Xu ‘BurNIng’ Zhilei – Player Profile

Chinese Dota 2 has been improving significantly over the last couple of years. More and more Chinese teams are present in the final stages of the biggest Dota 2 tournaments and more and more players are becoming the icons of this eSports competition. Already, Chinese players have proven to be among the best in the world but lately, they have taken their game to a completely new level.

Experts all over the world are not sure why that is the case. However, some of them are claiming that they have become much better at understanding and adjusting their game to the current meta than any other team or players in the world. This explanation is very realistic, as many Western teams have expressed their worries about them not being able to fully grasp the latest meta in Dota 2.

One of the Chinese players that have been dominating the competition in the last couple of years is Xu ‘BurNIng’ Zhilei who is currently playing for Invictus Gaming. Before he actually joined Invictus Gaming he had a very long career of a professional Dota 2 player that started even before Dota 2 was featured as an eSports competition.

Biography

Xu ‘BurNIng’ Zhilei was born on February 16, 1988, in Tongling in Chinese province Anhui. Even though he is one of the oldest professional Dota 2 players in the community, he is still one of the best players that the community still holds a very high position. Over the years, BurNIng became one of the best Carry players in the world but he also became a very good Support player.

When it comes to his favorite heroes in the Dota 2, we need say that over the years he has become the best player when it comes to Anti-Mage, Naga Siren, and Morphling. Anti-Mage and Morphling might not be that popular heroes anymore but Naga Siren has been one of the most important heroes in the current meta which makes BurNIng a very important player for Invictus Gaming this season.

Before he became of the best Dota 2 players in the world, BurNIng was a very good and respectable player in Defense of the Ancients or DotA game. His professional career started back in 2008, back when eSports was still in its initial stages of development. However, with the arrival of Dota 2, eSports entered a new phase and BurNIng was one of the leading individuals that carried eSports on his back.

Professional Career

As mentioned before, BurNIng started his professional career back in 2008 when he joined a team called CaNt and he was one of their most important players. However, the true recognition of BurNIng importance will come only after he joined 7L together with DGC and LongDD. BurNIng was an instrumental member of that team but he had huge problems in his relationship with the team’s management that eventually led him to depart from the team after only five months.

After leaving 7L in 2009 and until joining his first Dota 2 team in 2011, BurNIng played for several other teams including Ks.cn, CityHunter, EHOME, and Team DK. All those teams were competing even before Dota 2 made it to the scene. Of all those teams, only EHOME and Team DK managed to make a successful transition to the Dota 2.

Team DK had a lot of problems with the result back in 2011 even though BurNIng was playing very good at that time. Because of that, Team DK decided to make a switch to Dota 2 but those problems continued. Soon after they joined Dota 2, several players would leave the team while BurNIng would remain in the team. Together with the new roster, BurNIng and Team DK became of the best Chinese Dota 2 team that same year.

After more than three years of playing for Team DK, BurNIng would leave the team and join Big God but he would stay in that team for only six months. Interestingly, BurNIng was one of the players who founded this team but this was just a casual team and apparently, it was a plan from the start not to take the team so seriously.

After the episode with Big God ended, BurNIng joined Invictus Gaming for the first time. Before that, he was not competing in any Dota 2 competitions for several months but once he officially confirmed his return to Dota 2 competitions, his fans were excited once again. He would spend six months with Invictus Gaming before joining Vici Gaming in September 2015. However, his period in Vici Gaming was not that successful and because of that in September 2016, BurNIng would return to Invictus Gaming.

Since then, BurNIng has been one of the best Chinese Dota 2 players that every participated in any tournament. Over the years, Invictus Gaming has become of the most powerful and most successful Dota 2 teams in the world. BurNIng had a huge role in those achievements as his performances have brought Invictus Gaming many titles throughout the year.

Achievements

Before making a switch to Dota 2, BurNIng managed to win several titles in DotA competitions. While he was playing for EHOME, they managed to win the trophies at the Word Gamemaster Tournament, Road of the King, Intel Extreme Masters 2010. After moving to Team DK, he also won several titles including E-Sports Champion League Season 4, G1 Tournament season 2, Asian Cyber Games China and several others.

However, after making a switch to Dota 2, Team DK spent a lot of time finding their right form but once they found it they managed to win the trophies at the 2014 WPC-ACE Dota 2 League, G-League 2014, SLTV Star Series Season 9, V Games Tournament, CDEC New Star Challenge, and Esports Champion League. In general, his period with Team DK proved to be very successful. That year, the also participated in the International and they went all the way to the semi-finals where they were eliminated by Vici Gaming.

After he joined to Invictus Gaming, BurNIng and the team managed to grab the second place at the StarLadder but that did not satisfy the team and especially BurNIng who wanted to have the best results throughout his entire career. That year, Invictus Gaming came to The International with huge expectations but in the end, that tournament turned to a huge disappointment for them and their fans.

They struggled a lot during the entire tournament but they somehow managed to advance to the playoffs and the first round of the playoffs. However, they could not go any further and they would finish that tournament in the 9th-12th place which made BurNIng very mad. Considering that he was driven by his wish for success, BurNIng decided to leave IG and to join Vici Gaming. In 2016, with Vici Gaming had a strong performance at the Summit 4 where they finished in the third place. However, things started to go downwards since that tournament. They failed to qualify for the Manila Masters which was not that big of a thing. However, when BurNIng and Vici Gaming failed to qualify for The International 2016, which was a sign that something is seriously wrong with the team.

It did not take a long time for BurNIng to get away from Vici Gaming and to return to Invictus Gaming. However, after returning to IG, the results were still very bad for IG and BurNIng. However, at the Dota Asia Championship 2016, Invictus Gaming returned to good form as they took the competition by storm. They reached the grand finals of that competition where they had to face OG, perhaps the best Dota 2 team at that time but IG did not have any problems as they swept OG in the final match in order to win the title.

All in all, BurNIng is one of the best Dota 2 players that ever joined Dota 2 community from the Asian region. His style of play and devotion to the game have secured him the status of one of the greatest legends of this eSports competition. However, he is still without the biggest Dota 2 trophy in the world and it does not seem that he will be retiring until he wins The International.