Defense of the Ancients is a custom map on Warcraft 3. It was originally created in Reign of Chaos, before the expansion came out. Eul and Guinsoo were the original DotA makers for Frozen Throne and later on IceFrog took DotA under his wing and created DotA Allstars.

DotA started off as just another fun custom game, a break from the standard Warcraft 3 play. It is a 5v5 game with two sides, sentinel and scourge. Instead of creating buildings and forming armies like standard Warcraft 3, DotA focuses on hero play. Each player selects one hero and works to build up it's skills, level and buy items. Each side has an ancient, the World Tree for the sentinel and the Frozen Throne for the scourge. If the ancient dies, the other team wins, hence the name Defense of the ancients. The map has 3 lanes running across the map where creeps automatically spawn. Each team's heroes are divided into those lanes to kill enemy creeps and battle enemy heroes.

For a long time DotA remained internalized in each country. International competitions and clan wars were unheard of. This ended when GGC (Good Game Client) was invented. GGC has quickly become one of DotA's biggest communities. It's advanced technology to lower player's latency and provide a lag-free environment has revolutionized DotA. Ever since, DotA has expanded on an international scale.

DotA's first entrance into the competitive gaming world began with the first IGS cycle. Later on CAL decided to add a DotA tournament. Several seasons past bringing the first generation of sponsored DotA. With teams like Complexity, Pandemic, JMC and Verge picking up DotA teams, competitive DotA grew and grew. DotA's first major LAN event was Winter CPL 2006 where Verge defeated Check Six in the finals. Now DotA can be found in major LAN tournaments, Dreamhack and ASUS.

Competitive DotA is still thriving, one of the growing esports out there today. For long DotA has been categorized under Warcraft 3 but now it has proven to be different. GotFrag wishes to provide the DotA community and those who are unaware of it, the latest coverage and encourage DotA's growth. Please visit GotFrag DotA for all the latest news, your feedback and comments on our articles are appreciated. GotFrag is also hiring more DotA writers, apply now! Thank you, and a warm welcome to DotA.

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