Today marks the release of a new Dota Plus feature designed to enhance your experience for every Dota Pro Circuit event.

Available now in the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store, the Dota Pro Circuit companion app lets you earn Shards by predicting the winners of DPC matches, compete for even more Shards in the Fantasy Challenge, and follow all of this season's DPC action in real time, all from the comfort and convenience of your mobile device.

You'll be able to wager your personal stash of Plus Shards to predict the winners of DPC matches, with winnings added to your in-game total. The Fantasy Challenge offers the chance for more Shards, as you compete against your friends and the entire world to put together the best roster of pro players at each event. In addition, you'll have access to a dynamic News Feed that features your personalized favorite teams and players, helping you stay on top of every DPC development along the road to The International.

Check out a full list of the app's features here.

Android customers who are unable to access the Google Play Store can find a direct download here.

The International 2019 is still over the horizon, but it's never too early to start exploring new treasure ideas for this year's event—which will have a theme focused on overgrown, enchanted jungle ruins. With that in mind, we invite all Dota 2 Workshop creators to venture into their flourishing imaginations on the hunt for new designs to include in this year's Collector's Cache to see what concepts bear fruit.

As a slight change this year, please keep in mind that while we're happy to see item sets that feel at home in overgrown jungle ruins, artists should not feel constrained to working only within this year’s event theme. We're interested to discover any high quality designs, regardless of motif. However, as in the past, we would still like to ask artists to avoid the use of any concepts that involve human skulls, blood, and gore.

Make sure to mark your submissions with the "Collector’s Cache 2019" tag when tendering items to the Workshop. All submissions must be on the Dota 2 Workshop by Sunday, May 12th. We encourage all Dota fans to regularly visit the Workshop and vote through the Queue to ensure your voices are heard in the selection process.

In the meantime, our merchandise partners are also ready to create some new designs for this year's Dota 2 merchandise release. If you've got a concept you think will resonate with fans, submit your design to the Workshop with the "Merchandise" tag and see how much community support springs up.

Custom Games API:
- Added GetDedicatedServerKeyV2 which utilizes a new approach for securing/generating the keys. Any custom game that relies on GetDedicatedServerKey to communicate with its backend will want to switch to the V2 version as soon as possible.
- To give custom game authors time to switch to the new system, GetDedicatedServerKey will remain unchanged until 3/31/2019, after which will be automatically switched to V2.
- When playing on local/unofficial servers, GetDedicatedServerV2 will return special values to make the state more clear for developers (e.g. “Invalid_NotOnDedicatedServer”).

Mars, god of war and first son of heaven, has now joined the battle of the Ancients.

Abandoning the callous ways of his past and embracing a new identity unburdened by the legacies of his father's archaic pantheon, Mars has turned over a new spear. Vowing to tear down the remnants of the savage old world to build a new empire, Mars is at last ready to assume the true mantle of leadership over gods and men, a position he now realizes has been wasted for eons by the petty whims of Zeus.

Learn more about Mars and his abilities here. Or, better yet, launch Dota 2 yourself and get ready to impale your enemies for the glory of the god of war.

Drow Ranger Remodel



Never one to seek the spotlight, Drow Ranger thought to sneak into the lanes without announcing her redesigned model, but the glory of Mars' arrival has shone a light across the battlefield that not even Traxex can escape.

Added some previously unavailable heroes to Ability Draft
* Beastmaster (Hawk is not draftable)
* Lone Druid
* Io
* Monkey King (Primal Spring is not draftable)
* Shadowfiend (Shadowraze Medium and Presence of the Darklord are not draftable)
* Techies (Minefield Sign is not draftable)
* Meepo (Divided We Stand is not draftable)
* Rubick (Spellsteal is not draftable)
Will-o-wisp and Tag Team are now draftable in Ability Draft

* The Rubick Arcana Bundle now includes a Voice of the Magus Cypher item that lets Arcana owners choose whether to use the Arcana voice or the original Rubick voice. This item will appear in Arcana owners’ inventories shortly.

Removed Flowing Entropy from the Treasure of the Amaranth and instead included Enduring Solitude. Including the Flowing Entropy set was an oversight - Collector's Cache sets are intended to remain exclusive.

* New Bloom ended a few hours earlier than intended, the event has now been extended to be active through Feb 12th.
* Fixed an issue that caused the New Bloom Nian Courier to drop at lower than expected rates. This has been corrected, and items have been granted to reflect the proper drop rate.
* Fixed a bug that allowed pressing quickbuy in rapid succession to purchase the same item twice.
* Several Ranked Emoticons have been increased in size, and all emoticons used during in-game chat are now larger and closer to center on the chat line.

* Fixed an issue that caused players completing calibration games using Ranked Roles to not have the correct resulting calibrated MMR. Players who have already played calibration games with this behavior have have their MMR updated to reflect the correct values.

In celebration of the Lunar New Year, each victory you earn in normal Dota Matchmaking from February 1 - 11 will grant you progress along the New Bloom rewards line, where you'll find a host of seasonal delights including gifts, celebrations, and chat wheel sounds.

Start off by claiming your New Bloom consumables bundle at level one, and bring some festive flair into the lanes with New Bloom Celebrations. Use celebrations in your games safe in the knowledge that you can earn more on the rewards line or by purchasing a fresh bundle with shards.

As you advance along the line, you can even help your friends get into the spirit of the season by gifting them free spins on the New Bloom rewards wheel. Every spin you and your friends make offers the chance to win an indescribably-rare Nian Courier.

You'll receive 200 points for a Normal victory, 100 points for Turbo, and the first win of each day will grant a bonus of 1250 points.

You'll be able to use your consumables and chat wheel sounds in your games until March 1, so prepare yourself for battle and start the New Year in style.