Low Priority, High Stakes – How to Appeal a Dota 2 Ban

The grounds Valve relies on

Valve's penalties in Dota 2 fall into two groups. Conduct in matches leads to Low Priority, which the Steam Support article on Low Priority (checked on 26 October 2026) describes as a temporary matchmaking penalty for abandons, reports of negative behaviour, the abuse of hero abilities and extended AFK play. Repeating such conduct while already at the maximum penalty adds a matchmaking ban, and Valve's update of January 2021 changed communication bans so that the players concerned are muted by default.

Cheating and smurfing, by contrast, lead to permanent measures. Valve stated in February 2023 that running any application that reads data from the Dota client during play can lead to a permanent ban. In September 2023, it added that a main account associated with a smurf account may face punishments ranging from adjusted behaviour scores to permanent bans. In cheating cases, the ban can also take the form of a VAC ban or a game ban on the Steam account. Thus, the first step is to establish which measure applies, and the in-game Conduct Summary records the behaviour behind Low Priority over the previous 15 games.

Where the appeal goes

Steam Support is the official contact for Dota 2 accounts, but its published articles set narrow limits. The Steam Support article on VAC bans states that VAC bans are permanent, non-negotiable and cannot be appealed; a VAC ban issued incorrectly is removed automatically after investigation, but Steam Support does not remove VAC bans manually for any reason. For Low Priority, Steam Support may help with the underlying cause, such as crashes, but it does not modify or remove the penalty under any circumstance.

Hence, a request to Steam Support is the right step mainly in two situations: first, where the account was taken over and has to be recovered and secured; second, where technical faults caused the abandons that led to the penalty. It shall be noted, however, that Steam Support states that bans remain on an account regardless of who was using it when the infraction occurred.

What the appeal should contain

A request about Low Priority or a matchmaking ban should state the Steam account, the type and length of the penalty as the client shows it and the matches concerned, which the Conduct Summary lists. Where crashes or connection failures caused the abandons, it should describe the hardware, the error messages and the troubleshooting already done, because Steam Support addresses the cause and not the penalty itself.

A request concerning an account takeover should give the date on which access was lost, the emails about password or Steam Guard changes and any trades or purchases the owner did not make. For a cheating or smurfing ban, the request should list the programs that ran alongside Dota and explain the relationship between the accounts concerned; Valve's statement on applications that read client data makes overlays and third-party tools the central question.

After the decision

Low Priority ends only once the required number of games in Single Draft has been won, and VAC bans remain unless Valve's own investigation finds them incorrect. A repeated request, therefore, adds nothing where Steam's published policy excludes manual changes; it makes sense only where the first request concerned the account itself, e.g. its recovery, and new facts have emerged since.

Valve defines smurf accounts as alternate accounts used, inter alia, to abandon games, cheat or be toxic without consequence, and it may punish the main account associated with one. Playing on with a second account during a penalty, therefore, may breach Valve's rules. Accordingly, this guide does not describe ways around a ban.

Current enforcement

Whether Valve is currently running a wider ban wave in Dota 2 is recorded on the ban-wave monitor of Game Ban Appeal, and the Dota 2 appeal page sets out the steps of a request in short form.

Frequently asked questions