You might be browsing Twitch and have noticed that Dota 2 has been trending near the top or sitting healthily above popular games like Fortnite and League of Legends. That is because the one of the biggest esports tournament of the year, The International, is happening! The International started on Wednesday, August 15th and will continue to run till Saturday, August 25th with a small intermission on the 19th. The prize pool this year has risen to 24,605,906, the largest pool to exist in 2018 for esports. Valve, the company that owns Dota 2, initially threw in a prize pool of 1.6 million. They have offered an optional Battle Pass for 10 USD per player that works similar to the battle pass in Fortnite and PUBG. $2.50 of every pass is contributed to the prize pool for The International and has grown the pool to that surpasses all others.

Dota 2: Beginners Guide

Dota 2 is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, or MOBA for short. In Dota 2, 5 players face off against a team of 5 other players on a fantasy styled map. The hero pool is over 100 so there are many different combinations of teams. There are 3 lanes, 2 that follow the perimeter of the square map and one that cuts diagonally through the center. There are monsters that inhabit the jungle in between the lanes that are available for both teams to defeat. You earn gold over time and by defeating minions, monsters, or the other team. Teams can use that gold to buy items that enhance their heroes in various ways. The goal is to traverse to the opposite side of the map and destroy your opponent’s towers and eventually their Ancient, the main base. You may hear talk about “builds”, “team compositions”, and “creep score”. These are all aspects of the game to analyze for the more experienced player. For the beginner, you should try to understand what each hero can does and try to notice the net worth per player as that will tell you who is ahead.

Where to watch?

If you are interested in watching The International, hop onto Twitch and the English stream will be streamed on dotati. If you want to get the game, log into steam and download it for free! You can watch the stream from inside the client as well. Tune in and don’t miss any of the action from the biggest Dota 2 tournament of the year!