Defense of the Ancients: Allstars

Defense of the Ancients: Allstars (or simply "DotA Allstars") a variant of the custom map Defense of the Ancients for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne by Blizzard Entertainment. The objective is to destroy the opponent's World Tree if one is affiliated with the Undead Scourge side or to destroy the opponent's Frozen Throne if one is affiliated with the night elf Sentinels using one's hero along with allied heroes and allied "creeps" (AI-controlled fighters).

For further information about the mechanics of the game and its concepts, please refer to Defense of the Ancients.

History
Defense of the Ancients: Allstars is based on the concept of Aeon of Strife which originated from StarCraft, by Blizzard Entertainment, and is the first of its kind to introduce custom skills.

One of the first AoS style maps in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, The Defense of the Ancients, was done by a map maker named Eul. However, after the release of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, the map became unplayable, as it was edited with an mpq editor in order to change the files within the map for custom skills, due to the change of table formatting with the new World Editor that was actually capable of editing skills. In addition to this, Eul's expansion pack version of Defense of the Ancients, DotA 2: Thirst for Gamma, did not successfully take the place of the original Defense of the Ancients. In time, several spin-offs of DotA started circulating on Battle.net (the official multiplayer gaming server network for Warcraft III). Allstars at that time was a compilation of all the "cool" heroes in each spinoff and origin alike, and it quickly became one of the most popular custom games on Battle.Net.

Nevertheless, the person who put together DotA Allstars ended its revisions after releasing a Human vs Orc variant of Allstars. Shortly after, Guinsoo stepped up and became the main programmer for DotA: Allstars spanning multiple versions. Guinsoo, however, left the DotA community for World of Warcraft after version 5.84. Icefrog has been the DotA: Allstars editor/main programmer since version 6.

Development
Currently, in most versions of Allstars, the map contains many more heroes and items than does the original DotA, and is updated frequently, which may explain its ongoing popularity. However, this popularity sparked a controversy over who ought to be credited for its fame. For instance, a number of Classic players resent Guinsoo for having 'stolen' their game, especially since he has similarly stolen most of his triggers, spells, heroes and items from other people; Guinsoo, for his part, maintains that the map was created from scratch and based only spiritually on Eul's work - Guinsoo has only admitted to taking the terrain, which was manually copied, and the idea for some heroes: everything else is his own, he claims. Regardless, Allstars remains widely played, and is rumored to be one of the most popular Warcraft 3 custom maps of all time.

The 5.84+ Series
Bugs in version 5 of AllStars prompted many to offer fixes to Guinsoo but the development of the code was opaque and release schedules were discretionary. As such, the map forked in version 5.84c with Guinsoo releasing version 6.

Guinsoo ended the version 5 series with the creation of DotA Allstars 5.84, which added new heroes and a few bug fixes. Still, several errors and imbalances were overlooked in 5.84, such as the 100+ HP regeneration rate bug of Dragon Knight's skill Dragon Blood, causing Guinsoo to release a corrected version immediately, known as 5.84b. A developer named True.Rus (from Russia) developed an unofficial fork named 5.84c. Every version of Allstars released prior to 5.84c had focused on new functionality or heroes. The version created (or rather modified) by True.Rus did not feature any new functionality. Instead: However, this fork introduced a few minor issues such as:
 * It refactored the map tokens to allow for faster loading times (reports from frequent Battle.net players indicate a reduction of almost 1-2 minutes)
 * It also fixed some game bugs which were caused by the 1.18 Warcraft 3 patch that affected 8 heroes, for example Chaos Knight, Phantom Assassin, Broodmother, Juggernaut and Vengeful Spirit.
 * The hero Black Arachnia (the Broodmother)'s ability Spin Web, which usually gives her extra speed and invisibility in the game, only functions to provide a speed bonus, while the invisibility is non-functional.
 * The hero Ursa Warrior's ability Fury Swipes, which gives a stacking damage bonus on every consecutive hit, does not work at all.

The 6+ Series
On February 28th 2005, a new era of Allstars began. Massive changes including new heroes, new items and a new Ashenvale tileset were released in version 6.0, a huge step from 5.84b. The changes were drastic and many people resisted and preferred to stick with 5.84.

The major changes involve:
 * Inclusion of more heroes, items, and item recipes.
 * Changes to some of the existing items and recipes; this includes the changes of recipe "levels" from 3 levels to 4 levels.
 * Changes to the abilities of existing heroes, which require new strategies for gameplay (for example, the Stealth Assassin/Silencer whose abilities have been changed, therefore requiring a new style of play). This was a major factor which caused a number of DotA players to stick to version 5.84.
 * Icy terrain and redesign of the map layout (such as the center lane tower positioning and the pathways in the Scourge side of the map).
 * Loading screen and map picture

Shortly after the release of 6.01, Guinsoo went missing (unconfirmed rumors are that he now devotes all his time to World of Warcraft). During Guinsoo's absence, IceFrog stepped up along with Neichus. IceFrog is now the main programmer for the map, doing anything from implementation and balancing to debugging. With each consecutive version released by the team in the 6 series, bug fixes, new heroes and additional spells have been introduced.

During the 6 series, the terrain has been changed multiple times. In the original 6.0, and about 10 versions after, the tileset was Ashenvale. However, it was soon changed to an Icecrown tileset. Many players complained about this new tileset, claiming it was too bright, and made it hard to play for extended periods of time because of eye strain. It was later changed, around version 6.20, to the Felwood tileset that it is today.

The 6.20+ and Beyond
On October 31st, yet another era of Allstars began. With the newfound endorsement from Blizzard Entertainment themselves and a 'Cyberathlete Amateur League' division dedicated to Defense of the Ancients opening up, the new version took another drastic step forward which included many changes.

The latest change logs of the new versions can be viewed at the Official Changelog. With such changes, reactions have been both positive and negative, but it remains to be seen how the changes affect the game in the long run.

Since version 6.27, development for version 6.3x has begun, with IceFrog promising that new content will arrive "at a steady flow".

Current player trends
Currently, players have shown increasing interest in the 6.xx versions as with each successive version, more bugs are fixed and the map is believed to be more stable and balanced, as compared to the 5.84+ versions. Version 6.59d, the most current official version, is the most frequently played on Battle.net and LAN parties.

Currently, DotA Allstars is popular among many players around the world, as observed on the Battle.net servers and the PvPGN network of private servers. Players of DotA Allstars, particularly in the Asian region, normally go to cybercafés for friendly matches and cash tournaments.

Dota Allstars was also featured in the Malaysia and Singapore World Cyber Games 2005. The latest stable version is currently the official version for league and tournament play.

Blizzard has officially recognized DotA Allstars as its first Spotlight Map entry in the Battle.net Hall of Fame. It was also an independent tournament item at the debut of Blizzard's BlizzCon convention in 2005.

Clan TDA (Team DotA Allstars) of Battle.net's "Azeroth" gateway (serving the East coast of the United States) is the clan charged with arranging DotA Allstars matches.

Terminology
Players of DotA Allstars (and DotA in general) have developed a list of jargon and terminology that is frequently used during in-game chat sessions and inter-player communication.

Allstars Hero Classifications
Heroes in Allstars are given certain classifications which will influence their method of play. For example, stunners (heroes which can stun enemies) are usually accompanied by assassins or nukers to efficiently kill an enemy hero.

This is an alphabetical listing of common classifications and their characteristics. Do note that some heroes can be given more than one classification (e.g. Lion as a stunner-nuker-disabler).


 * AOE Heroes - AOE is short for "Area Of Effect". AOE heroes tend to refer more to heroes with the ability to do massive area damage.
 * By definition, AOE spells are spells that are cast by certain heroes, causing devastating amounts of damage or long-duration stuns in a large radius within a short period of time.
 * Heroes with AOE spells are almost always used in higher level play and clan matches due to their ability to quickly disable and/or kill the opposing team within a relatively short period of time.
 * Examples of AOE Heroes: Sand King (with his Epicenter and Caustic Finale in version 6), Leshrac/Tormented Soul (with all 4 of skills: Chain Lightning/Earthquake/Diabolic Edict/Pulse Nova), Crystal Maiden (with Freezing Field/Frost Nova), and Pit Lord (with Firestorm and Pit of Malice).


 * Assassins - Heroes which specialize at killing other heroes quickly.
 * These heroes usually deal physical attacks. Queen of Pain and Nerubian Assassin are two examples of those that mainly use spells. All of them have some form of invisibility or sudden ambushing ability. Most assassins are agility-based heroes.
 * Any hero with Windwalk, an invisibility skill or partial concealment (Blur), or blink (teleportation) can fall into this category, depending on what build is used and how the hero is played, of course.
 * Examples of Assassins: Nerubian Assassin, Stealth Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Bounty Hunter, Bone Fletcher, etc.


 * Disablers - Heroes who possess the ability to "disable" other characters, basically forcing them into a disadvantage while they attempt to fight or flee.
 * Disabling skills include any that affect the enemy in one or more of the following ways (with examples):
 * forced movement (Greater Bash, Berserker's Call, Nether Swap)
 * disallowed/slowing of movement (Storm Bolt, Magic Missile, Shadow Strike, Frostbite, Frostmourne, Degen Aura, Grave Chill, Penitence)
 * prevention/reduction of physical attack (Heartstopper, Decrepify, Terror)
 * prevention of spell-casting (Global-Silence, Silence, Crippling Fear)
 * increased damage taken (Decrepify, Terror, Penitence)
 * One of the most common forms of disable, "Stun", incorporates the middle three criteria as per the list (refer "Stunners" below). Many other skills, including some of the ones listed above, fit into several categories. Only a few examples are given for each type; this is by no means the complete list.
 * Though many spells fall under the above categories, the common definition of a disabling spell is one that can extend an enemy's presence in combat against his or her will, which therefore only includes the first two of the listed effects. It is also possible to buy Eul's Scepter of Divinity (upgradable to Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse) to add another disabling ability to a hero's repertoire.
 * Examples of Disablers: Rhasta, Lion and Atropos, all having two main disable skills (Lion has Impale and Voodoo, Rhasta has Shackles and Voodoo [he can also trap via Mass Serpent Wards if targeted properly], and Atropos has Nightmare and Fiends' Grip).


 * Nukers - Heroes who possess the ability to cause a significant amount of damage in a single instant via use of activated abilities in lieu of a physical attack.
 * Almost all nukers are intelligence heroes, for the reason that very few others have the mana to cast a concurrent series of spells to significantly do damage to their opponent.
 * Examples of heroes which are Nukers: Slayer (with the highest single damage spell in-game, Laguna Blade) Lich (with Frost Nova and Chain Frost), Crystal Maiden (with Frost Nova and Frostbite combined with Freezing Field), Lion (with Impale and Finger of Death).
 * Spammers - Heroes who spam, or repeatedly cast offensive spells in an attempt to kill an enemy hero or disrupt the opponents' play.
 * This frequently causes enemy heroes to go back to their Fountain of Health to heal, thereby wasting time and causing the enemy hero to lose experience. A "spammer" is typically just a specific kind of nuker, with the ability to repeatedly cast a particular spell efficiently.
 * Examples of Spammer heroes: Zeus the Lord of Olympia (with continuous Lightning Arc), Boush the Goblin Tinker (with Heat-Seeking Rockets and Rearm) and Krobelus the Death Prophet (with continuous Carrion Swarm, buffed by the Witchcraft skill).


 * Pushers - Heroes which can quickly destroy enemy towers and creep generators due to their ability to summon additional units or deal damage to an area of enemy creeps.
 * These heroes often get items like Mekansm and Ring of Basilius to boost the power of their creeps.
 * Examples of Pushers: Furion the Prophet (with Force of Nature), Death Prophet (with Carrion Swarm and Exorcism), Keeper of the Light (with Ignus Fatuus), Meepo (with Divided We Stand), and Dirge( with Raise Dead)


 * Stunners - Heroes who possess the ability to Stun other characters.
 * Some heroes have Stun as an active spell.
 * Other heroes have passive skills enabling their attacks to have a chance of stunning. When such heroes are able to keep the enemy constantly stunned it is known informally as permastun (a portmanteau of permanent-stun).
 * Such passive stunning heroes are usually equipped with items which increase attack speed and the item Cranium Basher to improve the percentage of hits which can stun an opponent.
 * A stunner also belongs in the "disabler" hero classification, but as they are so common, they have a subgroup.
 * Examples of Stunners: Centaur Warchief (with Hoof Stomp), King Leoric and Sven the Rogueknight (with Storm Bolt), and Raigor the Earthshaker (with Fissure and Aftershock).


 * Support - Heroes whose skills are meant to directly aid the rest of the team.
 * Heroes with healing and buffing skills fall into this category. "Pushers" (see above) can also be counted as support, although sometimes they can be used individually instead of working together with the team.
 * Mekansm, and to a lesser extent, Ring of Basilius, are often used to heal and boost the armor of teammates (Mekansm's equivalent in version 5.84+ is Nethrezim's Buckler).
 * Examples of Support heroes: The Omniknight (with Purification, Repel, and Guardian Angel), and the Treant Protector (with Living Armor, Eyes of the Forest, and Nature's Guise) are good examples of support heroes.


 * Tankers - Heroes who can absorb huge amounts of damage with either high health or armor count, usually both.
 * Typically used to attract tower fire and bait enemy heroes into wasting nukes or into traps.
 * In order to further improve tanking ability, items that boost armor, health, and self HP-regeneration (Heart of Tarrasque) or lifesteal/consumption of creeps (Satanic) are often used.
 * e.g. Treant Protector (with Living Armor and the highest base strength in the game), Centaur Warchief (with high base Strength and Great Fortitude), Axe (with Berserker's Call), Pudge the Butcher (with Flesh Heap), and Morphling (with Morph Strength).

Nouns and Miscellaneous Terms

 * backdoor - This term is used to indicate a hero that sneaks into an opponent's base to cause damage to buildings WITHOUT pushing the creeps back. It is not considered backdooring if you have fought against the creeps until you reached their base. Backdooring is generally frowned upon by many players. According to the official rules the only form of illegal backdooring is teleporting into enemy base (i.e. Furion) while no creeps are there. Attacking towers/buildings without creeps is considered legal, but highly frowned upon. Other clans and public players may have differing views of what is legal and may ban you if you do so, so be warned.
 * BL/Banlist - A free 3rd party program that keeps track of leavers and attempts to prevent them from joining games. It works outside of WarCraft 3 and intercepts packets. In-game, the user can label people as leavers and keep track of them in a database, pinging players to check for latency ("laggers"), detecting players marked in the database, recognizing multiple players with the same IP address (this means they're on LAN), and more. These programs are not as widely used as the game names seem to indicate. Leavers are rampant as ever in the DotA world. These programs are inherently innefficient due to dynamic ips and the ease at which players can create new accounts on battle.net. Third party programs also are against the battle.net terms of use. Refer to the links section for download links.
 * bs - refers to one of three terms:
 * "backstab", same meaning as "to ambush". Refer "backstab/bs" in the next section for details.
 * "bullshit", used to express disbelief at something unexpected, such as a kill steal or being gangbanged.
 * The hero Bloodseeker (Scourge).
 * cm - refers to either:
 * A short form of "clan match". Clan matches are played against other DotA clans. Similar in use to "inhouse".
 * The hero Crystal Maiden (Sentinel).
 * Captain mode.
 * dropper - This is a player who was disconnected and was dropped by the other players from the game. Some players do not distinguish "droppers" from "leavers" and this can result in ban which is somehow unfair because dropping is not done due to the player’s will. Also see "leebist".
 * feeder - A player letting himself be killed by his opponents over and over again, sometimes due to inexperience but other times intentional, feeding them with experience and gold, creating an advantage for these opponents.
 * ff - Stands for the word "Forfeit", used mainly in TDA games and other forms of higher level play as a way for a team to forfeit and withdraw from a game before the Throne/World Tree is destroyed.
 * ffs - For fuck's sake. This term is used frequently to give extra importance to orders, for example in "def ffs" - urging the team to defend the base.
 * gg - Good game. A term used by players as respect to their opponents, meaning the game was good. It is usually said at the end of the game (though not only in DotA). It is sometimes used sarcastically; since gg usually is said at the end of a game, players saying gg before the game are implying the other team or their own teammates that the outcome has been already decided.
 * gj/gw - Good job/Good work. Used to congratulate teammates for scoring a successful kill, especially multiple kills or kills involving teamwork.  Similar to 'n1' below
 * griefer - Someone who intentionally makes it hard for their team. Examples of "griefing" are relaying what plans your team is making, buying items for the enemy team, stealing/destroying your own team's items, using bug abuses to hinder your team with your hero's skills, blocking, friendly-fire (killing friendly heroes which are near-death, inflicted by Shadowstrike or Doom) even when they wouldn't have died, and feeding.
 * imba - Imbalanced. Used to indicate a hero, item or team that is considered inherently to be too strong.
 * inhouse - Also know as "ih", a game in which players who join are from a specific channel/clan, usually seen as more of a competitive style of play as opposed to public games, as only a select few may join. Compare: public games.
 * ks - Kill Steal. Used to indicate the action of a hero "stealing" what another considers his kill; for example a hero attacks an enemy until near death, and the hero who "ks" delivers the final attack to the enemy, thereby getting a kill point (for any version of DotA). May also be extended to tower kills. Usually this type of action is not encouraged. A player that KSes is called KSer.
 * leaver/quitter - This is a player who has intentionally left the game. This is quite a problem for the DotA community, because when a person leaves the game, it creates a favorable position for the opposing team. The "leaver" problem has prompted third parties to create the Banlist program (refer "Banlist").
 * mh - Short for "maphack". This acronym is generally used to accuse a player(s) of having an unfair advantage through third-party programs that keep the entire map revealed for the accused player(s).
 * n1 - Nice one. Similar to, but slightly less common than, 'gj' (see above).
 * noob, newb - may imply either one of the following:
 * Simply a short form for "newbie", a person who is new to the game or unskilled in play. Antonym: pro, godlike
 * Sometimes used to address a player who doesn't listen to advice, strive to improve, or are rude to other players.
 * Insulting another player by comparing him to someone who has just started playing.
 * pub - also called "pubbie," a public game, opposite of "inhouse".
 * plugger/puller/pp - someone who intentionally disconnects from a game. Either used to annoy the other players in the game by forcing them to wait for the plug puller to drop, or to be able to claim that you did not purposefully leave, so as to avoid being put on a banlist (see above). Name derived from the act of physically pulling the Ethernet cable out from its port, hence the name.
 * Roshan - The strongest neutral creep in the map, near the center-most tower on the Scourge side. All players of the team that slays Roshan will receive +200 gold and the player who lands the final blow gets approximately 350 gold extra. In the latest version, 6.44b, Roshan will drop Aegis of the Immortal, an older item that was considered imbalanced. It contains one instant reincarnation charge.
 * rm/rmk - Cue used to request a rematch or a remake.
 * sg/my and other country abbreviations or two-letter country codes - a suffix often added to game titles meaning the game host is from a certain area and therefore preferring players in the same country. This is because the geographical closeness of players within the game affects latency. "sg" is sometimes mistaken as "short game".


 * Examples of country/region abbreviations: pe/Per for Peru,sg/Sing for Singapore, my/Msia for Malaysia, br/bra for Brazil, ph/pinoy for Philippines, au/Aus for Australia, cali for California,USA, tw for Taiwan, hk for Hong Kong, ca for Canada, eu for Europe, sk/svk for Slovakia, cz for Czech Republic, ee for Estonia, nz for New Zealand, dk for Denmark and bg for Bulgaria.
 * OC - A term which was an abbreviation for "over creeps"; meaning there are more creeps than usual in a lane. Happens most of the time when a hero kills more creeps or has a Regeneration aura item such as Headdress of Rejuvenation/Mekansm.
 * SS - A term "skill shot", referring to a hero's ultimate skill. Derived from the MMO game Gunbound's "SS Shot" ability. Another term can also screen shot.
 * zomg - A phrase that derived from a typo while typing "OMG"(standing for "Oh my God"). This phrase, for some reason, seemed to be catchy and humorous to all the Defense of the Ancients: Allstars players. This phrase is used whenever something happens to a player or a team that they dislike. Sometimes, it may be used just because it is humorous.

Actions

 * back or b - Used to cue team members to retreat.
 * blow/det/boom - Instruction to detonate mines laid by the Goblin Techies hero (Sentinel), to damage enemies.
 * bs/backstab - In general, a hero (or a few of them) abandons his lane in an attempt to ambush heroes in another lane, generally by hiding in the woods for extended periods of time and attacking the victim from the back, cutting off easy escape. This term is said as a command for a teammate to stand behind a farming opponent, usually to cut him off as he runs away from an attack or gb/gank. This also refers to a warning to allies of an enemy hero's impending ambush (sometimes in conjunction with a minimap signal to identify the target).
 * creep - A creep is a unit that is not controlled by a player. Killing a creep yields gold for the player that killed it.  In DotA this refers to the units fighting on the two sides as well as neutral ones. Also used as a verb to refer to killing creeps.
 * creep deny/exp. denial - The act of killing one's own friendly creeps who have low Hit Points, thereby denying experience and gold to enemy heroes. A similar method is used to destroy a friendly tower which is about to be demolished by the enemy.
 * defend/def - Used to cue team members to defend a tower, barracks, or lane from the opposing team. Mainly used in conjunction with a signal flare to the game map.
 * d/c - Abbreviation for "disconnected", used in reference to a player.
 * farm - This refers to the strategy of exclusively killing creeps in order to purchase better weapons and gain experience faster. More specifically, farming in the absence of enemy heroes.
 * gangbang (gb)/rape - the act of multiple heroes converging on one hero to kill that hero. It is common slang for an 'orgy'
 * gank - When a hero is gangbanged from several sides. Either a portmanteau of "gangbang" and "flank" or originating from the term "gang kill".
 * (hero name/color) missing - informing friendly heroes that the particular enemy hero has abandoned his lane in an attempt to ambush and kill heroes in another lane, generally by hiding in the woods for extended periods of time.
 * Missing in Action (MIA) - The acronym "mia" is also used to warn teammates of a missing enemy hero.
 * out - Usually said after a push by multiple heroes. Used mainly to denote that the player is going back to the fountain area.
 * pawn/pwn - Generally means 'to kill an enemy hero', usually with the intended meaning that the hero making the kill did a spectacular job in comparison with his or her adversary. Pwn originated from a misspelling of "own", which has a similar meaning in gamer jargon, resulted from the closeness of the P and O keys on a Qwerty keyboard.
 * pump/pumping - Refer to first term of stacking.
 * push - Pushing is the main objective of DotA. It is accomplished by staying in a lane and advancing on enemy towers to destroy them, literally "pushing" the lines of battle further and further towards the enemy's base.
 * rax/racks/barracks - Used to cue teammates to destroy the enemy's barracks building, positioned in the enemy base. Also used (sometimes) to cue destruction of enemy buildings in general; usually accompanied by a map signal to indicate its position. Note: destruction of enemy Barracks will upgrade the team's creep damage and hit points.
 * rambo/ramboing - Derived from Sylvester Stallone's portrayal of the "John Rambo" character from his popular movie series. This refers to an aggressive and risky attempt to kill an enemy hero or in some cases a structure in a situation where you clearly do not have the advantage.
 * rambo hero - These are heroes who are better suited to the act of "ramboing". eg. Bloodseeker, Nightstalker, Juggernaut.
 * rosh - Used to cue teammates to together destroy the strongest neutral creep on the map, Roshan. Usually used in the late game when heroes are powerful enough to do so.
 * team sell - A controversial strategy used to deal with a leaver (person who leaves prior to the end)'s items. All items from the leaver's hero are sold at half price, with the gold distributed evenly to all his teammates. In actuality, the team loses out because only half the gold is returned. It should also be noted that since all players on the leaving hero's side gain control of the leaving hero, arguments often arise as people selfishly struggle for control of the leaver's strongest pieces of equipment, although all the equipment stay in the team.
 * stacking - can refer to one of two terms:
 * The act of pooling items to a certain hero that can make it particularly more powerful than others. Most notorious stackable characters are Naix, Phantom Assassin, Sven, Magina and others that once get certain items, are almost unbeatable. TDA Rules are against this act due to imbalance issues it brings.
 * Stacking also refers to the act of combining multiple Auras, i.e. "Aura-stacking" (Aura examples: Vampiric, Command, Brilliance, Fervor, Protection, Moonbeam etc). This usage of the term is more common among Warcraft III players, as most of the auras are also found in that game.
 * TP - Short for "teleport", a spell used to instantly teleport to a friendly building or creep (e.g. by activation of Scroll of Town Portal, usage of Furion's ability, or by Boots of Travel. TP is also used to signal Chen, a Sentinel hero, to use the Teleport ability, sending a friendly player back to the team's fountain area.
 * ult/ulti - Abbreviation for the word "ultimate." Instructs another player to utilize his ultimate spell.
 * w/zap/wrath/zeus - Some players, when using Zeus (Sentinel) hero, instruct their teammates to type a phrase or ping in a specific place (such as their fountain) when his ultimate is needed for a kill. These are all examples, although there is no single generic term.

Verbal Acknowledgments
One feature Defense of the Ancients: Allstars (like many other custom maps) has is the use of map sounds and verbal acknowledgments. Those in Allstars are derived from Unreal Tournament, which are played once a player manages to kill 3 or more enemy heroes without being killed himself. These were first imported into the game by Guinsoo to add more excitement into the hero killing aspect of Allstars.

Note that the BlizzCon DotA tournaments used a special edition of the map where there are no acknowledgements. This was done to avoid copyright issues due to the acknowledgements, with the exception of "Fresh Meat", being the property of Epic Games. The special edition was made by IceFrog at Blizzard's request.

For consecutive kills
In DotA AllStars, when a player is able to execute 3 or more consecutive kills on an enemy without dying in the process, all players will receive a verbal acknowledgment as credit for performing this feat. Bonus gold will also be provided to an enemy hero who can stop this killing streak. They are:


 * 3 - [Name of Player] is on a Killing Spree (50 bonus gold)
 * 4 - [Name of Player] is Dominating (100 bonus)
 * 5 - [Name of Player] has a Mega-Kill (150 bonus)
 * 6 - [Name of Player] is Unstoppable (200 bonus)
 * 7 - [Name of Player] is Wicked Sick (250 bonus)
 * 8 - [Name of Player] has a M-m-m-m....Monster Kill (300 bonus)
 * 9 - [Name of Player] is Godlike (350 bonus)
 * 10+ - [Name of Player] is Beyond Godlike (Somebody kill him!) (400 bonus)
 * The displayed text is Beyond Godlike, whereas the game's voice actually says "Holy Shit!".

For special events
These two sounds are version-dependent:
 * First blood - in Allstars version 6 and above only: when a player's hero executes the 1st hero kill of the game, he/she will get extra 200 gold and also the "First blood" verbal acknowledgment.
 * Combo whore - in Allstars versions before 6 only: when two or more players combined their abilities to kill a single hero the sound "Combo whore" is verbalized.

Other sounds common to all AllStars versions include:
 * Double kill - kill 2 Heroes within a short amount of time (11.5 seconds).
 * Triple kill - kill 3 Heroes within a short amount of time (11.5 seconds)
 * Ultrakill - kill 4 Heroes within a short amount of time (11.5 seconds)
 * Rampage - kill 5 Heroes within a short amount of time (11.5 seconds)
 * Ownage - when a team gets 5 or more Hero kills in a row without any hero deaths on their side.
 * Ahh...Fresh Meat - a sound byte activated when the Scourge hero Pudge activates his Ultimate spell "Dismember". This may be familiar to players of Diablo, another game by Blizzard Entertainment, in which a boss called "The Butcher" utters those same words.  This sound byte is hardcoded into the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne World Map Editor.
 * Good night! - a sound clip played when the Sentinel hero Squee, Spleen and Spoon (Goblin Techies) achieves a kill with the Remote Mines ability. This sound is played in Warcraft III when the Goblin Sapper unit is given an attack order.

Allusions
These are allusions present in the Warcraft III custom map Defense of the Ancients: Allstars variant.

Items

 * Aegis of the Immortal - A shield carried by Athena, for Zeus the Greek god. Dropped by Roshan.
 * Aghanim's Scepter - Refers to Agahnim, the final boss in some of the Zelda games.
 * Armlet of Mordiggian - Mordiggian is a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos.
 * Black King Bar - Reference to a weapon in Phantasy Star Online.
 * Buriza do Kyanon - is a unique crossbow from Diablo II.
 * Cranium Basher - Cranium Basher is a maul from Diablo. It's also in Diablo II.
 * Dagon - A Semitic God.
 * Eaglehorn - is a bow from Diablo II, originally from Diablo.
 * Eul's Scepter of Divinity - A tribute to the creator of the original Defense of the Ancients, which included an item of the same name.
 * Eye of Skadi - Skadi is the wife of the Van god Njord in Norse mythology. She was the Goddess of winter, and as a tribute to her the item causes a hero's attack to deal frost damage, slowing opponents.
 * Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse - A tribute to the Guinsoo an editor of Defense of the Ancients: Allstars.
 * Hands of Midas - Midas is a character in Greek mythology who turned everything he touched into gold. In Allstars, this item kills and turns an enemy creep into gold.
 * Heart of Tarrasque - A nearly immortal creature from Dungeons & Dragons, also mythical creature resembling a dragon, lion and scorpion. Also a small boss from Starcraft, another Blizzard game.
 * Khadgar's Pipe of Insight - Named after the Warcraft III item of the same name.
 * Lothar's Edge - A tribute to Sir Anduin Lothar, the Champion of Azeroth, during the First War (in Warcraft and Warcraft II.)
 * Messerschmidt's Reaver - Messerschmidt's Reaver is an axe from Diablo II, originally from Diablo.
 * Monkey King Bar - From the Chinese folk tale Journey to the West, the Monkey King Bar was a staff used by the hero Sun Wukong and could alter its size to his will; the same bar used by the character Son Goku in the Dragon Ball series. The weapon also appears in Phantasy Star Online and may also be another reference to that game.
 * Nathrezim Buckler - The Nathrezim or Dreadlords are a race in the Warcraft universe of games.
 * Necronomicon - A fictional book invented by the early pulp fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Also the strongest book wielded by Cecilia in the RPG Wild Arms. A book bearing this title also appeared in the movie Army of Darkness.
 * Poor Man's Shield - Refers to poor man's copyright.
 * Sange - A sword from the game Phantasy Star Online.
 * Sange and Yasha - In Phantasy Star Online The Sange and Yasha could be combined to form a formidable dual sword weapon, and thus the same is allowed here.
 * Shiva's Guard - Refers to the Hindu deity.
 * Stygian Desolator - A weapon from the game Anarchy Online. The name is derived from the river that flows in the Greek underworld, the River Styx (Stygian, meaning to have the properties of Styx). This is however counterintuitive, because the waters of the River Styx was supposed to confer immortality to those who touched it. Achilles was said to have been dipped in the waters of the Styx as a baby.
 * Talisman of Evasion - An item from the games Warcraft III and World of Warcraft.
 * Yasha - A type of demon in Indian mythology. Also refers to another sword from the game Phantasy Star Online.

Heroes

 * Note: This section only explains the possible allusions that exist in the DotA Allstars heroes and is not meant to be a hero guide/description/spell guide.


 * Abaddon, Lord of Avernus - Avernus is Latin for "void" or "abyss". Abaddon (Hebrew for "destruction") is the name of the fallen angel of the abyss from the Book of Revelation, which is the last book of the Bible. Is also a powerful character in the miniature wargame Warhammer 40,000.
 * Aggron Stonebreaker, Ogre Magi - It's name is the name of a pokemon.
 * Akasha, Queen of Pain - One of the five elements of Hinduism. Also the name of the Queen of the Damned from a book by Anne Rice. Literally speaking in Hindi, it means "sky."
 * Alleria, Windrunner - An elven hero in Warcraft_II:_Beyond_the_Dark_Portal
 * Anub'arak, Nerubian Assassin - The undead Nerubian crypt lord in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.
 * Rattrap, Clockwerk Goblin - One of the Maximals on Transformers: The Beast Wars. His beast form was that of a rat.
 * Atropos, Bane Elemental - One of the three fates in Greek mythology, who literally "cut the thread of life" according to legend. Also, all of his abilities are named after spells of the elemental type "bane" from Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis and Atropos was the ultimate sword attack from the game.
 * Azgalor, Pit Lord - Pit lord found in Battle of Mount Hyjal.
 * Azwraith, Phantom Lancer - Uses a character model/icon based on a Final Fantasy character, Kimahri.
 * Banehallow, Lycanthrope - Refers to lycanthropy, the ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a wolf.
 * Barathrum, Spiritbreaker - The name Barathrum is the word for "underworld" in Latin.
 * Black Arachnia, Broodmother - The name, "Black Arachnia" is a character in the TV series Beast Wars. In the show, Black Arachnia is a female spider/robot for the Predacons faction.
 * Bradwarden, Centaur Warchief - Centaur character from R.A. Salvatore's book The Demon Awakens.
 * Cairne Bloodhoof, Tauren Chieftain - Grand Chief of the united tribes of the tauren, chieftain of the Bloodhoof, and leader of Thunder Bluff.
 * Furion, Prophet - The leader of the Night Elves, with his command of nature, in Warcraft III.
 * Daelin Proudmoore, Admiral - Admiral of the naval forces of the Alliance during the Second War.
 * Ignis Fatuus - Keeper of the Light's ultimate skill, which is a phenomenal occurrence in marshlands creating a pale light, similar to Will 'o the Wisp.
 * Jakiro, Twin-Headed Dragon - Background story based on Níðhöggr, a dragon that gnawed at a World Tree.
 * Jin'zakk, Batrider - Named after the Forest troll Warlord of the same name.
 * Kael, Invoker - Possibly named after Kael'thas Sunstrider.
 * Kel'Thuzad, Lich - The Lich King's disciple in the original Warcraft III.
 * King Leoric, Skeleton King - his name comes from a character in Diablo whose son was possessed by the demon.
 * Krobelus, Death Prophet - A character (missionary role) in the game Summoner 2.
 * Leshrac the Malicious, Tormented Soul - A character from Magic: The Gathering.
 * Leviathan, Tidehunter - Strength hero that looks like a sea giant. His name comes from a Biblical sea creature. His name can also be from a unique armor in Diablo II, "The Leviathan" Kraken Shell. One of his skills is called Kraken Shell.
 * Lina Inverse, Slayer - Powerful spellcaster, whose name and spells originate from Slayers, a famous manga and anime.
 * Lucifer, Doom Bringer - A Doom Guard, referring to the fallen archangel (the Devil) in Christian tradition. (Also from Heroes Might and Magic Series).
 * Magnus, Magnataur - A reference to German physicist Heinrich Magnus who described a physical phenomenon called the Magnus effect, that is apt because of Magnus' (the Magnataur's) ultimate Reverse Polarity acting like the Magnus effect.
 * Medusa, Gorgon - A monster in Greek mythology whose gaze turned people to stone. This is represented in-game using the skills Purge and Gaze (certain versions only) which greatly slows enemies, however does not turn them into stone.
 * Meepo, Geomancer - A kobold character from Dungeons and Dragons.
 * Mercurial, Spectre - Having the characteristics of eloquence, shrewdness, swiftness, and thievishness attributed to the god Mercury. Also this is the name of the artist of the loading screen for version 6.28 and beyond.
 * Mogul Kahn, Axe - The name Mogul refers to a dynasty of Farsi-Mongolians that once controlled the area that is now Afghanistan, Balochistan, and the Indian subcontinent (e.g. Babur, Akbar), while Kahn is a misspelling of "Khan", which means commander, leader or ruler in Persian.
 * Morphling, Morphling - A shapeshifter from Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering, which is also adept at switching stats.
 * Mortred, Phantom Assassin - Her name possibly derives from the name Mordred. In the legend of King Arthur, Mordred is a traitor that severely wounds King Arthur. This has a hint of similarity to Mortred's story text in the DotA game, which appears as a tooltip during hero selection. Name could also allude to the word mortify, meaning to destroy the strength, vitality, or functioning of. Mortred also helped to test the map when Euls still made it.
 * Nevermore, Shadow Fiend- Name is based on Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven".
 * Nortrom, Silencer - His name could have been derived from Nordom, a character in Planescape Torment. This could also possibly be derived from the company Norton, as they are a company developing anti-virus software and Nortrom is an anti-magic hero.
 * Puck, Faerie Dragon - Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream featured a faerie named Puck.
 * Pudge, Butcher - Named after The Butcher in the game Diablo. When he uses his ultimate spell, he uses a phrase from The Butcher as well.
 * Raigor Stonehoof, Earthshaker - Earthshaker is an item from Diablo 2, which can proc fissure, one of Raigor's spells.
 * Rexxar, Beastmaster - The well known half-ogre that helped in the foundation of Durotar in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.
 * Rhasta, Shadow Shaman - The name is derived from a specific religious group, "Rhastafari," in Jamaica which is where Rhasta's and all the trolls accent places them.
 * Rikimaru, Stealth Assassin - A stealth ninja in the game Tenchu: The Stealth Assassins.
 * Shendelzare Silkwood, Vengeful Spirit - Her Magic Missile spell derives from the name of a spell in Dungeons and Dragons.
 * Slithice, Naga Siren - Derived from Greek Mythology, where sirens (half woman half sea creatures) were enticing men on ships to their island. In the game, her ultimate spell (Song of the Siren) causes all enemies in the surrounding area to sleep for a short period of time.
 * Squee, Goblin Techies - Character from Magic: The Gathering; a goblin from the Weatherlight saga.
 * Sven, Rogue Knight - Comes from the Swedish Body Builder infamous for using the line "I want to pump *clap* you up!". Alluded to the captions under his ability Toughness Aura and ultimate ability God's Strength.
 * Syllabear, Lone Druid - Syllabear is named after Syl-la-ble from Clan TDA who worked with Guinsoo in the development of DotA Allstars. Before leaving, he created this hero as to leave his mark in DotA.
 * Tiny, Stone Giant - A sarcastic name by the fact that his last ability is grow to an enormous and powerful mountain Giant.
 * Ulfsaar, Ursa Warrior - A Furbolg warrior whose name may spring from the Norse Ulfsark, a warrior in times of need (alluding to his character description) that wore animal skins as a tactic to scare enemies; and similar to Ulfsarks were Berserkers, meaning "Bear strength."
 * Venomancer - Uses a model of a character in Starcraft, the Zerg Hydralisk. This model is included in the Warcraft III data files as an easter egg.
 * Vol'Jin - A former houngan or famous troll witch doctor of the Darkspear Tribe from Warcraft III and World of Warcraft.
 * Yurnero, Juggernaut) - An Orc Blademaster who's ultimate ability, Omnislash, is the derivative of Cloud Strife's omnislash from Final Fantasy. Comes from the Hindi Jagann*th, literally, lord of the world, title of Vishnu, and also defined as a massive inexorable force that crushes all in its path.
 * Zeus, Lord of Olympia - Leader of the gods in Greek mythology. Zeus was the god of lightning, and in DotA Allstars the Zeus hero specializes in lightning-based spells.

Official

 * PlayDota.com - The official DotA AllStars website.
 * DotA GetDota.com - The official DotA Allstars download area.

Communities

 * DotA Allstars Portal
 * DotA中文网 - A Chinese-language site and its DotA forum (中文网论坛)
 * DotA Greek Community - A Greek community for DotA games. An online Greek database of leavers for Northrend is included.
 * DotA-Inside.net - A German (& English) community-site for DotA Allstars with downloads, infos about the heroes and items (with item search-function).
 * DotaPick.Ru - A Russian community-site for DotA Allstars with downloads, infos about the heroes and items.
 * DotaPro.com - US English The only DotA Allstars site with true replay integration.
 * Magyar DotA Portál - A Hungarian DotA Allstars community site: Heroes, Items, Forums, Strategy.
 * Mystic Shrine - Home of the Australian DotA Allstars community site: Heroes, Items, Forums, Strategy.
 * Indo DotA - An Indonesian DotA Allstars community site: Heroes, Items, Forums, Strategy.

Download and Resources sites

 * Battle.net Map Vault Hall of Fame - DotA Allstars entry as the first SpotLight Map (note: the map for download on this link may not be the most current one)
 * DotA Allstars Resources - DotaAS.com is the Ultimate Resources to your DotA AllStars gaming, item/recipe guide, map downloads(ai,official) and much more.
 * DotA Allstars 6.27b and 6.25AI Download Mirror - Versions with AI heroes enabled, for practice and training purposes.
 * Eul's original DotA Download Site - the inspiration for the current DotA Allstars.
 * EpicWar.com - The definitive repository for all Warcraft III custom maps.

Fan-created DotA Multiplayer Servers

 * TriniGamers - The Caribbean's largest game server, always active. Host to DotA Leagues and Tournaments. Located in St. Augustine, Trinidad.
 * WBnet PvPGN Server - an Allstars PvPGN Server.
 * PogzNet PvPGN Server - Philippine-based PvPGN server for Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo II.
 * Bored Aussie - a PvPGN server hosting regular 3c & DotA tournaments. Located in Melbourne, Australia.

Helper Utilities for DotA/Warcraft

 * The Warcraft 3 Banlist program - to check and ban leavers in Warcraft 3/DotA games. An online database of leavers, lamers, and other unwanted players is located at http://www.banlist.nl 

Fans' Resources

 * "What I Think of Leavers" - Fan-made Flash movie about DotA Allstars ethics.
 * Fan-made DotA theme song - high-quality version and the lower-quality version.