[Official] DotA Gameplay Expectations & Rule Enforcement Guide

[EdteOfChaos2]

Over the years, many players have strayed from the original design and purpose of DotA, choosing instead to interpret proper gameplay based on personal preferences. This has led to confusion and frustration—especially when it comes to how admins handle issues like game-ruining, rule enforcement, and bans.

To provide better clarity and transparency, I’ve created the guide below to outline what is expected in terms of gameplay and behavior. While it’s impossible to cover every single scenario DotA can present, this guide should apply to 80–90% of situations and serve as a solid baseline for what is acceptable.

DotA Player Guide: Purpose, Expectations & Proper Conduct

As a player in DotA, you're entering a competitive, team-based game built on cooperation, strategy, and mutual respect. This guide outlines the core purpose of the game, the expected behaviors, and what not to do—to keep the integrity of DotA intact.

What DotA Is Designed For?
DotA is a team-oriented strategy game where each player controls one hero and contributes to the team's goal:

The ultimate objective is to destroy the enemy Ancient, through team coordination, strategic play, and map control.

It is not a sandbox or roleplay environment. It is not a free-for-all. Every action should serve the team and the objective.

Player Responsibilities
**Pick a Role and Play It**

Carry? Farm and scale for late game.

Support? Ward, assist, support the carry and enable teammates.

Initiator? Set up fights.

Your role should reflect your hero and in-game decisions.

Communicate Constructively

Use pings or chat to relay info, not to harass.

Share cooldowns, missing enemies, or upcoming ganks.

Play to Win

Every action (farming, pushing, defending) should support your team’s path to victory.

Respect the Team Dynamic

DotA is not a solo game. Decisions must be made with the team in mind.

Running off to farm while a teamfight starts, or pushing other lanes for “fun” while the team defends, hurts the game.

What Not to Do (How to Ruin the Game)

Griefing or Intentionally Feeding

Dying repeatedly on purpose, buying useless items, or refusing to help is sabotage. This is bannable.

Solo Play Mentality

Ignoring team fights, refusing to support, or jungling endlessly with no purpose breaks the core of DotA.

Uncooperative Builds or Picks

Picking 5 carries? Buying 3 Divine Rapiers as support? going radiance when your carry has it already? That’s not “creativity” that’s throwing the game.

Picking multiple invis heroes.

Picking 5 melee or magic heroes.

AFK Farming While Team Loses Fights

Farming is part of the game—but not during 4v5s when you're needed. Timing is everything.

Toxic Communication

Blaming, flaming, and typing instead of playing damages morale and focus. Keep it clean or mute if needed.

Game Philosophy Reminder

DotA is not about stats, kills, or your personal highlight reel. It’s about contributing to your team’s success.

If you “win your lane but lose the game,” your job isn't done.
If you get fewer kills but secure map control or enable your carry, you’re doing it right.
If you play selfishly you and only looking to KS your hurting the team.
If you are at random locations with no vision and dying from it - you are feeding
if you are not positioned correctly and engage you can wipe out your team.
etc...

Summary: Play the Game As It Was Meant

Work with your team.

Make decisions based on what helps win, not what feels good individually.

Respect the game's legacy and the effort others put in.

Be competitive, but also fair.

Reminder: Players who consistently break these expectations may be warned, muted, or banned. Respect the game, your team, and the community.

[Astros]

Going to be tough to encourage bums on here to play a role.

They're only interested in pleasing themselves.

Players like Titanium will watch you die instead of voodoo/stun and then conveniently, uses finger of death for the kill right after.

Tons of bums who play on a good team expecting to get carried and pick some random shit against a team that goes silencer/omni/bara and then wonders why you can't carry them as you're getting piled on by everyone 1v5.

Players like FromCali who will never buy wards. Doesn't matter when, where, why, how, and what. He just won't buy them. You can tell him to buy it and he will say, "no gold", as if waiting 1 minute for free gold that drops into his shitty Argentinian bank is so difficult to do.

Then you have other bums like hexar, papi, superballer, etc., who you have to beg to get any type of assistance from. you have to threaten them with a ban just for them to read your message. and even then, it works maybe 25% of the time. But because people know what to expect from them every game, it's kinda like a cost of admission to play a game with them knowing if you ban even five of these rejects, the games will never start.

These players are quite obviously dumb in real life, not very much productive value in terms of intellect, and most likely their parent had a complication whilst giving birth to them. Otherwise, you can't explain the mental deficiencies going on in their head to join and play a 50 minute game to essentially miss every last hit on creeps, wander around the map, feed every game, and would only use teleport to teleport away from their teammates in a fight. Think about it; you have to beg them to help in a team game that they signed up to play and they still ignore you. Imagine having a discussion with them in real life about anything worthwhile. They are too stupid to understand anything.

These are basically rules for competitive gameplay. 90% of the players on here don't understand competition. They play DotA because it's the only thing their cheap ass computer can afford to play and the low barrier-to-entry. IMO, ENT should start charging these players to play. Why should this service be paid for and offered to these kinds of ungrateful bums? Make them pay a $5 per month fee and watch these roaches go back to playing solitaire or some shit.

I find that the higher level players in this game don't really serve a role anymore. Every game is universally the same. It's who can carry the game in spite of their bad teammates and whether or not you can farm for your items quicker than your team can go 5-40 or some shit. There is no 'team' aspect of the game. The game turned from "5v5 DotA" to "Can you carry these retards?"

[EdteOfChaos2]

Yeah, unfortunately almost every good player has left ENT (due to a variety of reasons)

It is kind of funny to see iambackk banning a player in like, every single loss he plays. It's not even that they don't deserve it, it's just that nearly all games on ENT are like that these days. Same with jazzy haha, thinks people ruin for him when people actually just ruin no matter what. Recommend not taking it too seriously.

[MIKEJONES]

I agree with the feedback shared above by @EdteOfChaos2 and @Astros.

While we may not be able to change every player's behavior, this guide is an important step toward establishing a clear baseline for what’s expected from anyone choosing to participate in DotA games. If a player is questioned, banned or reported, it's not because admins are arbitrarily interpreting the rules, it’s because their actions are being measured against an established standard.

Our goal with rule enforcement is fully aligned with the points raised above, as well as the official ENT DotA rules outlined here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=146716

Some may feel that enforcing rules to a high standard is no longer relevant given the smaller player base or varying skill levels, there are still many players who understand and respect what the game was originally designed for. At the very least, we should aim for a balanced approach that avoids extremes on either end.

[Jazzy3113]

Yeah, unfortunately almost every good player has left ENT (due to a variety of reasons)

It is kind of funny to see iambackk banning a player in like, every single loss he plays. It's not even that they don't deserve it, it's just that nearly all games on ENT are like that these days. Same with jazzy haha, thinks people ruin for him when people actually just ruin no matter what. Recommend not taking it too seriously.

This is such total bs.

I have documented on my thread a concerted effort by players to totally f*ck me. I have posted game after game showing how trader will carry against me and go 1-13 for me. Or wolfofvester ruin over and over, and then suddenly be normal against me.

Or my favorite troll nubi dubi. Who has continuously ruined for me, and then was a competent naix against me.

And its not just bad players.

Have any of you ever, even once, seen zjarr ruin? Ever? Well i have, and take a guess if it was on my team or against me.

Who are the other 600 elo players on the server? Hexar, easty, superballer, masterpain, pegase, planaria? I am really as ruinious as them? yet im lower elo than them. Im 200 elo behind zika and 13points and spudd. Does that make any sense?

It only makes sense when you accept people see my name and play like morons. And why? Because i mention they suck? Total nonsense.

[MR_Nimbuss]

Jazzy stfu and go live that imaginary life please. Accept you suck just like them and try to get better.

This post is showing that these admins patience is wearing thin on players like you guys. I don't even know why sometimes these admins waste their time explaining on why they ban you players. The real shit, you guys don't respect the privilege's of being able to play dota for free on here while not improving at all. You under the bridge living ass stealing wifi from mcdonalds, starbucks, walmart bums. STFU and respect the players who actually tries to improve the quality of the game to make it competitive. Every game with you fuckers is low quality but the sad part is WE all started the sametime. FOCUS on understanding and playing better before talking PLEASE! FOR example going linkz on destroyer or any heros you pick is the most retarded shit ever BECAUSE You have no idea how to build. How about start there?

[RichardCoffee]

Thanks to Mike, iambackk, and others for the work you're doing.
This is fair. You guys aren't targeting people having a bad game, or even bad players overall. You're just addressing people who don't meet the lowest basic standards (e.g. have slightly relevant items, participate in fights, press the attack button when near someone, etc.)

You under the bridge living ass stealing wifi from mcdonalds, starbucks, walmart bums.

Hold up, read your post up to this point, but I lost the connection. Can you give me 180 seconds to re-connect?

[mk4r32]

09:56 / Allied) bzzRRt: god jazzy
(10:04 / Allied) bzzRRt: fucking cant stand you bro
14:41 / Allied) bzzRRt: jazzy has absolutely no idea what to build in
27:07 / Allied) bzzRRt: midas?
29:05 / All) Jazzy3113: i change heroes up as ytou know
(29:09 / All) Jazzy3113: i never ever play op

Jazzy would abuse the shit out of geo and slark if he actually knew how to play them.

“Is farming all game with midas on jugg but being still under farmer fun for you?”

Why do you build so braindead? You can’t be that stupid.

[Jazzy3113]

09:56 / Allied) bzzRRt: god jazzy
(10:04 / Allied) bzzRRt: fucking cant stand you bro
14:41 / Allied) bzzRRt: jazzy has absolutely no idea what to build in
27:07 / Allied) bzzRRt: midas?
29:05 / All) Jazzy3113: i change heroes up as ytou know
(29:09 / All) Jazzy3113: i never ever play op

Jazzy would abuse the shit out of geo and slark if he actually knew how to play them.

“Is farming all game with midas on jugg but being still under farmer fun for you?”

Why do you build so braindead? You can’t be that stupid.

This game is a perfect example, thank you for posting.

I am the lowest elo on my team. When the game ends, I have the most kills, second most kills and assists and top 2 in hero level. As the lowest elo, I should not be near the top of kills, assists or hero level. You ever seen any other 600 elo do that?

And the reason I get linken is because I am constantly targeted.

If I am getting ganked, my team never tps. If I have an omni or root or dazzle, I am never healed. Maybe i will start getting bkb instead of linken, but i need escape items, since I am never ever helped by my team.

And why is midas bad on jugg? It improves my attack speed.

[Astros]

09:56 / Allied) bzzRRt: god jazzy
(10:04 / Allied) bzzRRt: fucking cant stand you bro
14:41 / Allied) bzzRRt: jazzy has absolutely no idea what to build in
27:07 / Allied) bzzRRt: midas?
29:05 / All) Jazzy3113: i change heroes up as ytou know
(29:09 / All) Jazzy3113: i never ever play op

Jazzy would abuse the shit out of geo and slark if he actually knew how to play them.

“Is farming all game with midas on jugg but being still under farmer fun for you?”

Why do you build so braindead? You can’t be that stupid.

This game is a perfect example, thank you for posting.

I am the lowest elo on my team. When the game ends, I have the most kills, second most kills and assists and top 2 in hero level. As the lowest elo, I should not be near the top of kills, assists or hero level. You ever seen any other 600 elo do that?

And the reason I get linken is because I am constantly targeted.

If I am getting ganked, my team never tps. If I have an omni or root or dazzle, I am never healed. Maybe i will start getting bkb instead of linken, but i need escape items, since I am never ever helped by my team.

And why is midas bad on jugg? It improves my attack speed.

Midas is generally bad in EM mode because gold and XP already comes quick. It's a better item in non-EM mode where gold/XP is sparser. The problem with Midas is there is no survivability stats for a player such as yourself who would need it. So you're going to be dying often which negates arguably the only reason to buy Midas considering you could have just gotten items with better complimentary stats, survive longer, and be able to farm more instead of wasting time respawning. You can't make a case that Midas is better than Yasha if you're focused on what's best for Juggernaut so I don't see why you're even talking about the +30 attack speed. An item could be beneficial to you but that doesn't mean it is the best item to make, which is what others are telling you here.

You're better than Hexar and those other dudes you mentioned. The problem is your negative attitude and constant whining drops team morale, which has been explained to you many times. Planaria and Hexar rarely say anything other than a few sentences. You cry the entire game and because, my guess is your attention span is quite low, you literally stand there afk typing a sequel to Lord of The Rings in something you should easily be able to multitask as an "INVESTMENT BANKER". So you might be 'better' than Hexar and Planaria but overall, you're in the same tier as them for the non-gameplay involved reasons. Hexar and Planaria aren't toxic teammates as much as they are just plain low IQ retarded dumb fucks who don't care about winning.

Take for instance GodSaveQQ and yourself. You're probably a better player than him mechanically but you ignore the parts where GodSaveQQ encourages teammates, plays a solidified role, is open to suggestions and ideas on which items to build, and doesn't spam negative comments to his teammates. If you tell him to get wards, he'll get them. If you tell him to buy TP's and to protect the carry, he'll more often than not, do so. Therefore, GodSaveQQ is a more 'valuable' teammate than you.

You are right... players who probably play better when they're against you play worse when they are with you precisely because of your direct negative impact on your teammates. When someone's on your team, they get distracted by your negativity. It's like an automatic storm cloud over their heads when you're on the team. Everything turns dark and gloomy. When someone is against you, they're not reading your bullshit so they're more focused and aligned with the team. It's almost much more satisfying to put effort into beating a player like yourself because we all know you're mentally breaking down in real-time. It'd be one thing if you were toxic to your teammates but still be able to carry them. It's another when you are toxic and aren't particularly a good player yourself. You don't have the qualifications or authority to be judging anyone at any point of any game. You should just play your own game and focus on contributing to your team in quiet. Unless you're capable of carrying a team, don't make demands that you yourself can't match.

Before the game even starts, any team with you on it is already at a disadvantage. Not because of the players on the team but because you're guaranteed to bring a negative aura to your team. If you could correct that, you'd probably be a much better player than what you're displaying currently. But judging by the fact that you're 8k games in and STILL haven't found a way to get through that hurdle, the reality is you're always going to be a 700-1000 ELO player. You could play another 1000 games and I am willing to bet you still wouldn't be above 1000 ELO. It's not a teammate issue. You can blame teammates for a few games here-and-there. But with the amount of games you've played, at some point, it's a YOU issue.

[GodSaveTheQQs]

You are right... players who probably play better when they're against you play worse when they are with you precisely because of your direct negative impact on your teammates. When someone's on your team, they get distracted by your negativity. It's like an automatic storm cloud over their heads when you're on the team. Everything turns dark and gloomy. When someone is against you, they're not reading your bullshit so they're more focused and aligned with the team. It's almost much more satisfying to put effort into beating a player like yourself because we all know you're mentally breaking down in real-time. It'd be one thing if you were toxic to your teammates but still be able to carry them. It's another when you are toxic and aren't particularly a good player yourself. You don't have the qualifications or authority to be judging anyone at any point of any game. You should just play your own game and focus on contributing to your team in quiet. Unless you're capable of carrying a team, don't make demands that you yourself can't match.

Exactly to the point and 100% correct. But he can't understand that. And unfortunately he never will.

[Jazzy3113]

You know whats annoying, you all pretend i start off the game like a salty sociopath.

You have all played games with me where i dont say a peep? Why? Because for once no one on my team acts like a retard and feeds early or ruins or acts like an ass.

I only get upset when someone clearly is ruining. Like mid is in his lane, me and my partner are in our lane, no one is ganking. But the two morons in the top lane are down 0-5 5 mins into the game. Like how the f*ck is it so hard to not feed early. I can understand a bara gank or the mid hero gets a haste rune or something.

But when you have a buffet going on at the top lane, how the hell is someone supposed to stay composed.

And on top of that, people blatantly type in the chat theyre going to suck for me. And its not like they are teasing, cause they do ruin.

Lets take god saves for example. I agree that he plays well sometimes. Just why is it never for me? Against me he always chooses abba and team shields or goes nort and rushes scepter. What does he do on my team? Massive feed as rylai. EVERY TIME. How is it variance when he chooses the hero he sucks with?

Do you know what hero trader chooses when on my team? Its never lesh or lc. It always god damn bat, and he then proceeds to tower dive and start the game 0-7.

Remember when i played under a new name for awhile? ZERO ruined games.

[GodSaveTheQQs]

Lets take god saves for example. I agree that he plays well sometimes. Just why is it never for me? Against me he always chooses abba and team shields or goes nort and rushes scepter. What does he do on my team? Massive feed as rylai. EVERY TIME. How is it variance when he chooses the hero he sucks with?

Lie no1: I ve played with you countless games as Abba and i always shield-heal you and my teammates in every occassion. In every fight i m in. You dont wanna see others play Abbadon so they only shield themselves and doesnt care about supporting the carries or other supporters too. trust me. So dont tell me bullshit. I can remember games when you picked Axe and never cut and even then i was close to you when we were same lane jsut to protect you early. Same with others heroes you've played. Its very convinient for you to remember only the bad games and not the ones you've won with me and others. You dont seem to understand that every games differs from the other. Other teammates, other opponents, other picks, diff lanes, diff gameplay even if the general philoshophy of the game remain the same for all of us on ENT.

Lie no2: I never played Rylai lol infact i ve never played Rylai all those years i'm playing Dota . Not even once. Maybe 1 time back in the past if the game was arem. You are confused. Zika plays Rylai not me.

[Astros]

You know whats annoying, you all pretend i start off the game like a salty sociopath.

You have all played games with me where i dont say a peep? Why? Because for once no one on my team acts like a retard and feeds early or ruins or acts like an ass.

I only get upset when someone clearly is ruining. Like mid is in his lane, me and my partner are in our lane, no one is ganking. But the two morons in the top lane are down 0-5 5 mins into the game. Like how the f*ck is it so hard to not feed early. I can understand a bara gank or the mid hero gets a haste rune or something.

But when you have a buffet going on at the top lane, how the hell is someone supposed to stay composed.

And on top of that, people blatantly type in the chat theyre going to suck for me. And its not like they are teasing, cause they do ruin.

Lets take god saves for example. I agree that he plays well sometimes. Just why is it never for me? Against me he always chooses abba and team shields or goes nort and rushes scepter. What does he do on my team? Massive feed as rylai. EVERY TIME. How is it variance when he chooses the hero he sucks with?

Do you know what hero trader chooses when on my team? Its never lesh or lc. It always god damn bat, and he then proceeds to tower dive and start the game 0-7.

Remember when i played under a new name for awhile? ZERO ruined games.

Because you stayed quiet like you should and didn't distract your teammates with your negativity? How isn't this obvious to you? You might have a job as an investment banker but don't mistake that for being intelligent. You're displaying sheer level of poor reading comprehension and ability to understand basic concepts.

[shi7688]

“We reserve all the right for the final explanation”
i think they forgot this.