The first Dota 2 International was held back in August 2011 and since then, a lot of time has passed. Teams were created and disbanded, new players joined the game while others retired. Today, let's take a look at the top 10 Dota 2 players of all time!
It’s not an easy task to do such a list since different people will still have favorites and things can get subjective. The players on this list will be in no particular order but we’re taking into account their overall achievements in the pro scene and popularity among the community. Without further ado, let’s get to it!
10. Artour “RTZ” Babaev
Artour “RTZ” Babaev – also known as Arteezy – is among the fan-favorites in the Dota 2 community and it’s not just for the memes. Babaev is one of the most mechanically skilled carries in the world but he just has some bad voodoo when it comes to tournaments.
For most of his career, RTZ has played for Team Secret and Evil Geniuses. He currently resides with the latter but given the current circumstances, that might change soon.
9. Peter “ppd” Dager
Peter is without a doubt one of the best players not only in North America but also in the world. He captained Evil Geniuses to victory during The International 2015 and then spent a year as CEO for the team.
After a short retirement, he returned to active play for OpTic Gaming and then captained Ninjas in Pyjamas. He officially retired in April 2020 but something tells us we might see more of him. PPD also helped the NA Dota 2 scene thrive with the North American Dota Challengers League, a format for aspiring young players.
8. Danil “Dendi” Ishutin
Dendi was so popular in the early years of Dota 2 that his name was somewhat of a synonym for the game. After Na’Vi’s victory at The International, his fame skyrocketed.
Furthermore, how can anyone forget the legendary “fountain hooks”, a broken but very entertaining mechanic that allowed Na’Vi to defeat Tongfu. Just last year, Dendi made his own team with B8 but they’re still trying to find success.
7. Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi
KuroKy was Dendi’s teammate at some point in Natus Vincere and they had some good results together. Takhasomi’s true fame came years later when he formed 5jungz, a team that later got signed by Team Liquid and won The International 2017.
After the massive success, KuroKy and his teammates founded their own organization known as Team Nigma. To this day, Nigma are among the best teams in the world.
6. Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi
Miracle was considered the best carry in the world for years when he first became popular. With a wide hero pool that often included atypical picks, Miracle was able to outplay the enemy in most situations.
His fame grew even higher when he joined KuroKy and Team Liquid in their run at The International 2017. He’s currently playing for Team Nigma.
5. Xu "BurNIng" Zhilei
We just mentioned Miracle and how good of a carry he is but is he better than the Chinese carry god BurNIng? We’ll never know as he hasn’t played in years and the chances of these two players meeting are rather slim. Zhilei has been an absolute beast in the past, having played for various teams.
4. Gustav “s4” Magnusson
Magnusson was in the TI-winning lineup of Alliance back in 2013 but ever since then, he has grown even more. S4 proved that he’s one of the best players in the Dota 2 scene in various teams.
He has played for Team Secret, OG, EG and most recently, he returned to Alliance. He’s skilled, he’s not washed up and he memes. What's there not to like?
3. Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka
JerAx’s path is similar to some of the other players on this list. He played with KuroKy on 5Jungz and later on Team Liquid but instead of sticking with them, he joined OG.
That was probably the best decision of his career as he went on to win The International two years in a row with that team. After achieving the impossible twice, it only made sense that he retired.
2. Clement “Puppey” Ivanov
Puppey was also part of Na’Vi in the team’s early years, finding quite a lot of success with it. In 2014, he founded Team Secret, an organization that attracted some of the biggest talent in the Dota 2 scene.
Puppey himself has won The International with Natus Vincere but that’s still a milestone for Team Secret. They are currently considered the best in the world so in a way not having TI10 in 2020 meant Secret once again didn't get the trophy they deserved.
1. Johan “n0tail” Sundstein
N0tail also played for Team Secret when the organization was initially created but he later joined Cloud9. In 2015, he created monkey business, a team that later turned into OG.
Once again and similarly to Secret, OG became an organization that attracted some of the best talent in the competitive scene. Sundstein and his team became famous for winning multiple major events but their true fame came in the last two years. OG are the only team to win The International twice in a row (2018 and 2019). No other team has more than a single trophy from the prestige event.
OG did some roster changes at the start of the season but it still would’ve been interesting to see them again at TI10. Sadly, we’ll have to wait until 2021 for that.
That concludes our list. Do you agree with it? Share your opinion on our Facebook page!
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