- SSA §1.C: no sharing
- Shared accounts: game ban (2023)
- 90,000 smurfs banned (2023)
- Coaching shares nothing
This guide is written by a boosting service, so it starts with what no service can honestly promise: that a boost is risk-free. What follows is Valve's own text. That means the Steam Subscriber Agreement your account runs under, and the dated Dota 2 posts in which Valve said what it did about shared accounts and smurfs. Then it sets out what that means for a piloted boost, a duo boost and coaching. Every rule quoted is linked to Valve's page in the sources, and where Valve hasn't said something, we say so.
- SSA §1.C forbids letting anyone else use your password or account, and selling or charging for its use.
- Valve has game-banned shared accounts: "for accounts shared with other users or services: a game ban" (14 December 2023).
- Smurf bans come in waves and Valve traces each smurf to its main account, which can be punished too.
- Duo keeps your password with you, but the booster's account has to fit Valve's party rules, and a low second account is a smurf.
- Nobody outside Valve knows how detection works. "Undetectable" and "100% safe" are red flags, not features.
What the Steam Subscriber Agreement says
Dota 2 is free to play, but every account is a Steam account, and the Steam Subscriber Agreement (SSA) is the contract it runs under. Valve last updated it on 10 September 2026. Four passages matter here, quoted exactly:
| Section | Heading | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| §1.C | Your Account | “You may not reveal, share or otherwise allow others to use your password or Account” |
| §1.C | Your Account | Your Account “is strictly personal. You may therefore not sell or charge others for the right to use your Account, or otherwise transfer your Account” |
| §4.D | Enforcement | “Valve may restrict or terminate your Account(s) or a particular Subscription for any conduct or activity that is illegal, constitutes a Cheat or Automation or breaches the Steam Online Conduct Rules.” Valve “is not required to provide you notice before terminating” |
| §9.C | Termination by Valve | “Valve may restrict or cancel your Account or any particular Subscription(s) at any time in the event that” … “you breach any terms of this Agreement” |
Three things follow. A piloted boost, where a booster signs in and plays, is someone else using your password and account, which is exactly what §1.C rules out. An account sale is ruled out by the same section in so many words. And under §9.C a breach of "any terms" is enough for Valve to restrict or cancel the account. One more point people miss: it is your whole Steam account that the agreement covers, not just Dota 2, so every game in the library sits behind the same login.
What Valve has actually done, 2023 to 2025
Valve doesn't publish a running list of bans, but it has announced several in its Dota 2 posts on Steam. In order:
| Date | Valve post | What Valve said |
|---|---|---|
| 1 September 2023 | Smurfing is Not Welcome in Dota | “Today, we permanently banned 90,000 smurf accounts.” Valve traced every one back to its main account; main accounts face anything “from temporary adjustments to behavior scores to permanent account bans”. |
| 14 December 2023 | Dota 2 Update – 12/14/2023 (Frostivus gifts) | “For accounts shared with other users or services: a game ban.” Also “for alt accounts used for smurfing: a game ban”, and “a piece of coal” for main accounts linked to a banned smurf. |
| 8 February 2024 | The Dragon's Gift | “Automated ban waves” from “new cheat detection code”. About cheaters: the post doesn't mention smurfs, boosting or MMR. |
| 19 August 2025 | The International: Bundles and Predictions | “We've also banned more than 75,000 win traders, smurfs, and other bad actors.” No period given. |
The December 2023 line is the one that matters for boosting. Frostivus gifts that year came with a twist: most accounts got cosmetics, but Valve listed what some accounts got instead, and "accounts shared with other users or services" got a game ban. That is Valve stating, in its own words, that it identified accounts used by services and banned them. What Valve has never published is how it spots a shared account, so nobody can tell you which orders it will catch.
Don't read the February 2024 "Dragon's Gift" post as a boosting ban wave: it describes automated ban waves from new cheat detection code and doesn't mention boosting, smurfs or MMR. It still matters, because a booster who runs any script puts your account in the path of exactly that system.
Smurfing, boosting, account sharing and account buying
These words get used loosely. Here is what each one is, and where Valve stands:
| Practice | What it is | Valve's position |
|---|---|---|
| Smurfing | Playing on a second account | Valve's definition: "alternate accounts used by players to avoid playing at the correct MMR, to abandon games, to cheat, to grief, or to otherwise be toxic without consequence". Banned in waves; mains punished. |
| Account sharing | Someone else plays on your account | Forbidden by SSA §1.C; shared accounts game-banned in December 2023 |
| Account buying or selling | Trading an account for money | Forbidden by SSA §1.C: you may not "sell" your Account "or otherwise transfer" it |
| Piloted boosting | A paid booster plays your account | Account sharing, and charging for it, under §1.C |
| Duo boosting | A paid booster plays in your party, on their own account | No Valve text we found names it; the booster's account falls under the party and smurf rules |
| Win trading | Arranging results between players | Named in the August 2025 ban announcement |
Piloted, duo and coaching compared
Coaching: you play, nobody logs in
A coach watches your games live or goes through your replays with you. Your account plays only your own games, nothing is shared and nothing is sold. None of the SSA clauses above describes it.
Duo: the booster joins your party
You play every game on your own account and nobody gets your password, so you don't break §1.C. But Valve caps the MMR gap inside a ranked party (it hasn't published the number), a party with an Immortal plays at the Immortal's rank, and above 8,500 MMR ranked parties aren't allowed at all. A high-medal booster therefore can't duo a low-medal customer from their main account, and doing it from a low second account is what Valve calls a smurf.
Piloted: the booster logs in
The quickest option: you hand over your Steam login after checkout and approve the first sign-in with Steam Guard, and the booster plays. It's account sharing under §1.C, and shared accounts are what Valve game-banned in December 2023, so it carries the most exposure of the three.
Our own duo boosters queue from an account inside Valve's party limits and below 8,500 MMR, never from a smurf. That keeps the order inside the party rules; it doesn't make a paid duo something Valve endorses. Valve's own definition of a smurf turns on avoiding "the correct MMR", and any bought climb moves an account away from the MMR its owner would reach alone.
What a careful service does, and what it can't promise
- Hand-verified boosters:
Divine or 
Immortal for orders up to
Legend, Immortal for Ancient and Divine orders, checked on Dotabuff, OpenDota or STRATZ or by screenshot. - Piloted orders run appear-offline, with a VPN to your region and human pacing, and a screenshot after every session in the order chat. Your Steam login is encrypted, never shown and wiped when the order closes.
- No scripts, no third-party software, no low-population server tricks, ever.
- Escrow: the booster is paid only after you approve the result, with a 72-hour window to check.
- What we don't sell: leaderboard places and Immortal Draft. Above 8,500 MMR Valve requires a registered official name and solo ranked, as our Immortal guide explains.
Not one of these changes Valve's rules, and not one is a promise that an account won't be actioned. A VPN keeps games on your usual servers; appearing offline keeps your friends list quiet. Neither hides anything from Valve.
Red flags, wherever you buy
- "Undetectable", "100% safe", "ban-proof". Valve hasn't published how it detects shared accounts, so nobody selling a boost can know that.
- Impossible speed. Divine stars move slowly: our own estimate is under one star a day, and the community puts a Divine star at about 200 MMR. "Immortal in a day" means someone is cutting corners.
- Scripts or software. Anything installed on your PC, or any "tool" the booster runs, is a cheat-detection risk on your account.
- A "duo at your rank" from an Immortal. That only works from a second, low account, which is a smurf by Valve's definition.
- Accounts for sale. Selling or transferring an account breaks §1.C.
- Requests for codes outside the order. A real service never needs your e-mail password, your phone or a Steam Guard code sent to a stranger in a private message.
If you go ahead: how to lower the risk
- Start with coaching if the medal can wait.
It's the option no rule touches, and the medal you reach is one you can hold.
- Pick duo if you'd rather keep your password.
Check that the booster queues from an account inside the party rules, not a smurf.
- Keep it short.
A few stars over a wall is less exposure than a month-long climb from Herald.
- Keep Steam Guard on.
Approve a booster's sign-in yourself, inside the order, and never hand over your phone or e-mail.
- Change your password when the order closes.
It takes a minute and ends any access that was ever given.
- Clear Low Priority first.
Ranked is locked while you have it; our Low Priority guide explains.
- Pay into escrow, not to a person.
The booster should be paid only after you've checked the result.
The options, side by side
If you weigh it up and still want help, these are the three ways we offer it, from no exposure to the most. An hour with an Immortal coach is $14.90 today, and Archon 1 to Legend 1 is $20.03, priced by the same engine as checkout. Dota 2 orders open soon: get the launch alert on the Dota 2 hub.
- No exposure: 1-on-1 coaching, live or on your replays.
- Keep your password: the MMR boost or ranked wins as a duo, where the party rules allow it.
- Most exposure: the same services piloted. Read the Risk Disclosure first.
- Valve, Steam Subscriber Agreement (last updated 10 September 2026; §1.C, §4.D, §9.C, read 2 November 2026)
- Valve, Steam posts for Dota 2: Smurfing is Not Welcome in Dota (1 September 2023) · Dota 2 Update – 12/14/2023 (14 December 2023) · The Dragon's Gift (8 February 2024) · Dota 2 Update – 3/19/2025 (official names and solo ranked above 8,500 MMR) · The International: Bundles and Predictions (19 August 2025)
- Party rules (MMR-gap cap, Immortal in a party): Liquipedia, Matchmaking and the Dota 2 Wiki, Matchmaking (community)
- Checked 2 November 2026.
All free tools: calculators, percentiles & season countdowns →
Common questions
Can you get banned for Dota 2 boosting?
Is duo boosting safer than piloted?
Does Valve ban smurfs in Dota 2?
Does a VPN hide Dota 2 boosting from Valve?
Ready to climb?
1-on-1 Coaching
The option that shares nothing: an Immortal coach while you play your own games.
MMR Boost
Star by star up to Immortal, piloted or duo. Read the Risk Disclosure first.
Ranked Wins
A fixed number of net wins at your medal, piloted or duo.
More Dota 2 guides
Dota 2 is a trademark of Valve Corporation. BoostPirate isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Valve. Game images © Valve Corporation.
