Fantasy Dota is a game that you can play with up to nine of your friends, where each of you forms teams made up of pro players to compete against each other, earning points for your team based on how each of your pro players performs in tournament matches.

Once one of your friends has created a Fantasy League, you can join their Fantasy League by creating a Fantasy Team. Then you'll recruit pro players onto your team through a live draft, alongside all other members of your Fantasy League. Once your teams are set, you'll play head-to-head against one of the other member each week, with players earning wins and losses based the total points that their pro players have earned.

Fantasy Season 1 starts May 19th and will be running through July 28th.

For those that played in the in the Dreamleague Fantasy League, there are a few changes for Fantasy Season 1:

Because it's more interesting when your players are playing frequently, all matches played in any tournament now count toward your players’ scores. Matches start scoring points on May 19th, but you can create and join Fantasy Leagues now, as well as complete your Live Drafts.

Now that we support a number of tournaments that are all running at the same time, there are a lot more pro players to select from. This allows us to support Fantasy Leagues with up to 10 members.

Creating a new Fantasy League, or joining one that a friend has already created, is now based on Fantasy Ticket items rather than purchasing a ticket to a specific tournament. Purchasing an International Compendium includes a Fantasy Ticket. The process of joining a Fantasy League has been streamlined as well -- now you just need the Fantasy League ID and its password and you'll be able to join.

We're opening a Fantasy-specific dev forum so you can discuss strategy, report bugs, and suggest features for upcoming Fantasy Seasons.

General

Q. Can I create more than one Fantasy League?

Yes, you can create any number of Fantasy Leagues by purchasing and using Fantasy Tickets.

Q. How many members can be in a Fantasy League?

You can have up to ten members in a Fantasy League. Each will have their own team.

Q. What if I have an odd number of friends who want to play?

That’s fine! One rotating team each week will get a Bye (basically a free win).

Q. What if two Fantasy Teams have the same number of wins? Are they tied?

Ties are broken by the total number of points scored in the season.

Q. When does a matchup end?

Weekly matchups end on Sunday night at midnight GMT. At that point, wins and losses are assigned for that week, and the next week’s matchups begin.

Q. Will there be a Season 2?

Yes, the plan is to start Season 2 shortly after The International.

Players

Q. Can a player be owned by more than one Fantasy Team?

No, players are exclusively owned by a single team.

Q. What does a player being "Core" or "Support" mean?

Each player has been assigned a role, based on the role they generally play in pro matches. Players that play mid, off-lane, or carry are grouped under "Core." Players that take more of a support role are classified as "Support."

Q. Does player role affect scoring?

No, all players are scored based on the same criteria.

Q. How are players scored?

• 0.3 points per kill
  
• -0.3 points per death
  
• 0.15 points per assist
  
• 0.003 points per last hit
  
• 0.002 points per gold per minute
  
• 0.002 points per XP per minute
  
• 0.07 points per seconds of enemy stuns
  
• 0.0004 points per allied healing done
  
• 1 point tower kill
  
• 1 point per Roshan kill
  

Player Rosters

Q. How many players can I have on my team?

You can have 8 players on your team. These 8 slots are divided into types.

Active Roster:

• 2 Core
  
• 2 Support
  
• 1 Any
  

Bench:

• 3 players of any type
  

Q. What players can I put in each slot type?

"Core" and "Support" slots only accept Core and Support players, respectively. "Any" or "Bench" slots can contain players of any role. Note that while a player is on a Bench slot, they will not score points for their team.

Q. How often can I adjust my roster?

You can set your Active Roster for each individual day. Any day you don’t adjust your Active Roster, the settings in place on the previous day will automatically carry over.

Q. When does a day’s roster lock?

A day’s Active Roster becomes locked at midnight GMT. This lock time is displayed in your local time zone on the roster editing panel.

Q. What does it mean when a roster is locked?

When a roster is locked, you won’t be able to swap players between slots. This is to prevent roster changes happening while matches are being played.

Q. How can I see how Pro Players have done in the past?

The Player tab in the Fantasy section in the Community tab lists all players and their average stats over the last 13 weeks.

Q. What happens if I miss my Fantasy League’s live draft?

The draft system will automatically pick players for you.

Q. Do players get more points if a best-of-three goes to a third game?

No. In a best-of-three series, each player earns points only for their two highest-scoring games.

Trading and free agents

Q. Can I remove a player from my team?

Yes, you can request to drop a player and pick up another that no other Fantasy Team owns (a "free agent"). These requests are all processed nightly. If multiple Fantasy Teams all attempt to pick up the same Pro Player, priority is given to the Fantasy Team with the worst record.

Q. Can I drop and pick up more than one player at a time?

No, currently you can only have one outstanding drop/add request.

Q. Can I trade players with another Fantasy Team?

Trading players between Fantasy Teams is not yet supported.

Scoring

Q. Do all matches played by a player in my roster count towards my score?

Yes, all league matches count towards players' scores.

Q. Do all Pro Players have the same scoring criteria?

Yes, all Pro Players, regardless of role, are scored based on the same factors.

Q. Do players in Bench slots earn points?

No, while a player is on your Bench, they do not earn points towards weekly or daily point totals.

Q. Does it matter if players win or lose their matches?

No, scoring is entirely based on the player’s performance in certain categories (kills, gold per minute, healing, etc). Whether they win or lose their match is not directly scored, though players that win matches will tend to have better individual performances.

Q. When are scores updated?

Scores are updated after every match completes.

Q. If a stand-in plays for one of my players, do I get points for the stand-in?

No, currently all scores are calculated on a per-player basis, not based on their team slot.