The idea of a spiritual successor to Defense of the Ancients was that it would be its own stand-alone game with its own engine, rather than another mod of Warcraft III, began to materialize at the end of 2005.
Ideja spiritualnog naslednika Defense of the Ancients je bila da će ta igra biti samostalna sa svojim engine-om, umesto da bude samo mod kao što je Warcraft III, ta ideja je počela da se materijalizuje krajem 2005.