Top 10 Dota 2 Pro Players you should follow on Twitch
Dota 2 is without a doubt one of the most popular esports game in the world: with millions of active players and a very developped professional scene, it is no surprise that more than 50 000 people watch some Dota 2 everyday on Twitch.
Dota 2 is basically a world in itself. It is well known for being hard to understand and hard to master, and it is said that the best way to get better on the game is to watch skillful people play it.
For this purpose, we chose today to introduce the top 10 Twitch channels of Dota 2 pro players. Some are still active, some are retired, but all of them have the skill that might help you become the next legend on the game.
10. Vladimir « No[o]ne » Minenko
Current total number of followers: 161,922
Current total number of views: 11,641,723
Stream frequency: irregular
Vladimir « No[o]ne » Minenko is a young Ukrainian player. He started his professional career in 2014 within Vega Squadron, and to everyone’s surprise, won the ESL One New York only a year later. Since August 2016, he’s been playing as a mid laner for Virtus.pro, a very powerful team from Eastern Europe that is currently holding its position in the world’s top 3. No[o]ne is well known for his friendly character and his many hobbies outside of the game, which he usually talks about during his streams or in interviews.
With team practice and tournaments, No[o]ne’s appearances on Twitch are pretty irregular. But when he does log in, you will most certainly enjoy his stream thanks to his skillful play and good mood. Careful however, he usually streams in Russian, but can switch to English if needed.
9. Yaroslav Vladimirovich « NS » Kuznetsov
Current total number of followers: 169,214
Current total number of views: 6,658,130
Stream frequency: regular
Yaroslav Vladimirovich « NS » Kuznetsov is a former Russian professional player. He first started playing DotA in 2007, many years before the current Dota 2 was released, and is still nowadays one of the most renowned support player in the game’s history. From 2012 on, NS transitioned to Dota 2 and played with Virtus.pro for a while, winning a few trophies and reaching many podiums. Late 2013, he eventually announced his retirement from the professional scene as a player.
Since then, NS has become a popular Dota 2 caster and analyst and has been part of the talent team of many prestigious tournaments. When he’s not on official streams, the former support often logs into his Twitch account to enjoy a few games with his community. But once again, there is a downside: NS mostly speaks Russian during his streaming sessions, which won’t allow some of his fans to understand his comments.
8. Jacky « EternaLEnVy » Mao
Current total number of followers: 196,845
Current total number of views: 20,699,689
Stream frequency: irregular
Jacky « EternaLEnVy » Mao is a famous Canadian professional player, renowned for his great performances and his career history comparable to a manga’s scenario. Late 2011, young « EE » declared on a forum that he would drop his studies and dedicate himself to esports. Predictably, his decision was greatly criticized by the community. Still, seven years later, the Canadian player has achieved his dream and has managed to maintain himself at the very top. Captain and hard carry of most of his teams, EternaLEnVy has had many successes and has won several trophies among the most prestigious ones. The only victory missing is the best of all: winning The International.
Thanks to his popularity on the professional scene, EE attracts many viewers on his streams, even though he does not log in very often. On Twitch, the player shares his hobbies with his community: Dota 2, as well as Japanese animes and music.
7. Aliwi « w33 » Omar
Current total number of followers: 209,454
Current total number of views: 10,749,710
Stream frequency: irregular
Aliwi « w33 » Omar is a Romanian player with a pretty reputable career. When he first started playing, the mid laner was the star of his pub thanks to his skills. After a while, he created his own amateur team in hopes of becoming a professional player. The teams never actually shone, but w33 did manage to make himself noticed. A year and a few teams later, the player became part of a project to rebuild Team Secret with some veterans of the scene, and won a few trophies and a Major with them. His second emblematic team was Digital Chaos, which also led him to some successes. More recently, he joined PENTA Sports, a young and inexperienced team, in hopes of leading them to the top thanks to his experience.
w33 is also well known for his ability to play Meepo, a hero that is hard to master and hardly ever picked in official games. Thanks to that, the Romanian player has gathered a large fan base on his Twitch channel that enjoy his high-level plays and his comments in English.
6. Ilya « ALOHADANCE » Korobkin
Current total number of followers: 226,255
Current total number of views: 23,686,037
Stream frequency: daily
Ilya « ALOHADANCE » Korobkin is a young Ukrainian player whose career on Dota 2 started early 2013. At that time, ALOHADANCE was already playing in a semi-professional team from Eastern Europe and quickly got noticed by the community. His first successes came when he joined Team Empire, one of the world’s top teams at the time. After playing at a top level for a while, he got considered as one of the best support players of the CIS scene. Afterwards, ALOHADANCE played with other renowned structures such as Virtus.pro and Vega Squadron, but to this day still hasn’t managed to obtain the results he expected at the beginning.
Besides his professional career, ALOHADANCE also logs into his Twitch channel on a daily basis to play some Dota 2 and other popular games. Even though his comments are in Russian, his channel is currently very popular. Probably because language barriers won’t stop people from watching a pro at work.
5. Niklas « Wagamama » Högström
Current total number of followers: 240,082
Current total number of views: 35,871,927
Stream frequency: daily
Niklas « Wagamama » Högström is a Swedish professional player and a veteran of the DotA and Dota 2 esports scenes. Wagamama’s career started in 2004, and even though he never actually reached a world’s top level, he has had many experiences within many different teams. He is currently very popular thanks to the quality and clarity of his analysis of the game, and has been invited as caster and analyst to many prestigious tournaments, such as ESL Majors or The International.
The Swedish player offers the same services on his Twitch channel: for those who wish to improve their level or merely understand the game’s mechanism, Wagamama’s stream is definitely one of the most educational stream you will find. He logs in on a daily basis and comments everything in English in a very professional manner.
4. WehSing « SingSing » Yuen
Current total number of followers: 453,251
Current total number of views: 64,408,037
Stream frequency: daily
WehSing « SingSing » Yuen is a former professional player from Nederlands and a streamer from time immemorial. Long before he entered the international scene, SingSing was already well known on Twitch for his talent and his flamboyant personnality. From 2011, he joined different teams such as mousesports, Kaipi or Cloud9, and grabbed a few victories with them. Early 2016, after a series of failures and struggles to maintain his individual level, SingSing announced his retirement as a player and decided to become a full-time streamer under Cloud9’s tag.
Which he probably doesn’t regret, as his stream is still as popular as ever and has become a reference within the Dota 2 community. SingSing is also famous and liked for the original expressions he uses in-game and for his trolling act. Without being the best player or the best teacher, he’s certainly managed to stand out from the crowd.
3. Henrik « AdmiralBulldog » Ahnberg
AdmiralBulldog’s Twitch Channel
Current total number of followers: 474,792
Current total number of views: 55,600,984
Stream frequency: daily
Henrik « AdmiralBulldog » Ahnberg is a retired Swedish player, renowned for his skills and for his stream. He first started playing in pubs and quickly showed great talent on Dota 2, especially with the hero Lone Druid. In 2012, he joined the team No Tidehunter with some other famous names like EternaLEnVy or Black^, and ultimately got to wear the colors of Alliance, a popular structure, only a year later. He remained with Alliance until August 2016, when he annonced his decision to retire and dedicate himself to streaming. During his short career as a pro player, AdmiralBulldog still managed to win many tournaments, including the most prestigious one of all: The International 2013.
Famous and often criticized for having a pretty limited hero pool, the Swedish player uses his Twitch channel to show his games on a daily basis, and has proved that he can very well diversify his picks. His sense of humor and his game control will appeal to many.
2. Artour « Arteezy » Babaev
Current total number of followers: 491,641
Current total number of views: 47,894,992
Stream frequency: rare
Artour « Arteezy » Babaev is a young Canadian player, once again renowned for his stream and his performances on the Dota 2 scene. Before even joining a real team, Arteezy was already training with veterans, but refused to commit to a structure in order to graduate first. After playing as a stand-in here and there, he finally joined the famous structure Evil Geniuses in 2014. Since then, the young player has been switching teams between Evil Geniuses and Team Secret, another well-established esports structure. Each passage in a team allowed him to win some events and show his consistency. Since late 2016, Arteezy seems to have durably committed to Evil Geniuses, and is currently climbing towards the top.
Arteezy’s stream has also become a reference: open personnality, good game, good music, here is the ideal cocktail to make a popular streamer, and this guy has it all. The only problem it that streaming does not happen very often. As an active player, Azeerty obviously has to put his career as top priority, and he currently doesn’t have much time to log into Twitch.
1. Danil « Dendi » Ishutin
Current total number of followers: 566,699
Current total number of views: 50,192,898
Stream frequency: : rare
Danil « Dendi » Ishutin is a Ukrainian player and a real legend on the Dota 2 scene. In 2006, at only seventeen, he joined his first professional team on DotA. From 2010, Dendi transitioned to Dota 2 by joining the famous Ukrainian esports structure Natus Vincere. What’s most amazing is that he is still playing for them almost eight years later, and still doing very good on the pro scene. For all these years, the player has led Na’Vi to the top many times and proved to be a legendary solo mid player. His first big victory, and still the most important one to this day, came in 2011 when Dendi won The International. Since then, nothing has stopped him for performing.
Dendi has always been considered as a friendly, original and talented person. Even now, he is still well known for his unconventional play style and his creativity, and attracts many people on his Twitch channel. However, such a high-level player has many obligations, and right now Dendi is hardly ever streaming anymore.
We said it earlier, but it probably can’t ever be said enough: Dota 2 is a complicated game. Hard to understand, hard to play, hard to know how to improve. The best way might be to have a look at what the pros do, and Twitch offers a large range of channels for that. But we also know that the best streamers aren’t necessarily the best players, they need something more. Open personnality, educational comments, explosive or mischievous character, original game style… these are some aspects you need to take into account to choose your ideal streamer. Because in the end, all of them are talented.
This ranking will obviously change with time, as the professional scene also changes at a high-speed level. However, right now, be assured that the 10 Dota 2 professional players introduced above will help you find the streamer you are looking for, and enjoy esports from an even better angle.
Stats sources: Twitchmetrics
– Article written by Tanéa Milesi