50 Fun Facts About Dota 2

Dota 2 is the sequel to a 2003 fan-made mod for which Blizzard game?

Warcraft III hosted the original map, built by a modder known only as Eul. Valve began work on a standalone remake in 2009.

Which Dota 2 hero, known as the Butcher, drags enemies toward him with Meat Hook?

Pudge follows a landed hook with Dismember, an ultimate that disables the victim and heals him for the damage it deals.

Which masked Dota 2 swordsman, named Yurnero, cuts down enemies with Blade Fury and Omnislash?

Juggernaut is the last survivor of the Isle of Masks, which sank beneath the waves soon after he was exiled for defying a corrupt lord.

In Dota 2, a team wins by destroying which large structure at the centre of the enemy base?

The Ancient gives the whole series its name, since Dota is short for Defense of the Ancients, the mod the game grew from.

Which neutral boss in Dota 2 drops an item that revives its holder once after death?

Roshan was named after a bowling ball owned by Steve Feak, the designer who added the boss to the original mod.

Which Dota 2 hero combines the elements Quas, Wex and Exort to conjure ten different spells?

Invoker made his name, the lore says, in an age when most wizards could remember only two spells and the most devoted managed three or four.

Which Dota 2 hero, known as the Slayer, is the older sister of Crystal Maiden?

Lina was sent south to a blazing desert and her sister north to the ice, after their quarrels cost the family half a dozen homes to fire and frost.

Which Dota 2 item teleports a hero a short distance, but not just after an enemy hero damages them?

Blink Dagger is described in the game as the fabled dagger used by the fastest assassin ever to walk the lands.

Which pseudonymous designer, hired by Valve in 2009, has led the development of Dota 2?

IceFrog has never publicly disclosed his identity, and he announced his move to Valve in a post on his own blog.

Which Mirana ability in Dota 2 stuns its target for longer when cast from farther away?

Sacred Arrow draws on the moon's power: Mirana's bow is tipped with shards of lunar ore, and she rides into battle on an enormous feline familiar.

Which team became the first repeat champion of Dota 2's International by winning in 2018 and 2019?

OG beat Team Liquid 3–1 in the 2019 final to become the first repeat champion, taking 15.6 million dollars of a 34 million dollar prize pool.

Which Eastern European squad won Dota 2's International in 2021, in 2023 and again in 2026?

Team Spirit's first title paid 18.2 million dollars, at the time the largest prize a single team had ever won in esports.

Which Ukrainian team beat EHOME in 2011 to win the first International of Dota 2?

Natus Vincere, better known as Na'Vi, won the final 3–1 and took home a one million dollar grand prize funded by Valve.

Which German city hosted Dota 2's first International, staged at the Gamescom trade fair in 2011?

Cologne gave the public its first look at the game, because the sixteen-team tournament doubled as the unveiling of an unreleased title.

What is the given name of Crystal Maiden, the Dota 2 ice mage banished to Icewrack as a child?

Rylai was taken in by an Ice Wizard on the Blueheart Glacier, who trained her and then descended into the ice to hibernate for a thousand years.

Which 2014 Valve documentary follows three Dota players competing at the first International?

Free to Play follows the players hyhy, Fear and Dendi, one of whom skipped his final school exams to chase the million-dollar grand prize.

Which Earthshaker ultimate gave Dota 2 its famous "6 Million Dollar" play at The International 2015?

Echo Slam was cast by UNiVeRsE of Evil Geniuses in the play that clinched the final, and the nickname comes from the six million dollars his team won.

Which Dragon Knight, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, leads Netflix's animated series Dota: Dragon's Blood?

Davion ends up sharing his body with the soul of the dragon Slyrak, a bitter twist for a man who made his name hunting and slaying dragons.

Which Dota 2 card game did Valve make with Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield?

Artifact lost 95 percent of its players within two months of release, and Valve eventually stopped developing it for lack of interest.

Which game engine did Dota 2 move to in 2015, becoming the first game to use it?

Source 2 brought an Arcade of community-made game modes, and one of them, Dota Auto Chess, had over seven million subscribers by 2019.

Which Dota 2 hero, the Red Mist general Mogul Khan, executes weakened enemies with Culling Blade?

Axe rose through the Army of Red Mist partly by decapitating his superiors, and by the night of final victory his troops numbered zero.

Which Dota 2 hero, sole survivor of the Turstarkuri monastery, burns enemy mana with every attack?

Anti-Mage watched an undead legion slaughter the monks he served and swore to end magic altogether. His Mana Void deals damage for every point of mana a target is missing.

Which Dota 2 hero, named Nevermore, grows stronger by collecting the souls of units he kills?

Shadow Fiend releases his captured souls as lines of demonic energy with Requiem of Souls, and he loses a share of them every time he dies.

Which Dota 2 hero, named Ostarion, returns to life mid-battle with his Reincarnation ultimate?

Wraith King first built his palace from the bones of his enemies, then sought a more lasting form once he learned that bone itself could perish.

Which Dota 2 hero fights as several permanent copies of himself, created by Divided We Stand?

Meepo's copies share his items and experience, but there is a brutal catch: if any one of them dies, they all die.

Which Dota 2 hero, the Grand Magus, can steal and cast the last spell an enemy hero used?

Rubick won that title by announcing he would kill a Magus, then copying each attacker's spells until the rival sorcerers turned on one another.

Which two-headed Dota 2 hero can cast a single spell several times over thanks to Multicast?

Ogre Magi's two heads settle their argument over who casts first by both casting at once, and his odds improve with every point of Strength.

Which Dota 2 hero plants invisible Proximity Mines that detonate when an enemy lingers nearby?

Techies are three partners named Squee, Spleen and Spoon, and their lore notes that towns tend to disappear shortly after they show up.

Which Dota 2 hero, a wisp of life-force, teleports itself and a tethered ally with Relocate?

Io is described in its lore as a Fundamental of the universe, a force older than time that occupies all planes at once.

What is the name of Enigma's ultimate in Dota 2, a channelled spell that can disable a whole enemy team?

Black Hole leaves everything it catches unable to move, attack or cast spells, and the game's lore calls it a singularity with the power to end worlds.

Which faction in Dota 2 opposes the Dire, having replaced the Sentinel of the original mod?

The Radiant hold one corner of a map that is split in half by a river and joined to the enemy base by three lanes.

What are the weak computer-controlled units that march down each lane in Dota 2 called?

Creeps pay gold only to the hero who lands the killing blow, which is why players practise the timing known as last hitting.

What is the Dota 2 term for landing the killing blow on a unit from your own team?

Denying can be done to a team's own structures as well as its units, which stops opponents collecting the full reward for them.

Which Dota 2 role starts a match weak but is expected to become the team's strongest late on?

Carry players are so called because they can haul a whole team to victory late on, while supports spend the early game helping them get there.

Which Dota 2 item, named after a wizard, upgrades the ultimate of the hero who holds it?

Aghanim's Scepter is described in the game as the scepter of a wizard with demigod-like powers, and it improves some lesser abilities as well.

Which Dota 2 item's Avatar ability briefly cancels the negative effects of enemy spells?

Black King Bar is described in the game as a powerful staff imbued with the strength of giants, and buying a second one does not reset its duration.

Which powerful Dota 2 weapon falls to the ground when its owner dies, letting enemies pick it up?

Divine Rapier carries the in-game line "So powerful, it cannot have a single owner", and couriers are not allowed to pick up a dropped one.

Which Dota 2 item's Transmute ability instantly kills a lesser unit and pays its owner bonus gold?

Hand of Midas is called a weapon of greed in the game's lore, which says it sacrifices animals to line its owner's pockets.

Which Dota 2 consumable lets a hero devour a nearby tree to regenerate health?

Tango comes with several charges that can be handed to teammates, and eating an Ironwood Tree doubles how long the healing lasts.

Which late-game Dota 2 item is famous for allowing two ultimates in a row from one hero?

Refresher Orb has a long cooldown of its own that only counts down while the item sits in a hero's main inventory, not in the backpack.

Which moon goddess do both Mirana and Luna serve in the lore of Dota 2?

Selemene's service cost Mirana a crown: she gave up her claim to the Solar Throne to guard the goddess's Nightsilver Woods.

Which team beat Digital Chaos in the final to win Dota 2's International in 2016?

Wings Gaming lost the opening game of that final and then won three in a row, taking the top share of a prize pool worth over 20 million dollars.

Which battle pass, launched in 2013, let fans crowdfund the prize pool of Dota 2's International?

The Compendium sent a quarter of its revenue to the prize pool, lifting it above a base of 1.6 million dollars in its first year.

Which hero, unveiled in 2016, was the first added to Dota 2 that was not ported from the mod?

Monkey King is based on Sun Wukong from the novel Journey to the West, which is why the update that brought him in was called The New Journey.

Which Oracle ultimate in Dota 2 delays all damage and healing on an ally until the spell ends?

False Promise amplifies any healing it holds back, and it strips most disables from the ally at the moment it is cast.

Which Puck ultimate in Dota 2 leashes enemy heroes to a spot and stuns any who stray too far?

Dream Coil is cast by a Faerie Dragon that only looks childish: Puck's species lives for eons, and it will stay a juvenile for countless millennia.

Which Dota 2 hero, a gargoyle from the Narrow Maze, conjures blind Familiars that turn to stone?

Visage is sent to drag back any soul that escapes the afterlife, and its Familiars stun enemies by dropping onto them in Stone Form.

Which Witch Doctor ability in Dota 2 bounces from enemy to enemy, hitting harder with each bounce?

Paralyzing Cask is filled, the lore says, with powder ground from the bones of fallen friends and foes alike, and it stuns every target it strikes.

Which Dota 2 item, a cult's most guarded relic, uses Hex to turn an enemy into a harmless critter?

Scythe of Vyse leaves its victim silenced, muted and disarmed as well as transformed, and it destroys illusions instantly.

Which Warlock ultimate in Dota 2 summons a Golem from the depths, stunning the enemies around it?

Chaotic Offering releases, in the lore, a captive being from the Outer Hells that Warlock, once an academy's chief curator, bound into his staff.