Leaked Dota 2 items will probably amount to nothing

New items have leaked for Dota 2, but will they really be added to the game?

Dota 2 fans have discovered a new set of strings that grants access to unreleased items in offline game modes. These new items give an interesting glimpse into the development process of Dota 2, and the fact that players can access them has led some to believe that they’ll be added in the long-awaited 7.33 patch. However, there’s plenty of evidence that that won’t be the case.

Here’s what the leaked Dota 2 items are and why they probably won’t be arriving in the next patch. 

The list of new items includes several interesting names, such as Samurai Tabi, Hermes Sandals, Lunar Crest, Phylactery, Disperser, and Harpoon. The plainer names are likely just placeholders, though some names point to clear purposes. Samurai Tabi and Hermes Sandals are likely new types of boots. Lunar Crest is a clear play on Solar Crest, though the original can both buff and debuff already.

The list itself wouldn’t be a big deal, as it would be easy to assume the items were scrapped in development. However, particularly clever Dota 2 players have found a way to actually test some of the items. By using chat commands to spawn them in, players are currently able to test out Harpoon and Dimensional Doorway, the latter of which was not listed. Go to demo mode or a blank map and input the following strings into chat. 

-item harpoon
-item dimensional_doorway

Once you hit enter, you should get both of the new neutrals in your inventory. Harpoon is a ranged on-hit effect that drags units toward the attacker with a ten-second cooldown. Depending on the tier and passive effects, it could be a valuable pickup on heroes like Huskar, Clinkz, or Medusa. Dimensional Doorway is a global Blink Dagger with a 90-second cooldown. It only has three charges, which is a balancing technique that Valve has mostly abandoned for neutrals. Enigma and Axe players would likely drool over its addition.

Leaked items will probably never be real in Dota 2

The leaked Dota 2 items likely exist as experiments from Valve, with no intention of them actually being integrated into the game.

There are several clues that hint toward this, but the most blatant one is that they’re completely unfinished. Harpoon has no item details and uses the Hurricane Pike cosmetic icon from the Drow Ranger arcana. Dimensional Doorway has more info, but it’s still far from a fully fleshed-out item. The icon appears to be a slightly modified banner interactable.

Most importantly, the effects on the leaked items don’t make much sense for modern Dota 2. The game is painstakingly balanced around Blink Dagger, and giving certain heroes an instant global teleport is a recipe for disaster. As for Harpoon, Valve previously removed Ballista from the tier 5 neutral pool for similar balance reasons. It would be a nightmare to play against, especially for squishy and position-reliant supports.

The more likely case is that these items are experimental placeholders or meant for alternate game modes. The neutral item pool is much bigger in Aghanim’s Labyrinth, with several removed items making cameo appearances. Newer game modes like Dark Moon could also make use of a larger pool.

There’s always a chance that the leaked items really do appear in 7.33, but don’t bet your MMR on it.