Dota 2’s recent visual update is great – apart from the bugs

Michael Hassall

Michael Hassall

Missing Flagbearer minions, auras not appearing, buff timers invisible, spell effects not showing: We love the Dota 2 visual updates but the bugs are literally killing us.

It’s happened a few times recently to us: Laning in Dota 2, killing creeps, doing well, when suddenly the wave starts hitting different. Creeps aren’t dying, you’re missing last hits, and then you realize - this is a Flagbearer wave. Except there's no little circle around any creeps. There’s no flag. So how is this happening?!

This is perhaps the most frustrating of a growing list of small visual bugs that have begun to affect Dota 2 since the release of the Summer Client Update. That huge patch had a variety of changes, and many of them tied to the visuals of the game. But since then, players from pros to casual Andys like ourselves have noticed an increasing amount of bugs.

These include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Random crashes
  • Cursors disappearing
  • Rune timers missing or invisible
  • Player roles not showing when you enter the game
  • Dark Seer’s Ion Shell not showing
  • Buffs missing when you click on Heroes or Creeps
  • Stack timers invisible
  • Visual effects for spells not showing
  • Wraith King ultimate heavily bugged

Any one of these bugs would be frustrating on its own, but all together it’s a pretty bad state of affairs. 

Pros complain about Dota 2 bugs post patch

With these bugs permeating throughout the game, some of Dota 2’s most prominent players have taken to social media to complain. Artour "Arteezy" Babaev took to Twitter/X to post about the above issues: 

This was quote-reposted by Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek, who said he had the exact same issues, and complained it had been an issue for four days now. 

SabeRLight-’s post was also endorsed by Quinn "Quinn" Callahan, who reposted it, indicating the Gaimin Gladiators mid laner had also experienced the issues.

Diving into the official Dota 2 bug report GitHub page, you can truly see the level of issues. There are currently 8,620 open bug reports, and almost a dozen pages of them are from after the most recent patch. 

(Screenshot via GitHub)
(Screenshot via GitHub)

A quick scroll through them shows many repeated issues, although there are many questionable complaints sprinkled among them, including players complaining about behavior or reporting system issues, or “injustice.” 

It’s unknown when these Dota 2 visual bugs will be dealt with, but Valve is usually pretty quick when something is game-breaking, as was the case with a recent issue with behavior scores.

Unfortunately, the peak of these issues just happen to fall on Labor Day Weekend, so it may be a few days before they’re resolved. Until then, play safe in lane Dota fans, the invisible Flagbearer could be coming for you!


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