With the biggest event of the year right around the corner – Valve has at last released the Dota 2 TI12 Compendium as of September 28th! There are several different challenges and games to play on the build up to TI’s grand final. And, of course, plenty of cosmetics, voice lines and more to claim.
What is the Dota 2 Compendium for TI12?
The Compendium is a feature that is released to Dota 2 to celebrate the game’s biggest event of the year, The International. In recent TI’s they have released it as a Battle Pass instead. However, they are going back to what they did in much earlier in their history by releasing it as a Compendium. This may seem as simple as a small semantic difference, but it does present players with different activities to engage with.
One of the most well known features of the Compendium is how it contributes to the prize pool for The International. Before TI8 and TI9 the Compendium was released almost 100 days before the event. This resulted in impressive prize pools which would break records across the esports industry. However, TI11’s Battle Pass was released 44 days prior to the event. And this time the Compendium is released merely 16 days ahead of the first competitive matches. This means that we are very likely going to see a reduced prize pool for The International for a second consecutive year.
Why is the Compendium released so late?
Valve have said in their own blog that they are beginning to change their focus and approach to managing Dota 2. Rather than piling resources into building a bigger and bigger Battle Pass every year, they want to create more sizable updates more regularly. This means that what we are going to see now is a reduced prize pool for their largest annual event. However, it might give a more long term benefit as we could see bigger improvements to the game.
How much does the Dota 2 Compendium cost?
You can purchase the Compendium in-game on Dota 2. When you load into the game it will be very clearly written on the homepage. Just select the “Purchase the 2023 Compendium” text to proceed! Take a look at the costs below and what it includes:
- Standard Compendium: $6.99/£6.29
- Upgraded Compendium: $29.99/£23.99
- 8 Compendium levels: $4.49/£3.99
Standard Compendium
Includes 6 Compendium levels and 6 Compendium Boosters.
Upgraded Compendium
Includes 50 Compendium levels and 28 Compendium Boosters. In total there is a 21% discount if you buy the upgraded version rather than standard.
What is in the TI12 Compendium?
A lot of the rewards in the Compendium are meant to be focused around Dota 2’s esports. In particular how it relates to The International 2023. This includes the likes of Bingo, Fantasy Evolved and something called The Oracle’s Challenge. There are some types of cosmetics included too, but surprisingly not directly related to heroes. Although, as in previous iterations, there could be some late updates to the Compendium where more skins are added.
Esports Compendium Features
There are already some features you can play with here! Including some features that allow you to relive some of the esports matches and encounters earlier in 2023. Let’s take a look and what is included!
The Road To The International Challenge
This feature allows you to play a hero as part of a roster used in an earlier Dota 2 DPC match. If you win with some heroes of this match then it allows you to advance to the next stage of the event. You can also play the heroes of your favourite player and unlock the pathway forward from this. Of course, there are prizes and Compendium levels available if you succeed.
Fantasy Evolved
This is a fairly typical fantasy feature. You can select players as a core, mid and support role. You will keep this for a set stage in TI12. To help boost your points you can craft which stats you want your selected players to have. This will help you further increase the amount of points you get from your fantasy draft. This will update very weekend where you can reset and earn more points.
Bingo
All Compendium owners will receive a randomly generated Bingo card for every weekend of the event. It’s full of squares with strange conditions and criteria that can be met by it all happening in the live matches. It gives you something to cheer for when checking out the games. Earn points if you complete a row!
The Oracles Challenge
Another TI12 Compendium feature is a prediction game known as The Oracles Challenge. You can predict the order of teams within each group in the group stage. What is cool is that you can also do in-game predictions in the live matches. A bit like live Dota 2 betting, you will know when their markets close and when you must place your prediction by.
The rewards available can look like the following:
- A physical Aegis model
- Permanent chat wheels
- Player and team stickers
- The International 2023 HUD
- Fantasy and The Road To TI Challenge Powerups
- Favourite team teleport effects
- Loading screens
- Compendium levels
- Boosters
Lastly, you can also support the teams themselves. If you buy their in-game items then 50% of all sales go directly to those teams. There are three tiers of support to which are bronze, silver and gold. Lastly, there will be talent stickers available too so you can support your favourites commentators, analysts and hosts!
TI12 Compendium Inventory Items Available
While there are loads of esports features, there are also a lot of different inventory items you can claim as well. The community always loves the extra pixels you can play with. And in particular, the chat wheels emotes can now start being spammed again in celebration of The International 2023! Let’s take a look at what is available.
Emoticons and Loading Screens
So many different unlockable emotes, and also a range of loading screens that are available. The higher your Compendium level, the more of these you will unlock.
Hero Stats
More hero stats can be unlock in the TI12 Compendium. You can take a look at your hero stats for the most recent 20 games.
Mini Profiles
Mini profiles are possible to create. Your friends will be able to see them to and you can show them off. Other players will be able to see them too when they hover over your name.
And the rest!
Of course there are many of the classics that will be available as you level up your Compendium.
- Stickers
- Trophies
- Chat Wheels
- Sprays
- Armory Items
- Couriers
- Wards
- Heroes
Should I buy the Dota 2 TI12 Compendium?
Now this is completely up to you! If you’re a Dota 2 fan and you love the game’s esports, then you’ll certainly enjoy this. There are plenty of fun and exciting esports features within the TI12 Compendium. However, if you are only interested in collecting new skins, Immortal cosmetics and Arcanas – then you might want to hold on. There are very few of these confirmed in the Compendium so far. If anything, this is the biggest point of contention with the community.
A lot of the community have not engaged very positively with the Compendium for TI12 because it has come quite late and does not have a few of the features that were present in last year’s Battle Pass. This includes any link to a PvE event or more hero skins that were present (such as Personas).
So far it is very clear that the 2023 Compendium for Dota 2 is favouring fans who want to engage in the esports-related activities.
