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Your guide to The International 9's Battle Pass
The International 9's Battle Pass is now out. Here are the details on how to level up your Battle Pass to unlock tons of rewards.
This year's Battle Pass for The International 9 in Shanghai, China has been out for just over a week, and it’s already eclipsing last year's record-setting milestones. Like in previous years, 25 percent of the money that players spend on the Battle Pass, and the accompanying TI9 compendium, go towards increasing TI9's prize pool which currently sits at nearly $12 million USD. That’s huge – and while the teams competing will battle it out for a lion’s share of that prize pool, what exactly do you get for your money? Stick with us, as we run down exactly what’s included, and how you can level up your Battle Pass.
Here’s what you get
This year's Battle Pass includes myriad vials to dye the in-game river, unique new ward models, sprays, seasonal particle effects for items like the Force Staff, Eul's Scepter, and Blink Dagger, a new beetle-themed courier, new taunts, and new lane models and skins for lane creeps. Phew! Additionally, there’s a new seasonal jungle ruins-themed terrain set, which changes the look and feel of the map to match this year's purple jungle theme. Dark Willow, voiced by Ashly Burch, is this year's new map announcer. Russel Brower, the man behind the music of Hearthstone, StarCraft II, and Diablo III, has composed brand new music, which you can unlock through the Battle Pass, too.
Immortal Treasures full of flashy accoutrements for select heroes are back. Additionally, Reddit user "7ckngMadness," has compiled a list of all of the community-submitted hero sets that players can vote on. The winners' sets will make it into the game and can be unlocked in the Battle Pass' Collector's Cache.
Finally, some of the most coveted prizes in the Battle Pass include rare limited-time prestige sets, like Tiny's Majesty of the Colossus, which may as well be an arcana unlocked at Battle Pass level 255. Similarly, at level 305, Dota 2's very first ‘persona’ set can be unlocked, which turns Invoker into spell-slinging child with new animations and voice lines. Level 365 unlocks an actual full-fledged arcana for Earthshaker, much like Io's surprise arcana that was included in the TI7 Battle Pass. Finally, at level 425 players will unlock a skin for Axe that sees him stride into battle with nothing but his bright red fists.
The hardest to achieve rewards come at level 1,000 and level 2,000 respectively. Those prizes are a physical 1/5th-scale replica of the Aegis of Champions and a baby Roshan statuette – truly coveted goals.
New sprays could be yours
© Valve
How to level up
The first, most expedient, but most costly way to level up your Battle Pass is to drop cold hard cash on it. The standard Battle Pass costs $9.99 USD and starts you out at level one. An additional $20 on the initial purchase jump starts you to level 50, and the $44.99 bundle starts you at level 100. Additionally you can purchase increments of levels including five for $2.50 USD or 24 for $10.
If you don't want to spend any money at all, however, there are plenty of ways to inch your way towards those high-level rewards.
In previous years you could recycle unwanted or redundant Immortal treasures for two Battle Pass levels a pop. Unfortunately, that’s no longer an option. You can still recycle Immortals, but you will, instead, get to spin the Rylai's Battle Blessing Wheel, which can reward you with skins, a rare baby Roshan, or even points towards Battle Pass levels, of which you need 1,000 per level-up.
There are, however, new ways to earn Battle Points. For instance, certain tiers of the Battle Pass reward you with consumable shovels, which you can use to excavate parts of the in-game map for rewards that can include points.
Tipping returns, allowing you to reward your team-mates or opponents for fantastic plays (and to receive tips yourself). At lower levels your tips will be worth 25 points at a time, but that can progress to 100 per tip.
Another manner in which you can slowly accumulate points is by simply playing through the party finder function. While you're playing a match, you can also wager tokens that your team will win the match – and the payouts will be in battle points. Just for grabbing the first level of the Battle Pass, you'll be able to wager 1,000 tokens per week. That number increases as you level up. Additionally, you can earn tributes that are expendable and function as team-wide antes to your normal wagers.
Completing daily hero challenges by winning a game a day with a specified hero will also reward a small amount of points. Weekly challenges, which task you with completing an objective, like destroying a certain number of towers, can furnish you with a more substantial number of points. For smaller increments of battle points, you can also participate in multiple choice trivia contests while waiting in matchmaking.
Jungle Expedition, like last year's Cavern Crawl, is a meta-game that you progress by winning matches. Three different heroes wait at different ends of the jungle, and you start in the centre. The map is comprised of linked nodes, with each node being assigned to a hero. When you win a game with that hero, you complete its node and move on down the path. You can acquire up to 33 levels for completing the entire Jungle Expedition map.
Wrath of the Mo’Rokai is on the way
© Valve
Completing achievements for doing things, such as being a good coach, earning a certain number of points in trivia, or completing hero challenges, is the most lucrative source of points at the moment, with the potential to net you up to 50 levels for completing all of the achievements.
Some of those achievements are tied to features in the compendium, which itself can be a lucrative source of battle points. We'll have more details once the dust settles in mid-August and the teams going to The International 9 are finalised. In the past, fantasy Dota involving unpacked player cards along with bracket and match predictions had the potential to reward a slew of points and there's currently no reason to believe that will change. Additionally, 10 bonus levels will be given out if the TI9 prize pool surpasses the 2018 total of $25.53 million and another 10 levels if it passes $30 million USD.
The final unknown is this year's new event mode, Wrath of the Mo’Rokai, which has not yet been released. Last year's battle royale-flavoured Underhollow mode included plenty of opportunities to rack up the points, so it stands to reason that when Wrath of the Mo'Rokai launches it will provide similar opportunities. Good luck if you’ve got your eyes on the big prizes; something tells us you’ll need it!
