How to play Dota Underlords and what is it

The story of how Dota 2 became a somewhat understood tale. It started out as a fun Warcraft 3 mod featuring heroes fighting against other heroes, using minions to reach the other side. The mod has escalated beyond belief and become a new generation of games called Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas, more commonly referred to as MOBA. It's available on Steam from developer Valve, who still allows players to develop mods using the Dota 2 perks.

A particular mod for Dota 2 took off in early 2019 called Dota Auto Chess, created by Drodo Studio. He used Dota 2's characters, their abilities, and several NPCs, but in a whole different game. It was an automatic fighter where players buy heroes to place on their board, power them up by combining three of the same type, and fight eight other players who also choose from a random group of heroes. The mod was a huge success.

Unfortunately, Drodo Studio and Valve were unable to come to an agreement in private negotiations, and Drodo Studio went to work with a Chinese company on their version of Auto Chess, one without Dota 2's trumps. Valve still held onto the assets and use of the Dota Auto Chess mod, and in June 2019 released a version of the game called Dota Underlords for early access, with a few tweaks. Dota Underlords will officially release on February 25, 2020, but how is it different from the original game, and what is it?

The approach remains the same

Image via valve

Dota Underlords and the original Auto Chess feel the same, especially when it comes to the characters. For those who play Dota 2, you may recognize many of the same heroes, such as Ax, Batrider, Omniknight, Tinker, Terrorblade, and many more. The game begins by giving the nine players five gold coins and letting them choose from five different characters. You choose which heroes you can buy, keeping your amount of gold in mind, and then add them to the board. Everyone starts by being able to place a total of three heroes.

From there the battles begin. You fight a random player's heroes against your own on the other side of the map. You can only watch them compete against each other. Each hero in the game has a predefined attack speed, mana pool, and ability that they use during combat. If you win you gain gold and experience points, and if you lose you lose hearts depending on the number of enemy characters remaining and their respective levels. The game continues until only one player has health.

Each turn, you choose from a new pool of five heroes to add to your roster. Ideally, you want to choose multiples of the same character in order to make them stronger. When you have three of the same heroes, they combine into a level two variant. You can do this up to level three, which requires three level two versions of the same hero. You can choose to use the gold to level up, revive a new group of heroes, or keep it to receive interest after each turn.

Hero choices matter in every game, and that's changing

There are a lot of random chances associated with the game. You will not receive the same roster of heroes, and some of them have a higher probability of showing up than others. You can see this before you buy the hero, which you see in their cost. You are more likely to see a hero that costs one gold compared to one that requires four. For example, you can start the game with rare heroes, but do you want to invest them so early and only see them in the next few turns?

Every game changes because of these choices, and you have to decide how you want to build your team based on the alliances you make. Each hero has a series of traits associated with him, such as Omniknight is a human, knight, and healer, and Terrorblade is a demon and hunter. If you have these two on your board, they won't add to each other's alliance, but if you're an Omniknight with Abbadon, who has Heartless and Knight, the two complement each other and receive a bonus for your whole team. The first hero choices you make may dictate your subsequent choices to forge stronger alliances to provide additional bonuses to your team.

Underlords, items, and hero placement force you to adapt

Image via valve

Every five turns, each player chooses from three different items, available at random. A hero can wear only one item at a time to change his attack speed, health, or provide benefits to the entire team, such as providing healing or extra mana to those around him. On turn 10, each player chooses an Underlord to lead the heroes they have chosen. The Underlord is a sturdy unit that offers extended bonuses, a unique new ability, and dictates how you build your team. There are only a handful of Underlords available, and each player chooses from the same pool.

Adding all of these factors together, at the end of the day it's all about watching a series of NPCs go head-to-head with players making small changes that can change a game. Make up your mind to increase attack speed. your most reliable unit, or the one that uses the best capacity? Do you rely on a pair of tanks to protect your backline, or do you choose to have a variety of heavy attackers to destroy your opponent quickly? Does your Underlord act like your tank or do you use them to increase your hero's attack speed?

The game is different each time, but despite the random odds of heroes, items, and the way your opponents play, there are some clear starting strategies and how you care at the end of the game. Dota Underlords hits Steam on February 25, and when it does, Valve will have the chance to build on an already interesting foundation.