The Lowest MMR and Rank you can have in Dota 2

Breaking down Dota 2 tiers

Dota 2 has a total of 8 tiers, with each one having 5 subtiers. Here are all of them:

• Herald (0 to 769 MMR)
• Guardian (770 to 1539 MMR)
• Crusader (1540 to 2309 MMR)
• Archon (2310 to 3079MMR)
• Legend (3080 to 3849MMR)
• Ancient (3850 to 4619 MMR)
• Divine (4620 to 5599MMR)
• Immortal (6000+ MMR)

Each one of these tiers has subcategories from 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest, 5 being the highest). After exceeding the subtier 5, you are placed in the next tier. The only exception is Immortal, which has the following subcategories: placed, top 1000, top 100, top 10, and top 1.

If you're just starting the game, there is a good chance you will be placed in Herald, which is the lowest category of the competition. During this particular season, the Herald tier includes all the players who have between 0 and 769 MMR. Upon reaching 770 MMR (dota 2 matchmaking rating), you are placed in the next category called Guardian.

What’s the lowest MMR and Rank in Dota 2?

Herald is the lowest tier of competition. A lot of players falsely presume that the lowest MMR in Dota 2 is 0, but instead, the lowest MMR is 1 (although Herald is presented as a tier from 0 to 769 MMR, you can’t actually have 0). However the mmr shown in your profile is rounded up to the next 10, that’s why a lot of people think it’s 10. You can still see your actual mmr in console.

A small percentage of players are within this tier, about 5.5% (see the complete rank percentiles in Dota 2). The majority of players within this category have limited knowledge regarding the items and champions. They are especially struggling with teamfight concepts, timings, pushing, etc. As a result, these games tend to be very chaotic, which does have a certain charm.

Due to low competitiveness, these matches are much more forgiving, and there is less flaming. The main issue is that they don’t prepare you for the higher tiers of the competition. Yes, you will definitely catch up with some of the concepts, but you need to reach some higher categories of Dota 2 to attain more advanced knowledge of the game.

How many hours do you need to get out of the lowest rank MMR in Dota 2?

First off, you can’t even get ranked if you haven’t played at least 100 hours of Dota 2 and reach a certain level. So, even if you were to start from the Herald tier, it is presumed that you will have some basic understanding of the game.

It is really hard to tell how many hours you need to play to get out of the lowest Dota 2 rank. Besides the initial 100 games that would unlock ranked matchmaking, you would need to play an additional 100 to 300 games (related: dota 2 ranked vs unranked). Keep in mind there are people who have played several years on and off and still haven't managed to exit Herald. Then again, it depends on how frequently you play Dota 2.

The general rule of thumb is that you need to continuously practice to progress through ranks. Dota 2 meta is constantly changing, so you need to stay on top of things to be competitive. For example, if you come back to the game after six months to a year, there is a good chance that all popular picks will change and that the heroes you were once good at now feel very bad.

Herald is characterized by very chaotic gameplay. Stuff that you can see in this tier is not common in other ranks. People use all sorts of wacky strategies, which can sometimes be fun for viewers as you never know what to expect.

How to improve while in Herald?

Given that you're in Herald, there is a good chance that your knowledge is almost non-existent. So, whatever you do from this point onward, it will be a progress. That is unless you're repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

Here are a few things you can do to improve your game and exit Herald as soon as possible:

1. Focus on just a few heroes (there are many heroes to choose from in Dota 2). Ideally, play heroes that are good in the current meta. 
2. Don't experiment too much with builds, whether we're talking about items or spells. 
3. Communicate with teammates and ask them to group with you. Utilize smoke of deceit to gain the upper hand over the enemy team.
4. After winning team fights, focus on taking objectives, whether it's pushing towers or taking Roshan.
5. Having a microphone is a much better way of communicating with your team than the usual typing. Among others, using a microphone helps in a pinch. But don't use it to scream or flame, as it will only be counterproductive.

We also have an extensive guide on how to rank up faster for any rank in Dota 2 and how to unlock ranked matches, and how to check your MMR.