Dota 2 devs rush out patch for rampant Meepo exploit ravaging ranked

Valve has issued a small late June 30 update targeting a particularly nasty Meepo bug involving the duplication of neutral items exploited by hundreds of players in both ranked and normal modes in the past few days.

The June 30 Dota 2 update included a single note from Valve: “Fixed the exploits caused by Warlock’s facet, Meepo’s facet, Witch Doctor & illusions.” This update comes as Dota players flood social media demanding answers after a glitch was discovered where Meepo can combo with other heroes and their unique neutral items to gain a significant gold or experience advantage.

In short, the bug involves multiple players and certain heroes, particularly Meepo and his Hero Facet Pack Rat, which lets Meepo use regular items in his neutral item slot. With a full inventory, the Meepo player disconnects, meaning other players can take control of the hero. While disconnected, each Meepo clone can use the Manta Style, which drops multiple copies of the item that can then be sold.

This applies to each illusion and copy, meaning those exploiting made thousands upon thousands of gold for the team who can pick up and sell each Manta Style. This exploit is likely the chief reason Meepo’s win rate has skyrocketed by seven percent, according to Dotabuff.

Another exploit worked similarly but used Warlock’s Black Grimoire neutral; using a disconnected hero like Shadow Demon or Phantom Lancer, illusions can be made with a full inventory that, on death, dropped the Grimoire. With enough stacks, this meant an entire team could reach level 30 very early in the game.

Dota players have flooded sites like Reddit, demanding their lost MMR be restored if an instance of the exploit was made during their game, but Valve has remained silent on the issue outside of today’s update. “I’ve done all of my Overwatch cases, everyone single one was the Meepo bug,” one player said.

An MMR adjustment is highly unlikely, but we’ll have to wait and see whether Valve plans any compensation for those affected by the exploit—or punishment for those who gained an advantage.