How the Dota 2 Battle Cup works, and how to find a team for it
Last updated 5 November 2026
The Dota 2 Battle Cup runs every Saturday evening, in five divisions, for teams of five. Most pages give four start times and say a team needs Dota Plus or five tickets. There are five start times, and Dota Plus covers only the player who has it: each teammate without it needs a ticket.
This guide is for a player with a stack, or part of one, who wants to play the Battle Cup with four people they chose instead of whoever the client's party builder finds. It covers when each division's cup starts, how the bracket works, how tiers decide who you play, what each of the five needs before the day, and how to find the players you're missing. For other games, see every game's team format.
In short
- The Battle Cup runs every Saturday evening in five divisions: Southeast Asia at , China at , Europe at and South America at UTC, and North America at UTC, which is Saturday evening there.
- Each division's cup is many single-elimination brackets of eight teams, each bracket at one tier, played in Captain's Mode. Three wins take a bracket, and a team that reaches the final plays for about three hours, sometimes more.
- A team plays at its highest player's tier or above. By Liquipedia, tiers run from Tier 3, for Crusader and below, to Tier 8, for Immortal, so one Immortal takes a whole stack into Tier 8.
- Each player without Dota Plus needs a $0.99 ticket, which anyone on the team can buy. Each player must also have calibrated for Ranked.
- Nobody can leave a Battle Cup match, and each player can play only one cup a weekend. By Valve's 2018 rules, nobody can be swapped in once the team enters, and players report the same today.
When the Battle Cup runs
Every Saturday, in each of five divisions. The times below come from OpenDota's records of every Battle Cup match on the weekend of 24 October 2026, which started in five windows, each on the hour, on each division's own servers:
| Division | Starts | Servers |
|---|---|---|
| Southeast Asia | Singapore and Australia | |
| China | China | |
| Europe | Western and Eastern Europe, and Stockholm | |
| South America | Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina | |
| North America | US East and US West |
Times on this page are in UTC. Every cup is on Saturday evening where its servers are, so North America's is 01:00 UTC on Sunday.
Each cup is on Saturday evening in its own region: 19:00 in Singapore and Manila, 20:00 in Beijing, 20:00 in São Paulo and Buenos Aires, and 20:00 on the US East Coast in winter. The times stay fixed in UTC all year. Europe's cup started at 18:00 UTC in December 2024, as it did in October 2026, so where the clocks change, the cup moves an hour on the local clock: 19:00 in Central Europe in winter, 20:00 in summer. OpenDota doesn't name the servers of the second cup of the day; it's China's by Liquipedia's schedule and the client's China division.
You choose the division. By Valve's 2018 Battle Cup FAQ, any division is open to anyone, but each has its own time and servers. The client picks a team's servers by its players' ping, and says "smaller server regions are not used for Battle Cup games". Pick the division whose servers your five all play well on.
Register before the hour. The first quarterfinals start on the hour, and by Liquipedia, teams sign up before the start time. Party up well ahead, since a team still looking for its fifth at the start has missed that division's cup.
How the Battle Cup works
Each division's cup is many brackets of eight teams, each bracket of teams at one tier. A bracket is single elimination: a quarterfinal, a semifinal and a grand final. Three wins take it, and one loss ends it. Every match is Captain's Mode, so each team needs a player who drafts. The client matches teams by tier and division, and its tier setting says it plainly: "Battle Cup matchmaking does not use MMR."
- How long it takes. On 24 October 2026, Europe's quarterfinals began at 18:00 UTC, the semifinals from about an hour later and the finals from about two hours later. The last final of the evening started 3 hours 20 minutes after the cup began. A team that goes all the way needs about three hours, more when the waits run long; a team out in the quarterfinal is usually done within an hour.
- Queue deadlines. Between rounds, the team queues again before a deadline the client shows. If it misses the deadline and no opponent is found, it forfeits its entry fee. If it makes the deadline and no opponent turns up, the client gives it a bye, the title or its entry back, by the client's own messages and Valve's 2018 Battle Cup FAQ. Players report waiting 20 to 25 minutes for a semifinal opponent before getting a refund, which is worth nothing to a Dota Plus member.
- No leaving a match. The client won't let a player abandon a Battle Cup match; a team that wants out surrenders by typing "gg". Only the party leader can forfeit the whole cup, for everyone.
- Disconnects. By the 2018 FAQ, a match starts without a player who can't connect, and disconnected players aren't removed from it.
- The bracket is public. Players report that later opponents look up a team's earlier games in the bracket and ban what it played.
- Rewards. Winners get 20,000 Shards each, by Valve's Dota Plus page, and by Liquipedia the Shards go to Dota Plus members only. Winners also get a Battle Cup trophy, a chat badge and emoticons for a week, and a Battle Cup effigy.
Battle Cup tiers
Every player has a Battle Cup tier, from Tier 3 to Tier 8, set from their rank. By Liquipedia, the tiers follow the medals:
- Tier 3: Crusader and below (Herald, Guardian, Crusader)
- Tier 4: Archon
- Tier 5: Legend
- Tier 6: Ancient
- Tier 7: Divine
- Tier 8: Immortal
A team plays at its highest player's tier or above. The client's tier setting says "You must select a tier at least as high as the maximum tier among all team members." So a party leader can enter the team higher than it has to, never lower, and a Tier 3 stack with one Immortal friend plays Tier 8.
For a team, that means recruiting at your own tier. Any player in a higher tier decides the bracket for everyone.
TeamTavern's Dota 2 player posts can give a Battle Cup tier, and the two ends of the ladder are the busiest:
- Tier 3
- Player posts: 20%
- Tier 4
- Player posts: 15%
- Tier 5
- Player posts: 13%
- Tier 6
- Player posts: 13%
- Tier 7
- Player posts: 17%
- Tier 8
- Player posts: 23%
What each player needs
All five need the same things, and a team can't register until every one of them has them. The rules below are the client's own text, which SteamDB tracks with every update.
- Calibrated for Ranked. "Each team member must have calibrated for Ranked." Ranked itself needs hours of unranked play first, 100 by Liquipedia's count, so a friend new to Dota can't play the Battle Cup yet.
- Dota Plus or a ticket. "For each player without a membership, one ticket must be purchased. Each player may contribute any number of tickets, as long as the team total of Dota Plus members + tickets is 5." A ticket is $0.99, by Valve's Dota Plus page. So a stack with one Dota Plus member needs four tickets, and anyone in the party can buy them all, or give a teammate Dota Plus as a gift.
- One cup a weekend. A player who has "already played in the Battle Cup this weekend" can't play again, in any division. A stand-in found on the night can't have played already.
The party leader registers the team, names it and picks its logo, as a pick-up team or as an official team, which shows on its players' profiles.
The roster is fixed. By Valve's 2018 FAQ, a team's roster is set once it has entered, and players can't leave it for a replacement. One player reports a team whose fifth, a stranger, left before the first game, and which played the whole cup four against five.
Finding a team for the Battle Cup
Recruit for one slot: your division's Saturday, your tier, and the positions you're missing. Then play with the same five every week.
Match the tier first. The highest player sets it, so look for players at your tier. A friend far above the rest lifts the whole team into a bracket it can't win.
Cover the positions. A Battle Cup team plays Captain's Mode with 1 to 5 covered, and someone has to draft. Among TeamTavern's Dota 2 posts, mid is the scarcest position: 67% of groups ask for one, and 40% of players offer it, as the role chart in the join guide shows. A stack short of a mid should expect it to take longer.
Use the client's own tools. The Battle Cup page has a party builder: "Find party" puts a solo player into a party near them at their tier, and "Find player" adds one to yours. By the 2018 FAQ, it matches by language, tier and ping. It's only for players who already own a ticket, and not for a team that has raised its tier. Each division and tier also has its own chat channel, open to Dota Plus members and ticket holders, where players look for teammates on the day. Both fill a team on the night, but with strangers, and a stranger who leaves before the first game can't be replaced.
Keep the good ones. A teammate who played well and stayed to the end is worth a friend request. With a roster that can't change on the night, a regular five is worth more than any fill.
Agree to stay. Ask everyone to keep the evening free for three matches. How to make an esports team covers tryouts and keeping a team together.
Post on TeamTavern. Put up a player post with your rank, your "Battle Cup tier", your "Position" and your "Server", and tick "Battle Cup" under "Looking for". Say in the description which division you play and that you're free on Saturday evenings. Add your Steam profile or Discord as a contact. A stack short of players puts up a group post the same way, with its Battle Cup tier and the positions it's missing. Then filter the posts for "Battle Cup" and message the ones at your tier. Plenty of players do the same: 38% of Dota 2 player posts on TeamTavern and 53% of group posts tick "Battle Cup".
Dota 2 players and groups on TeamTavern
Frequently asked questions
What time is the Battle Cup in Dota 2?
Every Saturday evening, at a different time in each division: Southeast Asia at , China at , Europe at and South America at UTC, and North America at UTC, which is Saturday evening there. The times stay the same in UTC all year.
How does the Battle Cup work?
Every Saturday, each division runs many brackets of eight teams of five, each bracket of teams at one tier. A bracket is single elimination in Captain's Mode: quarterfinal, semifinal and grand final. Three wins take it, and one loss ends it.
What tier am I in the Battle Cup?
By Liquipedia, Tier 3 for Crusader and below, Tier 4 for Archon, Tier 5 for Legend, Tier 6 for Ancient, Tier 7 for Divine and Tier 8 for Immortal. A team plays at its highest player's tier, or higher if the party leader chooses.
Do all five players need Dota Plus for the Battle Cup?
No. Each player without Dota Plus needs a ticket, which costs $0.99, and anyone on the team can buy tickets for the others. One player's Dota Plus doesn't cover the rest of the team.
Can you play the Battle Cup solo?
Not alone, since a team needs five. The client's party builder puts a solo player who owns a ticket into a party at their tier, and each division and tier has a chat channel for finding teammates.
Why can't I join the Battle Cup?
Every player must have calibrated for Ranked, which needs hours of unranked play first (100 by Liquipedia's count), and must have Dota Plus or a ticket. Nobody can play twice in one weekend, and only the party leader can register the team. By Liquipedia, teams sign up before their division's start time.
Can you change players during a Battle Cup?
No. By Valve's 2018 Battle Cup rules, the roster is set once the team enters, and players can't leave it for a replacement. One player reports a team whose fifth left before the first game and which played the whole cup four against five.
What do you get for winning the Battle Cup?
Winners get 20,000 Shards each, which by Liquipedia go to Dota Plus members only. By Liquipedia, winners also get a Battle Cup trophy, a chat badge and emoticons for a week, and a Battle Cup effigy.
Find your five
- Pick one division's Saturday and keep the evening free.
- Recruit at your tier, since the highest player sets it.
- Check that all five have calibrated for Ranked and have Dota Plus or a ticket.
- Bring five who'll stay for all three matches.
Post as a player with your tier, position and server, and tick "Battle Cup" under "Looking for", or post as a stack with the positions you're missing: Dota 2 players and groups on TeamTavern.