You just finished a wild 65-minute Dota 2 match where your hard support spammed heals, blocked three back-to-back ganks, and even gave you their Aegis to secure the rampage you’ve been chasing for months. You want to show your genuine gratitude, but you’re not sure how to commend in Dota 2, or if your recognition even matters to other players. A lot of new players overlook the commend system, but it’s one of the small, underrated features that makes the Dota 2 community feel less toxic and more connected, even after the most high-stakes ranked games. This guide will walk you through every part of the commend system, from the basic steps to give recognition to how you can earn more commends for your own play.
How to Commend in Dota 2 Step-by-Step
Giving a commend is a lot simpler than many new players assume, and you don’t have to navigate through multiple hidden menus to do it. Right after a match ends, you’ll land on the post-game scoreboard that shows every player’s KDA, GPM, XPM, item builds, and overall match impact. To the right of each player’s name, you’ll see a small, unobtrusive thumbs-up icon. Clicking that icon will bring up four commend categories: Leadership, Friendly, Forgiveness, and Skill, so you can pick the one that best fits the player’s contribution during the match.
If you play Dota 2 on a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse, you can navigate to the player’s name using your D-pad, then select the commend option from the pop-up action menu. You can commend both teammates and opponents, which a lot of players don’t realize, and you can give up to 3 commends per match, regardless of whether you won or lost. You can only submit commends within 5 minutes of the match ending, so don’t tab out immediately if you want to recognize someone for their play.
You don’t have to fill out any extra info or send a message along with your commend, either. The player will get a small notification at the end of the match letting them know they received a commend, and what category it was in, so they know exactly what they did right.
When You Should (and Shouldn’t) Give a Commend
A lot of new players only give commends to the highest-scoring carry on their team, but there are plenty of other situations where a commend is well-deserved. For example, if your teammate picked a support hero they don’t usually play just to fill the team comp and avoid a dodge, that’s a great reason to give them a commend, even if you ended up losing the match. If someone stayed calm and called good plays when the rest of your team was flaming each other after a bad team fight, that’s also worth recognizing. You can even commend opponents who played fair, avoided taunting, and made the match fun even if you lost.
There are also times when you shouldn’t waste a commend. Don’t give commends to players who beg for them in all chat or spam “commend me” after the match ends, because that defeats the purpose of genuine recognition. You also shouldn’t commend players who flamed their teammates, used exploits, or intentionally threw the match just to troll. Never give out commends as part of a trade, like “commend me and I’ll commend you” – this undermines the whole point of the system, which is to reward actual good behavior, not bartering.
Sometimes you might finish a match feeling burnt out, especially if it was a 70-minute slog that ended in a close loss, and you don’t feel like going through the commend screen at all. That’s totally normal; many players step away from their desk for a quick 5-minute break between matches to reset their mood before queuing again. If you’re looking for a low-stakes, quick distraction to get your mind off a tough loss, you can load up Rummy Grand for a few rounds before you jump back into ranked.
How to Earn More Commends From Other Players
You don’t have to be a top 1% MMR player with a 20-kill game every match to earn commends. Most players give out commends for good team play and sportsmanship, not just high KDA scores, so even support players with 0 kills and 15 assists can rack up dozens of commends a week if they play well with their team. If you want to get more commends consistently, follow these simple tips:
Commends aren’t just a meaningless vanity metric, either. Your behavior score is directly impacted by the number of commends and reports you receive, so earning positive recognition has real, tangible benefits for your future matches. Players with higher behavior scores get matched with less toxic teammates, shorter queue times, and sometimes even exclusive event rewards from Valve for being positive members of the community.
Common Myths About Dota 2 Commends Debunked
There are a lot of false rumors floating around the Dota 2 community about how the commend system works, and many new players buy into these myths without checking if they’re true. One of the most common myths is that commends don’t do anything at all, but as we mentioned earlier, they directly impact your behavior score, and you can unlock special commend badges for your profile once you hit certain thresholds, like 100, 500, or 1000 total commends. These badges are visible to everyone you play with, so they’re a great way to show other players you’re a reliable, positive teammate.
Another common myth is that you can get banned for commending opponents. That’s completely false; Valve actually encourages players to recognize good play from both teams, and there are no penalties for giving commends to players on the other side of the map. A lot of players will commend an enemy mid who outplayed them fair and square, and that’s exactly what the system is designed for. Buying or selling commends can result in a permanent account ban, so it’s never worth risking all your skins and progress just for a higher number on your profile. Any site that claims to sell cheap commends is a scam, and you’ll likely lose your account entirely if you use these services.
The last big myth is that you lose a commend of your own when you give one to another player. That’s not true at all. You don’t lose anything by commending another player, there’s no limit to how many commends you can give out total, only the 3 per match cap, so you never have to hold back from recognizing someone because you’re worried about running out.
At the end of the day, learning how to commend in Dota 2 is a small, simple action that can make a huge difference for another player who just spent an hour grinding a match with you. You never know when a single commend will make someone’s bad day a little better, or encourage them to keep being a positive part of the community. Even if you only remember to commend one player every few matches, you’re helping make the overall Dota 2 experience better for everyone who queues up.