The top hero build guide creator in Dota 2 has officially ended his long-running project.
Michael “Torte De Lini” Cohen is the famed creator for his Dota 2 Hero Builds Project. This has long been recognized as one of the most helpful resources for Dota 2 players.
Torte De Lini started the initiative in 2013, providing players with potential item builds for every hero in the complex MOBA. He has spoken openly about the personal importance of the project, even admitting its link to his pride and sense of self-worth. The project has largely been one of charity, with little compensation coming Torte De Lini’s way in spite of his work’s massive impact.
His efforts have been recognized by fans, professional players, and esports personalities. He was invited to The International 2017 broadcast team, and the vaunted OpenAI team admitted that their bots used his guides during The International 2018.
After six years and 364 million user subscriptions, he decided to shut down the project due to a lack of motivation. He highlighted that he had already achieved more than expected, and offered that it was now time to explore other potential paths in his career.
“The choice was to either start asking for financial support to continue my responsibilities or to move onto new ideas I want to do. I’ve chosen the latter,” Torte De Lini said in his blog.
On March 2018, Dota Plus was released with an optional premium subscription geared towards statistically accurate hero builds. Many enthusiasts concluded that this would cause a huge dip to the number of subscriptions on Torte De Lini’s guides.
However, Torte De Lini debunked this assumption and explained that he’s still earning approximately 5.5 million new subscribers every month. This number has been considered the norm for the project since 2014.
Torte De Lini has taken the step to delete his guides in-game to ensure that everyone would move on from the project as he does.
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