What is DOTA?

DOTA, short for Defense of the Ancients, is a custom map made for Warcraft III: Frozen Throne. DOTA is a team strategy where players can choose sides and his own hero. There are two sides on the games, Sentinel and Scourge. Players on the same side fight the other players on the opposing side to win the game. The objective of the games is to destroy the opponents’ base together with AI controlled units called creeps. Heroes start at level 1 and levels up to level 25. Heroes level up during the game while killing opposing heroes and creeps. Heroes gain skill when they gain additional levels. DOTA can be played as starting 1v1 up to 5v5. This could be against human players or AI controlled heroes which can be played on DOTA AI maps.

DOTA was originally developed by a mapmaker named Eul. There were different DOTA variations that time. The most popular one is DOTA All Stars which was developed by Guinsoo. When Guinsoo retired, IceFrog took over as the main programmer for the map.

DOTA is more on strategy than individual play. Even though players have their own heroes, it is their teamwork that is very important to winning the game. Although factors like individual skills also matter, a very good player with team mates that doesn’t care a lot about the team can’t just win by himself against all his opponents(unless of course he’s far too good and his opponents are new to the game).