What was the exact number of heroes in Dota 2 upon its official release on July 9, 2013? The answer is 102 heroes. That was the size of the playable hero roster when Valve released the Windows version of Dota 2 on Steam after its extended beta period.
The launch roster was not identical to the complete Defense of the Ancients lineup. Valve continued transferring heroes from the Warcraft III custom map into Dota 2 after release, so the game began with a large but incomplete adaptation of its predecessor’s roster. Abaddon, numbered 102 in release-order references, arrived shortly after launch, on July 12, 2013; that identifier is sometimes confused with the launch total.
The date also matters because Dota 2’s operating-system releases were staggered. Windows launched on July 9, while OS X and Linux followed on July 18. Later additions steadily increased the roster, and Monkey King became the first hero created specifically for Dota 2 rather than directly ported from the original DotA tradition.