To an untrained eye, Dota 2 and League of Legends might seem like carbon copies of each other. It’s easy to understand why. Both games are heavily inspired by the likes of Warcraft and boast many of the same MOBA hallmarks. Although these two titles share a common origin, they’ve forged their paths in recent years. While key gameplay mechanics are similar, there’s a lot that sets these two fan favorites apart.
History of Dota 2 and LoL
Dota 2 can trace its origins back almost two decades. It started life as Defense of the Ancients, a mod of Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III. Valve eventually took charge of the project, resulting in the release of Dota 2 back in 2013.
League of Legends might not be a direct successor to Defense of the Ancients, but it was heavily inspired by it. It might have been released several years before Dota 2, but the continued success of League of Legends has hinged upon Riot Games bringing in talent from Valve.
Gaming Glossaries
If you’ve played both of these games concurrently, getting to grips with the terminology can prove confusing. Things are particularly complicated as these MOBA titles share a lot of in-game features. In League of Legends, character avatars are called champions. In Dota 2, players take their pick from a roster of heroes. In LoL, players can mount an attack from a turret, while in Dota 2, teams need to head to a tower. League of Legends players needs to face off against minions as well as enemy combatants, while in Dota 2 minions are called creeps.
Graphics and Gameplay Animations
League of Legends is arguably the better-looking game. Champion animations are particularly fluid, making it easier to play and a more enjoyable game to watch. Dota 2 is by no means sluggish, but it can take some getting used to for those accustomed to League’s fast-paced mechanics.
Difficulty Levels
Neither of these two games is easy to master. Each game has more than a hundred characters to choose from, while player roles need to be heavily considered before putting together a team. If you’re happy to bide your time playing against bots and putting in the practice in new player modes, it shouldn’t take too long before you’re ready for a match against actual players. However, even at the top level of play, both League of Legends and Dota 2 are relatively complicated.
Dota 2 is arguably the trickier of the two. As the game adopts a turn rate mechanic and suffers from a relatively slow pace, it requires more strategic thinking than LoL. This doesn’t make the game impossible but does mean that players need to rely far more on collaboration and teamwork. It’s unsurprisingly then that League of Legends has a larger player base.
Esports and Star Players
Because of its higher player count, League of Legends has become the bigger entity on the professional gaming scene. It’s one of the most prolific esports events of all time, with more opportunities for aspiring pros.
South Korean player Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok of T1 fame is thought to have amassed a fortune of
$1.43 million from prize winnings alone. However, this doesn’t take into account the income generated from streaming, merchandising, and sponsorship deals. However, this doesn’t mean that Dota 2 favorites haven’t been able to secure big bucks from playing professionally. Johan “N0tail” Sundstein is thought to have earned an impressive $7.2 million throughout his career.
Not sure which MOBA masterpiece is right for you? Why not get clued up on the latest industry news and LoL and Dota 2 tournaments at 1337Pro?
