The final event of this year’s ESL Pro Tour (EPT) is upon us, for DreamLeague Season 26 is set to kick off on May 19th. As per usual, 16 of the world’s best Dota 2 teams will play for their share of the $1 million prize pool, as well as EPT Points for qualification to Riyadh Masters in July.

DreamLeague Season 26 Power Rankings: Which Teams Will Come Out on Top?

Also as per usual, I’ve got the power rankings for the tournament, just in case you need a refresher on which teams might win the competition.

DreamLeague Season 26 Power Rankings
Team Name Region Power Ranking
PARIVISION EEU 1st
Team Falcons WEU 2nd
Team Liquid WEU 3rd
BetBoom Team EEU 4th
Gaimin Gladiators WEU 5th
Aurora Gaming EEU 6th
AVULUS WEU 7th
Xtreme Gaming CN 8th
Na’Vi Junior WEU 9th
Nigma Galaxy WEU 10th
Yakult Brothers CN 11th
Talon Esports SEA 12th
BOOM Esports SEA 13th
Shopify Rebellion NA 14th
OG.LATAM SA 15th
Edge SA 16th

#1 — PARIVISION

Before I get into detail as to why PARIVISION are up at the top spot, it’s important to know one thing about this tournament in particular: Tundra Esports withdrew from DreamLeague Season 26. As the winners of BLAST Slam 3, Tundra are the most recently successful tier 1 squad, but since they won’t be here, the top four slots at DreamLeague are now wide open for anyone to take.

Anyway, PARIVISION have had a hell of a season, especially in terms of EPT events. They are back-to-back ESL One champions thanks to victories at Bangkok and Raleigh, and the extremely rapid development of carry Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov. The support duo of Edgar “9Class” Naltakian and Andrey “Dukalis” Kuropatkin is also very potent. Of course, we can’t forget about Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko, whose career renaissance has brought this time to the forefront of the competitive scene.

Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin is the lone x-factor for this team, for better or worse. He didn’t really perform that well at BLAST Slam 3, even though he was pretty frequently seen playing his signature Enigma. I still think the rest of the team is good enough to get them across the finish line in clutch situations, but DM will need to step up if they want to lock the tournament down.

#2 — Team Falcons

It might be fair to say that Team Falcons are back in form. Maybe not LAN-winning form, but their showing at BLAST Slam 3 was a welcome sight for both this team and their fans. Though they were unable to overcome the eventual champions in Tundra, they did beat the red-hot Team Spirit in the only non-grand final playoff series that they actually participated in.

When these guys aren’t just in their own heads constantly, they’re still a force to be reckoned with. This is literally the best Dota 2 roster money can buy, but only saying that would be downplaying just how good they can be when they’re mentally in the right place at any given tournament. From the coaching down to the five players themselves, there’s plenty of talent, experience, and sheer confidence in this lineup.

It’s typically just a matter of not outplaying themselves for Falcons. They are bar none the best late game team in the world, so it’s important for them not to tilt if the laning phase and mid game don’t go their way. If they can survive the first half of each game at DreamLeague (which by the way they’ve won twice this season), their late game execution should take care of the rest.

#3 — Team Liquid

Yes, I know — Team Liquid bombed right out of BLAST Slam 3. But I’ve also said before: that’s just the Liquid Experience™. They’re just as prone to finish last in any tier 1 competition as they are to run away with the title in the same tournament. Which version of Team Liquid will show up is really anyone’s guess, and at this point it probably is the squad’s guess as well.

They’ve not had a great go at DreamLeague this season, but I think that changes with Season 26. They are now going up to the peak of the rollercoaster, so it’s possible that they’ll figure a few things out heading into this split. We all know what this roster is capable of, so as long as they play with confidence, I think they’ll finish within the top 4 at least.

#4 — BetBoom Team

Speaking of teams that bounce up and down the standings on the regular, BetBoom Team will go try their hand at DreamLeague once more this season. They actually got to the grand final match in Season 24 last year, only to lose to Falcons three games to one. Unfortunately, their last two LAN outings haven’t been up to par for them, as they only placed 10th at BLAST Slam 3 and eighth at PGL Wallachia Season 4.

It’s obvious that the consistency issues have not left this squad at all. They tend to choke away games that they really should have in hand, and they’re really prone to tilting each other when things aren’t quite going their way. The talent is absolutely there; one only need look at Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko to see how good this roster can be. I may not trust them to close games out often, but I do trust their skill — so I think this spot is exactly where they should be relative to everyone else.

#5 — Gaimin Gladiators

Something is brewing in the Gaimin Gladiators camp. Ever since Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp decided to step away from the lineup, his replacement Arman “Malady” Orazbayev has been putting in some serious work. Honestly, I didn’t think he would gel with the team so quickly; I expected that it would take at least until the last tournament prior The International this year before he got his chemistry with the rest of the squad in order.

His development with the team is a big reason why I have them so high up here, despite their rather mediocre season thus far relative to their previous dominance between 2023 and 2024. Naturally, things change in Dota and no team will rule forever, but this organization demands only the best results possible given their history.

DreamLeague Season 25 was pretty much a disaster for them, but now they’ve got a chance to really follow through on their excellent results as of late. They placed second at FISSURE Universe Episode 4, and joint third/fourth at BLAST Slam 3. The Gladiators are steadily improving, and Season 26 could be a turning point for them post-Seleri.

#6 — Aurora Gaming

I was really impressed with Aurora Gaming at BLAST Slam 3, even though on paper this team really should be winning a lot more with their championship pedigree. They beat BetBoom cleanly in the first round, and dispatched Xtreme Gaming in the next. They ran into Gaimin in the quarterfinals, where they were thoroughly outclassed in both a 33 minute game and an 81 minute one.

This put them in joint fifth/sixth alongside Team Tidebound — another team that’s been above average as of late. I think there’s good things in store for Aurora if they can get their drafts and chemistry together, especially when you consider the experience this group has collectively. It might take them a bit of time, and I certainly don’t think they’ll make too many waves at TI14, for example, but DreamLeague Season 26 is a good place for them to improve.

The Rest of the Field

Honestly, the rest of the competitors at this DreamLeague don’t exactly inspire confidence in me. I’d probably be okay with calling Xtreme Gaming, AVULUS, and maybe even Na’Vi Junior possible dark horses, but the others are all either not talented enough in the current day and age, or don’t have the experience in the big leagues that is required to go on a deep run in a tournament like this.

Hell, I’m barely aware of the OG Latin American division, for one. Nice to see that Héctor “K1” Rodríguez, Gonzalo “DarkMago” Herrera, and Joel “MoOz” Ozambela are still at it after all these years. It’s also cool to see Yakult Brothers coming out of the Chinese regional qualifiers, but I don’t exactly feel like they’ll be a threat to the top teams at this event.