Divine Rapier: Dota 2's all-or-nothing item

An item that cannot have a single owner

Divine Rapier is built from Sacred Relic and Demon Edge and is considered the game's most powerful damage item. In patch 6.86f it gave +330 damage; the mechanics have changed since, and a separate Caster Rapier was added for spellcasters, so exact numbers depend on the game version.

Its defining feature is what happens when the owner dies. The Rapier drops out of the inventory, and anyone can pick it up, including the enemy. Once an enemy has picked it up, it becomes “free” and works for whoever carries it. The item's flavor text reads: “So powerful, it cannot have a single owner.”

The all-or-nothing bet after minute sixty

Because of the risk of losing it, players buy a Rapier not for comfort but when they have almost no other options left. As cyber.sports.ru put it, over one year on the pro scene the Rapier appeared in roughly one game in ten, almost always after the 60th minute and with the team far behind.

That is where the meme comes from: a Rapier in the inventory means either a comeback or a gift to the opponent, who will take it off the corpse and go destroy the throne. Both outcomes have happened at major tournaments.

Frankfurt Major 2015: two Rapiers and a “desperation Rapier”

In November 2015, Team Secret faced Evil Geniuses at the Frankfurt Major. In game one, EternalEnvy built two Rapiers and won it for Secret. In game two he bought a “desperation Rapier” but died: SumaiL took the item off his corpse, and Evil Geniuses destroyed the throne.

Sources disagree on the details: GosuGamers describes it as the upper bracket final, while an article on Medium calls it the lower bracket final. The same year saw an episode at DAC 2015, where, in a Secret vs Vici Gaming match, an ownerless Rapier lay in the mid lane, “forgotten amidst the chaos” of the fight.

TI7 and the Leipzig Major: Rapiers that decided maps

At The International 2017, Team Liquid played Virtus.pro in the lower bracket. MATUMBAMAN picked up a Rapier and tried to take down the Ancient, but he was killed. In January 2020 at the Leipzig Major, Fnatic won the first map against Team Secret: 23savage on Gyrocopter had two Rapiers, one of them taken from Nisha's Morphling, and hit for almost 900 damage.

Secret still won the series 2–1. Natus Vincere has also compiled its own Rapier moments: a 2018 roundup includes, for example, XBOCT on Gyrocopter at MLG Columbus.

The Fnatic photo from the Leipzig Major

The catalog image is not an in-game shot of a dropped Rapier but a photo: Fnatic players by the stage at DreamLeague Season 13, the Leipzig Major 2020. One of them is celebrating with his arm raised.

It was at the Leipzig Major that Fnatic won the Rapier map against Team Secret, with two Rapiers on Gyrocopter. Which moment of the tournament the photo itself comes from is not specified.

The joy in the photo is only one side of that story: Secret still won the series after the Rapier map.

Rapier captions

These examples were made up for illustration: “Down 30k gold? Time to buy a Rapier,” “Bought a Rapier, now it belongs to everyone,” “Rapier: 50% comeback, 50% gift to the enemy.”

The captions usually play on the same idea: the Rapier belongs not to whoever bought it, but to whoever picked it up last.

A separate theme is the “desperation Rapier,” as EternalEnvy's purchase in game two at the Frankfurt Major was called: it's bought when there's nothing left to lose.