Matchmaking


Info

The matchmaking screen

Matchmaking is the process through which the system groups players into opposing teams for public games. With the exception of bot games, matchmaking is mostly determined by matchmaking ratings A player s match history, showing changes in MMR after each game. Matchmaking Rating, or MMR is a value that determines the skill level of each player. This value is used in matchmaking. Winning increases a dota2 (MMR).

Criteria

Valve has stated that matchmaking tries to fulfil several criteria:

  • The teams are balanced. (Each team has a 50% chance to win.)
  • The discrepancy in skill between the most and least skilled player in the match is minimized.
  • The highest skill Radiant player should be close to the same skill as the highest skill Dire player.
  • The discrepancy between experience (measured by the number of games played) between the least experienced player and the most experienced player is minimized.
  • Each team contains about the same number of parties.
    • For instance, the matchmaker tries to avoid matching a party of 5 against 5 individual players.
  • Players` language preferences contains a common language.
  • Wait times shouldn`t be too long.

Videos

Normal Match

Unranked or casual games do not display matchmaking ratings and still doesn`t track your MMR for solo and party “ Play Now it s a party! Click to listen— Storm Spirit ” Players can form parties to play matchmaking games with each other on the same team. Unlike a Guild or a Team, parties are not formalized queues.

Ranked Match

Strict Matchmaking limit solo players to playing against other solo players only.

It is found under the Options -> Advanced -> Miscellaneous tab.

Ranked matches track and display two visible matchmaking ratings, one for solo queue, and one for parties.

Practice 1v1

This function matches you against another player in the Mid Lane A Lane is one of three paths connecting the two Ancients. Lane creeps will push along these lanes after spawning. There are three lanes: Top line, which runs along the left and top edges of dota2 . This match is over when one player dies twice, loses a tower, resigns or disconnects. Type gg in chat to resign.

Bot Match

This function matches you or your team against AI-controlled bots For the in-game item sometimes abbreviated as "BoT", see Boots of Travel. Bots are computer controlled heroes in Dota 2. They can be found in practice matches, lobbies and co-op bot matches. Contents 1 Difficulties .

  • Co-op bot matches are always played in All Pick mode.
  • No MMR is tracked for bot matches.

Settings

Settings allow players to be matched only with others who have selected the same settings. Selecting more settings can significantly reduce wait time, as the system will be able to search for compatible players from a larger population pool.

Game Modes

The Game Modes window

Game Modes “ Play If that s the kind of fight they want, then I will give it to them! Click to listen— Legion Commander ” Game modes are a set of restrictions within which the game of Dota 2 dota2 determines which modes you would like to queue for. Checking more game modes will increase matchmaking speed.

Current game modes for public matchmaking include:

  • All Pick
  • Captains Mode
  • Single Draft
  • Random Draft
  • Least Played
  • All Random
  • Captains Draft
  • Ability Draft
  • All Random Deathmatch

Region

The Regions window

Region determines which regional server you would like to play on. Checking more regions will increase matchmaking speed, but may cause latency issues if the server location is far away. You can select up to 3 regions. It is recommended that you only choose regions where the language you speak is the dominant language for that region, this is to avoid people reporting you from speaking another language (this does happen).

Current regions include:

  • US West
  • US East
  • Europe West
  • Europe East
  • Russia
  • SE Asia
  • Australia
  • South America
  • Dubai
  • Chile
  • Peru
  • South Africa
  • India
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • China UC
  • China UC 2
  • China TC Shanghai
  • China TC Zhejiang
  • China TC Wuhan

Language

The Language window

The language window allows you to select up to 2 languages. You will be matched with other players who have selected the same languages. Checking more languages will increase matchmaking speed. If no languages are checked, you will be matched with the current language of your client.

Matchmaking Rating

All PvP matchmaking is based on an Matchmaking Rating A player s match history, showing changes in MMR after each game. Matchmaking Rating, or MMR is a value that determines the skill level of each player. This value is used in matchmaking. Winning increases a dota2 (MMR) similar to the Elo system. Players of roughly equal skill will be placed in the same game.

Penalties

Priority

Priority determines how quickly the player is matched with other players. There are 3 types of priority: high priority, base priority, and low priority. Players in low priority will not gain battle points from the match, will find games more slowly, and will only be put with other players in low priority. Low priority is a common punishment for abandonment For Hero Strength, Agility, and Intelligence, see Attributes. Stats are a record of the player s Wins, Losses, and Abandons. They are displayed on the player profile. Contents 1 Wins and Losses 1.1 Game Modes 1.2 dota2 . Base priority is granted to any player when they enter a matchmaking queue provided that they are not in low priority. High priority is granted when a player is returned to queue after a recently failed matchmaking attempt due to another player failing to connect to the game or declining the Ready Check.

Matchmaking Modes

A match can only have one style of picking. Players may also swap heroes with team mates after picking, during the time before lane creeps spawn. Starting Gold is determined by how the hero is chosen. A hero can be chosen at random, directly picked, repicked at a penalty, or swapped after choosing. Some modes do not allow swapping. If randoming twice through repick, you will never randomly pick the same hero twice in a row. Hero selection time is normally 60 seconds, with a pre-creep time of 90 seconds.

Ranked Matchmaking

Ranked matchmaking is unlocked at badge level 20.

All Pick (AP)


In this mode all heroes are available. Players may pick any hero as long as another player has not already chosen it. This mode is also available in Unranked Matchmaking. Ranked Matchmaking includes a ban phase before the picking phase.

Rules
  • Before picking heroes, players have 15 seconds to ban heroes.
  • Each player may vote to ban a hero. A hero cannot be voted on twice.
  • Half of the heroes that were voted on will be randomly selected and banned.
  • Initial pre-picking time is 5 seconds.
  • Picking starts after a 30 second strategy period.
  • Teams alternate picking. Whenever it is a team`s turn to pick, anyone on that team can pick for themselves.
  • Teams have up to 35 seconds to pick a hero. If the timer expires, each player that hasn`t selected a hero will lose 2 gold per second. The selection will stay on this team until a hero is picked.
  • Randoming sets your remaining time to repick to 10 seconds if you randomed with over 10 seconds remaining.
  • Once a selection is made, it immediately switches to the other team to pick.
  • If a team has not picked and continued losing gold for more than 30 seconds, a player that hasnℂ⋘⃂₀⃂ₙt picked will be assigned a random hero and the turn will resume to the other team.
Rules in Unranked Matchmaking
  • 75 second hero selection time
  • 75 second pre-creep time
  • Players lose starting gold at a rate of one per second if their hero is still not picked after hero selection time has run out

Captains Mode (CM)


The standard mode for competitive play. In Captains Mode, two team captains go through phases of banning heroes from the pool and picking heroes for their team. After all 10 heroes are selected, each team`s players pick their hero from the five their captain had chosen. Each captain has 30 seconds to make a pick and 30 seconds to select a ban when it is their turn. Each team`s allotted 130 second reserve time depletes any time their captain takes longer than allotted to make a pick or ban. If reserve time runs out before a pick, a random hero will be selected. If it runs out before a ban, no hero will be banned. This mode is also available in Unranked Matchmaking.

The current order for bans and picks is as follows:

First Ban Phase First Pick Phase Second Ban Phase Second Pick Phase Third Ban Phase Third Pick Phase
RADIANT
DIRE RADIANT DIRE
RADIANT
DIRE DIRE RADIANT
DIRE
RADIANT DIRE RADIANT
DIRE
RADIANT DIRE RADIANT
DIRE
RADIANT
RADIANT
DIRE

The following heroes are unavailable:

Random Draft (RD)


In this mode, 50 heroes are randomly chosen to be available. The players on each team take turns picking heroes from the pool, and only have 20 seconds to make their selection when it is their turn.

Rules
  • Initial pre-picking time is 5 seconds.
  • Picking starts after a 30 second strategy period.
  • Teams alternate picking. Whenever it is a team`s turn to pick, anyone on that team can pick for themselves.
  • Teams have up to 35 seconds to pick a hero. If the timer expires, each player that hasn`t selected a hero will lose 2 gold per second. The selection will stay on this team until a hero is picked.
  • Randoming sets your remaining time to repick to 10 seconds if you randomed with over 10 seconds remaining.
  • Once a selection is made, it immediately switches to the other team to pick.
  • If a team has not picked and continued losing gold for more than 30 seconds, a player that hasn⃢₀ₙt picked will be assigned a random hero and the turn will resume to the other team.

The current order for picks is as follows:

RADIANT DIRE DIRE RADIANT RADIANT DIRE DIRE RADIANT RADIANT DIRE

Captains Draft (CD)


Each team has one captain that is responsible for the drafting phase. The game starts with a random pool of 27 heroes (9 Strength, 9 Agility, 9 Intelligence). The captains start off by banning 3 heroes each and then they move on to drafting heroes for their team. Which team picks and bans first is random. Each team has only a total of 180 seconds to make all of their picks and bans. After the heroes have been chosen by the captains, players get to choose their hero. This mode was previously enabled for Ranked Matchmaking but was removed because not enough players queued it leading to imbalanced games.

The current order for picks is as follows:

Ban Phase Pick Phase
RADIANT DIRE RADIANT DIRE RADIANT DIRE
RADIANT DIRE DIRE RADIANT RADIANT DIRE DIRE RADIANT RADIANT DIRE

Single Draft (SD)


In this mode, all players receive a random and unique selection of three heroes. The three to choose from are also of different attributes. One Strength, one Agility, and one Intelligence.

Rules
  • Random selection and hero swapping is disabled

All Random (AR)


All players are automatically given a random hero and the 825 starting gold for randoming.

Least Played (LP)


This mode is similar to All Pick, except that each player is unable to select their 40 most used heroes.

Rules
  • Hero swapping is disabled

Limited Heroes (LH)


The last step of the tutorial for new players, this mode is the same as All Pick except that players may only choose from 20 heroes.

Rules
  • Bots will replace players who leave in this mode

The following heroes are available:

Ability Draft (AD)


Players are given a random hero from a pool of all heroes with 4 abilities. Then all the hero abilities from the ten selected heroes plus the abilities of two more random heroes are put in a pool. The players take turns selecting any ability from the pool. Each player is allowed 3 normal abilities and 1 ultimate.

Rules
  • 5 seconds for each ability pick

The following heroes are unavailable:

1v1 Solo Mid (SM)


Play 1v1 against another player in the middle lane.

Practice your mid-lane play against another player. The first player to achieve two kills or destroy an enemy tower wins. Players can pick identical heroes, and cannot see their opponent`s hero choice until they have made a selection. Only the middle lane will spawn creeps. Each player starts off with a courier, free of charge.

First rune does not spawn. Players can voice chat with each other. Players may forfeit by calling `gg` or leaving the match. Side towers are invulnerable.

All Random Deathmatch (ARDM)


Players receive a random hero when they respawn after dying. First team to exhaust either teams 40 respawns, reach 45 kills on either team, or when the Ancient is destroyed, wins.

At the start of a match, every player is given a random hero. When a player dies, they are given a new random hero upon respawning, all of the players previous reliable gold and items, including the Hero level`s are kept for the new Hero. Each team has a total of 40 respawns. The game ends when a team has no respawns left and all its players are dead, or the ancient is destroyed.

The following heroes are unavailable:

Private Lobby Modes

These game modes are only available in private lobby games and do not have their stats recorded.

Reverse Draft


Like Captains Mode, but each team`s captain picks the heroes for the opposite team.

Mid Only


Lane creeps only spawn in the middle lane, and all players can pick the same heroes.

Event Game Modes

Several game modes are released for a limited time during certain holiday and special events. These game modes cannot be played in Matchmaking outside of the event time period.

2015

New Bloom Festival - Year Beast Brawl

A temporarily appearing game mode, available during certain times of the New Bloom Festival. In this game mode, you fight against the enemy team using your Year Beast. They will bring theirs.

Event Duration: February 12, 2015 - March 2, 2015

Event Page: Year Beast Brawl

2014

Foreseer`s Contract - Nemesis Assassin Event

A game mode initiated when any player owning a Manifold Paradox in their Armory plays an unranked match, and a nemesis hero written in Oracle`s contract is present in the match as well. Successfully completing/denying the contract and winning the game earns the winning team rewards.

Event Duration: November 20, 2014 - December 7, 2014

Event Page: Nemesis Assassin

New Bloom Festival - Fighting the Year Beast

A temporarily appearing game mode, available during certain times of the New Bloom Festival. In this game mode, five players must attempt to inflict as much damage as possible to the Year Beast. Rewards are based on how much damage is inflicted to it, and ends when the timer runs out or all players are dead.

Event Duration: January 29, 2014 - February 20, 2014

2013

Frostivus - Wraith-Night

Wraith-Night is a holdout defense mode where a team of 5 players must defeat 13 waves of creeps and prevent Skeleton King`s altar from being destroyed. The last wave features a reborn Wraith King, who must be defeated 3 times to win the event match. The match ends in failure if all 5 players are dead or the altar is destroyed. Most heroes in this mode have modified abiltiies.

The following heroes are available:

Event Duration: December 12, 2013 - January 6, 2014

Event Page: Wraith-Night

Diretide - Sugar Rush

A variant of 2012, Roshan grows stronger each time he is defeated, with the match ending when the timer runs out. The objective is to kill Roshan as many times as possible before the timer runs out.

Event Duration: November 14, 2013 - November 28, 2013

The International 2013 - Compendium Match

This game mode was available to Compendium owners, and allowed them to replay certain matches from The International 2013. Players choose from the heroes that were picked in the original match.

Event Duration: June 11, 2013 - August 23, 2013

2012

Frostivus - The Greeviling

The Greeviling features invulnerable buildings, no lane creeps and all the jungle creeps have been turned to greevils with unique abilities. Players are given the Greevil Whistle, which allows them to transform their hero into a selected greevil from the player`s inventory, with abilites and stats based on which essences were applied to the Greevil Egg before hatching. The goal of the game mode is to clear out 11 neutral camps before the enemy team. Each cleared camp spawns a gift which sends random items to random heroes on the map.

Event Duration: December 19, 2012 - January 3, 2013

Event Page: The Greeviling

Diretide - Sugar Rush

Diretide features invulnerable buildings, new creeps called Roshlings on each lane, and two candy buckets in each ancient creep camp. The game mode has three phases, the first goal being to collect the most candy by killing Roshlings or jungle creeps and to return it to your team`s candy bucket. Players can also steal candy from the other team`s bucket by attacking it. After some time, the second phase begins and Roshan will begin roaming the map, chasing random heroes and attacking them until they die or feed Roshan a piece of candy. When the first phase ends, the team with the most candy stored wins, and Roshan settles in one of the jungle camps, beginning the final phase. All heroes receive a substantial amount of gold to spend on items and both teams must now work together to kill Roshan for the match to end. All players receive a Greevil Egg upon completion of a Diretide match.

Event Duration: October 30, 2012 - November 15, 2012

Event Page: Diretide