Dota 2: How to Pause/Unpause the Match

Dota 2 – Pausing a Match

If a player fails to connect, disconnects from the lobby, or the need arises for a brief interruption, the online Dota 2 match can be temporarily paused.

By pressing F9, any active player can halt the match. If there are no disconnected players, both teams can instantly resume the match by once more pressing F9, triggering the three second countdown before the game resumes. Do note that there is no countdown when you’re playing against bots, however!

If there has been a disconnect, albeit intentionally or due to network errors, only the team with the disconnected player can instantly resume the match. The enemy team without any disconnects can resume the game after 30 seconds.

Every player has one pause per five minutes. Most players are quite understanding when it comes to pausing the match, but if that isn’t the case, the game can still be paused for a total of two minutes when every player on the team with the disconnect takes turns pausing the game. As mentioned before, the opposing team cannot unpause after 30 seconds, and seeing how there is ideally only one disconnected player on your team, four people can pause for a minimum of 30 seconds.

That’s all there is to it, honestly! Pausing is rarely used when there are no disconnected or absent players, but when matches heat up, it may occur that both teams decide to pause the game to discuss tactics with their team mates.