As a LoL player

I want to learn Dota 2

So I can play any hero

Hero Suggestions Choose 6 or more LoL Champions you enjoy playing Suggest Heroes

Before your first Dota match

You'll want to start downloading Dota 2 right now. It's available for free on Steam. Patches (which happen frequently) automatically download in the background, and there's no significant downtime during patches. You can easily play with your Steam friends, and it's easy to meet new people.

Heroes are Free You get access to every Hero for free. You can buy cosmetics to enhance the look and feel of a hero, but spending money won't get you ahead. No Pre-Game Setup You don't need to setup runes, masteries, or summoner spells before the match begins. Everyone starts on a level playing field and all decisions are made in game. Roles in Dota are flexible. Your role may change depending on how much farm you get in the match.

No Region Locks Dota doesn't link player accounts to regions. This means you can play with your friends anywhere in the world. You can choose to play only on game servers in specific regions (ex. US East or US West) to reduce latency. Enable Statistics You need to opt-in see your profile and statistics on Dotabuff. Open the Dota 2 client, click the Settings cog (upper left), then the Options tab, click "Advanced Options" on the bottom and make sure "Expose Public Match Data" is checked. Learn More

Key Gameplay Differences

Buy your Flash Dota doesn't have Summoner spells like Flash. A very common item to purchase is Blink Dagger, which provides you with more mobility than Flash on a much shorter cooldown. Fewer heroes have mobility built in and instead purchase it. No Free Recalls There's no universal Recall spell. You can (and should) purchase a Town Portal Scroll, or buy Boots of Travel. You can Teleport to base or friendly structures, and it works while taking damage but will get interrupted if stunned.

Powerful Items Dota has very powerful items like Black King Bar (BKB), which can completely transform a teamfight if used correctly. Other key items to understand include Bottle and Aghanim's Scepter. Most items have an active use and they tend to be more powerful. Fewer Rules You can destroy trees, hide on the edge of the map, and fly through terrain. A strong Hero can 1v5 an enemy team. Heroes like Rubick can steal spells from others, whereas Chen can control neutral creeps. Some Heroes allow you to control multiple units, like in Starcraft.

Different Jungle There often isn't a dedicated jungler. Anyone could farm the jungle depending on the game. Creeps can tank it. Supports can stack additional jungle camps by pulling them out of the spawn point near their reset timer (every odd minute starting at 01:00). Carries can kill stacked camps for massive amounts of gold and experience. Complex Movement Movement in Dota is slightly different because turning takes time. Clicking to move or attack will cause your hero to rotate to face the cast point, then move or attack only once it's facing that direction. This will take some getting used to and adds another level of depth to gameplay. Last hitting and kiting are more difficult.

Shops and Courier Dota has three places to buy items: the main shop in your base, side shops in the top and bottom lanes, and the secret shop: a place in the jungle that sells special items you can't get elsewhere. Each team can use a Animal Courier to pick up and deliver items from these shops to your hero anywhere on the map. Other Differences Instead of Baron, Dota has Roshan, who gives gold and drops Aegis of the Immortal with no team buff. Dota doesn't have a Dragon, but does have two Runes: powerful temporary buffs that spawn in the river every 2 minutes. Barracks (inhibitors) do not respawn, and only the melee one will regen health if not destroyed.

Further Reading Start with Purge's Dota 2 Guide: Welcome to Dota, You Suck. Purge's guide goes into just the right level of detail on nearly every aspect of the game. Purge also produces great videos for newer players.