Games Like: Dota 2 .

The summer is a season for many things. For some, it is a time to go on vacation, spend evenings on the patio drinking beers, and fire up the barbecue. But for millions of people worldwide, summer is the time for the International, the largest tournament in eSports history. The prize pool this year is a staggering $16 million, and we still have a few weeks to go.

But Steven, you say, what the heck is this International tournament you are speaking of? I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t know, but I’m excited I get to enlighten you. The International is a tournament for Dota 2, a MOBA that started off as a mod for Warcraft 3 centuries ago and is now one of the most popular video games in existence.

In a way, MOBAs have become the new MMORPG. They are an explosively popular genre bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars annually and they remain on the forefront of the burgeoning eSports scene. But because their popularity, and Dota 2’s upcoming moment in the spotlight as teams from around the globe gather to battle it out, the genre is full of alternatives to try out.

Maybe you don’t like Dota 2 (what are you, crazy?) or maybe you, like plenty of people, are turned off by the overwhelming tactical depth that the game has and would prefer something more digestible. Hey, maybe you’re on a console and prefer to use your computer for taxes and other boring adult things. That’s okay because we’ve got you covered. Here are just a few of the games like Dota 2.

 

League of Legends

It would be heresy to praise Dota 2 without praising League of Legends. Of course, their respective fans might argue endlessly over which one is better, but each is the yin to the other’s yang. For what it’s worth, League of Legends is the far more popular option with Riot, the developer, reporting a jaw-dropping 67 million monthly users back in January of last year.

In reality, League of Legends and Dota 2 share a lot in common, and their differences are more found within the nuances of each game rather than in a broader sense. Easily the biggest distinguisher is the financial model that each game employs. While Dota 2 offers each of its hundred-something heroes for free, League of Legends operates on the standard model of offering 10 free champions to play as on a weekly basis, with the rest being locked behind paywalls. Both games offer cosmetic options, but League of Legends also has a robust rune system as well as boosts you can purchase.

Describing all of the differences between the two would take ages, and, unless you’re a very serious player, you likely won’t appreciate the differences anyway. The biggest thing to know is that, on the whole, Dota 2 tends to be a more punishing game. Dying during a round will not only afford your killers gold, but also drain a small portion of your own, which only helps widen the gap.

League of Legends is structurally similar to Dota 2 in plenty of ways. Matches will always start with a laning phase where champions head into the pathways between each base and attempt to score killing blows on minions for extra gold. After about 15 minutes or so, the phase transitions as heroes begin to congregate and initiate epic team fights. League of Legends fights are less abrupt, sometimes playing out for minutes longer than Dota’s.

At the end of the day, if you’re wanting an experience that most closely emulates Dota 2 if only by intent rather than design, League of Legends is your game. It’s vastly more popular, and, despite a more aggressive free to play model, contains many of the same elements that make Dota 2 so great.

 

Heroes of the Storm

But what if you’ve never played a MOBA before? Maybe you jumped into a few rounds of Dota 2 or League of Legends and were promptly identified as a noob and tortured all match long by your teammates because you were dragging them down. Well, Heroes of the Storm is worth a look.

By stripping away many of the more complicated elements of Dota 2 and League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm manages to capture the same kinetic joy of the more sophisticated MOBAs while simultaneously making it more approachable to a wider audience. There are no item shops in Heroes of the Storm, so you’ll never need to worry about boots or teleport scrolls or any of that nonsense. Instead, you choose talents at specific level intervals, which augment your existing abilities or, in some cases, grant you new ones.

Unlike Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm doesn’t emphasize the phases of the game nearly as much. Rounds are much shorter, usually clocking in around 20 minutes or so. Instead of the strict laning phase, Heroes allows a more fluid experience as you’re able to team up for early kills far easier.

Perhaps the biggest departure of Heroes of the Storm, however, is the implementation of secondary objectives on each of its ever-growing number of maps. In Dota 2, players have a singular goal: destroy the enemy base. They achieve that goal through dominating the field of battle, pushing towers, and making smart use of the variety of mechanics on the map, like killing Roshan and getting an instant revive for any player. Heroes is similar, but each map has a secondary objective which significantly alters the flow of the game. Ignoring the objective is a surefire way to lose a round. Furthermore, objectives always ensure a great team fight, as both sides will congregate to control the objective. Each objective changes depending on the map, sometimes you’ll be scrambling to collect a totem that spawns randomly anywhere on the map. Other times you’ll gain access to a second map where you’ll battle skeletons and collect their skulls to power your base destroying golem.

Finally, Heroes of the Storm follows League of Legends lead by offering a rotation of seven heroes that players can enjoy for free, with the rest being locked behind in-game or real-money paywalls.

Though some might criticize Heroes of the Storm for its perceived lack of depth, the game is wildly fun and addictive and the perfect jumping point into the genre. The amount of technical knowledge you need to play well is overshadowed by your sense of intuition and your innate understanding of the hero you’re playing. With a quick glimpse of a guide or perhaps a YouTube tutorial, you should have everything you need to jump in and get brawling.

 

Smite

Unfortunately, MOBAs seem pretty content to plant their roots firmly onto PCs. The two are just a match made in heaven. But as the genre grows in popularity, so to does the desire to have the MOBA experience on other platforms. Enter Smite, originally a PC MOBA that has just recently made the jump to Xbox One. Smite is, unlike Dota 2, a major departure from the established formula of the genre. Abandoning the aerial camera, real-time strategy origins of Dota 2 and League of Legends, Smite brings the camera down to the more approachable third-person angle, giving you direct control of your hero’s movement rather than using mouse clicks to guide them. The result is an experience that feels far more immediate and reactive than other MOBAs, as Smite taps into the action genre roots that have existed on consoles for decades.

Like Heroes of the Storm, Smite also mixes things up with a variety of game modes that differ significantly from one another. You can still find the traditional three lane map, but other variants include a less intimidating two lane map, as well as an arena mode designed for maximum team fighting.

Smite also operates with the League of Legends financial model, but its worth noting that the developers, Hi-Rez, have offered bundles that include every hero both future and present for an awesome steal of $30.

Smite is more complicated than Heroes of the Storm, but also remains approachable to newer players in a different sense. The more direct controls of the game make jumping into new heroes much easier, and understanding their strengths and weaknesses more inherent. Even if you’re not restricted to an Xbox One, Smite is a great game worthy of your time.

 

More Options

When I said MOBAs were the new MMORPG, I also meant that because, like MMORPGs, the genre has become crowded with all manner of copy-cats and others looking to jump in on the gold rush pushing the genre forward. If you want something mobile, be sure to check out Vain Glory or Fates Forever, both games capture the strategy and fun of the genre and port it to touch screens for those moments when you’re on the bus and just really need to gank something. Awesomenauts takes MOBA and flips it on its side with its sides-scrolling gameplay. Finally, there are still a ton of MOBAs that could be just what you’re looking for, some less formulaic than others.

This is only a taste of the genre. Everyone has their favorites, to be sure, but if you’re keen on finding out what the whole scene is about, you couldn’t do better than starting with the suggestions above. That said, do you have a MOBA that you love that isn’t on this list and should be? We want to know about it! So let us know in the comments!