Dota 2
Dota 2
TI10 qualifiers brackets and matches have been announced
Steven Rondina
With all the direct invites to The International 2021 now sorted, that means the competitive field for qualifiers is now set. The TI10 region qualifiers brackets have officially been revealed and are now available to view. All remaining teams from both the upper and lower divisions are being allowed to compete, which has resulted in some big competitive fields in certain regions. The qualifiers will use a double-elimination tournament format, …
Dota 2
The AniMajor is the best-looking Dota 2 event of all time
William Davis
The idea of an anime-themed Dota 2 tournament raised eyebrows, but the WePlay AniMajor has panned out to be the most aesthetically pleasing event in Dota 2 history. Organizer WePlay channeled the anime aesthetic into the stage, music, personality costumes, and more. The current playoffs take place in a staged fantasy forest complete with a projected river and augmented reality draft picks. Giant stone statues of Juggernaut and Monkey King …
Dota 2
Which famous characters share their voices with Dota 2 heroes?
Steven Rondina
What do Dota 2, Naruto, Pulp Fiction, Star Trek, WWE, and Sons of Anarchy all have in common? The answer is their actors and actresses. Anyone that has played a lot of video games or watched a lot of anime has undoubtedly noticed two unrelated characters sharing a voice actor or actress. But while most video games and anime draw from the same well of talent, Dota 2 and other …
Dota 2
Alliance crushed in AniMajor following cheating accusations
Steven Rondina
Alliance had something to prove at the WePlay AniMajor. Unfortunately, the event did not go their way. The embattled European squad was dealt a swift elimination from the AniMajor on Thursday morning. The team was unceremoniously eliminated from the event after back-to-back losses in the playoffs. It’s a devastating blow for the squad and one that is undoubtedly satisfying for those who accused the team of cheating last month. Did …
Dota 2
SumaiL out of Team Liquid after quick elimination at AniMajor
Steven Rondina
Syed “SumaiL” Hassan’s Team Liquid candle burned brightly, but not for very long. Team Liquid coach William “Blitz” Lee has announced that SumaiL’s run as a stand-in for the team is officially over. Offlaner Samuel “Boxi” Svahn is set to return to the team’s starting lineup for the qualifiers to The International 10. This puts SumaiL back on the free agent list at a time where teams are scrambling to …
Dota 2
Dota 2 AniMajor playoffs matchups, betting odds, and analysis
William Davis
18 of the world’s best Dota 2 have been fighting for a spot in The International 2021, and there are only 12 left for the WePlay AniMajor playoffs. The competitors were decided over a lengthy Dota Pro Circuit season, then pared down by the wild card and group stages. Only legendary teams and feisty challengers remain. The playoffs will begin on June 9 at 4 a.m. CT with Team Aster …
Dota 2
Arteezy cliffed 3 times by PSG.LGD in AniMajor group stage
William Davis
In a crucial group stage match at the WePlay AniMajor, Chinese icons PSG.LGD cliffed Evil Geniuses star Artour “Arteezy” Babaev three times. PSG.LGD’s entire squad specifically targeted Arteezy throughout the series. Medusa is a hard-hitting but immobile hero, something PSG.LGD mid laner Cheng “NothingToSay” Jin Xiang took advantage of. By positioning perfectly on Magnus and Skewering at a specific distance, he was able to trap EG’s strongest hero on a …
Dota 2
Satanic is the strongest item in Dota 2 right now, here’s why
William Davis
Between its powerful passive and tide-turning active, Satanic has become one of the most impactful items in Dota 2. Satanic is a 5,050-gold item built from Morbid Mask, Claymore, and Reaver. It grants 25 strength, 55 damage, and 25% physical lifesteal. Those are strong stats, but Satanic’s true value comes from its active ability Unholy Rage. When triggered, the item dispels its owner and grants 200% lifesteal for six seconds. …
Team Secret and Invictus Gaming eliminated from AniMajor
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
The wildcard stage of the WePlay AniMajor is now over, and that means that four teams are headed home from Kiev. Team Secret, Invictus Gaming, Execration, and AS Monaco Gambit are all out. Team Nigma and Vici Gaming are the only wildcard teams to advance forward to the group stage. In the cases of Execration and AS Monaco Gambit, this turn of events isn’t particularly surprising. Execration’s successful qualification for …
Server crash forces Nigma vs Secret to restart at AniMajor
William Davis
Dota 2
Team Secret and Team Nigma were forced to restart a match at the Dota 2 WePlay AniMajor after a client-side crash. The series came late in the wild card stage of the $500,000 tournament. While both team’s heroes and starting items were kept the samein the restart, what looks like a solid victory for Nigma turned into a loss due to a software failure. This could cost Team Nigma a …
New Luna build tears up Team Secret in WePlay AniMajor
William Davis
Dota 2
Luna has always had to pick between physical and magical damage, but a new hybrid strategy combines the best of both worlds. The build recently appeared in the opening round of the WePlay AniMajor. Kiyalbek “dream” Tayirov was assigned a last pick Luna in AS Monaco Gambit’s wild card match against Team Secret. While he started with the standard physical build, he chose to bolster his late-game strength with Aghanim’s …
The International 2021 qualifier dates have been revealed
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
UPDATE: The full list of qualifier matches has been revealed, alongside the 12 confirmed direct invitees. The WePlay Animajor is just around the corner, but right behind it looms The International 10. In an update on Dota Plus, Valve gave definite dates for when the qualifiers for each region will begin. Unlike in years past, qualifiers will be staggered across three weeks with each region’s local qualifiers taking place across …
Will there be a 2021 Dota 2 battle pass? Here’s what we know
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
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 …
This Dota 2 training game will help you raise your MMR
William Davis
Dota 2
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 …
Here’s what we know about when the Spectre arcana skin comes out
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
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, …
This is why Ancient Apparition has the highest win rate in Dota 2
William Davis
Dota 2
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 …
SoNNeikO returns to Natus Vincere for TI10 qualifiers
William Davis
Dota 2
No matter how many times he leaves, Natus Vincere can’t stay away from Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev for long. On May 25, Na’Vi’s Dota 2 squad emptied out AS Monaco Gambit’s roster for SoNNeikO and Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko. This is the fifth time SoNNeikO has joined Na`Vi. The move comes after a disappointing sixth-place finish in the ESL CIS Dota Pro Circuit League’s upper division. The transfer was finalized ahead of …
Why are ranged heroes building Quelling Blade in Dota 2?
William Davis
Dota 2
Quelling Blade has always been a strong early game option for melee cores in Dota 2, but ranged heroes in the mid and safe lanes are starting to get it too. Quelling Blade is a 130-gold item that grants bonus damage when hitting creeps. Melee heroes get 12 damage while ranged heroes only get six. Despite the 50% decrease in damage, ranged heroes in the Dota Pro Circuit and pubs …
Who is mason? Dota 2’s popular and controversial streamer
William Davis
Dota 2
Dota 2 streamer Mason “mason” Venne’s boisterous personality, wild following, and prior success at Dota 2’s biggest tournament have combined to make him the game’s most loved and hated Twitch streamer. Mason is a semi-retired Dota 2 pro player who is now best known for his sometimes wild streams. He is one of the most popular Dota players on Twitch with audience peaks of over 11,000 viewers. His fanbase is …
Na’Vi guts AS Monaco Gambit roster to prep for TI10 qualifiers
Steven Rondina
Dota 2
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 …
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.
