DOTA 2 caster 'Dunoo' passes away due to COVID-19

Aldrin Pangan, known to the DOTA 2 community as Dunoo, passed away due to COVID-19. From his Facebook account
By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--The COVID-19 pandemic took a huge toll on one of Philippine esports' well-known personalities.

DOTA 2 shout caster Aldrin Pangan passed away due to complications arising from the said virus.

His younger brother John Alfred confirmed the sad news first reported by Hyprgame.

"We just lost our Kuya today," the younger Pangan said in a Facebook post.

Aldrin, known to the community as "Dunoo", announced on Wednesday that he tested positive for COVID-19, baring that he even had a hard time sleeping due to excessive coughing.

"Ilang araw nang walang tulog. Konting higa ubo aabutin; walang hinto hanggang mawalanng hangin. Di ko na alam dapat gawin," the older Pangan shared in his own Facebook page.

While he is not known as a top DOTA 2 gamer, Aldrin Pangan became more popular as a commentator for Minseki TV.

His popularity reached its peak when his play-by-play coverage of the showdown between Fnatic and Team Secret in the ESL One Katowice 2018 group stages went viral.

How he called the wild finale of their best-of-three series decider that saw Fnatic setting up a sneaky move at the exposed Secret ancient after a botched clash to steal the win became a battle cry for Filipino esports teams and even global powerhouse OG, especially when the taglines "Lakad matatag! " and "The next level play!" among others made it to the DOTA 2 chat wheel.

"I can't count how many times I've told my friends na kapatid ko si Dunoo, si Lakad Matatag, si Echo Slamma Jamma," John Pangan further remembers his older brother.

Renowned DOTA 2 beat blogger Wykrhm Reddy added, "His passion for PH DOTA and the PH teams is unrivaled. [He] filled me with hype any time I listened to his snippets."

Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno