Is League of Legends really worse than Dota2 ?? (as the elitist Dota2 veterans say)

(This article is for a common gamer out there. All of us do NOT play professionally.. And though, we want to get better in which ever game we play, we don’t aim to be an esport star).

LoL or Dota2 ??

This is something that has been raging on since time immortal (okay, since those two games came into existence). And over the years, there have been countless articles written on this subject, debating which of the two titans is better.

One of most common attitude of Dota2 players, who act like douchbags, is to ridicule LoL players by calling the game casual, kiddy, meant-for-noobs, etc. Here are some of the things what you would usually hear from them:

• League of Legends has a worse optimized and technologically inferior engine.
• League of Legends meta is very strict and allows for very little variation and strategy.
• Individual skill and performance in LoL is more reliant on execution and reflexes, whereas Dota 2 is more about strategy, tactics and utility.
• Dota 2 is a much deeper and varying game.
• BLAH, BLAH, BLAH…….

On the other hand, LoL players try to defend their game, though poorly.

To be honest, it simply depends on what you prefer. (But people understood it so easily, this whole article would have been useless)

Here, I am trying to prove that LoL is rather better than Dota2. (Thank me later, LoL players)

1. League is more “newbie” friendly. Anyone who has played both the games know it. Dota2 players are less welcoming and are rather “cancerous”. On the other hand, LoL players are usually for friendly, and would welcome you to the game. (Nah, they don’t need to promote their game… LoL has an bigger base than Dota2)
2. On comparing Skills, LoL takes the lead. The game has so much diversity between characters that playing a different hero often requires a very different mindset. Yasuo for example, has a spell that creates a wind wall in a direction that blocks all incoming enemy projectiles resulting in some really punishing team fights. Other than the uniqueness of skills, one major difference between the two games is how DOTA2’s skills level up, and deal a static amount of damage after a few levels. Some even become useless at later levels when enemies have high health pools and a skill does 300 damage. In LoL, skills share offense stats and scale with attributes. As a result, casters can do massive damage in their combos, taking out enemy caries. This attribute allows for build paths with more variation. (DOTA 2 has started introducing items that enable ability scaling as well, but LoL has had this feature from day one.)
3. League champion abilities have smaller mana costs compared to DotA 2. The former encourages frequent use of skills and aggressive play in the laning phase, while in the latter you have to be mindful of your resources and utilize abilities strategically unless your hero has a way to regain used mana fast.
4. Accessibility: Ask anyone who has spent time with both games and they will tell you that DOTA 2 is unforgiving. On the other hand, League of Legends is more accessible and less intimidating by comparison. In DOTA 2, the ‘denying’ mechanic and death penalty is so merciless that it is possible to leave an enemy quite useless later in the game, making things intimidating for newcomers. While recent DOTA 2 patches have tweaked things so that killing enemies with greater level advantages grants bigger gold bonuses, the core lockdown mechanic is still quite brutal. LoL is more balanced in this regard. For one, you cannot execute or deny your own lane minions, nor do you lose gold on death. While you can slow a player down, if things drag, an underperforming teammate can catch up and change the course of the match. This makes the game more fun.

• League has faster animations in attacking, turning, moving, and using an ability compared to DotA 2, so a more fast-paced feel and gameplay is obvious on the former. Players who try both games may find the latter a bit lethargic.
• Its a tough call whether the overall lower power cap of characters in LoL is a bad thing. It allows for some nice comebacks of a team that slipped behind earlier in the game.
• One of the common argument, Dota2 players use is that LoL requires money to buy champions and other customizations. But, this is quite far from truth. You can buy Champions with Influence Points (IP), which you gain by playing the game. Riot rewards you quite well, and you gain IP even on losing games. Plus, there is an weekly rotation of free-to-play champions, which sort of force you to try out the new ones. (Dunno why exactly Dota2 veterans consider it bad)
• LoL matches are usually shorter, lasting about 30 to 45 mins. But it is quite unpredictable, and you can’t say that a weaker team will surely lose, as the tides may turn around anytime.
• Last but not the least, LoL doesn’t require less skills to play. This is downright absurd. Tell any Dota2 player to try out an game or two on LoL, and they would suck.

If you want just to have fun and relax in a game of this genre, go for LoL, you will have tons of fun. If you have group of 5 people with similar mindset – that’s even better, you’re gonna have even more fun!

(I know this article may seem incomplete right now, and I may discuss this in another post again)