How to Raise Communication Score in Dota 2

Dota’s communication score is more than two years old by now, yet very few players seem to actually understand how this system works. In this article, we’ll try to remedy this sad state of affairs by explaining everything you need to know about the communication score in Dota 2.

What is a Communication Score in Dota 2?

The Dota 2 communication score is a behavior metric introduced by Valve in the 2023 Summer Client Update in an attempt to reduce toxicity in player interactions. The system tracks in-game text/voice chat and assigns each player a score from 0 to 12k. Depending on your score, you can gain or lose access to certain game features:

1. 3,000 — below this point, all your messages will have a 30-second cooldown.
2. 5,000+ — now you can draw on the map.
3. 6,000+ — enables text chat and mini profile.
4. 7,000+ — allows you to tip other players and request coaches.
5. 8,000+ — you can use voice chat.
6. 10,000+ — unlocks all available features, including coaching and pinging ally abilities and items.

What’s more, the score can heavily affect even game elements unrelated to communication (like queue times). This naturally leads to the most important question: how to increase a communication score in Dota 2? As usual, it's better to prevent the problem than to fix it.

How to Check Communication Score in Dota 2

Let’s review the telltale signs that your communication score is low and in need of your attention. Apart from the restrictions we’ve already mentioned, there is more stuff that might indicate you have a low score:

Voice/Text Chat Might Be Disabled

The first thing you should do to check if your communication score is low is to try to talk in the game or use some communication features. The voice chat is available only for players with an 8k+ score, while using the text chat requires at least 6k.

Longer Search

If you have a low behavior and communication score, you’ll likely experience longer search queues. It usually takes around 1–2 minutes to find a match at 9–10k, while dropping it to 3–5k might increase the search time to 5–15 minutes.

Poor Team Dynamics

MMR is far from the only parameter that determines what kind of players you’ll see in your games. Whatever your communication score is, you can expect to be paired with people roughly at your level. And, as you might have guessed, players usually end up in a low behavior pool because they deserve it. So, if your teammates are griefing, going AFK, role abusing, or engaging in some other toxic behavior all the time, it might be time to check whether you are in low-communication matchmaking.

If you experience any of these signs, go and check your communication score:

1. Open the Dota 2 profile by clicking on your portrait.

1. From there, find the Player Behavior Summary section on the top-right.

1. Click on it to see extended statistics with the last update date, successful reports, graphs, and other information.

How Does Valve Analyze Your Communication?

To get a communication score up in Dota 2, you need to first learn how Valve evaluates your communication behavior.

The primary factor affecting your score is the report count. And it’s kind of broken, as players can report one another as much as they want. There are 6 options that can be used separately or all at once: toxic chat, toxic voice, smurfing, griefing, cheating, and role abuse. Unfortunately, players abuse reports all the time, and you can get one simply because one of your teammates happens to dislike your avatar.

One more thing that affects your communication score is how frequently players mute you. If you want to get 10k+, you need to be the chillest person in the room and use your mic only for important info/tactical calls.

Additionally, receiving commendations slightly improves your communication score. However, the increase is so minuscule you’ll need more than 10 commendations to compensate for a single report.

Ways to Improve Your Communication Score

Now, let’s get to the main point: how to raise a communication score in Dota 2. To put it simply, you need to be a perfect teammate.

Use Voice and Text Chat Constructively

Try to communicate only when necessary. Many calls can be easily done with a simple ping. A lot of players will report you simply for being annoying, which will negatively impact your communication score.

Avoid Arguments

Different players often have different (or even clashing) perspectives on what happens in the match. Dota 2 is known for its toxic community, so you will be aggressively asked to defend your actions rather often. However, if you’re aiming to raise the score, you’ll have to ignore these calls and simply keep playing.

Avoid Getting Reported

Simply put, you need a play-to-win mindset — do your best, don’t flame, and don’t grief, whatever the situation is. If you can stay helpful and drop an occasional WP to your opponents, your chances of getting reported drop even more.

How Often Does a Communication Score Update?

So, we’ve figured out how to improve a communication score in Dota 2. Now, let’s see how long it takes. The score is actually updated after every game, but players get to see the changes only after playing 15 matches. While you can check your numbers in the profile at any time, the summary you can find there is based on the last report you got, and might not take into account the changes you’ve received since. Depending on your current score, getting to a 10k+ can take you from several days to several months.

Conclusion

Mastering communications in Dota 2 isn’t just about avoiding penalties; it’s about providing and receiving a better experience overall. Now that you understand how it works and how to improve it, you’re one step closer to climbing out of the low pool and into smoother, more cooperative environments.