DotA:Defence of the Ancient

Defense of the Ancient, Commonly known as DotA is the Aeon of strife-style costom map created for the game Warcraft III, Since DotA (Defense of the Ancients) is a custom map, some of the game concepts are very different from the original Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos or The Frozen Throne. The original game and the DotA custom map, however, do share some similarities, such as usage of modified Warcraft characters, adaptation of Warcraft spells such as Heal, and items such as Boots of Speed.

For the DotA map, two bases are set at opposite corners of the map. In each base is situated a central building known as the Ancient, from which the map derives its name. The goal of the game is to destroy the Ancient of the opposing team and to defend one’s own ancient. Ancients used for each team are commonly The Frozen Throne/World Tree (in the variants Classic, Allstars); and the normal Town Centers for either side (in the variant Outland). Three lanes join the two bases. A river runs diagonally through the center of the map, perpendicular to the three lanes. Each team has a number of defensive towers in each lane, placed on their side of the river.

The teams consist of up to five players, each controlling a single hero, and a computer which controls creeps. Standard variants do not support the artificial intelligence (AI) for computer controlled heroes. A variant known as DotA Mercenaries has allowed more computer controlled players, and is commonly used for training purposes or when other human players are not available to play with. Some developers are coming up with test versions of DotA maps with variable-skill AI players. The latest being Cloud_str who created dota allstars 6.27b AI.

The opposing bases produce troops, known as creeps, every 30 seconds, beginning at 1 minute 30 seconds, except in league mode and random draft, in which creeps spawn at the 3 minute mark. The creeps are produced in sets (also known as waves or spawns) composed of a number of melee units and a single ranged unit, and path down the three lanes available on the map towards the opposing team’s base. The creeps for the Scourge are composed of several Ghouls and a single Necromancer, while the creeps for the Sentinel are composed of several Treants and a single Druid of the Talon. As the creeps travel along these lanes they will battle any opposing creeps, heroes, or towers they meet. Towers possess superior firepower compared to the creeps, so it is difficult for creeps to advance past towers without assistance of a hero.

Certain versions of DotA (e.g. Allstars and Mercenaries) have Runes in the river which can be picked up by any hero to gain bonuses for a short time (such as Double Damage, Regeneration, Haste, Illusion and Invisibility), while other versions have different uses for Runes (e.g. Challenge activation in Outland).

Without the influence of heroes, the game cannot quickly be won by either team. Creeps will battle each other and then sacrifice themselves in futile attacks on the towers. However, in practice, there will usually be a slight imbalance of power over time due to the specific placement of towers, creep paths, and other variables (due to slight tweaks over a number of versions, the “advantaged” side varies). This imbalance, however, is so slight that the presence of even a single hero for any amount of time will negate it.

Introduction to Heroes
Heroes are ranked by level. Upon gaining a level, heroes receive bonus attributes (see below) and a skill point to be spent in learning a new or upgrading an existing skill. Heroes may gain levels during the game by earning experience. Experience can be earned by killing creeps, which is known as creeping or farming and by killing enemy heroes which is known as pawning which lets a hero earn much more experience points. Neutral creeps of varying difficulty are also planted throughout the map, and they may also be killed for experience and gold. Neutral creeps are not programmed to do anything except battle other characters who come too close; as such, they exist only to be killed for experience and gold. These neutral creeps vary in strength from very weak level one creeps, to very powerful ones which a whole team of high level heroes needs to fight in order to win (e.g. Roshan, in DotA Allstars). Although some heroes posses the capacity to defeat Roshan by themselves even at low levels(e.g. Ursa

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