How to Enable Console in Dota 2, Activating Explained

If you're a casual Dota 2 player or someone who hasn't played the game before, know that the ability to open the console in-game improves your Dota experience and gives you a potential competitive edge over opponents. Much like CS2, opening the console grants access to all commands and options that are not available outside the standard UI of the game settings menu.

Therefore, a console command for Dota 2 makes gameplay adjustments easier and provides better control while in-game. Although the hit classic Counter-Strike game got a huge overhaul back in 2023, which brought it up to modern gaming standards, unfortunately, this same treatment was not given to Dota 2. This is why activating the console in this 2013 MOBA game can be a bit hard, especially for beginners who often resort to Dota 2 boosting services to gain that competitive edge.

Therefore, this article will show you how to open and enter commands in the Dota 2 game.

How to Enable Console in Dota 2?

There are two ways Dota 2 players can open the console while playing:

• Steam
• Game’s Settings

Method 1 - Enabling via Steam

Enabling the console through Steam is just as easy, and it involves the following:

• Go to Steam
• Go to Library
• Find the Dota 2 game from the game library
• Right-click on the Dota 2 game
• Select the game 'Properties'
• A window will pop up. In the General tab, find the setting labeled 'Launch Options'
• There will be a box underneath the 'Launch Options" settings·
• You need to enter '-console' in that box and exit out of the window
• Open Dota 2
• While playing any Dota 2 match with your hero, press the backtick (`) or tilde (~) key.

See? Once you do it, any time you load the game after this and press the required key, the console will show up on your screen. This is how easy it is to enable the Dota 2 console through Steam.

Method 2 - Enabling Via In-Game Settings

The second option of enabling the console via the in-game settings is just as simple:

• Open Dota 2 and click on the gear setting icon in the top left corner
• Scroll down to 'Options'.
• Next, click on Advanced Settings.
• Then, toggle the 'Enable Console' option to read On.

Once you’ve enabled the console, you'll still need to bind a key to access it. Here's how:

• While in-game, click on Settings
• Click on 'Hotkeys.'
• Under 'Advanced Hotkeys' settings, click on 'Interface' and look for the 'Console' entry
• Now just hit the key you want to use to activate the console in Dota 2; the default is ''.
• To enter a command, press the keyboard button you set up to enable the console and enter the command.

Some Widely Used Dota 2 Console Commands

Some additional commands for Dota 2 include:

• dota_no_minimap 1 - Minimap is hidden
• dota_hud_colorblind 1 - Colorblind mode is enabled
• dota_minimap_hero_size 1000 - Increases hero size (Increased hero visibility)
• dota_minimap_ping_duration 5 - Increases ping duration to 5 seconds
• dota_screen_shake 0 - Screen shake is disabled
• cl_showfps - Shows frames per second (FPS)
• fps_max - Activates a frame rate cap based on your settings
• dota_ping_display_delay 1 - Displays ping on the screen
• refresh - removes all cooldowns and restores your hero to full health and mana

To Wrap It Up

And just like that, tons of commands are available to customize many of the Dota 2 gameplay functionalities. For example, to show FPS, activate/deactivate autorun, render heroes invisible, adjust ping time for comm score, etc.

There is a distinction between using a console to gain a competitive edge and using it to cheat or gain an unfair advantage. When you use a console to exploit bugs, you put yourself at a greater risk of receiving a ban from Dota 2 since it's against the game rules.