Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2 now has a surrender option, but only if you do this
Steven Rondina
Dota 2 finally has a surrender option, but there’s a catch to it. Valve shipped a major update for Dota 2 on July 6, but it wasn’t a balance patch. A massive overhaul to matchmaking has been implemented that overhauls the experience for those who play in parties. This is exclusively available to full parties of five players, so those who solo queue will have to continue suffering through games …
Dota 2
These are the most expensive Dota 2 skin loadouts in the world
William Davis
Dota 2 has many expensive skins, but some heroes cost a lot more to bling out than others. While skins in Dota 2 have never quite reached the heights of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, there are still plenty of expensive immortals and sets to seek out. In the case of popular picks like Rubick, Juggernaut, and Pudge, the price of rare immortals can quickly grow into the hundreds. If you wanted …
Dota 2
This item now turns Visage into the best hero in all of Dota 2
William Davis
Statistically speaking you’ve probably never played the best hero in Dota 2 version 7.31d, because the powerful-yet-unpopular Visage is the best in the game right now. According to Dota 2 stat trackers, Visage has the highest win rate in Dota 2 this week at 55.32%. He is the only hero above 55%, making him inarguably overpowered. There’s no doubt that Visage is strong in 7.31d, but what’s pushing up his …
Dota 2
All there is to know about Topson, the star mid laner of OG
Steven Rondina
Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen is one of Dota 2’s top stars and became an overnight sensation after joining OG. Here is his complete history in professional Dota 2. Topson first appeared in professional Dota 2 in 2016, competing with the all-Finnish Oogway team in a number of regional European leagues. The team, which also featured a mix of journeyman and developing talent, most notably 4 Anchors + Sea Captain player …
Dota 2
New Dota 2 Chest of Endless Days includes error Lycan
William Davis
The Chest of Endless Days is the newest Dota 2 skin set, but a funny glitch seems to have snuck past Valve. Dota 2 now has another set of hero skins to open in the Chest of Endless Days. The new case includes 13 new sets with three rare opens. The ultra rare of the set is Heir of Menace Invoker, a regal take on his childlike persona. Unlike most …
Dota 2
The best Dota 2 supports for grinding MMR in 7.31d
William Davis
The best supports of Dota 2 7.31d can grind out MMR no matter what cores you’re supporting. Patch 7.31d is meant to tide over Dota 2 players until a bigger update comes after the Arlington Major. Hopefully. That means that the current meta isn’t due for a shift until near the end of the summer. A stable metagame is always the best time to earn MMR since learning a new …
Dota 2
This new trick opens the real Dota 2 map in demo mode
William Davis
Demo mode is the perfect place to test new Dota 2 builds, but the real map provides much more realistic feedback. A new track allows the two to be combined. Dota 2 is a complicated game, and players love spending hours in demo mode uncovering hidden synergies and mechanical quirks. New patches like 7.31d always bring new things for players to test. But even demo mode has its limits. For …
Dota 2
We now know when DOTA: Dragon’s Blood Book 3 is coming out
Steven Rondina
DOTA: Dragon’s Blood Book 3 has been confirmed, and the new season is coming out much sooner than expected. While the first season of the animated series based on Dota 2 was in development for years, the following season had a much quicker turnaround. DOTA: Dragon’s Blood Book 3 is continuing that with the new season coming out just eight months after the second one. The release date for the …
TI11 Battle Pass launch gets huge delay as Valve changes plan
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
A major change is coming to The International Battle Pass for TI11, and that’s going to see the battle pass get a significant delay. The International Battle Pass has traditionally been a summer event, dropping in May and then running through The International in August. In theory, it’s meant to wrap immediately after the conclusion of the event but server outages and various other controversies usually see it last for …
Dota 2 avoid player feature improved, as long as fans pay up
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Dota 2 players get to enjoy an improved avoid player feature, but only if they’re willing to pay up some shards. The Dota 2 7.31d update came with a long list of extra features. Instead of just featuring a balance update that buffs or nerfs a variety of heroes and items, a number of additions were made to the actual Dota 2 client with a particular focus on Dota Plus. …
These hidden Dota 2 mechanics separate noobs from veterans
William Davis
Dota 2
A few key hidden mechanics can make a very big difference in your Dota 2 matches. Dota 2 is a complicated game. With 123 heroes to choose from and more than 200 items available to buy, it’s easy to get lost in this sea of information. But even after reading every ability and demoing each item, Dota 2 still has more hidden mechanics for players to discover. The most useful …
All the best graphics settings to raise your FPS in Dota 2
William Davis
Dota 2
Double-checking your graphics settings is the most efficient way to raise FPS in Dota 2. Dota 2 is a beautiful game, but between all the crazy arcanas and particle-packed immortals, it can be tough to run at full speed. The problem is even worse during big ultimates like Black Hole or Wukong’s Command. Luckily for players with lower-end PCs, Dota 2 is actually fairly easy to run on low settings …
Dota 2 will now have fan votes to determine next bug fixes
William Davis
Dota 2
Dota 2 fans can now report glitches directly to Valve thanks to a developer-created bug tracker. Valve software developer Jeff Hill has announced a new Dota 2 bug tracker for fans to report glitches. The move comes after a renewed discussion about Dota 2’s massive number of glitches. While most bugs have no impact on gameplay, Valve will have an easier time fixing them thanks to player reports. This move …
TI11 gets a new format, venue and date officially revealed
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The International 2022 is set to look very different from previous years. TI11 will be getting a new format and overhauled schedule that will turn the event into a four-week affair, with an official date being revealed. Valve has slowly, clumsily been reworking the Dota 2 pro scene to look more similar to that of rival MOBA League of Legends. That started with the league-based Dota Pro Circuit, but things …
A new highest Dota 2 GPM record set by .Ark on Medusa
William Davis
Dota 2
When it comes to the highest GPM record in Dota 2, there’s no such thing as too much farm. Yegor “.Ark” Zhabotinskii has set a new non-Alchemist record for gold per minute in competitive play while on Medusa with a GPM rate of 1,255. The match in question took place during a Dota 2 Champions League match where .Ark’s team KBU.US went neck-and-neck against Ooredoo Thunders. While this GPM is …
Arcane season 2, DOTA season 3 may be revealed soon by Netflix
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
An event called Netflix Geeked Week will seemingly unveil Arcane season two and DOTA: Dragon’s Blood season three. Netflix Geeked Week is set to be a week of reveals for new content coming to the streaming service. This includes movies, TV shows, and highly-anticipated anime. Much of this has been previously revealed or announced including a Cuphead animated series and the Tekken: Bloodlines anime. But also included was confirmation of …
How to buy tickets for the Dota 2 Arlington Major
William Davis
Dota 2
Arlington, Texas seems like an unlikely spot for a Dota 2 Major, but tickets are on sale for fans to head out west. Fans can now secure their seats at the Dota 2 Arlington Major. Ticket sales are live with single-day options for the whole weekend. Tickets are being sold at a discount as of this writing, but could go up from here. Of course, it always helps to have …
Support Doom is the ticket to gaining MMR in Dota 2 7.31
William Davis
Dota 2
Soft support picks are usually ranged playmakers with lots of flashy spells, but Doom boils down the essence of position four into trading and securing kills. A new Doom support build is snatching MMR left and right in Dota 2 public matchmaking. While Doom is generally considered a bad hero with 45.70% win rate, pro players have developed a new build that puts him in an entirely new role. As …
Here’s the date and location for Dota 2’s TI11
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Details regarding The International 2022 are finally coming out. This includes an estimated date and location for TI11. During the ESL One Stockholm Major, Valve confirmed that TI11 will take place in Singapore. This followed a few days of oddly cheeky posts on Twitter from Valve showing a number of small figurines of Dota 2 heroes. The locations and surroundings of the figures led many to believe that this was …
OG wins ESL Stockholm Major, but could it win TI11?
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
While the old OG was defined by its inconsistency, the new OG is looking consistently great so far. OG are the champions of the ESL One Stockholm Major and are effectively guaranteed a spot at The International 2022. The first major of the 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit concluded with OG taking a victory despite a handicap. Sebastian “Ceb” Debs and Johan “N0tail” Sundstein were forced back into action due to …
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.
