Dota 2 Ranks Explained (2026): Every Medal from Herald to Immortal

Dota 2 doesn't print a rating on your profile. Other players see a medal with up to five stars, and the number behind it, your matchmaking rating (MMR), is visible only to you. That makes the ladder easy to read and hard to measure. This guide lays it out as it stands on 2 November 2026, on patch 7.41f: every medal in order with Valve's own icons, the community MMR behind each star, how a ranked game moves you, how Immortal and the regional leaderboards work, where most players sit, and what you need before your first medal.

Every Dota 2 medal in order

The ladder has seven medals with five stars each, then Immortal, which has no stars. Stars count upward, so a Herald 5 who gains a star becomes Guardian 1, and the climb from Herald 1 to Immortal passes 36 steps. These are the medals you see in the game:

Herald 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

Guardian 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

Crusader 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

Archon 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

Legend 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

Ancient 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

Divine 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

Immortal no stars

Valve's ranked medals, lowest first. Herald to Divine have five stars each (1 is the lowest); Immortal has none and shows a leaderboard place instead. Game images © Valve Corporation

The table adds where each medal sits on the 36-step ladder, the community MMR range behind it, and how many of the players OpenDota tracks hold it. The MMR figures are not Valve's: Valve has never published them, and they are a guide, not a rule.

Medal	Steps (of 36)	Community MMR	MMR a star	Tracked players*
Herald	1–5	0–769	154	8.0 %
Guardian	6–10	770–1,539	154	14.9 %
Crusader	11–15	1,540–2,309	154	18.7 %
Archon	16–20	2,310–3,079	154	20.0 %
Legend	21–25	3,080–3,849	154	17.7 %
Ancient	26–30	3,850–4,619	154	10.7 %
Divine	31–35	4,620–5,619	200	6.1 %
Immortal	36	5,620+	no stars	3.9 %

*OpenDota's rank distribution, read 2 November 2026: 8,768,869 accounts with a medal. It counts only accounts OpenDota tracks and is a community figure, not Valve's. MMR ranges: community table (Valve doesn't publish cut-offs).

Medals and MMR: what the numbers mean

Your medal is a picture of a hidden number. MMR is the rating the matchmaker uses to build fair games, and since 3 March 2020 there has been one ranked MMR for every position (the old separate core and support ratings were merged). You can see your own exact MMR; other players see only the medal and its stars, or your leaderboard place if you're high enough.

Because Valve doesn't publish the line between stars, the numbers players quote come from the community: 154 MMR a star from Herald to Ancient (770 a medal), 200 a star in Divine (1,000 for the medal), and Immortal from about 5,620. That last figure has some official backing. In patch 7.33c (May 2023) Valve "raised the minimum MMR to be eligible for Immortal Draft from 5620 to 6500", so 5,620 was a line Valve itself used at the top of the ladder.

A worked example: an account on 2,700 MMR sits above Archon 1 (2,310) by 390. At 154 a star that is two full stars and part of a third, so the medal shows Archon 3, the band from 2,618 to 2,771. Our MMR guide has the floor of every star.

How you move between stars

Every ranked game moves your MMR, and the medal follows when you cross a star's line. There are no promotion games. How far one game moves you comes from Valve's patch 7.33c notes: Valve "modified the MMR gained and lost from matches when teams have varying skill" so that the change reflects each team's expected chance of winning, and for players with high Rank Confidence the result is "closer to +/-25 MMR". In practice:

• Even teams, settled account: about +25 for a win and −25 for a loss.
• Your team rated higher: a win pays less and a loss costs more.
• Your team rated lower: a win pays more and a loss costs less.
• Low Rank Confidence (a new or recalibrating account): every change is bigger, in both directions.

At ±25 a star below Divine is about six net wins (154 ÷ 25 = 6.2), a whole medal about 31, and Divine 1 to Immortal about 40 (1,000 ÷ 25). Net wins means wins minus losses: at a 55 % win rate you gain one net win every ten games, so Legend 1 to Ancient 1 takes roughly 310 games. That arithmetic uses community thresholds; your own gains depend on your teams.

Your first medal: calibration

Ranked unlocks after 100 hours played with a unique phone number on your Steam account, and only while you're not in Low Priority (the full list is in our ranked requirements guide). Then you calibrate. Since patch 7.33 (April 2023) there is no fixed number of calibration games: your medal appears once your Rank Confidence reaches 30 %, so some accounts get it sooner than others. Guides that still say "ten calibration games" describe the old system.

While confidence is low your MMR moves a long way per game, so a few early wins or losses shift your first medal a lot, whether it lands in Crusader or Ancient. Valve doesn't publish where a new account's MMR starts. The details, and when a recalibration is worth it, are in calibration and recalibration explained.

Immortal and the leaderboards

Immortal is the top medal, from about 5,620 MMR by the community table. It has no stars. Instead, players high enough on their region's leaderboard see their place number on the medal. There are four leaderboard divisions: Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia and China. When we read Valve's leaderboard feed on 1 November 2026, 15:13 UTC, it named its next update for 16:13 UTC, so the boards refresh about every hour.

At the very top the rules change. Since 19 March 2025, any ranked game with a player above 8,500 MMR uses Immortal Draft rules, and those players must register a permanent official name to queue ranked, can't queue ranked as a party, and don't appear in public match history. Valve put 8,500 at "the top 0.5% of players". Everything about the top is in our Immortal and leaderboard guide.

Where most players sit

Valve doesn't publish a medal distribution, so every percentage table online is third-party. The largest public one is OpenDota's. Read on 2 November 2026, it covered 8,768,869 accounts with a medal:

• 20.0 %Archon, the largest medal
• Archon 3the median tracked player
• 10.1 %Divine 1 and above
• 3.9 %hold the Immortal medal

Treat those as rough. OpenDota counts only the accounts it tracks, its data carries no date, inactive accounts may still be counted, and since March 2025 games with a player above 8,500 MMR are hidden from public APIs. Valve's own anchors measure something else: in March 2025 it called 6,500 MMR "roughly the top 1.5%" and 8,500 "the top 0.5%" of players. Our rank distribution guide has the star-by-star table.

No seasons, optional recalibration

Dota 2 used to reset ranks with numbered seasons. That ended in 2020: the last numbered season was in October 2020, and there have been no seasonal resets since. Your medal simply carries over, and it moves only when you play ranked.

What replaced the reset is recalibration: an optional re-measure you can choose once a year. It lowers the system's confidence in your MMR so the next games move you further, up or down, until it settles again. Valve's update of 7 August 2025 "fixed the MMR Recalibration button not functioning", which confirms the button is still in the game. Don't recalibrate on a whim: you get one a year.

Ranked is queued by position (Ranked Roles), but your medal is the same whichever position you play. Our positions guide explains the queue.

Help with the climb

If the medal is the goal and the hours aren't there, our Dota 2 services are priced star by star from the same engine as checkout. Archon 1 to Legend 1, five stars, is $20.03 today, and Divine 1 to Immortal $92.25, since the top stars are slower. Dota 2 boosting isn't open for orders yet: get the launch alert on the Dota 2 page.

Know the rules first. The Steam Subscriber Agreement (updated 10 September 2026) says your account is personal and forbids sharing it or charging others to use it, and in December 2023 Valve stated that accounts "shared with other users or services" received a game ban. Read our Risk Disclosure and is Dota 2 boosting bannable? before you order. Coaching is the option that stays inside the rules.

• Climb: MMR Boost from any star to Immortal, piloted or duo, in the position you pick.
• Calibrate: Calibration Games, priced by your last medal (Herald if the account is new).
• Push: Ranked Wins at your medal; losses don't count toward the total.

Related guides: MMR and Rank Confidence · calibration and recalibration · Immortal and the leaderboards · rank distribution