History VideoGame / DefenseOfTheAncients

** HeroesOfNewerth is an even closer imitation, having copied most of the mechanics, items, and more than 30 of DotA's heroes. It slowly changed some things to differentiate a bit but it is still very similar overall. [[http://www.playdota.com/forums/3944/heroes-newerth/#post47254 DotA's current developer actually allowed S2 to do this]].

* SpamAttack: The Ursa Warrior's ''Overpower'' skill.

** Subverted With Batrider.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: AI versions often have them getting experience and gold faster than their human counterparts if the mode isn't set to disable it. And don't let me start on Item Drop...

* FireIceLightning: Jakiro the Twin-Head Dragon

* MageKiller: Magina the Anti-Mage.

* LightningBruiser: Theoretically you can build any hero to be one of these, but Chaos Knight (between his ''Reality Rift'' and having the highest base movespeed), Lycanthrope (in his Shapeshifted SuperMode) and Slithereen Guard (with ''Sprint'' active) are the ones who fit conceptually.

* PlantPerson: Tequoia and Rooftrellen. As each have the GreenThumb, they can make plants grow to be used for their advantage.

* WhenTreesAttack: Rooftrellen (a hero with one of the best strength ratings in the game.

* GlassCannon: Most of the Agility heroes, though some of the higher-tier ones have escape mechanisms to let them get away - if they can use it before getting stunned and nuked.

* DemBones: King Leoric, Kel'Thuzad, Pugna, and Clinkz belong to the non-Mooks variety.

* BroadStrokes (or PatchworkFic?): Took some background elements from ''{{Warcraft}} 3'', but didn't adhere closely to the canon.

** The Phoenix also does this, casting from ''both'' hit points and mana points.

* BackStory: Every hero has it.
** Several neutral heroes still have their old stories despite the fact that most of it still connects them to either the Sentinel or Scourge.
*** As of 6.70, that is no longer a problem. The neutral taverns were removed.

* BodyHorror: As of 6.72, Naix can infest his own teammates and if you switch while he's inside you he can turn you inside out like alien spawn (for better context he's a ghoul).

* BoomHeadshot: One of Dwarven Sniper's passive skills. It doesn't turn foes he kills into [[{{ChunkySalsaRule}} chunky salsa]] though. A properly-timed Assassinate, on the other hand...

* CastFromHitPoints: Much of the Sacred Warrior's schtick.

* EldritchAbomination: Mercurial the Spectre, "a darkness who was ancient even in the early days of the world's existence...." The description is almost textbook.

* ExtremeOmnivore: The Ancient Tango of Essifation allows the bearer to consume trees.

* AnIcePerson: Rylai Crestfall for the Sentinel and Kel'Thuzad for the Scourge.
** Ymir the Tuskarr as of 6.70.

* InstantWinCondition: Tree/Throne destroyed? Game over, no matter how many enemy heroes you and/or your team shredded.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There are currently 101 (hundred and one; that is not a typo) playable heroes in [=DotA=]. And the number is still growing.
** Indeed... as of 6.70, that's now 103.

** Another one is that Kelen's Dagger[[hottip:*:allows the user to teleport a short distance]] cannot be used by Pudge[[hottip:*:has a hook that pulls other heroes to him]] or Vengeful Spirit[[hottip:*:has a spell that trades places with the target]], to prevent them from trapping other players in unreachable spots.

* ShockAndAwe: For starters: Lightning Revenant, Lord of Olympia, Storm Spirit. Also heroes carrying Maelstrom or Mjollnir.

* SortingAlgorithmofEvil : The Ghouls.

* SteamPunk: Gyrocopter, Tinker, and Clockwerk Goblin

*** Because of WC3's engine it's imposible to remove denying from the game, the best the developers could do was to balance it (also it gives the players something to do during the first minutes of the game). However, the exploit has become such an essential part of the game that it was also ported to Valve's remake despite the new engine.
* WasOnceAMan: "They say [Faceless Void] was once human...."
** N'aix the Lifestealer was once a thief who was hanged for stealing the Arthas's ring, and his body was corrupted by the urge to steal so it turned into a ghoul that steals life.

* WhenTreesAttack: Rooftrellen (a hero with one of the best strength ratings in the game), the Ancient Protectors, and the little treants (both the mooks and Furion's summoned units).

** As the Warcraft III's Dreadlord sound set ended up in Nevermore, one of his [[StopPokingMe vocalizations if clicked]] includes "If I have wings, why am I always walking?" despite having no wings at all.
* WorldTree: Being fought for by the Sentinel. Destroying it is the Scourge's victory condition.
* WreathedInFlames: Lina Inverse and Nevermore (who uses the Firelord model tinted black).

** The entire game floats on ascended glitches. Alternating attack clicks and movement clicks at the right time so you can shoot while moving? That's not a glitch, that's skill. Luring a jungle monster away from its spawn point at the correct moment so another copy of it spawns and you can kill both with area effect abilities? That's skill. [[SerialEscalation Using the invulnerability granted by the extremely brief transformation time of attack style toggling skills to dodge stuns and projectiles]]? It's possible. In fact, the whole concept of killing your own minions to deny experience and gold started out as a bug. If you play the game as it ''appears'' to be, you're a [[{{Scrub}} noob]].

* BroadStrokes (or PatchworkFic?): Takes some background elements from ''{{Warcraft}} 3'', but does not adhere closely to the canon.

* EpicFlail: Eredar, the Shadow Demon, and Rigwarl, the Bristleback.

* FaceHeelTurn: Darchrow the Enigma. In older versions, he was said to be serving the Sentinel for an unknown purpose yet still sacrificing the Mooks for his aspects to take form.

* FogOfDoom: Slark the Murloc Nightcrawler turns into this and chases you.

* FullBoarAction: Rigwarl is a PigMan with [[{{SpikesOfVillainy}} spikes]] (he's neutral though).
** He's back to the Sentinel as of 6.70.

* GunsAreWorthless: Subverted with the Dwarven Sniper. He is the only gunslinger, but his problems aren't due to his use of a gun; rather, it's that he can't do anything ''with'' that gun but BoomHeadshot, which limits his viability in competitive play.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Knight Davion the Dragon Knight and Sven the Rogue Knight are both said to be part human; in the former's case, part dragon and in the latter's, part Night Elf.

** Also the neutral Kaldr.
*** As of 6.70, he's now Scourge.

* KingMook: Roshan. Looks like a Granite Golem. Hits much harder than a Granite Golem.
** Also N'aix. Looks like a larger Ghoul, but is much stronger. In previous versions, he was distinguished from the normal ghouls by an aura that could not be removed. More recently, he has also been shaded darker.
** Rikimaru, Ogre Magi and Centaur all have exact model-counterparts in the neutral jungle areas.

** The Dwarven Sniper gets a special mention here as well. Since he's small and starts with low health, slow movement speed, low damage, no escapes, no disables, low attack speed, this Hero seems quite pathetic... until he [[{{TookALevelInBadass}} levels up, gets good items and starts killing everything in sight]].

* TheManBehindTheCurtain: The Lich King gets a lot of exposition in heroes's stories about being some shadowy power, but when the last two towers defending his Frozen Throne fall he can't even lift a psychic finger to protect himself.
** He's invulnerable until you destroy his towers, that has to count for something.

* OmnicidalManiac: Krobelus the Death Prophet is said in her story to be one.

* PandaIngToTheAudience: Mangix the Pandaren Brewmaster. The Storm Spirit also takes the form of a bipedal panda.

** Same for the Dwarven Sniper. See Lethal Joke Character above.
* PlantPerson: Furion and Rooftrellen. As each have the GreenThumb, they can make plants grow to be used for their advantage.

* RandomNumberGod: Subverted with the hardcoded percentage moves, as the ''Warcraft 3'' engine actually uses a pseudorandom generator that silently causes the chance to rise for every failure-to-trigger, preventing too long failure streaks while also reducing the likelihood of too many successful triggers in a row. Played straight with the moves that use the coded true random generator. The poster child is the Ogre Magi with his percentage-based Multicast - there are far too many anecdotes about players who had nearly no Multicasts in some games, only to Multicast out their ears in others.

** Also several other heroes who were threatened by the Lich King, the Scourge, or other entities.

* ShoutOut: Lots and lots. One example is the Sentinel Hero [[{{Slayers}} Lina Inverse, the Slayer]].

* StartOfDarkness: Not all the Scourge heroes are demons or {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. As covered in the tooltip stories, a fair few were heroes once; some fell victim to TheCorruption of the Lich King and became {{Fallen Hero}}es, others were brought back from the dead on his side.

* BackFromTheDead: The ''Aegis of the Immortal'' item and King Leoric's ''Reincarnation'' ('''IT IS CUSTOMARY TO QUOTE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER WHENEVER YOU DIE''') skill allow for penalty-less revival.

Recently, it was announced that [[{{Valve}} Valve Software]] had hired Icefrog (One of the game's original developers) and have been working on a commercial sequel/remake of a sort [[http://www.gamespot.com/news/6281820.html called Dota 2]]. It is due in 2011. Recent updates about DOTA 2 can be seen [[http://www.dota2.com/2010/11/welcome-to-dota-2-blog/ here]]. Likewise Blizzard announced at Blizzcon 2010 their own version of DoTA for Starcraft II, featuring characters from all their franchises. Due sometime in the near future.

* HopeSpot: Many, many times a player will have run his low-health hero almost to safety when an enemy pulls out a last-minute spell that gets the kill. Sniper's and Zeus' ultimates are the most reliable to use for this, as they have the range to get the kill while keeping their casters safe.

* TheManBehindTheCurtain: The Lich King gets a lot of exposition in heroes' stories about being some shadowy power, but when the last two towers defending his Frozen Throne fall he can't even lift a psychic finger to protect himself.

* RainOfArrows: The Windrunner's Focus Fire, and Clinkz' Strafe skills.

* StuffBlowingUp: The Goblin Techies' arsenal is composed of landmines of various effects, [[TakingYouWithMe and an explosive suicide attack.]]

** N'aix the Lifestealer was once a thief who was hanged for stealing the Arthas' ring, and his body was corrupted by the urge to steal so it turned into a ghoul that steals life.

''Defense of the Ancients: Allstars'' (abbreviated to ''[=DotA=]'' or just ''[=DotA=]'') is a user map for ''[[{{Warcraft}} Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne]]''. Based on the earlier ''Defense of the Ancients'' user map for ''[[{{Warcraft}} Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos]]'' which itself was based on the earlier ''Aeon of Strife'' user map for ''{{Starcraft}}'', [=DotA'=]s current popularity has given ''[[{{Warcraft}} WC3: TFT]]'' longer shelf life than intended (with ''[=DotA: Allstars=]'', as it was previously called, acquiring sponsorship from BlizzardEntertainment itself as a Spotlight Map in the Battle.net Hall of Fame).

*** Because of WC3's engine it's imposible to remove denying from the game, the best the developers could do was to balance it (also it gives the players something to do during the first minutes of the game).