TWIFT | Esport | Dota 2 And League Of Legends. Endless Battle Between Two Giants

Dota 2 And League Of Legends. Endless Battle Between Two Giants

People have been trying to figure out which game is better for years. And always the best is the one that you like the most. Everything seems logical, all people have their own tastes and preferences, but they continue to argue. I will try to evaluate as objectively as possible two well-known MOBA games and compare which game is still better!

Dota 2 and League Of Legends

So which is better: Dota 2 or League of Legends?

Among many other online MOBA games in the genre, Dota 2 and League of Legends are definitely the main competitors. Yes, we know that these games are not similar in many aspects, but we know that if the creators of Dota 2 position the game as RTS-RPG, that is, a real-time role-playing strategy, then League of Legends is a seemingly pure MOBA genre.

You can also remember different spell mechanics, however, if you are reading this material, it means that the comparison of these games has a right to life.

The similarities between Dota 2 and League of Legends are visible to the naked eye, even for a beginner. Games are the most popular in the MOBA genre, hence the gameplay is almost identical. The developers of both games took as a basis the custom map in Warcraft 3. The backbone of the mechanics has remained native both there and there.

In both games, there are 3 lines on which towers stand and along which creeps (minions) go. Teams consist of 5 players, each of them controls his own hero (champion). Players earn gold and experience, buy amplifying items, level up their characters. There are even analogies between the heroes of Dota and the champions of LoL. For example, Ursa is similar to Warwick, Drow Ranger is similar to Ashe, and Winter Wyvern is similar to Anivia. The goal of each of the two games is identical ‒ the destruction of the main building at the opponent’s base.

Still, Dota 2 and LoL are completely different games. The developers left only the main rules unchanged. Small details and features each game got its own. Read on for the main differences between Dota 2 and LoL.

Dota 2 and League Of Legends

So Let’s Start Comparing Dota 2 and LOL 

Dota 2 and League of Legends are free-to-play projects. Games were released in October and July, only League of Legends in 2009, and Dota 2 in 2013. Both are the brainchild of American companies: California-based Riot Games and Washington-based Valve Software, respectively. At the same time, if the brainchild of the great and terrible Gabe Newell is a super-giant of the gaming industry, thanks to which such masterpieces as Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Left-4-Dead, Team Fortress, and others appeared, not to mention the online store Steam, then Riot Games is in a completely different weight class. This company does not have many giant games in its assets, although, they are developing.

Nevertheless, as we can see, the upstart turned out to be a serious rival for the rich nobleman, who, according to rumors, licked the idea from a competitor, adding his own look to it. Indeed, the development of Dota 2 began a year after the release of League of Legends, whose fame had already thundered from the windows of Internet clubs and sparkled from the pages of gaming magazines. But these are all speculations that, by and large, do not interest us at all.

Visual Component

Let’s start the LOL vs Dota 2 competition with graphics. So, as mentioned earlier, between the release of one, and then another game, there are considerable four years. A very significant period for the gaming industry. For example, if you compare two parts of some Call of Duty 2013 and 2009, the difference will be huge. Here we do not see this. The graphics are simply different, although, in the author’s humble opinion, Dota 2, for known reasons, looks more beautiful.

Opponents of Dota claim that the game has plastic, unnatural heroes and stupid, ugly creeps. Unlike the charming minions in League of Legends, with its more harmonious, albeit cartoonish, animation.

Opponents of League of Legends may reasonably notice that LoL has an outdated engine, that it is made in an anime style, and at one glance it immediately recalls that the game is already a well-deserved veteran, with all the ensuing consequences. As for Dota, the characters are drawn in detail, which the competitor cannot boast of.

In general, of course, the graphics in these games are a matter of taste, and someone will give ten thousand Diablo III for the tube warmth of the first Diablo, but from a purely technical point of view, Dota 2 looks more modern and is made more subtle. Therefore, at the end of this round, Dota 2 has a little advantage.

Sound Component

The sound in both games is of very high quality. The creators of both involved real actors in the voice acting. Dota 2 heroes are more talkative. This could be an asset to the game, but who said that talkativeness is always good. Someone can get bored with the frequent lines of the characters. In response to the lack of long speeches, League of Legends has more actions that have their own sound. But we can immediately say that the orchestral music of Dota is much more epic and has better quality.

In general, at the end of this round, both games are about the same.

Heroes and Champions

Moving on to heroes and champions. Here in League of Legends, things are ambiguous. This is because there are more than a hundred heroes in Dota 2. Moreover, absolutely everything is available. The variety is amazing. League of Legends creators can only dream of such a riot of colors and originality. In LoL they give only about ten heroes, here called champions. And that’s all. However, you may notice that some do not like to receive everything at once because there is nowhere to strive further, as it were.

But in League of Legends, the story of the characters is worked out much deeper. This is not a huge advantage, but for those who want to deeply penetrate both games, into its history and find the relationship between the characters, then in League of Legends, the situation is better.

But in Dota 2, heroes have a wider range of interactions with artifacts and characters, which not only complicates the gameplay but makes it more interesting, due to its unpredictability. There is nothing like this in League of Legends, but everything is fine with the balance in it. A small number of champions were easier to balance than a hundred Dota heroes. Therefore, if the champions in a pure PvP duel have approximately equal chances of success, then in Dota 2 there are such imbalanced heroes, having pitted them, the result will be known in advance.

Summing up the interim results, it could be said that League of Legends has every chance of winning, however, the hundred-odd heroes from Dota 2, which are available all at once, eliminate the small advantage that League of Legends received due to better balance and deeper development of the hero stories.

Therefore, both games are equal here.

Donation

Well, how not to talk about such a thing as bringing real money to the cashier of the developers of these shareware projects? What do we have in Dota 2? We have the really full observance of the main unwritten rule of free-to-play-game, according to which donation should in no way distort the balance, or strengthen the hero, and, therefore, de facto, there is no need for it. Nevertheless, the game is so beautiful, and the desire to show off in front of Dota friends is so strong that it is simply impossible not to bring a couple of dollars to the cashier of game developers.

At the same time, the creators of League of Legends immediately put the player in front of the opportunity to pay and unlock additional champions. But if the very fact of discovery does not affect the balance, then the possible acquisition of costumes and runes affects in the frankest way. A champion with runes has a distinct advantage over a champion without runes. And this is just the beginning, therefore, despite the obvious rejection of this fact on the part of LOL players, we can state with a certain firmness that the motto “Pay-to-Win” can be applied to League of Legends, unlike a competitor. Therefore, in fact, this round Dota 2 wins for its absolute disinterestedness, but in League of Legends, we understand that greed is bad.

Game process

Well, and now we come to, probably, the main round, in which we will try to evaluate the gameplay, and in fact, directly, the interestingness of both games. League of Legends needs to recoup, for it is noticeably lagging behind. Let’s see if it can do the impossible.

So let’s start with the map: the map is noticeably larger in Dota. Whether it’s good or bad ‒ it is not clear. On the one hand, on a large map, there is a wider room for maneuver, on the other hand, in cramped conditions, you can quickly group up and quickly reach the battlefield. Taste and color, in general.

Next, you can put in a few words about the creeps that are present in both games. If in League of Legends they are exclusively an object for farming, then in Dota 2 creeps also have various properties that you can use to your advantage.

Different game mechanics

One of the main differences remains the ability mechanic. The bulk of skills in LoL are “non-targeted”. In other words, hovering over an enemy does not guarantee an accurate hit. Almost all abilities in League of Legends work in a specific direction or area, such as the Pudge hook, the Nyx stun. There are almost no point skills like Venge stun in LoL. The same goes for passive abilities. If in Dota every second hero has passives, then in LoL they are practically absent. In addition, each champion in LoL only has 4 abilities. There are no characters like Invoker in the game. In addition, in LoL, characters turn instantly, which somewhat adds the dynamism to the battles and Dota heroes have turn rate.

Before the start of the map, players of each team in LoL can choose 2 “Summoner Spells”. These are special abilities that can be used for farming or movement: blink, additional protection, fire shield, and others.

Until the end of 2017, there was no talent tree in Dota 2 ‒ special improvements that gave bonuses to the hero at levels 10, 15, 20, and 25. LoL has had talent since its release. This is one of the few examples of successful borrowing of mechanics between games.

An extremely important difference is that in LoL, the destruction of inhibitors (barracks) empowers creeps by only 5 minutes. At the end of this time, the buildings are restored. And in LoL, two teams can pick the same hero.

Couriers and teleports

It is difficult for any Dota player to imagine a game without a courier. Delivering items to your lane is critical to avoid wasting time. The murder of the winged assistant severely affects the team’s mobility. In LoL, there are no couriers at all. To get any item, the player needs to return to base. By the way, shops on the LoL map are located only near the fountains of both teams. There are no side and forest shops, like in Dota.

However, the lack of couriers in LoL is slightly compensated by global teleports. In Dota 2, the player can teleport using scrolls, abilities, or the Boots of Travel item. In LoL, each champion has a built-in ability to teleport to the fountain with a small recharge. The teleportation spell helps to fly back to the allied unit/tower in Lol, but with a much higher recharge.

Gold and creeps

Finishing off your creeps in Dota 2 allows you to deprive the enemy of some of the gold, and more recently to earn money yourself. In LoL, “deny” are completely absent, the player simply cannot attack his units, even if there are few hit points. Also in LoL, there is no concept of “reliable gold”, which is not lost by the player in case of death. There are no runes in LoL, but instead of them, there are additional camps of large creeps, for which you can earn a lot of experience and gold.

Clear distribution of roles

In LoL, before searching for a match, each player specifies the desired role. There are 5 of them: carry, the top hero (offlane), forester (jungler), solomid, and support. Everything is almost the same as in Dota 2, but the role of the forester in it is optional and depends on the patch. In LoL, one player is guaranteed to go to farm the forest and in the forest, by the way, there are bushes that give invisibility.

In general, we can say for sure that the battles in Dota are more difficult and varied. The combat process demonstrates more randomness, in favor of which there is even an insufficiently competent balance of heroes. League of Legends in this regard is simpler and, if you like, monotonous. Although, again, the taste and color of all markers are different, and if someone is sure that playing League of Legends is many times more interesting, this is his personal right, which, in principle, cannot be disputed.

As for the interface and control features, it is very difficult to say something unambiguous. The games are completely different. Someone more like the animated portraits of the main characters in Dota, while others see them as only a distracting, useless factor. Some people like that in Dota, the control panel is large and clear, while others think that it could be reduced by giving more space to the main screen. In this regard, League of Legends, with its customizable panel, has a slight advantage. But Dota has voice chat, which is a huge advantage, at the same time, you can object by saying that voice chat is not needed in LoL.

Further, you can recall that Dota has an excellent algorithm for viewing battles, as well as more opportunities for viewing various statistics. But, because of this, navigation through the menu in Dota is rather difficult for a beginner. The interface has a lot of small buttons, clicking on which, the player can get confused and prematurely lose interest in the game.

Therefore, in order to learn how to play Dota 2, it is advisable to have an experienced comrade on hand. As for the League of Legends, then everything is much simpler, however, less functional. Dota 2 has significantly more keys on the keyboard, which simultaneously makes the game more interesting, but also more difficult.

In general, summarizing this round, one could say that the gameplay of the games is simply different, so the ratings should be the same, however, playing Dota 2 is still more interesting. The key factors here are a huge number of heroes with their own characteristics, as well as a greater variety of what happens on the battlefield. In League of Legends, the situation is a little worse. 

Summary. LOL or Dota 2?

So, we have a winner, and this is Dota 2. There was no sensation: a richer, more experienced, and at the same time younger contestant won. The creators of Dota 2 studied the League of Legends in detail and made their own far-reaching conclusions.

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