Matchmaking Rating



Matchmaking Rating, or MMR is a value that determines the skill level of each player. This value is used in matchmaking. Winning increases a player's MMR, while losing decreases it.

Ranked Matchmaking allows players to earn seasonal ranking medals based on their MMR. Players with the highest ratings are listed on the world Leaderboards.

Matchmaking

 * In general, players with similar MMRs will be matched with each other.
 * MMR values are adjusted depending on the role selected, and the player's past performance with each role.
 * When a player queues with their best role, their full MMR with be considered.
 * When a player queues for their weaker roles, the system will adjust their MMR down.
 * MMR gain/loss after each match remains the same regardless of which role is played.


 * Players who rank in the regional top 200 for solo ranked matchmaking will appear on the Leaderboards.


 * MMR for ranked matches require approximately 10 games to calibrate.
 * Bot games and Training matches do not use MMR.

Valve
In December of 2013, Valve gave the following MMR distribution for solo unranked matchmaking across the entire player base. It is unknown how much these figures have changed since 2013.

Percentile indicates the percentage of players who are lower than the corresponding MMR. For example, a player with 3200 MMR would be more skilled than 90% of the total population.

OpenDota
Subsequent analysis of public player profiles collected by OpenDota shows a higher average MMR of approximately 3100. This figure is assumed to be skewed upwards, as it is generally believed that newer and less skilled players are less likely to display their MMR publicly, and therefore are not considered in the data analysis.

Uncertainty
Uncertainty is the standard deviation of a player's MMR.


 * Players with high uncertainty are more likely to be matched with players that differ more greatly in skill level, and vice versa.
 * New accounts with few games played tend to have high uncertainty, while older accounts with many games played tend to have low uncertainty.
 * Since normal and ranked matchmaking are tracked separately, a player who has many normal games will still experience high uncertainty in ranked matchmaking if they have only played a few ranked games, and vice versa.
 * Highly uncertain matches are sometimes called swing games because their outcomes are "breakthrough" moments that are indicative of a player's MMR progression or regression.
 * If game outcomes (win/loss and individual performance) repeatedly match the system's expectations, uncertainty will decrease until it reaches a floor.
 * Conversely, unexpected match outcomes will cause an increase in uncertainty.

Party
In general, parties receive bonus MMR when searching for matches. This is meant to compensate for superior party coordination, as well as partying with highly skilled members.


 * Parties' skill and experience values are counted as an aggregate, not individual for each player.
 * Parties will receive a higher adjusted MMR.
 * Parties with large differences between members' MMRs will receive a higher adjusted MMR.
 * Party members with a solo MMR higher than their party MMR will receive a higher adjusted MMR.

Updating

 * Games played in solo queue will increase or decrease around 25 MMR after each match. Games played in party queue will increase or decrease 20 MMR.
 * MMR will not be changed if:
 * A non-partied member of your team early abandons a normal match.
 * Poor network conditions have been detected. A message must appear in game in order for this to apply.
 * MMR will be changed if:
 * Any member of your team late abandons.
 * Any member of your party abandons in any form.
 * You are playing a ranked match, regardless of any abandons.

Visibility

 * MMRs are only shown to the players themselves.

Resetting

 * At the start of each ranked season, players can choose to reset their ranked MMR under Settings -> Account -> MMR Recalibration.
 * There are specific time windows for when players can reset their MMR.

Other Information

 * MMR is the principal, but not the only factor used in matchmaking.
 * The system also takes into account Experience (number of games played), Player Performance, Gold Difference and various hidden variables.
 * The system does not directly try to achieve any particular win rate for players.
 * However, it does try to ensure that each team has a 50% chance of winning by matching players of similar skill against each other.
 * This means that, over time, win-loss ratios will naturally settle around 50/50 for all but the very best players.
 * The system does not examine individual win / loss streaks or try to end them.
 * Win rate and win count are not related to MMR, nor are they meaningful measures of player skill.

Trivia

 * According to Valve, player opinions of the MMR system are highly correlated with their recent win rates.