Dota 2 patch 7.34 introduces new Captains Mode rules

Finally, the long-awaited Dota 2 patch 7.34 is here and one of its surprising features is the redesigned Captains Mode.

This mode is not that popular in pub games, but it’s the official mode used in professional matches. So the changes introduced by Valve are very significant and could dramatically shape the way in which teams approach the drafting phase.

The new Captains Mode rules

The new Captains Mode rules revolve around the order in which heroes get picked or banned.

The old way of banning was 2-3-2. The new way of banning is 3-2-2 / 4-1-2.

The old way of picking was 2-2-1. The new way of picking is 1-3-1.

This new way of doing things is a little bizarre and seeks to neutralize the first picker’s advantage by giving the second picker the ability to ban more heroes before the picks begin.

The team that picks first will ban 3 heroes before the first round of picking. The team that gets second pick will ban 4 heroes. So in total, instead of having just 4 heroes banned before the first heroes get picked by the two teams, we will have 7 heroes banned! That’s a massive change that will dramatically impact pro games.

Imagine being a coach or a captain and trying to make sure that the opposing side doesn’t get one of the 3-5 heroes they like to play the most. In the previous patch, there was little that you could do to prevent them from getting a good draft in every single game. With a little bit of versatility, a team could get away with anything.

But now, the situation is very different and it’s no longer enough to have just enough strategies to avoid getting all of them banned by your opponent. The teams will need to prepare a lot more viable drafts and strategies if they don’t want to be caught off-guard and forced to make poor choices.

No professional team wants to end up playing something they haven’t extensively played during training. But now that so many heroes will get banned from the start, it will be a lot harder to know in advance the possible branches of the drafting phase.

Another thing to note here is that the first phase bans will need to be done in just 15s instead of 30s. This shouldn’t be a problem but it’s still tricky to figure out what you want to do in just 15s.

Header: Valve Corporation