Dota 2 Player Gets Caught Abusing A Bug At ESL One Birmingham 2024

BetBoom Team player Vitalie “Save-” Melnic took advantage of a Shadow Demon bug during a Group Stage match against G2.iG. He was caught using it, and the team was punished with a draft penalty.

The Eastern European squad took on G2.iG in their second Group Stage series of ESL One Birmingham 2024. In the first game, Save- played Shadow Demon, and executed a gameplay bug in the middle of the game. 

What Is The Shadow Demon Bug?

Currently, there is an ongoing bug surrounding Shadow Demon’s Aghanim’s Shard and his ultimate, Demonic Cleanse. 

When Shadow Demon purchases an Aghanim’s Shard, he will acquire an additional ability, Demonic Cleanse. The bug is that a level-up option appears on the Demonic Cleanse ability, which normally shouldn’t happen.

If the Shadow Demon player puts a skill point on Demonic Cleanse, the bug will increase a level in the ultimate, Demonic Purge, as the Shard and ultimate abilities share the same level.

Hence, in Game 1 of the series against G2.iG, Save- leveled up Demonic Cleanse and got an additional skill point on his ultimate ability. 

In the game, Save- was only level 12, but had three levels on Demonic Purge already, which creates an unfair advantage, and is considered bug abuse.  

What Happened Next?

Despite using the bug, the BetBoom Team still failed to win the map, losing in 56 minutes. An admin noticed Save-’s abuse, and penalized the BetBoom Team.

They were handed a level 2 draft penalty for the following map, which reduces the team’s reserve time in the drafting phase. In a game like Dota 2, the picking and banning phase is incredibly important, and getting less time to think will negatively affect the draft results.

The BetBoom Team lost the second map of the series, crashing out 0-2 against G2.iG. The bookmakers built up a 20,000 net worth lead, but lost to the Chinese squad’s late-game scaling lineup. Monet on Faceless Void proved to be a massive threat, landing perfect Chronospheres to complete the comeback. 

After Day 1, the BetBoom Team finished at the bottom of their group with a 1-3 record. Still, they will have two more days to bounce back in hopes of making it out of groups alive. 

How Was The Bug Discovered?

The Shadow Demon bug was first made public by former professional player turned streamer, Kim “DuBu” Doo-young. 

DuBu was casually streaming a pub game while playing Shadow Demon, and accidentally came across the bug. He tried leveling up Demonic Cleanse, and was surprised that his ultimate also increased to its maximum level while he was only level 12.