The top 20 highest-paid Dota 2 esports players in the world
This list indicates the top 20 highest-paid Dota 2 players in the world. It considers only earnings from professional esports tournaments.
The Dota 2 pro players are among the best-paid gamers in the world due to the thriving competitive scene. From the game release, over 174 million dollars in prize money have been awarded in 1061 tournaments.
During the 2018-2019 season, the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) will feature a total of five Major and Minor events, for a combined prize pool of 6.5 million dollars.
Team Liquid brought home 10 million dollars winning The International 7 - Valve
Alongside the DPC, the players can also take part in numerous tournaments held by third-party organizations. Their prize pools range from a few thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
For example, most ESL events feature a $300,000 USD prize pool, and World Electronic Sports Games 2018-2019 will have $890,000 USD up for grabs during the Grand Final and over 5.5 million dollars paid across all divisions.
The Dota Pro Circuit ends in summer with The International, which is the most well-paid esports tournament in the world. It is hosted every year by the Dota 2 game developer: Valve Corporation.
All Dota 2 fans can contribute to the prize pool by buying The International Battle Pass; it contains hundreds of cosmetics, rewards, exclusive game modes, challenges, and more features. 25% of all Battle Pass sales are added to the prize pool.
The International 8 had a stunning prize pool of 25 million dollars, and 11 millions went to the first-placed team: OG.
OG earned 11 million dollars at The International 8 - Valve
Winning The International is the goal of all Dota 2 pro players. Considering its massive prize pool (which rises every year), the highest-earning Dota 2 esports players on our list are those who won the past editions of this grand event.
It is necessary pointing out that Dota 2 has a top-heavy prize distribution. Even if the prize pools are huge, the money isn’t distributed uniformly among the players, which forces a smaller talent pool.
The following data includes only revenues from esports tournaments because we can’t have precise info on all the money earned by the players via team wages and direct sponsorships.
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| # | Nickname | Name | Country | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KuroKy | Kuro Takhasomi | Germany | $4,135,203 |
| 2 | N0tail | Johan Sundstein | Denmark | $3,733,903 |
| 3 | Miracle- | Amer Al-Barkawi | Jordan | $3,701,337 |
| 4 | MinD_ContRoL | Ivan Ivanov | Bulgaria | $3,492,411 |
| 5 | Matumbaman | Lasse Urpalainen | Finland | $3,476,116 |
| 6 | JerAx | Jesse Vainikka | Finland | $3,313,463 |
| 7 | SumaiL | Sumail Hassan | Pakistan | $3,305,914 |
| 8 | GH | Maroun Merhej | Lebanon | $3,095,344 |
| 9 | UNiVeRsE | Saahil Arora | United States | $3,035,737 |
| 10 | ppd | Peter Dager | United States | $2,876,654 |
| 11 | ana | Anathan Pham | Australia | $2,853,875 |
| 12 | Fear | Clinton Loomis | United States | $2,499,104 |
| 13 | 7ckngMad | Sébastien Debs | France | $2,332,596 |
| 14 | Somnus丶M | Lu Yao | China | $2,263,924 |
| 15 | Topson | Topias Taavitsainen | Finland | $2,257,909 |
| 16 | s4 | Gustav Magnusson | Sweden | $2,205,284 |
| 17 | fy | Xu Linsen | China | $2,160,733 |
| 18 | Puppey | Clement Ivanov | Estonia | $2,102,175 |
| 19 | y` | Zhang Yiping | China | $2,011,675 |
| 20 | Faith_bian | Zhang Ruida | China | $2,011,615 |
Data updated to February 2019
More high-paid esports players:
Statistics: esportsearnings - Header banner and all photos: Valve
