Valve Introduces Experimental Dota Labs Feature In the New Dota Plus Update

The new Dota Plus Seasonal Update dropped on 6th March and featured a standard Dota Plus treasure. However, this time around Valve has decided to introduce a new experimental feature along with the update called Dota Labs. This is an experimental feature that currently has three options available for Dota 2 players to tinker around with.

Valve wrote in its announcement post, “Features here are experimental, and less polished than many other features we ship, so they’re all in a special menu and disabled by default.” In addition to this, Valve also released new guild rewards for this season. Here’s all that’s new in the latest Dota Plus update.

Dota Labs, New Guild Rewards, and Much More

“Today’s update introduces a set of experimental features available to all Dota players and a new way for us to ship experiments like them: Dota Labs,” wrote Valve in its announcement post, introducing an experimental feature for Dota 2. Currently, Dota Labs has three experimental features for Dota players to play around with. They are:

Overlay Map

First and foremost, every good MOBA player knows the importance of the minimap. The information provided by the minimap is crucial and helps the player know the state of the game. While many may not bother to look at the corner of the screen for the minimap, Valve’s introduction of Overlay Map should fix that. With a hotkey bind, a large centered and translucent version of the minimap appears directly on the screen, giving the player all the information they need right in front of their eyes.

Modifier Key Filter Bindings

We’ve all had those shameful moments where we accidentally failed a gank or lost the team fight because we misclicked doom or stuns on creeps instead of the heroes. Well, the new experimental feature was seemingly introduced to fix this issue. The feature currently has four hotkey bind options for:

• Interact only with Enemy Units

• Interact only with Ally Units

• Interact only with Hero Units

• Interact only with Non-Hero Units

The way this works, for example, is if we press and hold the hotkey associated with “Interact only with Hero Units” while trying to cast a spell, the game will not let you cast the spell on anyone else other than a hero. Meaning no more using Doom on creeps!

High-Visibility Local Hero Healthbar

This option enables a white background around your hero’s name plate which would in theory make your HP/Mana bars more readable in chaotic situations like teamfights.

In addition to these features, the update also brought along The Spring 2024 Seasonal Treasure which can be purchased with shards. The treasure features new sets for Disruptor, Dark Willow, Spectre, Chaos Knight, Doom, Earth Spirit, Underlord, and Nyx Assassin. There’s also a chance to unlock the Sir Molestach Irondrill courier, who arrives in the lanes bearing random prismatic and ethereal gems.

Lastly, the new Dota Plus quest stash is offering up to 115,200 shards throughout the season. Guild rewards have also been updated, making new emoticons, sprays, and chat wheels available to high-scoring guilds.