-
1. Sign in through Steam
Signing in proves you own the Steam account and verifies it on the Game Coordinator. Nothing is posted to your profile and no password is shared with us.
-
2. Download the client
About 10 GB. Extract anywhere; no Steam installation is modified.
-
3. Launch and queue
Extract the archive, then run dota.exe from the folder you extracted it to. Steam must be running and logged into the same account you signed in with above.
Once you reach the main menu, use Play Dota → Find Match, or queue from the ladder channel on Discord.
Nothing in your Steam installation is modified and the official Dota 2 is left untouched — this client is entirely separate.
Troubleshooting
- “Your Dota 2 is out of date” on launch
- The client build and the server disagree. Re-download — the archive is pinned to the build this server runs.
- Stuck on “connecting to the Dota 2 game coordinator”
- Either your account is not verified (step 1 above), or the server is restarting. Try again in a minute; if it persists, ask on Discord.
- I signed in but the queue rejects me
- Verification is per Steam account. Make sure Steam is logged into the same account you used here, not a second one.