Why you will never get out of low behavior score hell in DotA 2, no matter what you do, or how hard you try.

The default main priority of behavior score is not to fight toxicity. 

It’s to fight game ruining behavior. 

In other words, did your teammates LOSE the game BECAUSE OF YOU? 

If not, you’re exonerated. 

Oh my God, Linken Borroughs is a free man. ~ The governor’s daughter, prison break 

You think it’s about whether or not you got reported. It is not. You can still gain behavior score despite getting reported MORE than the previous update, which you lost behavior score despite getting reported less than the current one. 

For a simple reason. You did not grief your games. 

You had the intention of winning, and you actually tried hard to make that happen, not just wanted to but did your absolute best trying to not lose the game. 

Key point here. You don’t have to win. You just have to not try to lose. Your contribution towards your team’s defeat has to be zero or as close to zero as humanly possible. 

In other words, you lost ENTIRELY because of your teammates. 

The system then invalidates all reports against you, and gives you better teammates next game. Which might look like forced 50, from a certain point of view. 

A certain point of view? ~ Luke Skywalker 

Everything I said earlier is true for the main pool only. 

If you are below 300 games, you are going to experience the most absolute worst games humanly possible, the absolute worst human experience in all space time. Pure torture nonstop. Even if you’re above 9k behavior score. 

For a simple reason. The system has no idea who you are. 

This is like not getting lucky on your first date, or the second, or the third, because “she doesn’t know you yet”. 

In this case you might find that 9k is indistinguishable from 4k behavior score in every way. 

Hang in there, do not think to yourself “behavior score doesn’t matter so I’ll actively try to ruin it” yet. 

Because this is only until you hit the main pool. 

Hitting the main pool will feel like when your main character in Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion finally makes it out of jail and his head emerges above the water for the very first time in a long while. 

Nothing compares to the open sea. ~ Sindbad 

All you need is Get calibrated. Get your first rank. Quit ranked DotA for a while. And then play unranked only, until you hit the main pool. Everything will be different. Normal, if you ask me. Balanced. Playable. 

Ask yourself, why does the guy who breaks his items and runs down mid repeatedly to feed gets a huge overwatch penalty instantly afterwards regardless of why he decided to do it?

Because he is a griefer.

Because he fed.

Say it in legal terms please.

Ahem, it’s because he has clearly demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that he has no intention whatsoever to win this game.

And what he did was the highest and most certain way of establishing that lack of intention towards winning the game as an unshakeable fact.

Exactly.

It is not because he was trying to piss you off. It’s not because he was annoying. It’s not because what he did was toxic and caused you pain.

It’s because what he did made your chances of winning this game substantially lower. In other words, you are likely going to lose the game because of what he did.

On the other hand, if you always move with the team, fight hard only when they decide to fight, and cast all your spells in a genuine attempt to win this fight, you will never lose behavior score, even if you lose the whole game and everybody ends up reporting everybody. Because that registers as good team coordination, that you actively participated in, to the best of your ability.

Now the problem most of you run into is thinking I’ll say nothing in chat, pick a support, fly under the radar, and then I’ll get reported less, and then I’ll climb. 

It’s not going to work, because you have not demonstrated that you had any intention of winning those games. 

You were just “not doing anything wrong or toxic”. But you weren’t doing anything right either. 

What I’m trying to tell you here that getting a rampage cancels all reports against you. As opposed to I bought the right support items and I pulled the lane. I didn’t grief. 

You died 0/19/6 on Crystal Maiden. If you get reported that’s a death sentence. EVEN IF YOU DIDN’T GRIEF, INTENTIONALLY. 

Because you ruined the game. 

The system will slowly but surely make sure you end up herald IV with 4k behavior score in no time. 

Rule number one: Don’t die. 

Rule number two: Follow rule number one. 

I’m a man of my word. ~ Joker 

In order to gain behavior score, you have to pretend to care. And do everything right, even if you’re right about being tilted. That is for reports. You report everybody else in the lobby. But that should not affect your gameplay. 

Get out there and fight, to death. No matter the cost. 

That’s why there’s no surrender button. 

That’s why you couldn’t destroy me. ~ Luke Skywalker 

You think they look at instances of grief and toxicity and punish you accordingly. 

No, they are looking at you and asking themselves: is this guy the reason why his team is losing? Is it his fault? Did he contribute to the loss at all? Could he have done anything about it? Did he ruin the game or the chances of his team winning the game at all? 

Don’t focus on minimizing toxicity. Focus on winning all games, even the unwinnable ones. 

Even the scary ones? 

Especially the scary ones. ~ Thomas Wayne 

Are you trying to say to me that all I need to raise my behavior score is to get good bruh, and stomp hard every single game even if it’s unwinnable? 

I’m trying to tell you, that when you’re 12k behavior score, you won’t have to.