Valve

Overview

Dota 2 pits two teams of five players against each other. Each player selects a hero from a pool of over 120, and the teams compete to destroy the opposing team’s Ancient, a core structure in its base.

How to win

• Conceding with GG — Typing “gg” in team chat starts an irreversible concession countdown once confirmed.
• Tiebreaker order — Use head-to-head record, then game score differential, then average game duration.
• Destroy the Ancient — Destroy the enemy Ancient to win; play continues without a time limit until one falls or a team concedes.
• BO2: 2 points for sweep, 1 point each for draw; BO3: First to 2 game wins advances; BO5: First to 3 game wins
• Concede with GG — Teams may call “GG” to concede a match.

The game

• Tournament roles — Referees enforce rules, administrators manage competition logistics, and technical staff maintain infrastructure.
• DPC eligibility — Register in the DPC system and have no active Valve competitive ban; regional roster locks apply during DPC seasons.
• Team composition — Each team has five active players and one coach; coaches communicate only during drafts and pauses.
• Team composition — Each team has 5 active players and 1 coach.
• Standard positions — Positions are Carry (1), Mid (2), Offlane (3), Soft Support (4), and Hard Support (5).

Playing the ball

• Captain's Mode — Professional matches use alternating hero bans and picks in the specified draft order.
• Match formats — Group stage uses BO2 or BO3; playoffs use BO3; Grand Finals use BO5.
• No intentional exploitation of bugs, glitches, or unintended interactions; Fountain camping or excessive stalling is subject to referee warning…
• Captain's Mode — All professional matches use Captain's Mode drafting.
• Alternate bans and picks — Teams alternate when banning and picking heroes.

Fouls & penalties

• Match fixing — Arranging outcomes or betting on your own matches results in a permanent ban. (+ variants)
• Unsportsmanlike conduct: Excessive taunting, all-chat abuse — warning to fine; Harassment: Directed personal attacks against players, officials, or staff — fine to suspension…
• Penalty options — Penalties include warnings, draft penalties, or game forfeiture.
• Match fixing — Arranging outcomes or betting on your own matches results in a permanent ban.
• Cheating — Using hacks, scripts, or unauthorized information results in a permanent ban.

Equipment

• Gaming PC meeting tournament minimum specifications; Monitor: minimum 144Hz refresh rate, 24-27 inch display; Mouse and keyboard: players may bring their own peripherals (no programmable macros)
• Connection requirements — LAN is required for Majors and TI; online matches need a stable connection below 80ms ping (+ variants).
• Official client only — Use Dota 2 through Steam on approved servers; no third-party overlays, assistive software, or unauthorized modifications.

🚨 Cardinal Rule— Serious violation — may trigger retaliation or social exclusion

• Do not abandon a game, even when losing badly
  — Leaving a match before the ancient falls is a serious social contract violation regardless of how lopsided the score is. Beyond Valve's automated Low Priority penalty system, the community applies strong normative pressure against abandonment. Feeding and then leaving compounds the offense significantly.[1]
• Do not intentionally feed (die repeatedly on purpose)
  — Deliberately running into enemies to hand them kills—whether from frustration, tilting, or to sabotage teammates—is among the most condemned behaviors in Dota 2 culture. The unwritten expectation is to play earnestly until the ancient falls regardless of game state. Valve's grief detection is separate from, and secondary to, the community norm.[1]
• Fountain hooking was taboo (historical)⚡ ContestedProfessional play
  — A technique exploiting Pudge's hook combined with displacement abilities to pull enemies directly into the fountain for instant, unavoidable kills. Though technically within the ruleset, the community broadly condemned it as exploiting an engine oversight rather than legitimate play. It gained widespread notoriety in high-stakes professional matches at The International 3 (2013) and Valve subsequently patched it out.(Largely historical — Valve's patch removed the interaction. The episode became a landmark reference point in Dota 2 discussions about the boundary between creative play and exploit abuse.)[1]

⚠️ Strong Expectation— Most experienced players will take notice and be upset

• Never type 'GG' in all-chat while the game is still in progress
  — Typing 'GG' in all-chat before the ancient falls—especially when winning—is considered disrespectful taunting. The custom is to use GG only when the game is definitively over as a mutual acknowledgment, not as a premature victory declaration. Using it mid-game signals poor sportsmanship and invites condemnation.(Distinct from typing GG in team chat to signal teammates to call it; the taboo applies specifically to all-chat taunting while the outcome is still contested or not yet conceded.)[1]
• Pause the game immediately when any player disconnects
  — When a player—teammate or opponent—loses connection, the expectation is to pause at once and allow time to reconnect. Refusing to pause, or quickly unpausing while an opponent is disconnected, is a serious breach of etiquette. The norm holds even in pub games and is near-absolute in organized competition.(Tournament administrators typically codify this formally; the norm extends downward into all ranked play.)[1]
• Supports must not take farm (last hits) from the carry in lane
  — Support players are expected to deny enemy creeps and protect the carry without taking last hits on allied creeps. Stealing farm as a support—depriving the carry of gold and experience during the laning phase—is one of the most commonly cited etiquette violations in Dota 2 and is treated as a fundamental failure of role responsibility.[1]
• Only pause for legitimate reasons; do not abuse the pause system
  — Each team receives a limited number of pauses intended for genuine emergencies—crashes, disconnects, or urgent real-world issues. Using pauses frivolously, pausing at tactically disruptive moments (mid-teamfight), or spam-pausing to tilt opponents is considered a serious abuse of a trust-based system.

📋 General Expectation— Generally expected; soft social enforcement among regulars

• Do not courier-snipe the enemy courier (historical norm)⚡ Contested
  — Killing the enemy team's courier—particularly the walking chicken in early Dota 2—to destroy queued items was widely viewed as griefing rather than legitimate strategy. Community debate over the tactic was a recurring flashpoint for years and is cited as a contributing factor to Valve eventually redesigning couriers to be per-player and temporarily invulnerable early in the game.(Largely historical — the 7.27 patch (2020) gave each player their own courier with early invulnerability, removing most of the controversy. The norm was real and consequential during the era when a single shared courier was killable.)[1]
• Respect the GG call — close out a decided game promptly⚡ Contested
  — When the losing team types 'GG' in all-chat and the outcome is genuinely not in doubt, the expectation is for the winning team to push the ancient and end the match rather than fountain-diving for kills, delaying for entertainment, or running up the score. Deliberately prolonging a decided game is widely viewed as disrespectful.(Less strict in professional matches, where teams play for pride until the ancient falls regardless of score; more pronounced in pub culture.)[1]

🤝 Etiquette— Nice to follow; low consequence if ignored by newcomers

• Say 'GG WP' at the end of a match
  — Regardless of how frustrating the match was, closing with 'good game, well played' in all-chat is the expected sign of mutual respect. Unsportsmanlike trash talk or silence after a hard match is tolerated but frowned upon; openly hostile or mocking chat at game end is considered a breach of basic competitive courtesy.(More strictly observed in professional and organized play, where a typed or verbal acknowledgment at the end of a series is considered standard.)[1]
• Do not spam chat wheel sounds or hero voice lines to taunt
  — Dota 2's chat wheel and hero voice lines can be triggered repeatedly. Using them to taunt opponents after kills or during a dominant win is universally labeled 'BM' (bad manners). Brief celebratory use is tolerated; sustained, targeted spam aimed at demoralization is condemned and can result in behavior score reports.[1]