Dota 2
In the codexActionStrategyFree To Play

Dota 2

Every day, millions of players worldwide enter battle as one of over a hundred Dota heroes. And no matter if it's their 10th hour of play or 1,000th, there's always something new to discover. With regular updates that ensure a constant evolution of gameplay, features, and heroes, Dota 2 has taken on a life of its own.

DEV: ValvePUB: ValveAppID 570
UPDATE PULSEevery ~7d·last 16d ago·13 recent on record

Is Dota 2 still being updated? — the short answer, with the evidence.

94.1
Excellent

Elixir Rating

80.5% of 2,786,171 Steam reviews are positive, which after adjusting for sample size gives a reception score of 80.4. The developers have shipped 4 substantial updates in the past six months, adding 13.7.

reception 80.4·support +13.7·Excellent

Computed from Steam’s own review tally and observable developer activity — never from anyone’s opinion of the game. How this is calculated

Should you look into this?

From Steam's own record

Development

Actively supported

Last heard from developers

16 days ago

Usual rhythm

every ~8 days

Substantial updates (6 mo)

4

Current silence

2× normal

The developers post roughly every 8 days and were last heard 16 days ago — within their normal range. 4 substantial updates landed in the past six months.

Distilled by the oracle

Our coverage

4 dispatches written from this game’s announcements

patchSep 21, 2026

Dota 2 Patch 7.41f: Twelve Bugs Fixed Across Items and Heroes

Patch 7.41f arrives as a corrective update, targeting a dozen discrete bugs spread across items, hero abilities, and map geometry — with no stated changes to balance figures.

What changed

  • A hiding spot near the top Roshan Pit, where heroes could clip into cave geometry, has been closed
  • Items normally locked during their initial sellback period could be incorrectly marked for sale — now fixed
  • Tranquil Boots no longer skips its cooldown when disassembled from the stash
  • Bane's Nightmare was incorrectly stripping vision from debuff-immune targets
  • Bounty Hunter's Big Game Hunter talent was granting no bonus gold
  • Elder Titan's Astral Spirit could trigger Echo Stomp while being recalled
  • Lone Druid's Spirit Bear retained its original player's control after a hero swap
  • An interaction between Lina's Level 25 Critical Talent and other critical strike sources has been corrected
  • Spirit Breaker's Planar Pocket was redirecting Alchemist's Aghanim's Scepter and Moon Shard Consume ability
  • Spirit Breaker's Planar Pocket also had a faulty interaction with Linken's Sphere
  • Timbersaw's Flamethrower was incorrectly revealing the hero on the minimap

For competitive and ranked players, several of these fixes — particularly around Spirit Breaker, Bounty Hunter, and Lone Druid — close loopholes that had meaningful impact on match outcomes.

patchJul 31, 2026

Dota 2 Launches TI Supporter Bundles, Fantasy, and Predictions Ahead of Shanghai

Nearly a year after Team Falcons claimed the Aegis of Champions in Hamburg, the focus shifts to Shanghai, where sixteen teams have earned invitations to this year's The International following a month of qualifiers.

An update released on July 30 introduces the tournament's companion activities and item bundles. The announcement frames it as an open invitation for players to engage with TI beyond watching.

What changed

  • Supporter bundles are available for all sixteen competing teams and more than a hundred participating event talent.
  • Community broadcast bundles cover WXC Co. (Filipino), NS_ART (Brazilian Portuguese), and Maincast (Ukrainian) — additions beyond the four primary event languages.
  • Revenue split: 50% of supporter bundle sales goes directly to the relevant team or talent; 30% goes to the tournament prize pool.
  • Bundle rewards include custom sprays, a health bar badge, team emoticons, custom chat wheel lines, and — new at the Gold tier — a global effigy that replaces the standard building through the end of September.
  • The Gold-tier effigy is described as a new building type allowing players to display team allegiance directly in their base.

The update also references predictions and fantasy activities, though the source material does not detail their specific mechanics.

For players who follow TI as much as they play it, the bundle structure offers a tangible way to direct spending toward specific teams and personalities while contributing to the prize pool.

Two years of development

■ substantial ■ routine

Nov2025FebMayAugNov2026FebMayAug

32 announcements · 13 substantial · 10 months with nothing

Recent Transmissions

30 entries in codex

Community AnnouncementsSep 15, 2026
7.41f Gameplay Patch

Patch 7.41f is out now and you can check out the patch notes here. In addition, we've recently addressed the following issues: Fixed spot on map near the top Roshan Pit where a hero could hide within the geometry of the cave Fixed being abl…

Read our dispatch on this

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsAug 27, 2026
The International 2026 Grand Champions

Congratulations to Team Spirit, Grand Champions at The International 2026. After enduring a challenging year, Team Spirit regained their ultimate form just in time to take a five-game Grand Finals slugfest and claim the Aegis of Champions i…

PC GamerAug 20, 2026
'Dude no joke looks like Hugh Jackman now': The internet is swooning over Gabe Newell's svelte new look at The International

Valve honcho Gabe Newell recorded a video to kick off The International 2026, the latest edition of Valve's annual Dota 2 championship tournament, and as noticed by GamesRadar, the reaction to it is pleasingly wholesome... Read more.

Community AnnouncementsAug 19, 2026
The International Main Event

The sixteen best Dota teams in the world spent the last week battling through an intense Group Stage, and now only eight contenders remain. In a matter of hours Team Vision, Team Liquid, Nigma Galaxy, Team Falcons, BoomBoys, Team Spirit, Ir…

Community AnnouncementsAug 12, 2026
The International: Streams, Secret Shop, and More

It's the final countdown: Players and talent have landed, and all of the pieces are falling into place to make Shanghai the center of the Dota universe for the next two weeks. It's time to finish crafting your fantasy rosters, lock in your …

Community AnnouncementsJul 30, 2026
Gameplay Patch 7.41e and Summer Scrub

The International approaches and we've just released an update that includes predictions, fantasy, supporter bundles, and a chance to prove your skills and win new Immortals and unlock terrains. But that's not all. Today we're also releasin…

Community AnnouncementsJul 30, 2026
The International: Predictions, Fantasy, and Supporter Bundles

Nearly a year has passed since Team Falcons hoisted the Aegis of Champions as the final team standing in Hamburg. But that was last year's story, and the time has come to turn our thoughts to Shanghai and the crop of competitors who vie to …

Read our dispatch on this
Community AnnouncementsJul 1, 2026
Dota 2 Update - 7/1/2026

Over the past few days we've made various bug fixes and improvements: Dark Carnival Playing Regular and Turbo games now reward Scrap tickets. 6 Scrap can be traded for a Hero ticket of your choice. Regular games reward 2, Turbo games reward…

Read our dispatch on this

Read this patch for

PCGamesNJun 26, 2026
Dota 2's Dark Carnival has begun, with a huge story chapter and five automaton hero personas

At last, weeks of speculation and mystery can finally be put to bed: the Dota 2 Dark Carnival has begun. Valve's latest big event is here, and as many were hoping (myself included), it's a full-scale story campaign in a similar format to 20…

Community AnnouncementsJun 25, 2026
The Dark Carnival

Don't you hate it when you wake up in a prison car with no memory of how you got there and, worse, no way to escape, only to discover you've been captured by an evil puppet-man as part of some dark bargain with an ancient world-conquering e…

Read our dispatch on this
PCGamesNJun 25, 2026
After mysteriously vanishing from the game, Dota 2's Axe has been 'replaced' by a fake

Dota 2 has a new hero - or should that be an old one? It's tough to be sure. If you logged into the Valve MOBA this week, you might have been surprised to find that Axe, one of its longest-standing and most iconic faces, was completely abse…

PCGamesNJun 20, 2026
Valve calls out Dota 2 dataminers desperate for Dark Carnival news: "Why are you guys reading our variable names?"

Rumors of a new Dota 2 event called Dark Carnival have been swirling among the MOBA's community for several months, with the leading speculation being that Valve is preparing a new, large-scale feature in the vein of 2024's Crownfall. Latel…

PCGamesNJun 5, 2026
A new Dota 2 update buffs Nature's Prophet and Arc Warden, but everyone's talking about a mysterious Axe 'change'

Fresh Dota 2 patch notes have just dropped, and that means the meta will start to creak and shift under the weight of Valve's latest balance adjustments. There are some welcome changes in Dota 2 update 7.41d, along with a few that I'm sure …

Community AnnouncementsJun 5, 2026
7.41d Gameplay Patch

Patch 7.41d is out now and you can check out the patch notes here. In addition, we've recently addressed the following issues: Fixed Greevils not spawning their equipped effects Fixed Earthshaker's Planetfall Arcana not tracking combos and …

Read this patch for

Community AnnouncementsMay 26, 2026
The International 2026 Ticket Sales

In just a few short months, the finest Dota teams in the world will gather in Shanghai to battle for the Aegis of Champions in front of thousands of cheering fans. We've announced the official team invitations, and now we'd like to extend o…

Community AnnouncementsMay 26, 2026
The International 2026 Invitations and Qualifiers

Throughout the year, Dota teams around the world battle to prove themselves worthy of direct invitation to The International — and a chance to compete for the Aegis of Champions on the world's biggest stage. Teams that secure invites can be…

PCGamesNMay 7, 2026
Dota 2 patch 7.41c is awful news for Batrider and Puck, and keeps Roshan under wraps

New Dota 2 7.41c patch notes have arrived to shake up the meta once again, and Valve is bringing some of the most impactful heroes in line with targeted nerfs across the roster. We're still recovering from the grand shakeup of 7.41, which r…

Community AnnouncementsMay 6, 2026
7.41c Gameplay Patch

Patch 7.41c 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 illusions not duplicating the correct level of neutral item enchantment Fixed Bloodstone's Bl…

Read this patch for

PCGamesNMay 5, 2026
Beloved Dota 2 esports team Heroic has just disbanded, saying it's a "tough game to commercialize"

Dota 2 esports is in an odd place. Once the premier sphere, it's been overtaken by the mammoth that is League of Legends - a beast that isn't showing any signs of slowing down. While Dota 2 remains huge in the East, its Western appeal has s…

Community AnnouncementsMay 4, 2026
The International Team Registration

The International is getting closer. After many years, Dota's ultimate proving ground is returning to China and returning to August, which is now just a few short months away. In preparation, we've updated the registration process for any t…

PC GamerMay 1, 2026
Remember when OpenAI beat humans in Dota 2? Turns out that was partly thanks to when Elon Musk 'personally called [Satya] Nadella' to secure a load of discounted Microsoft computing power

OpenAI is now one of the world's most talked-about companies, and the ongoing legal spat between co-founders Elon Musk and Sam Altman has resulted in some truly juicy revelations around exactly what was going on in the firm's earliest years…

PCGamesNApr 8, 2026
Dota 2 patch 7.41b puts a stop to Meepo's reign of terror as Valve locks in its new meta

Big balance updates can often have long-reaching ramifications, and Dota 2 patch 7.41b is Valve's second follow-up to the massive overhaul that saw the removal of Facets from the MOBA. Since then we've seen the climax of the ESL One Birming…

Community AnnouncementsApr 7, 2026
7.41b Gameplay Patch

Patch 7.41b is out now and you can check out the patch notes here.

Community AnnouncementsMar 31, 2026
Dota 2 Update - 3/31/2026

Over the past few days we've addressed the following issues: Fixed Meepo being able to create potions (and other stackable, nonshareable items) Fixed Meepo clones not benefitting Abyssal Blade or Disperser Fixed Meepo and Divine Rapier inte…

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PCGamesNMar 29, 2026
Deadlock isn't a death sentence for Dota 2 - it's "a gateway," according to caster and ESL product manager 'Avo+'

The Dota 2 ESL One Birmingham 2026 tournament reaches its grand conclusion today, and it's been an impressive showcase full of memorable stories and dramatic comebacks. The big news is the chaos created by Valve's decision to drop a gargant…

Community AnnouncementsMar 27, 2026
7.41a Gameplay Patch

Patch 7.41a 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 Option for displaying Hero Facet Names ab…

Read this patch for

PCGamesNMar 25, 2026
A huge new Dota 2 patch U-turns on one of Valve's biggest additions in years

As is tradition, Valve has just unleashed one of its biggest Dota 2 updates in a while right on the cusp of a major tournament climax. With the group stages of ESL One Birmingham 2026 drawing to a close today, and the playoffs running this …

Community AnnouncementsMar 24, 2026
7.41 Gameplay Patch

Patch 7.41 is out now and you can check out the patch notes here. In addition, we've made the following improvements and bug fixes: Added an overhead indicator when a consumable item is being used on an ally or given to one within 1200 unit…

Read this patch for

Rock, Paper, ShotgunMar 11, 2026
"Valve does not cooperate with gambling sites" - Counter-Strike publishers issue rare public defence of lootbox mechanics, following New York lawsuit

In an unusual show of candour, Valve have spoken out publicly against a lawsuit filed in New York, USA that accuses them of "letting children and adults alike illegally gamble" via loot boxes in Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2…

PCGamesNFeb 26, 2026
Valve is being sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The accusation: "promoting illegal gambling through videogames."

A lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses Valve of "illegally promoting gambling through videogames popular with children and teenagers." The developer behind Steam has long featured loot boxes in games including Co…