You never know when gaming’s next big trend will appear. The multiplayer online battle arena genre, or MOBA, originally started as fan-made mods for Blizzard’s traditional real-time strategy games. These days, MOBAs are a hugely popular gaming genre with some of the most attended esports circuits in the video game field.
Describing MOBAs to anyone unfamiliar with the genre is a little tricky. To get reductive, they involve two teams of players trying to destroy each other’s bases. The characters have an array of skills and other unique, strategic elements including guiding computer-controlled minions and using towers as defensive choke points. The learning curve is steep, but the rewards are worth it.
Read on to learn about the top MOBA titles that deserve a place in your gaming library.
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“Easy to learn, hard to master” is a phrase commonly heard in gaming circles, but few titles exemplify the idea more than Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2). This free-to-play MOBA game tasks you with selecting one of 124 playable heroes to take to the battlefield, utilizing the character’s unique abilities, play style, and attributes to help your team achieve victory. Dota 2 lacks Paragon’s graphical flair and Smite’s many unique play modes, but it’s one of the best and most balanced MOBAs.
League of Legends is the best MOBA game right now. Its gameplay incorporates elements of role-playing, tower defense, and real-time strategy—a combination that differentiates it from the many cookie-cutter MOBAs flooding the market. More importantly, the playable characters (known as Champions) show a deep level of variation, and each match’s competition level increases as the game sinks you deeper and deeper into its world.
If you’ve ever dreamed of being a powerful god who battles other gods, check out the free-to-play Smite. The action-focused MOBA puts you in the role of a deity chosen from among the Chinese, Greek, Egyptian, Hindu, Japanese, Mayan, Norse, and Roman pantheons in a war for godly supremacy. Smite is an excellent, fast-paced game with numerous game modes and an ever-expanding character roster.
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