From in-game surprises to cinematic spectacles: How hero reveals became a TI tradition

For much of the year, Valve says very little. Instead, it drops cryptic voice lines, hides strange symbols in event pages and lets players spend months dissecting every frame of a trailer, convinced that somewhere inside lies the next great secret.

This year is no different.

After weeks of Dark Carnival speculation, theories surrounding Bex have reached a fever pitch.

Whether she ultimately takes the stage at The International remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: thousands of fans will be watching until the very end, hoping Valve has one more surprise waiting before the Aegis is lifted.

That has quietly become one of The International's defining traditions.

Hero reveals weren't always part of TI. For the tournament's first few years there were no cryptic teasers, elaborate cinematics or last-minute announcements hinting at Dota's future. Over the last decade, however, Valve has transformed hero reveals into one of the tournament's most anticipated moments. Along the way, the studio experimented with All-Star Match hijinks, theatrical stage performances, double reveals, and increasingly cinematic storytelling that now extends far beyond a single trailer.

Before cinematics, there was controlled chaos

The first true hero reveal at The International didn't begin with a trailer, instead, it began with a Sniper pick.

During TI4's All-Star Match, Arteezy selected Sniper in the draft. Moments later, the hero transformed into Techies as explosions echoed throughout the arena. Valve dropped them directly into a live match, allowing the audience to discover the reveal alongside the players.

It was wonderfully chaotic. Techies immediately lived up to their reputation, with Arteezy enthusiastically blowing up enemies, teammates, and himself in equal measure. Rather than simply watching a trailer, fans experienced the reveal in real time.

Valve appeared eager to repeat the formula.

Ahead of TI5's All-Star Match, host Kaci Aitchison teased that viewers should pay close attention, suggesting another surprise on the scale of Techies was planned. As the draft approached its last pick, anticipation inside the arena steadily built.

Then... nothing happened.

To this day, many fans believe Underlord was originally intended to debut during that match before technical issues forced Valve to abandon the plan. Valve has never confirmed the theory, but it has endured for years, fuelled by the pre-match hints, the unusual draft sequence and Underlord's eventual arrival.

One year later, at TI6, Underlord finally made his entrance during the All-Star Match through another live hero transformation, completing Dota 2's roster of legacy DotA heroes. If that closed one chapter of Dota's history, what happened next opened another.

The following day, taiko drums echoed through the arena as martial artists took to the stage before Monkey King was unveiled, becoming the first hero created specifically for Dota 2 rather than inherited from the original mod.

Unlike Techies or Underlord, every beat of Monkey King's reveal was choreographed – a carefully staged performance flowing seamlessly into a cinematic.

Absolute Cinema

Whether the rumoured TI5 mishap influenced Valve's thinking is impossible to know, but the timeline is difficult to ignore. After TI6, hero reveals quietly moved away from live in-game moments almost entirely. Valve instead embraced cinematic storytelling, giving itself complete control over pacing, presentation, and surprise.

At TI7, the trailer, later known as The Dueling Fates, appeared straightforward enough. Pangolier swaggered across the screen with all the confidence of a hero who believed he was starring in his own introduction. Then Dark Willow stole the spotlight.

Valve had hidden an entirely different hero inside the trailer's closing moments, turning what looked like a straightforward reveal into one of TI's first genuine "wait... there's another one?" moments.

TI8's haunting cinematic opened by introducing Mars, due to arrive that winter, before revealing Grimstroke, who became playable immediately after the broadcast. It was the first time Valve had used a single presentation to deliver two very different announcements: immediate excitement and future anticipation.

In TI9 Valve doubled down.

Snapfire's reveal felt like the headline act. Beatrix "Beadie" Snapfire barreled across the screen on the back of Mortimer, firing cookies and artillery shells with equal enthusiasm. It was classic Valve, balancing comedy with chaos.

Then came another trailer.

Void Spirit finally stepped out from the shadows, completing Dota's long-awaited family of elemental Spirit heroes. Rather than squeezing two heroes into a single cinematic as it had done with Pangolier and Dark Willow and again with Mars and Grimstroke, Valve gave each reveal room to breathe across consecutive days of the tournament.

By this point, hero reveals had become events in their own right.

While every new hero has continued to receive its own cinematic spotlight, the reveals themselves gradually began serving a bigger purpose. They weren't just introducing playable characters anymore, they were expanding Dota's world.

Marci bridged DOTA: Dragon's Blood and the game, becoming the first hero to cross over from the anime. Muerta introduced one of Dota's most visually striking aesthetics, while Ringmaster's debut opened the curtain on the Dark Carnival, a setting Valve continues to expand today. Most recently, Kez arrived as part of Crownfall's ongoing narrative, further blurring the line between hero announcement and world-building.

Beyond the screen

Hero reveals have changed dramatically since Techies first hijacked an All-Star Match.

What began as fun, self-contained surprises has gradually evolved into something much larger. They're opportunities to introduce new corners of Dota's world, establish future storylines, and hint at where the game is heading next.

Ringmaster's reveal, in particular, looks different with hindsight.

At the time, Axe's disappearance inside the carnival contraption seemed like nothing more than a clever visual gag. Recent Dark Carnival events have revisited that very moment, with Axe mysteriously disappearing from the hero roster and players uncovering clues that suggest Ringmaster's debut may have been the opening scene of a much longer story.

Looking back, perhaps the greatest success of Valve's hero reveals isn't any individual trailer or announcement. It's the expectation they've created.

Hero reveals have quietly become another tradition of The International, joining the opening ceremony, the All-Star Match and the lifting of the Aegis as moments fans look forward to every year and remember for years to follow.