The differences between DotA 2 and LoL

Which is better? Defence of the Ancients 2 or League of Legends? This debate is one I've seen countless times, and it's a complete waste of time. Once in a while someone who isn't out to pick an argument points out that the best MOBA game is the one that you enjoy the most. No truer words have ever been spoken. Preference dictates to you and your friends which game is better.

I think the DotA 2 pregame screen is much better.

DotA is unquestionably harder to play than LoL, for numerous reasons. However, LoL does have many qualities that require a good amount of gamer skill and experience to succeed. At high levels of meta play, both titles are unique and challenging. While both games take place on the similar maps with the same goal and route to get there, with some experience you will see they are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

That's not to say this UI isn't aesthetic and pretty.

If you're trying to decide which game is flat out better, you're in the wrong place. This article will outline how both DotA and LoL aren't the same game. If you're curious to find out exactly what separates these two addictive MOBA titles, you're in the right place. People who want to know which game would suit them better, take a look at this list and see if it narrows your choice down.

Differences between DotA 2 and League of Legends

- Runes and Masteries. On LoL, you can customize your champion before the game even starts. With runes and masteries, you can make characters tankier, faster, or hit harder. On DotA, you cannot do anything to adjust your champion before the match begins.
- Passives. LoL champions essentially have 5 abilities. 4 spells to use, and one passive. Most characters on DotA only have 4 abilities, so if they have a passive it will take up a slot.
- Attack animations and last hits. DotA is much harder to last hit. Not only do you have a slow animation to hit minions, but you also have to deny your own creeps. Put it this way: I was getting 5-6 minions every wave on LoL, but when I started DotA, I was proud to get 1-2 last hits each wave.
- Length of the laning phase. In my experience, LoL has a short early game. It's common for somebody to leave their lane at level 3-5. DotA's laning phase extends beyond the 20 minute mark in most matches, because the items are more expensive.
- Active items. DotA has countless items that you can use in combat. Every character you play will use at least one active item. LoL only has a couple of items you can use, such as Gunblade or Ghostblade.
- Summoner spells. There aren't any summoner spells on DotA, which is actually kinda cool. You don't have to worry about people flashing away when you gank them, or igniting you in a close 1v1.
- Brutal Punishments. If you die on DotA, you lose gold. There's no recall to teleport back to base. On LoL, most of the harsh punishments have been removed for a more fun experience. Personally, I like the vindictive loss of gold when you die, and having to buy teleport scrolls to get around.
- Ability Power. When playing a caster champion on LoL, ability power is vital to increasing your damage output. DotA doesn't have ability power. There's nothing to increase the damage of your spells. The closest thing is refresher orb, which resets all of your cooldowns.
- Jungling. In the current meta on LoL, a jungler is necessary. You will rarely play a match without someone in the jungle, because it's a very important role. DotA doesn't require a jungler. Most of the time, you will have 2 people in both of the sidelanes, and it doesn't ruin the match.
- Character availability. When you create an account on LoL, you can only play several select champions until you earn the points to buy more. Playing DotA immediately gives you access to every hero, without exceptions.
- Minimap placement. On LoL, the minimap is on the right side and out of the way. DotA has it on the left, which is bad placement. Whenever you're playing on the radiant team, moving your mouse to the bottom left to escape in a dangerous situation can lead to a missclick on the map, sending you running straight back towards your enemies resulting in death.
- Terrain. There are small differences to the maps, LoL has bushy areas that make inhabitants invisible to the outside eye. DotA has 'juke' points and secret passages between the trees to escape.
- Community. As a general rule, the community of DotA 2 is more elitist. However, the LoL crowd is far more ruthless and spiteful. Both sides have their ups and downs. I can't say which one is better, that's for you to decide. Also, DotA has voice chat ingame.

I'm not entirely sure I've managed to list everything. If you have something to add, please comment! Remember, I am trying not to be biased against either League of Legends or Defence of the Ancients. Sorry if I leaned towards one.

Lulu, awesome support that might be nerfed into the ground.

Since the release of Lulu I have had a blast on League of Legends. She's a great support champion, Riot have given her a plethora of useful abilities. Much to my dismay, her skills may need a little toning down and nerfed to some degree.

Beasty auto attacks!

Lulu, the Fae Sorceress

• Pix, Faerie Companion (Passive) - Pix fires magical bolts of energy whenever his owner attacks another enemy unit. These bolts are homing, but can be intercepted by other units.
• Glitterlance - Pix and Lulu each fire a bolt of magical energy that heavily slows all enemies it hits. An enemy can only be damaged by one bolt.
• Whimsy - If cast on an ally, grants them movement speed and ability power for a short time. If cast on an enemy, turns them into an adorable critter that can't attack or cast spells.
• Help, Pix! - If cast on an ally, commands Pix to jump to an ally and shield them. He then follows them and aids their attacks. If cast on an enemy, commands Pix to jump to an enemy and damage them. He then follows them and grants you vision of that enemy.
• Wild Growth (Ultimate) - Lulu enlarges an ally, knocking enemies away from them and granting them a large amount of bonus health. For the next few seconds, that ally gains an aura that slows nearby enemies.

The speed boost is amazing for escape.

Playing support up until now has always been an irk of mine. Why risk supporting someone who might fail, or can't successfully carry like you can? If your team cannot utilise and keep their support champion alive, it turns the game into a 4v5. However, I feel Lulu makes an exception to this rule. If you position yourself well and keep your team alive, she can very noticeably turn the tables. She can also defend herself well and you do not want to dive her.

Lulu brings a lot of utility to the team. She excels at the laning phase and can even handle mid. By using a combination of Pix auto-attacks and Glitterlance, you can deter the enemy and keep them at bay. Champions with lower starting health can be sent straight back in a couple of combos.

Do not stand in the team fight!

Whimsy is my favorite ability. Turning the enemy Tryndamere into a critter is not only amusing but also useful. It can also be used to speed up allies for a satisfying amount of time. The ability power bonus should not be ignored either.

The shield is nothing special but incredibly useful nonetheless. I rarely find myself using it as a back up nuke, but it does do a fair amount of damage and has gotten a few kills here and there. Help, Pix! has once gotten me a kill whilst attached to a friend.

Wild Growth is an amazing ultimate, and certainly something not to be trifled with. This ability is what makes Lulu terrifying and awesome. It can turn a gank into a well planned ambush, or a desperate escape into a manageable retreat.

Her nuke isn't too great but slows.

Despite the plethora of escape skills at your command, Lulu is not immortal. High burst or CC will make her splat. I've found building Aegis of the Legion early a great demotivator for would be divers. She also doesn't bring much damage to the team fights, so providing buffs is something you want to think about.

All in all, I truly hope Riot does not break Lulu if they nerf her. She makes playing support not a chore, but a privilege. She has great synergy with a lot of champions, especially those that can put out plenty of damage.

So if you're looking for a new support to play, consider the new Yordle to kick some ass.

Monkey King

So, here's proof that HoN designed their Monkey King in 2009, albeit under a different name. Riot have stolen yet another character design?

Heroes of Newerth has always been similar in some champion abilities and such, but never to this extent. Not that I'm complaining, mind. It's pretty win they steal ideas, it's what the best companies do.

HoN devs have explained they did concept designs for Monkey King before LoL was even in open beta.


Proof of Monkey King concept art for HoN in 2010.

HoN Monkey king 2009

LoL Monkey King 2010

Thank you to the anonymous who provided a link with evidence that shows HoN had the idea first (after ancient mythology that is).

Five of the best ultimates

When I find myself playing a LoL game every so often I will illogically shout 'WTF OP' to my friends on skype when encountered with a problematic enemy Champion in the lane. While I don't really believe said Character is actually overpowered, frustration gets the best of me.

This very same frustration could affect you. For example lets say you decide to solo lane as Mordekaiser, usually pretty easy right? But upon stepping into the lane at level one you find Xin Zhao and Pantheon who melt your face before you can take a single step towards the tower. In that moment of frustrated summoner spell mashing before you die, I'm pretty sure you thought 'WTF OP' yourself. Oh, and 'I'm a jackass' for not waiting at the tower in a solo lane.

Since the majority of Champions get their ultimate at level six, that gives them justification to be downright badass. Some champs like Kassadin and Tryndamere are built entirely around their ulti, and are pretty useless without it. You could be winning against them in the lane up until six, but when their superior ultimates come into play you can do nothing but say 'wtf op =('. Oh, and there's the dying part of course.

Awesome custom skins

Some people don't like to pay money for skins from Riot, and use custom skins to change the look of their champions for their own client only. This is a list of some of the best skins in terms of quality and design. Please note that I didn't make any of them, just use them every now and again.

For those of you interested, I custom skin a lot of my characters, because I couldn't care less how the others in the game see my character. Giggety. Right now you may have some trouble getting the models to work, but that's Riots fault. Read about it here.

If you're looking to change your characters around a little bit to make the game more interesting, then try downloading a couple of these wonderful skins, they are perfect to spice up your League of Legends play!

Tryndamere - Cloud Strife

FINAL FANTASY LEAGUE OF LEGENDS SKIN WTF?!

I'll start with a skin for all you Final Fantasy fanboys, since it's just plain awesome and actually surprisingly well designed. I bet there's gonna be a few secret Cloud worshippers downloading this one on the sly. I remember some scrub spamming the forums for this skin a while back, guess someone delivered.

Link: Download Tryndamere - Cloud skin

Guide to map awareness

Introduction
This guide is for people who want to get better at League of Legends, but please don't come here knowing nothing about the game. Map awareness is not something you should learn until you are fairly competent. Bear in mind, most of this guide assumes you already use wards. If you don't use them, please read this warding guide first.
 

About server downtimes and Riot patching

So as of late, the EU servers have been down for almost a fortnight, and the US servers delayed patch downtime was extremely frustrating to those left waiting for it to come back up. Even when the servers came back up the next day, Leona and Yorick, the two most likely to be played characters were not available for play. This has been the worst patch in a long time, and yet I don't see any IP boost on any of my accounts, nor do I see any apology other than "sorry for the delay" scrawled hastily at the bottom of Average Gatsley's post on the LoL forums.

Although Riot were bought recently by Tencent for a whopping $300 million, it certainly hasn't changed much at headquarters. They managed to put up the thread on the forums yesterday explaining how they were working on the problem: 3 hours too late. As with most people I am not really as upset about not being able to play as I am annoyed at Riots terrible customer service.

Guide to warding properly

One of the most lethal yet subtle tools at your disposal on League of Legends is wards. Say you buy 3 for 225g, and place them correctly. You spot an enemy coming in to gank, and avoid dying. The warding has already more than paid for itself. Even though they have a fairly short duration, they can give you easy ganks. It's not uncommon to see teams grab aces because of a single ward at the Baron. This is a short guide on how to use your little buddies efficiently.

Here is a comprehensive image with warding locations I found in the backwater pages of google. You may have to save the image to see it properly. :

Underpowered Champions of 2011

In League of Legends, some smart people like to say there are no underpowered Champions, because any character played right can succeed. Of course, that's not entirely true. Some are better than others and have less counters.

The ten best pubstomping champions in League of Legends and how to counter them

I have compiled a list of what I believe to be the best pubstomping characters for solo playing League of Legends in 2011. What I mean by pubstomp is the champions that are easiest to obtain multiple kills on with less skill and effort than the enemy team. You have little justification to pick the characters on this list, unless you're a tryhard =3

Please bear in mind, this list is for normal games only. This has nothing to do with ranked or elo, just stomping in a casual match. By no means will any of these characters have the same effect in a ranked game.

This list is now outdated, it was accurate during 2011.

I have also provided some general tips on how to play against and counter these overpowered champions, since it's likely you'll encounter at least one on this list every couple of games. Bear in mind, this advice might not be too useful, they are the most overpowered after all.

I had trouble choosing the top 5, so it's open to interpretation. But in my experience all of the characters in this list deserve to be here.

Honourable mentions:
There are a few other noteworthy characters who might of gotten into the charts, such as Annie, Evelynn, Akali, Rumble, and Master Yi. After careful deliberation and recent patch notes, I made my decisions. Most of them didn't make the list because they can be a little more tricky to play, which means they aren't faceroll.
 
Top ten overpowered Champions and how to counter them

10. Mordekaiser

Why he's overpowered: Morde is classed mostly as a soak, but he can also put out an incredible amount of damage. Lane control is quite often granted to those of Mordekaiser status, because of his big bad shield. While he isn't really considered viable in ranked, it's not uncommon to see this guy fending off hordes of scrubs and carrying in normal games.

How to counter him: 

• In the laning phase try to auto-attack his shield down when you get a good opportunity. Use your abilities to damage him when his shield is low, to work on his health.
• He doesn't use mana, so the only way to stop him is to kill him or deny/harass him. If you can prevent him reaching creeps he won't be able to charge his shield, making him very vulnerable.
• Mordekaiser has a long range on his ultimate, and it does a fair bit of damage. If he has ignite it will really do a number on you, so beware.
• In the early team fights it is vital you kill higher priority weaker targets before taking him down, since he can be quite difficult to kill. Use your best judgement.

9. Malzahar

What makes him overpowered: Malzahar is one annoying bastard. He is granted rank nine on the list purely because of his ultimate, which is a guaranteed kill on practically anyone. The rest of his abilities are surprisingly lacklustre, but they compliment his stupidly OP stun. A good malz in mid will get first blood at level 6 most of the time, since there are almost no characters in the game that can stand up to his Stun+DoT+AoE combo.

How to counter him:

• When facing Malzahar in the lane, you can win fairly easily with your lanemate by double teaming him.
• If you're fighting Malzahar in mid, stay out of his range when he hits level 6. If you can harass him without being ultied, try to send him away. If not, call for a gank or ignore him and farm away. 
• A little magic resist like Banshee's veil or Force of nature will make him target someone else or make you laugh as you shrug off his pathetic combo.
• I thought it would be straightforward, but avoid his silence and AoE like the plague. You gotta be stupid to stand in the purple voidy stuff anyways. His pet shouldn't be too much of a problem. 
• If you can exhaust him before he ults, it will do no damage. Edit: Someone kindly pointed out his ult is a suppression, so even if you have cleanse, sadly you're still fucked.

8. Xin Zhao

Why he's overpowered:  Although some recent changes have somewhat nerfed Xin, he still remains one of the best Champions to win your lane. With an awesome gap closer and faceroll knockup, enemies will be eating your spear as you carry your team to victory.

How to deal with him:

• Xin's passive allows him to regenerate health when attacking, so don't let him get near creeps if you have harassed him.
• Once you learn the range he can leap on you from, take advantage of this knowledge and kite him.
• Stay near towers because getting surprised by Xin isn't pleasant.
• Don't bunch up in team fights, spread out a little so Xin can't hit multiple targets with his ultimate.

7. Swain

Why he's faceroll: If you haven't laned against Swain, you can count yourself lucky. This guy is one of the most rageworthy champs in the game. His AoE snare deals substantial damage, and combined with the DoT Swain is capable of killing weaker players early game. He trades that all in at level 6 for the godmode hat of douchery, since his ultimate heals him incredibly quickly. Those idiots who have trouble controlling the toggle on Swains crows and can't land a stun still get kills, which is why he is rank 7 on the list.

How to kick his ass:

• Before you get boots, it's difficult to avoid his snare, so make it hard for him to land it on you. When you have boots, you can screw around with him by moving unpredictably. 
• A lot of his damage is DoT
• His ultimate gives him a ridiculous amount of health per tick, it can require a team effort to take him down, or an ignite. Try to burn his mana if you can't finish the kill.
• Swain is almost defenseless against heavy DPS carries, he moves slowly and they can slaughter him mid to late game.

6.  Irelia

Why she's rollface: With a gap closer that resets every last hit, farming on Irelia can be like a creep hoover. Hiten style allows for a little lifesteal to help in the lane and some true damage for good measure. Her ultimate is amazing at shooting down runners, and she is surprisingly tanky. Due to some comments, I have replaced Yi with Irelia, since it seems like a logical trade.

How to subdue her:

• As usual, the best way to shut down a carry like Irelia is to deny her farm and experience.
• Don't waste time using stuns and silences on her in a teamfight, just burst her down.
• She is an excellent 1v1 champion, don't approach her unless you know you can win.
• Irelia can shoot several missiles for a lot of damage. They can be quite easily avoided if you strafe.

5.  Jax

Why he's overpowered: Jax is a whore. You can jump him with 2 people, get him to 10% health, then he'll one shot the both of you and take your tower. His burst is so ridiculous he can eat tanks in seconds, and weaker targets just dissapear. Fear the Jax, fear him.
He isn't the most mobile of characters, but that's more than made up for by his damage.

How to counter him:

• To stand up to Jax toe to toe you need to be fairly tanky. He can be bursted down, but beware he can easily take a squishier character down with him. 
• I know I've mentioned Exhaust a lot, but it is a very useful spell to shut down annoying pubstomping champions. Yes, it works wonderfully on Jax.
• Before level 6 he is very weak, and with a little co-ordination you and your lanemate can harass him out of the lane several times.
• Don't leave him to cruise around destroying your team, focus on shutting him down.

4. Tryndamere

Why he melts face: Everyone knows the Tryndaking. His 'R' is arguably the best ultimate in the game, 5 seconds of wtf he can't die. I've seen people play tank on Tryndabling and still get a godly score while carrying the team. Up until level 6 he's nothing special, but after that a good player can't really die on him if cautious. What makes him rank four on the top overpowered list however, is not his ultimate. When Tryndamere gets on you, slows your ass, then start critting you like Batman you know it's all over.

How to combat him:

• He always has his ultimate up, trust me. 
• Ignite him before his ulti wears off, it will usually finish him.
• Be wary of tower dives, Tryndamere can and will do it at level 6. If you can kite him around the turret, it could backfire on him.
• Don't waste time nuking him while his ulti is up, focus other targets instead.
• If you face him when he casts his slow, it will reduce your attack damage but you won't be slowed. If you can abuse this, it makes it much easier to kite him.

3. Nunu

Why he's wtfOP: With unstoppable lane staying power and a hard hitting slow, Nunu earnt his place as rank 3 in the overpowered chart. In a normal game his ultimate turns the tide of team fights, and is easy to place. At max rank Nunu's snowball and speed increase is awesome for setting up ganks and teamfights. There's nothing to aim, it's near impossible to die if you're playing cautious, and you can harass/kill most champions in the lane.

How to beat him down:

• If you're quick, you can escape his ultimate before it's fully charged. Flash is excellent for this.
• Eating creeps restores a massive chunk of Nunus health, if you can force him back, you can keep him on the defensive.
• Beware if Nunu is missing, he is very fast and his snowball makes it very hard to escape.
• Silence or stun his ultimate, it will do no damage if you interrupt it early.
• In a teamfight focus his allies first. Besides his ult, Nunu has little utility in a 5v5 situation.

2. Udyr

Why he's godly: With a slight buff recently, Udyr is now terrifying. If you find yourself fed on this guy, you've pretty much won. Towers, Nexus, Players, or Baron, it's all dead if it tries to face the stance shifting bear man.What surprises me, is how underplayed this guy is. His turtle stance has something like a 2 second cooldown, which makes him a good soak, practically as good as Mordekaiser. Tiger stance is where it's at, it places a powerful DoT on everything, including towers. I think a lot of people just don't know how to play him, but you'll want to when you see an Udyr go 10-0 in 3v3.

How to fight him:

• If he's jungling, put some wards up and gank him early game.
• Don't waste time trying to harass him in the lane, he can heal and shield himself. Either attack his lanemate or burst him down.
• Udyr is incredibly vulnerable to kiting. It is the best way to survive his burst. Flash is also excellent.
• Seize control of the game early on and don't allow it to get to late game. A fully built Udyr is a wrecking ball.

1. Katarina

Katarina statistics on Lolbase are better than any other champion

 Why she's an overpowered bitch: Now we're down to the rank 1, I can really start complaining. Katarina takes no skill at all, yet kills fall into your lap faster than a drunk ugly chick at a party. Her ultimate is spin to win kill everything nearby except tanks, and to top it all off, she can teleport directly onto enemies for optimal spinnage. All of Kats abilities reset cooldown upon killing an enemy, so the more you faceroll the more you can faceroll wut? Seriously, if you can't succeed on Kat you really need some practice, kills are easy pickings. If you want to learn more about her, take a look here.

How to not get killed by her:

• Her ultimate cooldown is supershort, so have a disable ready every time you encounter her.
• Early game her damage output isn't very good, and she can't farm very well. Capitalize on this by denying her experience and gold.
• Don't let her farm throughout the game and she won't be a threat.
• Exhaust stops her ult killing your entire team. 
• She can use shunpo to escape easily, try to see which creep/champion she is going to teleport to before she does it.
• Don't risk standing in the ultimate, unless you're a tank.

That's it for my list of faceroll Champions, if you enjoyed it or disagree with any of the above, please comment!

If you want some hilarious League of Legends comics to kill time, here's a link.

Edit: Thanks to a comment from a viewer, I have changed the eighth rank from Shaco to Xin Zhao. He made a fair point, since Shaco isn't particularly easy to play.

A few minutes of Ezreal play and Summoner showcase

I have a some footage for you today. I got a few kills playing as Ezzer in the lane with an awesome Gragas. Also, Summoner showcase #34 is out, so I thought I'd cover that incase anyone likes to laugh at that kind of thing.

Since the game as Ez turned out really badly afterwards (we didn't play too well), I decided to cut the rest of the game from the video. Irelia and Olaf were both really bad, which is why we beat them down so much over a period of ten minutes.

Hopefully the quality of the clips are much better, I've been looking into a way to keep the filesize small and the graphics fairly nice. Seems like I may have found the best settings.

Summoner showcase is always quite amusing to watch, you gotta be boring as hell to take it seriously though. I want to know who came up with this crap, and I hope they don't get paid. Surely the funds could be put towards better customer service?

I also collected some League of Legends wallpapers for this post, I hope you find one worth saving.

Kayle is surprisingly underrated these days, she's still good though.

 This is the chinese version of Taric, far cooler than ours. Hard to say if more or less faggy.

 Some guy on the League forums made this one, pretty awesome huh. Katarina and Jax is a pro laning combo too.

 Hell yeah Udyr got buffed he's a monster now. Overpowered, try him.

Very... Purple. Morgana for the win, gotta love the stun.

Normal match

Here's ten minutes of play I accumulated over the last few days. It isn't my best play, and I'm 0-1 when the recording starts.

Not to play the blame game, but cruddy Mordekaiser let me die =3

The quality isn't quite what I wanted, in future it will be better. I know the clicking is annoying, I'll find a way to quieten it.

Finally back on track

It's been a long time coming, but I've managed to get my video editing software working flawlessly. I've also now got my hands on the EU client for LoL, so I can play on both EU/US. Not only that, Riot have announced the season one winners, TEAM FNATICMSI.

TEAM FNATICMSI managed to win a whopping $50,000 prize, the lucky buggers. Good thing it's only $10,000 each between them eh? And with that, season one of League of Legends is over. What does that mean, you ask? Nothing, except now it's season two.

If you are interested in playing with me (really?), search Serenity blogs on facebook and post your summoner name and which client you play. I'll add you and we'll do a game sometime. Beware on the EU though, I have barely any characters yet.

I've been rendering my footage for the last few days, and collecting tidbits too. I don't really know whether to record the voices of whom I'm playing with on skype, or just to cut audio entirely and replace it with some nice music =P If you have suggestions, please comment, because I love reading every comment here, and I love deleting the flamers too. So you can't go wrong.

In the meantime while I produce a video, I thought I'd provide you with some comics and a video:

If you're interested in more League comics, here are links:
More comics 1
More comics 2
More comics 3
More comics 4
More comics 5
More comics 6