Find the next threshold
Use your current in-game MMR to locate your star range. Compare it with the next star in the table above.
Guardian follows Herald and leads to Crusader. Find your MMR bracket and choose fights you can finish safely.
Percentage of tracked profiles by rank
| Rank | Profiles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Herald | 775,124 | 9.09% |
| Guardian | 1,381,694 | 16.20% |
| Crusader | 1,647,681 | 19.31% |
| Archon | 1,658,718 | 19.44% |
| Legend | 1,357,091 | 15.91% |
| Ancient | 867,613 | 10.17% |
| Divine | 501,303 | 5.88% |
| Immortal | 341,682 | 4.01% |
| Rank | Profiles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Guardian 1 | 249,063 | 2.92% |
| Guardian 2 | 264,645 | 3.10% |
| Guardian 3 | 278,919 | 3.27% |
| Guardian 4 | 289,756 | 3.40% |
| Guardian 5 | 299,311 | 3.51% |
Source: OpenDota · 8,530,906 tracked profiles · Retrieved Sep 11, 2026. This is a sample, not all active players.
Before chasing a low-health opponent, look at the tower, your allies and the enemies you cannot see.
Use your current in-game MMR to locate your star range. Compare it with the next star in the table above.
Review the point where a useful trade turned into a chase.
Review the point where a useful trade turned into a chase.
Judge one choice you can influence, rather than everything that happened in the match.
Watch that moment again with the information you had at the time. Note a decision you would repeat or change.
OpenDota rank distribution ↗The distribution is a dated tracked-profile sample. Practice advice is editorial.

Dota 2 Guardian starts around 770 MMR and sits between Herald and Crusader. The star table gives you smaller rating targets within the medal. For your next games, the practical focus is deciding when a favorable trade should end instead of becoming a risky chase.
Dota 2 Guardian starts at approximately 770 MMR. Its fifth star begins at approximately 1,386 MMR.
Use your current in-game MMR to find a Guardian star, then compare it with the next row. The boundaries are community estimates. They describe the rating ladder; they do not measure whether you are good at a particular role or hero.
For example, 1,000 MMR falls in Guardian 2. The estimated Guardian 3 threshold is 1,078 MMR, leaving a gap of 78 MMR. This is a rating difference, not a fixed number of wins; the gains and losses in your actual matches determine your progress.
| Dota 2 rank | Estimated MMR | Tracked profiles | Share of full sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guardian 1 | 770–923 MMR | 249,063 | 2.92% |
| Guardian 2 | 924–1,077 MMR | 264,645 | 3.10% |
| Guardian 3 | 1,078–1,231 MMR | 278,919 | 3.27% |
| Guardian 4 | 1,232–1,385 MMR | 289,756 | 3.40% |
| Guardian 5 | 1,386–1,539 MMR | 299,311 | 3.51% |
Guardian accounts for 16.20% of the tracked sample: 1,381,694 profiles out of 8,530,906. The snapshot was retrieved on Sep 11, 2026.
The medal share combines all five stars. Profiles below this medal include only lower medal families, so that figure is not your exact personal percentile.
This is a tracked-profile sample rather than a census of active players. Its retrieval date does not establish when each profile was observed.
Guardian sits above Herald and below Crusader in the Dota 2 medal ladder.
Use the next star for a smaller goal or the next medal for a broader one. Both tables use the same estimated thresholds.
| Dota 2 rank | Estimated entry MMR | Position on the ladder |
|---|---|---|
| Herald | ~0 MMR | Previous medal |
| Guardian | ~770 MMR | This medal |
| Crusader | ~1,540 MMR | Next medal |

An enemy leaves the lane with little health after a trade. Your ally is behind you, your main spell is unavailable and the opponent is retreating toward a tower. Another enemy has disappeared from the nearby lane. The kill looks close, but reaching it requires moving away from help.
Continue only if you can finish the attempt without relying on an ally who cannot reach you. If the tower, missing enemies or spell cooldown make the chase unsafe, stop and use the space you gained. Collect the wave, recover or help your lane partner instead of turning an advantage into a death.
Pause as the enemy starts retreating. Check your actual attack or spell reach, the ally distance and the route toward the tower. Identify the moment when the next step stopped being a trade and became a commitment you could not safely undo.
Know where you will move if the opponent survives your first spells. Keep that route close enough to allies to receive help. If the retreat route requires running deeper toward the enemy tower, reconsider how far forward you start.
Look at their position and available spells before assuming they will follow. A teammate recovering under your tower cannot instantly join a chase. A short ping before you move gives them a chance to react.
Forcing an opponent away can let you collect creeps, recover or reposition. Choose one of those gains deliberately. You do not need to turn every favorable exchange into a kill for the exchange to have helped your lane.
The MMR Calculator compares your current rating with a target and shows how different win-rate assumptions change the estimated climb.
Enter your current MMR, target, expected gains and losses. Compare several win rates rather than treating a recent winning streak as your permanent pace. These inputs describe a projection, not a promotion date.
The estimated entry point for Guardian is 770 MMR. Check the star table for the rest of the bracket; these are community estimates, not guaranteed Valve promotion rules.
Crusader follows Guardian on the Dota 2 medal ladder. The comparison above uses the same estimated thresholds as the rest of this page.
Review a chase that continued after the initial trade ended. Find the last position from which you could leave safely, then identify what changed: an enemy disappeared, a spell was unavailable or an ally fell behind. Use that signal to make your next stop-or-go decision earlier.
The medal alone is not a reason to abandon a hero. First check whether you understand its lane, spells and useful items. A small familiar hero pool makes it easier to notice decision errors because you are not relearning a different kit in every match.