Defense of the Ancients

What is DotA?
                       DotA stands for Defense of the Ancients. DotA is a map on the game Warcraft III : The Frozen Throne. It was developed by Icefrog since 2005 up to the present he's still working on the improvement of the game. The latest version of the map is 6.68c. And players are waiting for the upcoming version, 6.69 because it is rumored that there will be a lot of changes in that version due to the bugs found in the latest version.

                        Since DotA is a real-time strategy game, players must have strategy in order to win the game. It played by two teams known as The Sentinel and The Scourge. The match can be 1vs1, 2vs2, 3vs3, 4vs4, and 5vs5. The goal of your team is to destroy the base of the opposing team. But it's not as easy as it sounds. In order to do this, you have to kill subordinates of your opponent, which is called the creeps and as well your enemy heroes. By killing either of these two you will earn gold that can be used for buying items that can improve the abilities and attributes of your heroes. You will also gain experience(EXP) to improve your level and unlock/improve your skills. The max level is 25. And at the start of the game the game host is required to key in codes that will serve as the mode of the game. The most popular mode of the game is All Pick(-ap), in which you can select from all the heroes in the tavern. And a standard game last for about one hour.

Heroes in Version 6.65

As of now there are 101 heroes which is divided into 9 taverns and 119 items that can be found on 11 different item shops.

Items in Version 6.67

Each heroes have different abilities and skills. Though latest released heroes have imbalanced skills. There are 3 types of the heroes in DotA. These are Intelligence(INT), Agility(AGI), and Strength(STR) heroes. Each type has attributes that give bonus to the heroes. But these bonus may vary depends on the main attribute of the hero.

             Intelligence - Intelligence increases a hero’s mana regeneration and maximum mana points. Each time a hero gains 1 intelligence his mana is increased by 13 and his mana regeneration is increased by 1. Heroes with intelligence as their primary attribute increase their base damage by 1 for every 1 intelligence gained.
             Agility - increases a hero’s armor and attack speed. Each time a hero gains 7 agility his armor is increased by 1. Also for each 1 agility gained, attack speed is increased by 1% and adds 1 base damage for agility type heroes.
             Strength - increases a hero’s maximum hit points and hit point regeneration. Each time a hero gains 1 strength his maximum hit points is increased by 19 and his hit point regeneration is increased by 1. Base damage of strength type heroes are also increased by 1 for every 1 strength gained.                                                                                                                                                      

Credits to:
http://mydotaguide.blogspot.com/2007/11/dota-heroes.html

                       INT type heroes are usually long range heroes. They also have high mana so they can "spam" their skills without worrying about mana shortage. Now let's go to the AGI type heroes, most of these heroes are mid range(somewhere between long range and melee). But their attack speed is very high, that's why I can say they are the most dominant type of hero in the game because they can take out a single enemy hero in an instant. And the last is STR type heroes. These heroes are the melee types. They are good in hand-to-hand combat and they have high amount of HP so they are the ones who usually last on a clash.

                        Depending on the hero used, players can have different roles. In my experience these are the roles I know and played.
The Noob - these players are usually new to the game. They are still on the process of learning.
The Tanker - a tanker is usually a melee type hero with high amount of HP that can take a number of damages without getting killed. Usually the tankers are the one who is in front of the team during a clash.
The Killer/Hitter - are players that uses heroes that are weak in the early game and their potential only shows in the late game.
The Ganker - are players that roams around the map and they can kill the heroes that will come in their way.
The Supporter - from the word itself, it is the one who support its allies in the game. His skills and items usually gives HP, mana, and different buffs to a hero or to the whole team.
The Stunner - a stunner is a essential member of the team because his stuns can disable some enemy heroes during the clash. Stunner can also be a good starter of the clash.
The Warder - any type of player can be a warder, actually it is not needed in a public game, but in tournaments a warder plays an important role. All they have to do is scatter wards all over the map so that the whole team can have sight on a certain part of the map where the ward is set. And with this they can easily wipe out a enemy hero that is on solo.

Tiny The Stone Giant

My Favorite Hero
                  On the first month of my playing DotA. There is only one hero that I use every game. And that hero is Tiny, The Stone Giant. The reason why I use this hero is because of its name. I find his name very cute so I used him :) Tiny is a strength type hero that has a good combination of skills. In addition to that he is a high damaging hero. Good for fast kill. The only problem is he lacks mana sometimes so I use INT type items to him. And because I used him for a long time, I can say that I'm a pro when it comes to Tiny. When I use him in a game it is possible that I can be GODLIKE!



DotA is not that hard to understand. If you just play many games, your skills as a player will be getting better and better.

USEFUL SITES:
OFFICIAL DOTA WEBSITE:

http://www.playdota.com/

OFFICIAL DOTA DOWNLOADS
http://www.getdota.com/