Techies: from “Give Techies” to “Remove Techies”

Give Techies: the hero who wasn’t there

Techies are three demolition goblins, Squee, Spleen, and Spoon, who came from DotA for Warcraft III. As heroes from the first DotA were ported to Dota 2, Techies stayed on the sidelines for a long time, and a real cult formed around their absence.

“Give Techies” became players’ constant request to Valve and a lasting community meme; TV Tropes, for one, lists it. PC Gamer described Techies as a hero with a cult reputation earned precisely by being missing from Dota 2 for so long.

The reveal at The International 2014 All-Star match

The wait ended on July 19, 2014, at The International 2014 All-Star match. Arteezy, an Evil Geniuses player, picked Sniper, but amid pyrotechnics on stage the hero switched to Techies. As PC Gamer wrote the next day, the arena went absolutely wild.

Valve promised the hero “by the end of August,” but Techies only arrived on September 4, 2014, with patch 6.82. The Valve Developer Community wiki cites the delay as an example of “Valve time,” the company’s signature habit of slipping deadlines.

Kotaku later specified that Valve posted the hero’s splash page on August 29 and the update arrived the following Thursday, with no balance patch, so nothing else drew players away from the new hero.

Mines, first picks, and a divided community

According to Kotaku (September 16, 2014), the community split after release. Some had demanded the hero for months and finally got him; others saw Techies as the end of normal matchmaking, since in All Pick he was taken first and lobbies fell apart. Cosmetics caused a fight too: a “warning sign” ability that was supposed to be sold as a $35 item became a standard ability after player outrage.

Kotaku described the hero’s kit this way: mines and traps that deal heavy damage or immobilize, a close-range suicide blast that costs the goblins their own life, and bombs that can be detonated from across the map. Enemies can’t see the mines without wards or detection items, so playing Techies is about mind games. According to DotaBuff figures the outlet cited, the hero’s win rate at the time was about 43%.

The mechanics cemented the hero’s reputation. Invisible mines, the ability to kill even after dying, and a knack for dragging matches out turned Techies into a synonym for trolling. Over time the reverse joke appeared: “Remove Techies.” As Sportskeeda reported, in 2021 an r/Dota2 post suggesting the hero be removed if the TI prize pool topped $50 million got around three thousand upvotes in a day. When the joke started circulating in general has not been established.

Techies on the big screen at TI4

The meme card shows a photo from the arena at The International 2014. Techies is on the big screen, the demolition goblins riding along, with the word TECHIES on the screen below them and spectators in the hall.

The photo was taken at the tournament where the hero was revealed, the point where Techies’ Dota 2 story began.

Techies captions and related memes

Today the meme means one thing: the game will be painful, whether the bomber is on your team or the enemy’s. These examples are made up for illustration:

“We spent years typing ‘Give Techies,’ and now I’ve been stuck outside high ground for an hour,” “Teammate picked Techies. Cancel your evening plans,” “Remove Techies. I agree with every letter.”

Related memes include “Valve time,” the jokes about Valve’s slipping deadlines, and the hatred for Tinker, another hero players love to complain about.