DotA Allstars - Warcraft III Map

DotA or Defense of the Ancients started out as an ordinary custom map within Warcraft III which in turn was inspired from another one, ‘Aeon of Strife‘ but this one originating from StarCraft. As it slowly got more and more updates, DotA started to grow into something beyond popular.

To win a round of DotA, both the same teams, Scourge and Sentinel, have to destroy the opponent's Ancient, the elder structure that holds everything together. The map has a somewhat symmetrical layout across one of its diagonals and is split by a river. Each half has three lanes with three towers that guard a team’s base and you need to destroy them before you can actually attack the Ancient.

On every lane, a small groups of ‘creeps’ are spawned for each team at regular time intervals. They are there for you to kill and use to push the lanes back towards the enemy base. Killing them grants you experience and gold which helps your hero level up to gain extra abilities. The gold can be used to purchase weapons and various items that are meant to increase the strength or expand the capabilities of your hero.

Heroes are grouped into three main categories according to their primary attribute, strength, agility and intelligence but each one is unique and is meant to serve a specific role. Intelligence heroes act as supports for the team carry, those based on strength can initiate an attack and take damage while the rest of the team focuses the enemy but nothing in set in stone.

A support can out-carry any hero if given the proper chances and equipped with the right items and even a core carry can act as a support. The best thing about DotA is that a great team strategy, quick thinking and fast reflexes can turn the tides to any game.

To sum things up, DotA has opened the world to the MOBA genre. It has set in motion one of the best things in gaming and despite its ancient roots and graphics, it is still being taken care of and it constantly being improved.