Battle Brawlers

A Dota 2 custom arena brawler in early development.
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Arena brawler · Dota 2 custom game

BattleBrawlers

In development

No creeps, no farm: two teams, one arena.

The arena awaits…

Battle Brawlers is a fast team fight built inside Dota 2's Workshop Tools and inspired by Battlerite. Every hero is a Dota hero reborn with a kit made for skill shots, dodges and outplays: short rounds, a closing ring and orbs worth fighting over.

Skill-based arena combat

Mars thrusting his spear at a target dummy in the arena

Aim every blow

WASD moves your hero, the mouse aims. Every arrow, spear thrust and trap is a skill shot you can land or dodge.

Mars inside the glowing Sudden Death ring at the centre of the arena

Best of five

Each round runs on a two-and-a-half-minute clock. When it runs low, the Sudden Death ring closes in until one team falls.

Rinya facing a target dummy next to the Middle Orb and two Energy orbs

Fight for the orbs

Health and Energy orbs sit around the arena, and the Middle Orb rewards the whole team that breaks it. Big bursts lower your Health Cap for the round, so every combo counts.

Two heroes ready, more on the way

Hunter of the Cold Night

Rinya

DAMAGE DEALERHIGH MOBILITYRANGED

Rinya hunts where frost meets shadow. She never stands still: one charged arrow freezes her prey, a trap holds the next, and when the fight turns she vanishes into her Frostveil or returns as a crimson shade with nothing on cooldown. Her name joins rin, biting cold, and ya, night.

“Where the frost settles, the hunter is already gone.”

Skills · Hover a skill to read it

M1
M2
SPACE
Q
E
R
F
See the full kit

The God of War

Mars

TANKFRONTLINEMELEE

Mars holds the front line in two stances. The Spear strikes hard and pins enemies down; the Shield turns him into a wall that guards his team, shoves threats away and charges into the fray. He is the arena's first tank, built to make every fight happen on his terms.

“Spear for the war, shield for the ones behind him.”

Skills · Hover a skill to read it

M1
M2
SPACE
Q
R
See the full kit

Your vote decides who joins the arena

Pick a hero, lock in your vote. The most wanted hero gets the next kit.

Who should be the third Brawler?

One vote per account. You can change it until the poll closes.

Candidate · Persona

Phantom Assassin

ASSASSINMELEEBURST

A glaive in the dark: blink in, strike once, vanish before the answer comes.

Have your own hero in mind? Post a hero idea →

Where the brawl is headed

We plan in rounds, like a match. Each round ends with something you can play or see.

  1. Round 1Early Sep 2026Rinya in the arena next to the Middle Orb

    Done

    Foundations

    An arena, WASD controls and the first Brawler.

    • Arena with orb pads and a Battlerite-style HUD (Done)
    • WASD movement with mouse-aimed skills (Done)
    • Rinya: seven skills, from Black Arrow to Dread Retribution (Done)
    • Energy bar and EX skills (Done)
    • Practice mode and rebindable keys (Done)
  2. Round 2Late Sep 2026The Sudden Death ring closed around the centre of the arena

    Done

    Rules of the Arena

    A real match: rounds, orbs and a hero select.

    • Best-of-five rounds with the Sudden Death ring (Done)
    • Health Cap, Health and Energy orbs, the Middle Orb (Done)
    • Hero select screen with 3D heroes and voice lines (Done)
    • Killed By panel, Death Summary and Scoreboard (Done)
    • Every hero number tunable in one place (Done)
  3. Round 3Late Sep 2026Mars thrusting his spear in the arena

    Done

    The God of War

    Mars joins as the first tank, with two stances.

    • Spear and Shield stances, switched with Q (Done)
    • Spear Stance: War Spear, Javelin and Spear Lunge (Done)
    • Shield Stance: Bash & Butt, Shield Shove, Shield Charge and Phalanx (Done)
    • Bronze Flesh, shared by both stances (Done)
    • Custom animations from a Blender control rig (Done)
  4. Round 4Oct 2026

    In progress

    Into the Arena

    The Alpha is out: real matches with real players.

    • Battle Brawlers [Alpha] on the Steam Workshop (Done)
    • Playable from the Dota 2 Arcade, with friends (Done)
    • Fixes from the first multiplayer matches (In progress)
    • Online playtests, 2v2 and 3v3 (In progress)
    • First ranked matches on the leaderboard (Planned)
  5. Round 5Next

    Up next

    The Third Brawler

    A new hero, chosen by your vote.

    • Phantom Assassin, Ringmaster or Lone Druid: you pick (Planned)
    • Item picks between rounds (Planned)
    • Arena art pass (Planned)
  6. Round 6Later

    Later

    Release

    Battle Brawlers out of Alpha.

    • Full release on the Steam Workshop (Planned)
    • More Brawlers, one kit at a time (Planned)
    • Vietnamese and more languages (Planned)

Help bring new heroes to life

Battle Brawlers is an independent passion project made by a solo dev. Support pays for the development time that turns a Dota hero into a Brawler. The more support I get, the more time I can give to this project.

Ko-fi

A one-off tip or monthly support.

Patreon

Monthly support, with early looks at new heroes.

Link coming soon

Bank transfer (VietQR)

For supporters in Vietnam: scan and send.

Bank transfer (VietQR)

VietQR code for a bank transfer to Lê Đình Thục (VIB)

Thank you for keeping the forge burning.

Hero rigs for animators and modders

The Blender control rigs we animate our heroes with. Each rig drives the game skeleton without changing it and comes with an animator's guide in English and Vietnamese. Downloads are on our Gumroad.

Blender control rig

Mars control rig

Requires: Blender 5.2

Animate Mars for Dota 2: a full control rig on top of the game skeleton, which it never changes, so every move stays game-ready.

  • Control rig with its own sidebar tab, button picker and picture picker
  • About 13 of Mars's game animations and a pose library
  • The Battle Brawlers game camera, to see a move as players will
  • An animator's guide of about 21 pages, in English and Vietnamese
View details →Gumroad link coming soon

Blender control rig

Phantom Assassin Persona control rig

Requires: Blender 5.2

The same rig standard on Phantom Assassin's Persona, ready for new animations.

  • Control rig with its own sidebar tab, button picker and picture picker
  • About 13 of the Persona's game animations and a pose library
  • The Battle Brawlers game camera, to see a move as players will
  • An animator's guide of about 21 pages, in English and Vietnamese
View details →Gumroad link coming soon

All hero models, textures and some animations belong to Dota 2 and Valve Corporation. Non-commercial fan project.