When players aren't defending the ancients, they're likely to make a quip about internet memes circling around in their community.
Please add entries in the following format:
- The meme. [[labelnote: Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary.[[/labelnote]] Explanation Like this.
- Further mutations and successor memes, if any.
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General
- Shitty WizardExplanation A recurring line among all the playable classes. Derived from a term in the Valve Employee Handbook for someone being held responsible for all Dota 2 bugs
- ded gaem, volvo disband Explanation Some players call Valve as Volvo out of annoyance with many things.
- Give DIRETIDE/Diretide GIVEN Explanation The lack of the Halloween event in 2013, Diretide, led to constant spamming of people pleading for its release with an emoticon. Valve eventually apologized for the lack of communication and promised Diretide in the next patch, changing it to the GIVEN counterpart.
- The meme is still in use even today, with "Diretide" being replaced by whatever the players are currently waiting for, whether it be the release of a new hero, cosmetic items, etc.
- DIGITAL SPORTS! Explanation A repeated line used by The Stanley Parable Announcer.
- Mid or Feed/SOLO MID OR I FEEDnote The infamous line that has spread to nearly every MOBA, originated from Dota 1. In essence, the Mid lane is the one that decides much of the early game, and as a result, everyone wants to be the mid, and some are willing to throw the game if they don't get their way.
- Russians/Mexicans/Peruviansnote Prior to the opening of more regional servers, there used to be a lot of Russians, Mexicans and Peruvians in the EU and NA servers respectively. They absolutely refused to speak English and were known for being absolutely terrible players. This meme has more or less died since the opening of a Russian and a Latin American server, and since a large portion of the Mexican player base ended up migrating to League of Legends.
- Pinoysnote The SEA server version, referring to the Filipino players, and sometimes the same as the Russians and Mexicans (or Brazilians).
- New metanote The stock response to a player making highly unorthodox decisions, often with regards to item or skill builds or hero roles. Usually refers (often sarcastically) to the possibility of such a playstyle being Crazy Enough to Work.
- I didn't choose the support life, the support life chose meExplanation Supports often end up underfarmed and underlevelled due to having to give up farm to the other heroes on the team, spending most of their money on team support items like wards, and being the designated punching bag for the other team, while generally not getting much respect for what they do. As a result, no one ever wants to play support, even though every team needs at least one.
- LITERALLY NOTHING Explanation Dota 2 receives frequent patches with little substance beyond localization content or tournament ticket additions, leading to responses of LITERALLY NOTHING in the community, especially when they're anticipating a big patch.
- It's [unreleased hero]'s [body part]! explanation When waiting for the release of a new hero, players will jokingly suggest that these "empty" updates serve to secretly and gradually add parts of the hero to the game's data.
- Black guy opens fridge, finds nothing
◊ explanation On Reddit, this gif is posted in reaction to such patches.
- Polishing Explanation During the TI5 Compendium event, players were eagerly waiting for the second Immortal treasure to come out. A blog update from Valve indicated that the reason why they were taking so long to release the items was because they were "planning on spending some extra time polishing them". Since then, "it still needs polish" has become a go-to explanation for any highly anticipated event or item that seems to be taking too long to release.
- OSfrog Explanation The Old Spice campaign on Twitch inspired the staff to create emotes from it, one of which is an amusing frog face called OSfrog. The Dota 2 community immediately picked up on it, and it has since became a joke name for IceFrog, Dota and Dota 2's main developer. Typed whenever a hero/item is doing something insane on the point of imbalance, as a replacement of the old meme "Icefrog please". Usually accompanied with phrases such as "Seems fair and balanced".
- We HotS now! explanation After 7.00 removed the ability to increase a character's raw stats in favor of giving them the ability to choose Talents at certain levels, many players started comparing the game to Heroes of the Storm, which has a similar system.
- It's a free game though right so no bitching◊ explanation Used to sarcastically point out how Valve's enforcement of the cosmetic item design guidelines has gotten looser over time: in the past, certain fan-made workshop items were rejected due to being unfitting with the art style. However, recent items make these "unacceptable" cosmetics look tame by comparison. Also used to complain about cosmetic items that make one hero look like another.
- SSJ Lebron James Tidehunter/Gun and Capri Sun Witch Doctor/Oopsy Axe Diaper◊ Explanation Three infamously bad Steam Workshop submissions for sets. Used as a warning of a possible future if the rules on acceptable items keep getting looser.
- "X is a card game". note Following the announcement of Artifact, people are jokingly speculating that all future Valve updates or releases will be card games: "Half Life 3 will be a card game", "The Pyro Update will be a card game", etc.
- CS LULExplanation Anytime someone on stream misses a last hit on either a creep or tower, you can bet that there will be "CS LUL" spams on twitch chat.
- VACExplanation Stands for "Valve Anti-Cheat", the hack detection program used in Valve games. Used in reaction to a player making a great prediction play (such as throwing a skillshot into fog and hitting someone), with the implication being that the player is a cheater using map hacks.
- Enough for do my power◊ Explanation The image depicts Brewmaster, who has lost a lot of intelligence to Silencer (who permanently steals a few points of intelligence from each hero he kills), greatly reducing his mana pool. As he points out, he at least still has enough mana left to use his abilities, although judging by his grammar, the loss of intelligence also affected his ability to write proper sentences. This meme is used when talking about a player who has lost a large amount of intelligence or mana, such as Mana Drain, Mana Burn, or Outworld Devourer's Arcane Orb.
- Literally taking no damage!◊ explanation Originates from the humorous wording of a buff given to Doom in the patch notes of version 6.77, saying that increasing his armor by 1 gave him "too much armor!" Whenever a hero gets a minor armor buff, you can guarantee that someone will make a version of this meme, with Doom replaced by the buff's recipient.
- Can I work for Valve now?note When Valve released The Promise of Eminent Revival update for the Battle Pass users (at level 615 or above) for TI8, fans were none too pleased when they found that it was merely just a green tint for certain characters' items like Storm Spirit's hat. Thus, Reddit users mocked the update by reskinning certain characters' items green with the caption 'Can I work for Valve now?'
- GOLEM GET YE GONE◊ Explanation A picture of the Mud Golem neutral creep. The image or quote is used in reaction to seeing someone with bad posture.
- Doka 2. Explanation A Russian-only meme that originated after the school shooting in Crimea. While discussing the incident on television, one of the TV hosts cited Dota 2 as a potential culprit for the shooting; however, not only did he heavily exaggerate the violence in the game, but he also mispronounced the name of the game, hence the meme. The host's angry tweets later produced a few smaller memes.
- Vietnamese Dota cosplay Explanation Pictures of cosplayers from Vietnam are quite popular, as they tend to be MacGyvered out of common household items, giving them a unique, instantly recognizable style. For example, this Slardar, Ogre Magi◊, Lina◊.
- MASSIVE PIDAS Explanation A spoonerism of "Passive Midas", used to mock players who fail to use their Hand of Midas every time it goes off cooldown or die while it's nearly off cooldown, since Hand of Midas is a Money Multiplier that must be used quickly and regularly to recoup its cost. Originates from AdmiralBulldog's stream, since he set up the chat filter to automatically ban anyone who typed "Passive Midas", causing his viewers to come up with this variation in order to get around the filter.
- Space CreatedExplanation "Creating space" refers to getting the enemy's attention so that your teammates have some breathing space, letting them farm and/or push elsewhere on the map without being interrupted; dying while doing so can be worth it if your team gets enough done, such as taking Roshan or pushing down a tower or two. However, the term is more often used sarcastically or jokingly when someone dies a really stupid death, trying to brush it off as them creating space for the team (even though they almost certainly accomplished nothing of the sort).
- I hate when this happens in my games Explanation A sarcastic comment commonly posted under posts demonstrating game-breaking interactions that'd be extremely impractical to pull off in a real match.
- Still in betaExplanation Despite the game itself being around for a long time, the folder containing the game's files is still named "dota 2 beta". As such, whenever buggy ability interactions pop up, people will jokingly claim that it's because the game is still in beta.
Character-specific
Esports and pro players
- TI East-West Cycle Explanation Refers to the fact that every odd-numbered International prior to TI8 has been won by a Western team, and every even-numbered one by a Chinese team. For this reason, the current year and a team's nationality were used to predict their chance of winning by superstitious players. The cycle was finally broken at The International 8, where European team OG took the Aegis.
- Leg Strat. Explanation An infamous quote from The International 2012 days. Analyst Bruno Carlucci asked what his opinions of the last TongFu vs. EG match. He said that the main problem of EG's lineups is the surplus of legs, because TongFu is composed of Naga (no legs), Venomancer (no legs), Morphling (no legs), Enigma (no legs), and Lina (has two legs but she's flying so she doesn't use them).
- "Any themed hero" Strat, such as EG's Knight Strat (Omniknight, Chaos Knight, Sven [Rogue Knight], Chen [Holy Knight], and Dragon Knight), or Vega's "Purple Strat" (Bane, Enigma, Faceless Void, Dark Seer, and Slark).
- Oppa Dendi. Davai XBOCT. Explanation A meme from Navi's old glory days, came from good ol' Russian. "Oppa" means "good plays" and often typed whenever a player doing an insane plays, and "davai" mean "get him" aka YOLO moves, typed whenever someone doing high risk plays.
- 4. Explanation Also came from Navi's old glory days. At a tournament, the casts rate Navi's carry player XBOCT with 4/10 score (although at that time he is OWNING everyone). Now whenever some carry doing YOLO plays, viewers typed "4" in memory of his glory days.
- Maelk Awards. Explanation At a tournament in 2012, EG was facing against Mousesports. What happened afterwards was an insane game full of absurd teamfights. Maelk of EG was using Venomancer at that time and died during or just before every teamfight, with a final score of 0 kills and 25 death. But despite this, his team still won. Now, whenever someone wins a game with no kills and many deaths, viewers will invoke this meme.
- 322.Explanation Pro player Alexei "Solo" Berezein got a lifetime ban from Starladder tournaments after betting $100 against himself then intentionally losing for a $322 payout. The ban was later reduced, but he will likely Never Live It Down. To this day, "322" comments are bound to pop up when a player or team "throws" the game, intentionally or otherwise.
- Game of Throws. Explanation When two teams in a match "throw" their chances of victory with stupid and deliberate mistakes, this appears. Also a reference to Game of Thrones.
- STUN THE BOAR! Explanation Pro player Sockshka of Quantic Gaming was cause for a memorable moment in a game against Rattlesnake, where he stunned a Beastmaster boar and only the boar with Sven's Storm Hammer (which has an area of effect), missing the three enemy players near it. Sockshka, just like Solo, will likely Never Live It Down. Indeed, when OG signed Sockshka on as their coach six years later, their announcement introduced him with a clip of the infamous boar stun.
- Good jokes mate real funny See u at FUCK YOUJ Explanation Pro player Arteezy got enraged by a terrible joke, prompting him to write that as a reason for reporting whoever made that joke. A variant of this line is often used as a reply toward bad or otherwise inappropriate jokes.
- Scientists baffled Explanation When the professional player Jacky "EternalEnvy" Mao makes a major mistake (usually feeding or dropping a rapier to the enemy team), an article from The Onion will be referenced (usually followed by a screenshot of said article with Jacky's face photoshopped on), most often in the form of "Scientists = Baffled".
- FiftEE/FiftEE Explanation Another "EternalEnvy" meme, which can be seen on Reddit (including a dedicated subreddit). Users submit clips of EE with a title describing two scenarios, one where he performs an amazing play, and one where he fails miserably, and viewers have to guess which one will happen in the video.
- WAOW Explanation Originates from the Na'Vi vs. iG game during The International 2. Ferrari, playing as Puck, uses his Phase Shift ability to dodge a spear thrown by Puppey's Enchantress. Although this is a rather basic play for that hero, the game's caster, LD, hyped it up with a "WOW!" reaction which has since become Dota 2 shorthand for overreaction. See the iconic moment here.
- The Shanghai Major Explanation The second Major hosted by Valve, which was plagued with innumerable issues including delays, laggy streams, poor audio quality, unprofessional staff behavior... the list goes on.
- James is an ass/FIRED Explanation James "2GD" Harding, a commentator well-known for his frequently crass sense of humor, was invited to the Shanghai Major. He was fired early on due to unprofessional behavior. Gabe Newell himself posted on Reddit to explain his firing, calling James "an ass" in his now famous post. This incident has caused a lot of controversy, dividing the playerbase between those who agree with the decision to fire James, and those who defend him and think he did not deserve to be fired. Both have since become stock reactions on streams to casters saying anything that can be construed as unprofessional, usually cursing.
- Ramzes' keyboard Explanation A game was delayed by one hour because the staff misplaced the keyboard of Team Spirit's RAMZES666. Later, another incident led to his keyboard being lost once again.
- TobiWanKenobi is a Dota 2 caster known for his high-energy casting which does a great job generating hype for huge plays. Naturally, it also makes him something of a Fountain of Memes for the community:
- No one has ever done that! No one has EVER done that in the history of Dota! Explanation During the Dreamhack Winter 2012 finals, team No Tidehunter (now known as Alliance) performed an impressive bait where Admiral Bulldog let Roshan kill him, tricking their opponents Evil Geniuses into thinking that they were attempting a level 1 Roshan kill, allowing the rest of Bulldog's team to catch them by surprise. Tobiwan's impressed reaction became very popular, not only among Dota fans, but also among creators of montage parodies, who use the voice clip even in videos unrelated to Dota 2.
- BLACK HOOOLE!Explanation Early on, Tobi was infamous for his disproportionately over-the-top reactions to a good Black Hole being landed, although it's been largely forgotten about as he toned it down.
- IT'S A DISAAAASTAH! Explanation TobiWan's very memorable and oft-quoted reaction to the famous "Six Million Dollar Echo Slam" which won the Fifth International for Evil Geniuses. Granted, "It's a disaster!" has been something of a Catchphrase for TobiWan for a while before that, but this is the most remembered example.
- YOU HAVE NOTHING!Explanation During the 2017 International, a game between Virtus Pro and LFY had the former pushing onto the latter's high ground, with LFY apparently not having enough to deal with the Viper chipping away at their tower... only to turn it around with a huge Chronosphere into Ice Blast combo that brought VP's push to a grinding halt. This was, of course, TobiWan's reaction. A case of clever video editing, actually, as this was not the moment where TobiWan actually said it, though many believe it was in that moment when he said it. He actually said it when in a defense against LFY, VP's remaining players near LFY's low-health Pugna (who self-Decrepified on himself to ensure his safe escape) could not use any stun or form of crowd control to prevent him from TP'ing out, causing TobiWan to call out the above quote.
- Brutal. Savage. Rekt. Explanation Said by Paul "ReDeYe" Chaloner during the Frankfurt Major, the phrase was quickly picked up by the community and is now used as a response to a professional team getting curbstomped or as an alternative to the phrase "sick burn".
- Sheever's Ravage Explanation Sheever, a well-known streamer and caster, was playing as Tidehunter. She tried to initiate on the enemy team using her Ravage ability, but all of the enemies got out of the way at the last second, wasting its long cooldown. Expect to see references to Sheever whenever someone misses with their big spells.
- Merlini's Manta Style. Explanation At the International 2015, there was an analyst panel of Merlini, Blitz, and Winter. Viewers than joke that Merlini was using Manta Style to become three (because all Asians look the same to them). It happened again in The International 2016 panel.
- Puppey Drama Explanation A blog post by ex-Team Secret carry/mid EternalEnvy revealed that his team had many problems while he was part of it, such as being paid late and having a cut taken from his winnings without his knowledge, as well as their support player and captain Puppey being prone to fits of rage. These surprising revelations gave rise to many memes.
- 10% Explanation One of the things Puppey did was take an extra 10% cut from tournament winnings. As a result, Puppey became associated with that number.
- FIGHT ME! PuppeyFace Explanation In one incident, Puppey got in an argument with a teammate and offered to resolve things by fighting, earning him a reputation as a Blood Knight.
- Puppey throwing his headset at his monitor
- Chair vs. Monitor. Explanation EternalEnvy fell off his chair before a game at Manila Masters, earning him the nickname "Chairman Mao". The rivalry between him and Puppey led to games between these two being called "Monitor vs. Chair".
- Mercedes Benz E400 Sedan Explanation The ESL One Hamburg Major was sponsored by Mercedes Benz. Many advertisements for their cars played during the tournament, and the MVP would also win an E400 Sedan. The excessive amounts of advertisements led to the car becoming a meme, with its own copypasta. The Copypasta The most intelligent E-Class family of all time welcomes a powerful new member to the dynasty. The E400 Sedan model arrives this year, boasting a 3.0L V6 biturbo engine producing 329 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque — the same powertrain that currently drives its E400 Coupe, Cabriolet and 4MATIC Wagon cousins. Paired with the 9-G-TRONIC 9-Speed automatic transmission and DYNAMIC SELECT, it promises a bracingly smooth way to experience uncommon luxury. Naturally, the 2018 E400 Sedan continues the tradition of E-Class brilliance. Harmonizing advanced automotive intelligence with awe-inspiring interior design, its first-class furnished cabin puts our advanced vehicle systems right at your fingertips — even as its world-class innovations continue to push the boundaries of what's possible in the world of automotive intelligence. "Car-to-X" Communication enables the E-Class to exchange information with similarly equipped vehicles — effectively allowing it to "see" around corners and through obstacles to detect potential hazards. Driver Assistance Systems — including Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC®, Active Steering Assist and Active Lane Change Assist — feature intelligent cruise control: They help keep you between the lines, and can even help you shift between them. Inside, the E-Class cabin provides an environment of pure comfort and responsive technology. Flowing lines and vibrant screens provide a striking visual display, while touch controls, aromatherapy and tailored seats indulge all of your senses at once. It's a vehicle that demands to be driven, and more than lives up to the dream. Look for the E400 4MATIC Sedan at your Mercedes-Benz dealership this winter, with an MSRP of $58,900.
- The seasonal Chat Wheel leading up to The International comes with a slew of memetic phrases, such as a frog sound for OSFrog or crying baby for babyrage. They even record some of casters' Memetic Mutation!
Preparing for a gank: "Patience from Zhou."
Enemy team wiped: "THEY'RE ALL DEAD!!"
Doing something cool: "WAOW!"
Roflstomping an enemy: "Brutal. Savage. Rekt."
A teamfight goes horribly wrong: "IT'S A DISAAAASTAH!!"
Someone makes an awesome play: "YOU'RE A GODDAMN HERO!!"
10 million dollars Berserker's Call: "CEEEEEEEEEB!!" (gets longer the higher your Battlepass' level is)
- Arteezy's BabyrageExplanation Due to Arteezy's young age and the way he often whines on his stream whenever his team make a bad play, many fans often compare his outbursts to that of a baby, thus anytime RTZ either played badly or dies during a pro match, they would often spam Babyrage emoticon, often adding "I'M DONE" or "TEAM? TEAM?!"
- EE's Pizza PartyExplanation Shortly after qualifying for the ESL Katowice Major in 2018, Fnatic held a celebratory pizza party, during which, they abruptly informed player Ohaiyo that he was being kicked from the team in order to be replaced with Universe, with Fnatic having already secured the exchange before they decided to spring it up on him. A huge backlash formed towards Fnatic (especially team captain EternaLEnVy) for the terrible timing and choice of occasion to give someone the news that they were being sacked, and nowadays among Dota fans, pizza parties have become synonymous with abrupt firings, and any time someone within Fnatic's (or anyone else) team plays poorly, fans joke that they're next in line for one.
- EG still not top tier?Explanation Shortly after defeating Virtus.Pro in ESL One Genting, Sumail proceed to arrogantly boast about how their team is the greatest and berates his fans for thinking that they are not top tier. Shortly after this tweet, EG proceeded to get stomped by Team Liquid, which caused fans to mock them by referring them with Sumail's tweet everytime they play badly. Copypasta Eg is still not top tier? U fucking punks are never satisfied are you? Hope you enjoy being bitter cause I definitely love being the greatest.
- Cliff/Cliffteezy.Explanation In important games, EG is often defeated when their most important player (Arteezy/Sumail) is left stranded in a cliff, rendered useless in deciding teamfight.
- Daryl the racistExplanation During one of his streams, IceIceIce admitted that he hates his first name, "Daryl", calling it a "nigga" name that his parents found from watching a show. He got banned from Twitch and reprimanded by his team for this comment. Fans decide to mock this by often mentioning the name "Daryl" in any way possible whenever he plays.
- LAKAD MATATAG! Normalin! Normalin!/ECHO SLAMMA JAMMA!!! Explanation The Filipino commentary duo of Lon and Dunoo used both of these lines within seconds of each other when commentating the ending of Game 3 of the Fnatic vs. Secret match in 2018's ESL One Katowice (the former of the Tagalog phrases translate to "walk steady" or "march forward", while the latter a slang term for a normal attack). The International 2018 and 2019 Battle Pass included a Chat Wheel consisting entirely of Lon and Dunoo quotes from said clip).Further Explanation "Lakad Matatag!" is also a mishearing of the battle cry "For Khaz Modan!" used for Warcraft 3's "Avatar" ultimate, which was adapted into the "Black King Bar"'s item ability in the original DotA: All-Stars.
- Curse BreakersExplanation As mentioned above, OG broke the TI East-Cycle. In 2019, OG repeated the feat, becoming the first team to win TI twice, with the same roster no less.
- Peter "Leave China to me" Dager Explanation During the sixth International, Evil Geniuses found themselves in the upper bracket where they beat Chinese teams Newbee and EHOME 2-0. The first game in EHOME's series in particularly was nothing short of spectacular and became the first ever megacreeps comeback in the history of the International. Afterwards EG captain Peter "PPD" Dager would tweet out the event's autograph board where a fan had written "Leave China to Me - PPD." Ironically EG would lose 0-2 against Wings the next day, though the name would stick as time went on as PPD boasts unusually high win rates against Chinese teams.
- DING DING DING MOTHERFUCKER!Explanation During an Alliance vs. Evil Geniuses game in TI6, Alliance holds off a seemingly unstoppable push from EG with their Ancient surviving on a sliver of health before winning the game themselves. Of particular note is Alliance's EGM on Ogre Magi proccing two 4x Multicasts with his Fireblast, the second one being enough to kill off Universe's Batrider as he tries hiding in the Ancient's hitbox, prompting this excited line from caster LD (referencing the slot machine sounds made by Multicast procs) which became an instant fan favorite.
- Agent 3154 Explanation During the Epicenter 2016 Major, Newbee was up 1-0 against Team Secret but was losing a grip on Game 2 after Secret put up a strong showing. While discussing the Aegis timing on EternalEnvy, Newbee player kaka accidentally wrote 3154 in all chat as at 31:54 it would expire. After a failed high ground siege that would've ended the game for Newbee, Newbee fought back and eventually took the game 70 minutes in. Chinese Dota players quickly adopted kaka's slip up as a trigger phrase for EternalEnvy who was a sleeper agent as not long after the slip, EternalEnvy would die therefore confirming to Newbee the order was received. He then lead the doomed high ground siege at the 31 minute mark with all 5 members of Secret that resulted in the deaths of 4 of them.
