Dota 2 Newbie Tips

Dota 2 Newbie Tips by tasty_serving

I finally got my real life friend to try Dota. He practiced against bots, read a few hero guides, watch a couple videos and felt he understood everything there was to the game. Then he actually played against other players as was blown away by all the little things he didn’t know. I was going over a few of the things with him but then decided I’d try to list what I know here and he could also see what other people have to say.

1. The more that your teammates constructively talk during the pregame loading, the higher the likelihood that you’re gonna win. This is debatable.
2. The higher the proportion of foreign looking names on your team, the lower your chances of winning. non-native speakers on your team, the chances you have of winning diminish somewhat due to the inability to communicate. * This rule does not apply to Chinese players
3. If someone isn’t moving their hero selector, assume they want that hero (Unless its Abaddon). You don’t go sniping their hero; especially if its on the minimap or if they talk about it.
4. If the support isn’t buying the courier/wards, just man up and do it. Better to spend the gold than start a flame war or allow the enemy a decisive advantage.
5. Do not start a Mexican standoff at mid. Yes, you called mid first and put your icon on the minimap but that guy gives no fucks. He knows all that and simply don’t care. Just go to a lane and hope the shithead doesn’t feed mid.
6. Mid (or anyone) owes you NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (enough exclamation marks?) Yea, a gank would be nice and hopefully he calls missing but ultimately its up to you to keep up with the minimap. The main point of this is to not start the flame wars. I’m not saying mid should never gank cuz that’s absurd, I’m saying you shouldn’t start to focus in on what someone is or isn’t doing. Just do what you’re supposed to do and hope everyone has the same mentality.
7. Any pudge on the enemy team will be a Godlike pudge. The pudge on your team won’t be able to hook for shit, however all pudges on your team have a +20% chance of landing a hook on a teammate that is in the process of securing a kill.
8. If you’re getting wrecked in lane, just leave it. Better they get one tower than 4-5 kills off AND the tower. Go to another lane and try to gank there or help push that tower down. If your the solo offlane, don’t go mid that’ll piss some people off. I for one welcome my offlane overlords.
9. Early on periodically check to see who has a bottle. If they do, leave the runes for you. I know, you see that regen rune and you’re missing 100 health and 12 mana, but that guy with the bottle can make WAY better use.
10. Don’t feed the trolls. There’s at least one every 1.5 games. You gave up first blood and he’s already calling gg and spamming well played. Anything you say will trigger his natural instinct to pounce on the weak. The rest of the game he’s gonna say shit to distract you.
11. Don’t feed the trolls!! Sometimes you’re doing great. Hell, you’re carrying the team and suddenly you make one lil mistake and he’s calling you a noob. He has 1 kill and 12 deaths with 2 assists, all your fault ofcourse. I know, you’re tempted to point out the flaw in his logic. Fun fact, TROLLS HAVE NO INNATE ABILITY TO PROCESS LOGIC. You could have a significantly better mmr, better win rate, more hours , point that out and he’ll start in with anything he could find. Maybe your voice, maybe your hero selection or the fact that you’re such an idiot for buying in-game cosmetics.Tl;dr* on Numbers 9-10, **Make generous usage of the mute feature.*
12. Insulting your teammates will usually get the opposite results of what you’re trying to achieve. Infact, in a study of all dota players, it has been shown that nearly 1/3 of players will stop trying to win once sufficiently insulted; even when mmr is involved.
13. If a mistake is especially egregious (bad), just say the raw facts as to what they should’ve done without the personal attack. Or just keep it to yourself if you don’t wanna chance a flame war.
14. The Comeback is real. Anyone who’s played enough games know that the lead isn’t secure until mega creeps. Even then, there’s a very small chance.
15. You are not allowed to call the game ez if the game goes longer than 35 minutes. I been informed that I was mistaken on this. The longer the game, you definately should yell ez game to mess with the enemy psyche for longer term damage. To call ez mid, you must either destroy the mid tier 1 by 8 minutes or secure a kill against the enemy mid. This is one of the most important rules.
16. Um, yea, you know that big creep near the dire side. Yea…you should have your team go there and fight him once in a while. He isn’t there for decorative purposes.
17. Players who wear arcanas in game are either gonna be really good or really bad. You’ll know by 5 minutes into the game.
18. That microphone that 90% of you have…don’t be afraid to use it UNLESS you know you have a temper problem or have a distracting type voice.
19. You don’t steal the courier for your own purposes. Seriously. You wait your turn or ask if you need an urgent item. Most people are ok with it if you just ask. *** An exception for the mid who needs his items during the laning stage I think is reasonable.
20. Lastly, don’t be discouraged if you lost or did poorly. By design, someone has to lose and do poorly. You can however, alter the frequency of this happening by continuing the learning process and keeping a positive attitude.
21. If u are the 4/5 th pick, please pick whatever you think your team needs.
22. Please do buy a detection once in a while to support yourself instead of fully relying on your supports.
23. Always carry a TP
24. Don’t random when you’re the last one to pick. Random first. When you’re the last one to pick your line-up probably needs a specific hero or counterhero and randoming a useless hero will piss everyone off.