Dota 2

Dota 2 is ValvePublisherValve CorporationValve is the operator of the Steam platform and the publisher of Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and other long-running titles. Its anti-cheat (VAC) is user-mode and predates the kernel-anti-cheat era of competitive PC gaming.4 games in this family →'s free-to-play five-versus-five MOBA, grown out of the original Warcraft III Defense of the Ancients mod. It released on Windows on July 9, 2013, and moved to Valve's Source 2EngineSource / Source 2 (Valve)Valve's Source engine and its successor Source 2 power Valve's own first-party titles including Counter-Strike 2 (Source 2), Dota 2 (Source 2), and Half-Life: Alyx (Source 2). The original Source engine, modified, also powers Apex Legends (Respawn).5 games in this family → engine with the 2015 Reborn update, the first game to ship on Source 2. It runs on Steam across Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its annual championship, The International, has repeatedly posted some of the largest prize pools in esports.

If you would rather not install a kernel-mode anti-cheat, Dota 2 is one of the major competitive games that does not use one. The legitimate dota2.exeProcessdota2.exeDota 2 game executableOpen plate → lives only inside the Steam game directory and is signed by Valve; a copy elsewhere, such as in a Windows system folder, is a red flag. VACAnti-cheatValve Anti-Cheat (VAC)Valve Anti-Cheat is Valve's user-mode anti-cheat, in operation since 2002. VAC has no kernel driver and no always-on resident process; detection is server-side and via user-mode pattern checks during a match. Supplemented by VAC Live (statistical pattern detection), VAC Net (machine learning), and Trust Factor matchmaking.4 games in this family → bans are permanent.

Dota 2 is protected by Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC), Valve's user-mode anti-cheat. There is no kernel driver, no always-on background service, and no boot-time component; detection happens server-side and through user-mode checks during a match. The main Windows process is dota2.exe, signed by Valve and living inside the Steam library, with no separate anti-cheat process to install. Valve also runs Overwatch, a community-review system in which trusted players review flagged replays and vote on cheating and griefing cases. As a trust ask this is one of the lightest among major competitive games, the same posture as Counter-Strike 2. When Valve began requiring Steam pages to disclose kernel-mode anti-cheat in 2024, Dota carried no such disclosure.

Valve has run VAC since 2002 and is unusually willing to act in the open. In February 2023 it permanently banned more than 40,000 accounts in a single wave using a honeypot: a region of data placed inside the game client that is never read during normal play, but that a specific cheat read, so every banned account had demonstrably run the cheat. Valve published the action in a post titled 'Cheaters Will Never Be Welcome in Dota' and warned the same applies to professional players; BleepingComputer, Kotaku, and GameSpot covered it. A separate 2023 wave targeted smurf accounts rather than cheating, and the two are worth keeping distinct.