkey Business Show podcast. "But, now, it really doesn't feel like TI is for the players. Players are competing, but the show is not for them anymore. We have less tickets for the finals, and we have no tickets for the days that we're not playing."

He is, of course, referring to the fact that Valve has not even allocated players and their families tickets to spectate the whole event; players are only encouraged to be there when they are competing for the crowd.

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Primal Beast Prestige Bundle — Now Available

Throughout the ages, there have been countless attempts to control the Primal Beast — and one of the most devastating plans only made the creature more fearsome than ever before. Stomp into the lanes in forged finery with the all-new Age of Attrition Prestige bundle — featuring custom animations and effects — available now to all Battle Pass owners who trample over level 223.

[h3]Last Chance Qualifiers[/h3]

Tune in for the final action before we arrive at The International — as the twelve Last Chance Qualifier teams square off this weekend to battle for just two remaining spots in the tournament field. Action kicks off on Saturday, October 8 at 10:00am Singapore time and will conclude Wednesday, October 12, when the full complement of twenty teams battling for the Aegis will at last be set. Keep track of the full schedule here.

Two Dota 2 celebs have built the best autobattler yet

In early 2019 Dota Auto Chess singlehandedly invented a new genre that every MOBA developer wanted to copy. Auto Chess took the fun characters from MOBAs and put them in a much more approachable, high-level strategy game. It was a breezy time-waster, and you didn't need hundreds of hours of practice to be good at it. As the Auto Chess designers spun away from the confines of their Dota 2 custom game, Valve built Dota Underlords, Riot launched Teamfight Tactics and Tencent took multiple shots at the target. But if you take away the graphical differences between these games, they're mostly indistinguishable...
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