New trailer for Netflix's Dota anime explains what the hell is going on in Dota

Netflix is about to release a Dota anime series called Dota: Dragon's Blood, and to prep those of us who are deficient in Dota lore, it gathered casters SirActionSlacks, Sheever, and ODPixel to explain who the hell the ancients are, and why they need so much defending.

The World of Dota, embedded above, is a six minute briefing on the setting of the games and show, starting with the beginning of the universe, where a primordial mind got into a fight with itself—not an uncommon place for anime lore to start, really.

Fast forward for a very, very long time—past the formation of stars and planets and all that—and you get to the start of the upcoming Netflix series, which "isn't all about this cosmic hoo-ha."

"In Dragon's Blood, we follow a normal man making his way through this incredible world," says ODPixel. "You see, us Dota fans, we've only seen the ends of this story: The Battle of the Ancients, the ultimate fight, this is what we've been playing in Dota for more than a decade, confined to one little battlefield and the heroes that happen to be there. But each one of these hundreds of heroes has a unique story, a life of their own that, before now, we could only imagine from two sentences of background lore."

Specifically, the series is about Davion, aka the Dragon Knight, a hero from the games who's being voiced by prolific actor Yuri Lowenthal. 

Dota: Dragon's Blood will be available to stream on Netflix on March 25. For more on the series, here's everything else we know about it.

Tyler Wilde
Executive Editor

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.