A Guide to MOBA’s, and why they’re popular.
A simple guide to the most popular videogame on the planet.
In my last article, I explained American Football in simple videogame terms. Here, my purpose is the opposite. I’m going to explain for anyone who has no idea what’s going on, a type of game that’s become one of the most popular and profitable game genres on the planet, the MOBA.
This is a genre with many different games, so for this explanation I’ll use the two biggest examples out there, League of Legends and DOTA 2. Both of these games lock in millions of players a month, and rake in even more unbelievable amounts of cash, both for the creators of the game and the people who play them at the top levels. The International, the world cup of DOTA, has a prize pool of over 25 MILLION DOLLARS, meaning this game has real, honest stakes at the top level just as much as a game of football has.
This explanation will go pretty in-depth, so let’s get right into it.
The Game Overall:
A MOBA, or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, is a game of real-time strategy and teamwork, focused on 2 teams of 5 players as they try to defend a goal while attacking the opposing team. It’s played with a mouse and keyboard in a top down fashion.
The game is played on a Map, usually called the Arena or Battleground or Summoner’s Rift or some other fancy name.
Now that might look big and fancy, but let’s break it down into a simpler form.
Each team starts at either side of the map. In Dota 2’s case, the Radiant are the nice and flowery side and The Dire are the spooky dark side.
Each team itself is made up of various heroes. Each hero has a basic attack, 4 or so powerful special abilities, simple stats determining how powerful they are, and finally a super powerful attack called an Ultimate. They also slowly gain their power during a match via collecting gold and buying items. I’ll go more in depth on heroes in a moment.
Both teams are trying to go from their side of the field, into the enemy base, and destroy a big fancy Goal Object, usually called an Ancient or Nexus or whatever. When that thing is destroyed, the team that destroyed it is the winner. No points, just one single goal.
However, you see the three pathways down there on the simplified map? Those are Top Lane, Middle Lane, and Bottom Lane. They contain very destructive things blocking the way called Towers, and the two green patches are areas with all sorts of easy-to kill monsters called the Jungle.
As you can see here, beyond all the bells and whistles a map is actually pretty simple. Three lanes, four towers, a few small final towers at the end and then a goal. Each team is trying to advance carefully along these lanes and take out the goal before the opposing team does the same.
But who exactly is trying to accomplish this goal, and how can you possibly take down a tower? Let’s take a look at arguably the most important aspect of the game, the Heroes.
The Heroes:
Gods, Demons, Monsters, Legends. These are all but a few of the crazy assortment of heroes to play in a MOBA. From humanoids to dragons to fishmen to even animals, each hero has a unique set of skills and a unique way of helping the team.
With the choice of a hero ranging from a psychotic lightning ghost, beautiful fire mage, and chubby little dragon, it can be pretty hard to choose. That’s why regardless of powers these heroes are in several categories, called Roles. Note that Roles are not set in stone, and many heroes embody multiple roles at once.
Tank: They’re just that, big and slow but with unbelievable attack power. If your hero is a valiant knight with a big sword and shield, it’s probably a Tank. You also must protect your team though, so keep in mind you won’t be going alone. You’re usually the first one to start a fight, but all that extra health and damage makes you a target.
Support: A support hero is all about helping the team. Healers keep the team alive, and Buffers give the team powerful boons. Although these guys don’t take out players directly, they can be the difference between victory and defeat. Support also includes the Escape Role, who can keep the team safe from things like ambushes.
Nuker: If you wanna do some awe-inspiring damage, pick this Role. A Nuker is essential in both a Teamfight, a battle between teams, or a Gank, when one team ambushes part of the other team. A Nuker is essential if you want to be a powerhouse in these departments.
Carry: This one is unique to a MOBA, and a little harder to explain. A good Carry is a hero that relies on his teammates in the early game, but morphs into a powerhouse if given the chance. Tricky, but powerful, and they can be any other type of hero on the list too.
Jungler: Why even fight at all? A Jungler supports the team by staying out of fights and inside the green zones on the map. Early in the game they’ll support the team by generating money via killing NPC monsters, but later on they can become a Ganker, or hero specializing on ambushing anyone who’s not careful to stick with an ally.
Pusher: A Pusher is the hero most focused on the goal, with skills based around keeping Creeps safe and destroying towers. What are Creeps, you ask? Now that you’ve got role explanations, let’s see how they’re used in an actual game overall.
The Goal (And How You Get There)
The goal of the game is to slowly outmatch your opponents by keeping the pressure on them in various ways, Economy, Towers, and Fights. Although Towers lead directly to the literal goal, most players will say Economy and Fights will lead to an advantage overall during each game.
Economy: Unlike a regular sport, the magic of videogames means players will have to grow using level-ups and items over time. Gold is obtained via killing creeps, or NPC monsters, but you have to do so carefully to get the real spoils.
Towers: Each team has creeps that march towards the towers, and if players step in they can then use these little minions as meat-shields to do damage to the towers. This is Pushing, and because you have three lanes with their own towers and only five people to cover the whole map, it becomes a strategic nightmare to keep all your lanes covered.
Fights: When one player kills another, they get some of that players gold and that player must take time to respawn, essentially being benched. This is why ganking and teamfights happen, because having the advantage of both more cash and less opponents on the field for even just 30 seconds can change the tide of a match.
The Conclusion:
As you can clearly see, a MOBA is a game of immense complexity and strategy, and every single match is different. I just scratched the surface here, not mentioning things like team composition or lane strategies, and this is already one of my longest articles. I hope this helped you understand why the genre has become so popular, and is played for real-world money all over the world.
Thank you for reading my article! I’m Lazarus Fosh, a giant nerd who loves games, stories, and how they work deep down. Please give me feedback if you wish, and have a wonderful day!
