Most Dota 2 gamers make investments their time to see themselves enhance by climbing up the ranks. Nonetheless, few gamers embody persistence fairly like AndreyIMMERSION, who spent 40,000 hours caught in Herald.
After years of memes, milestones, and unrelenting effort, the Russian participant has lastly damaged free from the underside. As of October 2025, the world’s most devoted Dota participant has ranked as much as Crusader.
Who’s AndreyIMMERSION?
Through the years, Andrey has turn into one thing of a cult within the Dota 2 group for his record-breaking grind. He has turn into a dwelling meme, having recorded over 41,000 video games on his predominant account, but stays caught within the sport’s lowest rank, Herald. He’s been deemed the unofficial King of Herald, a title few would ever need.
Exterior of the sport, Andrey is a chill man who retired from the Russian military. He’s pushing 40, and has gained plenty of traction from the Dota group for his unwavering ardour and incapacity to push previous the bottom rank within the sport.
All through his lifetime matches, Andrey has a win-loss report of 19,486 to 21,723, placing him at a lifetime win price of 47.15%. His favourite heroes are Night time Stalker and Wraith King, with 4,800 and three,600 matches performed, respectively.

Andrey has lengthy struggled within the pits of Herald. Picture Credit score: Opendota
The “Herald King” No Extra
Nonetheless, we’ll must sadly retire his title because the Herald King, as Andrey climbed from Herald to Crusader – the third-lowest rank within the sport – in simply two weeks, reaching a brand new private excessive.
On the time of writing, Andrey has already damaged previous Crusader III, which implies he’s sitting at roughly 1,800 MMR. That is about 1,200 MMR larger than the bracket he’d usually been caught in for years (and tens of hundreds of matches).
So, What Modified for Andrey?
Ignoring meta heroes and placing apart his Wraith King and Night time Stalker grind, Andrey found a brand new hero to seek out success with – Winter Wyvern.

AndreyImmersion switched to Winter Wyvern and instantly began seeing success. Picture Credit score: Stratz
Over the course of his previous 100 ranked matches, Andrey achieved a stellar 35-3 report on the help hero, even managing a 22-win streak whereas he was on the grind.
How Far Can Andrey Go?
Regardless of being caught within the lowest tier for his whole Dota profession, it actually looks as if Andrey has discovered his groove, gaining over 1,000 MMR in the midst of two weeks. This form of efficiency suggests his current enchancment may not be a fluke.
If he continues on this trajectory, Archon, and even Legend, may not be out of the realms of risk. For a participant who’s put extra hours into Dota than most professionals, it’s poetic that his persistence is lastly rewarded.
Nonetheless, regardless of how excessive he climbs, or if he deranks all the best way all the way down to Herald once more, one factor’s for certain: AndreyImmersion is a Dota 2 legend in his personal proper.