Dire

The Dire team is located on the top-right side of the map, which has a darker, gloomier theme. The Dire side of the map contains trees without leaves, decayed dirt, and glowing lava near the Dire ancient. While the dark theme may carry evil connotations, the Dire is not purely evil.

From a gameplay perspective, there are many key differences between the Dire side of the map and the Radiant side. The layout of both sides are very different, and can be viewed here. Here are a few key differences.
 * Roshan is located on the Dire side, near the bottom rune spawn location.
 * Dire's bottom lane has no convenient way to pull.
 * It is impossible to block 2 jungle camps with 1 ward on in the Dire jungle.

Trivia
Earlier in the development of Dota 2, some heroes were affiliated with the Dire.

In DotA when playing the Normal game mode (also called "Pick Mode"), players could only pick Scourge heroes while on the Scourge team, and vice versa. This game mode is not present in Dota 2.

The heroes affiliated with the Scourge in DotA (counterpart of the Dire side in Dota 2) are: