As a WarCraft III mod and its refined Dota Allstars evolution, Defense of the Ancients has devoured millions of hours.

In this multiplayer-only RTS, two teams battle it out. Each has its own auto-firing turrets and steady streams of allied forces push toward the foe’s base. These constants are the basis for adding your own variables in the form of heroes. Heroes can come in different personalities, from ranged attack specialists to close-quarter berserkers, but they are common in their ability to win battles.

Using the hero’s base skills and magical attacks, it can push through a wave of soldiers and into opposition territory. The game ends when it destroys the home base. As a consequence, matches are tense push-and-pulls, massed attacks, and frantic defensive struggles.

LoL vs. Dota

Choose LoL because a number of other games are riffing on the Defense of the Ancients template. The recent Demigod tries to condense the formula, narrowing choice and restricting the player to a smaller base of selectable characters. LoL throws at the player a mass of heroes to fight in teams of five. Newcomers will have difficulty selecting a character, but old hats will also struggle without extensive trial and error. It’s hard to get a quick read on each hero’s tags – established RPG tropes such as ‘tank’ and ‘mage’ – due to vague descriptions or conflicting focus areas.

LoL is a comprehensive update to a compelling idea. It’s packed with heroes and items, combinations are near-impossible to exhaust if you’re a DotA fan. You can also level up your account as a character, adding another level to the DotA strategy.

New DotA players will have a harder time convincing themselves of League of Legends. It assumes a level of familiarity with the original game. If defending those Ancients tickles your RPG/RTS crossover gland (found in your mouse finger), then LoL is a solid choice.