best players, Emblems, and more

Dota 2 Fantasy returns for The International 2026 (TI 2026), giving everybody one other method to observe the motion and earn rewards all through the event. Accessible immediately contained in the Compendium, Fantasy enables you to construct a roster from competing gamers and rating factors primarily based on their in-game performances.

Right here’s the best way to play Dota 2 Fantasy, together with the perfect picks, scoring system, Emblems, Traits, Titles, and rewards for TI 2026.

Editor’s Be aware: We are going to replace this web page with our really useful Principal Occasion Dota 2 Fantasy picks as soon as the Group Stage has concluded.

First issues first, the entire level of the Fantasy League is to draft a mix of Dota 2 players. This 12 months, you’ll choose a pair of Core gamers from the identical group, one Mid participant, and a group’s Help duo.

Nonetheless, there isn’t essentially a “good roster” for everyone.

Your greatest picks can change relying on the stats and multipliers you roll in your Struggle Banners. I’ve supplied some sturdy all-round choices beneath primarily based on r/Maroomm’s Fantasy data from over 1,600 matches throughout 13 Tier 1 tournaments.

Now that we all know which Dota 2 gamers to decide on, let’s really learn the way the Fantasy League works. Right here’s the best way to entry it:

Creating your Fantasy roster is a chunk of cake. When you’re within the Fantasy menu, issues are fairly simple.

As we touched on earlier, you’ll choose gamers from a group for 3 classes: Core, Mid, and Support. The Core and Help selections will every provide you with two gamers from the identical group, whereas Mid provides one participant. 

You’ll additionally see a timer on the high, indicating when the rosters shall be locked. You’ll be able to freely swap your chosen gamers earlier than the deadline with out spending Roll Tokens or altering the Emblems in your Struggle Banners.

TI 2026 Fantasy is cut up between the Group Stage and The Worldwide (Principal Occasion).

This implies you’ll lock in a roster for the Group Stage earlier than the occasion begins. As soon as that stage is over, the eight surviving groups will advance to the Principal Occasion, supplying you with one other alternative to regulate your picks earlier than the following roster lock.

Your Struggle Banners additionally develop between the 2 levels. Initially, you’ll have three Emblems on every banner throughout the Group Stage, which can carry over earlier than two extra Emblems are added for the Principal Occasion. The banner layouts are as follows:

Be aware: Purple Emblems focus primarily on kills and farming, Blue Emblems include support-oriented stats, whereas Inexperienced Emblems include stats helpful throughout a number of roles.

Sadly, you may’t simply draft your gamers and name it a day. The Dota 2 Fantasy scoring system additionally takes Struggle Banners, Emblems, Titles, and their respective bonuses under consideration.

You’re going to get three Struggle Banners, with one every on your Core, Mid, and Help picks.

Every Emblem will observe one in-game stat, equivalent to GPM, Creep Rating, Runes Grabbed, or Wards Positioned, and apply a multiplier to the Fantasy factors you earn from that stat.

Importantly, your gamers will solely obtain factors for the stats at present current on their Struggle Banner. Which means an excellent participant paired with horrible Emblems can simply be worse than a barely weaker participant whose playstyle completely matches your rolls.

There are additionally completely different Qualities and Traits for every Emblem, which additional amplify the advantages you obtain from completely different stats.

To carry out nicely within the TI 2026 Dota 2 Fantasy League, you’ll want good Struggle Banners, Emblems, and Traits. The one approach to enhance them is thru Roll Tokens. 

You obtain 40 Roll Tokens for the Group Stage, adopted by a separate 30 Roll Tokens for the Principal Occasion. Every reroll targets a selected a part of the chosen banner, permitting you to reroll stats, Qualities, or Traits relying on the choice offered.

You don’t want to avoid wasting your Roll Tokens, so be sure you use them earlier than the roster locks. Simply watch out as a result of rerolling doesn’t assure you’ll get higher stats on the following roll.

Lastly, it’s also possible to add a Title consisting of a prefix and a suffix to your Fantasy roster. In contrast to Emblems, one Title applies throughout your total roster, and you may freely change it with out spending any Roll Tokens.

Titles present a conditional proportion bonus to your Fantasy rating primarily based on issues just like the completely different Dota 2 heroes your chosen gamers choose or particular occasions that happen throughout a sequence.

You’ll earn Fantasy factors in each sport your chosen gamers take part in, however the system doesn’t merely add collectively each sport they play.

For every role in Dota 2 Fantasy, the scores of its gamers are averaged to create a rating for every sport. The 2 highest-scoring video games inside a sequence are then used to calculate that function’s last rating. If the function participates in a number of sequence throughout the identical interval, solely its highest-scoring sequence counts.

So, we’re not taking a look at whole video games performed – solely the 2 highest-scoring video games from every function’s greatest sequence. That’s typically why groups that prefer to go late-game are sometimes extra precious Dota 2 Fantasy picks

Now that we’ve gone over what Emblems, Traits, and Titles are, let’s check out the perfect ones to pick. 

The essential factor to recollect right here is you can’t freely place any stat into any slot as a result of your banner’s Purple, Blue, and Inexperienced colours are mounted. Your purpose ought to subsequently be to roll the strongest out there stat for every coloration.

To maintain issues easy, Emblems have Qualities starting from Tier I to Tier V. These amplify the stat bonus by +10%, +30%, +60%, +100%, and +150%, respectively – naturally, the upper the tier, the higher.

There are additionally 5 potential Traits: Fractal, Benevolent, Vampiric, Distinctive, and Pleasant, which give additional bonuses. The worth of every Trait depends upon the place it seems and what else you’ve rolled.

Pleasant typically presents higher upside when you may activate a number of collectively, whereas Vampiric works significantly nicely on the skin of a banner. Benevolent is mostly extra helpful within the center.

If you construct your Struggle Banner, the order of significance is as follows: (i) get an excellent Emblem stat, (ii) enhance its High quality, and (iii) fear about getting the proper Trait final. A Tier V Emblem monitoring a horrible stat nonetheless isn’t going to avoid wasting your lineup.

The very last thing to fret about is your Fantasy Title, which acts as a conditional bonus.

There isn’t one universally “greatest prefix” as a result of its worth relies upon closely on the gamers you select and the heroes they really play. For instance, the out there knowledge reveals very completely different most popular prefixes between Satanic, Seen, Malr1ne, Thiolicor, and KJ, so be certain your choice really fits your roster.

For suffixes, go for the Clutch and the Underdog – these are the steadiest choices for those who don’t need to assume a lot about it.

So, what are we doing all this brainstorming and learning for? Properly, there are some fairly tempting rewards up for grabs by way of The Worldwide 2026 Compendium.

To be clear, your Fantasy percentile doesn’t immediately decide the headline rewards beneath. Fantasy efficiency awards factors that contribute towards your Compendium rating, whereas Predictions additionally contribute to that general end result.

For Fantasy itself, your roster shall be in contrast with everybody else. For instance, ending within the ninety fifth percentile earns 10,000 efficiency factors, whereas the ninetieth percentile earns 8,400, and the eightieth percentile earns 5,800.

These factors then assist decide your general Compendium rating and the rewards you may earn. The highest prizes embody Dota Plus subscriptions, a Terrain Token, and reductions on the bodily Aegis. There’s additionally the returning Tyrian Regalia treasure, which accommodates 5 purple-themed, refashioned Immortal gadgets.

And that’s a wrap! Earlier than TI 2026 will get underway, be certain your Group Stage Fantasy roster is locked earlier than play begins on Aug. 13. You’ll then get one other probability to regulate your picks forward of the Principal Occasion roster lock on Aug. 20, so control which groups advance and the way your Struggle Banners are shaping up.

We’ll additionally replace this information with our really useful Principal Occasion Fantasy picks as soon as the Group Stage is full.

We prolong a particular because of r/Maroomm and the Dota 2 community on Reddit for compiling and sharing the Fantasy knowledge that helped inform the picks and suggestions on this information.