With Kez, how many heroes are in Dota 2?

William Davis Published 24/11/2024

One of Dota 2’s claims to fame is its massive roster of heroes, but just how many are there to pick from?

Thanks to more than two decades of continued development, Dota 2 boasts one of the biggest character select screens in all of gaming. Valve’s competitive MOBA continues to grow in 2024 with two additional heroes, Ringmaster and Kez. While the latter was originally teased at The International 2023, Kez was a surprise with just weeks between confirmation and release. As the 32nd agility hero in the game, Dota 2 is one step closer to having even hero totals for each primary attribute.

Here’s a breakdown of how many heroes Dota 2 players can pick and if they’re all free to play.

How many heroes are in Dota 2?

With the addition of Kez, there are now 126 heroes in Dota 2 going into 2025.

Added in patch 7.37d, Kez has sadly moved the total number of Dota 2 heroes beyond the clean total of 125. The stance-based agility carry is still in flux in the current meta, and players may now know his true potential until he is enabled in captain’s mode. In fact, Ringmaster is also excluded from Dota 2’s competitive format. This means that the total number of heroes available in esports matches is a measly 124.

Are all Dota 2 heroes free to play?

All Dota 2 heroes are free to play, but certain versions of heroes still cost money.

One of Dota 2’s biggest advantages over League of Legends is that all characters are completely free to play, which puts all players on an even playing field. However, there are still plenty of ways to spend money on the game.

Certain versions of heroes, called personas, completely overhaul them into new characters with a different set of voice lines, animations, and more. The gameplay remains the same, but the aesthetic is wildly different. Anti-Mage’s The Disciple’s Path turns him into his apprentice Wei. Meanwhile, Phantom Assassin’s Exile Unveiled turns her into a random man with effectively no established lore.

These heroes are just total visual overhauls of existing heroes, and there are no gameplay changes. Still, if players want to play as Wei, Asan, or hero variants from Dragon’s Blood, they’ll have to pay up.

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