Dota 2: SEA Server vs EU Server – Which Server is Better and Why?

Dota2 is arguably the most played and most complicated MOBA game ever created. The game created and published by Valve Corp has its own online matchmaking server where players can join Normal Pub matches or Ranked Matches. Even though most prestigious tournaments are on LAN the game is mainly played on online servers. Does not matter if you are a professional player or not, you have to play your Ranked games on these servers to gain or drop your Match Making Rank which is also a huge decider of whether you can become a professional or not.

The Servers:

Dota2 has servers for every region however now all of them are for Ranked games. While there are servers dedicated to a country such as Indian Server or Japan Server, there are also servers that are dedicated to an entire region and so they have a larger players base which results in a faster Match Making time.

Few of the highly populated and most renowned servers are South-East Asia server (SEA), EU West, EU East, China, and North America (NA).

The Player Base:

Every server has its own player base, the player base made of people living in that region. The servers are well maintained but the priority of maintenance depends on the player pool. The far away the server is from you the higher ping you will get on these servers. Higher the ping you get, laggier it is. In a game like Dota2, nobody wants to lag or drop their FPS. EU server is mostly crowded with the player base from Europe region, a little bit or Russian player base, Peruvian player base and so on. NA servers are mostly crowded with players from America and Canada. SEA server is mostly crowded with players from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia and neighborhood countries.

Controversy and Claims against the Servers

“Toxic” is one of those overused terms when it comes to online gaming and Dota2 is no different. We often hear players complaining about a server being toxic. Not just regular pub players even pro players have complained a lot about certain servers. Racism has been a part of every online game but in Dota2 it has taken a very deeper dig in few regions. We often hear players of EU servers complaining about Peruvians while SEA server players complaining about players from the Philippines. What else really make a server better or unplayable? Here we tried to break it down the things that matter and end the long-term controversy of which server is better. Eu or SEA?

#1 Player Toxicity

SEA: Sea is considered not one of the most but the most toxic server. Reason? Players with toxic behaviors, stupid decision making, and other toxic character traits. However, every server has those 11-year-olds that will abuse you and tell how they slept with your family member but is there any reason a server can be overpopulated with these kids? Unfortunately yes. Larger the player base, higher the number of toxic people. SEA player base is mostly dependant on players from Philippines, Indonesia, and India. India has its own server for unranked matchmaking so there the number goes down a little. But the Philippines and Indonesia have a huge player base. Almost 70% of the SEA server crowd is from these 2 countries and mainly from the Philippines. This is what boosted the number of toxic players as well. The players from internet cafes, underaged and not so mature player base and the overconfident ones. This is what really make SEA toxic.

EU: EU has a more sophisticated player base. You might deal with a few toxic players here and there but the number is way less than SEA server. Be it Unranked or Ranked you get to see more people that want to work as a team and has some basic manners. In those situations, unless you are not the toxic one starting the verbal war, there is a chance the game will go pretty smooth.

#2 Player Skill

SEA: The main problem with the SEA server that makes the game really unplayable is lack of will to work as a team. Everyone wants to prove something. Everyone wants to be the hero. And then you often forget that every role is a hero on their own, in their field. In lower skill bracket you barely get to see support. Which makes the game unplayable. In the average skill bracket, you do see support who don’t want to support. And in the higher skill bracket, you see the support that will not trust their carry enough or have less patience. In a nutshell, in SEA server you barely get to see any kind of team play which is why a lot player complains that their win-rate drops drastically in SEA server.

EU: Why most people want to queue in EU is the exact opposite reason of SEA. In EU you meet players who understand their role. The supports play as a support, the Core play as a core. Be it a low skill bracket or high bracket, the quality of team play is really high in EU. Which is why a lot of players want to queue in EU for their solo ranked matches because it is really important to work as a team to win games. As long as you are playing your role fine you can pretty much trust your teammates.

On the other hand, I believe SEA players are better when it comes to individual skills. As they learn and grow as a player in a situation where lack of team play is a huge issue they learn to take things in their hand and that takes a huge part in developing their individual skill. SEA players are more dependable on individual performances while EU players are perfect for team plays and mostly work as a team.

#3 Server Maintenance

SEA: SEA server deals with a lot of traffic on a daily basis. But Servers like India or Japan are very very low maintenance servers and so is the SEA. Even though SEA is one of the most popular servers it still is a low maintenance one. The servers are often down or not working properly.

EU: Compared to SEA EU is a very high maintenance server. Would not say first world perks but who knows. If we compare the traffic SEA and EU pretty much deals with the same amount of traffic but you can always tell how smooth EU servers are.

If you play from SEA region you can simply try it yourself. In SEA server you will lag if the ping goes any higher than 80 or 90 but you deal with less lag in EU even with a ping of 130 or higher.

#4 Communication

SEA: Communication is a bigger issue than anything in SEA server. The region is so diverse that most of the players speak a different language. There’s nothing bad in speaking your own language but it is very stupid to assume that everyone else will understand your language. Over the years “Putangina mo” and “BOBO” has become a well-known meme in the Dota2 player community. Players from different countries speak a different language but if all of them could or would have spoken a little English it would a be a lot easier to communicate.

EU: EU is way ahead of SEA when it comes to communication. Communication is the key, it is the only thing that builds up your coordination with a team that you have just met in solo rank. The positive side in EU is that even though there are players from the different region who speaks a different language but they can also speak English. Well, we can agree that most of them can speak English even if it is not fluent enough. Sometimes we deal with the “Cyka Blyats” but besides that, in communication EU is ahead of SEA server by miles.

The year-old debate ends here. If you go through the analysis and if you have played in both the servers you already know why EU is a better server than SEA quality wise.

Solution

Honestly, there are not many things you can do to avoid toxicity in a game like Dota2 with its huge player base. You can switch servers but then you might be dealing with a huge lag unless you have a very strong internet connection, and playing with lag is not better than playing with toxic teammates. There is only one solution to dodge toxicity and that is to make your behavior score better. Match Making algorithm keeps track of your behavior during your game and that makes a huge impact on your Matchmaking. Try not to be toxic one, even tho you are getting flamed and abused try communicating well, just do your part. Do this for 10-15 games straight and you can see the changes yourself. With a bad behavior score, you will get matched with toxic players even in EU. And with a good behavior score, you will get decent players that use some form of communication even in SEA server. I will not say that it will change your experience drastically but it will get you a better matchmaking than your current matchmaking state.