Dota 2 player salary: How much do esports athletes earn in Comparison to CS2 and League of Legends
Author: Hawk Live LLC
Last updated:
Lots of people ask: how much does a Dota 2 pro player earn per month? Let’s get this straight right away – the answer will be different for everyone. On one team it can be $4000 and on another one it can reach $15000-20000. And this is not the limit! It is worth mentioning that salaries of esports players in other disciplines can be even higher. Some CS2 and LoL members receive over $25000-30000 per month, and this is not their ceiling.
Comparison of esports player salaries in Dota 2, LoL, and CS2
Different disciplines – different rewards! The salary of an esports athlete directly depends on popularity of the game and demand for the player. But among all cyber disciplines League of Legends from Riot Games turned out to be a clear leader in terms of earnings.
Cybersport discipline | Salary | Top players salaries |
|---|---|---|
Dota 2 | $5000 - $15000 | $100 000 |
Counter-Strike 2 | $25000 - $30000 | $50 000 |
League of Legends | $25000 - $75000 | $216 000 |
Dota 2 players salary per month
Organizations are trying not to disclose their rosters’ salaries. Mostly clubs hint at something or post the annual budget. But still thanks to insiders or managers we sometimes manage to find out about some numbers.
According to Sergey "G" Bragin, Virtus.pro's coach, players in the EEU region receive significantly less money than esports athletes from other regions. In the second division, players can expect a salary ranging from $500 to $1,000, but this is likely the limit. In tier-1 clubs, salaries are much higher, starting from $1,500 and can reach $5,000 and more. Although compared to Western teams, this amount may not be so impressive, it is quite substantial for the CIS region.
In European and American teams, salaries are significantly higher. According to Victor Goossens, co-founder of Team Liquid, in 2017, the organization paid players about $100-200,000 per year. Based on this, we can conclude that a pro player received around $8-12,000 per month, which is a good income compared to average salaries in the region. This does not include winnings and individual awards that the roster may receive.
Even not so big clubs pay their players quite a handsome salary. For example, Nouns pays Dota 2 esports from four to five thousand dollars monthly. Not bad at all taking into account that their team didn’t reach such heights as Team Liquid or other top clubs.
According to Diego "Jericho" Jimenez, players from Evil Geniuses currently receive $12,000, while Beastcoast players get $8,000.
According to Vitaliy "v1lat" Volochai, an esports commentator, the maximum salary for a Dota 2 player is $35,000 per month. However, such amounts can only be earned by the very best - the true top players in this discipline. Esports athletes from top clubs can expect $10,000 - $15,000, while newcomers in tier-1 teams can earn $2,000 - $5,000 per month. Second division organizations pay significantly less, ranging from $500 to $1,000.
Salaries of Counter-Strike 2 players
It's worth noting that in CS2, even since the days of CS:GO, esports athlete salaries are significantly higher than in Dota 2. For example, according to reports, the total salary amount in the well-known Cloud9 team was around $140,000 per month, which roughly translates to $25-30,000 per player.
However other teams like Virtus.pro can potentially change this number drastically if they continue their success. Back in 2017 Virtus.pro (Poland) earned $25k monthly which was considered a great salary for them at that time but then G2 Esports and other organizations overcame this mark reaching something around €29,000.
Real leaders of eSports are situated in the USA where such clubs as EG, Liquid, Complexity and Immortals (MIBR) pay high salaries to their players. Also Europe has its representatives – Astralis, G2 Esports Vitality etc., not even mentioning OG team which is located somewhere near them financially too. But still compared with average income citizen gets these figures look absolutely different. In France it’s about $3k; Denmark – $6k Finland – $4k.
In CIS region salaries may vary but mostly they are lower comparing to Western teams. NAVI for example – what can we say here? Nobody knows everything about them except Zeus’ words concerning his salary… That’s why he left ;) But speaking seriously tier-2 teams might pay their players from two-three thousand dollars per month on average. It was confirmed by Alexey Slabukhin ex CEO HR. And tier-3 squads could get even less money than upper divisions counterparts.
League of Legends players salaries
League of Legends pro players earnings is a very difficult question indeed cause clubs never publish any information about LoL esports athlete salaries and there are several reasons for that. However according to Chris Greeley Head of Global Strategy Riot Games average income for pro players in this discipline can reach $300,000. But he was clear about it that this is for clubs which participate in LoL Champions Series only. Which means that the best players could get $25k per month and LoL stars can earn even more.
LoL star in person of Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok playing for T1 might earn around $216k monthly. It was said that his annual income reaches $2.6m which is indeed very impressive. And it doesn’t include any bonuses from sponsorships, advertising partners or streams.
Top clubs according to Greeley can pay their esports athletes something like $75k but this is a way higher number than in CS2 or Dota 2 due to the fact how popular LoL is compared to other games which are also considered as eSports disciplines.
