League of Legends or Dota 2, which is harder?
Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng and two-time Dota 2 International champion Johan "N0tail" Sundstein have found themselves in an argument, where they were discussing which of the two MOBA titles is harder to play: League of Legends or Dota 2.
It's an age-old question, which has split the community in two for a better part of a decade. While it seems like it could have an easy and straightforward answer, the reality is that it has been debated for years now and we still don't have a definitive answer as of which of the two MOBA games is "easier to play" and from the looks of it, we never will.
That, however, did not stop Doublelift from sharing his own thoughts about the topic during one of his streams, where he claimed Dota 2 is an easier game as compared to League, which caused an uproar in the Dota 2 community who outright disagreed with one of LoL's greats.
Doublelift stated that "there is 0% chance that Dota 2 has a higher mechanical skill ceiling than League." As his explanation, Doublelift pointed out Dota2 has turn speed, build-in lag and that not a lot of heroes have skill shots, dashes or other kinds of mobility, thus making Dota 2 less mechanically demanding for their players.
“You do have more buttons, but they’re [abilities] targeted so you don’t often need to display a high level of mechanical skill. It’s all game knowledge – meanwhile, League is really mechanically intensive.”
He finished his rant by claiming he has played Dota 2 for eight years and during that time he has "stomped every pick-up game and never had a bad game" thanks to his knowledge about the game alone. Doublelift did, however, point out that should he be playing against more skilled opponents, his experience might be different.
Being one of the biggest names in the League of Legends competitive scene with years of experience playing at the top level, Doublelift's claims were taken very seriously, and while many League fans were pleased with their new advocate claiming their favourite MOBA is more demanding as Dota 2, the other side of the community did not take the claims too lightly.
Taking a stance against Doublelift was a two-time back-to-back International champion and OG's captain N0tail, who had some words to say for his League of Legends counterpart.
On his official Twitter account, N0tail made a post, where he questioned Doublelift's claims by stating League of Legends lacks any serious early-game action, seeing how on average games have 4-5 kills after 30 minutes of playtime, which seems to him like the whole LoL game is basically only an "extended laning phase".
“If on average pro games have 4-5 kills in 30 minutes, what are the critical objectives?” N0tail asked.
“Is it like a mega extended laning phase where it’s all about last hits / harras?”
With that, N0tail suggested that professional League of Legends game tends to be played very conservatively, with players farming in order to finish their build and transition into late game, which in his eyes makes for boring gameplay.
https://twitter.com/OG_BDN0tail/status/1209464718810853377
N0tail also addressed Doublelift’s claims where he said he has "stomped" each Dota 2 game he played by explaining he also "stomped" his first and only League of Legends game he played.
Despite having a completely opposite view of the two games, N0tail decided to offer Doublelift a truce. N0tail stated Sébastien "Ceb" Debs and he are prepared to sit down and have a chat with two League of Legends pros in a bid to settle the debate once for all.
https://twitter.com/OG_BDN0tail/status/1209495555879186432
“Ceb and I meet up with two achieved and well-spoken LoL players, discuss the pros and cons of each of our respective scenes, and follow-up with an in-depth discussion on our game’s differences,” suggested N0tail.
There is no question about it, Doublelift would make for a perfect candidate to join the suggested sit-down. He has been competing in the League of Legends since 2011 and has a plethora of experience playing at the highest level, including MSI finals appearance, seven LCS titles and seven LoL World Championship appearances. Adding to his experience as a player, Doublelift is also known for not shying away from speaking what is on his mind.
That, however, leaves the question of who would be a solid candidate to join Doublelift in the in-depth discussion about the two games. While there are only a few players out there that can match Doublelift and his eight-years-long career, one candidate who could fill the role is Luka "Perkz" Perkovic, considering he is widely regarded as one of the best western LoL players of our time.
Regardless of what has been said and will be said in the future, there is no denying both Dota 2 and LoL are great games with a rich history and bright future ahead. At the end of the day, it's up to what you enjoy, be it a "boring extended laning phase" in League of Legends or "mechanically non-demanding" gameplay of Dota 2.
All jokes aside, there are lots of reasons to like both games and while there are people that are either on one or the other side of the argument, getting a definitive answer of which is harder might be just as hard as figuring out which came first – chicken or the egg?
