Two of the greatest Multiplayer Online Battle Arena/Action Real-Time Strategy games ever made. With an incredibly large player-base ranging from fun/recreational players all the way to the best and most competitive.
Naturally, both games have the same aspect of game-play, that is an objective-based game in which there are two teams competing in order to destroy each other's base.
I'm going to go through some of the general differences between both games, and compare these differences for useful and educational purposes only. I'm not going to crown one of the games as "King" or the better counterpart, because clearly the better game is League of Legends. I'm just kidding, there is no better game in my eyes. It all boils down to the player's preference.
Before I start, I'm just going to state that I have enough experience in both games to be able to give opinions when comparing (even though I played League of Legends much more than Dota 2).
- I'm currently a League of Legends player since season 1 (2010).
- I played Dota 2 for a year.
Which Game Has A Bigger Player-Base?
League of Legends - The player-base here is just so large it bypasses Dota 2's player-base without any competition. In fact, the numbers are as follows:
League of Legends has 100 million active players MONTHLY as of late 2016. And you can imagine how fast they're growing knowing in 2014 the monthly number was 67 million.
Whereas Dota 2's player-base as of June 2016 was 13 million active players monthly.
Thoughts? There are many reasons for a bigger player-base, and "a better game" isn't one of the reasons (I'm not going there again). One of the reasons (in my opinion) though, would be Game Accessibility, which brings me to the next comparison.
Which game is more "User-Friendly"?
In my experience, Dota 2 is a lot more punishing to newer players than League of Legends. That's due to Dota 2 as a game being more complex than League of Legends.
That way, it could drive a lot of the newer "clueless" players away from the game, hence the bigger player-base in League of Legends.
Thoughts? As someone who played both games, I can say that the learning curve in Dota 2 is much bigger than League of Legends. So if you're someone who doesn't have experience with MOBA games, you might find it easier for you to start out with League of Legends than Dota 2.
On the same subject, for players who are looking to transition from one game into another... It's usually harder for a League of Legend's player to make the transition into Dota 2. Yet it's easier for a Dota 2 player to transition into League.
Which game has a bigger prize pool in competitive play?
Dota 2 The International 2016 - Prize pool of 20.7$ million.
League of Legends World Championship 2016 - Prize pool of 6.7$ million.
Thoughts? Both games are pretty competitive in E-Sports, as they tremendously rely on team-play combined with outstanding individual play. However in terms of in-game mechanics and complexity, Dota 2 has a wide range of ways and mechanics to "outplay" opponents and win a game. Therefore making the competition in Dota 2 very hard, and it takes a lot of practice from teams to climb their way to the top. It's worth it though, we're talking twenty freaking million dollars people!
Conclusion
Both games are really cool to play, they're different yet so similar. If you're looking to choose between one of them, it all depends on what you're looking for in a game. If you're looking for a simple fun MOBA game that is user-friendly to the newer players, go ahead and try League of Legends. If you're more into challenge and complexity, Dota 2 will fill all your needs!
Note: I know I didn't cover the in-game differences, but this was a general and quick comparison for both games, and it's intended to help those newer to MOBAs/little experience with MOBAs players to better understand the general differences.
Thank you so much for reading, hope this was joyful and helpful!