How to Find Dota 2 Players and Teams

The MOBA is a daunting genre to get into. Matches are long, and one wrong decision can be the difference between a victory and defeat. They’re also not the best genre to tackle solo, as a well-communicating team is essential to have a rewarding experience, win or lose. Thankfully, we have compiled a few tips to help you get through the social door of Dota 2, but it’s up to you to take it from there.

Be an active member of the community

You’re not going to find people to play with if you’re not putting yourself out there to be seen. Join online sites with Dota 2 as a focus, such as the subreddit and the JoinDOTA community forum, as well as our very own service of connecting players, called Teamfind, which we’ll explain in more depth later on. One of the best ways to meet people is just by playing pubs, and adding people you gel with. From there, your social circle in Dota will naturally grow.

Commitment is more important than skill

No one’s perfect, and when you realize you’ll never be the perfect player, the more open you will be to the idea of constant improvement. This is a necessary principle to have for yourself if you want to join a team to play with regularly, and it’s still good to keep with you if you’re looking for someone to fill a spot in your already established team. Once you know the mechanics of the game, practicing is what makes you or others stand out, so if someone you want to play with isn’t quite up to scratch, but they have a willingness to improve, don’t count them out.

Know your needs

It’s probably not the best usage of time if you’re constantly switching between heroes and roles. The sooner you find your place in the Dota 2 world, the sooner you’ll realize what type of people you want to play with. This will get harder the more people you find to play with, as the roles you need to fill a team will become very select.

Analyze your team synergy

All right. You’ve found a bunch of great people to play with, and in your first real match together, you fall apart. It happens. You realize things you never thought of before, and impressions change. Practicing together is the most important aspect of finding the right people to play with. Finding someone with the skill and attitude is one thing, but co-operating is another. If you want to go pro, then make sure you participate in your fair share of scrims before joining tournaments or leagues, or you’ll end up destroyed. We don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s a highly competitive world out there.

Teamfind

We mentioned Teamfind before, but now we can get to the nitty-gritty of it! Teamfind allows players to connect with one another, by clearly stating what they’re looking for and what type of experience they want to have withDota. Teamfind eliminates the time and stress of testing the waters with players you find online and is a good way to complement other player's abilities quickly.

Signing Up

Like with anything, the way you present yourself carries a lot of importance, and the way you use Teamfind is no exception. After you sign up, you’ll have to fill out your biography. This acts as a cover letter of sorts, allowing potential friendly players to see what you’re all about before making first contact.

Lobby

Before we get into the fun part, let’s talk a bit about the lobby. After you sign up, don’t be surprised to see your activity show up here. Other than yourself, you’ll see people signing up constantly, as well as any new team or player posts. Check back here to see any recent activity happening within the site.

Players

In the Player’s tab, you’ll find any new posts pop up, with clear statements of what they can offer to a potential team. So, as you’ve probably figured, teams visit this space regularly to scout for new talent. If you’ve found a couple of people to play with, and just want to fill the remainder of your roster, check this space out, filter what you want by adjusting the options on the left, and shortlist any potential candidates. You can do this by clicking on a player post and clicking ‘shortlist’ on the left. You can also chat with them if you’re unsure of anything in their post, or if they’ve omitted something entirely.

Teams

As opposed to the ‘Players’ tab, this is the place you want to be if you’re searching for a team to join. Again, you can filter results here to match the team’s requirements to what you can offer.

Coaches

While coaches are mainly employed if you want to go pro, they’re still useful if you want to brush up on your skills. Their rates are fair, and sometimes they’re the difference on whether or not a team accepts you. You can never be too good at Dota!

Player Posts

Like we said earlier, you want to make a good impression with your post in a bid for a team to contact you. You’ll have to go to your dashboard, which is accessible by clicking your username at the top right, and then clicking ‘Make a Player Post’. Fill out the fields as accurately as possible for the best results. You can customize your post accordingly based on the type of experience you want to have with Dota 2. Whether or not you want to play pro or casually, there will be players with the same mindset wanting to connect with you.

Posting in a bid to find a competitive team usually requires a little more fine tuning. After all, their time is of utmost importance, and you don’t want to waste theirs, and by extension yours, if you fail to mention something, or are intentionally vague about something. To dominate competitively in Dota 2, so you can earn the big bucks, you’ll need to treat it as a full-time job, and understand success won’t come overnight.

Team Posts

Yep, you guessed it; team posts work the other way around. Teams post in a bid to attract a potential player to help make their team whole. Whether or not to dominate professionally or just have fun in pubs, players can visit here to see which team they think they’ll be happy in. Ultimately, it’s up to the team, so make sure you go in depth with your post about what you want, as to eliminate some ineligible applicants.

Upgrading

While coaches have their own rates, finding teams and players to connect with is an entirely free service that we happily and proudly provide to you! If you want more control over the way you connect with others, however, and also hopefully save time in your endeavors, we offer a subscription service that allows you to bump posts - as opposed to creating new ones - as well as have the ability to have two times larger and highlighted posts. There are also other useful features that’ll help you make the most of the service, such as group calling. Additionally, you won’t see any advertising. Costing less than $50 a year, it ain’t a half-bad thing to consider, especially if you spend a lot of time playing Dota 2. If you’ve followed our steps, we guarantee you’ll be finding people to play with in no time, whether or not you choose to upgrade!

Follow these steps to get familiar with Teamfind, and you’ll start to feel much more comfortable with the community aspect of Dota 2, and have a much more fulfilling experience. Remember, this is a team game, so get out there and meet new players!