I think DOTA 2 has better graphics and a higher production values. Then again I haven't touched LOL in 2+ years so all that may have changed by now.

@plague102: Oh, that would be kind of cool. I get why they removed it, but I wouldn't mind if they added the feature.

@coakroach glad this helped you decide (that is kinda what this is for not really to cause a ruckus)

*Also added a new point about no buy-backs in LoL

No gold loss? 
No runes? 
No denying? 
 
Wow I didn't realise they were so different... guess Dota 2 is right for me :)

@NaDannMaGoGo: That was a legitimate question. I understand the concepts of how the game works, even if I don't know the specific details of DotA. So you could easily explain to me what factors of DotA allow runes to exist without randomizing the game. If you know so much about the two games, what stops you from just explaining the relevant differences here?

How are the river runes balanced?

One game is a patch away from being the other game.

• One rocks, the other sucks.

@NaDannMaGoGo: I actually know quite a bit about game design, and I've read a lot about Riot's design choices. Given Riot's goals, the things that they have been doing make sense. Creep denying and negative-gold, for example, slow down the game. Certainly the slower game might be more appropriate for some players, but that isn't the game that LoL is trying to be. Different games, different design goals, different design choices.

How are the river runes balanced?

Yeh well Riot did a lot oh stuff for reasons, probably bad ones though.
 
I mean there's no creep denying either which is just laughable. But that's not what I wanted to say and I'm not getting deeper into the versus topic.
 
All I want people to do is keeping their mouth shut about stuff they know close to nothing about. It's an annoying disgrace.

@NaDannMaGoGo: Hey, I'm just talking theoreticals here. Riot obviously didn't include the feature for a reason, I'm just speculating as to why. It's fun.

@ikwal: Oh obviously, but if you can just store it then the moment a team fight starts you have a crazy advantage. I suppose the balance is that the river is a good place to get ganked, so picking up the runes is dangerous...but that is ultimately a randomizing factor.

On some champs in particular, invisibility would be really broken. There is a reason that Blitzcrank can't turn invisible: If he could then It would be more or less impossible to protect squishies from him. Overall that kind of dramatic buff, even if temporary, can sway battles based on a pseudo-random factor.

@Jack268:Oh. That sounds kind of broken, assuming the buffs are that dramatic.

I suspect the same, but it's poorly worded. It makes it sound like you can just charge in willynilly and attack the nexus turrets.

@nintendoeats River runes are runes that are found "floating" in the river area which grant things like invisibility and double damage, they can either be used right away or "bottled" to be used later. And thanks for the spot missed that.

You DO have to kill at least one inhibitor before attacking the Nexus in LoL.

What are river runes?

You DO have to kill at least one inhibitor before attacking the Nexus in LoL.

What are river runes?

Please Note

Ok first I would like to keep the comments civil as this is not meant to stir up arguments about which game is better and takes more skill. (Though I know it is hard to resist)

Second I'm sure there are many people who don't know the differences between LoL, HON, and DOTA, so I went out and found a pretty decent writeup of the major differences between LoL and DOTA. I will admit that I don't really play HON so if people know the MAJOR differences between HON and DOTA please leave those in the comments.

Thirdly some of these maybe outdated as LOL, HON, and DOTA frequently patch.

I hope this is informative to people.

Major Differences between LOL and DOTA

• Champion selection is limited to the "free to play" champions (which are rotated on a weekly basis) or the ones you have purchased using in game points (Influence points) or real life money (converted into Riot points).
• Maximum level is 18. With the exception of (as of writing this) 2 champions, Udyr and Karma, this gives your Q, W, and E skills 5 levels, and your R ultimate 3 levels. For Udyr, as he has no true ult, but rather 4 basic skills, you could have a 5 5 5 3 setup, or a 5 5 4 4 setup, or any combination therein. For Karma, her ult is given at level 1 and never levels up, giving her Q, W and E skills 6 levels each.
• No denying. This includes towers as well as creeps/minions. You can still deny by keeping enemy champions out of the kill radius / prevent them from last hitting, but there is no "auto-attack your own minions" to deny.
• No gold loss on death.
• Towers hit a lot harder and do more damage to you the longer they've been hitting you, making early tower dives a lot riskier and making towers much safer to defend against.
• You can only kill the enemy base/nexus by killing an entire lanes towers then its inhibitor then subsequently the 2 nexus towers before destroying the nexus other lanes towers do not need to be destoyed.
• The ranged/melee barracks have been merged into a single building called an inhibitor, and instead of bolstering the melee/ranged minions in that lane when destroyed, it instead makes a single, powerful melee unit spawn with every wave. Inhibitors respawn over time.
• There are far fewer "active" items (click to use) and the focus is more on increasing your passive stats.
• Every champion has a passive ability that is somewhat integral to their playstyle or their character flavor. These passives are always active and require no skill points. For example, the champion Zilean increases all allies' experience gain by 8% always. A more active example would be the character LeBlanc, who spawns a mirror image whenever she drops below 40% HP (occuring at most once per minute).
• There is a 3v3 as well as a 5v5 map, meaning there are two separate meta-games to identify (though most people play 5v5).
• Some of the larger neutral creeps provide passive buffs that provide a visual effect as well as a bonus to attributes. For example, the Golem buff provides mana/energy regeneration and cool down reduction.
• There is a large neutral creep called the dragon that provides teamwide gold and experience. This is often contested through the mid-late game and is a prime target for jungler champions to kill.
• The "boss" neutral creep (Baron Nashtor) does not provide an item (like Token of Life), but rather teamwide gold/exp and a passive buff that greatly increases health/mana/energy regen as well as additional attack damage and ability power.
• You get to choose 2 additional "Summoner Abilities" that are universal regardless of what champion you pick. Some examples of these are Ghost (temporary speed boost and unitwalking), Flash (short range teleport), Ignite (scaling damage with a DoT and reduced healing/regen component), and Clairvoyance (short cooldown, small radius map reveal). There are others too, of course.
• No river runes.
• You may passively increase your champions' stats by purchasing "Runes" outside of the actual in-game interface. These runes are purchased using points you earn by playing games (winning or losing).
• Additionally, you may increase your champions stats / enhance your "Summoner Abilities" / provide passive effects through the mastery system. The mastery system is a simplified version of a talent tree (akin to Diablo 2, World of Warcraft, etc.) with points being earned as you level your summoner (your account), which is done by simply playing games.
• Ability to return to base (free, no need to buy it, no item slot taken, no cooldown)
• Improved juking - instead of sneaky paths between trees there is "brush" (bushes/grass) system - brush blocks line of sight of those outside it and provides bonuses to some champions/heroes
• Map is symmetrical with the exception of the placement of the Dragon and Baron "boss" creeps.
• Shields system - damage shields are dynamically displayed as a gray extension of the healthbars. Purple extensions indicate magic-only shields.
• It's possible to bind smartcasts (cast instantly on keypress on the area the cursor is hovering over, not on an additional mouse click)
• No secret shops or outposts. All items are purchased at the base shop.
• The Shop's combination items are displayed in a tree, making it easy to see which items combine into what.
• There exists no buy-backs. What this means is that once your champion is dead you must wait out the full length of the death timer (which increases based on champion level), whereas in DOTA one could spend money to immediately bring their champion back to life, thus skipping the death timer.

REFERENCE:http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/10173/what-are-the-differences-between-defense-of-the-ancients-dota-and-league-of-leg