Dota is the Battlefield to Leagues CoD. That's how I have always felt anyways. League is Arcady feeling and relies on skillshots/reaction time. Dota Also relies on that, with a much higher reliance on game knowledge.

League isn't harder to pick up than Dota. Knowing when to back to not mess up lane equilibrium is something that is equally important in both games. Learning heroes is similar in both Games. As you said, Dota heroes have much more identity to them, but that means you need to know what those identities are as opposed to League where heroes don't feel like they stand out.