A critical bug occurred during a match in the The International 2025 qualifiers

In the second match of the Chinese closed qualifiers for The International 2025 between Yakult Brothers and Xtreme Gaming, a serious bug occurred involving the hero Queen of Pain.

Yakult Brothers' midlaner Zhou Emo Yi used the ultimate Sonic Wave, but instead of damaging enemies, the ability dealt damage to Queen of Pain herself due to the Masochist facet, which grants bonus spell damage but causes a portion of the spell damage dealt to enemies to also affect the caster. As a result, the hero instantly died. After respawning, the character appeared at the base with only 1 HP, which could not be restored.

The issue was caused by the interaction of the ultimate with high status resistance on the enemies, particularly due to the Aeon Disk item. This bug has been known in the Dota 2 community for several months.

Team Spirit analyst Mark sikle Lerman commented:

If the enemy has very high status resistance, the damage from Sonic Wave to Queen of Pain is reduced to one HP, which cannot be changed. Sonic Wave is a debuff, and high status resistance removes it. The removal and application of the debuff happen simultaneously, but the removal occurs slightly earlier. As a result, the damage is redirected to Queen of Pain, causing her instant death.

The organizers were able to reload the match at the 42nd minute, before Queen of Pain's death, allowing the game to continue without the bug. Ultimately, Xtreme Gaming won the series 2:1 and advanced to the grand final of the qualifier, while Yakult Brothers will have another chance in the lower bracket.

The closed qualifiers for The International 2025 in the Chinese region are being held from 09.06.2025 to 12.06.2025, where teams are competing for slots in the main stage of the tournament.

Earlier, Cyberscore reported that Virtus.pro will participate in the Esports World Cup 2025.