DOTA 2 might not be as popular as Riot Games' League of Legends, but it still has an extremely dedicated and loyal fanbase. Players part of that fanbase are always striving toward one thing, and that's to rise the ranks. However, in order to do that, it's important to know about match making rating, or 'MMR', as it plays a huge part in your ranking.
MMR in DOTA 2 is calculated by taking multiple factors into consideration, such as your KDA, your total hero damage, your behavior in the game, how many towers or minions you've been able to get the last hit on, and how often you ward. Because of this, it's impossible to accurately calculate your invisible MMR, although you can use a third party website to get an estimate of it.
Below you'll find all the information relevant to calculating MMR in DOTA 2, including whether or not it's even possible, as well as the two types of MMR in this game.
Why is MMR Important
MMR, or match making rating, is the numerical unit assigned to every player in competitive games. Many games like Rainbow Six Siege use MMR as a substitute for ELO to make things easier for the player base, and DOTA 2, or more specifically, Valve was the one to first start doing this.
MMR in DOTA 2 not only determines the expected skill level of the players you'll be matched up with and against when searching for a ranked match, but it also decides where your starting rank will be when you complete your calibration matches at the start of a season.
Because of this, many players find that despite them winning a majority of their calibration matches, they ended up on a rather low rank because the game detected that their performance deserved that specific rank. Additionally, when you win regular ranked matches and gain enough MMR, you go up in rank, while losing enough of it will demote you in rank.
Finally, there's also an unseen MMR system in DOTA 2 which determines the skill level of the players you're matched up against in normal matches.
How to Officially Calculate MMR
As mentioned above, there are two types of MMR in DOTA 2. The first is the one you can see, while the second one is unseen. We'll be going through both of them.
Official MMR
Seeing and calculating the MMR that's visible is as easy as can be, as a player's MMR is clearly and accurately visible for all to see from their profile. To check your own MMR, simply:
- In the main menu, click on your profile
- Look for and click on 'stats'
- In the window that pops up, your MMR will be located at the top right.
Additionally, how much MMR you'll get when losing can be approximately calculated, as every win earns you anywhere between 20 to 30 MMR, while losing a match has you lose anywhere between 20 to 30 MMR as well. The exact amount of MMR lost or gained is determined by your performance in that specific game.
Unseen MMR
Now, here's the thing. Calculating the unseen MMR in DOTA 2 is pretty much impossible. This is because of the fact that Valve, the creators of the game, do not disclose the numbers. As soon as you play your very first match in DOTA 2, the game already starts tracking your progress to determine your unseen MMR.
This is an especially good counter to smurfs as if a player creates a smurf and immediately starts playing incredibly well, then they'll be matched with players of equal or similar skill instead of with players on the same level.
However, this also means that you can't see beforehand where you'll be placed after completing your calibration matches, as your invisible MMR is what completely determines this. Not only this, but if you're inactive for a long period of time, then your unseen MMR will start dropping automatically.
What this means is that say you're at a high rank like Legend 5, but you take a break for close to a year. Even if you win a majority of your calibration games, chances are you'll be ranked around crusader 4.
How to Unofficially Calculate MMR
As mentioned above, there's no official way to calculate your hidden MMR. However, that doesn't mean there aren't third party services that might allow you to see where you stand on the unseen MMR scale.
Just to clarify, this doesn't tell you the exact unseen MMR, but it does show you your current MMR, even before calibrating (or playing calibration games). Additionally, it also gives you a way to see your estimated hidden MMR.
Basically, you have to take the match ID of a match you play (ensure it's recent so the MMR value is also up to date) and put it in Dotabuff. That match will be given one of three ratings.
- If it's rated as 'normal', then the average hidden MMR of the players in that match was 1 - 3,200
- If it's rated as 'high', then the average hidden MMR of the players in that match was 3,200 - 3,800.
- If it's rated as 'very high', then the average hidden MMR of the players in that match was over 3,800.
Although this doesn't give you the exact value of your hidden MMR, it does give you an idea of where you stand.
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