Is it too late?

[Pennilenko]

Is it too late to start playing this game? I've never played any of the games people say this is similar too, so I have no idea how the game play works or if it would be right for me.

Would I just get face stomped if I tried to pick it up now?

[kaid]

I just started a month ago and got into it fine. One thing to note is the match making tries to match you to somebody of similar summoner rank so at lower levels you are playing against other people just as new as you for the most part. Also you can play the practice games to get used to character and buying gear without having to worry about people bitching at you and as an added plus you still get IP for it.

[tazelbain]

Even when the game was first release it was full of beta vets and DoTA vets and I didn't have too much problem with my sloth-like reflexes (Most FPS/RTS are too much for me).  Just got to take your lumps and have a thick skin for the assholes.

[Xeyi]

I recently made a new account to play a few games with a friend, the majority of players I saw were genuinely new players so I can't imagine there would be a problem picking this up now.

There is still the odd smurf/ringer in there but they were in the minority.

[Nightblade]

I played this game awhile ago in beta, but I never really stuck with me.

I tried it again the other day with a new account and I loved it.

I never really felt like I was out of my league; it being free to play attracts a variety of players.

[Chimpy]

I started playing a few days ago. Only played 3 normal matches. Mostly fucked around with practice against bots.

I keep getting put against people who obviously have been playing this for a long time and get destroyed. I also always have 1 or 2 "leet" assholes on my team.

Also....always end up playing 1-2 down because someone DCs or is AFK.

Oh well, it is free. And for the unemployed, free is good.

[Kail]

I keep getting put against people who obviously have been playing this for a long time and get destroyed. I also always have 1 or 2 "leet" assholes on my team.

There's definitely a learning curve to it, especially if you didn't play much DotA.  It's possible that you were just getting placed against people who've only played ten or twenty games, because even that much experience can be a big difference in knowing how to react.  Also, remember that even a small discrepancy in skill early on can snowball into a huge gap in score because gold and XP accrue faster and faster for the team getting the kills.

And yeah, you always get assholes and leavers on your team.  One of the frustrating things about this game, since if you tried to get a team of 5 buddies together, it would throw you into general matchmaking, and attempt to match your average Elo with another team, so unless you can get five friends of the same level of skill, some of you are going to be badly outclassed.

[Chimpy]

Just had my first win. Think I may have the knack of Teemo down.

Other team only had one non super-noob. I dominated the game with 17 kills to 1 minion death.

[Hayduke]

I started pretty recently without DotA experience.  Just stick with it and ignore the trolls and you'll climb your way up.  I'm nearing 30 atm and I rarely get matched with leavers anymore.

I'd suggest staying out of practice games though.  Mostly practice is for people looking to play stacked teams against newbs, or people using awful player-made game modes.

[Hoax]

You will be fine if you can handle being fucking godawful at the game for awhile as you figure it out. Some players just don't like that feeling and blame it on the game that they aren't instantly good at it.

That said I would advise you to take the learning curve very seriously for this game if you have zero dota background.

Each week almost always on Monday they rotate a set of 10 champions as free to play for that week. As a complete noob your best bet is to start off on a Monday and try to find one of those champions that you like. You shouldn't pick from all ten champions though, ask us here and we'll give you some pointers on which are easier to play and you should also take into consideration how much it costs to buy a given champion with ip (the in-game currency you earn by playing) the goal is to find a champ you enjoy that is free and by the end of the week buy that champ so you can keep using him/her and start to experiment with the new free ten.

Beyond using that obvious system you should also make a note when you run into a champion you have never played as that seems cool to you on some level. If its a low priced champ (450 or 1350 ip) it might be worth picking it up.

As for what game modes to play I would advise the following:
-For the first few champions you try during your first week play a practice game against bots first just so you know what the abilities look like, what key they are on and stuff like that.
-After that you should probably play the practice games that advertise for low levels only. While these are certainly short bus affairs you do want to learn more about the champ you are playing.
-Once you think you are decent with the champ (you aren't btw) go play a normal game or three. There is specific advice in several threads on what to do as a noob in this game (tip 1-10: not dying is job #1) but the match maker will also protect you by putting you against mostly terrible players as well.

Just keep in mind its a very deep game with item and skill builds as well as playstyle adjustments that have to be made on the fly depending on your farm, your team lineup, the enemy team lineup, their farm, etc. etc.

If you don't stress about being bad and focus on improving your play you should be able to start improving your skill and your elo in normal in short order. The thing to also remember is that at first you are being teamed up with the worst of the worst in terms of players, expect the dregs and be liberal with the ignore features.

[Thrawn]

If you plan on playing seriously (ranked) and not just for occasional casual games you may want to ask about champions as well.

Some champions are very fun to play and can do very well in casual games, but when you put them into more try-hard play they are so bad they drag your entire team down.

[MrHat]

http://runeterra.com/blogs.php

Runeterra has some good guides on Laning and the current meta game if you want to read a bit on that.

[Der Helm]

the higher level u get, the less rq-ers u'll encounter

Not true. 

 

[Hoax]

Oh it is for sure true. As a general rule the higher level the play the less people just douche a game for kicks. Not that it doesn't happen but its much less likely.

[Kail]

Oh it is for sure true. As a general rule the higher level the play the less people just douche a game for kicks. Not that it doesn't happen but its much less likely.

Man, I'm level 30.  Low Elo 30 I'll grant, but still 30.  Of my last ten games, two didn't have any leavers, and one of those was a solo practice round against bots.  The last game I played had three leavers.

Re: champion choice, personally, I'd reccomend playing each champ at least once if you have time.  It can be very helpful to be able to put pictures to words, so you know what Veigar's Dark Matter looks like or what Ezreal can hit you with from where.

[Hoax]

Eventually you will start playing every champ because you need to know visuals and passive effects and whatnot. That can come way way down the road though.

As for leavers, everything changed when ranked went in so I can't say for sure anymore but you should be able to avoid that bullshit by increasing your elo, alternatively there is always the 5-man queue.

[Phry]

Looking for some games with non idiots, look me up AScottEGR in game i'm 30 an all.

[trias_e]

Started playing LOL mainly cuz it's far less stressful than SC2       Anyways,  I suck badly, of course.  But I like speedy mobile hybrid type heros.  Vlad and singed are probably my two favorites so far.   Any suggesestions on what champions to try next?

[Ozzu]

Started playing LOL mainly cuz it's far less stressful than SC2      Anyways,  I suck badly, of course.  But I like speedy mobile hybrid type heros.  Vlad and singed are probably my two favorites so far.   Any suggesestions on what champions to try next?

When I first got started, I enjoyed playing Tristana. She's pretty straightforward. Once I got used to her and failed miserably at other characters, I started trying the stealth characters that were in the game at the time: Twitch and Eve.

Those are the two characters that got me addicted to the game. I don't play them anymore, but they were a blast when I was still learning the game. Being able to sneak up on people and just unload on them made me giggle like a schoolgirl. So, give them a try. Higher level games you won't see them as much because they're countered pretty easily with just a potion, but early on? You're a god in those low level games.

[Typhon]

Started playing LOL mainly cuz it's far less stressful than SC2       Anyways,  I suck badly, of course.  But I like speedy mobile hybrid type heros.  Vlad and singed are probably my two favorites so far.   Any suggesestions on what champions to try next?

Kennen

[Xeyi]

But I like speedy mobile hybrid type heros. 

In addition to the other suggestions I'd say Nidalee, she's incredibly mobile in kitty form.

[Slayerik]

and is generally a bad ass bitch.

[Typhon]

Xen Zhao is also very mobile, in a way similar to Nidalee.

Kennan plays a bit like Singed.  The suggested build is AP-heavy, but I've had more luck building him as a hybrid.

If you're looking for map-wide mobility Twisted Fate and Pantheon have a lot of that.

[Hoax]

All good suggestions. Here's the only things not yet mentioned ordered by how good of a fit I imagine each champ being. Just try them all as they come free and buy the ones you enjoy.

-Akali would be a perfect fit. She builds hybrid, she has stealth mechanics and she wtfassassinates people.

-Kat feels and plays very mobile with her shunpo.

-Shaco, hard to use these days now that he's balanced but quite mobile and I'd imagine still pubstomps hard. Just make sure you watch some guides.

-Rammus moves fast as hell w/ his powerball and for some reason almost all f13 people love playing him.

-Udyr plays somewhat like Vlad (hard to kill, can really put in work over drawn out team fights) and gives you a chance to learn to jungle.

-Kayle & Janna are mobile support champs that can do big damage if left unchecked but take a lot of skill to stay just out of enemy ability range.

-Shen is another very mobile tank like Rammus but mostly through his teleport to the fight ult though the taunt-dash gives him extra mobility as well.

-Tankplank variants which are the currently en-vogue builds might be worth looking at he actually plays rather fast with scurvy spam keeping him out of cc and its the only thing that resembles Singed I could think of in that he sticks around fights making a huge nuisance of himself.

-Miss Fortune moves around really fast with her passive and deals stupid damage from far away.

[Kail]

But I like speedy mobile hybrid type heros.  Vlad and singed are probably my two favorites so far.

Neither Vlad nor Singed are really thought of as speedy hybrids, as I understand the term (Singed may be speedier than some, but I don't know of anyone who plays him as a hybrid, usually he's tank/ap).  I'm not trying to be an asshole, but what do you mean by "mobile hybrid"?  I'd think mobile refers to some kind of movement buff or dash/teleport move, and hybrid usually refers to an item or champ who's using both physical and magical damage (using items like Guinsoo's Rageblade, Nashor's Tooth, Hextech Gunblade, Lichbane, etc.).

You might look at Kassadin.  He's got some decent spells, plus his melee attack refills his mana and penetrates armor, so I can see him going hybrid (though I haven't seen him enough to know how effective it is).  His ult gives him some of the best short range mobility in the game.

In terms of pure mobility, nobody's yet mentioned Teemo, who has a very high move speed unless he gets hit.  He's usually built AP or AD though, not hybrid.

The only other champs I see as hybrids a lot which haven't been mentioned are Jax and Kog'Maw.  Jax is kind of gimp at the moment (in my opinion), but Kog'Maw seems fairly popular.

edit: fixed some phrasing, didn't notice Typhon had already suggested TF and Pantheon

[trias_e]

I meant hybrid in more of a general sense of not being confined to one role, rather than specifically an AP/AD hybrid.  Sorry about mixing up the terminology there.  I don't like squishy nukers generally speaking, but I'm usually not too interested in pure tanks either.  I really like Vlad in particularly because his pool lends him so much versatility and mobility.  I build him with ghost and boots of swiftness to make him as mobile as possible as well, then I grab spirit visage and then rylais with him to help him survive longer as well.  Examples of characters I haven't liked much: Nasus (too immobile), Annie (fragile immobile dps).  Tristana I was kinda meh on as well, although in theory I should have liked her cuz of rocket jump.  I was really bad at her though which probably didn't help.  

Thanks for all the suggestions all.  So many too choose from, and now I've got a nice list of heroes to pick from in the free weeks to follow.

[Kail]

I meant hybrid in more of a general sense of not being confined to one role, rather than specifically an AP/AD hybrid.

Ah, right, sorry.  Probably won't get much use out of my list, then.

If it's tank/dps hybrids you're looking for, I'd look at Mordekaiser.  Also, most of the other melee dps characters are at least a little tanky, since they have to be fairly buff to survive.  Jax is fairly beefy once he's got items, Garen has his health regen and armor bonus, Udyr, Pantheon and Tryndamere have self shields.  Melee champs without much tankiness generally either have other ways to survive (like stealth for Shaco, Akali, and Eve) or are Yi.
  
If you're looking for tank/support, your only real option is Taric, I think.  Maybe Kayle, but she's not very popular these days.

For support/dps, I dunno.  Janna or Zilean, maybe, if you want to lean towards support.  Ezreal or Anivia if you're looking for more DPS, I'd say.  Generally, they're pretty fragile, though.

EDIT: Okay, my other brain cell kicked in and I remembered the word "mobile" which makes Mordekaiser and Taric less desireable.  Pantheon would still be good, I think, Udyr and Trynd are okay, Jax is less good but I find him a ton of fun.

[Typhon]

Given that definition, I'd actually have to go back to someone else's "Nidalee" suggestion.

Has burst speed
Can do range damage
Can do good melee damage
Can do farming (after level 6)
Can do light support

and also give a shout out to one of my favorites, Udyr.

Neither champion do you master in five minutes, need to play them a bit to get a feel for what to do and when.

[trias_e]

I absolutely fucking love Shen.   Very interested in Kassadin, but scared to play such a fragile skill-based character.  God I love his ult though, way too much fun.

[Hoax]

Play Kass on a free week first, he's a love him or hate him champ imo since he feels really slow pre 6 and it takes a fairly intimate knowledge of the champ to be any good with him but if you are there isn't really anyone else who can anti-carry as well as Kass.

[K9]

Decided to reinstall this and haven't played since beta. Is there any way to practise by yourself?

[Chimpy]

Decided to reinstall this and haven't played since beta. Is there any way to practise by yourself?

Click Play, hit practice on the bottom left, select map type, create game, change pulldown to "easy" for the bots then add players and go.

[Hoax]

Can you play alone? They disabled that and created a minimum human players at one point because the system was so full of 1-man practice games. Really though just join a practice game and remember how to play its not like it matters if you suck it up.

[kubodhi]

Can you play alone? They disabled that and created a minimum human players at one point because the system was so full of 1-man practice games. Really though just join a practice game and remember how to play its not like it matters if you suck it up.

They scale the minimum requirements on practice games based on server load and instability.  I've seen it change from 6 to 2 to 4 to 1 in a single day before.

[Chimpy]

It usually works fine later in the week. Don't bother trying most mondays/tuesdays right after the new free champ rotation.