When it comes to the best esports events, few are as valuable or exciting as the many Dota 2 tournaments. It’s easily one of the most popular competitive platforms in history, and every year, tens of millions of dollars in prize money is awarded. There’s a packed schedule in 2025, featuring the overwhelmingly lucrative The International and prolific, top-tier tournaments.
If you’re interested in esports betting, you’ll need to know the best Dota 2 tournaments to target in 2025. To that end, we’ve compiled a handy guide featuring a breakdown of these all-important events. It’s a busy year ahead – here are the events to keep an eye on.
The Most Valuable Esports Tournament in History
In 2021, more than $60 million was won through Dota 2 tournaments and in 2022, 1.7 million live viewers tuned in to watch the most anticipated Dota 2 Tournament of the year live from Singapore, The International 11, a remarkable tournament with previous winners Team Tundra taking home $8.5 million between them.
The 2021 International wasn’t just the biggest prize pool in Dota 2 history but in the history of esports as an industry. While we know the still high total wasn’t quite as grand for The International event in 2023, many players from around the world will be wondering just how much money will be up for grabs in Dota 2 grandest event in 2025, The International 14.
Image credit: Valve
For Dota 2 betting, no tournament is bigger – it’s one of the most popular competitions in esports as a whole. Each year, millions tune in to watch the event live, and it’s covered by every esports betting site out there. The most recent International 13 was held in September 2024.
If you want to consider betting on Dota 2, you cannot miss this tournament. The world’s finest Dota 2 teams descend on this event, and only one can walk away the ultimate victor of Dota 2’s The International.
Dota 2 Tournaments – ESL Pro Tour
Headling the esports tournaments for Dota in 2025 is the ESL Pro Tour. The third season of this prolific tour offers a number of tournaments where teams earn EPT Points useful for further seeding.
Indeed, for EPT Season 3, EPT Points and leaderboard are new and the events include 3 DreamLeagues and 2 ESL One events! In addition, events feature Open & Closed Qualifiers.
| Tournament | Dates |
|---|---|
| DreamLeague Season 24 | Oct 27th - Nov 10th 2024 |
| ESL One Bangkok 2024 | Dec 9th - 15th 2025 |
| DreamLeague Season 25 | Feb 16th - Mar 2nd 2025 |
| ESL One Raleigh | Apr 7th - 13th 2025 |
| DreamLeague Season 26 | May 12th - 25th 2025 |
Each tournament features a whopping $1,0000,000 prize pool and a huge drop of EPT Points, teams ranging from 12 to 20.
While betting on Dota 2 Pro Circuit tournaments is no longer possible, the ESL Pro Tour looks to be the newest high-end tournament.
PGL Dota 2 Tournaments
In this new structure, PGL has broken the silence with a thrilling announcement – revealing that they’ll be hosting a total of eight $1 million tournaments from 2024 to 2026.
For the 2025 Dota Calendar, the following tournaments are confirmed, each with $1,000,000:
| PGL Dota Tournament | Main Event |
|---|---|
| PGL Wallachia Season 3 | March 8-16th 2025 |
| PGL Wallachia Season 4 | April 19-27th 2025 |
| PGL Wallachia Season 5 | November 15-23rd 2025 |
Each tournament will offer open qualifiers, making sure everyone can fight for the prize. Only the 16 best Dota teams get to compete for the million-dollar prize.
BLAST SLAM – New Dota Circuit
Shaking things up, one of the most popular esports event organizers, BLAST, is getting involved with Dota 2. The last time they did so was back in 2020 with a few online events.
Announcing their new BLAST SLAM circuit, five tournaments with over $100,000 in prize pools have been revealed with the following dates:
- BLAST Slam I – 26th November to 1st December 2024
- BLAST Slam II – 4th to 9th February 2025
- BLAST Slam III– 6th to 11th May 2024
- BLAST Slam IV – 14th to 19th October 2025
- BLAST Slam V – 25th to 30th November 2025
Beyond bringing experience and prowess, boasting a portfolio of many other esports, BLAST is also committing to offering player statistics and a general content hub for all things Dota.
Esports World Cup – Riyadh Masters 2025
Returning to Riyadh in July, Dota is once again part of the Esports World Cup.
Promising to offer a massive prize pool for the best Dota teams in the world, Riyadh Masters is back. Last year the tournament offered a $17,000,000 prize and this year, it looks to be even larger.
For more details, we recommend checking our our Esports World Cup betting guide!
FISSURE PLAYGROUND & More
Third-party tournaments in Dota are always coming and going. Notably, the FISSURE PLAYGROUND Belgrade 2025 has been confirmed, featuring $1,000,000 of prize for 16 teams.
In addition, we recommend tuning in for developments from previous third party tournaments which will likely return:
- BetBoom Dacha
- 1win Series Dota
- FISSURE Universe
- Elite League
- Games of the Future
Dota 2 On An Olympic Scale
We can’t talk about all the Dota 2 tournaments without mentioning the Asian Games. This event has been officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee, with claims that this is the ‘second-largest multi-sport event’ after the Olympics themselves. Like the Olympics, this event is held once every four years, and it features the best Asian esports competitors that the region has to offer.
For these competitors, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as they had the honour of representing their country on an extremely important stage – the event looks to return in the coming years.
More to Come
Of course, it doesn’t end with these events – there are plenty more Dota 2 tournaments to come in 2025. Every year, the Dota 2 schedule is packed with high-end events, such as the ESL One regional competitions and the Dota 2 Championship League. These exciting tournaments boast tantalising prize pools, and they’re spread out over the course of a year.
Moreover for 2025, more third-party tournaments are expected to fill up the schedule following the end of the Dota Pro Circuit.
There are also sporadic, ad-hoc events that take place, hosted by various organisers and supported by the best esports and Dota 2 betting sites. As you can imagine, this popular esports title boasts unparalleled esports betting opportunities.
Whether you’re new to betting or you’re an industry veteran, you can’t be sleeping on the top Dota 2 tournaments in 2025.
