Esports tournament organiser BLAST has unveiled the eight-team line-up for its BLAST Rivals CS2 event in Hong Kong this November. 

Commencing on November 12th, just 12 days before the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, the competition will feature the top four teams in October’s VRS as well as ‘wildcard’ teams.

The Mongolz, Team Vitality, FURIA and Team Spirit have all accepted BLAST’s VRS invite, meaning that the event will feature the current top four best teams in the world. 

Team Vitality is coming into the event as the reigning BLAST Rivals champion after securing the trophy in Copenhagen this May. 

Joining these teams are BLAST’s wildcard picks — Team Falcons (Europe), Passion UA (North America), paiN Gaming (South America) and TYLOO (Asia). 

According to the tournament organiser, BLAST’s wildcard invites are given to teams that have ‘managed to win big throughout the year’. 

All of BLAST’s wildcard teams place high in Valve’s regional standings. paiN is currently ranked second in the Americas, behind FURIA. Whilst Passion UA, which acquired Complexity’s core roster earlier this year, is ranked 4th. 

Both TYLOO and Team Falcons are the highest non-VRS invited teams in their regional standings. 

With BLAST Rivals Hong Kong being the final tier one event before the Major, this will be the last chance for top teams to get some competitive LAN practice. Lasting from November 12th to 16th, the competition will also feature a $350,000 (~$263,000) prize pool.

Over the course of five days, teams will be split into two double-elimination groups. Placement in the groups will determine placement in the playoffs, with the fourth-placed team in each group being eliminated from the event. The competition will be held at AsiaWorld-Expo.

Fans can tune into all the action online by going to BLAST’s official YouTube and Twitch channels. 

Before BLAST Rivals Hong Kong, there is still one more tier one stop to reach, with IEM Chengdu 2025 taking place between November 3rd and 9th.

The original Dota kickstarted the MOBA genre and has refined itself over the years. Before, it was a lawless land where strategies such as trilanes and jungles existed, but it has now been optimised into what we know of it today. Despite that, Dota 2 is less restrictive compared to others in the genre, and it’s a common sight to see heroes play in lanes and roles outside of their expectations.

Technically, all of the 126 characters can be played in the offlane, but some shine way more than others. This tier list is a guide in knowing which heroes in the game are the best in taking up the offlane mantle and excelling at the key expectations of the role, which is primarily about creating space.

This tier list is heavily skewed towards the Dota 2 meta of the current path and game state. Many factors have a direct or indirect effect on which offlaner will net the best results. 

Factors such as buffs, nerfs, items, synergies, pro player influence, and understanding of the hero will determine which hero moves up and down tiers. Additionally, this tier list prioritises ranked pubs, so there will be a bias towards offlaners who are independent and consistent.

The information for the Dota 2 offlane tier list is based on the game’s most recent patch with a focus on the middle ranks (Archon, Legend, and Ancient). Players in Crusader and lower should focus on playing their favourite heroes, while players above Divine can make off-meta picks work. 

Pro play is entirely different, as they value flex picks and can sacrifice offlane for a better chance for their mid and carry. However, it will be noted if teams highly value a contested offlane hero. Data is mostly from dotabuff, spectral.gg, and dota2protracker.

Axe is the king of offlane because of his great single-target and area damage. He is one of the best crowd controls in the game with Berserker’s Call, which can go through magic immunity and is durable while simultaneously punishing those who attack him. Axe can bully the safe laner early on with Battle Hunter and Counter Felix, then he can flash farm enemy waves and huge jungle stacks for better timings on his item. 

Legion Commander works so well in pubs because she can punish poor positioning and uncoordinated movements from the enemy, while also snowballing on every successful Duel. Dawnbreaker can also punish bad ganks from the enemy, joining any fight globally with Solar Guardian to turn the engagement.

Centaur Warrunner, Slardar, and Mars fulfil the reliable initiator needed in pub games, but also possess the damage and crowd control threat to keep them as valuable targets during fights.

Wraith King and Vengeful Spirit are outliers with winrates that reach 55%. The ability to freely initiate and come back with a second life is extremely strong in a pub environment, although they need a bit of farming to get there. These two also fulfil a semi-carry role that becomes more effective the longer the game drags on.

Tidehunter, Dark Seer, Magnus, and Sand King are offlane staples that will always have a place in the role. All of them are textbook initiators with powerful teamfighting ultimates that they can play around with. Earthshaker has recently gained so much popularity as a core, and he’s always a good hero to have on the team, even though offlane isn’t his strongest role.

Lycan enables a zoo composition like no other hero and has been indirectly buffed because of the prevalence of Helm of the Dominator in this patch. He can be an obnoxious split pusher and win by taking objectives, or become a valuable teamfighter with Howl to debuff enemy damage dealers, while also giving one of the best buffs in the game, Wolf Bite, to his own carry.

Huskar, Bristleback, and Timbersaw share the same story that they have abysmal winrates (Bristleback is even hovering at 44%), but are monsters when they are left uncontested or picked into the right opponents. Players who love these heroes need to first know when the ideal time is to play these heroes, like how Timbersaw can dominate against strength-heavy line-ups.

Underlord and Enigma are safe picks who can push fast, teamfight well, and require low economy to impact the game. While they lack impact outside their ultimates, their fast farming allows them to buy auras and defensive items to benefit the team.

Some heroes have a place in offlane, but are best played in other roles. Doom, once one of the quintessential offlaners, has a much better time as a carry in this patch. Marci, Undying, Nyx Assassin, Ogre Magi, Snapfire, Omniknight, Queen of Pain, and Leshrac can also take a trip to the offlane if needed, but most of the time, there are better heroes for the job.

Necropos and Bounty Hunter are decent picks with above 50% winrates, but they need a lot of gold before they can come online. Until then, the team is giving up early tempo to cash in on the later stages. Death Prophet is also in the same archetype, but she can contest towers early whenever her ultimate is up.

Primal Beast, Pangolier, and Dragon Knight may have negative winrates due to nerfs (especially Pangolier’s at 44%), but they’re still excellent team fighters. Smart itemisation is important with these heroes since it can make or break their games. 

Unpopular heroes like Brewmaster, Visage, Broodmother, and Elder Titan are carried by their dedicated players, but can feel underwhelming when first starting to play them. While they require more micromanagement than most heroes, putting more hours into understanding their kits will pay off, especially since most enemies don’t know how to play around them.

The other heroes in this tier are better in other roles, but they can be decent offlaners if they need more items and levels to counter the enemy team. Core Phoenix is amazing against heroes who rely on their attack speed and can definitely throw off their game.

Razor is an anti-carry who wants to keep enemy carries locked down and debuffed, but he lacks the survivability and crowd control to survive against the prevalence of magic burst from many meta heroes in this patch. Viper also shares a similar fate since his lack of survivability and poor scaling are a detriment in this patch filled with crowd control and mobility.

Many of the D-Tier heroes are traditional carries who don’t have an impact as an offlaner since they aren’t effective with a lower economy. These hard carries masquerading as offlaners are a detriment to the team since they soak up farm and can’t create any space for the team, such as Monkey King and Chaos Knight.

Offlaners are the most impactful role in the current meta in Dota 2. They have to survive or go even during the difficult laning stage, set the tempo after it, and make space for their own cores to get their timings. 

It’s a flexible role that adjusts to the team’s needs, whether they need an initiator, a selfless aura stacker, or even a semi-carry. This offlane tier list captures the state of the current patch, but this is nothing if they don’t embody their role to the fullest. As an offlaner, play smart without fear, and never let the opponent take anything for free.

Team Spirit IGL and support player Yaroslav ‘Miposhka’ Naidenov will take a break from competitive Dota 2 and has been moved to the inactive roster.

To fill his spot, Team Spirit has announced the signing of Nikita ‘panto’ Balaganin from Aurora Gaming.

Miposhka began his career back in 2014 with Yellow Submarine and has been with Team Spirit for five years.

He has a host of titles under his belt and, most recently, helped Team Spirit lift the 2025 Esports World Cup and DreamLeague Season 25 trophies. He is also one of the very few players to have won The International, Dota 2’s biggest event of the year, twice.

Exact reasons surrounding Miposhka’s break from Dota 2 have not been revealed by Team Spirit.

Having spent just eight months with Aurora Gaming, Panto has made significant developments within the Dota 2 scene in 2025. Under the Aurora Gaming banner, the 26-year-old placed fourth at DreamLeague Season 26 in May, an accolade he achieved with his previous team, Chimaera Esports, in Season 25 this March.

Here is the current roster for Team Spirit:

Team Spirit is arguably one of the best Dota 2 teams in the world, and even though it was eliminated early from The International 2025, the year overall can still be considered a success.

The team won DreamLeague Season 25 and the Esports World Cup, while also finishing second in FISSURE Universe: Episode 6 and ESL One Raleigh 2025.

While 2024 was a comparatively underwhelming season for the Russian side, 2023 was its most successful year, with the roster lifting that year’s The International and Riyadh Masters trophies.

Moving forward, panto will make his debut under Team Spirit’s banner at BLAST Slam IV, which is scheduled to begin on October 14th. Fans will be able to catch the action live on BLAST’s Dota 2 official YouTube and Twitch channels.

Manchester University has partnered with South Korean esports organisation Gen.G Esports to join its Practicum Abroad programme.

The collegiate programme offers a three-week course abroad for students to learn about the esports ecosystem in Seoul, South Korea.

“This is our most ambitious programme since the launch of our Gen.G Practicum Abroad program,” said Arnold Hur, CEO of Gen.G. “Bringing together some of the best universities in the country to expand their educational programs on campus.

“The students will be fully immersed in Korea with hands-on experiences to give them a 360-degree view of the esports industry.” 

The Practicum Abroad programme allows students to gain hands-on experience with esports. Individuals will gain insights from professionals, partake in lectures and Q&A sessions with Gen.G leadership, and visit historical sites in South Korea. Furthermore, there will be custom esports programming and professional networking.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with such an amazing esports organisation like Gen.G to provide our students here at Manchester with an amazing opportunity to travel to Seoul and learn the esports industry from the best in the business,” added Garrett Schieferstein, Director of Esports at Manchester University.

“This travel abroad experience is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn more about esports on a global scale and experience South Korean esports/culture.”

According to the official site, a single student can also sign up for the programme for $5,450 (~£4,056), and must be enrolled in a 4-year US or international accredited university from 2024/2025 or 2025/2026.

In 2025, esports has become more integrated within Universities, either through collegiate tournaments or specialised programmes.

Back in August, the University of Limerick announced a collaboration with peripheral giant, Logitech, through a €2.5m (~£2.15m) research project to gather data on gamers habits.

Various universities, such as Middle Tennessee State University, have opened up esports concentrations on its campuses to teach students about the competitive gaming scene. Others, like the University of Suffolk, have gone as far as sharing plans for upcoming esports facilities.

The annual Halloween event Fortnitemares has officially released, and there is plenty of new content to enjoy and upcoming content to look forward to. From big-name collaborations to in-game items and new quests to complete, Fortnitemares 2025 looks to be one of the biggest Halloween events in Fortnite yet. 

We’re going to look at everything that you need to know about Fortnitemares 2025, including the skins that are currently available, the ones that will become available as the event continues, the spooky-themed items and map changes. 

Fortnitemares 2025 officially began on October 9, 2025. The event will last for just over three weeks, as it will come to an end on Halloween, October 31, 2025.

There are tons of fun collaborations in this year’s Fortnitemares event. Most of the collabs are themed around general spookiness, such as horror franchises, demons, creepy characters, etc. Let’s take a look at the collabs currently part of Fortnitemares, as well as the ones that will be joining the fun at some point during the event period. 

The K-Pop Demon Hunters collaboration released the week before the official Fortnitemares event began, but we’re still including it in our list since the collab is relevant to the spookiness of the Halloween season. The game mode and its cosmetics are also still doing well and attracting plenty of players. This collaboration includes skins for the three main heroines of K-Pop Demon Hunters, Rumi, Mira, and Zoey.

The Horde Rush game mode also got a K-Pop Demon Hunters-themed reskin called Demon Rush. As well as this, four unique items themed around the film and the characters were released with the collab, with each of the three girls getting their own item. These items are no longer available in the Battle Royale modes, but they can still be found in Demon Rush. 

A Tron Ares collab was also released the week before Fortnitemares 2025, so it’s still part of the general list of collabs for the Halloween season. This is a pretty basic, mostly cosmetics-only collab. It includes a skin for Jared Leto’s Ares from the latest Tron film as well as a pickaxe, two emotes, a glider, a weapon wrap, a back bling, and a glider. The only other item included is a Jam Track of the song As Alive As You Need Me To Be by Nine Inch Nails from the film’s soundtrack. 

The latest music star to get a Fortnite collab is Doja Cat, who plays a significant part in Fortnitemares. Doja Cat takes on the role of the Mother of Thorns, a villainous NPC whom players can battle. When she has been defeated, she will drop a weapon called Thorn Ripper, a reskin of the Chain of Hades melee weapon. 

Doja Cat also has various cosmetics available that can be purchased for V-Bucks. The Doja Cat bundle includes the following:

These items can be bought within the bundle for 3,200 V-Bucks, but each item can also be bought individually for a cheaper price. 

The five main characters from Scooby-Doo are now in Fortnite with Fortnitemares 2025. Not only are Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne, Fred and Velma going to be available as skins (they haven’t been released at the time of writing), but they can also be found in the Battle Royale game modes. Players can find them scattered around the map. Once found, interact with them to help them with quests. However, the only member of the Scooby gang that can be recruited as a follower is Scooby-Doo himself.  

The creepy killer Jason Voorhees will be purchasable as a skin during Fortnitemares (from October 17). However, players can fight him right now by heading to Creepy Camps when playing Battle Royale. His location is marked with a skull. Jason drops a Mythic weapon upon defeat, and he can also unlock a boon for the whole party if you are playing with a group. 

Much like Jason Voorhees, Ghostface is another popular horror villain who is stepping into the world of Fortnite to cause some chaos this spooky season. His skin drops today (October 10), and Ghostface also has a Mythic item in Fortnitemares, but more on that later. 

The blue fluffy monster Huggy Wuggy is also heading into Fornitemares as a skin, though there is no confirmation as to when this will be or if other cosmetics will be included. However, we do know there will be a loading screen themed on Poppy Playtime, the game series that Huggy Wuggy comes from. A clip from the Fortnitemares 2025 gameplay trailer showed Huggy Wuggy riding around on a chainsaw, and the creepiness of the model design fits in well with the spooky redesign of the Battle Royale islands.

Art the Clown, from the 2016 slasher film Terrifier, has become a popular Halloween icon in the last few years, so it’s no surprise that he will be receiving a skin in Fortnite. According to Fortnite.gg, this collab will also include a back bling cosmetic, a spray, a weapon wrap and an emote that involves honking a horn before breaking into a sprint while wielding a hacksaw. Those are the kinds of cosmetics we can get behind this Halloween.  

The Grabber is another relatively recent horror villain who has become iconic thanks to his creepy aesthetic. He’s also getting a Fortnite skin, but there aren’t any details as to when this will be released in the game or if other cosmetics will accompany it. 

The adorably goofy Semibots from the indie horror game R.E.P.O. went viral at the beginning of 2025, and they’ll now be coming to Fortnite as skins. We got a glimpse of the skins in the gameplay trailer, and they look awesome, even if the long legs are a little awkward when you first see them. 

The biggest surprise from the trailer was Jenna Ortega’s portrayal of Wednesday Addams from the Netflix show Wednesday. This character is the perfect inclusion for a Halloween-themed Fortnite event. Wednesday will have a skin that features her hand companion Thing on her shoulder, though this can be switched off. She will also have a few cosmetics included. Here is what the Wednesday cosmetic bundle will include, according to Fortnite.gg. 

There are several new fun items and weapons in Fortnitemares 2025, as well as returning ones. There are also updates to maps and a new Reload map, as well as the aforementioned Demon Rush game mode. 

Here are the items that are currently part of Fortnitemares, but there might be more coming during the event. 

All the battle royale modes have had updates to include spooky scenery during the Fortnitemares event. This includes Halloween decorations such as giant spiders, pumpkins and skeletons. They can be found dotted around here, there and everywhere.

The game mode Reload has also received a new, haunted map called Nitemare Island, which has several new areas with spooky names, such as Leech Lake and Haunted Hamlet. 

That’s everything you need to know about Fortnitemares 2025 so far. There could be some extra surprises here and there during the three-week event, but these collaborations and new items are the main attractions of the seasonal celebration so far. The skins will be released over time during the event, so if there is a particular skin you’re interested in that you don’t see in the Fortnite shop right now, be sure to check back when the shop updates during the event. 

NetEase Games has revealed its latest batch of Twitch drops to celebrate the launch of Season 4.5, available to fans for a limited time.

The event includes another round of exclusive in-game cosmetics, including skins, nameplates, emotes and for the first time, an emoji.

Players can earn a unique set of items for the game’s Duellist, Mister Fantastic, during Season 4: Heart of the Dragon. However, there will also be two unique items, a spray and an emoji, that can be unlocked for the entire roster, available only through eligible channels.

The event runs from October 10th, 12:00 PM UTC to November 7th, 2025 at 9:00 AM UTC.

Here are all the rewards players can acquire for October’s round of Marvel Rivals Twitch drops:

Watching 30 minutes through certain channels will unlock ‘The Fin-ker’ spray for all heroes, designed by popular Marvel Rivals artist ‘neo.jpeg‘. Watching 90 minutes will unlock the ‘Fin-tastic Win’ universal emoji.

This is not the first Twitch drops event Marvel Rivals has hosted this year. Previous drops have been made available for characters like Rocket Raccoon for Ignite Stage 2, and Blade for the first half of Season 4. On top of Stage 2, drops have previously been enabled for other esports events such as the Ignite Mid-Season Finals.

This is every Twitch Drop event for Marvel Rivals so far:

According to a blog post on Marvel Rivals’ official website, players must follow these steps to unlock the Twitch drop rewards.

The in-game cosmetic items can be earned by watching relevant official Marvel Rivals streams through Twitch and YouTube, including esports events such as Marvel Rivals Ignite or the seasonal Championships. In addition, fans can also earn drops by watching any partnered streamers who have enabled Twitch drops.

Web3 MOBA game Wildcard is set to offer players a first look at its demo at this year’s edition of Steam Next Fest. 

Per the company’s announcement, Wildcard will be available for public trial during Steam Next Fest, which runs from October 13th to 20th. This free demo offers an early opportunity to experience the game’s mechanics and provide feedback on its development.

The demo period leads directly into the game’s planned Early Access launch on October 21st, marking the start of its live development phase. 

Developed by Texas-based Playful Studios, Wildcard is a 2v2 action game that blends real-time arena combat with collectible card strategy. Players select champions and compete using decks of spells and creatures.

The project’s development is supported by capital investment, including a $9m (~£7.11m) raise earlier this year co-led by Arbitrum Gaming Ventures. 

This capital is fueling the creation of a game that integrates Web3 elements, such as custom NFTs and a native token, $WC. This token, operating on an Ethereum-based platform, will facilitate in-game asset ownership and governance.

The developers position Wildcard as a pioneer in competitive card-action blockchain gaming. With the debut at Steam Next Fest, Playful Studios will be hoping to showcase the game’s offerings and ability to combine elements of both tradition and Web3 gaming. 

So far, the official Wildcard X account has posted several countdowns to the game’s debut on Steam Next Fest, and a live trailer is also available online. 

The Steam Next Fest demo represents a significant public milestone for Wildcard, but it is not the only major event on the calendar. The game is also scheduled for a live esports debut at DreamHack Atlanta later this year.

To build momentum in the community, the developers launched a ‘Road to DreamHack’ qualifying series. 

Starting in August, teams competed in online stages for a spot in the final showdown. The top 12 teams will now compete on-site at DreamHack Atlanta from October 30 to November 2. A $5,000 grand prize is at stake in the finale. 

Participants in the earlier qualifying rounds have already earned rewards, including exclusive in-game skins, gift cards, and travel stipends for the Atlanta event.