Game modes



Game modes are a set of restrictions within which the game of Dota 2 can be played. Most game modes alter how heroes are picked by players. There are also some novelty modes that allow 1v1 play, or give a player a new hero every time they die, for example. Game modes are unlocked by increasing your profile level, with all modes being unlocked at level 10. In addition to standard game modes, Dota 2 also supports Custom Games created by the community.

All Pick
Choose from the full hero pool.

Players can choose any hero, random a hero, re-pick a hero, or swap heroes with teammates.
 * 75 seconds hero selection time, instead of the default 60.
 * 75 seconds pre-creep time, instead of the default 90.
 * Players lose one gold per second if they haven't picked a hero after the selection timer runs out.

In Ranked Matchmaking, hero selection works a bit differently.
 * Picking starts after a 30 second strategy period.
 * Teams alternate picking. Whenever it is a team's turn to pick, anyone on that team can pick for themselves.
 * Teams have up to 35 seconds to pick a hero. If the timer expires, each player that hasn't selected a hero will lose 2 gold per second. The selection will stay on this team until a hero is picked.
 * Once a selection is made, it immediately switches to the other team to pick.
 * Initial starting team is random, but known at the start of the strategy period.
 * If a team has not picked and continued losing gold for more than 30 seconds, a player that hasn’t picked will be assigned a random hero and the turn will resume to the other team.
 * If one player disconnects in this stage before picking a hero, turns will continue and other players will be able to spawn after 30 seconds of his turn to pick. That player will be assigned a random hero upon their reconnect.

Single Draft
Choose from 3 random heroes.

Players pick from a pool of one Strength hero, one  Agility hero, and one  Intelligence hero. Each player gets different randomly assigned heroes.
 * Randoming will not grant extra gold.
 * Swapping is not allowed.
 * If you are in Low Priority, you are only allowed to play in this game mode.

Random Draft
Players take turns choosing from a pool of 50 random heroes.

Radiant and Dire players take turns picking from a pool of 50 random heroes. Players are given 20 seconds to make each choice. The starting team is always the same.

All Random
Each player gets a random hero.

All players are assigned a random hero and start out with 825 gold, the standard amount for randoming. Players may receive a different random hero by repicking. Repicking lowers starting gold to 525.

Captains Mode
Each team's captain bans and chooses heroes for the team.

Captains mode is the standard format for tournament games. The captain selects bans for certain heroes, preventing either team from picking the hero. The captain also chooses five heroes for their team. After the captains choose five heroes, each player chooses a hero from their captain's selections. 30 seconds are allotted for bans, and 40 seconds for picks. Each captain has 110 seconds total bonus time that can be used throughout any selection. If time runs out during a ban selection, no hero will be banned; if time runs out during a pick selection, a random hero will be chosen. The player that clicks the "become captain" button first is the captain. The starting team is randomly selected in matchmaking; if playing in a private lobby a starting team may be specified. Some heroes that were recently created or tweaked are unavailable in Captain's Mode; they will be added eventually.

Captains Draft
Captains ban and choose from a selection of 27 heroes.

Each team's captain bans three heroes, then they take turns picking five heroes for their team. Heroes are chosen from a pool of 27 random heroes: 9 Strength heroes, 9  Agility heroes, and 9  Intelligence heroes. Each captain has 180 seconds total to make all selections. The player that clicks the "become captain" button first is the captain. The starting team is randomly selected in matchmaking; if playing in a private lobby a starting team may be specified. All heroes are available in Captains Draft.

Least Played
Choose from a pool of your least played heroes.

Each player cannot choose any of their 40 most played heroes.


 * Players cannot swap heroes.

Limited Heroes
Play with heroes suitable for new players.

Select from a pool of heroes designated for beginners. Playing Limited Heroes matches used to be part of the tutorial, this is no longer the case. There are no punishments for leaving a game, and bots will replace players who leave.


 * Limited Heroes cannot be played in a private lobby.
 * If a player leaves without picking a hero, the bot will not choose a hero.

Ability Draft
Play a hero with four abilities selected from a random pool of abilities.

Players are given a random hero from Ability-Draft enabled heroes. Each players' abilities are put into a pool. Players take turns selecting abilities from the pool, given five seconds for each choice. Each player selects three normal abilities and one ultimate.

1v1 Solo Mid
Play 1v1 against another player in the middle lane.

Practice your mid-lane play against another player. The first player to achieve two kills or destroy an enemy tower wins. Players can pick identical heroes, and cannot see their opponent's hero choice until they have made a selection. Only the middle lane will spawn creeps. Each player starts off with a courier, free of charge.


 * First set of runes does not spawn.
 * Players can voice chat with each other.
 * Players may forfeit by calling 'gg' or leaving the match.
 * Side towers are invulnerable.

All Random Deathmatch
'Players receive a random hero when they respawn after dying. First team to exhaust either teams 40 respawns, reach 45 kills on either team, or when the Ancient is destroyed, wins.'

At the start of a match, every player is given a random hero. When a player dies, they are given a new random hero upon respawning, all of the players' previous reliable gold and items, including the Hero levels are kept for the new Hero. Each team has a total of 40 respawns. The game ends when a team has no respawns left and all its players are dead, or the ancient is destroyed.


 * When selling items, you get 85% of the purchase price.
 * You can see your next hero (and skill up) as soon as your current hero dies.

Private Lobbies
In private lobbies, the creep spawn timer in the All Pick mode uses the same timer as the Captain's Draft mode.

These game modes are only available in private lobby games.

Reverse Draft
Captains choose heroes that the other team must play.

Same rules as Captains Mode, except after the captains have chosen their heroes, players will be forced to pick from the other team's choices.

Mid Only
'Creeps only spawn in the middle lane. Duplicate heroes allowed.'

Similar to 1v1 Solo Mid but less restrictive. Creeps only spawn in middle lane, and players are allowed to select the same hero. Any amount of players can play, and the game only ends when either team's ancient is destroyed.

Event Game Modes
Several game modes are released for a limited time to tie in with seasonal events. These modes cannot be played outside of the duration of the event.

Diretide 2012
'Collect candy for your team's candy bucket. Avoid the sugar-hungry Roshan!'

Diretide 2012 features invulnerable buildings, new tough creeps called Roshlings on each lane, and a candy bucket in each team's ancient creep camp. The game mode has two phases, the first goal being to collect candy and to return it to your team's candy bucket. Candy can be obtained from Roshlings or neutral creeps, or stolen from enemy heroes or the enemy bucket. After some time, Roshan will begin roaming the map, chasing random heroes and attacking them until they die or feed him a piece of candy. When the first phase ends, the team with the most candy stored wins, and Roshan settles in one of the jungle camps, beginning the second phase. All heroes receive a substantial amount of gold to spend on items and both teams must now work together to kill Roshan for the match to end. Roshan has much higher health and an arsenal of deadly abilities at his disposal. All players receive a Greevil Egg upon completion of a Diretide 2012 match.

Diretide 2013
A variant of Diretide 2012 with a different Roshan fight.

Most of the rules are the same as Diretide 2012, however the Roshan fight plays differently. All heroes receive unlimited gold with which to purchase items. Roshan has gained additional, more powerful abilities. When Roshan dies, he comes back stronger, gaining more health each time he is defeated, with the match ending when the timer runs out.

The Greeviling
'Transform into your Greevil! Race to clear out 11 neutral Greevil camps around the map.'

The Greeviling features invulnerable buildings, no lane creeps and neutral Greevil camps with unique abilities that occasionally appear in the jungle. Players are given the Greevil Whistle, which allows them to transform their hero into a selected Greevil from the player's inventory, with abilites and stats based on which essences were applied to its Greevil Egg before hatching. The goal of the game mode is to clear out 11 neutral Greevil camps before the enemy team. Each cleared camp spawns a gift which sends random items to a random hero on the map.

Wraith-Night
Defend Skeleton King's altar against waves of creeps as he is reborn into Wraith King!

Wraith-Night is a mode where a team of 5 players must defeat 13 waves of creeps and prevent 's altar from being destroyed. The last wave features a reborn, which must be defeated 3 times to complete the wave. The match ends if is defeated, 's altar is destroyed, or if all 5 players are dead.

Most heroes have a modification to their skill set.

Fighting the Year Beast
Battle the elusive Year Beast for rewards and fame!

The Year Beast is occasionally available during the New Bloom Festival 2014. In this game mode, five players must attempt to inflict as much damage as possible to the Year Beast. The round ends when the timer runs out or all players are dead. Rewards are based on how much damage was inflicted.

Compendium Match
Replay matches from The International 2013 with the same picks.

This game mode was available to Compendium owners, and allowed them to replay certain matches from The International 2013. Players can choose from the five heroes that were picked by the competing teams playing in the original match.

How to enable other game modes
To enable game modes other than those listed under Find Match, type dota_match_game_modes ## in the Dota 2 console, where ## is the number of the game mode from the list below. Some of these modes (such as Diretide) are only playable in a local lobby or ranked matchmaking.

Enabling multiple game modes at once
dota_match_game_modes takes a number as a parameter, which, when converted to binary acts like a switch.e.g. 1048576 is 100000000000000000000 in binary. Each zero/one is a switch to enable each game mode. In layman's terms you can enable and disable game modes by adding the numbers together. e.g. To play All Pick and Single Draft you would do calculate 2 + 16 = 18 and put 18 with the console command.

Some useful combinations:
 * Every available game mode: dota_match_game_modes 2097152
 * All non-listed game modes: dota_match_game_modes 183232

Custom Games
Many custom game modes are created by the community, and can be played for free.