Guide to watching Dota 2 esports for beginners

Guide to watching Dota 2 esports for beginners

Updated on July 7, 2023, 6:50 p.m. (GMT+8): Added photos and improved relevancy based on the most recent Dota 2 patch notes.

Dota 2 is arguably the most in-depth and complex esports title — which can make watching professionals play it a bit difficult.

This is especially true for those who are unfamiliar with the game. This guide will help you understand and appreciate the nuance and beauty of watching Dota 2 being played at the highest level.

Here’s a quick rundown of what the game is all about:

Dota 2 is a game where two teams of five players are tasked with destroying the central structure in their enemy’s base, called the Ancient, while protecting their own. There are three main avenues leading to each base, called the lanes, that are protected by a line of towers and continually spawning waves of NPC units called creeps. The five players on each team are given control of a hero — each with its own unique set of attributes, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses — and they must team up to get strong enough to besiege the enemy base and take down their Ancient.

(Italicized terms that may be unfamiliar to beginners will be explained in the ‘What you need to know’ section in the latter half of the guide)

With that out of the way, allow us to breakdown all the important things you’ll be seeing in a broadcast of a professional Dota 2 match:



How Dota 2 esports matches work

The draft

Credit: Valve

Every professional Dota 2 match is played in Captain’s Mode, which begins with the captains of both teams taking turns picking and banning heroes in a draft phase, hence the name.

In professional games, one team chooses which side they start with, Radiant or Dire. The

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Horror in paradise: Dota 2 world lashes out at lackluster Bali Major

Horror in paradise: Dota 2 world lashes out at lackluster Bali Major

Dota 2 in paradise” was the guarantee created by Bali Important organizers Epulze and IO Esports in the lead-up to the Southeast Asian tournament, but by July 9’s grand final, a lot of at household and in attendance will don’t forget the event as a vacation from hell.

Dota’s return to the region was marred by an assortment of troubles and faults, from the expertise on the floor to the technical faults impacting gamers and spectators on the net, leaving fans viewing crimson. Lots of took to social media—particularly on the Dota 2 subreddit—to air their grievances with the match organizers and Valve in excess of the state of the match.

Observers debated above just how much thought went into the slight particulars of the occasion, specifically focusing on the outdoor stage setup. When special in that the playoffs have been held outdoor as opposed to a darkened arena, organizers appeared to forget a main factor—the sunlight. As the sunlight set in the afternoon, without having a shaded monitor, the matches could not be bodily viewed on the key display.

Another admirer, who lives locally, discovered they would have experienced to pay out more than half their annual income to go to the event, echoing similar issues as people leveled at Valve about the price and situation of The Intercontinental in Singapore final yr.

“The production was certainly dogshit,” one particular supporter said, who was considering attending the event till seeing ticket charges, which were being set at $388 USD just for normal admission and almost $900 USD for quality entry. “[It] feels like we’re in the twilight years of Dota 2. There was [sic] tournaments operate in Dota 1 days that were greater than this.”

Connected: Leading staff snub proves Valve’s Dota 2 pro rankings just can’t

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Team Secret adds iceiceice to revamped Dota 2 roster

Team Secret adds iceiceice to revamped Dota 2 roster

Given that dropping equally zai and MATUMBAMAN in the article-Worldwide roster shuffle, Crew Secret has retained quiet and began producing moves to fill the void those departures left in what was a person of the most successful rosters in group background.

As a result of the use of a multi-portion comedian series themed around its Dota 2 players, Secret slowly but surely gave enthusiasts far more to search forward far too, in advance of at last confirming portion of the rumors and saying that veteran iceiceice is signing up for the roster.

Led by the mix of Puppey and YapzOr, Key established about generating its modifications internally—annoucing Nisha would make the swap absent from the mid lane and back again to playing protected lane in the upcoming period. And, even though this singular adjust does not signify considerably right now mainly because Solution performs a very fluid and adaptive fashion of Dota, it opens the door for a further addition a lot of believe is coming next. 

The Singaporean star iceiceice has been at the forefront of DotA given that 2005, generating the soar to Dota 2 in 2011, in which he aided Scythe.SG put third at the original TI—an party that his now captain won.

Linked: Qojqva moves to total-time streaming for Crew Liquid following MATUMBAMAN, zai acquisitions

From there, he has constantly jumped amongst groups, only remaining with the identical corporation for extra than a person year twice in his job, expending 2014 to 2016 with Vici Gaming and 2018 to 2020 on Fnatic. He is 1 of only two gamers to have attended a TI with seven different groups, and is tied with both equally KuroKy and LaNm for the second-most appearances at TI overall at 9, surpassed only by Puppey, who is the only participant

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Ceb officially retires from competitive Dota 2

Ceb officially retires from competitive Dota 2

Dota 2 is an ever-changing battlefield and occasionally gamers can convey to when they just are not all set to give it their all to try out and adapt to the new circumstances and get back again in the battle. And simply because he feels like his flame of competitors just isn’t the place it was many years back, Sébastien “Ceb” Debs is officially retiring from skilled Dota

This information isn’t that stunning, nevertheless. The French player beforehand stated that The Global 10 was possible likely to be his past match right after OG was eradicated in seventh area by the eventual TI champions, Group Spirit. 

That reduction to Spirit finished OG’s title protection after turning into the very first crew to raise the Aegis of Champions two situations, doing so back-to-again at TI8 and TI9. Now, as the crew commences to rebuild pursuing the departure of SumaiL and Saksa, Ceb reflected back again on his vocation and wherever his recent state of mind could get him. 

“The get-or-die frame of mind, which has pushed the entirety of my career… I don’t have it in me anymore,” Ceb said. “I by no means dedicate to a team or to individuals unless I know I’m all set to give every fall of electricity and each 2nd of my time into it. Now even my body is acquiring hurt by it. And I have to listen to my own system. As significantly as I’ve provided to this activity, I can not do it any longer.”

This decision leaves OG in an intriguing spot since the workforce has experienced concerns with rebuilding in the previous. Previously, the organization had some problems with developing a roster adhering to the departure of ana and JerAx put up-TI9, even however the staff however managed to

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