It’s a hotly contested topic: who are the top 10 best Dota 2 pro players in the world right now?
Players rise and fall as the metagame changes and evolves. However, the pros on our list have enjoyed continued success over multiple years of professional Dota. We’ve compiled this list based on a mix of international MMR rankings, recent tournament performance and fan opinions.
So, grab your pro player card packs and see if you drew any of the players on our top 10 list.
10. Xu “fy” Linsen: LGD Gaming
Position – Support
LGD’s Xu “fy” Linsen is the first of many support players to feature on our list and for good reason. Despite being fairly new to the game, fy has wasted no time in building up a fearsome reputation as a support hero to be respected.
He has been hailed by casters in the professional scene as one of, if not the best Rubick player in the world. His captaincy of LGD helped them secure a close 2nd place finish at The International 2018. In addition, for his supporting and drafting prowess he was awarded MVP at EPICENTER 2018.
9. Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen: OG
Position – Mid
Following the drama between Fly and N0tail in the run-up to TI18, OG found themselves in desperate need of a new mid player. Almost out of options and with qualifiers looming, OG drafted a previously untested pub star.
That pub star was Topson.
With no tournament experience under his belt, Topson suddenly finds himself playing on the biggest stage in competitive Dota – The International. Unphased, Topson showed the crowd what a top-tier Invoker player can do. His incredible timing and his ability to know precisely when to engage helped OG edge out a 3 – 2 win over Chinese team LGD in the Grand Final.
Topson went from a relative nobody to a TI18 winner almost overnight.
8. Sébastien “7ckngMad” Debs: OG
Position – Offlane/Support
No top 10 list of the current Dota 2 meta would be complete without the inclusion of Ceb. His absolute clutch Blink Call with Axe at TI18 was game-changing and spawned a whole collection of memes. The best of these are actually featured in the new 2019 Dota 2 Battle Pass.
Ceb is most often found on the offlane, but he is versatile enough to play position 4 or 5 if required. His ability to adapt combined with his incredible game sense and expert timing helped propel OG to victory at The International 2018. But to be honest, we’d put him on this list just for the memes.
Ceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb!
7. Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat: Team Secret
Position – Support
Supports don’t always get the love they deserve in Dota 2 pub games, but YapzOr made his presence felt in the recent MDL Disneyland Paris Major.
His commanding performance as Earthshaker played a huge role in Team Secret knocking OG down to the lower bracket. He seemed to be everywhere at once, especially in game 1. It was his presence and expert timing that helped Team Secret dominate the laning phases during crucial games with the previous TI winners. His game sense and execution of textbook ultimates secure him a place on our list.
6. Clement “Puppey” Ivanov: Team Secret
Position – Support
At time of writing, Puppey is 185th in the European MMR rankings, pretty far down the list. With that said, his performance and captaincy of Team Secret at the recent MDL Disneyland Paris Major saw the team take first place overall in the tournament.
Puppey rose to prominence during his time at Na’vi, alongside legends like Danil “Dendi” Ishutin. It was while here, in 2011, that Puppey and Na’vi would go on to win The International that year, albeit in controversial fashion.
While roster shifts and team collapses between then and now saw Puppey fall from prominence, he has almost single-handedly rebuilt Team Secret into a real powerhouse of the Dota 2 pro scene, and as such he more than earns his place on this list.
5. Artour “Arteezy” Babaev: Evil Geniuses
Position – Mid/Carry
Well known for his incredible talent as a hard carry player, Arteezy enjoyed successful spells at both Evil Geniuses and Team Secret. He has won several high-profile Major tournaments with both teams, including the 2015 ESL Frankfurt One and The Manila Masters in 2017. Despite this, he is the highest-ranking player on our list never to have lifted the Aegis at The International.
Arteezy is uncommonly skilled as a mid player and widely regarded as one of the best in the world. He is an excellent Tinker player and has more recently enjoyed success playing heroes like Terror Blade and Arc Warden.
In addition, Arteezy is one of the most popular streamers in the Dota 2 community. He has over 500,000 followers on Twitch and over 4.3 million views on his YouTube channel.
4. Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasom: Team Liquid
Position – Support
As of writing, KuroKy is the highest earning professional player in Dota 2. He has earned more in prize money than his teammate Miracle by nearly $500,000. KuroKy is the first of three Team Liquid players to feature on this list. This should tell you something about how fearsome Team Liquid can be.
KuroKy has enjoyed unprecedented success as a professional Dota player. He has participated in The International every year since its inception in 2011. As part of Team Liquid, he won his share of the $10.8 million prize pool by winning The International in 2017.
His captaincy of Team Liquid continues to drive their success and has helped cement the team’s reputation as one of the best teams in the Dota pro scene right now.
3. Maroun “GH” Merhej: Team Liquid
Position – Support
The highest ranked support player on our list, GH is one of 3 players on Team Liquid with MMR above 9000. This put him in close contention with his Liquid teammate Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen for the number 3 spot. However, we ultimately decided that a support player deserved a spot on the podium, so GH won the day.
GH can play a wide range of support heroes with devastating effect. His signature heroes include IO and Keeper of the Light. However, in recent tournaments, GH has found success playing unconventional hero/role combinations like Zeus support.
Despite being a support player, GH is currently 12th on the European division rankings. This puts him only eight places behind his Liquid teammate Miracle. This makes him the highest ranked professional support player in European Dota 2.
2. Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan: Evil Geniuses
Position – Mid
SumaiL’s dominating performance in the recent MDL Disneyland Paris Major clinches him the 2nd place spot on our list. His upper bracket semifinal performance as Morphling was simply incredible. He went 18 – 0 on a hero he has never played in competitive Dota before. This helped EG win a hotly contested game against Ninjas in Pyjamas, a matchup that could have gone either way.
SumailL’s incredible performance helped his team secure a 3rd place finish at the MDL Disneyland Paris Major, netting the team a cool $100,000. Combine this with a Major and International winning pedigree and there is no doubt that SumaiL earns his spot in the top 10 best Dota 2 pro players.
1. Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi: Team Liquid
Position – Mid/Carry
Claiming the top spot on our list is the legend that is Miracle. Since joining Team Liquid in 2016, Miracle- and the team have finished no lower than 4th in the vast majority of Dota 2 competitions they have entered. This includes a first-place finish at The International 2017.
Miracle almost always offers an eye-catching performance as mid lane heroes like Invoker, and more recently as carry heroes like Anti-Mage. Helped largely by Miracle’s carry performances, Team Liquid secured a 2nd place finish at the recent MDL Disneyland Paris Major. This includes two games back-to-back against EG in the semifinal where Miracle didn’t die once.
His ability to carry a game, combined with the frequency of his success and his consistent performance during top-level competitive Dota is why Miracle is our number 1 best pro player in Dota 2 right now.
Final Thoughts
With combined prize money reaching towards the hundreds of millions, these ten pros are among the best of the best at Dota 2 right now. Together, they have created some of the most incredible moments in esports and helped shape Dota 2 into one of the most watchable esports out there.
Didn’t see your favorite player on this list of the top 10 best Dota 2 pro players? Do you disagree with our order? Why not let us know in the comments below?
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4 Comments
No lower than 4th in every competition? As a liquid fan I wish that were so but they finished last place in one of the recent tournaments
DreamLeague Season 11? You are quite right, Gostega – that’s my fault. There’s actually a couple of competitions in the last few years where they’ve done fairly badly.
You have a keen eye for facts, friend. Thanks for keeping us on our toes!
Lol miracle is team secret?
@Anonymous – this was a typo. Well spotted. It has now been corrected. Thanks for pointing it out!