Peripheral support for MOBAs on PC has typically remained exclusive to the tried and tested mouse and keyboard, save for exceptional games like Smite. However, as part of the Aghanim’s Labyrinth: The Continuum Conundrum update, Valve has unexpectedly enabled controller support for Dota 2.
Valve says that anything supported by Steam Input should work, which includes pads from Xbox, PlayStation, as well as the Nintendo Switch Pro and Steam controller. If you're curious enough to try the feature, all heroes should be playable, but how well their kits fit on a controller will undoubtedly vary. We've also provided a guide on how to enable it further down.
It's worth noting, however, that the company specifically describes the feature as “experimental” and doesn't believe that it's quite ready for everyone just yet. Thankfully, you can quickly swap back to mouse and keyboard from controller (or vice versa) at any point during a match.
Here’s how to enable controller support in Dota 2:
- Right-click Dota 2 in your Steam library and go to ‘Properties’
- Select the ‘Controller’ tab
- Select ‘Enable Steam Input’ from the dropdown menu
- Launch Dota 2
- Open the ‘Advanced Options’ menu in the Dota 2’s options
- Left-click the ‘Enable experimental controller support’ toggle
It’s likely that Valve has chosen to implement controller support in Dota 2 now to prepare the game for the company’s upcoming Steam Deck, as it’d be a terrible shame for one of Steam’s most popular games to not run well on a Steam Deck, wouldn’t it?