Dota 2

DOTA 2 is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game which combines a healthy mix of online role-playing and real-time strategy against other live players. A match consists of ten players, split into two teams. Players battle 5 versus 5 and the winner is the one who destroys the central building in the other team’s base first.

Each player controls a “hero” with unique abilities. Players earn gold and experience by killing computer controlled “creeps” or enemy heroes. These resources can be used to purchase items and to upgrade your hero. The game features a season with multiple Majors, leading up to The International, a multi-million dollar event.

DOTA 2 has an extensive online presence in terms of fans and those offering betting advice and tips. Forums and websites exist where players can trade tips and share information on the best players, the best outcomes, and their personal predictions. This social aspect adds a further factor to DOTA 2 betting and enjoying the gameplay.

Although skill-based, the game is also open to chance – in the way that other Esports are. A player can have a strong track record, but circumstances in the game can work against them. This adds to the excitement factor when playing as nothing is a sure win, even with reliable information. This comes together to give betting on DOTA 2 with Mobile Wins an added kick of excitement in 2024.

Dota 2 | History

Dota 2 is the sequel to the popular Warcraft 3 mod “Defense of the Ancients”. Valve started the beta for Dota 2 in 2011. That year also marked the beginning of a new tournament series, The International. This tournament is the yearly world championship, featuring the best teams and the highest prize pool. Each year, players can contribute to the prize pool crowd fund. 2018 saw a combined prize pool of over 25 million dollars.

If that doesn’t already sound exciting, the added element of 2024 DOTA 2 betting with us at Mobile Wins should.

Not unlike WoW, players are assigned a hero character out of around 100 – each with their own abilities and strengths. As the game progresses, and the player survives, their hero grows. By killing “creeps” or other players, the hero gains money, which can be used to improve their abilities and held weapons to increase their chances of success.

Choose your hero | choose your adventure

The characters players can play as vary in their strengths. Let’s take a look:

“Carries” are weak heroes who improve by the end of the game and are expected to lead their team to victory.
“Initiators” are characters who are stronger during team fights. Supports offer support to their teammates.
“Disablers” are able to temporarily prevent their opponents enacting certain moves.
“Durables” can withstand more damage than others.
“Nukers” can deal significant damage.
“Pushers” are the best for destroying the tower.
“Escapes” can move in special ways around the board.
“Lane supports” help their team early in the game to enable the carry to gain strength to lead their team to victory.

It should be noted that characters can often be half of two different character types, which further adds a complicating factor in choosing who might win.

Knowing the characters and where their strengths lie should be the first step anyone takes with DOTA 2 betting – and here at Mobile Wins, we offer the ability to bet on the outcomes of games.

Tournament-style DOTA 2 betting ups the ante

But it’s the tournaments that really draw the crowds when it comes to the DOTA 2 betting aspect. The spectators and prize pools are some of the largest in the world – and our betting allows you to take a chance at significant prizes too.

The extensive in-game content provides further reasons for players to just enter spectator mode, as well as the possibility of winning something. The largest tournament is the DOTA 2 International Championships – with the 2015 version offering a prize pool of $18million. The fund grows through players purchasing extra content to help level up their heroes (not affecting gameplay) which can be bought at many price points.

The betting is one of the most fascinating aspects of DOTA 2. Here at Mobile Wins, you can place bets on DOTA 2 in two ways: play money and real money. Betting with real money and play money is simple: choose which team you think will win a tournament.

Play money is used for states or countries where gambling online with real money is not allowed, or to give a test of the way the wager works. You can bet on how far a team will go, who will win this game, or who will win a future game based on past performance.

But chances are you’ll want to bet with real money. Mobile Wins offers you the chance to bet on DOTA 2 using Bitcoins as well as more traditional payment methods, including bank transfer of your local currency and MasterCard. You will receive a welcome bonus of bet 5 get 10 and you’ll also have a chance to bet on the most popular eSports titles, including DOTA 2, Hearthstone and CS:GO.

Dota 2 Biggest Tournaments

Mark these Dota 2 betting events in your calendar.

Highlight of the year in Dota 2 is always The International. Most of its prize pool is crowdfunded and increases each year. 2018 saw a combined prize pool of over 25 million dollar. OG took home 11.2 million dollars as the winners, with each member becoming a millionaire. Winners also earn the Aegis, a prestigious trophy. The International is always held in July or August in Seattle.

The International had a famous streak of Western and Eastern teams alternating the championship. Since 2011, Na’Vi (West), Invictus Gaming (East), Alliance (West), Newbee (East), EG (West), Wings (East) and Team Liquid (West) won. OG finally broke this streak in 2018 by continuing the Western dominance.

Leading up to The International is a multitude of tournaments. The biggest are called “Majors” and give out qualification points for The International. The 2018/2019 season had 4 Majors, hosted by third parties.

Most notable are MDL Disneyland and Epicenter. The top teams are automatically invited to the Majors, other teams need to qualify in their region. Team Virtus.pro typically does well at these Majors.

ESL typically hosts two or three ESL One tournaments throughout the year. The dates and locations vary. This year all ESL One tournaments are Majors.

Prestigious yearly tournament held in Moscow. Epicenter is one of the Majors in 2019. The event also features a CS:GO tournament.

The World Electronic Sport Games is yearly Olympics-like tournament featuring many games. Teams have to be formed by nationality and represent their country. The event also features CS:GO, Hearthstone and StarCraft 2.

DreamLeague is a league organized by DreamHack. Most of its games are played online in regional Round Robin groups, with live finals. As of yet, DreamLeague Season 8 is confirmed as a Major.

StarLadder is of of the oldest tournament series in Dota 2, going back to 2011. Na’Vi are the StarLadder kings, winning 7 times. StarLadder is being held in Kiev, Ukraine.

The premier Chinese tournament series and in 2018 also Majors. Mars also hosts the Dota 2 Professional League, a league for Chinese teams.

An invitational based on popularity. The Summit brings a relaxed and lighthearted atmosphere in a bootcamp-like environment. That being said, the competition in the tournament is still high level.

Dota 2 Famous teams and players

Teams in Dota 2 come and go. Even the most established teams see their lineups change almost every year. It is important to keep track of their current lineups and form. The best players will almost always be on one of the best teams.

Evil Geniuses is the premier American team. America’s greatest and winner of The International 2015. EG achieved third place at The International 8 in 2018.

It’s one of the oldest teams in eSports and winner of The International 2015. The lineup consists of some of the best and most expensive players on earth, including Arteezy and Sumail. EG has one of the biggest fanbases, most notably in North-America. The team is known for having the money to buy some of the most expensive players.

The American team might not have their greatest achievements this year but still fields some of the best players in the world. “Arteezy”, “Sumail” and “S4” are some of the greatest playmakers in the game. Expect a comeback any time.

Team Liquid are The International 2017 champions and one of the most popular teams ever. Team Liquid has a large history as a gaming clan, dating back to 2001. It got big as a network for gaming news and forums.

The team eventually grew and acquired a Dota 2 team, which notably upset LGD at The International 2013. Its current iteration is a completely new one.

Team Liquid’s Mid player Miracle might be the best player in the world. He was the first to ever achieve 9000 MMR on the ladder. The International 2017 champion and a favorite to win any event. Team Liquid and its mid player “Miracle” were the undisputed best of 2017. Captain “KuroKy” is a Dota 2 veteran who played for Na’Vi and Team Secret.

A rule in Dota: there must always be a Chinese team in the top 3. Vici Gaming is one of the oldest, richest and strongest brands in Dota history, and is currently that team. Vici won DreamLeague and Epicenter in 2019, just before The International started again.

The premier CIS (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) team. Virtus.pro are one of the teams to beat in 2019, winning the Kuala Lumpur Major. 20 year old carry player “Ramzes666” started playing professional Dota 2 at the age of 15. He is one of the biggest talents in the game.

Team Secret was created by ex-Na’Vi player “Puppey”. The team has featured star players like “EternaLEnVy”, “Arteezy” and UNiVeRsE”. Team Secret is back top being one of the top teams in 2019, as they won both the Chongqing Major and the MDL Disneyland Major.

OG is the reigning The International champion. Team Captain “N0tail” created the team himself as a player-run organisation. The team acquired a Red Bull sponsorship in 2017.

Best Dota 2 team achievements

No Tidehunter at DreamHack Winter 2012

The Swedish players “Loda” and “Akke” have been known since the original DotA. The two teamed up with the relatively unknown “S4”, “AdmiralBulldog” and “EternaLEnVy”. Within a month of this inception, the team made an incredible run at DreamHack Winter. The team tore through some of the best western teams including EG and Empire. No Tidehunter’s playstyle consisted of heavily optimized farming. They also showed early signs of the splitpushing that would become their signature playstyle.

The team got signed by Alliance in 2013 and acquired EGM for an all-Swedish squad. This lineup won The International 2013 over Na’Vi.

Speed Gaming at MLG Columbus 2013

Team DK entered MLG Columbus as heavy favorites, followed by Na’Vi. Speed Gaming at this time was a young team led by EternaLEnVy. He was accompanied by “SingSing”, “Aui2000” and “Pieliedie”, good but not great players. “Arteezy” joined the team last-minute as standin.

Speed Gaming managed to upset Team DK 2-1 in one of the biggest upsets of all time. Their heavy usage of forcestaffs to save teammates proved pivotal. Arteezy showed his heavy farming in the midlane and went on to become one of the best players in the world. Speed Gaming got signed by Cloud9 and narrowly lost to VG at The International 2014.

CDEC Gaming at The International 2015

CDEC was a youth team created by LGD. The team showed promise but mainly served to provide LGD with new talent. Chinese player “Maybe” started at CDEC in 2014 but go picked up by LGD for his immense talent.

CDEC had no noteworthy tournament wins prior to The International 2015. The team just narrowly qualified for The International through the Wild Card qualifiers. However, they quickly turned the tables at the tournament. CDEC went on a run all the way to the finals, defeating team like Cloud9, EG and even LGD itself. CDEC tragically fell to EG in the finals and their underdog story ended.

Wings Gaming at The International 2016

Wings Gaming came out of nowhere to win ESL One Manila in 2016. The team consisted of five relatively unknown players. Wings developed one of the most creative playstyles ever. The team didn’t play the popular strategies, but instead created their own using many unpopular heroes.

Only four months later, Wings made the most unexpected run at The International ever. Wings defeated teams like EG and DC against all odds to win the tournament, using their own playstyle.

Best Dota 2 teams of all time

The original Na’Vi squad featured “Dendi”, “XBOCT” and “Puppey” as key regulars. Na’Vi dominated the western scene, won The International 2011 and got second place at the next two. You could count on mid player Dendi to use his flashy heroes to make plays. Na’Vi made many highlight reels, including ‘The Play’ at The International 2012 and the ‘Fountain Hooks’ at The International 2013. Fountain hooking was a strategy using the heroes Pudge and Chen. They could pull an enemy from anywhere on the map into the Fountain in their own base. It was removed from the game after Na’Vi abuse of the interaction.

Alliance popularised splitpushing (also known as Rat Dota) as main strategy. Offlane player AdmiralBulldog often scored the highest net worth in games on heroes like Nature’s Prophet and Lone Druid. He then used this advantage to destroy the enemy base while they were off fighting. Alliance dominated the Dota world in 2013 with this strategy and won The International 2013.

Team DK was stacked with the best eastern players in 2014. The lineup was formed to become the ultimate all star team. The team dominated almost every tournament up until The International 2014, where they disappointingly finished fourth. After that tournament all players went their separate ways.

This is the OG that won almost every major tournament in 2016 – except The International. Mid player “Miracle” transformed from a ladder player to one of the best in the world. OG dominated the tournament scene like Team DK, but like DK fell short at the biggest stage.

As rising OG star Miracle transfered to Team Liquid in late 2016, so did their tournament wins. Team Liquid dominated 2017 with 3 Major wins, 2 second places and first place at The International 2017. The team swept Chinese giant Newbee 3-0 in the finals to complete their domination of the season.

Dota 2 Bets can be placed on many factors

The tournaments are one of the best ways to bet on DOTA 2 for both newbies and seasoned bettors. But if you’re thinking of getting involved yourself, there are qualifiers participants must get through in order to reach the actual games. Having knowledge of the game is necessary to achieve anything in the betting – as knowing which characters the players are playing may indicate what exactly to bet on. We recommend getting to grips with the game first.

Once you’re ready to place a bet, remember that DOTA 2 betting allows you to place bets on many aspects of the game with us.

For example, we offer bets on the following: kills, deaths, assists, last hits, gold per minute, experience per minute. Depending on the type of hero the player is will depend on where their strengths will lie.

Match winner. Predict the winner of the match series out of the two teams.
Map winner. Which team will take which map?
First blood. Which team will score the first kill on this map?
First to 10 kills. Which team will score 10 kills first?
Total time. Predict the total game time: under or over the stated time.
Total kills. Predict the total number of kills between both teams: under or over the state number.
Odd/even kills. Will the total number of kills between both teams be an odd or even number?

Ranking and unranking Dota 2 players to keep the game reliable

Players can either be ranked or unranked, and DOTA 2 ensures that areas that many unranked players come from are prevented from joining matches until there are enough ranked players. Unranked players can commit gameplay illegalities that ruin the game, so that’s the company’s way of ascertaining everything runs smoothly. The game servers also track bots and prevent them from restarting once they’ve been discovered. Ranked players have the chance to compete in the qualifiers and then be bumped up to compete in an international tournament.

Here at Mobile Wins, we offer odds for DOTA 2 betting and the increase in players will only increase the interaction and attract more fans to DOTA 2 – and also increase the prize pool. With the increased security from the DOTA 2 team on who can play, the exposure international tournaments are getting, and the ease at which the rules can be picked up, DOTA 2 – and live gaming betting – is becoming the future of eSports.

Top 5 Dota 2 highlights

Million Dollar Dream Coil (Alliance versus Na’Vi at The International 2013 Grand Finals)
The Play (Na’Vi versus Invictus Gaming at The International 2012 Grand Finals)
6 Million Dollar Echo Slam (Evil Geniuses versus CDEC at The International 2015 Grand Finals)
Fountain Hooks (Na’Vi at The International 2013)
They’re All Dead! (TongFu versus Orange at The International 2013)

So take a look at this fascinating multiplayer arena game and then create an account with us to begin your DOTA 2 betting experience. Here at Mobile Wins we want to make your Esports betting experience as pleasant as possible, whether you’re an eSports betting rookie or a long-time player.

Loved this guide?

Register to the Esportsbook Now!

Frequently Asked Questions about Esports Betting

How are esports tournaments organized?

Esports tournaments are typically organized by esports organizations, game publishers, or event organizers. They can be held online or in-person, featuring players and teams from around the world.
What are some popular esports games?

Some popular esports games include League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), Fortnite, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Valorant.
What is the role of a coach in an esports team?

The coach of an esports team provides strategic guidance, analyzes gameplay, conducts team practice sessions, and helps players improve their skills to perform at their best during tournaments.
What are LAN events in esports?

LAN events (Local Area Network) are esports tournaments where players and teams gather in a physical location to compete face-to-face, often in front of a live audience.
What is the biggest esports tournament?

The biggest esports tournament depends on the game and region, but some of the largest and most prestigious events include The International (Dota 2), League of Legends World Championship, and the Intel Extreme Masters (CS:GO).