Defense of the Ancients is a team-oriented game with two opposing sides. Unlike regular Warcraft III games, in which many units are controlled by the player, in DotA each player must choose a single hero - with its own skills, strengths, and weaknesses, and control only this hero in order to achieve victory. The objective here is to destroy the opposing team’s main structure (the “Ancient”), thus giving rise to the game name. To reach the Ancient, each hero must defeat waves of units, structures and enemy heroes. Along the way, the player may upgrade his or her hero by defeating enemies in combat, which supplies gold and experience points. These are both necessary in order to purchase upgrades either from shops or the hero’s ability list.

Each hero can learn three “standard” abilities, and a special “ultimate” ability in all versions. The heroes are split into three classes, each emphasizing one of the three parameters: strength, agility, and intelligence.

DotA has been developed by many different authors. The original DotA map was created by a player named Eul.[citation needed] There is an item in the current DotA Allstars which gives credit to Eul (Eul’s Scepter of Divinity). Eul has long since abandoned DotA, and his original map has inspired many variants, including the well known DotA Allstars. At one point, Guinsoo (who is also honored by a game item called the “Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse”) worked on it. However, another member from Clan Kali, Buriza, worked on it as well. Buriza is honored with his own item called the Buriza-do Kyanon, a reference to a Diablo II item that speaks of its imbalance. Currently, IceFrog is the one who is leading the developers of DotA Allstars.