The Birth of a Genre and Rise of Icefrog

With the advent of PC gaming countless game designers are pushing the envelope by creating
new genres for the masses, and Dota 2 is no exception. While many players would love to tell
you that Dota 2 is just a copy of League of Legends, this is in fact one of the biggest
misunderstandings in the MOBA community in general. MOBA stands for Multiplayer Online
Battle Arena, and while Riot Games / League of Legends may have coined that term as a genre
the style of game has technically existed all the back on Blizzard’s Warcraft  III: Frozen Throne
as a custom game; they were just the first ones to bring the style to an upgraded platform engine.
As Valve saw the huge popularity that LoL garnered as the first standalone, they decided to
venture into the fray teaming up with the enigmatic Icefrog to stake their claim as the second.
Eventually the direction and style of marketing strategies would prove to be the defining
difference. Riot with a more “hands on” approach with their LCS leagues and Valve with a more
community sourced “hands off” approach with later incarnations of The International after TI1’s
$1 million prize pool which was unprecedented of at the time. The prize pool last year at TI8
topped $26 million with 1st place winning upwards of $10 million.

Table of contents
 The Birth of Genre
 Getting Started with the Basics
 Newbie Guide to Controlling Heroes
 Newbie Guide to Creeps and Towers
 Lane Mechanics Explained
 Put Your Skills to the Test Against AI Bots
 The More the Merrier
 How to Get into Ranked and Unranked Games?
 Want to Play? Here’s What you Need to Know
 Choosing Your Strategy to Win
 Lineups and Team Compositions
 How Do I become Pro? Try Watching Some Real Ones!
 Gosu.AI Bot: The Next Evolution in Analysis and Macro-Data Breakdown

Getting Started with the Basics

The basic concept of the game is pretty simple: kill the enemy’s Ancient before they kill yours. 2
teams of 5 players each have a pool of over 100 unique heroes to choose from when the game
begins with 3 different “types”. Agility, Strength and Intelligence, each bringing different
elements throughout the course of the entire game. Strength heroes are usually your tanky
bruisers that want to absorb damage and be in the front setting up fights; Agility heroes want to
buy items that efficiently increase their attack damage and attack speed though have generally
lower HP; Intelligence heroes can vary between aggressive magical burst and defensive abilities
mixed with some disabling skills that are essential to any lineup. Each hero has 4 skills to level
up with their strongest being the “ultimate” which generally defines the hero and figuring out
how to use them all in tandem with your team becomes the hard part.

On the left is a picture of the game map. There are 3 lanes with defensive towers that attack
enemy units in range where waves of NPC minions are spawned and travel down, killing them
nets you gold and experience points. Gold allows you to purchase items from the shops (of
which there are tons to choose) and experience leveling up your character and abilities. This is
also where hero tactics start to take effect, strategies are implemented and the game starts
progressing.

Do
ta 2 map

One of its biggest problems is the fact that the game is not new player friendly. There is a huge
wall memorization that must be internalized and understood if you want to start climbing the
ranks, and even before that learning all the game mechanics can seem nigh impossible at times.
Though this could also be looked at as a strength in a way, since one of its main appeals is just
how much brainpower you need. Humans have, and always will, want to use their brains to the
fullest capacity. Dota 2 requires such masterful mix of mathematics, timings, variables, problem
solving, predictions, theory crafting, teamwork, and intuition. Much like how the best Go players
are considered intelligent and noble, the best Dota players in some aspect are considered
geniuses. Making decisions in the span of milliseconds, millions of dollars on the line, hundreds
of thousands of people watching, pressure mounting but somehow prevailing despite all odds.

Following the stories of teams and players is another reason why the community loves this game
so much, every year getting the chance to chase the dream of winning The International and
seeing the soul crushing emotions of those teams that are eliminated. This past year was no
exception and could be hailed as the best TI ever. If you’re new to the scene and need a reason to
fall in love with the game, just take a look at this video by theScoreEsports as they do a fantastic
job telling the story of the now legendary run by Team OG and beloved captain N0tail:

This guide aims to teach you the application of important mechanics that are essential to every
DotA 2 player and give you an edge over other beginner players and prepare you for your
calibration games. Just have an open mind and positive attitude from which to build your core
skills/mechanics upon.