Dota 2
Dota 2
DOTA: Dragon’s Blood Book 2 delayed, but here’s when it comes out
Steven Rondina
The premier of DOTA: Dragon’s Blood Book 2 has been quietly pushed back by Netflix. Back in December, Netflix revealed that the second season of the animated series based on Dota 2 was receiving a second season much sooner than initially expected. While the first season took years to develop, the second season was announced for January 6. Though that announcement came just four weeks ago, something has changed within …
Dota 2
Why has the radiant advantage disappeared in pro Dota 2 games?
William Davis
Pro Dota 2 teams had almost completely even win rates across Radiant and Dire in 2021. Now that 2021 is over, Dota 2 stat junkies have released their yearly analysis of the pro scene. Statistician supreme Ben “Noxville” Steenhuisen’s end-of-year review unveiled plenty of information about the state of the game. Among several notable statistics, the most interesting may be regarding the radiant advantage in profressional Dota 2. While radiant …
Dota 2
Here’s why Jakiro is the best Dota 2 hero of patch 7.30e
William Davis
The best hero in Dota 2 7.30e may not be who you expect. At the moment, Jakiro might actually be the best hero in the game. According to the official numbers, Jakiro is the best hero in Dota 2 heading into the new year. The two-headed dragon sported a 53.93% win rate across the month of December 2021 with a 12.65% pick rate. Dotabuff also lists Jakiro as the 21st-most …
Dota 2
All about Arteezy, Dota 2’s biggest esports and streaming star
Steven Rondina
Artour “Arteezy” Babaev is a professional Dota 2 player best known for his time with Evil Geniuses. He is also one of Dota 2’s most popular streamers. He began playing Dota 2 at a professional level at just 16 years old. In 2013, he was added to a formidable Kaipi roster. This only lasted for a short time as he juggled school and competitive play. He bounced around multiple teams …
Dota 2
Three carry tips and tricks that will rank you up in Dota 2
William Davis
These three tips and tricks will help you rise up the Dota 2 ranks as a carry player. Position one is one of the most difficult roles to play in Dota 2. Its your job to eventually win the game for your team, but that doesn’t mean they’ll make it easy for you to carry. You need to make constant decisions about the best times to fight and how to …
Dota 2
Drow Ranger’s pick rate is soaring, here’s how to counter her
William Davis
Countering Drow Ranger may seem silly until you watch your health bar melt under a barrage of arrows. With the release of the new Dread Retribution arcana, Drow Ranger’s pick rate has massively spiked. She’s now the sixth-most-popular hero in the game according to Dotabuff pick rate info. Anyone who’s played during the holiday season already knew that. Drow Ranger is usually stereotyped as a training carry due to her …
Dota 2
This is how and when to base race in Dota 2
William Davis
Mastering the base race is an essential part of ranking up in Dota 2. In Dota 2, the term base race refers to a specific late-game scenario in which both teams attempt to attack the opposing base to end the game. Some players use the term “GG push” to refer to the tactic. Base races are an uncommon scenario, but they almost invariably lead to the end of a game. …
Dota 2
What is the Dota 2 Aghanim’s Labyrinth Battle Pass end date?
Steven Rondina
Dota 2’s new battle pass tied to the Aghanim’s Labyrinth: The Continuum Conundrum event has arrived, but what is its end date? Dota 2 players have generally gotten accustomed to The International Battle Pass, which typically runs for months between May and either August or September of each year. This has changed recently, with Dota 2 rolling out multiple events over the course of the year that don’t actually last …
Who is ana? All about one of Dota 2’s biggest star players
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Anathan “ana” Pham is one of Dota 2’s most popular personalities courtesy of his time with championship team OG. With two The International championships and two Valve-sponsored major titles to his name, he’s also among the richest and most decorated players in Dota 2 history. ana took a unique approach to entering the Dota 2 pro scene, dropping out of high school and moving from Australia to Shanghai to try …
Everything you need to know about Dota 2 Cavern Crawl
William Davis
Dota 2
The Cavern Crawl is a great way to earn free battle pass levels and shiny new skins in Dota 2. Get ready to revisit your favorite heroes and learn new ones in an exciting way. The Cavern Crawl is available by purchasing the Aghanim’s Labyrinth battle pass in the Dota 2 client. The cavern is a sprawling network connected by unique obstacles and hero challenges. As you win with the …
How much does the Drow Ranger arcana really cost?
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
No matter how hard a player works, the Drow Ranger arcana will cost quite a bit in the new Dota 2 battle pass. Dota 2 players have been left frustrated throughout 2021 as Valve has effectively multiplied the price of new arcana skins by making them exclusive to battle passes. While other games like Fortnite and Apex Legends allow players to earn some great prizes from seasonal battle passes through …
These are the best heroes to dominate Aghanim’s Labyrinth
William Davis
Dota 2
Aghanim’s Labyrinth is tough, but picking the best hero combinations makes things way easier. The limited hero pool makes Aghanim’s Labyrinth seem like a simple mode, but anyone with The Continuum Conundrum battle pass can tell you that isn’t the case. Elite challenges and boss fights can tear teams apart in a matter of seconds. Heck, there’s a lot of strategy before the game even begins. Four heroes per team …
The best week 1 upgrades to take for Aghanim’s Labyrinth
William Davis
Dota 2
Aghanim’s Labyrinth upgrades make Dota 2’s toughest PVE game easier for everyone. In normal Dota 2, grit, skill, and teamwork are the only paths to victory. In Aghanim’s Labyrinth, winning or losing depends a lot on what buttons you press in the main menu. Aside from the draft, arcane fragments and the upgrades they purchase are the biggest factors for whether your run goes belly-up or ends with a dead …
How to rank up quickly in Dota 2 over the holidays
William Davis
Dota 2
The holidays are the perfect time to rank up in Dota 2. In between all the Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s festivities, there’s tons of free time to play your favorite game. Dota 2’s player base surges during the holidays, which means lightning-fast queues and lots of returning players who might just be a bit rusty. That means that right now is the perfect time to grind some MMR. …
You can now play Dota 2 with a controller, and this is how
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The Aghanim’s Labyrinth: The Continuum Conundrum Battle Pass has added controller support to Dota 2, and setting it up can be an absolutely awful experience. But we can help. While PC gamers of all sorts have scoffed at the idea of playing certain genres on a controller, that may be an outdated notion. The days of unwieldy and poorly optimized ports of games like StarCraft on the Nintendo 64 and …
All the new Dota 2 skins in The Continuum Conundrum
William Davis
Dota 2
New skins are the most exciting part of any new Dota 2 battle pass and the Aghanim’s Labyrinth: The Continuum Conundrum Battle Pass is no different. Dota 2 was due for a big update after The International 2021 and Valve has delivered. Fans get to enjoy a brand new battle pass chock full of new ways to play the game including the return of the titular custom game mode. The …
New Dota 2 battle pass drops with Drow Arcana, Mirana persona
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The next Dota 2 battle pass has arrived with Aghanim’s Labyrinth: The Continuum Conundrum and it brings a mix of surprising and not-so-surprising content. After a “coming soon” announcement from Valve and a number of leaks, the long-awaited new Dota 2 battle pass is here. It includes all the usual fixin’s of a Dota 2 battle pass including a cavern crawl, the weekly quests used in the Nemestice Battle Pass, …
Updates show that a new Dota 2 battle pass is coming very soon
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The next Dota 2 battle pass is likely coming in the very near future. UPDATE: The next Dota 2 battle pass has arrived. Read all about it. Valve has been repeatedly updating Dota 2 test servers, which is often a precursor to large updates being shipped. This has generally been a standard practice with Valve, with these testing areas being used to trial new content in both Dota 2 and …
Dota 2 pro player SexyBamboe dead at 29
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Dota 2 streamer and professional player Alaan “SexyBamboe” Faraj has passed away. He was 29 years old. Though there hasn’t been public confirmation on SexyBamboe’s social channels, a number of Dota 2 personalities close to him discussed the news independently. As of this writing, it is unclear what the cause of death was. SexyBamboe has been absent for social media for some time. While he maintained a presence on most …
DOTA: Dragon’s Blood Book 2 release date revealed in trailer
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
A new trailer for DOTA: Dragon’s Blood Book 2 has dropped and it shows that things are going very poorly for Davion, Mirana, and their friends. Netflix revealed the next look at the Dota 2 animated series’ second season, and it seems that almost every plot thread in the first season has taken a turn for the worse after the finale. Each of the main characters are touched upon and …
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.
