Dota 2 has been overrun by bots that abuse the system to increase their MMR

In Dota 2, there have been reports of numerous bots playing 5v5 matches to boost their ranking, particularly at the 7k MMR and above level. Ilya "Leamare" Silakov-Volynsky, a former staff analyst of Tundra Esports, reported this in his Telegram channel.

An interesting discovery was made by bhorgc in Discord regarding an intriguing abuse happening at around 7k+ MMR. He asked for assistance in finding these bot matches.

The essence of the abuse is simple: two 5x parties with 1-2k ranks queue and end up being matched against each other, with bots playing in these matches.

Leamare highlighted certain key characteristics that distinguish potential bot games and provided several examples of such matches:

1. Purchased items never require a visit to the secret shop.

2. The number of placed wards is always zero (though wards are still purchased).

3. The number of runes picked up and stacked is also always zero throughout the entire game.

4. Perhaps the most significant criterion: all players in the match have their statistics hidden, and each match is consistently played in Western Europe, with a duration strictly between 35 and 40 minutes.

Examples:

• https://stratz.com/matches/7502993136

• https://stratz.com/matches/7500740978

• https://stratz.com/matches/7499844073

Leamare is confident that these accounts are being prepared for sale:

Apparently, these accounts are being prepared for sale. Later, I was able to find some matches where accounts from such "abusive" games appeared but with different players and on later dates.

Previously, we reported on Valve's system preventing players like Mason from playing Dota properly, even on a new account. Mason received a lifetime ban for using matchmaking boosting services.