Watch Dota 2's third-person shooter mod in action

An intrepid modder has turned MOBA Dota 2 into a third-person shooter.

Modder "BMD" took the Source 2 Dota 2 engine and created what he's dubbed "Action Dota". It tweaks the game's camera position and uses a unique system of character motion that enables jumping and strafing - movements characters normally cannot do in Valve's phenomenally popular multiplayer online battle arena game.

In the video, below, we see the mod in action. Dota 2 hero Sniper can be seen darting about the map and shooting enemies. It's early days, but we get the idea.

According to a post on Reddit by BMD, players of the mod do not give unit orders as they normally do in Dota 2. Hero abilities and items are not used, either.

To create the third-person camera effect, BMD requires each player selects a flying Enigma unit at the start of the match. The mod detects this unit and uses it as the object to point the camera at. You can see this at the 30 second mark.

A work in progress, then, but one worth keeping an eye on.