Dota 2 Betting: How to bet on Dota 2

What is Dota 2?

Defence of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2) is an multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game played competitively between two teams, each consisting of five players. Each player controls one hero varying in abilities, styles and roles. The battle takes place on the same singular map which has various runes that enhance the player's character, scattered around the map. The two factions in the game are known as the Radiant (bottom left) and Dire (top right).

Characters can be one of three types:

• Intelligence
• Agility
• Strength

Each character can carry a maximum of six out of a selection of over 123 items to further enhance their fighter and add even more variety to contests. A team wins the game by being the first to destroy a large structure located in the opposing team's base called the 'Ancient'.

There are numerous markets available when it comes to Dota 2 betting - Money Line, Totals, Outright and Proposition markets, we cover this more in depth later in the article.

You can also bet on teams to not drop a map or game in a series, which is usually played in a best of three (Bo3) format, however, they can a best of five (Bo5), depending on the event. Dota 2 also has event specific formats can be played as a best of two (Bo2), which can see one team winning both matches or each team going 1-1.

What types of bets are available for Dota 2?

Dota 2 has a wide variety of different odds types depending on the event, for example, The International would more than likely have:

• Money Line
• Totals
• Outrights
• Which team will win The International?
• Which team will win the Dota 2 Major?
• Proposition Betting
• First team to kill Roshan
• First team to 20 kills

The above are just a few examples of what Pinnacle offers with its betting choices.

Dota 2 betting: How do you bet on Dota 2?

Much like many other esport titles, Dota 2 offers a variety of different markets that you can bet on. As a beginner to esports betting, it's important to understand how the game works.

The basic concept of Dota 2 has remained the same since the original release of Dota: players must work together in teams of five in order to defeat the enemy team, and you defeat the enemy team by destroying various buildings, known as Towers and Barracks, eventually destroying their Ancient.

Knowing your Heroes and the player preferences is really important. If one player is targeted in the pick and ban phase, this can really impact the team's performance.

The most common form of Dota 2 bet is usually on the outcome of a match. When betting on the outcome of a match, you either pick Team A or Team B to win the match - this is known as the Money Line. The typical payout for these matches varies from match to match, and it's usually dependent on the skill level of the teams playing and their realistic chance of winning. These are translated to odds on which team will win a match.

In a Bo3, a Money Line could also be used on individual 'Maps'. Whilst the map itself remains the same (at least in Dota 2 and LoL), within the Bo3, you can place a bet on the outcome of the individual games, which are often referred to as 'Map 1', 'Map 2' or 'Map 3'. Each individual game in the series will have its own unique set of odds.

Outrights might seem similar to Money Line but they have different functions. With Money Line, you are predicting the outcome of Team A vs. Team B. With Outrights, you are predicting who would be the overall winner of a competition.

One such example would be (prior to the event starting) predicting who will win The International, a competition consisting of over 15 teams. Bookmakers will have their favourites for competitions, which is usually dependent on that team's performance, however it has been known for outsiders to creep up on some of the bigger teams and win.

Proposition (Prop) betting is also a popular form of betting in Dota 2. Most Prop Bets usually focus on a gameplay goal, for example: which team will kill Roshan first, first team to a certain amount of kills, etc.

Totals is perhaps one of the harder bets to place in Dota 2. Typically, within Dota 2, you will be betting on whether or not the total number of kills will be over or under a figure that is set by the bookmaker. This isn't necessarily limited to only kills, and could also potentially include the number of deaths, towers destroyed, etc.

All of these types of bets come with their own individual odds, it is very unlikely that across the board, they will ever be the same.

Betting on Dota 2: Other factors to consider

To succeed in Dota 2, both team coordination and individual player skill are equally important traits. The former is the more volatile of the two, however, team coordination sometimes noticeably improves within just a few weeks. Player skill, on the other hand, fluctuates less erratically.

Similar to League of Legends (LoL), Dota 2 has a vast selection of Heroes to pick from. Knowing your Heroes and the player preferences is really important. If one player is targeted in the pick and ban phase, this can really impact the team's performance, as they may have to play a hero they are not that comfortable with.

The pick and ban phase is one of the major differences in Dota 2 when compared to LoL. When the draft begins, both teams ban three Heroes before each team is allowed to pick. The team that elected to pick first gets to pick one Hero before the other team is allowed to then pick two, and then the first team is allowed to pick their second Hero.

You can also bet on teams to not drop a map or game in a series, which is usually played in a best of three (Bo3) format, however, they can a best of five (Bo5) or best of two (Bo2).

In the next phase, both teams again ban two more Heroes. The second banning phase is usually impacted by what has happened in the first, with an idea of how the game will play out already a factor. Teams in this phase have a choice between banning Heroes who are still strong or banning Heroes they know would work well with the Heroes already picked by their opponent. This will then disrupt the plans of the other team.

There is another pick phase at this point, using the same format as the first. Then there is a final ban phase of only one Hero. This phase is used often to block surprise picks before the final Hero is chosen. With so much occurring in just this phase alone, learning team synergies can really help with your betting.

Dota 2: Tournaments you can bet on

Pinnacle offers betting for all the major leagues and events, including The International, Dota 2 Majors and Minors as well as many others - of course, if you use an esports betting strategy you will know that you don't have to bet on every available match.

A full list of upcoming Dota 2 and all esports events can be found using Pinnacle's Esports schedule.