Dota 2 News

Snakes, as any biologist will tell you, are fascinating creatures. They don't have skeletons. They don't have brains or organs. They just have one tube-like muscle that makes up their whole body, a mouth, two eyes, and a butt. That's it. An animal shouldn't be able to be alive with that few body parts, and yet somehow the snake surmounts all of those obstacles and manages it.

It's at this point in the blog post that we should admit that the biologist we contacted about all this never actually returned our calls, so we had to guess at a few of the details in the previous paragraph. But honestly, we don't need a stupid snake expert to tell us that snakes look cool. They look cool on armor, on weapons, on bodies, even on hats. If you've got something that's cool already, and you put a bunch of snakes on it, it might actually explode, so watch out.

As you may have guessed, we're proud to announce the all-new 'Charms of the Snake' treasure, stocked up with nine community-made item sets ready to slither around your favorite heroes and wrap them in some scaly styles, just in time for Lunar New Year to ring in the Year of the Snake.

Each treasure opened will grant a serpentine set for Snapfire, Medusa, Shadow Shaman, Naga Siren, Razor, Earth Spirit, or Templar Assassin. You'll also have a chance to unlock a Rare Lich set or Very Rare Necrophos set. You can purchase 'Charms of the Snake' treasures directly for $2.49 to get in the spirit of the Lunar New Year and join the slinky fashion fun.

The International 2025 is coming to Germany in September. Companies interested in producing and distributing regional language broadcasts of The International are encouraged to apply now.

Like in recent years, proposals for the Live Event Broadcast Production of The International in Russian, Chinese, and Spanish language broadcasts will be accepted. The RFP (Request For Proposal) documentation and instructions for submissions can be found here.

For those seeking additional licenses and feeds, please fill out the form that pertains to the correct request:

• Production companies seeking a commercial license to produce a regional language broadcast of The International 2025 without additional access to the event can apply here.
  
  
• Streaming platforms interested in restreaming the official broadcast feeds to their platform can apply here.
  

As a reminder, DOTA 2 fans can create strictly noncommercial casts from DOTATV following the DOTA 2 Community Stream Policy here and do not need to make an official request.

Please reach out to [email protected] with any additional questions.

Thanks in advance to everyone interested in working with us to bring The International 2025 to life.

Amidst all the TI announcements and Crownfall conclusions, you might not have noticed that the humble Dota 2 Workshop is busier than ever. With a community of talented artists contributing lots of new stuff that we shipped throughout the year, sales of community-generated Workshop content generated more revenue for contributors in 2024 than any year since 2015—and that community of talented artists could also include you!

That's right: We're once again inviting all workshop contributors to spin up some new sets for any of your favorite heroes—including two newcomers who have been waiting eagerly in the wings to join the cosmetic fun. Artists can also include submissions for both Ringmaster and Kez, who are now enabled in the workshop.

To be considered, we request that all submissions be on the Dota 2 Workshop by the end of day on April 6th, 2025 PDT. Please make sure to mark your work with the "Spring 2025" tag when tendering items to the Workshop to ensure they aren't overlooked. (As usual, please avoid concepts involving human skulls, blood, and gore.)

Dota fans everywhere are of course encouraged to regularly visit the Workshop and vote through the Queue to ensure your voices are heard in the hunt for the treasures of tomorrow.

Banners, tattered but resolute, are unfurled. War trumpets, battered but resolute, are buffed with war trumpet polish until they gleam. Weapons, resolute but dull, are sharpened on whetstones in rhythmic strokes, until they are perhaps too sharp, and dulled up a little on nearby flagstones so no one cuts themselves. The banners (tattered, resolute and unfurled, see earlier) are hoisted high, their sigils stitched with sequins of the most defiant bedazzlement.

That's right. The stars have aligned and the stage is once again being set for cosmic battle. And this time, that battle has returned to where it all began: Germany, the site of The International's humble debut on the world stage, where it was watched in person by many tens of people. Now, fourteen years later, The International returns to Germany, to Hamburg's Barclays Arena September 11 - 14 — in front of, we trust, a slightly bigger crowd this time around.

The sixteen contending teams will once again consist of a mix of open qualifiers, regional qualifiers, and direct invitations, with more information on all of that to come. For now, there's still a ton of professional Dota to be played before we can get there. The January viewing calendar has already been packed, as teams around the world fight through qualifiers to earn spots in tournaments slated to kick off in the weeks and months ahead.

Stay tuned for more information on ticketing and scheduling for The International 2025. Until then, tune into some of the pro games to get an early edge on knowing who's who and clocking the teams to beat.

Back in December, it seemed entirely reasonable to bring Crownfall to a close halfway through January. After all, we reasoned, who could possibly need more time than that to finish exploring four huge overworld maps filled with tons of characters to meet, comics to read, and minigames to conquer?

Well, if what we're hearing from friends, family, dedicated fans, coworkers, bus drivers, security guards, and even some cats on the internet is true, it turns out a lot of people could actually use more time to finish everything. So we're extending Crownfall's end date one last time (for real this time) to Thursday, February 6. If you've still got progress to make, get moving, because the curtains for this show are finally actually about to, we promise, close.

[h2]A Frosty Farewell[/h2]
We hope everyone stuffed their bellies full of enough grunch heart to tide yourselves over for the rest of the year, because another season of Frostivus is in the books — and all of the wrappings, trappings, snowballs, and stolen hats have been lovingly packed up and crammed back into the seasonal treasure hutch.

[h2]Winter Sale Ends[/h2]
Sadly, there were no people begging on behalf of their pets for more end-of-year savings from our winter sale, and since the year did in fact end, and in fact ended two weeks ago, everything in the Crownfall Store is now (finally actually) going back to its regular price.

You can still unlock new story nodes with the Midgate, Druud, and Icewrack Pathfinder Packs, deck your heroes out in the sets from Skywrath from Crownfall Treasures I-III, or complete the transformations of Shen and Dragonus with the Vengeful Spirit and Skywrath Mage Arcanas, but unless you've got Crownfall Coins to use, items are back to full price.

[h2]Roll Credits[/h2]
Crownfall might not be officially ending today, but today's update also includes a little something to celebrate the end of the journey. Everyone on the team put a lot of time into making this happen — from haggling with the Flightless in the bustling bazaars of Midgate; to returning the nomad Oglodi through the crimson sands of Druud to their rightful home of Barzum; to helping the overworked warden of Icewrack settle a domestic disturbance between the citizens of Snowcap Lake and a marauding dragon; and finally scaling the cloud-rimmed spires of Skywrath to commit a long-overdue regicide and put an actual Dota character in charge of everything. It's been a long ride, and a little bittersweet to finally close the book on it. So please join us for one last look back, in the form of a credits sequence featuring new music and some fun surprises. (Just click "Play Credits" on the main menu to roll them.)