Editor's note: this article is written by a player making the switch from LoL to DotA 2 and focuses mainly on the DotA 2 aspect. This article is his own opinion.
First off, this post is not about how one game is superior to another. In all honesty they are both their own game, and they both have their own strengths and weaknesses. What this post is about, is how to make the transition from LoL over to DotA. Or to decide for the first time which game you are going to dedicate your time to learning / Playing.
How DotA and LoL are similar
Both DotA and LoL share the same objectives. That is to say they are both MoBA games. The goal of the game is to destroy the enemies' base. Both games have items to purchase to increase the strength of the champion you play, and both games have levels; the more levels you gain the more skills you can have.
Both games have monsters called creeps that spawn at one of the two bases on the map, these creeps charge headfirst into the enemy base attempting to soak turret damage to buy you time so you can complete your mission of destroying the enemy base. That is about all that is the same between the two games, now lets get into the differences.
How DotA and LoL differ
Difference in the beginning:
I'm going to straight out say that DotA 2 is more difficult to learn and play than LoL is. There is not much of an arguement against this fact, and while some people say that this is why DotA is superior to LoL, others say it is why LoL is superior to DotA. Like it or not LoL is a more casual MoBA with a stronger emphasis on farming, and late game teamwork.
This means that you will oftentimes spend upwards of 20 to 25 minutes of each game you play in LoL farming for items, and doing nothing else. If you do not like farming, and feel that a game should be based more on skill of micro, rather than skill of timing hits on creeps I suggest you play DotA. I suggest DotA because a fight is more likely to take place in the beginning and people are less inclined to farm without harrassing you, because the designers of DotA made it worthwhile to get early kills.
When a champion dies in DotA the owner of the champion loses a percentage of the gold he is currently carrying, while in LoL you lose no gold for dying. This means that players will work harder early on in DotA to shut down their enemies by killing them. In DotA players can also deny creeps, denying a creep means that you kill your own creep so that the enemy cannot get the gold for killing it.
The DotA overview
Different overview so far
DotA has more risks and rewards than LoL, if your risks pay off the game feels much more satisfying than a game of LoL. However if you are no good at DotA your risks often dont pay off, and you dont get past early game items. This is usually why people quit playing DotA, and switch to LoL.
The League of Legends overview
Difference in Mid Game
Teamplay is still huge, a DotA mid game can start extremely early or extremely late. It all depends on how active the Early Game was. the problem with DotA is if one team gets decimated in the beginning it is very difficult to come back (difficult not impossible. In fact the comeback is sometimes the most enjoyable part of the game).
In LoL nothing important happens until laning phase ends. At the 20 - 25 minute mark each team eventually decides to group and push. Teamfights are the only way to make a team comeback for LoL teams that are behind, and often times the only way to secure victory from a disastrous game is if you catch an enemy team split. DotA can vary in the mid game. If a carry becomes fed when mid game comes around it is still possible to achieve victory (with much effort and teamwork). In fact it is possible to still win teamfights with a twenty to twenty five kill deficit worth of gold. It all depends on how well your team counter picks the enemy team.
Difference Late Game
In LoL it is rare to ever get to late game. Most of the time one team surrenders either after laning phase, or during mid game (which is just as the game is getting good.) It is for this reason that I personally stopped playing LoL, and switched to DotA. There is currently no surrender button in DotA (This could change as the game is in beta and the original dota had a surrender button, though it was often used only when the teams were unbalanced).
Late game in LoL consists of whichever team has the better items. That is essentially the only way to win a game of LoL, having better items. In DotA there is a much larger emphasis on skills. A good team in DotA has a lot of CC (most champions in DotA have CC, some champions have more than one skill that will stun or silence) With this CC teamfights become contests of how well each team can meld their champions skills together.
Combos are made pre game, or during the game and you execute these combos in teamfights to win. Granted Items are a part of DotA but you can still beat a carry that has 20 kills if you have enough CC, and micro ability.
Difference in Skills and Items
DotA is absolutely full of skills with CC's attached to them. There are at least three times as many CC abilities in DotA than there are in LoL. This changes the game from focussing on nuking via AP scaling (LoL) and Auto attack Carries (LoL) to chaining your abilities in the right way, and finding ways to meld your chain in with one of your allies chains. Not only is DotA reliant upon ability to successfully chain abilities, but it has several Activasional Items.
Activatable items are items that have a special effect that must be activated (like using a health potion will activate a healing effect on your champion). You use these items to add different combos to your abilities. It is in this way that a mage can still be usefull late game without a scaling AP ratio. LoL is more about buffing already existing skills instead of forcing the player to adapt to other players choices.
Conclusion
All in all DotA forces players to adapt and make more specific choices. This can be daunting for new players, but if you stick with the game sooner or later you will understand how to play the game. So if you like a game that rewards customization, and personalized choices, DotA will likely be the game you will enjoy more.
LoL is for people who like the idea of optimizing a single strategy. There is almost no creativity in item builds, or Skill combos. But there are HUGE differences in how a player utilizes game time to farm. If you like utilizing time to kill waves of minions, and relying on other players to do the same. LoL is the game for you.
