Dota 2: Why was Meepo removed from Riyadh Masters?

Riyadh Masters is one of the most prestigious tournaments that includes Valve’s insanely popular MOBA game, Dota 2. However, while players have the freedom to choose whatever player they want, this time around the character Meepo has been removed entirely from the tournament’s character roster.

Here, we’re about to go through everything you need to know about Meepo and his removal from Riyadh Masters 2024. This includes what’s so special about this character and why it was removed. For an extra bit of information, we’ll also include the aftermath of the glitch to ensure players know what others think of it.

So, without further ado, here’s why Meepo was removed from Riyadh Masters 2024 and what the fanbase thinks of his removal. If you want to learn more characters in case Valve decides to remove someone from the base game’s roster, we recommend you hire a professional player from Eloking to give you some tips. If you want, you could also use the code “BoostToday” for a cool 20% discount.

Who is Meepo in Dota 2?

Meepo is a playable character in Dota 2 who can split into five different versions of itself. These five variants aren’t fake and become actual units present on the map, having the same stats and skills as the Meepo they come from. Meepo’s separate units can also farm experience throughout the map, allowing good players to be ahead of others in terms of experience points. Although this makes Meepo seem strong, every unit he makes will die even if one unit loses its total health.

Why was Meepo removed from the Riyadh Masters?

Meepo was removed from Riyadh Masters and Dota 2 in its entirety temporarily because of a glitch. Meepo’s Pack Rat Facet ability allows the main variant of him to put any item in a designated neutral item slot if he already has six items in his inventory. This bug made it so that a player can add any late-game item into their inventory as long as they fill up the rest of the slots with anything. Players found a bug where they could duplicate anything in the neutral item slot.

Here is how the bug works. A Meepo player disconnects from a game while they have a Manta Style and drops it so other players can pick it up. Then, the teammates sell the item for a high price and get lots of gold even though they did not purchase it, essentially getting money for free. Exploiters started generating unlimited gold in the game through this bug.

This glitch was troublesome because it made people treat Manta Style like a neutral disposable item. Then, Meepo’s passive ability makes things worse because it clones items. Valve constantly attempts to fix this bug from Meepo. However, it keeps reappearing in different ways, so the best solution the company thought of was to block the character altogether before the Riyadh Masters.

Aftermath of the glitch

After the gold glitch became popular, players found another bug in Dota 2 involving Meepo, where they could put Divine Rapiers into the champion’s neutral item slot. Doing this stops the Rapier from dropping whenever Meepo dies, which allows players to avoid a game mechanic that balances the item’s power level.

Valve likely had to remove Meepo because if players can find two bugs related to him between short periods, they can find even more if they want to.