Dota 2 News

Dota 2 update for 5 January 2021

"Women only play support" - or, why don't I play carry in Dota 2?

Hands up if you've ever come across the stereotype that women typically play support. No, not - I'm not armed, I'm just trying to - ok, show of hands, that's probably a better way to put it. I can't actually see your hands, but I know that it's a pervasive stereotype across all manner of gaming genres - MMOs, FPSs, MOBAs, etc.

It's not just a stereotype. I was recently in a Dota 2 stack with a bunch of female friends and we faced a hitherto unheard-of problem - we didn't have enough carry players. This is a pretty weird situation to be in - usually the carry is the most coveted role - but there we were, awkwardly staring at an empty safe lane as the timer ticked down.

Our mid player, Emmy, tried to whip us into shape using the powerful motivational tool, guilt. "Why do none of you play carry!?" she yelled at us. I looked down at my little lopsided skill triangle in shame. I've played over 2,000 games of Dota 2, and 1,970 of them were as support. You can gas me up all you like, Emmy, but if you put me in that safe lane I'm going to miss so many last hits (Dota thing, don't worry about it) everyone will report me, and my game will spontaneously uninstall itself and then eject my DVD drive and hit me in the shin.

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The 2021 Dota 2 pro circuit kicks off later this month - here are the details

The 2021 edition of the Dota 2 pro circuit is just around the corner, and the multiplayer game's developer Valve has dropped a whole bunch of info on what to expect when its first season kicks off. The studio has now announced the format will be broken down into two seasons in the run-up to the MOBA game's International 2021 event later this year, with the first starting in a fortnight's time.

According to Valve, the 2021 Dota 2 pro circuit's first season launches on January 18, running through to February 28 ("March 14 for China with a break in the middle"), followed by the second in spring, which runs April 13 to May 23. As the studio's outlined before, each season will see six-week-long leagues followed by a major at the end, with majors one and two held March 25 to April 4 and June 2 to June 13, respectively.

Once these seasons are up, there'll be some qualifiers held to fill The International 2021's remaining slots ahead of the event, which will be held in Stockholm in August this time around.

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Dota 2 giant Newbee banned from Valve events for life due to match-fixing

Five Chinese Dota 2 players have been banned from official Valve tournaments for life following allegations of match-fixing last year while representing one of Dota's biggest teams, Newbee.

The ex-Newbee roster became inactive in May 2020 after being handed a domestic ban from the Chinese Dota 2 Professional Association. This was after it was found guilty of match-fixing. Seven months later, Valve and the Chinese publisher of its games Perfect World have now ruled that the five players and the Newbee organisation will be permanently banned from its major competitions too. This includes The International, which Newbee won in 2014. This all but seals the fate of one of Dota 2's most storied and biggest teams.

The five players receiving lifetime bans are Xu 'Moogy' Han, Yin 'AQ' Rui, Wen 'Wizard' Lipeng, Yan 'Waixi' Chao, and Zeng 'Faith' Hongda. This was confirmed by a post on the official Dota 2 Weibo page.

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