More than any other major team-based esport, pro Dota 2 players can have long careers. Fans can look at the roster of players from The International tournaments from 10 or more years ago and find numerous names that went on to have long and winding paths as pros. Still, certain players find ways to stand out from the pack. Here are the best among them.
Valve
LGD Gaming has a longer and stronger history in Dota 2 than almost any other esports organization. Wang “Ame” Chunyu helped the organization enjoy a level of success that few teams can match.
Playing with the team from 2016 to 2022, Ame helped LGD reach The International every year including two grand finals runs. Not only that, but LGD never placed lower than in the top six, a uniquely consistent stretch that few other players can match. Though he was benched by LGD Gaming in 2022 and left the team a year later, he continued posting strong showings with Xtreme Gaming.
Though longevity isn’t uncommon when it comes to elite Chinese players, few have been able to stay at the very top for as long as Ame has.
![no[o]ne](/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/noone-dota-2-768x432.jpg.webp)
WESG
Picking out the best mid position player in Dota 2 history is a difficult endeavor. Though many of the most talented players in the game’s history have played mid, many of the most iconic players in the position have short-lived peaks or spent a good chunk of their career playing in other roles.
That’s not the case with Volodymyr “No[o]ne-” Minenko. No[o]ne- is one of the steadiest and most successful mid-laners in Dota 2 history.
For the first two years of No[o]ne-’s career were spent with Vega Squadron, helping the organization break out of the regional scene. From there, he moved to Virtus.pro, helping that team stand among Dota 2’s elites from 2016 to 2020. He became something of a journeyman from there, assisting numerous teams in making their way into The International.
Had his career ended then and there, he’d be a fringe contender for a spot among Dota 2’s best players, but he cemented a spot with his 2024-2025 season. After joining Parivision, he returned to the top of the scene for the first time in a few seasons. That second wind showed how his talents translate across eras, which isn’t something that many mid-laners can say.
For a long while, Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen was a victim of the lack of structure in the Dota 2 scene. He was obviously talented, but wound up bouncing between different short-lived teams for years.
That changed in 2015 with the formation of OG. In short order, Cr1t- became established as one of the best support players in the world, winning two majors with OG. He left OG after, but has been competing at elite-level Dota 2 ever since.
He joined Evil Geniuses in 2016 and remained with the team for years, posting multiple strong placements across majors and The International. The bulk of Evil Geniuses’ roster left to form Shopify Rebellion in 2022 and posted middling results in 2023.
After The International 2023, Cr1t- was one of the founding members of Team Falcons. Across two years with the team, he has enjoyed consistent success throughout his tenure with the team. That ultimately marks 10 straight seasons of winning for Cr1t- at Dota 2’s highest pro level.
Valve
Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi is primarily associated with Team Liquid and his time captaining the greatest Dota 2 team of all time. That wildly undersells how good he was before that. Even before Team Liquid, KuroKy was an all-timer.
His most famous gig prior to this time was playing alongside Clement “Puppey” Ivanov on NAVI, a run that culminated with a grand finals berth at The International 2013. Prior to this, KuroKy was among the most decorated Defense of the Ancients players, winning many of the biggest tournaments in the game’s original version.
KuroKy also stands as possibly the best drafter in Dota 2 history. Liquid’s run in The International 2017 was thanks in large part to KuroKy’s ability to identify and lock in hard counters to opposing lineups. This was also a key factor in letting his teammates make Earth Spirit and Nature’s Prophet into their signature heroes, and solidifies him as one of the best and greatest Dota 2 players of all time.
Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg stands as one of the most impactful players in Dota 2 history. His creative play-making and strong game sense allowed him to make his presence felt on any character, and regardless of how much farm he had accrued. This offered plenty of leeway for some greedy carry and mid players.
After making the jump from Heroes of Newerth to Dota 2, he made his way to Evil Geniuses on a predominantly North American team. This new roster quickly established itself as one of the world’s best, stringing together tournament wins en route to a third-place finish in The International 2014.
Zai bounced between numerous top teams from there, making his way to Team Secret, back to Evil Geniuses, and then eventually to OpTic Gaming. Each one of these teams won tournaments, made The International, and placed fairly well. He found a long-term home by returning to Team Secret in 2018 and helped that organization post some of its best seasons in history. He then made his way to Team Liquid, helping the team to a sixth place finish at The International and multiple grand finals berths in majors.
Unfortunately, Zai’s career is defined by his inability to win The International and the former teams of his that went on to win championships without him. Still, from a skill and impact perspective, Zai belongs high up in any ranking of the best Dota 2 players in history.
The 2015-2019 era of Team Liquid boasted a number of the greatest players of all time. It was an era of stability, with the benching of Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen before The International 2019 being the biggest change. While it was shocking at the time, this proved to be a major boon for both his career and for TL’s fortunes.
While KuroKy and company left to create Team Nigma, MATUMBAMAN made his way to Team Secret. As Nigma largely treaded water, MATUMBAMAN helped Secret win a major, then eight straight online tournaments in 2020. Then when LANs returned in 2021, he carried Team Secret to a third-place finish at TI10.
That wasn’t the end, though. While Nigma Galaxy was settling into the position of a regional-level team, MATUMBAMAN made his way back to Team Liquid and helped the team reach third place in The International 2022.
Though MATUMBAMAN is mostly remembered for his original run with Team Liquid, he sets himself apart from his former teammates by having a much longer run at the top than they did.
Valve
Consistent success at the absolute top level is hard to come by in Dota 2, and historically speaking, it’s hardest to come by in China. Until recent years, it was the deepest and most competitive region in the game. There was a long list of top organizations, many of which sponsored multiple teams and maintained academy squads. That made it tough to maintain success domestically, and even with success, there was often a hot prospect waiting to be called up and take a player’s place.
Xu “fy” Linsen thrived in this atmosphere, captaining three different Vici Gaming teams to success from 2013 to 2017 and notching two top-four showings at The International during that time. He made the jump to LGD Gaming after missing out on TI7 altogether, where he enjoyed even greater success with two major championships and two more deep runs in The International.
He departed that organization in 2020 and had something of a lull from there, underwhelming at The International 2021 with Elephant Gaming and missing out on TI the next year with Invictus Gaming.
Had his career ended there, he still would’ve been a solid contender for this ranking of the best Dota 2 players of all time, but he joined Azure Ray for The International 2023 and managed to notch yet another top-four finish. In doing so, fy proved himself as a top player across three distinct eras of Dota 2 esports.
Valve
It didn’t take Michał “Nisha” Jankowski long to establish himself as one of Dota 2’s all-time best talents. With Alternate aTTax and Team Kinguin, Nisha stood out as a hidden gem of the European regional circuit. When he was signed to Team Secret, all signs pointed to success.
From 2018 to 2022, Nisha helped Team Secret stand atop Dota 2 esports. Even though there was a steady rotation of established names on the team, Nisha was consistently the most impactful player on the team. That was initially as a carry player, then later as a mid.
Nisha’s time with Team Secret netted him three major championship, three top-four placements at The International, and a long list of other tournament wins. Following his run with Team Secret, he went on to join Team Liquid.
Liquid has maintained elite status throughout his tenure, thanks in part to the team winning The International 2024. Nisha is already a definitive top-10 player and continues to add to his legacy.
Valve
Johan “N0tail” Sundstein is notable as the top-earning player in all of esports when it comes to prize winnings. Four wins in Valve-sponsored majors, two The International championships, and other good showings added up to over $7 million, cementing N0tail as a popular esports trivia answer.
That’s worthy of being ranked among the best Dota 2 players of all time, but what makes N0tail truly special is how he built this legacy while playing in almost every position.
After jumping from Heroes of Newerth to Fnatic’s Dota 2 team, he played as the teams’ position-four support. When the time came to form OG, he made the surprising but successful pivot to mid-laner and won two Valve-sponsored majors. OG overhauled its roster after The International 2016, which saw N0tail move to carry and win two more majors.
When OG went through its shocking roster overhaul in 2018, N0tail moved from carry to hard support. It was there that he won two The International championships. Winning that many prominent events is an incredible feat on its own, but doing so across four different positions is a unique accomplishment and a further testament to N0tail’s greatness even relative to the best players in the history of Dota 2.
ESL
More than most esports, Dota 2 professionals have a long shelf life but that doesn’t guarantee prolonged success. Many of the other players on this list have had lulls in their career, or have at some point been attached to teams that get middling results.
What makes Puppey the best Dota 2 player in history is how he enjoyed 11 years at the very top of the pro scene. Even more, if Defense of the Ancients is counted.
Puppey was part of Dota 2’s first elite team, reaching three consecutive The International grand finals from 2011 to 2013, and then posting a solid 2014 season with Natus Vincere. After splitting off, he founded Team Secret. While NAVI generally sputtered following Puppey’s departure, Team Secret was on the rise.
Though Secret developed a reputation for under-performing in The International, it consistently qualified with strong showings throughout the years and won multiple major championships. In 2019, the team bucked its under-performing trend by posting a top-four finish at the tournament, later followed by third and second-place finishes.
The wheels came off on Team Secret fairly quickly in 2023, but there was no way to deny Puppey’s spot as the best Dota 2 player of all time by that point. He continues to be an active player in the game, and it would be foolish to dismiss his chances of adding even further to what is already the most impressive individual resume in the game.
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