Everything you need to know about Controller support in Dota 2

In line with Aghanim's funky exploration into the Continuum, comes an equally experimental addition to Dota 2. Lo and behold - you can now play Dota 2 on just about any controller!

Yes you heard us right - any controller supported by Steam Input should work. According to the official FAQ page, the this includes the following:

Added alongside the Aghanim's Continuum Conundrum and Drow Arcana update, this evolving feature will allow players to experience their heroes in a way never before.

If you've played any console or mobile MOBAs, the control scheme may be familiar to you. But seeing as most Dota 2 players are well - Dota 2 purists, here's how it works.

The two joysticks - left and right, control hero movement and camera movement respectively. As for Skills, Items and more, they operate on a page system. Think of it as a rotating loadout of sorts. It all begins with the face buttons on the controller - A, B, X and Y, or whatever your controller has them tagged as. Each face button is bound to activate an Item or Skill.

From there, holding R1 shows the second "page" of Skills and holding R2 shows the first "page" for Items. The second "page" for Items can be accessed by holding both R1 and R2.

The D-Pad opens up a UI to level up abilities and access all your shopping needs. As for targeting enemies, that's done with L1 and L2.

Of course, all this is confusing to read, but a few tries should get the good ol' muscle memory flowing. Most importantly, if at any point things get uncomfortable or weird, you can toggle it on the fly in game.

We've all been playing Dota 2 for so long, and presumably are all used to a keyboard and mouse. Switching over to the controller (if you're planning to) could be rather jarring. Still, it's undeniable that this could make the game more accessible to different audiences, and even spice it up for existing ones.

Before you hop right in, do keep in mind that the feature is tagged as experimental. Valve is still actively developing it - which means there'll be some kinks and bumps along the way. As Valve themselves put it:

In the grand scheme of things, this could turn out to be another pilot project that doesn't amount to much (cough the DPC Mobile App cough). If we look on the bright side though, a controller-only All-Star match at TI11 could be fun. And while we're there, why not take it even further. Perhaps we may see the first controller-using professional player in a year's time.

There will no doubt be more periodic updates and improvements to the feature and at the very least, a fun new way to experience the game we all love so much.

For more Dota 2 content and updates, stay tuned to esports.gg.