Dota 2
Dota 2
ana will stand in for RNG at the Dota 2 Arlington Major
William Davis
The Arlington Major visa crisis has resulted in another surprise comeback for Anathan “ana” Pham. After announcing that Daniel “Ghost” Chan Kok Hong would not be able to attend duke to visa issues, Royal Never Give Up will now sport double-TI champion ana as its hard carry for the Arlington Major. This marks the second big Dota 2 event to feature ana since his informal retirement after The International 2019. …
Dota 2
The best heroes for 10 vs 10 in Dota 2 are completely OP
William Davis
The 10 vs 10 game mode returns to Dota 2 in this week’s spotlight, but certain heroes are completely overpowered due to the doubled hero count. 10 vs 10 is rare in Dota 2. It’s difficult to coordinate a game between 20 people, and the Dota 2 map has a hard time accommodating so many players. However, it does bring new strategies and ideas to the Dota 2 experience. Many …
Dota 2
The TI11 Battle Pass leak is fake, here’s when it’s coming
William Davis
The International 2022 Battle Pass is probably on its way, but leaked images of the TI11 splash screen are just plain trolling. A leaked image of the TI11 Battle Pass for Dota 2 has begun circulating online. The image claims to show a red battle pass background with a new arcana available for Skywrath Mage. However, on further analysis, it is certainly fake. Here’s how to tell and when the …
Dota 2
Xtreme forfeits Arlington Major slot, loses chance at TI11
William Davis
After accepting a controversial forfeit in the Dota Pro Circuit, Xtreme Gaming has forfeited its own slot at the Arlington Major. The decision to not attend the major Dota 2 tournament comes from Xtreme Gaming management, who cited difficulty with acquiring travel visas. The player most affected appears to be Lou “lou” Zhen, whose visa application was denied three times. The promising squad will lose out on a ton of …
Why are PSG.LGD players rubbing XinQ’s belly before pro games?
William Davis
Dota 2
Rubbing the belly of your teammate sounds like a strange pre-match ritual, but for PSG.LGD’s Dota 2 team, it’s becoming a longstanding tradition. One of the strangest phenomena in Dota 2 esports is watching PSG.LGD walk up to the squad’s support player Zhao “XinQ” Zixing and begin to rub his belly. Team captain Zhang “y`” Yiping is the most common masseuse, but offlaner Zhang “Faith_bian” Ruida has also been seen …
Topson confirms a comeback to pro Dota 2, but when?
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen is looking to make a comeback to Dota 2 esports, but it doesn’t seem like he will be returning to OG. The two-time TI champion has been out of action since The International 2021 and was openly discussing retirement before the event. As is often the case in esports, that idea didn’t hold up over time. With the qualifiers to The International 2022 looming, Topson is considering …
Dota 2 fans are freaking out over this pro’s massive biceps
William Davis
Dota 2
A $4 million Dota 2 tournament’s stream is occasionally being blocked by one pro’s massive biceps. Riyadh Masters has continued to Dota 2 esports tradition of silly things happening on stream. In case of Tundra Esports stand-in offlaner Nikita “Daxak” Kuzmin, fans have noticed that his abnormally large biceps are partially blocking their view of the team cameras. In addition to that, the Riyadh Masters memes include extremely rapid commentary …
Which casters are commentating at the PGL Arlington Major?
William Davis
Dota 2
The casters and analysts for the PGL Arlington Major have been announced, but some fans aren’t happy with the lineup. Tournament organizer PGL has announced the talent for the Dota 2 Arlington Major. The list includes many iconic casters including Gabriel “Lyrical” Cruz and David “GoDz” Parker. Many newer talents are getting their time to shine at the year’s second-most important Dota 2 event. However, the lack of some recognized …
You’re playing Arc Warden wrong, here’s how the pros do it now
William Davis
Dota 2
Arc Warden is usually one of Dota 2’s most boring heroes, but pros are using a new build that turns him into the game’s strongest caster. When watching a Dota 2 draft, there are a few heroes that nobody wants to see. Amid the Lone Druids and Spectres, one hero stands on top as the most boring of all. Arc Warden is usually a scaling split-push hero that stacks active …
Will Heroes of Newerth heroes come to Dota 2 after closure?
William Davis
Dota 2
Dota 2 and Heroes of Newerth have a lot in common and if Valve listens to fan requests, their similarities may even include heroes. Heroes of Newerth is the spiritual Dota 1.5. A gap-closer between the Warcraft III mod and Valve’s official sequel. Many older Dota 2 fans have fond memories of the game. In fact, many pro players including two-time TI champion captain Johan “N0tail” Sundstein trace their competitive …
xQc finally plays Dota 2, falls for biggest bait in history
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Former Overwatch League pro and current superstar streamer Felix “xQc” Lengyel has been playing Dota 2 on stream and came out on the bad end of one of the best baits you’ll ever see. xQc has previously butted heads with people for preferring Dota 2 to League of Legends. He has criticized Riot Games’ MOBA on a few occasions in the past, stating in December that it lacks the depth …
iceiceice isn’t with Team Secret for Riyadh Masters, here’s why
William Davis
Dota 2
Fans of Daryl “iceiceice” Xiang will be sad to hear that he will not be appearing with Team Secret at Riyadh Masters. Fan-favorite offlaner iceiceice will not be attending Riyadh Masters 2022 with Team Secret. Fellow Dota 2 veteran Roman “Resolut1on” Fomynok will take his place in the offlane. The exact reason is not known yet, but iceiceice’s absence could be linked to multiple restrictions affecting travel. Four players have …
PSG.LGD helped another team’s TI11 chances, will Valve stop it?
William Davis
Dota 2
Chinese powerhouse PSG.LGD chose to forfeit its final game to Xtreme, and the Dota 2 scene doesn’t know how to feel about it. On July 17, PSG.LGD was scheduled to play its final match of the season against Xtreme Gaming. However, just hours before the planned game, PSG.LGD announced that it would be forfeiting the game to Xtreme. Clever fans may have finally found out exactly why the multi-time The …
Techies and Bounty Hunter have the funniest Dota 2 bug
William Davis
Dota 2
The funniest glitch in Dota 2 involves a T-posing Techies spinning at mach speed across the map. Dota 2 players have discovered a new glitch that may rank among the funniest in the whole game. The setup involves Techies, Bounty Hunter, and a strange interaction with Lotus Orb. The result is one of the wildest graphical glitches possible. While somewhat complicated at first, it is reasonable enough to see in …
The best heroes, tricks, and strategies for Dark Moon in Dota 2
William Davis
Dota 2
Dark Moon is a great way to unwind from playing competitive ranked Dota 2 games, but it can quickly become more stressful without the right strategies. Dark Moon was one of the first PvE modes added to Dota 2. Predating Siltbreaker and Aghanim’s Labyrinth, the mode is a fun tower defense mission against 15 waves of enemies. After five years of absence, the mode is finally back in its original …
ana returns to pro Dota 2 as Team Liquid sub at Riyadh Masters
William Davis
Dota 2
After over a year of speculation, Anathan “ana” Pham will finally return to pro Dota 2 with Team Liquid. Team Liquid has announced that ana will stand-in for Team Liquid at Riyadh Masters 2022. This will mark the first time ana has played in formal pro Dota 2 competition since May 2021 at the European Dota Pro Circuit. This could potentially mark the beginning of a major comeback for the …
Few games have proven to have the resilient popularity enjoyed by Dota 2. The multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA for short, has been among the biggest and most successful projects released by gaming giant Valve, and it continues to enjoy great popularity to this day.
That popularity has endured despite a great number of changes that have been made to both the game itself and to the communities surrounding it. The competitive title’s history reaches all the way back to another game created and published by another developer, but with Valve now leading the way, Dota 2 seems primed to last well into the future.
From Blizzard to Valve, Dota 2 continues to evolve
While know today as one of Valve’s key game properties, Dota 2 has its origins in a real-time strategy game developed and published by famed video game company Blizzard. One of the franchises that keyed Blizzard’s success and reputational growth in the games industry is WarCraft, which today is best-known for the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft.
But prior to the success of World of Warcraft, the high-fantasy franchise was experienced through a series of RTS games. The third main title in that series, WarCraft 3, provided players not only with a great experience right out of the box, but also with the opportunity to heavily modify the game and its functions, and to play modified versions of the experience as custom games online with other players.
The most popular of these custom game modes was arguably Defense of the Ancients, or DotA for short. This custom game mode saw two teams of players face off against each other with strong individual champion characters, as opposed to building out complex home bases and developing broad armies of diverse units.
It was an entirely different way to play the game, and it proved so popular that would eventually give birth to an entirely new genre of video games: the MOBA genre.
The continuation of the original DotA became Dota 2, a project developed under the guidance of famed developer and publisher Valve. Flush with success from online marketplace Steam and its own franchises including Half-Life and Portal, Valve was more than willing to invest in this new and innovative game type.
The International sets Dota 2 apart
While there have been many other competitive games created and released since, including other popular MOBAs such as Riot Games’ League of Legends, Dota 2 has stood apart for remaining true to its roots and for massive competitive events like The International. First held in 2011 for the purpose of bringing together disparate competitive teams from all around the world with more than $1 million on the line, the esports tournament quickly grew into the biggest such event of each calendar year.
One of the main drivers behind that immense growth was the upwards trajectory of the tournament’s prize pool. Partially funded by Dota 2 players and esports fans, the prize pool for The International began increasing in 2013 and eventually ballooned to a massive total of over $40 million by the time 2021 rolled around. For the groups of players and coaches who climbed this mountain and won its top prize, it was a truly life-changing event.
For varied reasons, Valve eventually soured on running the event itself and on the idea of having so much money filtered into one specific event. Prize winnings were dropped significantly in 2022, and even further for the 2023 and 2024 events. But despite the prizes on hand no longer being quite so astronomical, The International still boasts a prize in the low millions, and it remains the biggest event on the Dota 2 competitive calendar and arguably on the greater esports calendar across all games.
Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2
