What Turbo is
Turbo is a sped-up version of normal Dota 2 with the same map, heroes, and rules, but tuned so a match plays 2-3 times faster. The mode is unranked: it grants no MMR.
- Same gameplay. The same heroes, abilities, items, and 5v5 map.
- Faster economy. Gold and XP flow at roughly double the rate.
- No rating. Wins and losses do not affect your MMR.
Turbo is "fast Dota for fun and practice." Hero mechanics carry over to ranked one-to-one, but Turbo heavily distorts economy and farm timings.
Gold, XP, respawn
The main difference in Turbo is the faster economy. Here is what changes versus normal play:
- 2x gold from farm. Creep bounties, Hand of Midas gold and Bounty Runes are doubled. Hero kills pay the usual amount — Turbo speeds up farming, not killing.
- 2x XP. Experience from all sources is doubled too, so levels and talents come much earlier.
- No gold lost. You lose no reliable gold on death, so you can play more aggressively.
- -25% respawn. Heroes come back a quarter faster, so even late deaths are far less punishing.
Thanks to the doubled economy, key items are completed one and a half to two times earlier — more on counting your income in the guide on GPM and XPM. And because gold is not lost on death and respawns are quicker, it is easier to recover even from a lost fight here — the same logic as comeback mechanics in normal play.
Map and buildings
Objectives in Turbo are weakened so games end faster:
- Weaker towers. Towers have less armor and damage: T1 — 1350 HP, T2 and T3 — 2500 HP each, T4 — 2600 HP.
- Ancient no regen. Unlike normal play, the Ancient does not regenerate health.
- A courier each. A personal courier arrives from the very start, flies right away regardless of hero level, is permanently hasted to 1100 movement speed and delivers purchases on its own — auto-delivery can be toggled off.
- Roshan and neutrals. Roshan respawns twice as fast, the Aegis expires in 4 minutes, and neutral item tiers unlock roughly twice as early as normal.
Towers are weaker, but backdoor protection in Turbo works as usual. You cannot take down the base solo without creeps — details in the guide on backdoor protection.
Shops and teleport
Turbo removes almost all the shopping busywork — it is rarely written about, yet it changes the pace a lot:
- Sell from anywhere on the map. You can sell an item from any position, with no need to walk to a shop.
- No trip to the Secret Shop. Secret Shop items are bought from the regular shops, and the Secret Shop itself doubles as a normal shop.
- Teleports twice as often. Town Portal Scroll and Boots of Travel have halved cooldowns, so rotations and base defense cost less time.
- Earlier purchases. Aghanim's Shard is available from 7:30, Infused Raindrops from 1:30.
Creeps and tempo
The pace is sped up not only by economy but by creeps too:
- Faster upgrades. Lane creeps get stronger roughly 9 times faster than in normal play.
- Earlier mega creeps. After all barracks fall, mega creeps appear far earlier in the match.
- Short lanes. With strong creeps and weak towers, the laning phase flies by.
- Less farm time. The quiet farming stage is shorter — fights and pushes start sooner.
So Turbo rarely features a drawn-out "farming carry" — the game shifts into teamfights almost immediately, and the day and night swings, with their windows for ganking, feel even more pronounced. To carry the tempo into ranked, start by understanding roles and positions.
When to play Turbo
Turbo is great for specific goals — and not for others. You cannot grow rating in it, so if the goal is to climb MMR, keep Turbo for warm-ups and grind your rank with the full MMR guide:
- Hero practice. Learning ability combos and builds — Turbo is ideal for this.
- Warm-up. A quick warm-up before a ranked session without spending an hour per game.
- Rating-free fun. A relaxed game when you don't want MMR pressure.
- But not farm habits. Train farm timings and economy in normal mode — Turbo distorts them.
