History
The original Legends of Dota was created by ash47 and became one of the most popular Dota 2 custom games during the early Workshop era. The core idea was simple and compelling: strip away the rigid hero-ability pairing and let players experiment freely with the entire ability pool. When the original project went inactive, the community carried it forward under the Redux banner. Redux is maintained by a distributed team of volunteer developers and is hosted on GitHub at DarkoniusXNG/Legends-of-Dota-Redux. The Redux fork has expanded the game substantially — adding original custom abilities, a reworked pregame phase, hero perks, mutators, bot support, and a community skill-build server.What makes it unique
Most Dota 2 game modes that allow ability mixing do so with a random draft. Redux gives you deliberate choice. You see every ability available, you weigh the synergies, and you lock in a build you designed. That shifts the skill expression from in-game mechanics to pre-game theory-crafting — understanding which ability combinations are powerful, which are broken, and which are fun. Redux also extends well beyond the vanilla Dota ability pool. The Redux team has authored original custom abilities that exist only in this mod, and the community regularly contributes new ones through pull requests.Key features
Full ability selection
Pick 2 regular abilities and 1 ultimate from any hero in the game. Your hero’s base stats stay, but every ability slot is yours to fill.
Custom abilities
Hundreds of original Redux abilities designed specifically for this mod, on top of the full standard Dota 2 ability pool.
Hero perks
Each hero carries a passive perk bonus tied to the hero you select. Perks reward you for knowing the roster.
Mutators
Toggle game-wide rule changes before the match starts — vampiric auras, kill-streak bonuses, random spell assignments, and more.
Bot support
Play solo or fill empty slots with AI bots. Configurable difficulty levels let you practice builds without a full lobby.
Community skill builds
Save your builds to the Redux server, share them publicly, and browse or favourite builds posted by other players.
In-game voting
Players vote via chat to enable cheats, double neutral camps, anti-rat rules, and other mid-game options.
Balance mode
An optional point-budget system that limits how many high-tier abilities a single player can stack, keeping lobbies competitive.
Game phases
Every Redux match moves through a structured sequence before heroes spawn on the map. Understanding these phases makes the pregame feel natural rather than chaotic.| Phase | What happens |
|---|---|
| Loading | The server waits for all players to connect |
| Option voting | Players vote on shop type, hero limits, mutators, and more |
| Option selection | The host confirms or adjusts the voted settings |
| Banning | Optional phase to ban specific abilities from the pool |
| Selection | Each player picks their hero and four abilities |
| Review | Inspect your completed build before spawning |
| Item picking | Optional phase to choose starting items |
| In-game | Standard Dota 2 match begins |
The banning and item-picking phases are optional and depend on the lobby settings chosen during option voting.
Where to go next
Quickstart
Find the game in Dota 2 and play your first match — step by step.
Ability selection
Learn how the selection phase works and how to build effective combinations.
Game modes & options
Explore the different game modes, mutators, and voting options available in the lobby.
Contributing
Set up a development environment and start contributing abilities, fixes, or features.