The final battle approaches, and the chosen defenders of the Brine must continue their secret mission into Dark Reef Prison to eradicate the fiendish Siltbreaker once and for all. Battle Pass owners are once again invited to undertake a journey that spans vast domains, where fearsome creatures and monstrous hordes lurk in every shadow, as the first Dota 2 Multiplayer Campaign concludes with today's release of Siltbreaker: Act II.

To accompany this release, we've added an Adventure Mode to Acts I & II that allows for a more casual playstyle. Adventure Mode playthroughs won't garner any Artifacts, achievements, or rewards, but the decreased difficulty and removal of any non-quest goals will let players explore the dangerous world of Siltbreaker without any additional pressure.

We've also introduced changes to the Artifact system for both acts that will help ensure more players can discover these objects of power and factor them into tactical decisions as they play. Players who collected Artifacts in Act I are welcome to utilize them in Act II, and vice versa, but there are some important differences with the new system. Check out today's patch notes for more information.

As you fight your way to a showdown with Siltbreaker, you’ll earn completion stars based on your performance level. The first time you complete a zone with one or two stars will net you Battle Points rewards, and delivering a three-star zone performance will grant a treasure from the aquatic terror himself.

Each Siltbreaker Treasure includes a chance to receive an indescribably-rare Immortal Desert Sands Baby Roshan courier, and Battle Pass owners with Battle Level 165 or higher will receive double the treasures for each three-star zone they complete with the reward bonus active. You’ll also have the opportunity to unlock new Act II achievements for even more Battle Points.

Can you find Siltbreaker and end this dire threat before he makes his escape? Party up with three friends or queue-met allies to find out. The safety of the free seas hangs in the balance, and—should you fail—the drylands might be next.

The final battle approaches, and the chosen defenders of the Brine must continue their secret mission into Dark Reef Prison to eradicate the fiendish Siltbreaker once and for all. Battle Pass owners are once again invited to undertake a journey that spans vast domains, where fearsome creatures and monstrous hordes lurk in every shadow, as the first Dota 2 Multiplayer Campaign concludes with today's release of Siltbreaker: Act II.

To accompany this release, we've added an Adventure Mode to Acts I & II that allows for a more casual playstyle. Adventure Mode playthroughs won't garner any Artifacts, achievements, or rewards, but the decreased difficulty and removal of any non-quest goals will let players explore the dangerous world of Siltbreaker without any additional pressure.

We've also introduced changes to the Artifact system for both acts that will help ensure more players can discover these objects of power and factor them into tactical decisions as they play. Players who collected Artifacts in Act I are welcome to utilize them in Act II, and vice versa, but there are some important differences with the new system. Check out today's patch notes for more information.

As you fight your way to a showdown with Siltbreaker, you’ll earn completion stars based on your performance level. The first time you complete a zone with one or two stars will net you Battle Points rewards, and delivering a three-star zone performance will grant a treasure from the aquatic terror himself.

Each Siltbreaker Treasure includes a chance to receive an indescribably-rare Immortal Desert Sands Baby Roshan courier, and Battle Pass owners with Battle Level 165 or higher will receive double the treasures for each three-star zone they complete with the reward bonus active. You’ll also have the opportunity to unlock new Act II achievements for even more Battle Points.

Can you find Siltbreaker and end this dire threat before he makes his escape? Party up with three friends or queue-met allies to find out. The safety of the free seas hangs in the balance, and—should you fail—the drylands might be next.

SILTBREAKER CHANGES
* Introduced Adventure Mode, available in Act 1 and Act 2: players start and gain more lives, and enemies have less health and deal less damage. Star rewards, achievements, and Artifacts are disabled in this mode.
* 9 new Heroes have been added to the pool of available heroes.
* Abaddon has been removed from the pool of available heroes.
* Significantly increased the drop rate of many Artifacts.
* Artifact drops in game now ensure that all players have a received an Artifact this session and that the Artifact is not a duplicate for that player before switching to a random distribution (was previously entirely random).
* Introduced a new type of currency, Artifact Coins. Artifact Coins are persistent between play sessions and are consumed to activate your existing Artifacts in game. They are earned for completing zones and can be found as drops from enemies. Artifacts found during a game do not require a cost in that game, and there is no Act restriction on Artifacts.

* Reduced frame rate hitches caused by rich presence notifications

* Reduced frame rate hitches caused by rich presence notifications

The Road to the Aegis
Congratulations to Team Liquid, Grand Champions at The International 2017.

Team Liquid were one of six direct invites to this year's tournament, arriving in Seattle with high expectations built upon strong results at recent events.

Captained by a veteran who has competed in The International every year, Liquid established themselves early and never lost a series in the Group Stage. They scored 2-0 victories off of iG.Vitality, Fnatic, Infamous, Team Empire, and Team Secret; and earned 1-1 draws against EG, LGD, and TNC to finish with a group-best record of 13-3.

The main stage, however, would present a more daunting challenge, as Team Liquid stumbled to a 1-2 loss at the hands of Invictus Gaming in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals.

The loss dropped them into the Lower Bracket and set up a do-or-die run through a string of six straight elimination series, forcing Liquid to outlast an aggressive Team Secret, send home an Empire squad that had bested EG, and overcome a relentless VP in one of the most intense matchups of the tournament.

Not done yet, Liquid's next elimination series saw them draft some lesser-used heroes to down LGD 2-0 and reach a Lower Bracket Finals vs Group B's strongest team -- LFY. Despite losing a drawn-out Game 1, Liquid held fast against LFY for a 2-1 series victory and a trip to the Grand Finals, where Upper Bracket winners Newbee were already waiting.

There, Team Liquid would perform the first-ever Grand Finals sweep in The International's history, besting Newbee's elite lineup 3-0 to claim the Aegis of Champions and secure their status as world's best.

As bearers of the ultimate symbol of victory in the struggle between Radiant and Dire, these names shall forever be inscribed upon the Aegis' silver plaque:


2017
Team Liquid
Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen
Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi
Ivan Borislavov "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov
Maroun "GH" Merhej
Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi


Looking Back
If you missed any of the tournament, or just want to relive some of the incredible moments and breathtaking plays, head over to The International site, where you can find replays for every match. There are also loads of photos and videos from the event over on the Media page, our TI7 Youtube playlist, and the Dota 2 Flickr.

We would like to thank all of the players, talent, and everyone in the Dota community for helping bring this celebration of our shared passion to life. The International continues to be the crowning moment of the competitive season, and without everyone's support, none of this would be possible. We hope you enjoyed this year's tournament as much as we did.

The Season Ahead
With The International 2017 now behind us, it's time to turn towards what comes next. In a few weeks, we'll be releasing more details on the coming competitive season, including tournament schedules and other relevant information to help get players and fans ready for another unbelievable year of Dota.

The Road to the Aegis
Congratulations to Team Liquid, Grand Champions at The International 2017.

Team Liquid were one of six direct invites to this year's tournament, arriving in Seattle with high expectations built upon strong results at recent events.

Captained by a veteran who has competed in The International every year, Liquid established themselves early and never lost a series in the Group Stage. They scored 2-0 victories off of iG.Vitality, Fnatic, Infamous, Team Empire, and Team Secret; and earned 1-1 draws against EG, LGD, and TNC to finish with a group-best record of 13-3.

The main stage, however, would present a more daunting challenge, as Team Liquid stumbled to a 1-2 loss at the hands of Invictus Gaming in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals.

The loss dropped them into the Lower Bracket and set up a do-or-die run through a string of six straight elimination series, forcing Liquid to outlast an aggressive Team Secret, send home an Empire squad that had bested EG, and overcome a relentless VP in one of the most intense matchups of the tournament.

Not done yet, Liquid's next elimination series saw them draft some lesser-used heroes to down LGD 2-0 and reach a Lower Bracket Finals vs Group B's strongest team -- LFY. Despite losing a drawn-out Game 1, Liquid held fast against LFY for a 2-1 series victory and a trip to the Grand Finals, where Upper Bracket winners Newbee were already waiting.

There, Team Liquid would perform the first-ever Grand Finals sweep in The International's history, besting Newbee's elite lineup 3-0 to claim the Aegis of Champions and secure their status as world's best.

As bearers of the ultimate symbol of victory in the struggle between Radiant and Dire, these names shall forever be inscribed upon the Aegis' silver plaque:


2017
Team Liquid
Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen
Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi
Ivan Borislavov "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov
Maroun "GH" Merhej
Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi


Looking Back
If you missed any of the tournament, or just want to relive some of the incredible moments and breathtaking plays, head over to The International site, where you can find replays for every match. There are also loads of photos and videos from the event over on the Media page, our TI7 Youtube playlist, and the Dota 2 Flickr.

We would like to thank all of the players, talent, and everyone in the Dota community for helping bring this celebration of our shared passion to life. The International continues to be the crowning moment of the competitive season, and without everyone's support, none of this would be possible. We hope you enjoyed this year's tournament as much as we did.

The Season Ahead
With The International 2017 now behind us, it's time to turn towards what comes next. In a few weeks, we'll be releasing more details on the coming competitive season, including tournament schedules and other relevant information to help get players and fans ready for another unbelievable year of Dota.

* Fixed a bug with in-game predictions that would sometimes cause a prediction to not be recorded properly if submitted near the end of the allowed window.

* Fixed a bug with in-game predictions that would sometimes cause a prediction to not be recorded properly if submitted near the end of the allowed window.

The Trove Carafe for The International 2017 is now available, featuring the item debuts for Jakiro and Oracle, as well as new items for Shadow Demon, Phantom Lancer, Anti-Mage, Troll Warlord, Faceless Void, and Beastmaster.

Each treasure also offers the chance to receive a rare Invoker item, a very rare Golden Treasure that contains golden versions of select Immortals, or an ultra rare mystery courier that celebrates the spirit of The International.

You can also support your favorite broadcast talent at this year's event by purchasing autographed versions of the Trove Carafe. Just select the desired caster from the dropdown menu in the store to inscribe their autograph on the contents.

Attendee Item Drops
As a special bonus to fans attending The International, we will be dropping in-game items to audience members inside of KeyArena. At First Blood in each individual game, a limited number of exclusive Attendee Treasures will drop, each containing visually-unique versions of items selected from this year’s Immortals, and inscribed with a first-blood tracking gem. To be eligible, you must have a badge linked to a Steam account and be in the arena when First Blood occurs. We look forward to seeing you at The International.

The International Main Event
The International 2017 Group Stage has now concluded, resulting in the elimination of Fnatic and HellRaisers after four hard-fought days of Dota.

LFY, Team Liquid, LGD, Newbee, Evil Geniuses, Invictus Gaming, Virtus.pro, and TNC all advance to the Upper Bracket of the Main Event.

OG, Team Secret, iG.Vitality, Cloud9, Digital Chaos, Team Empire, Infamous, and Execration face the challenge of first-round best-of-one games in the Lower Bracket on Monday, August 7 at KeyArena. The broadcast begins at 10:00 a.m. PDT, and all the games can be watched live on The International website.