Dota 2 esports: the game and its pro scene

Dota 2 in brief

Dota 2 is an action and strategy game from Valve, released on Steam in July 2013. It is free to play: every hero is open to everyone, and the cosmetics fans collect do not affect what a player needs to compete. A match is a five-against-five clash, and each team has an Ancient to defend, which is why Valve calls the game a battle of the Ancients.

Each player controls a hero chosen from a pool of more than a hundred, ranging from spellcasters to brutes and tricksters. Any hero can take on more than one role, and a wide choice of items lets players adapt to each game, so no two matches play out alike.

Valve updates the game regularly, reworking gameplay, features and heroes, so the strategies seen at the top level keep evolving.

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How Dota 2 esports works

Valve stages its own world championship, The International. Around it, tournament organisers run their own circuits through the year.

ESL is one example. In recent seasons, its ESL Pro Tour has combined DreamLeague, a series of online tournaments, with ESL One, its LAN events, plus a second-tier series for teams trying to break through. Open qualifiers have been the way in for everyone, while points earned at its events have decided direct invitations to later ones.

Circuits are reshaped from one season to the next, so each organiser's official site is the place to check the current format.

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The International and the big tournaments

The International brings together the best teams in the world, who compete for the Aegis of Champions, which goes to the last team standing. At the 2026 edition, sixteen teams went through a group stage, and the eight still in contention moved to an arena for a double-elimination bracket that ended with a best-of-five grand final.

The event changes city: the 2018 edition was held at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and was followed online by millions of viewers at once, while the 2026 edition took place in Shanghai.

Among the events run by organisers, ESL One has in recent seasons been ESL's showcase LAN for Dota 2, played in front of a live audience, unlike the DreamLeague events.

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How to watch Dota 2 esports

The International is broadcast on the main streaming platforms and on Steam itself; the 2026 edition was shown in English, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. Valve announces the dates, schedule and viewing options of each edition in the news section of the official site, dota2.com.

Fans can also watch it in person in the arena. ESL, for its part, publishes streaming guidelines for community creators who want to cover its Dota 2 events on their own channels.

Sources: [3] [5]