How does the Dota 2 ranking system work? Despite being released well over a decade ago, Dota 2 still manages to pull in an impressive amount of players day in, day out. While some play a few casual games here and there and log off, the majority of the MOBA’s player base are there to prove their worth by climbing the Dota 2 ranks.
As is the case in any competitive multiplayer game, there’s a high skill ceiling in Dota 2, and with dozens of heroes to wrap your head around, it’s not easy working your way to the dizzying heights of Immortal rank. If you’re a newer player, simply figuring out how ranked play works is a challenge in of itself. As a result, we’re on hand to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the Dota 2 ranking system, including the different tiers, how Dota 2 MMR is calculated, and more, right here.
What are the Dota 2 ranks?
Here are the Dota 2 ranks in order:
| Rank | Logo | MMR |
| Herald 1 |  |
~0 |
| Herald 2 |  |
~154 |
| Herald 3 |  |
~308 |
| Herald 4 |  |
~462 |
| Herald 5 |  |
~616 |
| Guardian 1 |  |
~770 |
| Guardian 2 |  |
~924 |
| Guardian 3 |  |
~1,078 |
| Guardian 4 |  |
~1,232 |
| Guardian 5 |  |
~1,386 |
| Crusader 1 |  |
~1,540 |
| Crusader 2 |  |
~1,694 |
| Crusader 3 |  |
~1,848 |
| Crusader 4 |  |
~2,002 |
| Crusader 5 |  |
~2,156 |
| Archon 1 |  |
~2,310 |
| Archon 2 |  |
~2,464 |
| Archon 3 |  |
~2,618 |
| Archon 4 |  |
~2,772 |
| Archon 5 |  |
~2,926 |
| Legend 1 |  |
~3,080 |
| Legend 2 |  |
~3,234 |
| Legend 3 |  |
~3,388 |
| Legend 4 |  |
~3,542 |
| Legend 5 |  |
~3,696 |
| Ancient 1 |  |
~3,850 |
| Ancient 2 |  |
~4,004 |
| Ancient 3 |  |
~4,158 |
| Ancient 4 |  |
~4,312 |
| Ancient 5 |  |
~4,466 |
| Divine 1 |  |
~4,620 |
| Divine 2 |  |
~4,820 |
| Divine 3 |  |
~5,020 |
| Divine 4 |  |
~5,220 |
| Divine 5 |  |
~5,420 |
| Immortal (placed) |  |
– |
| Immortal (top 1,000) |  |
– |
| Immortal (top 100) |  |
– |
| Immortal (top 10) |  |
– |
| Immortal (top 1) |  |
– |
There are eight tiers to Dota 2’s complex ranking system starting all the way at the bottom with Herald and escalating all the way to Immortal. Every single tier, apart from Immortal, has five sub-ranks within them, with one being the lowest and five the highest. Therefore there are 36 ranks in Valve’s iconic MOBA.
You’ll see from the rank badges above that there are a few variations for Immortal. That’s because, depending on where you place in the Immortal leaderboards, you’ll get a sparkly badge to show off – but they don’t technically count as individual ranks.
How does the Dota 2 ranking system work?
Dota 2’s ranking system might look complex from the outside, but it works just like any other competitive game out there. Ranked will need to be unlocked over time by new players by playing 100 hours worth of casual games, but after that, the grind can begin.
Once ranked has been unlocked (and you’ve linked your phone number to your Steam account), you’ll need to complete ten placement matches before you get your first rank so that Valve can work out your MMR (more on that in a moment) and find you a starting rank.
After that players will lose or gain ranks as their MMR alters over time. Once your MMR rises above a rank’s threshold, you will ascend to that rank. The ranking system rules do not change as players progress up the ladder, but ranks will be reset over time as new seasons come and go.
What is Dota 2 MMR?
Your MMR, or matchmaking rank, is a numerical score that simply determines what rank you are. It also serves as a matchmaking tool to ensure competitive integrity is upheld during competitive games.
The number is fluid and will increase or decrease as you win and lose ranked games. Once you reach the value for a particular rank, say Legend 2, your rank will change. You can view the MMR values for each rank in our table above.
While the results of your ranked matches are the biggest contributing factor to how much MMR you win or lose afterwards, Valve has also introduced the Ranked Confidence metric into the game. Ranked Confidence is essentially a score of how confident Dota 2 is that you’re in the correct rank. For example, smurfs (people who are high skill but play on alternate accounts in lower ranks to have an easier time) will have a low Ranked Confidence score because their rank and MMR isn’t reflective of the kind of performances they are producing during matches. The same is true of players that are in very high ranks but don’t deserve to be there based on their individual skill.
If your Ranked Confidence is low, you will actually win or lose more MMR than usual so that you can get pulled into the appropriate rank for your skill level more quickly.
What is the Dota 2 ranking distribution?
With so many ranks, it’s hard to know how competitive Dota 2 really is. Valve doesn’t give out the official data, but thanks to some handy API tools, we’re able to get a good idea of what the distribution is like in the current leaderboards.
According to Esports Tales, here’s how the distribution of ranks is looking like right now.
| Rank | Percentile |
| Herald 1 | 0.06 |
| Herald 2 | 1.29 |
| Herald 3 | 2.73 |
| Herald 4 | 4.59 |
| Herald 5 | 6.74 |
| Guardian 1 | 9.20 |
| Guardian 2 | 11.93 |
| Guardian 3 | 14.95 |
| Guardian 4 | 18.26 |
| Guardian 5 | 21.83 |
| Crusader 1 | 25.78 |
| Crusader 2 | 29.92 |
| Crusader 3 | 34.23 |
| Crusader 4 | 38.69 |
| Crusader 5 | 43.20 |
| Archon 1 | 47.88 |
| Archon 2 | 52.46 |
| Archon 3 | 56.92 |
| Archon 4 | 61.18 |
| Archon 5 | 65.25 |
| Legend 1 | 69.31 |
| Legend 2 | 72.97 |
| Legend 3 | 76.28 |
| Legend 4 | 79.28 |
| Legend 5 | 81.98 |
| Ancient 1 | 84.63 |
| Ancient 2 | 86.88 |
| Ancient 3 | 88.78 |
| Ancient 4 | 90.38 |
| Ancient 5 | 91.79 |
| Divine 1 | 93.42 |
| Divine 2 | 94.74 |
| Divine 3 | 95.78 |
| Divine 4 | 96.58 |
| Divine 5 | 97.29 |
| Immortal | 100 |
According to this data, the average player hits Archon 2 or 3 in Dota 2. A very small amount of the playerbase achieve those very top ranks, showing how high the skill ceiling for Dota 2 really is.
So there you have it, a primer on the basics of the Dota 2 ranking system. Hopefully this gives you a better idea of how you can work your way up and what you’ll be signing yourself up for, should you jump in and play. If this all sounds a bit intimidating, there are of course plenty of other, non-ranked modes in Dota 2. Or you could check out some of the other best MOBAs to see if any of its rivals take your fancy.