---
title: 'Can I Master Dota In 100 Hours With No Experience?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=huO0DJ_4JUc'
video_id: 'huO0DJ_4JUc'
date: 2026-06-18
duration_sec: 0
---

# Can I Master Dota In 100 Hours With No Experience?

> Source: [Can I Master Dota In 100 Hours With No Experience?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=huO0DJ_4JUc)

## Summary

A League of Legends player who reached Diamond challenges himself to master Dota 2 in 100 hours with no prior experience. He documents the steep learning curve, role mismatches, and eventual improvement, concluding that Dota is significantly harder but still enjoyable.

### Key Points

- **Background and Motivation** [00:00] — Addicted to League of Legends from 2018-2021, reached Diamond, but hated Dota 2 initially. Now challenges himself to master Dota 2 in 100 hours as a complete noob.
- **First Impressions and Confusion** [01:11] — Struggled with character design, shop layout, and active item abilities. Chose Underlord (support) despite being an ADC player in League.
- **Early Game Focus** [03:02] — Learned that getting kills matters less than last-hitting minions for gold and XP lead in Dota 2.
- **Map and Lane Differences** [04:45] — Discovered Dota has no jungler, uses a 2-1-2 lane setup with offlane, mid, and safelane. Map is symmetrical.
- **First 10 Hours Results** [07:49] — Achieved 5 wins and 11 losses. Realized he was playing the wrong role (support) and needed to switch to a carry role similar to his ADC playstyle.
- **Hours 10-30: Learning Mechanics** [12:57] — Learned denying minions, fountain/pillar XP, and courier usage. Struggled with tower aggro and item complexity.
- **Hours 50-75: Losing Streak** [19:58] — Faced a terrible losing streak, nearly quit. Learned some character abilities from getting beaten repeatedly.
- **Final 25 Hours: Improvement** [22:27] — Refocused on CSing, poking, and team coordination. Had a strong final game applying all lessons learned.
- **Conclusion and Comparison** [29:30] — Dota 2 is about 10 times harder than League of Legends due to more mechanics and depth. Still prefers League but enjoyed the challenge.

### Conclusion

The 100-hour challenge showed that Dota 2 has a much steeper learning curve than League of Legends, but with persistence, a player can make progress. The creator ends with a positive final game and a clear preference for League's faster pace.

## Transcript

Back in 2018 through 2021, I was majorly
addicted to a little game called League
of Legends. I play all day and night,
learning the ins and outs of every
character, all the different
interactions [music]
and pretty much how everything worked.
And it was a constant improvement to the
point where I even got diamond, but
that's where I kept to be honest. But I
was and am very happy with that. But
during that time, I did try my hand at
Dota 2 and I hated it so much. And that
might have been due to the fact that I
was so hooked on League and I couldn't
look past that Dota is its own game. So
yeah, I played one game and put it down
and never look back. And I was always
chalking it up to an inferior League of
Legends, but recently I've had an itch
to play a MOA and I already know League
back of my hand. So I want to challenge
myself and see if I can master Dota in
100 hours as a complete noob. So, I
gathered up my old duo Q partner and we
got to work learning Dota [music] 2 to
see if we could actually master it or
hell even understand it because it is
vastly different to League of Legends.
Going into this, I decided to look at
all the characters to see if I could get
a feel for any of them just off design,
and I really couldn't. I just couldn't
tell where someone was meant to play.
While in League, you can see the
characters and kind of get an estimate
of where they're meant to be. Uh,
another thing I learned was that almost
every character in [music] this game,
for some ungodly reason, is a nuker,
which got me extremely nervous knowing
that even if it's a support, they could
just pop me like nothing. And after
looking for a couple minutes, I decided
[music] to play Underlord, who's meant
to be a support character, which is the
opposite of my [music] usual role in
League, which is an ADC. So, I thought,
why not try a new game, a new character,
and a new role? So, when we loaded up
into the game, I was just thrown into an
absolute mess of a shop where nothing
made sense to me. And pretty much all of
my starting items seemed to have active
abilities, [music] which was really
throwing me off. But I just tried to
ignore it for now and focus on laning.
But every so often, I just couldn't
understand what was [music] happening on
my screen or how the game was meant to
be played. So, for some reason, I just
ended up asking questions [music] of how
stuff works to someone who had as much
experience as me in the game. So, where
do where does my money come from then?
>> Uh, not everyone really needs money.
>> Oh,
>> some would just use their abilities like
you know sports in other games to like
CC and stuff. You probably need strength
to be more effective.
>> While laning as well, stuff was just
kind of happening like people taking
items [music] from a magical fountain
and stuff like that. But the main issue
that we had was we had no clue what any
character did, [music] let alone our own
characters. But that didn't stop others
from messing up and gifting us kills,
which is where [music] I learned a very
important thing in this game where
getting kills does not matter [music]
nearly as much in the early game as it
does in League of Legends.
And instead, you should be focusing on
getting the minion kills to keep a gold
lead and XP lead. But we didn't really
do that. Instead, we just kept trying to
fight, which got us into another
important lesson. The towers only
pretend to help in this game. I swear
they don't do anything in reality. They
shoot peashooter bullets from Plan's
first zombies at you. But even though we
didn't know what we were doing in the
slightest, we did end up actually
winning our lane for our first game and
we were doing quite well. And I think
what helped was how simple my character
was. And before no time at all, we was
all pushing mid and actually won [music]
our first game of Dota 2. Now, could I
tell you what any of the characters did
in that match other than mine?
No. In fact, I probably couldn't even
tell you what my [music] character's
role was other than rooting people. I
was also really confused about how the
map was laid out, questioning where our
jungler was all game, but it didn't
matter because we won lane. I didn't
really mesh well with Underlord either,
and I like the look of Venomancer, so I
tried him out and uh well, it did not go
well at all in the slightest. and I got
absolutely decimated with him. Getting
one kill before I had to [music] leave
to watch the villa match. But don't
worry, that match was pretty much over
before I [music] left. We had no chance
of having a comeback. And yet again, I
couldn't tell you a single thing about
that match that was happening. So, I had
to play a lot more matches just to get a
beat on the game. So, that's exactly
[music] what I did, going match after
match trying to get the basics of the
game. And I was starting to learn stuff
about the game actually, such as there
isn't actually a [music] jungler in this
game, but instead it's kind of just like
a 212 layout. And that really threw me
off because there's the off lane where
you'll be the aggressive side [music]
pushing closest to the enemy's tower.
The mid lane, which is, you know, just
kind of like the mid lane in League, and
then the safe lane where you're [music]
closer to your tower, even though they
do nothing in Dota. So, you know, the
the tower, you know, you're just closer
[music] to the enemy's base. I guess the
map's also symmetrical. Well, in League
of Legends, the map split, which is
pretty neat to learn. I also learned
that you can give each other items and
potions
uh to quickly help out, heal, or refill
the manner of your teammates. And my
final match of the 10 hours was
approaching, and [music] I still didn't
have a character that I found that I
liked or even found slightly [music]
enjoyable. So, I tried yet another new
character because I'm a firm believer in
once you find a character [music] or a
class or a role or something like that
in any game, it becomes so much more
easy and funner to play. Such as in 2x
KO, I still haven't really found a
character I mesh well with. I like I
play Warwick, but with the such a small
roster, I don't find the game too
enjoyable. But in tech, I found
characters that I like meshed well with
and I played better. But anyway, on my
final match of the first 10 hours, I
decided to try Jeze, applying everything
I learned so far about the map and the
side that we were on and
um how to farm minions and how to
support well, but we still had the issue
of not knowing what any of the
characters did. And it felt like our
opposition was just leveling up so much
quicker than we were.
But we knew how to take fountain fruit
now. But just knowing that kind of stuff
did not stop us from getting our throats
throttled the whole game. Doing an
occasional helping thing, but overall it
just didn't feel like I was doing much.
Occasionally, I hit a stun uh while
people were under towers. And before no
time at all, we was fighting a losing
battle due to the lack of knowledge and
just being oblivious. Like this death
here. Once we finally won a fight.
[laughter]
>> Did you see anything?
>> Yeah.
>> On the tree.
>> Shadow.
Is that fire?
>> Oh, no. They're they're my fire mixed
with their demon.
>> Oh, it's this thing.
>> Yeah. No, my fire is mixed with it.
>> And him? Where did he come from?
He dies.
>> Triple kill.
>> Yeah, Shadow Blade. It makes him go
invisible for 17 seconds.
>> So, yeah, that match was heading the way
you think it was. And before no time at
all, we had yet another loss under our
belts. Our first 10 hours, we had 11
losses and five wins. And it was just a
rough experience. [music]
But like I have said, this is a learning
experience, and we have learned a lot,
but we still have a lot to learn.
And the thing that we've learned was
that we have got our roles all swapped
up and are putting ourselves at a huge
[music] disadvantage because I have not
had much fun playing any of the support
characters, which was a huge mistake by
myself. So, I needed to accept the loss
here and move on to a role that I play
in League just so it feels like a more
natural transition. I'm not a support
player. I'm an ADC player and it will be
easier for me to play a role in this
game that was similar to what I've
already played.
And that's what I was really hoping at
least was true. Also, my friend was the
one that was heading to the fountains
and remembering to collect the fruits
and activate the statues or some [ __ ]
involving that, while I was the one that
was focused on the minions and poking
the enemies back. So, yeah, we were just
mixed up from the get- go.
These hours I knew I needed to really
lock in because while the first set of
hours weren't really quite a waste, they
weren't as productive as they should
have and could have been. I don't know
many of the characters, minus a handful
at this point, and I weren't good with
them. I was just playing the wrong role.
And I and I still don't get what is a
character's ability and what is an item
in the game. I don't know when I should
be trying to start a fight. I don't know
how to maintain a lead on gold or XP
yet. So, all of that really needs to get
sorted out quickly. So, this time I
decided I [music] would spend more time
trying to figure out my character
that I would stick with and learn
everything about. While in League of
Legends I had Cogmore, I needed Dota's
version of Cog'more and just couldn't
find it because for me, the weirdos and
freak characters are always so much more
fun to play. So, after a while, I
decided I wanted to play Weaver, a
spider guy whose main source of damage
comes from his auto attacks. And we went
into our first game of the post 10 hour
mark and the first game of me being a
carry for us
and yet again it didn't go well with us
getting demolished. But once it didn't
feel like it was our fault really
as we had a 1 and 16 axe with us, a five
and 12 bow woman and a three and nine
eye of Sauron. So yeah, it really felt
like it was a mountain we had to climb
to even possibly have a chance at
winning this game. But I did like how
Weaver felt and I like how his ult just
a reset button like an ADC echo and how
his W is a stealth and a little bit of a
damage dealer. I really liked his kit. I
didn't use it perfectly.
So, we just kept queuing up, both of us,
trying to learn more and more of the
game. I learned how much I hate the
secret shop and how it literally feels
like filler in this game that it just
doesn't need to be there. It just feels
like it's slows the pace of the game so
much. And I already know this game is
like a really, really slower version of
League.
>> Now, will we ever
get a good game?
a dynamic duo.
>> No, I think the game's telling me this
is
>> my support error.
[laughter]
>> Oh my god.
>> While I loved Weaver, I decided to sneak
in a Viper game in there. And this game
I was against a Weaver. And since I
played so much Weaver already, I kind of
knew how he worked to play against. So I
knew the basics of how this guy was
going to play. and we kind of just ran
through [music] them and we had the best
game of our career so far, holding the
lead throughout the entire game. My
friend was feeding me every kill
possible. We were using our kits to the
fullest. Sure, we kept making mistakes
that [music] was costing us deaths and
everything, but we was also still
learning and I'm playing a new character
for the first time. And it was finally a
game where I was doing a lot. So, I
wasn't backing down no matter what. I
even started using some of my items
active abilities to get in range of
people and do damage. And it honestly
was such a blast to be
doing this well for once. And I actually
ended the game going 19, 8, and 22, my
personal best yet. And it was with a new
character to me. But even though I did
better with Viper, I'll just have him as
a pocket pick because I do prefer Weaver
and know that my pop-off game with him
is yet to come.
So hours 10 through 30 were a lot better
for us because we started to learn more
and more stuff about the game and we
could actually start to differate it
from League of Legends from the
mechanics like [music] how the fountains
work giving you XP and also how the
pillars give you some XP or something.
We also learned how to deny minions,
which is huge in this game because it
stops your opponent from getting golden
XP from the minions, which is actually
huge. But I still have a long way to go
due to not knowing when to last hit the
minions. And weirdly enough, I still
didn't understand how the towers worked
because sometimes it hits the minions
and sometimes it just decides to hit me
when there's clearly minions in its
range, which can't be RNG in a game like
this.
So, we still had to figure out how that
worked.
I also found out two characters that I
really liked, but again, I still don't
know what most of almost any other
[music] characters do other than these
two ones and the ones my friend played.
>> Yeah, the path actually hurts my soul.
Oh my god.
Weaver was still being learned and I was
looking at different item guides for him
because of how complex the items are in
this game and well, pretty much
everything in this game is. And it
taught me that if you want to get into a
MOA, you should know that League is
around 30 times more welcoming [music]
for new people because for some wild
reason, this game has a thing called
Dota Plus, which is a subscription based
thing and when you get it, it teaches
you the basics of the game with what
area certain characters can play and
stuff like that and giving you like I
think a better better shop guide or
something. I'm not really sure, but it
should really just be in the game by
default. But that's fine. Who cares
about that? Out of being stubborn, I
refused to pay to learn stuff in a game
and wanted to carry on learning by doing
as we had been for the past 30 hours
now. But these hours just continued
to be games where we were trying to
learn different characters or different
opponents or how to use our abilities
together. Well, and what I found out is
I really hate this one character called
Techies. I think it was kind of like
this game's Teemo just putting bombs
around the map that will just demolish
you out of nowhere. And it is the most
annoying thing in human history.
But other than that, during these
matches, I really was just focused on
getting the last hits of minions and
limit testing my damage as Weaver. I
also learned that sometimes people can
see me when I'm in my W state, but I
didn't know why.
>> These games were just passing and
passing, and I felt like I really was
improving slowly but surely.
But I could tell that we were also going
against better people the more we
played. And it seemed like the level
gaps from the teams were just disgusting
most of the time, leaving us with no
chance in hell to possibly win. But that
didn't stop us from pushing more and
more games in to the point where I was
actually pretty comfortable knowing what
to buy on weaver at this point. But I
still didn't understand the whole
strength, agility, and intelligence.
But I was assuming that strength was
attack damage, agility was attack speed
and [music]
intelligence was magic damage
respectively.
If
I was put it in put yeah if I was
putting it into League of Legends terms
at least.
>> Yeah. So maybe I don't really know. But
yeah, I was understanding what to build
on Weaver anyway, but I wasn't sure why.
I was slowly learning as well different
characters such as Tiny who can throw
people around and grows bigger as the
match goes on or tree man who thrives in
the trees and can like root you and
stuff like that. So yeah, I was learning
what to do around some characters, but
nowhere near 120th of the cast. Could I
name them or tell you what they do?
So, yeah, I'm still feeling pretty early
in my character training arc.
Also, at this point in time, my friend
started watching some videos to see what
we were doing wrong, and it seemed like
we [music] were doing the basics fairly
well and weren't making too many
mistakes, which was great to know, but
that doesn't really make us perfect. At
best, it makes us below average, which
you know what, at this point in time was
pretty good to me. I' I'd take it with
how many hours we had under our belts. I
started trying to use my courier more as
well instead of teleporting back to the
shop and buy my items. And also having
walked to the secret shops for me, so I
didn't have to bother [music] wasting my
time on this meaningless task that is
the uh secret shop. I [music] hate it.
But I did keep forgetting to use him
consistently. And for the League of
Legends people, the courier is kind of
just a thing that buys stuff from the
shops and then delivers it to you no
matter where you are on the map. So
[music] that is quite useful. But the
enemies can find your courier and kill
it, putting it on a death cool down and
gifting them gold. [music]
So it's a riskreward kind of thing. I
actually quite like it, but I can see
why it isn't used in League because it
is a much faster paced game.
Well, in this there's no recall [music]
button, but instead you have to buy town
scrolls to go back and you get a town
scroll after death or you can spend 100
gold on the town scroll. Hours 30
through 50 saw a vast improvement for me
from learning a lot about Weaver and how
his items work with him. And I also
started to attempt to learn how
different characters work and what they
do. I was still learning how to play
around them and stuff like that. I still
truly don't understand how towers work
yet. So, for the next 50 hours, I
[music] will also be sprinkling in some
videos here and there so I can truly
learn what I need to [music] because as
far as the basic mechanics go, I really
do think I've learned all I can on my
own for now. I just need to start
getting to the somewhat more
intermediate mechanics. And also, I
think watching videos on the game will
help me learn the characters and the
importance of each lane and [music] when
I should swap lanes and all that kind of
stuff. But somewhat of a problem for us
is we can still get a lead most of the
time, but holding that lead feels
impossible. Like we'll be two levels up
on our opponents in lane, then 10
minutes later we'll see them somewhere
[music] and they'll have more items,
more XP, and then we'll just get slapped
[music] around. So, we really need to
learn what's going wrong there.
>> Every single time we queued up now, it
seemed like we were outclassed for some
reason. Almost as if all our training up
until this point was all for nothing.
And I have no idea at all what we've
done to summon the Goon Squad to come
out of the woods and abuse us. But
that's exactly what was happening at
this point. just pure abuse to the point
where I was questioning if we weren't
even playing against bots to begin with.
And when I say these 25 hours were a
waste, that's exactly what they were. It
was just match after match of losses and
sadness to the point where I really
didn't even really want to finish this
challenge up at the point. I was just
starting to hate my time on the game due
to the steamrolls. like
we had no chance whatsoever. I guess I
got two positives from it. Actually, I
was starting to learn some of the actual
characters we were going against because
of how much we was getting battered by
them. And we was also coming up with
like different theories on what they did
when we saw them and like how they could
use their abilities to catch us and
stuff. But I still couldn't say for
certain 100% what every character does
or anything that we that you could show
me. And we was also learning more about
the map.
We was also learning more about the map,
such as there's areas you can go to to
get XP and also little gold bounty
things on the floor at the start of the
game that people fight for.
The shop was also becoming slightly more
clear to me, but I still think that
League of Legends shop is just so much
better. But that might just be a biased
thing that will never go for me just
because it's just more streamlined and
understandable. Whilst this game shop is
very cluttered
and the game doesn't really assist you
in any way or tell you what items do
what really.
It also has a bunch of special different
terms like just to be different or I'm
an idiot. Who knows? But yeah, there's
not really much to talk about in these
hours. I was just still playing Weaver,
getting my [ __ ] pushed in. There was
just pain during these hours. And you
know what? It really dampened my
experience on this game a lot. But I saw
the light at the end of the tunnel and
just locked in because I only had 25
more hours left.
The final stretch of this challenge and
I knew this was my last chance to prove
myself. So, I got straight to work
trying to focus on everything from CSing
to taking fights I need, poking the
enemies when I need to, trying to force
them out of lane or at bare minimum make
them have to spend more money on health
bots and stuff like that. But I was
still slipping up way too often, causing
losses, and obviously a lot of times I
was just dueling a lane, just farming,
[music] and then one of my teammates
would get ran through and then we would
get ganked and then from there there's
no hope for the game. But that's bound
to happen in these kind of games. But I
still feel like I should know how to be
getting around that to be honest. But
for now, there was just no way for me to
even have a hope against this kind of
stuff. So, I just take it on the chin
and move forward. These games were going
a lot better than hours 50 through 75.
It didn't feel like I was getting curb
stomped and had no chance of fighting
back in any sort of way. It might have
been because we took like a week or two
off due to like me being away for work
and when I was at home, I just really
didn't want to play Dota 2 cuz of how
those hours went. But it felt like the
people we were going against had dropped
in skill level and now they [music] were
more around our level. Or it could be we
was a lot more focused for once and
actually [music] dropping call outs to
one another and coming up with plans.
Also, just because we are pushing into
the 100 hour mark doesn't mean we can't
[music] still learn things because I
found out that you can kill your own
minions or even towers to deny [music]
the enemies from getting them. And you
can also lead out the jungle camps every
5 minutes or so so that you can double
them up or stack them, which is
extremely neat. But yet another thing
you need to keep track of while playing
the game, which is insane. It really
feels like there's a checklist of stuff
for you to do to keep track of. And for
me, it might be because I'm still not
used to it yet. But I just lose track of
the time and everything really quickly
whilst I'm trying to focus on CSing to
the point where I don't know when I'm
meant to be in the jungle killing the
camps or where the XP when I should like
go to the XP shrine thing. Before I knew
it at all as well, I was on the last
match of the challenge. And when I say I
locked in, I locked in hard. I knew this
had to be one of
the best games I could put in. And it
was.
I install locked Weaver and Let Loose.
And this was possibly the funnest match
of the whole challenge. While my farming
wasn't perfect and I was still messing
up in areas as you do, I was getting
minions fairly consistently and [music]
I was exploring the jungle and getting
the camps. My friend as a support was
feeding me all the kills and getting the
fountain fruit and giving me the health
and mana when I needed it. We were
outpoking the enemy as well. And well,
this is the highlights of my final game
of the 100 hours.
Spirit breaker.
>> Oh yeah, Spirit Breaker's alt. Um, okay.
She healed is it's a global alt where
she just charges. It's like um imagine
Scion's all but it's point and click.
Oh.
>> So, do I do switch to uh Oh,
>> what?
[laughter]
Wait, what does he do that? Cuz
>> that was the blink.
>> Okay, but some people have a different
like when someone denies your creep.
Like someone denied one of mine.
>> Hey, I just giggling. Not sure what's
happening. This video this one. This
one's just a messy starter.
But hopefully it's the last one before I
can play play some new characters.
Yeah.
>> I want to say forever. I want to say you
can just keep doing it.
most
going to make it. Oh, what the heck?
Talk about me. Oh,
is this guy real?
>> Yep.
>> Oh, okay.
>> Oh, god. Oh,
>> it's a jump scare.
>> Definitely kill him. Uh, I can
definitely try to live.
>> Oh, there's Viper.
>> Go first. Oh crap. He's definitely like
death on my cheeks. There's no way.
>> Oh, he's accompanied by someone.
No, that is a this I don't have this
such a good stage.
Oh okay.
>> So, so we got it. Hey, keep that. Keep
that luck. We We need that. Damn.
Oh my god.
>> Okay.
Okay.
>> Okay.
I don't know what I just did. [laughter]
That's crazy.
>> Hey, just keep doing it. I I'm going to
rinse the game.
Oh, good heals. Keep Y
range here.
Oh, he go.
>> Oh my god.
>> Yeah, just in the game first then.
>> Oh. Oh, it's 85% by the way. Oh, yeah.
Oh,
>> good. So good.
>> Come on.
Please. I am extremely proud of that
game. I'm sure if a Dota [music] player
saw that, they'd be cringing their eyes
out and just flaming me. But for me,
that was an amazing game and [music] it
felt like a highlight of my time on Dota
2. Everything I learned in the 100 hours
was applied from both [music] me and my
duo. So yeah, that's my first 100 hours
on Dota 2, and I can happily say I
enjoyed my time with this [music] game
overall, even if I was getting quite
sick of the game near the end because of
how non-bgner friendly it is. [music]
And when people do compare this game to
League, there should be one thing that
people know. This game is like 10 times
harder than League. There is just so
much more going on in this game, and it
feels like there's always more to
someone's kit than you would possibly
think. I still prefer League in every
way, and I think that's always how it
will be just because it's so much more
quicker and snappier to me. Um, and it's
[music] it was my first moa. The
characters just are more fun to me. Jump
on and mess around. You [music] know,
it's just one of those games. Whilst
Dota seems to have like more layers to
it. Um, but it has one too many layers
[music] for me. And again, that's just
due to my inexperience with it. But
yeah, the character designs also aren't
for me. and there's no
like variety in characters that [music]
I enjoyed.
Uh, will I ever return to Dota 2 in my
life?
I'm probably probably one day cuz I do
want to try and tackle [music] the
ranked, but for now I can happily hang
up my gloves on a high of the last game.
I still had so much more to learn, so
much more to improve on. I still don't
really understand how towers work. Um, I
[music] don't know half the cast. In
fact, I don't even know a quarter of the
cast of the game. So, yeah, I still have
so much more to improve on, but for now,
yeah, the gloves are hung up for me. I
hope you enjoyed the video, and if you
did, please like and subscribe. That
would help me out so much. And thank
[music] you for watching.