Valve Squashes Dota 2 MMR!

In the latest Summer Scrub update, Valve has done a long awaited change. The recent update squashed MMR for Immortal ranked players.

This impacts everyone above the 5630 threshold. The result is that the gap between pro players and regular immortals has been greatly reduced.

How Valve changed the Dota 2 MMR system 

In the past, players could grind to crazy high MMR levels. This was due to many abusing the Double Down tokens. Often two players would agree to exchange wins, with each one doubling down on their victory. The result was a guranteed victory every two games. 

This resulted in hughly inflated accounts. MMR limits went from 12,000 to 18,000 recently. And while pros weren't abusing this mechanic, they also used double down tokens to speed up their ladder climbs and set new MMR records monthly.

Valve has finally said enough is enough. Summer Scrub squashes player's MMR with a 9,500 limit. This makes it significantly easier for new Immortals to reach leaderboards, while also more accurately depicting the gap between regular players and professionals. 

Players maintain their leaderboard position

One thing that didn't change for anyone is that their place in the leaderboard remains the same. If you were rank 1 before, you're still rank 1 now. Just the gaps between players are far smaller than before.

I played one game aftter this adjustment to see exactly how it works. I was rank 3000 before and each win or loss moved me 50 spots up or down the leaderboard. 

After losing 1.3k MMR, I moved over 200 spots up with one victory. Which feels amazing but also means that you can descend really quickly if you lost. Overal, it is good to be able to make significant progress on the leaderboard and know that you can be withing striking distance of Dota 2 pros now.

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Featured Image Source: Valve