Niku Dota 2
Player statistics
Heroes / during last year
Past games
Bio
Artem Niku Bachkur is a young Ukrainian professional Dota 2 player. He plays on the center corridor and his signature heroes are Puck, Pangolier and Ember Spirit.
Niku started playing on the professional scene at an early age. In May 2023, Artem joined his first LFT team, with which he participated in the qualifiers for the DPC EEU 2023 Tour 3: Division II, but his attempts were unsuccessful. Niku then played for a while in the ranks of a mix called Respective Players.
In September 2023, when Artem was 14 years old, he was signed by Natus Vincere to their NAVI Junior roster. After Niku joined the team, the guys played at the fourth tournament of the Malta Vibes #4 series.
Now he continues to play for Navi Junior showing a good performance.
At the beginning of 2024, the NAVI Junior team tried their luck in the qualifiers for tournaments such as DreamLeague Season 22, ESL One Birmingham, PGL Wallachia Season 1, and DreamLeague Season 23, but did not manage to qualify for any. Besides this, the roster participated in European Pro League 17: Division 1 and European Pro League 18, where they placed 1st and 3rd respectively. Additionally, NAVI Junior took 10th place in the RES Regional Series: EU 2 and 6th place in the Dota2 World Invitational.
In the summer of 2024, NAVI Junior participated in the qualifiers for Riyadh Masters 2024, The International 2024 and Elite League Season 2, where they placed 5th, 4th, and 3rd respectively. Although the team did not qualify for any tournament, Junior was remembered by the audience for their spectacular gameplay. Later the team tried to qualify for PGL Wallachia: Season 2, DreamLeague Season 24 and ESL One Bangkok 2024, but was unsuccessful. However, the roaster won the European Pro League Season 20 and 21. In December, the team participated in the MESA Invitational 2024, where they placed 2nd.
The 2025 team started with a win at CCT Dota 2 Series 6, and in March became a finalist CCT Dota 2 Series 7.
At the end of April, the team competed in PGL Wallachia Season 4, showing fairly good results, although they finished in 7th-8th place.
On May 18, 2025, the NAVI Junior received an invite to participate in the open qualifiers for The International 2025 in the Western Europe region. The organization also confirmed its participation in the Esports World Cup 2025.
On June 7, 2025, the team qualified for Riyadh Masters 2025 through the closed qualifier.
On July 1, 2025, Niku officially joined the main Natus Vincere roster along with the entire NAVI Junior lineup.
In July 2025, Natus Vincere exited Riyadh Masters 2025, finishing in 9th place and earning $75,000 in prize money.
In 2025, the team qualified for The International 2025 but couldn’t reach the playoffs and finished the tournament in 14th place. The team started the new season with BLAST SLAM IV, but failed to advance beyond the group stage, as they did in PGL Wallachia Season 6.
At the beginning of December, Natus Vincere competed in BLAST Slam V finishing 5–6th after reaching the tournament playoffs. At DreamLeague Season 27, the team finished its performance in the group stage, with a score of 3-3.
At the beginning of February 2026, the team competed at BLAST SLAM VI, where they took second place, losing to Team Liquid in the grand final. At the following DreamLeague Season 28, NaVi finished 9th-10th, being eliminated in the group stage, as well as on PGL Wallachia Season 7.
The first tournament for the updated roster was PGL Wallachia Season 8, where the team failed to reach the playoffs.