Dota 2 Basic Guide: Roles, Positioning and Laning

Roles and Positions

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On a regular game on DOTA 2 there should be 5 players for each team (Dire and Radiant). Each player has a different role and is commonly numbered 1-5;

5- is the full/hard support, which buys most of the wards, does stacking, buys dust, SOD, upgrade courier and even buy TP-scrolls for positions 1, 2 and 3. Usual end game results for this hero most definitely has the least GPM and XPM.

4- semi-support/jungle, helps with warding when the hard support cannot afford and roams together to gank other lanes and take the upper hand. Most builds for these heroes would generally be pure support items like mekanism/drum of endurance, which would be best for team fights.

BOTH POSITIONS 5 AND 4 ARE MOSTLY HEROES WITH DISABLE SKILLS AND BABY-SITS THE HARD-CARRY (1) IN THE SAFE LANE. THIS IS TO MAXIMIZE THE GPM AND XPM TO GAIN ADVANTAGE.

3- the offlaner, heroes that are most suited/picked for this role are those with high chances of escaping since this role is burdened with facing off the opposing team's safe lane which mostly consists of positions 1, 4 and 5. This players job is basically to survive and minimize/suppress the hard-carry's farming. Just hoard some exp from creeps that are about to die and even try to CS when the coast is clear.

2- the mid laner, heroes that are primarily in most need of level and secondary to gold. Most common jobs for this role is to build initiation and core items with damage items. Since the mid lane is nearest to both side lanes (top and bottom) he/she can help out other lanes if unfavorable and turn the tides of the game.

1- the HARD-CARRY, certainly the most picked role out of the 5, this hero could possibly bring home the game and get some glory. Now, who wouldn't want the glory and feeling like an action star. You would experience a lot of games where in you would have (two up-to five)hard carry heroes which really sucks and is most probable to lose since the types of hero that fit-in to these are the ones in most need of gold and damage items. Thus this hero get the safe lane where both supports are and free farms the creeps in the early game.

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How to Lane Efficiently

•First thing is you need to know which lane you will go.

-Positions 1, 4 and 5 takes the safe lane.

-Position 2 takes the mid lane, and Position 3 goes offlane.

•Position number one(1) since you are safely guarded take advantage of it and ensure high CS(creep score) attack creeps only on the last hit for gold and lane control. Build core damage items. Report if enemy hero is missing and get a TP-scroll!!

•Position number two(2) to play this position you need to be strategic, play mind games on the enemy hero by harassing, nuking/spamming and control CS by creep kills and denies. It is also recommended to take runes which spawn at 00:00 and every 2 minutes after; 02:00, 04:00, 06:00 and etc. runes are placed on the river in between lanes top-mid and mid-bottom so choose where to take the rune and gank/help the safe lane if having a hard time otherwise help the offlane gain some extra gold. Build appropriate and basic initiation items suited for your selected hero. Report if enemy hero is missing and get a TP-scroll!!

•Position number three(3) you are in the offlane which is sometimes called HARD LANE. Which will have 2 supports harassing or pulling creeps away from the lane and 1 carry perfecting CS with creep kills and denies to prevent you from gathering level and gold. Your job is to be patient and play smart. Be attentive and pay attention to opportunities to steal at creep kill or two while the supports are ganking. Report if enemy hero is missing and get a TP-scroll!!

•Position number four(4) the Jungler/semi-support (sometimes called rich support), your job is to pull neutral creeps nearby to collide with the lane creeps and stall their arrival and deny if possible. Since you are the one doing so you can get the creep kills on the neutrals if your hard carry is preoccupied. Build maximum tank/utility items. Report if enemy hero is missing and get a TP-scroll!!

•Position number five(5) the full/hard support your jobs main focus is to buy the courier, vision(observer wards), detection(sentry wards and dust of appearance), purchase tp for fallen team mates, stacking creep camps(for stacking please refer to the picture beside and read the caption for instructions) and buy Smoke-of-Deceit so you can gank together with four(4). Report if enemy hero is missing and get a TP-scroll!!

Notice how in each and every role there's 'report if enemy hero is missing and get a TP-scroll!!' at the end?
That is because ganks are inevitable its easier to anticipate if the whole team knows who is missing, but ofcourse there are unexpected instances of getting ganged up where-in you can still help out which lane is being ambushed by using the TP scroll. A kill or two could easily become game/pace changers which will turn the tide and bring you either victory or defeat.

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THE SAME AS GROWING YOUR STEEMIT FOLLOWERS, YOU NEED TO REMEMBER QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

The dire team has each role distributed (from positions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) while the radiant has a role conflict (1,1,1,1 and 1).

15 minutes into the gameIn Dire, position number 1 gets all the gold from the safe-lane and gets high damage items, Position 2 has decent initiation items and 3 has some clashing items.

In Radiant, all players are half-way through building their damage items.

Once a clash begins Dire's Midlaner(2) would initiate, followed through by the Hard-carry(1) would plow through Radiants so called Hard-carries(5*1) with half-assessed items have 2 Supports(5 and 4) back the whole team up and Offlaner(3) would help overall through dealing damage and ensuring the teams survivability. The clash outcome would be obvious and the game would be over before the 30 minute mark.

NOTE: There are even professionals who does DOTA 2 for a living and shuffles through roles 5-1. All that matters is the end game and your statistics. Whether you won or not you will be classed depending on your end game results consisting of your game stats. You will be classified with having 'normal skill', 'high skill' or 'very high skill' depending on those factors.

I hope you had learned something from this guide and
improved your gameplay!
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