The New Bloom event comes to Dota 2
Valve is kicking off the Lunar New Year with the New Bloom event, accessible to all Dota 2 players.
The event includes the New Bloom rewards line. Players will be able to track their progress throughout the event, totalling the number of points earned by winning a normal, ranked, or turbo matches.
Each day, an additional of 1,250 points will be rewarded to the player’s first won match. A normal or ranked match victory will grant 200 points, while turbo match victories will only grant 100 points given the fast-paced nature of the game mode.
The game map has been revamped to incorporate the festivities of the Lunar New Year. Tower models were redesigned as dragons, while the gold coins in last hit effects are changed to Yunbao or Wealth Ingots.
Players are given special consumables that provide cosmetic effects in-game. The consumables have the same mechanics as the recent Frostivus cosmetic effects.
A Year of the Pig Balloon, Dancing Lion, Tree Decorations, and Firecrackers can be used in-game to spice up the plain old Dota 2 map. Players gain these consumables through the standard rewards line or by purchasing them from the Dota Plus Store at a cost of 750 shards.
Dota Plus owners have additional rewards for progress made in the New Bloom event. At various points they will be awarded an additional Gift-a-Wheel or Reward Wheel spin.
Notably, the New Bloom rewards include an extra Gift-a-Wheel Spin that can only be gifted to a Steam friend of more than 30 days. There are also three new chat wheel lines, each with a Lunar New Year theme.
These rewards and consumables are available until March 1 for all players to use.
Read Also
Dota 2
ESIC hand down ruling in EWC Dota match-fixing case: Lifetime ban for coach as DarkMago gets a nickel
Michael Hassall
South American Dota 2 player Gonzalo "DarkMago" Herrera will be banned for five years from competitive Dota 2, with his coach Juan "Vintage" Angulo banned permanently, following the results of an The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) investigation. ESIC handed down the findings and rulings from its investigation into match-fixing allegations leveled at members of South American Dota 2 team PlayTime during the Esports World Cup on Sep. 10, in a ...
News
Polystrike Turns a Dota 2 Mod Into a Standalone Tactical Shooter
Hannan Mundia
After the community-made mod found success within the community, developer and publisher Robin Entertainment has decided to turn Polystrike into a proper standalone game. Community-made mods of games finding success within the respective game’s community is nothing new. However, only a handful of those mods are able to go on and become a standalone game. One of the more recent examples is The Forgotten City, which started as a mod ...
Dota 2
Team Spirit wins TI15 to lift a record third Aegis of Champions
Michael Hassall
Team Spirit has defeated TEAM VISION in the grand finals of TI15, The International 2025. In a full five-game series on Aug. 23, Spirit pulled out all the stops and narrowly defeated an incredible VISION team in a back-and-forth series in Shanghai, China. With Spirit’s victory, Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk and Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov become the first ever three-time TI champions, and Team Spirit becomes the first ever organization to lift ...
Dota 2
The International 2026 (TI15) Finals Preview and Predictions
Michael Hassall
The International 2026, TI15, has reached its final day, and just three teams remain in the fight for the Aegis of Champions. With the lower bracket final and Grand Final still to come, everything comes down to one final day of Dota 2 action. The lower bracket finalists will first battle for the right to reach the main event’s final series, while the winner will advance to face the upper-bracket ...
Dota 2
TI15’s opening ceremony weaves a tapestry of emotion for Valve’s storied title
Michael Hassall
The main stage of The International 2026, TI15, kicked off today with the traditional opening ceremony heralding the start of the biggest celebration of Dota 2 on the calendar. On Aug. 20 fans in Shanghai, China, and at home, were treated to a rousing 11-minute series of performances and video packages, introducing TI15’s main stage show. Here’s how the magic unfolded: The ceremony began with a graphic which quite literally ...
Dota 2
The International 2026 (TI15) Playoffs preview and predictions
Michael Hassall
The Group Stage of The International 2026, TI15, is in the books and we’ve whittled down 16 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams to just eight finalists. One of these talented lineups will be the ones lifting the Aegis of Champions come Sunday, Aug. 23, but until then, there’s plenty of playoff shenanigans that could go on. Below we’ve put together a preview of the upcoming Playoff Games, along ...
News
The Esports Nations Cup Has Been Postponed to November 2027
Ben Boland
The 2026 Esports Nations Cup has been suspended until 2027. The Esports Foundation announced the delay on August 18, citing ongoing regional uncertainty. The inaugural competition was scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, comprising over 100 national teams and featuring 16 different games, including League of Legends. According to the Esports Foundation, this decision follows ongoing developments in the region and consultation with key stakeholders. Moving the event ...