One of the participants of the Games of the Future in Kazan was the Russian-speaking roster of Entity Club from India. Even with a substitution, the team showcased decent gameplay but lost twice to Chinese juggernauts, ultimately securing the 5th-8th place.
Despite not being in the best mood, Russian offlaner Dmitry "DM" Dorokhin agreed to chat with us. The player shared with "Championship" his views on the current state of the game's meta and why the once-cult-like status of The International now yields to super tournaments in Saudi Arabia.
- Hello! Let's start with the recent global patch announced by Valve—what changes in the game are you looking forward to?
- Well, I'd like the meta to shift a bit—this would require tweaking some strong heroes. Although currently, the meta is kind of shifting on its own, in that regard, the patch is quite interesting. It's rare: no gameplay changes, yet the meta shifts.
- Nevertheless, there are still a few heroes that seem to have fallen out of the meta long ago and haven't returned, right?
- There are a few, like Leshrac, for sure. He needs a buff because now he's not a hero; nobody in their right mind would pick him. Another example is Beastmaster, Lycan as well... overall, the patch is such that summoners are completely "killed off." Something needs to be done to bring heroes with summoned units back into the game, that would be fair.
Currently, they are absent, perhaps because Shiva’s Guard is too strong right now. You can buy it by the 15th minute, and such heroes end up dealing very little damage. Plus, Helm of the Overlord (upgraded Dominator) is very weak right now.
- I wanted to ask about the relatively new item—the Roshan banner, which strengthens creeps on one of the lanes. How much do you like this idea and how could it be improved?
- It's quite an interesting mechanic. Perhaps it should be made so that only hero attacks can break the banner—currently, in absolutely any game. Furion can teleport, sprout, throw trees, and kill it solo, which is quite absurd.
So, you kill the second Roshan, and this advantage is lost due to a simple pack of "trees". Considering there's Aghanim and Cheese—how much does this give you? In general, yes, the only problem is that the banner is very easy to break.
- What do you think of the current arcade meta, with prolonged team fights and tanky heroes, compared to what it used to be?
- At "The International," the meta had heroes buying Blademail and Heart of Tarrasque. The same Kunkka appeared in almost every third game—he gets Blademail, Heart of Tarrasque, and Aghanim, and that's it, you can't kill the hero.
So, it's been going on for quite a while now, but overall, I agree, now the game comes down to the point where you can't even get a solo kill. Everyone splits the map smartly (or at least tries to), to create some pressure.
Moreover, nowadays, many core heroes can't kill a support hero solo. 10 years ago, Centaur pressed Blink Dagger, stun, second spell, and erased Lion or Crystal Maiden from the map. Now he won't kill anyone, even with decent items like Shiva’s Guard.
- Regarding the latest Valve changes not related to gameplay—the conduct system, bans for cheaters and smurfs (secondary accounts)...
- Well, my conduct has always been 12,000, maximum, it hasn't changed for me. Regarding bans for cheats—obviously, it's the right move, Valve is doing great.
But about smurf bans—it's debatable. After all, many people found an outlet in playing, for example, on an account that is 500 MMR lower than their main—just to relax a bit, not to try hard. But probably, for most people, this is a positive decision.
- Should professional players have smurfs for practice?
- In my opinion, they should, but people are currently very obsessed with, let's say, tolerance and equality, and therefore, professional players won't have any special status anymore. I even think that a day will come when they'll remove this pro player tag from us, so esports athletes can also end up in low priority. So that everyone is exactly equal, everything is tolerant, European-style, so to speak.
- How does the new tournament system compare to Dota Pro Circuit for your team?
- I don't know, I think we would have had more chances to show ourselves during a long DPC season because right now we are not at the peak of our team game. But overall, it's a normal system—just if you don't play well enough, you don't go to tournaments. Unfortunately, we're just not playing well enough yet.
- There is an opinion that the abolition of transfer windows has negatively affected the scene: too many transfers, and constant substitutions... In your opinion, which approach is better—trying to swap players in search of the perfect combination or trying to gel together, even if it doesn't work out at first?
- In my understanding, the approach where you already assemble a roster, where plus or minus all players see the opportunity to win with each other, looks much more adequate. And if something doesn't work out, it would be logical to try to fix mistakes and gather, rather than just change the lineup. But it depends on the team: some teams can change almost half of their roster several times during the season.
- What's more interesting now, Riyadh Masters or The International?
- Riyadh. These are the best conditions: the venue, the quality of organization, and so on. It has a higher prize pool. Overall, you can feel how important this event is for Saudi Arabia, and how much effort the organizers put into it—while at "The International" I didn't feel that at all.
- How did you find the last The International, where you were a coach for 9Pandas?
- Didn't like it.
- There are more and more talks again about "Dota" dying and so on. How do you feel about this?
- People say a lot of things, but I wouldn't directly say that "Dota" is dying. People have been saying since 2010 that Warcraft is dying—now it's 2024, and several million people are playing Warcraft. So I wouldn't exactly listen to what people say.
- But just in case, do you already have ideas on what to do next in life without Dota 2?
- Hmm... yeah, I have a couple of ideas, let's say.
- Still a secret?
- Yeah, let's leave it for later.
- Thanks for the interview! Maybe you have some words for the fans?
- Yes, of course. Cheer for us, we'll try to show our best game as much as possible. We're trying to give it our all.