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Who is Ephey? The soft-spoken analyst that’s heading to TI10 Dota 2 Who is Ephey? The soft-spoken analyst that’s heading to TI10 By William Davis TI10 teams forced to practice in tiny rooms with no internet Dota 2 TI10 teams forced to practice in tiny rooms with no internet By Steven Rondina Ceb returning to play at TI10 after emergency eye surgery Dota 2 Ceb returning to play at TI10 after emergency eye surgery By Steven Rondina
Ultimo GG launches free esports tournaments with cash prizes Counter-Strike
Ultimo GG launches free esports tournaments with cash prizes William Davis Ready to start your journey as a future pro esports player? Next-gen esports platform Ultimo GG has announced a new free tournament series with £50,000 in prizes. The lineup includes five of the biggest esports today, each with its own prize pool. The event is open to aspiring players and squads across the United Kingdom and Europe. Join the Ultimo GG Series through Challenger Mode for a guaranteed slot in …
Everything you need to know about miCKe, Ceb’s TI10 substitute Dota 2
Everything you need to know about miCKe, Ceb’s TI10 substitute Steven Rondina Even though Team Liquid fell well short of qualifying for The International 2021, Michael “miCKe” Vu might get the chance to play at the event for OG. Earlier this week, it was announced that Sebastian “Ceb” Debs is indisposed due to an emergency eye surgery. The Team Liquid carry player has been boot camping with OG in his stead, prepared to replace him. While Ceb isn’t officially out of TI10, …
Dota 2 player count plunges after months of improvement Dota 2
Dota 2 player count plunges after months of improvement Steven Rondina Dota 2 has had a very strong 2021, but almost all the gains the game has made in terms of player counts evaporated in September. The final numbers for September’s player counts are in and Dota 2’s average player counts dropped about 8% to 391,082 in September according to Steam Charts. This ends five straight months of average player count gains for Dota 2 and is the lowest tally seen …
Valve confirms there will be no crowd at TI10, issues refunds Dota 2
Valve confirms there will be no crowd at TI10, issues refunds Steven Rondina The International 2021 will not have a live audience in attendance after all. According to an announcement from Valve, the largest Dota 2 event of the year will be played out in front of thousands of empty seats. This comes due to health and safety concerns in Bucharest, with Valve citing the need to protect staff, players, and event crew. Fans who have paid for tickets will be receiving refunds. …
These are the best predictions for the TI10 Compendium Dota 2 These are the best predictions for the TI10 Compendium By Steven Rondina TI10 Compendium update turns it into second TI10 Battle Pass Dota 2 TI10 Compendium update turns it into second TI10 Battle Pass By Steven Rondina This trick by Team Liquid’s qojqva makes Lone Druid OP Dota 2 This trick by Team Liquid’s qojqva makes Lone Druid OP By William Davis
Shard Chen is the hot new Dota 2 build, here’s how to do it Dota 2
Shard Chen is the hot new Dota 2 build, here’s how to do it William Davis Chen’s Aghanim’s Shard is stampeding over patch 7.30. Here’s how to kill your enemies with a portable ancient stack. Warm up your micro skills, because Chen is making plays in Dota 2 matchmaking. Chen’s win rate has surged in patch 7.30d. The micro-intensive missionary’s win rate has jumped to a whopping 49.4% in Ancient matchmaking. That doesn’t seem strong, but it’s an extremely high win rate for such a micro-intensive …
Invictus Gaming player may be out of TI10 over health issue Dota 2
Invictus Gaming player may be out of TI10 over health issue Steven Rondina The International 2021 is just one week away, but the event is already shaping up to be highly controversial and potentially disastrous. Invictus Gaming has announced on Weibo that Thiay “JT-” Jun Wen has been affected by a potentially dangerous health condition and has exposed a member of the team’s staff as well. The team did not explicitly state what the plan was for JT- moving forward and whether he …
Team Aster may withdraw from TI10 due to health concerns Dota 2
Team Aster may withdraw from TI10 due to health concerns William Davis Team Aster may end the unluckiest season in Dota 2 history by missing The International. According to an official public release, several members of Team Aster’s Dota 2 division have shown potentially significant health issues by way of positive tests just days before TI10. The squad would enter the $40 million event coming off of a championship victory at i-League Season 2. Aster has not yet formally resigned, but it …
Here’s how Dota 2’s day/night cycle works and how to abuse it Dota 2
Here’s how Dota 2’s day/night cycle works and how to abuse it William Davis The lonely Dota 2 player frees their mind at night, but they really ought to be ganking instead.  Dota 2’s time of day cycle is a strange mechanic. New players might not even notice it, but experienced veterans know how to abuse both stages’ unique mechanics. In addition to map changes, several heroes have special mechanics related to day and night. Here’s how Dota 2’s time of day system works …
Gaming psychiatrist Dr K. will attend The International 10 William Davis Dota 2 Dota 2’s fan base could definitely use a lesson on mental health. Just ask the players. Famous Twitch streamer and psychiatrist Alok “Dr K.” Kanojia is attending Dota 2’s The International 10. The streaming icon revealed the news through social media, where he talked about his past experiences with Dota 2. He didn’t reveal his exact role at TI10, but he will most likely appear as a content creator between …
It looks like Dota 2 Twitch drops may be returning for TI10 William Davis Dota 2 A new Dota 2 update might have leaked a fan favorite feature returning for TI10. A hidden file found by data miners has potentially revealed a Twitch drop system for Dota 2. One potential explanation is that Valve plans to reintegrate Dota 2 stream rewards for The International 10. No details have been discovered for how to claim these drops or what they contain, but they will probably work similarly …
Dota 2 patch 7.30d is one last round of polish before TI10 William Davis Dota 2 32 heroes have received one last tune-up before The International 10. Patch 7.30d is the third small update for Dota 2 patch 7.30. This update nerfed the top level of the meta and gave small buffs to several overlooked heroes. In addition to a much-needed nerf on Overwhelming Blink, it also rebalanced a handful of neutral items. All players can now play on the official patch for The International 10. …
How to counter Tinker, the teleporting terror of Patch 7.30 William Davis Dota 2 Tinker has bounced back as metagame terror in Patch 7.30. Here’s how to even the playing field.  According to Dota Plus statistics, Tinker currently has a 55.7% win rate in Ancient and a 54.7% win rate in Divine and Immortal. That puts Tinker in the top tier of Dota 2 heroes at the higher levels of play. The hero can be incredibly frustrating to deal with, but there are a …
OG adds Misha as head coach for The International 2021 William Davis Dota 2 OG has announced a surprise change at the coaching position just weeks before The International 2021. The reigning TI champion has announced the signing of Mikhail “Misha” Agatov. The Russian ex-professional player will serve as the squad’s coach for the biggest event in Dota 2 history. The squad first began working with Misha during preparations for the Western Europe TI10 qualifier. OG still enters the $40 million tournament as an …
Why did Team Nigma and Galaxy Racer merge into Nigma Galaxy? Steven Rondina Dota 2 Dota 2 esports fans aren’t seeing double. There really are two Team Nigmas now. The organization founded by The International 2019 runners-up made a surprise announcement that it has merged with Galaxy Racer Esports and will take on a secondary Dota 2 roster as a result. Galaxy Racer’s Dota 2 team is based in Southeast Asia with a primarily Indonesian roster, but Galaxy Racer actually headquarters in the United Arab …
New Dota 2 hero and Mirana model may come after TI10 Steven Rondina Dota 2 Hidden Dota 2 files show that something big is coming in the near future. UPDATE: The next Dota 2 hero has been revealed. Find out who it is here. In a recent update, changes were made to a file that contains the minimap icons for every Dota 2 champion, including alternative icons for arcanas and hero personas. Included in that file are three new additions that are blacked out, which …
The betting dark horses to watch at The International 10 William Davis Dota 2 The biggest Dota 2 tournament in history could continue the tradition of a dark horse champion.  The International 10 and its $40 million prize pool are just around the corner. Dota 2 teams from across the world have dissected patch 7.30 looking for the best strategies. Every International from 2014 to now has been won by an underdog, so no team should be counted out just yet. Here are three …
Every Dota 2 game is canon in Dota 2’s lore, here’s how William Davis Dota 2 Many Dota 2 mechanics seem entirely separated from the lore, but everything from cosmetics to respawns have in-game lore explanations.  Games like Undertale and The Elder Scrolls franchise have lore explanations for why the player can save and load, but Dota 2 takes that idea one step further. Valve’s MOBA has actual lore explanations for why the battle of the ancients happens over and over again with slightly different results …
How to activate cheats and spawn heroes in Dota 2 demo mode William Davis Dota 2 With thousands of interactions to test, every Dota 2 player should get acquainted with demo mode. Demo mode provides a safe environment for players to test interactions in Dota 2. Valve provides the basic tools to test skill builds and different items, but there’s a lot more to learn once players take the plunge. Here’s how to set up a custom hero testing environment in Dota 2 demo mode and …
What low priority means and how to escape it in Dota 2 William Davis Dota 2 It may not have any real impact on your Dota 2 account, but a stint in low priority can cause long-term psychological damage. Low priority is one of the most dreaded punishments in Dota 2. There are multiple ways to earn a stint in low priority matchmaking and there’s only one way to get rid of it. If you’re trying to figure out why you can only queue for single …
The best way to play the TI10 Fantasy Challenge game Steven Rondina Dota 2 The International 2021 is quickly approaching and Dota 2 fans now have access to the TI10 Compendium. While there isn’t a battle pass attached to it, fans will have the chance to play the TI fantasy mini-game, make predictions, and set up a bracket with the chance to win some unique skins. The first thing that’s available to players is the fantasy mini-game, but more than two years removed from …

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.