Dota 2 System Requirements 2020 Guide: How to Improve Game Performance

Dota 2 is Valve's sequel for the world-famous DotA mod of Warcraft 3... and is one of the most popular video games in the world. Currently, the game has about 570k average concurrent players. If you are looking for a premium MOBA experience, this game is probably the best option, as the learning curve is much higher than its rival, League of Legends. If your account has just been banned and you want to get back to your rank quickly, Dota 2 boosting is the key.

In this article, we would list out Dota 2 System Requirements and the best ways for you to improve the performance of the game.

1 - Dota 2 System Requirements
2 - How to Improve Dota 2 Performance

1 - Dota 2 System Requirements

Dota 2 is made using Valve's Source 2, a modern game engine. While Dota 2 is probably the best looking MOBA in the market, it is still fairly easy to run - you only need the below specs to be able to play the game:

Dota 2 Minimum Requirements

CPU: Dual core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz
RAM: 4 GB
HDD: 60 GB of storage space
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8600/9600GT / AMD Radeon HD 2600/3600
OS: Windows 10 or better (64-bit)
DirectX: Version 11
Screen Resolution: 720p

Dota 2 Recommended Requirements

CPU: Intel Core i5 or AMD equivalent
RAM: 8 GB
HDD: 60 GB of storage space
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 / AMD Radeon HD 7790
OS: 64-bit Windows 10 or better
DirectX: Version 11
Screen Resolution: 1080p

While the official requirement is 60GB, you should leave at least 80+ GB of storage, just to be on the safe side.

2 - How to Improve Dota 2 Performance

High priority

Right-click the game in your Steam library
Click "Properties" -> Click "Set Launch Options"
Type: -high
Click "OK" -> Close

In-game Settings

In order for your game to look good while still performing well you need to tune your settings exactly like this.

Texture Quality and Game Screen Render Quality are the most important settings. If you lower texture quality, the surface of objects would look blurry... and if you lower Game Screen Render, everything would look blurry.

If you have a decent computer and want to turn some of the extra effects on, Anti-Aliasing, VSync, Effect Quality and Shadow Quality are the costliest options. Consider using Vulkan as the rendering API for better performance on modern hardware.

Rendering API

It is best to use the game with Vulkan for improved performance and compatibility. However, if your computer is old, DirectX 11 might be suitable. To set the rendering API:

Right-click the game in your Steam library
Click "Properties" -> Click "Set Launch Options"
Type: -vulkan or -dx11 (pick whichever you want to use)
Click "OK" -> Close

**System Requirements of Dota 2**: The game has a robust competitive scene

Map Preload

This would load the Dota 2 map as soon as you launch the game and cut down the load time after you have found a game... as you would not have to load the map again. You can also load a bot map first while finding matches so that the game would preload certain assets right away.

Right-click the game in your Steam library
Click "Properties" -> Click "Set Launch Options"
Type: -map dota
Click "OK" -> Close

Disable Windows Aero DirectX extensions

Right-click the game in your Steam library
Click "Properties" -> Click "Set Launch Options"
Type: -nod3d9ex
Click "OK" -> Close

This would disable Windows Aero DirectX extensions and might improve performance in certain cases.

**Dota 2 System Requirements PC**: The game has a lot of flashy effects

Disable Steam Overlay

Steam Overlay might cause problems as well - you might be stuck inside it occasionally.

Right-click the game in your Steam library
Click "Properties"
Uncheck "Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game"
Click "Close"

Lowering Game Resolution

This is probably the last thing you want to do - it would make the game look a lot worse. But if your PC just cannot run Dota 2 stably - it might be time for some drastic measures like this.