Dota 2
Dota 2
Will there be a 2021 Dota 2 battle pass? Here’s what we know
Steven Rondina
Update: The Nemestice event has its own battle pass similar to the ones seen for The International. Find out everything here. Dota 2 fans have been wondering for months whether the new year would bring a new battle pass to the popular MOBA. But at the moment, it does not seem like there will be any new Dota 2 battle pass coming in 2021. Valve made the announcement in May …
Dota 2
This Dota 2 training game will help you raise your MMR
William Davis
Manta dodges? Armlet toggles? Backswing cancels? Messing up any of Dota 2’s advanced techniques can cost you a kill or even your life, but there’s an easy way to practice. Training Polygon by c0mb1ne is a Dota 2 arcade game meant to help players practice difficult mechanics. The custom game has modes for ability dodging, Armlet toggling, skillshot training, and more. Training Polygon is available for free in the Dota …
Dota 2
Here’s what we know about when the Spectre arcana skin comes out
Steven Rondina
The International 10 Battle Pass is long gone at this point, but that doesn’t mean it’s over. One of the biggest parts of the battle pass each year is the Arcana Vote event, which picks a hero to receive a new arcana skin. The TI10 Battle Pass saw Spectre come out on top, defeating Faceless Void in the finals to become the next hero to receive an arcana skin. Unfortunately, …
Dota 2
This is why Ancient Apparition has the highest win rate in Dota 2
William Davis
A metagame centered around tanky core heroes has pushed Ancient Apparition to the top of Dota 2’s pecking order. The ice demon currently sports a 55.12% win rate, the highest in Dota 2, thanks to his unique ability to prevent healing. He’s the winningest hero in every bracket below Immortal, where Broodmother, Meepo, and Dark Seer take over. His margin of victory is almost .5% above the next closest hero …
Dota 2
Na’Vi guts AS Monaco Gambit roster to prep for TI10 qualifiers
Steven Rondina
Dota 2 teams that fell short of qualifying for the WePlay AniMajor are now shuffling around their rosters in order to qualify for The International 10. Though most of these are likely to be one-off squads including various journeymen, Natus Vincere may have cobbled together the best team in the CIS region. The organization has announced the releases of Andrii “ALWAYSWANNAFLY” Bondarenko and Bogdan “Iceberg” Vasilenko. Replacing them is a …
Dota 2
These are the smart betting favorites for the WePlay AniMajor
William Davis
18 teams will compete for $500,000 at an anime-themed Dota 2 tournament in Ukraine. The WePlay AniMajor marks the second international Dota 2 tournament since the start of 2020. Dota’s six regions have spent the last six weeks battling for major positions. The $500,000 prize pool provided plenty of motivation. Of the 18 squads attending, only one can become champion. The teams will enter the competition at different stages. The …
Dota 2
Bristleback and Medusa nerfs highlight Dota 2 patch 7.29d
William Davis
Dota 7.29d nerfs many of the strongest heroes in the game, breaking ground on a brand new meta. The fourth subpatch of Dota 2 7.29 is a collection of nerfs targeting the most successful heroes and items across the professional scene and pubs. It also removes the Toss buyback mechanic that Yawar “YawaR” Hassan may have inadvertently abused in Quincy Crew’s match over Evil Geniuses at the North American upper …
News
2 teams permanently banned by Valve for match fixing in DPC
Steven Rondina
The new Dota Pro Circuit has a lot more infrastructure and opportunity, but unfortunately the Dota 2 pro scene is still showing itself to be vulnerable to match fixing. North American DPC lower division teams Wind and Rain and Pecado Squad Gaming have been removed from the league and given permanent bans from all Valve-sponsored tournaments. This follows a series of accusations made against the teams by former teammates as …
New EternaLEnVy roster drama erupts over TI10 qualifiers
Steven Rondina
News
When it comes to Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao, a new team means a new cast of characters for another dramatic roster breakup. The latest such drama is currently underway with Black N Yellow. EternaLEnVy took to social media to accuse Black N Yellow’s Daniel “zero” Yun of effectively dissolving the team out of spite rather than letting former members attempt to qualify for The International. This will effectively leave all five …
Arkosh Gaming promoted in DPC, mason leaks players’ identities
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Arkosh Gaming is no longer just a meme team. The anonymous, black metal-themed squad secured a spot in the upper division of the North American Dota Pro Circuit league with a win over 5ManMidas. The team finished with a 6-1 record in the league to lock in a second-place finish in the season. This will see Arkosh Gaming move up to the upper division alongside D2 Hustlers to replace SADBOYS …
Dota 2 pro rage quits out of key match before WePlay AniMajor
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
No matter what the stakes are in a game, Dota 2 players are capable of rage quitting. The latest demonstration of this came during the final match of the Dota PIT South American Dota Pro Circuit league. In the final match of the regular season, NoPing e-sports was taking on beastcoast. After punting a team fight and losing Roshan, NoPing’s Jose Leonardo “Panda” Padilla Hernandez put out a “GG” call …
10 new teams added to Dota 2 Supporter’s Club
William Davis
Dota 2
Dota 2 fans can now support ten more Dota Pro Circuit squads via the new Supporter’s Club System. The added teams include such fan favorites as Thunder Predator, PSG.LGD, and Vikin.gg. This is the third round of additions, bringing the total number of available banners to 36. The new collection features teams from China, South America, Western Europe, and Southeast Asia. The majority of new additions are competing in their …
Ceb has Twitter meltdown after OG misses WePlay AniMajor
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Anyone that follows European Dota 2 teams on Twitter has seen plenty of shade getting thrown over the last 18 months, but not everyone can comfortably take the heat. Sebastian “Ceb” Debs isn’t taking kindly to the dogpiling that has happened to his team, OG. The two-time The International champions are set to miss out on the WePlay AniMajor after a fifth-place finish in DreamLeague Season 15 and will need …
5 crazy Dota 2 facts you probably didn’t know
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Dota 2 is a game with 120 characters full of lore, almost 15 years of history as an esport, and an origin as a custom map for a completely different game. Even within its recent history, publisher Valve has changed plans and retconned backstories for a variety of reasons. This has made for a lot of weird, interesting trivia within Dota 2. There are far deeper cuts within Dota 2 …
Toss buyback bug helps Quincy Crew to beat Evil Geniuses
Steven Rondina
News
A longstanding Dota 2 bug just played a big part in a key Dota Pro Circuit match featuring two of the world’s best teams. During game two of Quincy Crew vs. Evil Geniuses in the North American DPC League, Yawar “YawaR” Hassan was killed by Abed “Abed” Azel L. Yusop Tiny with his Toss spell. This left YawaR’s two Divine Rapiers on the ground, something that would have swung the …
Alliance locks 1st in DPC league, spot in next Dota 2 major
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Alliance is still in the thick of its biggest controversy to date, but that isn’t hurting the team’s competitive performance. The embattled organization has secured first-place in the Dota Pro Circuit’s top European league, DreamLeague Season 15. Alliance defeated Hellbear Smashers to secure a 6-1 record on the season, completing its games in the league and mathematically securing a first-place finish with a week still remaining in the competition. ???? …
ppd says OG stopped scrims over Alliance cheating controversy
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Alliance was cleared of any wrongdoing for its alleged cheating in the Dota Pro Circuit, but that doesn’t mean that things are just going back to normal. Alliance coach Peter “ppd” Dager did a personal stream on Twitch recently and discussed the controversy surrounding his shot-calling for the team during games in DreamLeague Season 15. Though he wasn’t bombastic or confrontational in his answers, he did let slip that there …
Alliance allegedly tried to get casters fired from DreamLeague
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
Alliance has already had a rough week but things haven’t really cooled down for the team since. During a recent installment of the Side Pull Podcast, Dota 2 caster Austin “Capitalist” Walsh stated that Alliance management had issued a complaint to ESL and DreamHack regarding the broadcast team. In particular, the team allegedly set its sights on himself and Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden for a recent interview with Linus …
Valve changes DPC rules after Alliance cheating allegations
Steven Rondina
News
After a whirlwind of controversy, more information has come out in regards to cheating allegations against Alliance in DreamLeague Season 15. ESL and DreamHack released simultaneous statements noting that Alliance was not cheating by having trial coach Peter “ppd” Dager on-call with the team for its game against Brame. However, the tournament organizers noted that Valve was forcing a mid-season rule change in the Dota Pro Circuit leagues to prevent …
TI10 date & location confirmed, but is the Battle Pass canceled?
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
UPDATE: Valve has confirmed a new date and location for The International 2021 after previous plans to host the event in Stockholm fell through. Find out everything here. Finally. More than one year removed from the indefinite postponement of The International 10, Valve has confirmed a new date for the event. Wykrhm Reddy announced the news on Twitter: The International 10 is back on the menu. Mark your calendars. #TI10 #Dota2 …
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.
