Dota 2 News

Today's update brings a host of new and improved features in addition to the seasonal Dota Plus refresh. Dive deep into your match performance with the Battle Report, enjoy a variety of different game modes with Weekend Spotlight, and customize your hero loadout even further with Unlocked Immortal Spell Effects. Then check out 8 all-new sets found in the Summer Seasonal Treasure. Or skip that stuff for now and start right away with the 7.31d Gameplay Update to learn about changes to your favorite heroes.

Head over to the full update website for all the details. Battle Reports are customized for each Dota Plus member, but the rest of the fun — like earning Shards and unlocking Relics and other rewards — is now available to everyone.


Vulkan Performance Improvements

This update also includes a significant performance improvement aimed at removing hitching when playing with the Vulkan renderer. Dota now supports the VK_EXT_graphics_pipeline_library extension which eliminates draw time hitching due to shader compilation. This feature is currently supported only in the NVIDIA Vulkan Beta driver available https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan-driver, with future support expected in mainline drivers by NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel.

If you'd like to learn the finer details, you can read more at https://www.khronos.org/blog/reducing-draw-time-hitching-with-vk-ext-graphics-pipeline-library.


Upcoming Plans

Every year, fans gather from around the globe to watch the best players in the world compete for the Aegis of Champions at The International. As fans ourselves, we know that after the confetti finishes falling and the fireworks fade away, we want nothing more than to go and play more Dota — after all, why can't we play Magnus like Collapse, or every carry hero like Yatoro?

To capture this excitement from current and returning players, we're structuring the Battle Pass a little differently this year: we want to make the time right after The International concludes the best time to play Dota. To do this, we're going to adjust the timing of the Battle Pass release to be later in the year than in previous years — that way the Battle Pass will run both throughout the event, and for a significant amount of time afterwards.

At the Stockholm Major, we were pleased to unveil that The International will be hosted in Singapore, bringing the crowning event in esports to SEA for the first time. Featuring four consecutive weekends of Dota action, and a total of 30 teams from all over the world, this will be the largest Dota event to date.

In our constant efforts to make the event and its broadcast as exciting and accessible as possible, we’re experimenting with a slightly different schedule that includes more breaks and a greater build to Finals. Here’s how we’re structuring it this year for the biggest celebration of Dota 2 yet:

The Last Chance Qualifiers will run from October 8-12, followed by the Group Stage on October 15-18 — featuring 20 teams battling to make the Main Event. The qualifying teams will then battle through the Playoffs at SunTec Singapore October 20-23, where the field will narrow even further. The survivors will advance to the Finals at Singapore Indoor Stadium October 29-30 — where the Aegis of Champions will hang in the balance. Stay tuned for ticket information for the Playoffs at SunTec Singapore and the Finals at Singapore Indoor Stadium, each of which will be announced later.

Looking Forward

The Dota team is hard at work on the upcoming Dota Plus June update which includes not only the traditional seasonal refresh, but also several exciting new features and the 7.31d Gameplay Update. Because this update is a larger than normal, it's going to ship a bit later than normal on June 8th.

Photo by ESL

The Stockholm Major has finished, and after ten days of intense Dota, OG have emerged victorious. Congratulations to Ammar, Ceb, bzm, Yuragi, and Taiga on their impressive performance.

OG started the tournament with a strong showing during the group stage, but in the first round of the playoff bracket they lost 2-0 to TSM FTX, dropping to the lower bracket. With their backs against the wall, they rallied and secured wins against Fnatic, Thunder Awaken, Gaimin Gladiators, and Tundra Esports to reach the Grand Finals, where a rematch with TSM FTX was waiting. TSM FTX took Game 1 in convincing fashion and hoped to close out the rest of the series just as they did in the first round; however, OG showed their resilience once again, securing the next three wins in a row to crown themselves the Major champions.

We’d like to thank the teams that battled their way through the Spring Tour all the way to Stockholm, and all the fans who watched and supported them — it was truly exciting to feel the energy of a live audience again. We look forward to seeing what happens in the upcoming Summer Tour, featuring Regional League play from June 6 - July 17 and The Arlington Major August 4 - August 14. Time is running short for teams to prove they belong amongst the best in the world — those who deserve a place at The International fighting for the Aegis that awaits in Singapore this October.