Matchmaking in Dota 2 is not just limited to one game mode, in fact there are 9 (depending on if there is a special event/ holiday one at the moment) to choose from, each of which will alter the way your teams heroes are chosen. If you're new to the game you will not be able to choose from all of the game modes right off the bat. At level 1 you start with All Pick, and continue unlocking more game modes until you finally unlock ranked matchmaking at level 13. The complete selection of game modes currently in the game are as follows.

All Pick

The first game mode available is also the most straightforward. Players can choose form the entire pool of heroes, the only restriction being that you cannot choose a hero that has already been taken by another player. Players have 75 seconds to make their hero selection, after which they will take a gold penalty fee each second until the match starts.

Random Draft

At the start of the draft the game randomly chooses 24 heroes available to be picked. Teams then take turns selecting their heroes in the standard draft style. The order heroes are picked is:RADIANT / DIRE DIRE / RADIANT RADIANT / DIRE DIRE / RADIANT RADIANT / DIRE.

Ability Draft

This one's a little more complicated than the other game modes. Players start by choosing a random hero out of a pool of all the heroes with 4 abilities. Once they are all selected, all of the hero’s abilities, plus two extra heroes abilities, are placed in a separate pool. Players then take turns selecting abilities from the pool until they have four. Each player can have 3 normal abilities and 1 ultimate, so no stacking a hero with 4 ults.

Single Draft

Each player gets three heroes, unique to them, to choose from. Each of these heroes will also be from one of the main attribute groups: 1 Strength, 1 Agility, 1 Intelligence. You are not allowed to swap with other players.

Least Played

All heroes are available to choose from, with one caveat. Players cannot choose any of their 40 most heroes. Swapping is also disabled to prevent any loopholes through the system.

Captains Draft

Team captains are the first ones to volunteer when you reach the initial draft screen. The game will then automatically select a pool of 27 heroes, from which each captain will ban 3 from use, leaving a total of 21 heroes. Captains then take turns using the typical draft format (DIRE / RADIANT RADIANT / DIRE DIRE / RADIANT RADIANT / DIRE DIRE / RADIANT) . After each team has five heroes, the team members can select which hero they want to play out of their captains selections.

Captains Mode

Captains Mode operates a lot like Captains Draft, only the picking and banning order is different and there are more heroes to choose from. Like the CD, the first to volunteer is named the team captain. Once selected, the game randomly selects who will go first in the picks and bans and they're started in this order:

BAN / BAN / BAN / BAN / PICK / PICK - PICK / PICK - BAN /  BAN / BAN / BAN - PICK / PICK / PICK / PICK / BAN / BAN / PICK / PICK

The captains only have 45 seconds to make a pick, and 30 seconds to make a ban when it is their turn. Each team does have 110 seconds of bonus time that will be reduced for each second they go over.

Limited Heroes

Everyone should be familiar with this game mode, as it is the only one available for the first batch of games once you've finished the tutorial. The pool of heroes never changes and is made up of some of the more popular "beginner friendly" heroes. Another difference with this game mode is that if a person leaves the game, they are replaced with a bot, something no other game mode has.

All Random

No mystery to this game mode. All players receive a completely randomized hero to start with, and a boost to their starting gold for doing so. The current gold bonus for this game mode is 825.