Any DOTA2 experts out there?

[BloatedGuppy]

I've been messing around with the game this last couple of days, and despite reading some guides and playing a few practice matches with bots (and one against humans in which I did reasonably well) there are some questions I'm having a hard time finding answers to.

1. Which lane to pick? I'm never 100% sure on this. I feel comfortable in the middle, but my understanding is that the middle is specifically for a Carry? There's also a "long lane" and a "short lane" for your team...I find being in the long lane pretty difficult, especially if I'm melee. Should I stay out of that unless I'm more experienced?
2. I still don't really understand how to use the courier. I tried calling it up once during a bot game. It didn't hand me the gear I asked for, and the bots swiftly decimated it because it then stood around on the front lines. What's the rule of thumb for using that thing? I feel like running back to the store constantly is a horrible waste of time.
3. I seem to suffer from a timing issue when it comes to transitioning from farming creeps to running around the map ganking players. In bot games this seems to occur around level 8-10, at which point even if I've been farming well I start to fall behind because I can't coordinate my hits with bots. Is there a rule of thumb along the lines of "At level X you go attack people"?
4. Is it ever okay to push a lane? It's my general understanding that auto-attacking creeps is for morons, and push come to shove you want to dance around trying to get last hits instead, but in bot games I find pushing to be strangely effective as it slowly whittles away at their tower. Ostensibly this would result in their hero being fed, but if you had a missing hero or if you were able to harass them briefly out of the lane, would it not be safe to push really aggressively?
5. Is there a game mode that is more "casual" than others?
6. Does attacking stop the regeneration from Tangos?

Any other tips for a complete noob would be appreciated. I went 13-6 in my first game (as the unfamiliar Viper, I went single draft), which I thought was pretty good, but we lost (we had a disconnect two minutes in and another at around the 10 minute mark, so it was 5-3 for a long time). I feel like my good K/D ratio was due to enemy incompetence more than anything I was doing right.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

1. Generally speaking, you only want to be going in the long lane (you may also hear it referred to as the "suicide lane") if you're playing a hero with some form of "GET THE FUCK OUTTA THERE" ability. Windrunner is a prime example of this, as she has a speed boost and an extremely effective stun to help her out of sticky situations. Learning which heroes do what is really the only way to be entirely certain whether or not you can go long lane, but the general rule is that if you've got a form of escape and decent early game strength, then you can. As a beginner you'd probably better stay away from this lane until you know the game a bit better. In regards to the other lanes: mid lane is exclusively for ranged heroes (most of the time at least), and if that hero is a carry then that's great, but not being a carry doesn't you mean you can't or shouldn't go mid. The easy lane is for carries that need huge amounts of last hits and easy xp to become effective, because it is the easiest lane. Melee heroes usually go here, alongside a "support" hero that can keep them alive.
2. Hit the courier button in the bottom right, and so long as it's at base all you need to do is use the button combo "d,f,r" and it should retrieve your items and deliver them to you before automatically going back. Make sure you have the inventory space for everything you buy, and that you reselect your hero. What may have happened, is that you tried to move while you were still controlling courier not your hero, cancelling it's orders.
3. Level is completely irrelevant here. Some heroes are designed to be ganking all through the game, but for most heroes "laning stage" is when your lane has had none of its towers knocked down, either on your side or the opponents. When either your or their tower goes down, laning stage is mostly over (sort of), and you can exercise a bit more independence. Whether or not you choose to farm here or to help your team depends on how safe it is for you to continue farming (ie: if the minions are pushed right up to their side of the map, probably not) and how much you are needed on other areas of the map.
4. Depends. Problem with pushing is that it makes you very susceptible to ganks, as if something goes wrong and the bad guys call in some mates to stop you breaking the tower down, then you are so far from your tower that you have nowhere to run away to, and will very likely die. Bots are pushovers so pushing lanes tends to be far more effective against them than most other people. Rule of the thumb is that if it's safe to push, and I mean 100% safe, then yes. If there is any doubt as to whether or not you'll get ganked, then don't do it. It almost always benefits you more on in the long run to focus more on last hits than pushing.
5. The default game mode, "all pick" is I suppose the most casual. In the other game modes, you either have a much more limited scope of what hero you can play, another member of your team picks for you, or a member of the enemy team picks your hero for you, depending on the game mode. Stick to "all pick" until you have a grasp of every hero. This does not apply to the seasonal game modes like the greevling (christmas event) or diretide (halloween event), as those aren't really game modes, they're just some casual fun.
6. No, after consuming a tango, nothing stops it. However, potions such as healing salves or clarities (<-- mana potions) are highly effective but are interrupted when you take an instance of damage. I think that includes damage over time.

General tips: For the time being, find a hero that you really like and play that lots until you feel ready to branch out. It will be good for you to find some kind of comfort zone for the time being so you can figure the rest of the game out. Simply heroes good for beginners include: Viper, Drow Ranger, Axe, and arguably Tidehunter, but Tidehunter is boring as hell.

Dota is a game that does not fuck around, as you win more games, the difficulty of your opponents will increase, and it does take quite a bit of knowledge to know what you're doing. The path to learning that knowledge and the process of getting better however is incredibly compelling and fun. Also, never get into arguments with people. The mechanics of Dota are such that if your team is bad it is REALLY REALLY REALLY frustrating, so if people start getting pissy, it honestly isn't worth making a fuss over. Have fun, and for the love of god never play Meepo.

 

[Jandau]

1. Depends on your hero. First of all, Mid isn't for a carry. Mid is for a hero who benefits from levels and/or is a strong ganker. A Carry can go mid, but in general you want someone like Queen of Pain in there. Carries are usually better off with a support in a side lane to get safe farm since they need money more than levels.

That being said, you'll likely be facing a simple 2-1-2 setup in your early games. Don't go mid if you suck at ganking, you'll be a waste of a slot. Go to one of the side lanes. Which one? Honestly, whichever you want as long as you don't put two farm-dependant heroes in the same lane. For instance, putting an Antimage and a Faceless Void in the same lane while the other side lane has a Lion and a Crystal Maiden is a terrible choice.

2. F2 is the default button for the Courier. It switches the control to it. You can move it around like any other unit under your control and you can use the set of quick commands for it. Practice using the advanced controls in bot games. The button at the bottom-left of the screen which you've likely been using offers only the most basic functionality. Some of the cooler tricks involve using the Courier to carry the Bottle between you and your base (recharging it in the process) or going to the Secret Shop if you're too busy.

3. This depends on the game and the heroes. There is no single answer and it's something that you'll likely have to keep relearning over and over again. I played LoL for 2 years and never quite got it down. I'm even worse at it in DotA2. As a result I mostly avoid playing dedicated gankers. In general, you want to gank when you get that one spell that sets it up for you, usually your ultimate. Also, if you can get an early XP advantage, then go gank.

4. Again, this depends on what you're playing and what you're facing. Some setups depend on pushing. For instance, Leshrac + Death Prophet can murder towers like crazy (Lesh's Edict and DP's Ulti damage towers) and can rapidly decimate creep waves meaning they'll want to push. On the other hand, Carries will likely want to avoid pushing so they can farm in peace. In general, you need to ask yourself if you gain anything by pushing and are you placing yourself at risk. If you've just killed one enemy in lane and his partner is low on HP while you and your mate are both high, pushing might be a solid idea to start chipping at the tower.

5. Single Draft. It's almost All Random and most people don't really take it too seriously. It's good for trying out new heroes, but the game itself is a total crapshoot.

6. No. That's one of the perks of Tango compared to Salve.

As for other tips, learn to lasthit and deny, don't play carries until you're more comfortable with the game, play some easier heroes to start out (Lion, Lich and Lina would be some examples), find which roles you enjoy and are good at (I mostly enjoy Initiators and Supports, but avoid Carries and Gankers), try out plenty of heroes (bot games are great for that) to learn the various abilities, learn the items and become able to make up builds on the fly, don't steal farm from people who need it more, learn to pull jungle creeps...

Ah hell, just play the game, you'll figure it all out

 

[BloatedGuppy]

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Great stuff guys, thanks a lot for that. Some follow up questions:

1. Presumably even if you're an ill fit for the long lane, SOMEONE has to go in that lane, right? You're never to leave a lane unattended? I assume at that point whoever is in that lane for the other side just has free reign.

2. So if I hotkey the courier properly (I'm using WASD instead of the arrow keys, too much muscle memory) he'll auto-deliver and then return without me needing to stop doing what I'm doing? I need to practice this with bots.

3. Good to know about Tango. For some reason I always felt like I was halting the regen when I'd attack, but I suspect the real problem is the regen just isn't that great. Still, I like it, since it lets me hang around in the lane longer.

4. After being very tense about playing against people and sticking with bots (I generally go hard bots, medium are really feeble), I found people (at least, people who the matchmaker thought were appropriate to play against me) much easier. The goddam bots always do synchronized strikes and seem to have an unerring hardon for the human player, to the point where they'll sprint past my entire team to just roflstomp me regardless of what I'm doing. The best K/D I ever had with bots was something like 6-3, and that was by FAR my best match, usually I'd be something appalling like 1-5. Humans seem far less coordinated and prone to silly errors.

5. Understood about pushing, I hadn't thought about the gank risk. I'll try and keep my urge to wale on the creeps in check.

For heroes, I find whenever I like a hero they turn out to be a friggin' carry. I really liked Luna (a lot) and did reasonably well with Lina too (although she's too fragile and I hate that her stun is a targeted AOE). I did surprisingly well with Viper, he's very low maintenance but kind of flimsy. I stink to high heaven with melee heroes. I hated Lion. I couldn't figure out Enchantress (lousy at controlling minions at the same time as the hero).

I guess that's a followup question as well...the recommended items for heroes are usually what I stick to, but is it appropriate to try and get some STR items on fragile heroes like Lina? Maybe it's just the bots and their goddam coordinated strikes, but I find it really hard to survive on those heroes.

 

[WoW Killer]

TB's started doing a series on Single Draft, and he seemed to suggest it was the best mode for playing casually. He was using only recommended items as a rule, not because it would be a good strategy necessarily, but to test the newb-friendliness of the game or something.

I'm still too scared to even try a MOBA, though I'm starting to get the urge whenever I watch a good video of one.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

TB's started doing a series on Single Draft, and he seemed to suggest it was the best mode for playing casually. He was using only recommended items as a rule, not because it would be a good strategy necessarily, but to test the newb-friendliness of the game or something.

I'm still too scared to even try a MOBA, though I'm starting to get the urge whenever I watch a good video of one.

It was actually those videos that convinced me to try it. The fact he was bumbling around and not getting immediately castrated by his team was encouraging.

I do enjoy an e-sport (I played a ton of Starcraft over the years and got reasonably good at it) but I find them awfully stressful.

 

[Uszi]

1. Which lane to pick? I'm never 100% sure on this. I feel comfortable in the middle, but my understanding is that the middle is specifically for a Carry? There's also a "long lane" and a "short lane" for your team...I find being in the long lane pretty difficult, especially if I'm melee. Should I stay out of that unless I'm more experienced?

Eh, the middle isn't necessarily your carry. The main responsibility of the mid is to try and control runes and gank. For instance, Pudge is never really a carry, but he very often takes middle.

I would say if you're not comfortable controlling the runes, keeping the lane pushed, and taking any/all ganking opportunities, don't mid.

Other people have mentioned it's also called the suicide lane.

Short lane is considered "easier" because you're usually fighting closer to your own tower so it's harder to gank you. In the long lane, you're a little more exposed because the fight is usually further away from your tower. Obviously, if you can last hit and deny better than your opponents, you can control where the creeps are, but you can also pull creep camps into the long lane [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFFu-Q4X9mM] to keep the fight closer to your own tower.

Ultimately, the difficulty of the long lane can be negated by better map awareness, or if you want to drop the money, putting a ward in the river or your woods so you can see anyone coming.

2. I still don't really understand how to use the courier. I tried calling it up once during a bot game. It didn't hand me the gear I asked for, and the bots swiftly decimated it because it then stood around on the front lines. What's the rule of thumb for using that thing? I feel like running back to the store constantly is a horrible waste of time.

I would get comfortable with using the shift key to set queue actions with the courier. The courier has little "abilities" beneath its health bar, and one of these is "return to base."

So, as you purchase items, up to 6 of them just wait by the fountain. You can select the courier, and then click the "grab all" button, so the courier gets everything. Then, use shift to tell the courier to come to you, use shift to have the courier give you your items, and then shift click return to base so it automatically runs away. You can queue all of these actions up in a few seconds, but I recommend taking a step back from the creep line until you get really good at it.

Also, take a step back as your courier is coming to you. You don't want to have the courier do some sort of hot zone drop where enemy heroes can get a hold of it. I usually walk back a ways and meet the courier as its coming to me.

3. I seem to suffer from a timing issue when it comes to transitioning from farming creeps to running around the map ganking players. In bot games this seems to occur around level 8-10, at which point even if I've been farming well I start to fall behind because I can't coordinate my hits with bots. Is there a rule of thumb along the lines of "At level X you go attack people"?

I think this comes with knowing how your character works. But usually your ultimate helps you gank, so people start ganking at around level 6. Generally speaking.

For instance, I really enjoy playing Witch Doctor. You can easily kill someone with cask and maledict before level 6 (I usually will make a move when I have level 2 maledict if I can), but once you hit 6 you're essentially guaranteed a kill if you can hit maledict and not be interrupted as you channel your ward. So as soon as I hit 6 I'm either killing the person I'm laning against, or I'll move to another lane and signal a gank.

When you play with humans, it should be a bit easier because you have a chat wheel and voice chat and pings. The bots are hard to coordinate with.

4. Is it ever okay to push a lane? It's my general understanding that auto-attacking creeps is for morons, and push come to shove you want to dance around trying to get last hits instead, but in bot games I find pushing to be strangely effective as it slowly whittles away at their tower. Ostensibly this would result in their hero being fed, but if you had a missing hero or if you were able to harass them briefly out of the lane, would it not be safe to push really aggressively?

Yeah, people have pointed this out, but the only draw back to pushing is that it makes it harder to kill the enemies (because they can hide under their tower) and it makes you easier to gank. Especially when someone hits 6, they're going to look on their minimap, and they'll look specifically for the lane where the people are furthest from their tower and easiest to kill.

But, pushing works really well with certain lane match ups, and the gold for tower kills really adds momentum. Early tower kills benefit your team, and they make that lane very dangerous for the other team. There are "pushing" heroes and lane combinations, and they should be used for that.

5. Is there a game mode that is more "casual" than others?

I would say all pick, because you basically are guaranteed to be able to pick a dude you know how to play well. Single draft is alright, but you might get 3 people you have no idea to play and no one may want to swap with you.

6. Does attacking stop the regeneration from Tangos?

Nope. One of the reasons tangos are more popular than salve.

Any other tips for a complete noob would be appreciated. I went 13-6 in my first game (as the unfamiliar Viper, I went single draft), which I thought was pretty good, but we lost (we had a disconnect two minutes in and another at around the 10 minute mark, so it was 5-3 for a long time). I feel like my good K/D ratio was due to enemy incompetence more than anything I was doing right.

Heh, welcome to dota. If you're playing more competently then the enemy, I'd say you are doing it right.

Um, I guess for new players I would emphasize getting good with a core of heroes that you like, and then branching out from there. Once you have the basic mechanics of Dota itself down is when I would try playing more nuanced characters like Pudge where you'll need to play well to do anything at all, but at the same time, it's not really necessary to know all of the mechanics to play well, just helpful. Practice makes perfect, I guess?

Oh, I would recommend making some friends and partying with them for games. I hate playing dota with 4 random teammates. I'm usually lucky if I have one or two teammates who aren't pants-on-head retarded, so ideally I like having at least two dependable friends in game with me.

And don't Han Solo/Rambo, and don't solo farm far away from base late game.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

1. Presumably even if you're an ill fit for the long lane, SOMEONE has to go in that lane, right? You're never to leave a lane unattended? I assume at that point whoever is in that lane for the other side just has free reign.

2. So if I hotkey the courier properly (I'm using WASD instead of the arrow keys, too much muscle memory) he'll auto-deliver and then return without me needing to stop doing what I'm doing? I need to practice this with bots.

3. Good to know about Tango. For some reason I always felt like I was halting the regen when I'd attack, but I suspect the real problem is the regen just isn't that great. Still, I like it, since it lets me hang around in the lane longer.

4. After being very tense about playing against people and sticking with bots (I generally go hard bots, medium are really feeble), I found people (at least, people who the matchmaker thought were appropriate to play against me) much easier. The goddam bots always do synchronized strikes and seem to have an unerring hardon for the human player, to the point where they'll sprint past my entire team to just roflstomp me regardless of what I'm doing. The best K/D I ever had with bots was something like 6-3, and that was by FAR my best match, usually I'd be something appalling like 1-5. Humans seem far less coordinated and prone to silly errors.

5. Understood about pushing, I hadn't thought about the gank risk. I'll try and keep my urge to wale on the creeps in check.

For heroes, I find whenever I like a hero they turn out to be a friggin' carry. I really liked Luna (a lot) and did reasonably well with Lina too (although she's too fragile and I hate that her stun is a targeted AOE). I did surprisingly well with Viper, he's very low maintenance but kind of flimsy. I stink to high heaven with melee heroes. I hated Lion. I couldn't figure out Enchantress (lousy at controlling minions at the same time as the hero).

I guess that's a followup question as well...the recommended items for heroes are usually what I stick to, but is it appropriate to try and get some STR items on fragile heroes like Lina? Maybe it's just the bots and their goddam coordinated strikes, but I find it really hard to survive on those heroes.

1. Sometimes you'll see solo lanes whereby only 1 hero defends against an opposing 2, or maybe even another opposing 1 if the other team does the same, but you'll basically never want to leave a lane with nobody to defend it.

2. Yes

3. Tango regen sucks, but you get 3 of them ultra cheap so they're pretty nice, especially as they can't be interrupted. I've seen people avoid death before because they popped a tango mid fight.

4. I've noticed this as well. Bots in Dota work with excellent coordination, more so than other people. I'm not sure if I'm just imagining this, but I think friendly bots also respond to your pings on the map by going to the area you're pinging. I was once laning with a bot windrunner, accidentally ping clicked on an area behind 3 enemy heroes and she immediately ran directly to that spot and got decimated.

5. Yeah, that's the safest way of doing things.

If you like a hero that turns out to be a carry don't let that alone put you off. Carrys are harder but the end result is that you'll get better faster. In regards to items, it helps to get whatever you think is appropriate. If you're playing somebody that's dealing lots of damage then dropping some money on strength items might be an idea. It's also situation specific, just try to make sure you're always buying things that build into better items later in the game.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

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I never thought about checking lane position to see who might be vulnerable, I always just took attacks of opportunity. Thanks for that, and the other tips. I'm pretty bad at "Han Solo-ing", especially chasing fleeing heroes for too long. The bots love to slam me when I do that.

4. I've noticed this as well. Bots in Dota work with excellent coordination, more so than other people. I'm not sure if I'm just imagining this, but I think friendly bots also respond to your pings on the map by going to the area you're pinging. I was once laning with a bot windrunner, accidentally ping clicked on an area behind 3 enemy heroes and she immediately ran directly to that spot and got decimated.

Okay that's hilarious.

If you like a hero that turns out to be a carry don't let that alone put you off. Carrys are harder but the end result is that you'll get better faster. In regards to items, it helps to get whatever you think is appropriate. If you're playing somebody that's dealing lots of damage then dropping some money on strength items might be an idea. It's also situation specific, just try to make sure you're always buying things that build into better items later in the game.

Good to know, thanks. Every guide I read suggested noobs shouldn't even be allowed to select Carries, but I find them to be the easiest to last hit/farm with. I like to go random in bot games to get a feel for other heroes and every time I get one I like, I go check on it online and it says "Carry" or at least "Semi Carry". And I groan and hang my head.

Maybe one of you two knows...in order to get XP for a creep, do you have to tag it? Or is just being in the vicinity when it dies sufficient? I've gotten so anal about not auto attacking creeps I tend to miss tagging a lot of them, and whenever I do tag them my lane starts to push.

 

[Jandau]

1. Presumably even if you're an ill fit for the long lane, SOMEONE has to go in that lane, right? You're never to leave a lane unattended? I assume at that point whoever is in that lane for the other side just has free reign.

2. So if I hotkey the courier properly (I'm using WASD instead of the arrow keys, too much muscle memory) he'll auto-deliver and then return without me needing to stop doing what I'm doing? I need to practice this with bots.

3. Good to know about Tango. For some reason I always felt like I was halting the regen when I'd attack, but I suspect the real problem is the regen just isn't that great. Still, I like it, since it lets me hang around in the lane longer.

4. After being very tense about playing against people and sticking with bots (I generally go hard bots, medium are really feeble), I found people (at least, people who the matchmaker thought were appropriate to play against me) much easier. The goddam bots always do synchronized strikes and seem to have an unerring hardon for the human player, to the point where they'll sprint past my entire team to just roflstomp me regardless of what I'm doing. The best K/D I ever had with bots was something like 6-3, and that was by FAR my best match, usually I'd be something appalling like 1-5. Humans seem far less coordinated and prone to silly errors.

5. Understood about pushing, I hadn't thought about the gank risk. I'll try and keep my urge to wale on the creeps in check.

For heroes, I find whenever I like a hero they turn out to be a friggin' carry. I really liked Luna (a lot) and did reasonably well with Lina too (although she's too fragile and I hate that her stun is a targeted AOE). I did surprisingly well with Viper, he's very low maintenance but kind of flimsy. I stink to high heaven with melee heroes. I hated Lion. I couldn't figure out Enchantress (lousy at controlling minions at the same time as the hero).

I guess that's a followup question as well...the recommended items for heroes are usually what I stick to, but is it appropriate to try and get some STR items on fragile heroes like Lina? Maybe it's just the bots and their goddam coordinated strikes, but I find it really hard to survive on those heroes.

1. Never leave a lane unattended, that's correct. If you're stuck alone in a bad lane in a 2v1 situation, just adapt your playstyle. Namely, switch to damage control - the lane is lost, now just try to minimize the loss. Stay under the tower, don't die, get some farm, delay the tower falling, stay at high HP in case someone comes to gank, etc.

2. There are two basic ways of controlling the courier. First is with the button in the bottom right of the screen. This tells to courier to go to base, take your stuff out of the stash and bring it to you (assuming nobody else is using him). The other is to select the courier (click him or F2), in which case you get detailed options for directing him. These are superior and let you do more advanced tactics, but are harder to use.

3. YOU attacking doesn't stop regen of any kind. Feel free to whack away. However, GETTING ATTACKED stops Salve, Clarity and in some cases Tranquil boots.

4. Yes, humans are in some ways more forgiving than bots (like lasthitting/denying) and the matchmaking is fairly decent so you'll be against other newbies. Also, there's not much smurfing going on at the moment (smurfing = experienced players creating alternate accounts to stomp new players) since it's too much of a hassle to be honest, so it's a fairly safe environment for new players (low level LoL for instance is 4/5 smurfs, 1/5 confused newbie getting flamed by everyone else).

5. Smashing away on creeps has an extra negative side effect - if you're just autoattacking you are much more likely to miss the window for lasthitting, and that's what really counts.

Use the heroes you like. Maybe you have a knack for carries, who knows? Viper is a good easy hero. Not the best carry, but a solid ganker and a nightmare to lane against. Level his Q first, but don't autocast it. Instead, cast it manually like a regular spell and use it constantly harass the enemy in lane. Autocasting it is a waste of mana, while manual cast ensures you only use it when you want to and doesn't draw creep aggro.

Buying STR items isn't a waste on non-STR heroes. In fact, stacking Bracers is a common practice on heroes like Lina if they are falling behind. You need to learn the items and then buy depending on what you need. You need to go from "I'm going to buy X, then Y, then Z" to "I need stat X, what are my options?". If you find that your STR hero has strong spells in lane but needs mana regen to sustain it, that's fine, buy a regen item, but learn to decide if you want an Urn, a Soul Ring or a Bassilus. Likewise, if your INT hero needs health, then go for it.

I personally love Lion, two reliable disables, good nuke damage and the ability to lane forever thanks to Mana Drain make him one of the top Supports and a decent Ganker. Also, I've been practicing my multi-unit control with Beastmaster (yes, it takes practice to micromanage properly) and I've decided to learn Ganking with Nyx. I've got around 150 games under my belt so far and a positive Win/Lose ratio (+15ish Wins) and I'm still learning all the time. DotA2 is a very deep game full of small nuances and tricks that take time to learn. For now just focus on your basics.

Oh, and look up some streams of tournaments or skilled players, you can learn a lot. I recommend "joinDOTA with TobiWan" over on www.own3D.tv. Twitch.tv also has some good DOTA2 casters.

 

[Uszi]

Great stuff guys, thanks a lot for that. Some follow up questions:

1. Presumably even if you're an ill fit for the long lane, SOMEONE has to go in that lane, right? You're never to leave a lane unattended? I assume at that point whoever is in that lane for the other side just has free reign.

Exactly. I find a lot of times that I'm just in the lane where I need to be, and not some sort of ideal situation. If you were playing professionally, you'd talk it out with your teammates, but for public games (aka pubs) its not ultra important.

Dota is less regimented than League of Legends too when it comes to lane assignments. The whole League of Legends meta, mandatory jungle, mandatory bruiser top, mandatory AP mid, mandatory AD carry bot with support is one of the reasons I stopped playing. I don't really think someone is ever an "ill fit" for the long lane, just characters who will have an easier or harder time.

2. So if I hotkey the courier properly (I'm using WASD instead of the arrow keys, too much muscle memory) he'll auto-deliver and then return without me needing to stop doing what I'm doing? I need to practice this with bots.

More or less. I've played probably 8,000 hours of Dota since the first WC3 dota came out in like 2002, and I still take a step out of the fight to do my courier things.

3. Good to know about Tango. For some reason I always felt like I was halting the regen when I'd attack, but I suspect the real problem is the regen just isn't that great. Still, I like it, since it lets me hang around in the lane longer.

It restores 115 health over 16 seconds, so it's only an additional 7 hp per second, and not a huge maximum. It can be enough to keep you in the game or maybe save your life, but it's no miracle heal.

4. After being very tense about playing against people and sticking with bots (I generally go hard bots, medium are really feeble), I found people (at least, people who the matchmaker thought were appropriate to play against me) much easier. The goddam bots always do synchronized strikes and seem to have an unerring hardon for the human player, to the point where they'll sprint past my entire team to just roflstomp me regardless of what I'm doing. The best K/D I ever had with bots was something like 6-3, and that was by FAR my best match, usually I'd be something appalling like 1-5. Humans seem far less coordinated and prone to silly errors.

Yup. The matchmaking pits you against people of a similar skill level, how it determines this I have no idea, but people in your first few Dota games are going to be like lambs. And the more coordinated team is always going to win, so I personally recommend always being a polite motivator when your teammates are over farming or suicide charging.

For heroes, I find whenever I like a hero they turn out to be a friggin' carry. I really liked Luna (a lot) and did reasonably well with Lina too (although she's too fragile and I hate that her stun is a targeted AOE). I did surprisingly well with Viper, he's very low maintenance but kind of flimsy. I stink to high heaven with melee heroes. I hated Lion. I couldn't figure out Enchantress (lousy at controlling minions at the same time as the hero).

I guess that's a followup question as well...the recommended items for heroes are usually what I stick to, but is it appropriate to try and get some STR items on fragile heroes like Lina? Maybe it's just the bots and their goddam coordinated strikes, but I find it really hard to survive on those heroes.

Yeah, viper is pretty fragile, though for an agility character he has pretty good strength gain.

Lion... man, I love Lion. My record with him sucks because I forgot how to play him when Dota 2 came out (I'm 2-9 with Lion at the moment in Dota 2) but he used to be my "main" of sorts back in the day. Lion is all about positioning, and because he's so fragile but you need to get in their face to land that stun, you really need a force staff/blink dagger and some strength items (a couple of bracers maybe) so that you can get some mobility and durability going. Every time your ult is up, you need to gank. And you absolutely positively can't be the one leading charges in team fights.

Laning with melee heroes can be a bit harder. You were asking about lane assignments earlier, and I guess the other thing I'd say is you usually want to have a ranged character with you if your melee. Double melee is not going to have a lot of lane control.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I personally love Lion, two reliable disables, good nuke damage and the ability to lane forever thanks to Mana Drain make him one of the top Supports and a decent Ganker. Also, I've been practicing my multi-unit control with Beastmaster (yes, it takes practice to micromanage properly) and I've decided to learn Ganking with Nyx. I've got around 150 games under my belt so far and a positive Win/Lose ratio (+15ish Wins) and I'm still learning all the time. DotA2 is a very deep game full of small nuances and tricks that take time to learn. For now just focus on your basics.

Oh, and look up some streams of tournaments or skilled players, you can learn a lot. I recommend "joinDOTA with TobiWan" over on www.own3D.tv. Twitch.tv also has some good DOTA2 casters.

I rather suspect bot games against hard bots is a bad way to learn whether or not I like a hero, since I spent all my time getting rolled by coordinated bot strikes. I did like his Mana drain. He looks and sounds like a total goof, though, which doesn't help my affection for him.

As for pro replays...in time. Right now watching amateur replays is better for my morale, as it shows me it's okay to suck and learn on the fly. Watching HD and Husky cast Starcraft 2 had me semi-convinced never to play again, but watching TB's "I suck at Starcraft 2" series made me realize I missed it and could play at that level just fine.

Fucking Starcraft, man. I couldn't play more than two or three games in a row once I got good at it (slight embellishment), the tension is just insane.

Somehow I ended up in Diamond 1v1, and realistically I had no business being there. It got so I'd be shaking by the time I finished a game. Eventually I just said "I need to calm the fuck down" and stopped playing.

 

[Uszi]

Fucking Starcraft, man. I couldn't play more than two or three games in a row once I got good at it (slight embellishment), the tension is just insane. Dota 2 isn't intense on that level, although it can be more frustrating because you have to depend on 4 other people.

What am I doing in this thread? Good question.

Spoiler: My suggestion

Instapick a piss easy hero and faceroll the enemy every time. Drow Ranger was that a couple of months back, heard she got nerfed.

Good to know, thanks. Every guide I read suggested noobs shouldn't even be allowed to select Carries, but I find them to be the easiest to last hit/farm with. I like to go random in bot games to get a feel for other heroes and every time I get one I like, I go check on it online and it says "Carry" or at least "Semi Carry". And I groan and hang my head.

Naaaaaaaaaaah. Noobs can play carries. I always started my new friends on carries anyway, since those moments where you get triple kills and win the game for your team are the hook that keeps everyone playing (even if you're playing more support nowadays). Plus, like you said, way easier to last hit.

I think there's an amount of backlash against noob carries because in team fights its really important that your carry keeps themselves alive, and kills the most important targets first. You shouldn't be going for the tanks, or the 1-15 guy first in a team fight. That kind of knowledge about target priorities is contextual and comes with experience. Sometimes its a horrible idea to go for Skeleton King first, and sometimes its the only option that will win the fight for you.

The other part of the backlash is that you might find yourself in a situation where you are literally carrying the entire team, and you basically just need your teammates to live long enough to get off some crowd control so you can kill everyone on the other team. And I think a lot of Dota players have their panties in a bunch about all of that responsibility falling on a noob.

But, yeah, no. I think agility carry is for noobs. What's more noob friendly than stealth assassin, a character which can literally hide at any moment and run away from everything?

 

[Uszi]

Fucking Starcraft, man. I couldn't play more than two or three games in a row once I got good at it (slight embellishment), the tension is just insane.

Somehow I ended up in Diamond 1v1, and realistically I had no business being there. It got so I'd be shaking by the time I finished a game. Eventually I just said "I need to calm the fuck down" and stopped playing.

Yeah, same thing happened with me. I also got annoyed by peoples e-peen when it came to your ranking. I think I was silver 1v1, and I've had conversations in real life with people where the tone of the conversation changed when they were diamond and realized I was silver. Annoying!

Also, this happened with Halo 2, way back in the day. I would get to a level, and then start losing all of my matches, and then lose a level, and then I'd get stressed out. And then I'd stop playing because that kind of match making isn't fun.

IMHO, DotA against humans is less stressful than this. If someone is being a jerk in a game, there's an ignore feature which I use frequently.

 

[Jandau]

I rather suspect bot games against hard bots is a bad way to learn whether or not I like a hero, since I spent all my time getting rolled by coordinated bot strikes.

When you say "bot games" are you talking about single-player "You-and-9-bots" games or Co-op games (5 humans VS 5 bots)? If it's single player, don't do that, you won't learn anything. Coop on the other hand is a decent way to try new heroes. Also, you don't have to play against Hard bots, you can drop it to Medium or lower.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Yeah, same thing happened with me. I also got annoyed by peoples e-peen when it came to your ranking. I think I was silver 1v1, and I've had conversations in real life with people where the tone of the conversation changed when they were diamond and realized I was silver. Annoying!

Alas, it was my own epeen that was mostly to blame, as I would take losses incredibly hard. If I lost a game there was nothing to it but that I had to play again and again until I got a win so I could feel better. I really need to learn to absorb losses better.

IMHO, DotA against humans is less stressful than this. If someone is being a jerk in a game, there's an ignore feature which I use frequently.

Wouldn't it be the same? That's the dark side of matchmaking, it's constantly forcing you into more difficult games to prove your bloody mettle.

When you say "bot games" are you talking about single-player "You-and-9-bots" games or Co-op games (5 humans VS 5 bots)? If it's single player, don't do that, you won't learn anything. Coop on the other hand is a decent way to try new heroes. Also, you don't have to play against Hard bots, you can drop it to Medium or lower.

It's me and 9 bots, I only have one friend who plays DOTA2 and he's never online. I figured I'd best be learning the game before I stumbled into a team game and screwed it up for everyone and had half the team demanding I wear my ass as a hat.

I think I'm going to dial the bots down to medium though. Even if medium bots are silly little pushovers, the hard bots are just ridiculously annoying with their thirst for human blood and human blood alone.

 

[Jandau]

It's me and 9 bots, I only have one friend who plays DOTA2 and he's never online. I figured I'd best be learning the game before I stumbled into a team game and screwed it up for everyone and had half the team demanding I wear my ass as a hat.

I think I'm going to dial the bots down to medium though. Even if medium bots are silly little pushovers, the hard bots are just ridiculously annoying with their thirst for human blood and human blood alone.

There's an option when starting a game, right under the normal game to do a matchmade coop VS AI. It functions like a Normal All Pick game and you get 4 human teammates, no need to hunt down friends to play with you.

Also, on the subject of replays, if you don't want to watch top players you can use the in-game Watch function and even search for games (in progress or replays) based on a bunch of criteria. Want to see some people play Luna and get some build ideas? You can! Heck, you can even tell it to show you the least shitty games in the bunch...

 

[BloatedGuppy]

There's an option when starting a game, right under the normal game to do a matchmade coop VS AI. It functions like a Normal All Pick game and you get 4 human teammates, no need to hunt down friends to play with you.

Seriously? That's kind of awesome. I wish I'd know about that before. I'm a dope.

Also, on the subject of replays, if you don't want to watch top players you can use the in-game Watch function and even search for games (in progress or replays) based on a bunch of criteria. Want to see some people play Luna and get some build ideas? You can! Heck, you can even tell it to show you the least shitty games in the bunch...

But they're so much more fun with TB's droll commentary! I don't want to have to make my OWN droll commentary. That's too much like work.

 

[Jandau]

But they're so much more fun with TB's droll commentary! I don't want to have to make my OWN droll commentary. That's too much like work.

I'm watching TB's Undying video right now! Yeah, he's fun, but not only can you not learn anything from him, I'm pretty sure you can get worse at the game by watching him. He's terrible at it. Entertaining, but terrible. Granted, his enemies are terrible as well, so he does alright, but he can hardly come to terms with the buttons he has to press, and watching him take farm from a Faceless Void was just painful...

 

[Uszi]

Here, I'll tell you what, das ist mir: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197985371685

Feel free to add me to your steam friends, I don't mind hoping in a few games and coaching if you want some pointers. And like I said, I really dislike playing with 4 other strangers, so I don't mind joining up with Escapists to play DotA at all.