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 600k players daily. 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.

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 a version of Valve's Source, a rather dated 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: Intel Dual Core / AMD at 2.8 GHz
RAM: 4 GB
HDD: 15 GB of storage space
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8600/9600GT / AMD Radeon HD 2600/3600
OS: Windows 7 or better
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Screen Resolution: 720p

Dota 2 Recommended Requirements

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 2.80GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+
RAM: 4 GB
HDD: 15 GB of storage space
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS 512MB / AMD Radeon HD 2600 Pro
OS: 64-bit Windows 7
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Screen Resolution: 1080p

While the official requirement is only 15GB, you should leave at least 30+ 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.

DirectX

It is best to use the game with DirectX 11. However, if your computer is old, DirectX 9 might actually provide better performance. If the game keeps automatically change back to DirectX 9 from 11, try the following steps:

Right-click the game in your Steam library
Click "Properties" -> Click "Set Launch Options"
Type: -dx11/-dx9 (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.