Play DotA 2 Offline (with bots)

[Riven]

Well, I learnt a neat trick to play offline.
(I dunno how to play via LAN offline though but I do know that you need to route all the PCs through a local server and create lobbies via console. And believe me, it works. First-hand experience d
Anyhow, follow these steps below: (ignore anything written in italic)

1) Launch Steam in Offline mode
2) In the Library, right-click on DotA 2 and select Properties
3) Under Properties>General, click on Set Launch Options
4) Clear the text and type in -console
5) Open DotA 2
6) Enter console (press ~ or \)
7) Type in the following commands consecutively:
sv_lan 0
sv_cheats 1
dota_bot_set_difficulty x (x can be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4)
dota_start_ai_game 0
map dota
8) Wait for a few moments and
9) Ta-da! You can now play with bots in offline mode

 

[LordDz]

Well... You can already do this?
Just hit the practice button?

 

[Jicyphex]

Well, that was no secret.
As for:

(I dunno how to play via LAN offline though but I do know that you need to route all the PCs through a local server and create lobbies via console. And believe me, it works. First-hand experience d

You can simply host a Dota 2 server through the Alien Swarm srcds with a few simple parameters and have others connect to the IP.

 

[Riven]

Well... You can already do this?
Just hit the practice button?

With the new update, you can't start the game without connecting to the internet. Although you can start Steam in offline mode, it will try to connect on game start.

 

[LordDz]

Does it work if you unconnect your internet cable/disable internet and then start steam?

 

[Riven]

Does it work if you unconnect your internet cable/disable internet and then start steam?

Nope, even if you try to start DotA2 without an internet connection, it will automatically try to connect to the Steam server during the start screen.
So, basically, this hack finds a way around the game from connecting to the server. However, basic things such as the Settings are locked because apparently, even the homescreen requires and internet connection.