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|{{A|Shadow Poison|Shadow Demon}}<small><sup>2</sup></small>
 
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|{{A|Berserker's Rage|Troll Warlord}}<small><sup>5</sup></small>
 
|{{A|Berserker's Rage|Troll Warlord}}<small><sup>5</sup></small>

Revision as of 03:21, 25 April 2021

Chaos Strike icon
▶️ If that's the kind of fight they want, then I will give it to them!
Legion Commander

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 once, 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 2 gold per second if they haven't picked a hero after the selection timer runs out.
    • Cannot random in the last 10 seconds of the picking phase.

Turbo Mode

This game mode has the same rules as All Pick. However, in order to shorten the match time, several differences exist:

  • Faster drafting:
    • All bans are applied immediately, rather than being voted and randomly chosen.
    • Shorter timers on all ban, pick and strategy phases.
  • Increased gold and experience gain:
  • No gold lost on death.
  • Ancients do not regenerate health.
  • All tiers of neutral items start dropping 7 minutes earlier.
    • The shop still shows the standard game times for their unlocks. However, the displayed times still light up correctly when the items become available.
  • Weaker towers:
    • All towers have 1200 health.
    • Tier 1 -12 armor.
    • Tier 2 and 3 -14 armor.
    • Tier 4 -21 armor.
  • Lane creeps are upgraded at a much faster rate than normal:
    • Creeps are upgraded at wave 6 and every 5 waves afterward (i.e. 11, 16, 21, 26...).
    • Creeps receive 3 upgrades compared to normal mode at each time they are upgraded.
  • Very fast couriers with streamlined controls:
    • Every player gets their own courier, that start out as flying couriers, regardless of hero level.
    • Couriers automatically deliver items in the Stash or their own inventory. Couriers have an ability to toggle this feature off.
    • Couriers are permanently hasted at 1100 movement speed.
  • Items can be sold from anywhere on the map, regardless of shop proximity.
  • Secret Shop items can be bought from the regular shops. The Secret Shops also act as normal shops.
  • Town Portal Scroll icon Town Portal Scrolls and Boots of Travel icon Boots of Travel have halved cooldowns.
  • Reduced Roshan icon Roshan respawn timer, seemingly 5-7 minutes.
  • Each match earns half the standard hero XP for Dota Plus.
  • Relics track half the stats in Turbo Mode.
  • Hero stats in the player profile are not updated, the All Hero Challenge can be done in Turbo Mode.
  • Wins in Turbo Mode count as half wins for Arcanas that track wins.
  • Up to 1 star for Hero Challenges can be earned in Turbo Mode.

Ranked All Pick

The All Pick mode in ranked matches works different than the regular All Pick mode, and is called "Ranked Matchmaking".

  • Banning Phase:
    • All players have 15 seconds to vote for a hero to be banned.
    • A hero may only be voted once. Two players cannot vote for the same hero.
    • The game displays heroes as they are voted on, but not who voted.
    • After 15 seconds, each vote has a 50% chance of succeeding. The chances are rolled for each voted hero individually.
    • If fewer than 10 heroes are voted on, the system automatically bans random heroes based on their ban rate at the MMR bracket the match plays on.
  • Pick Phase:
    • Players pick heroes over 3 rounds.
    • The first two rounds last 25 seconds. Two players from each team pick a hero.
    • The last round lasts 20 seconds. One player from each team picks a hero.
    • If the timer expires, players who haven't picked lose 2 gold per second.
    • Player picks are not revealed until their round ends. If two players picked the same hero, that hero is banned and the round restarts. This repeats until both have selected different heroes.
    • If a player fails to pick a hero and loses gold for more than 30 seconds, they are assigned a random hero.
    • If a player does not enter battle with his hero until after the 0:00 mark, that player's gold is removed and distributed to all of the players on his team. Similar to if he had abandoned, but it does not count as an abandon for the sake of the game being safe to leave.
  • Randoming:
    • Players can let the system pick a random hero from the entire hero pool, except their 25 least played ones.
    • Only the players of the first two rounds may random a hero. All other players have to pick.
    • The randomed hero cannot be repicked.
    • Randoming a hero gives the player a Faerie Fire icon Faerie Fire and an Enchanted Mango icon Enchanted Mango at the beginning of the game.
Ranked All Pick picking order
Radiant Radiant Radiant Radiant Radiant
Dire Dire Dire Dire Dire

Single Draft

Choose from 3 random heroes.
Players pick from a pool of one Strength attribute symbol Strength hero, one Agility attribute symbol Agility hero, and one Intelligence attribute symbol Intelligence hero. Each player gets different randomly assigned heroes.

  • Randoming a hero out of the selected 3 does not grant extra gold.
  • Swapping heroes with allies is not allowed.
  • When in Low Priority, the player is only allowed to play in this game mode.

Random Draft

Players take turns choosing from a pool of 33 random heroes.
Radiant icon Radiant and Dire icon Dire players take turns picking from a pool of 33 random heroes. Players are given 20 seconds to make each choice. The starting team is always the same.

Random Draft picking order
Radiant Dire Dire Radiant Radiant Dire Dire Radiant Radiant Dire

All Random

Each player gets a random hero.
All players are assigned a random hero.

Unavailable heroes
Techies minimap icon Techies

Captains Mode

Each team's captain bans and chooses heroes for the team.
Captains mode is the standard format for tournament games. The captains ban certain heroes, up to seven per team, 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 30 seconds for picks. Each captain has 130 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. In Unranked matchmaking, The player that clicks the "become captain" button first is the captain; In Ranked, the captain is the player on each team with the highest solo MMR. 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 Captains Mode; they will be added eventually.

Captains Mode picking order
(This example assumes Radiant icon Radiant is the starting team. Invert teams if Dire icon Dire is the starting team.)
Ban Ban Ban Ban Pick Pick Pick Pick Ban Ban Ban Ban Ban Ban Pick Pick Pick Pick Ban Ban Ban Ban Pick Pick


Unavailable heroes
Dawnbreaker minimap icon Dawnbreaker

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 attribute symbol Strength heroes, 9 Agility attribute symbol Agility heroes, and 9 Intelligence attribute symbol 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.

Captains Draft picking order
(This example assumes Radiant icon Radiant is the starting team. Invert teams if Dire icon Dire is the starting team.)
Ban Ban Ban Ban Ban Ban Pick Pick Pick Pick Pick Pick Pick Pick Pick Pick

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.
  • Has been removed from public matchmaking after The International 2016 Battle Pass Event had started.
Available heroes
Bounty Hunter minimap icon Bounty Hunter Death Prophet minimap icon Death Prophet Dragon Knight minimap icon Dragon Knight
Drow Ranger minimap icon Drow Ranger Juggernaut minimap icon Juggernaut Lich minimap icon Lich
Lion minimap icon Lion Luna minimap icon Luna Omniknight minimap icon Omniknight
Razor minimap icon Razor Sand King minimap icon Sand King Sniper minimap icon Sniper
Sven minimap icon Sven Tidehunter minimap icon Tidehunter Vengeful Spirit minimap icon Vengeful Spirit
Viper minimap icon Viper Warlock minimap icon Warlock Windranger minimap icon Windranger
Witch Doctor minimap icon Witch Doctor Wraith King minimap icon Wraith King Zeus minimap icon Zeus

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 seven seconds for each choice. Each player selects three normal abilities and one ultimate.

Every hero is available in Ability Draft. However, several heroes have their abilities tweaked so that they are compatible with Ability Draft. Some abilities are disabled for several reasons.

Unavailable abilities
Tempest Double icon Tempest Double1 Hairball icon Hairball2 Silken Bola icon Silken Bola2
Geomagnetic Grip icon Geomagnetic Grip3 Quas icon Quas3 Wex icon Wex3
Exort icon Exort3 Invoke icon Invoke3 Torrent Storm icon Torrent Storm2
Cold Blooded icon Cold Blooded2 Divided We Stand icon Divided We Stand1 Dig icon Dig2
Attribute Shift icon Attribute Shift2 Morph icon Morph1 Death Seeker icon Death Seeker2
Multicast icon Multicast1 Unrefined Fireblast icon Unrefined Fireblast2 Fire Shield icon Fire Shield2
Spell Steal icon Spell Steal1 Shadow Poison icon Shadow Poison2 Terror Wave icon Terror Wave4
Tree Volley icon Tree Volley2 Berserker's Rage icon Berserker's Rage5

1 Disabled for balance reasons.
2 Only ultimate abilities are allowed to use up to 3 ability slots, due to hotkey issues.
3 These abilities are too useless and are therefore disabled.
4 Unknown reasons. 5 Possible technical issues. May cause too broken interactions with other abilities that affect attack range and range type.

Innate abilities

  • Aghanim's Scepter Synth icon Aghanim's Scepter Synth is part of Greevil's Greed icon Greevil's Greed, instead of being innate to Alchemist minimap icon Alchemist, so the player that drafted it can infuse Aghanim's Scepter.
  • Bane minimap icon Bane keeps his innate ability to attack any Nightmare icon Nightmared unit. The hero who drafted Nightmare can attack Nightmared units as well.
  • Stone Remnant icon Stone Remnant is bound to Magnetize icon Magnetize, and granted to the player that drafts it, instead of being innate to Earth Spirit.
  • Faceless Void minimap icon Faceless Void keeps his innate ability to walk inside any Chronosphere icon Chronosphere. The haste effect, however, is limited to the hero (and their units) who drafted Chronosphere.
  • To offset the fact that Invoker minimap icon Invoker has no generic talents (all his talents affect his invoked abilities), he gets Quas icon Quas, Wex icon Wex, and Exort icon Exort as passive buffs.
    • On level 1, he gets the Quas icon Quas buff. Every 3 levels, the buff's level increases by 1, until reaching 7 on level 19.
    • On level 2, he gets the Wex icon Wex buff. Every 3 levels, the buff's level increases by 1, until reaching 7 on level 20.
    • On level 3, he gets the Exort icon Exort buff. Every 3 levels, the buff's level increases by 1, until reaching 7 on level 21.
  • Minefield Sign icon Minefield Sign is bound to Remote Mines icon Remote Mines, and granted to the player that drafts it, instead of being innate to Techies.
  • Treant Protector minimap icon Treant Protector does not have Nature's Guise icon Nature's Guise, neither is it bound to any of his abilities.

Other ability changes

Ability dependencies

Available Aghanim's Scepter abilities

Available Shard's Scepter abilities

Talents
Talents bound to specific hero abilities are still available, but require the ability to be drafted by that hero.

Talents that affect specific abilities which have not been drafted by that hero are replaced by an instant gold boost.

  • Level 10 talents get replaced with +300 gold
  • Level 15 talents get replaced with +500 gold
  • Level 20 talents get replaced with +750 gold
  • Level 25 talents get replaced with +1250 gold

Specific talents that are not bound to any ability, such as Tal4right Backtrack and Aegis of the Immortal ability icon Reincarnation are still available regardless of what abilities are drafted by that hero.

1v1 Solo Mid

Play 1v1 against another player in the middle lane.
This mode is not available in public matchmaking. 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 level abilities up) as soon as your current hero dies.
  • You can buyback if you click on your hero portrait at the top, and from there you can buyback.
Unavailable heroes
Invoker minimap icon Invoker Lone Druid minimap icon Lone Druid Meepo minimap icon Meepo

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!

Main Article: Diretide 2012

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.

Main Article: Diretide 2013

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 abilities 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!

Main Article: Frostivus 2013

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

Available heroes
Axe minimap icon Axe Crystal Maiden minimap icon Crystal Maiden Drow Ranger minimap icon Drow Ranger
Elder Titan minimap icon Elder Titan Jakiro minimap icon Jakiro Juggernaut minimap icon Juggernaut
Legion Commander minimap icon Legion Commander Lina minimap icon Lina Magnus minimap icon Magnus
Omniknight minimap icon Omniknight Queen of Pain minimap icon Queen of Pain Sand King minimap icon Sand King
Shadow Fiend minimap icon Shadow Fiend Shadow Shaman minimap icon Shadow Shaman Storm Spirit minimap icon Storm Spirit
Sven minimap icon Sven Templar Assassin minimap icon Templar Assassin Venomancer minimap icon Venomancer
Windranger minimap icon Windranger Witch Doctor minimap icon Witch Doctor

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.

Mutation Mode

Play an unranked match with random game modifiers'
This game mode was available to The International 2018 Battle Pass owners. Players could queue for an unranked match with three random game modifiers that greatly changes Dota 2's mechanics.

Weekend Battle Cup

Main Article: Weekend Battle Cup

The Weekend Battle Cup is a weekly tournament available during certain tournament events. It compromises eight teams in a competing in a single bracket format. Winners of the Battle Cup earn temporary awards depending on the event.

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.

Number Mode
2 All Pick
4 Captains Mode
8 Random Draft
16 Single Draft
32 All Random
64 unknown
128 Diretide
256 Reverse Captains Mode
512 The Greeviling
1024 Tutorial
2048 Mid Only
4096 Least Played
8192 Limited Heroes
16384 "Compendium"
32768 "#addon_game_name"
65536 Captains Draft
131072 Balanced Draft
262144 Ability Draft
524288 "#addon_game_name"
1048576 All Random Deathmatch
2097152 1v1 Mid

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. For example, 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.

Version history

Version
Description
  • Hero ban count for matchmaking increased by 6 (still chance-based).
  • Captain's Mode
    • Added Hoodwink minimap icon Hoodwink.
    • Initial picking phase changed from Radiant/Dire/Radiant/Dire1st-to Radiant/Dire/Dire/Radiant (assuming Radiant is first pick).
  • All Pick:
    • Drafting has been reworked. Each team now picks two heroes per round before they are revealed, rather than just one. The final round is a single selection. (So it goes from 1/1/1/1/1 to 2/2/1).
    • Hero ban count increased from 10 to 12.
    • First two rounds now have 5 extra seconds for hero picking.
  • Captain's Mode:
    • Ban count has changed from 4/1/1 for the three ban phases to 2/3/2.
    • Duration per pick and ban reduced from 35 seconds to 30.
    • First pick phase is changed from Radiant/Dire/Dire/Radiant to Radiant/Dire/Radiant/Dire (assuming Radiant is first pick).
    • Third ban phase is changed from Dire/Radiant to Radiant/Dire/Radiant/Dire.
  • Reduced Random Draft hero pool from 40 to 33.
  • All Pick:
    • When in a round both players pick the same hero, that hero now gets banned instead, and the round restarts.
    • Reduced hero selection time from 25 to 20.
  • Reworked All Pick picking system:
    • Now conists of 5 picking rounds, where one player of each team pick their hero at the same time. Picked heroes stay hidden until the next picking round.
    • If both players pick the same hero, the player who picked second gains some extra time to select another hero.
  • Reworked All Pick banning system:
    • Now, each nominated hero has a 50% chance of being banned. Previously half of all nominated heroes would get banned randomly.
    • If less than 10 heroes got banned, heroes get automatically rolled for banning based on their ban rate at the match's MMR bracket, until 10 heroes are banned.
  • Rescaled Captain's Mode ban count per round from 3/2/1 to 4/1/1.
  • Reduced Random Draft hero pool from 50 to 40.
  • Captain's Mode:
  • Captain's Mode:
    • Increased drafting time from 30 to 35.
    • Changed second ban phase order from 2nd/1st/2nd/1st to 1st/2nd/1st/2nd.
  • All Pick:
  • All Pick: Drafting time per hero selection reduced from 30 to 25 seconds.
  • Added Turbo Mode.
  • All Pick:
    • Reworked picking order from A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B to A-B-B-A-A-B-B-A-A-B.
    • 10 heroes are highlighted daily. Picking from among these heroes grants the player a free Enchanted Mango icon Enchanted Mango
    • Randoming now randomly chooses from among the 10 daily heroes and no longer grants 200 bonus gold. Instead the player gets a free Iron Branch icon Iron Branch.
  • Increased Captain's Mode ban count per round from 2/2/1 to 3/2/1.
  • New draft interface for Ability Draft.
  • Reduced Ranked All Pick hero selection time from 35 to 30.
  • Reworked Ranked All Pick:
    • Before the picking phase begins, there is a 15 second voting phase to ban heroes.
    • Each player votes for a different hero. Two players cannot vote for the same hero.
    • Afterwards, half of the heroes that were voted on will be randomly selected and banned.
    • The game displays heroes as they are voted on, but not who voted.
    • The number of bans is equal to half the total number of votes. If there is an odd number of votes, the number of bans is randomly rounded up or down.
    • The random ban selection will choose at most 3 heroes from one specific team's votes, so it's more evenly split.
  • Adjusted Captain's Mode:
    • Pick time from 40 to 30 seconds
    • Bonus time from 110 to 130 seconds
    • Adjusted the order of bans in the 2nd ban phase (from 1st/2nd/1st/2nd to 2nd/1st/2nd/1st)
    • Adjusted the order of picks in the final pick phase (from 2nd/1st to 1st/2nd)
    • The overall pick/ban order for the two teams is now:
      • Ban Phase #1 No Changes [Team 1st/2nd/1st/2nd]
      • Pick Phase #1 No Changes [Team 1st/2nd/2nd/1st]
      • Ban Phase #2: Changed [From Team 1st/2nd/1st/2nd to Team 2nd/1st/2nd/1st]
      • Pick Phase #2: No Changes [Team 2nd/1st/2nd/1st]
      • Ban Phase #3: No Changes [Team 2nd/1st]
      • Pick Phase #3: Changed [From Team 2nd/1st to Team 1st/2nd]
  • Random Draft hero pool increased from 24 to 50
  • Added Random Draft to Ranked Matchmaking
  • Random Draft now uses the same picking mechanics as Ranked All Pick
  • Ranked All Pick initial pre-picking time reduced from 15 to 5
  • Reduced All Pick drafting time from 40 to 35 seconds per turn
  • Ranked All Pick initial planning phase reduced from 40 to 30 seconds
  • Private Lobby games now use the Captain's Mode creep spawn timer when in All Pick
  • In Captain's Mode, the 3rd ban phase order is swapped
  • Reworked how All Pick works in Ranked Matchmaking
    • Picking starts after a 35 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 30 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.
  • Random Draft hero selection pool increased from 22 to 24
  • Captain's Draft hero selection pool increased from 24 to 27 (8 per type to 9)
  • Captain's Draft hero bans increased from 4 to 6
  • Meepo is no longer available in Ability Draft
  • You now lose one gold per second if you haven't picked a hero after the selection timer runs out in All Pick
  • All Pick selection time increased from 60 to 75
  • All Pick pre-creep time reduced from 90 to 75
  • Added Slark, Huskar, and Phoenix in CM
  • Removed Slark and Broodmother from Captain's Mode
  • Added Medusa to Captain's Mode
  • Team 2 now bans second instead of first in Ban Phase #2. (All other phases and orders are the same)
    • Ban Phase #1 No Changes [Team A/B/A/B]
    • Pick Phase #1 No Changes [Team A/B/B/A]
    • Ban Phase #2: Changed [From Team B/A/B/A to Team A/B/A/B]
    • Pick Phase #2: No Changes [Team B/A/B/A]
    • Ban Phase #3: No Changes [Team B/A]
    • Pick Phase #3: No Changes [Team B/A]
  • Captain's Mode bans changed from 2/3 to 2/2/1
  • Captain's Mode picks changed from 3/2 to 2/2/1
  • Adjusted ban/pick/reserve times Captain's Mode
    • Old Captain's Mode:
      • Bans:
        • Team 1: Ban [40 sec]. Team 2: Ban [40 sec]. Team 1: Ban [40 sec]. Team 2: Ban [40 sec]
      • Picks:
        • Team 1: Pick [40 sec]. Team 2: Pick [40 sec]. Team 2: Pick. Team 1: Pick [40 sec]. Team 1: Pick. Team 2: Pick [40 sec].
      • Bans:
        • Team 1: Ban [50 sec]. Team 2: Ban [50 sec]. Team 1: Ban [50 sec]. Team 2: Ban [50 sec]. Team 1: Ban [50 sec]. Team 2: Ban [50 sec].
      • Picks:
        • Team 1: Pick [40 sec]. Team 2: Pick [40 sec]. Team 1: Pick [40 sec]. Team 2: Pick [40 sec].
      • Total Pick/Ban Time: 780 (not counting Reserve time)
      • Reserve Time: 90 seconds (per team)
    • New Captain's Mode:
      • Bans:
        • Team 1: Ban [30 sec]. Team 2: Ban [30 sec]. Team 1: Ban [30 sec]. Team 2: Ban [30 sec].
      • Picks:
        • Team 1: Pick [40 sec]. Team 2: Pick [40 sec]. Team 2: Pick [40 sec]. Team 1: Pick [40 sec].
      • Bans:
        • Team 2: Ban [30 sec]. Team 1: Ban [30 sec]. Team 2: Ban [30 sec]. Team 1: Ban [30 sec].
      • Picks:
        • Team 2: Pick [40 sec]. Team 1: Pick [40 sec]. Team 2: Pick [40 sec]. Team 1: Pick [40 sec].
      • Bans:
        • Team 2: Ban [30 sec]. Team 1: Ban [30 sec].
      • Picks:
        • Team 2: Pick [40 sec]. Team 1: Pick [40 sec].
      • Total Pick/Ban Time: 700 (not counting Reserve time)
      • Reserve Time: 110 seconds (per team)
  • Centaur restricted from Captain's Mode
  • Added a new game mode -TagTeam (-tt)
    • You are assigned two random heroes (different hero classes). You choose which to start the game with. You start with the same bonus gold as all random.
    • You have an ability that lets you swap heroes, has a 3 minute cooldown. You can swap while your current hero is dead to resume with the other hero.
    • Any gold you gain is added to both heroes. Any gold you lose on current hero is lost on the other hero as well.
    • Each hero has their own independent item inventories. Each time you swap heroes, the XP gain is synchronized.
    • You have to be in the fountain to swap heroes (use -tt)
  • Captain's Mode first ban phase now has 2 bans instead of 3
  • Captain's Mode second ban phase now has 3 bans instead of 2
  • Random Draft Mode hero pool count increased from 20 to 22
  • Goblin Shredder and Skywrath Mage added to Captain's Mode
  • Added Wisp, Disruptor and Rubick to CM
  • Added Treant Protector, Terrorblade and Tuskarr to Captain's Mode
  • Hero pool in -CD increased from 24 to 28
  • Pitlord is now in CM restriction list
  • -ER (experimental runes) mode reworked, now enables runes spawn in both locations past 40 minutes
  • Added Nerubian Assassin and Shadow Demon to CM
  • Added Gyro, Weaver, Clinkz and Ancient Apparition to CM
  • Added Slark, Chaos Knight and Magnus to CM
    • More heroes will be enabled soon.
  • Reworked the -CM Ban and Picks process
    • Instead of 4 bans and then 5 picks, now it is 3 bans and then 3 picks followed by 2 bans and 2 picks.
    • Old CM:
      • Summary: 4 bans then 5 picks.
      • Ban Phase: Each team bans 4 heroes. 40 Seconds for each step.
        • Process: 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1
      • Pick Phase: Each team then picks 5 heroes. 60 Seconds for each step.
        • Process: 1-2-2-2-2-1
      • 60 seconds of extra time is provided in each team's time bank.
    • New CM:
      • Summary: 3 bans then 3 picks then 2 bans then 2 picks.
      • Ban Phase #1: Each team bans 3 heroes. 30 seconds for each step
        • Process: 1-1-1-1-1-1
      • Pick Phase #1: Each team then picks 3 heroes. 50 seconds for each step.
        • Process: 1-2-2-1
      • Ban Phase #2: Each team then bans 2 heroes. 50 seconds for each step
        • Process: 1-1-1-1
      • Pick Phase #2: Each team then picks 2 heroes. 50 seconds for each step
        • Process: 1-1-1-1
      • 90 seconds of extra time is provided in each team's time bank.
  • Added a -ub (-Unban) game mode to override the default -cm changed hero restrictions. You use this in combination with cm, -ubcm
  • The autozoom restore function in -zm is increased to give extra time to temporarily zoom in
  • Implemented a new mode for observers -zm (-zoommode). It pulls the camera outwards to see more action at the same time.
  • Implemented a new game mode -cp (-capturepoint)
    • This game mode requires more teamwork and coordination than you might expect from your usual funmode.
    • After 10 minutes, 6 capture points appear at fixed locations around the map. Once the capture points are created, those areas are permanently visible to both teams for the rest of the game.
    • To capture a point, you have to be standing on it for a certain amount of time. The more heroes standing on it the faster you gain control over it. There cannot be any enemy heroes at a point you are trying to capture. With 5 heroes it requires 12.5 seconds to capture (60 for just 1 hero). Heroes cannot be invisible while on a capture point area. Illusions do not count as heroes when on top of a Capture Point.
    • There are 3 types of capture points, if you get 2 of the same type then they stack. Duplicates of each type are available on opposite sides of the map.
    • The game announces when an enemy captures a point. It is also visible on the minimap which areas you have captured and which areas the enemy has. When you capture a point, your team's heroes gain bonuses to various attributes (described below)
      • Combat - CP Type 1 [Bonus Damage/Armor]: Increases your Damage by 14 and Armor by 4 (Twice of each if you have both)
      • Regen - CP Type 2 [Bonus Health/Mana Regeneration]: Increases your Health Regeneration by 4 and Mana Regeneration by 1
      • Speed - CP Type 3 [Bonus Movement/Attack Speed]: Increases your Movement Speed by 4% and Attack Speed by 12%
      • If you have two of the same type, you get twice the bonus. For example, if you have both Combat you get 28 bonus damage and 8 bonus armor.
    • Whenever your team captures or recaptures a point, all allied heroes in that area will get healed for 200 hp/mp, gain 150 bonus gold and bonus xp (4 creeps worth)
  • CM heroes updated (In: Alchemist, Visage, Bounty Hunter, Spiritbreaker, Lucifer, Out: NA, Mag, TB, Tree, Weaver, Clinkz)
  • Only blue can type -cm 1/2
  • Added a 15 second wait period before the drafting begins in -CD to give both teams a chance to look at the heroes.
  • Switch now only works as long as the items of the leaver remain intact. Once someone leaves, the inventory of that hero becomes locked. Players can use an -unlock command, but once that is done switch cannot be used on that hero anymore. Once this feature is used enough to be considered stable, switch will be usable by default (-so mode won't be required) with the restrictions described above. The gold that the leaver is carrying is also frozen until the hero is either unlocked or swapped.
  • Restored -mc, but with more detailed statistics to match up with the recently changed Multicast chance system
  • Increase the buffer time in -CM from 45 to 60 seconds (This means 15 seconds total for each player, not 15 seconds for each turn)
  • New and reworked heroes are temporarily unavailable in -CM
  • Day and Night cycle is synchronized across all game modes now
  • Implemented HCL protocol for game hosting bots to control game modes
  • Removed the int/agi/str distribution in -CD. It is now like RD in its hero distribution.
  • Added a new game mode -cd (-CaptainsDraft)
    • 24 Heroes are randomly allocated in a circle (like RD). The 24 consist of 8 random Intelligence/Agility/Strength heroes, sorted in that order along the circle.
    • Each team has a total time bank of 2.5 minutes. Blue/Pink draft the heroes for their entire team.
    • Blue and Pink start off by alternating 1/1/1/1 ban picks.
    • It then goes into a 1/2/2/2/2/1 hero draft.
    • Once a hero picks/bans a hero, it immediately switches to the other player to act.
    • Your timer is shown in red when it is your turn to act.
    • I am considering implementing a new order for the bans for this mode in the future. The bans would not all happen before the pick process, it would be in between picks. I decided to keep it the traditional way for now and get some feedback on alternatives.
  • Added a new game mode -rs (-randomside) to randomize which side your team starts in. This does not shuffle the players. It just places a team randomly as either Sentinel or Scourge.
  • Added -random Intelligence/Strength/Agility. It gives you 100 less bonus gold than the 250 bonus gold the regular -random gives you.
  • Normal mode can now pick from their team's heroes plus neutral heroes
  • Added a new experimental mode Experimental Runes (-er)
    • This temporary mode changes the rune system to a more experimental one. I will be changing how -er works from version to version to try out different ideas. I don't plan on any one version of the new runes to replace the current system directly, so do not panic. Well Instead, it will be used as something to create discussion, spark ideas, find flaws and playtest different concepts over time.
    • How -er works for this version: Runes spawn simultaneously on both sides at 3 minute intervals (instead of 2). Again I have no plans to make this permanent.
  • Added a new mode -mo (-MeleeOnly)
  • Added a new mode -ro (-RangeOnly)
  • Changed -mr (-moderandom) it now picks between RD/SD/VR/ARAI
  • Changed -vr (-VoteRandom) to make your hero pools include 1 of each Intelligence/Agility/Strength/Melee/Range
  • Glyph no longer refreshes in -wtf mode
  • RD selection area now becomes unexplored after the pick phase is over
  • Added a new game mode (-captainsmode/-cm)
    • Blue and Pink are the team captains. A random side starts the process (you can customize this, see below)
    • Ban Time: 40. Pick Time: 60. Extra Time: 45.
    • You start by alternating 1/1/1 in the ban phase. Each captain removes up to 4 heroes. Running out of time does not result in a random hero ban.
    • After that you enter the 1/2/2/ pick phase. Each captain picks the heroeshis team will use.
    • If at any time you run out of time, you start to use up your extra time. If you run out and you are in pick phase, you get a random hero.
    • Creeps spawn 90 seconds after the pick draft phase is over. Right after the hero pick phase ends, the 5 heroes for your team are presented with a checkmark on them (RD style) allowing players on your team to pick which one they want to be.
    • The captain that starts this process is random. If you want to give the starting to Sentinel, type -cm 1 or -cm 2 for Scourge after the game mode is entered.
    • The picks, bans, timers, etc are all presented in a board for easy viewing by team mates and observers.
  • Added a new mode -fastrespawn (-fr) that causes respawns to take half as much time
  • Changed -SD time to be the same as AP
  • Added a new fun mode -mi(miniheroes) that creates the heroes at half size
  • Dummy lineup units in RD now show player name
  • Improved hero selection process in RD
  • Player turn indicator for RD is made clearer
  • Completely reworked and improved the way RD hero picking is done
  • Added a new mode -observerinfo (-oi) to display extra information for game broadcasters/observers when you hover over player heroes
  • XL Mode changed to have 4 hero removals per side instead of 3
  • -swap is now allowed in -sd
  • Added a new game mode -singledraft or -sd (swiss)
  • Added a timer in -rd/-xl/-lm to show you how much time you have left to pick your hero
  • Added creep spawn modes -notop/-nomid/-nobot (-nt/-nm/-nb)
  • New heroes are disabled in -lm/-xl
  • Added new mode -xl(Extended League Mode)
  • Enabled POTM/Warlock/Alchemist in -lm and Warlock in -rd
  • Lowered initial wait time before drafting starts in -rd
  • Allowed swaphero to be used after the -rd draft
  • If you don't pick a hero in -rd, one will be randomed for you (for the same gold cost)
  • You now have more time to repick (120 from 60)
  • Added -reverse (-rv) mode
  • WTF Mode no longer requires voting
  • WTF mode now requires voting
  • New mode -vr (-voterandom, like -ar except you get to vote on which hero combinations are used)
  • Repick in -ap or normal mode now lets you pick a new hero instead of randoming it. Cost reduced here since you would need to buy a hero. Repick is unchanged in -ar/-tr
  • Reworked -lm to give a chance for Scourge to begin the pick process instead of always Sent
  • Added -samehero (-sh) mode
  • If blue isn't playing, the next available color will be allowed to enter the game mode.
  • Improved the game mode entering system. Modes are now entered on one line like "-apidsh" or "-dm -ar -sc". You do not need to worry about the order you enter the modes in, the game will handle it or warn you (and give you another chance) if the mode is incorrect/incompatible.
  • Renamed shortmode to -easymode (-em)
  • Restored a more functional -du mode
  • Added Observer Mode support (Now league games can be broadcasted using Waaagh!TV).
  • -dm and -lm now compatible with -ap
  • -mirrormode (-mm) returns due to popular demand, with all abilities multi-instance capable.
  • Neutral Host capability through an extra slot (useful for important tournaments where host neutrality matters)
  • -moderandom (-mr) randomly picks a mode from ar/ap/tr/regular
  • Added a mode for league play, -lm (-leaguemode)
  • Added Deathmatch, -dm (-deathmatch)
  • Shortmode is a bit shorter
  • Fun hero Tavern created (invoker and techies moved there) use "-fun"
  • Allrandom now alternates between sent and scourge instead of all sent first
  • Deathmatch items restored upon revival

Patch history

Patch
Description
  • Turbo Mode will now track Relic stat counters at half the rate of normal matches.
  • Turbo Mode can now earn up to 1 star for Hero Challenges.
  • Added some previously unavailable heroes to Ability Draft
    • Beastmaster (Call of the Wild Hawk is not draftable)
    • Lone Druid
    • Io
    • Monkey King (Primal Spring is not draftable)
    • Shadow Fiend (Shadowraze Medium and Presence of the Dark Lord are not draftable)
    • Techies (Minefield Sign is not draftable)
    • Meepo (Divided We Stand is not draftable)
    • Rubick (Spell Steal is not draftable)
  • Will-o-wisp and Tag Team are now draftable in Ability Draft
  • You can no longer random in the last 10 seconds in Unranked or in the final pick per team in Ranked
  • Repicking in Unranked now behaves the same as Ranked, giving you a new random hero rather than letting you pick a hero directly
  • You will no longer have a chance of receiving the same hero after re-randoming