Largo enabled in Dota 2 Captains Mode alongside Patch 7.40c

The newest Dota 2 hero Largo has officially been enabled in Captains Mode, as announced by Valve community manager Wykrhm “Wyk” Reddy on his social media channels earlier today. Added in Patch 7.40 as the 127th hero, Largo immediately captured everyone’s hearts with his design and personality. I mean, it’s a bard frog — what’s not to like? Largo’s Captains Mode debut also includes Patch 7.40c, the latest minor balance patch.

That said, it’s painfully obvious that he’s been added to Captains Mode sooner than many including myself would have expected. In comparison, Ringmaster took around six months before he got this treatment, while Kez didn’t even land in Captains Mode until over a year after he first landed in Dota 2. This begs the question: what gives?

Unleashed early

For those who aren’t aware, Captains Mode is the official game mode used in professional Dota 2 matches. As opposed to Ranked All Pick which is what players below roughly 8,500 MMR get to play in public matchmaking, Captains Mode has banning and picking phases, adding an extremely important layer of strategy and mindgames to pro matches before even a single creep is on the map.

Largo is now available in Captain's Mode.🎶 #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/cvSVZB58Ob

— Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) January 22, 2026

Normally, Valve likes to keep brand new heroes away from Captains Mode for a while, such as in the case of Ringmaster and Kez. They do this in order to gather data and run the eye test on new heroes before letting them loose in matches played for actual money and prestige, as not even the wise developers and balance masters at Valve can account for every strategy or item build that the top 0.1 percent of players might come up with.

Given that Largo is already in Captains Mode so soon after his release, this should set off a few alarm bells. If he’s already available to pick in professional matches, does that mean that he’s not as strong or game-breaking as most new heroes tend to be?

Mediocre opening act

The answer is yes. According to Dotabuff, Largo has been sitting at around a 46 to 47 percent win rate on average over the last 30 days. Even if we exclude the first week of Patch 7.40 when everyone was picking him in order to experiment with his kit, that’s still not a very good way to make your presence known as the newest hero on the block.

So what makes him so underwhelming, anyway? His design as a hero kind of suffers from “Wisp syndrome”, if you will, in the sense that he is highly dependent on your team’s draft and overall coordination in order to make the most out of his kit. And guess what isn’t abundant or common in ranked games? That’s right: coordination.

Dota 7.40c is now LIVE! https://t.co/Gi4YX11htt #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/kwtlg9eMFk

— Wykrhm Reddy (@wykrhm) January 22, 2026

Largo can’t save a disorganized team in your average Archon or Legend match on his own. Frogstomp (W) is so easy to escape from that it’s honestly kind of ridiculous, and Croak of Genius (E) is almost useless until you hit level 15 and get the corresponding talent. His healing from Amphibian Rhapsody (R) is likewise the only useful part of his ultimate, which means that hitting level 6 doesn’t feel nearly as impactful as it should be.

He needs his team to be competent around him, as he doesn’t really have anything in his kit that allows him to turn a bad situation around in a hurry.

This likely explains why Valve didn’t hesitate one bit to enable him in Captains Mode this quickly. Even they know he’s weak, so it shouldn’t be a huge mistake to let pro teams get their hands on him right away. That said, Patch 7.40 does buff a few of his numbers, so at least things are going in the right direction in that regard.

Also, pro teams are far, far more coordinated than pub players are, so maybe we’ll see Largo’s full potential unlocked there. Thankfully, we might not have to wait too long, as the PGL Wallachia Season 7 qualifiers are set to begin in just a few days.