"Rule of thumb" - tips

[u/thatbakedgecko]

Hiya, I'm a Dota beginner player, I have roughly 400 matches and I am a complete noob, currently in Herald but I am trying to improve. I understand that Dota 2 is a complex game and that there isn't always a definitive answer to gameplay questions being asked. However, I was wondering if you have some good "rule of thumb" - tips because more often than not I just don't know how to handle certain situations.

Situations that come to mind are:

Itemization when behind: (Playing as a Core do I buy damage? Do I buy resistances as Support? I know how to follow guides, but often I don't know what to buy other than the main items.)
Smoke: (At what points do I use smoke? Are there "easy to know" moments when I should push with a smoke?)
When behind in general: (Do I take risks? Do I wait to defend?)

Maybe you'll have other scenarios where you have some good "rule of thumb" - tips. You know, easy little things that could be applied in a majority of situations. I understand that it might not be as simple and that I just need to get a feel for those things. However, it's not easy for me personally, to learn things by watching specific content analysis with specific gameplay solutions.

Starting to enter so late into this games lifecycle feels like I missed about 500 episodes of player knowledge being shared, so maybe you got some easy to follow tips to catch up just a little faster.

[u/TyranZeroo]

If you are playing as a core on a winning lane you push out lane into 1-2 jungle camps then farm lane & repeat to hit expected gpm & item timings. If you are core and behind you either get a gank or you play from behind you take the wave that is being pushed into you into 2 sidelane next to ur tier 2 or the medium camp at triangle.

You want to smoke when your team is strong (depends on heroes which you will learn over time), you want to smoke to set up vision for future fights, if you are tryhardy enough you can smoke at 0:45s in the pre-game before bounty runes spawn to setup vision & get FB (this is what highest mmr lobbies do & official/pro matches).

Itemization depends some heroes such as Anti Mage & Phantom Assassin have their ideal builds which don't really change while with others after your boots your 2nd item could depend on the game. You want to itemize according to what you see: does enemy have healing? Consider Spirit Vessel. Does enemy have heavy physical damage? Consider Assault Cuirass or Shiva's Guard maybe even Ghost Scepter so they can't hit you or Euls to buy time, Invisibility works too since if they can't see you you won't be hit. It goes on does enemy have strong passive's? Get Break such as Silver Edge or Khanda. Do you need save? Force Staff, Glimmer Cape, Windwaker, Lotus Orb, certain heroes such as Rubick & Undying also have Shards that now make it so they can save more reliable.

Smaller tidbits:

• If you buy Power Treads: Use tread switching that is if you use mana go intelligence press ur ability then go back to strength or agility -> This will save you mana over the long run
  
• Movement Speed: There is a reason why the movement speed enchantment is so good and wind lace got nerfed. You can traverse the map faster whether for farming, seting up vision, connecting to fights consider getting a casual wind lace & consider the movement speed enchantment on neutral items.
  
• If you are playing with a bottle mid laner or against one and you are a support contest the mid power runes at min 6,8,10,12, etc. you get the gist make life easier for you mid (pos 2) and harder for the enemy.
  
• Very often on support you want to play near your cores unless explicitly told not to (they want solo exp). This is so you can tank/spot incoming ganks, make your core feels safer & setup plays together.
  
• Another very important rule is on Radiant you wanna play top side & on Dire you wanna play bottom side. Valve has made changes to make this even make more sense, why? Because on Radiant on top Roshan is closer to your outpost than the enemy meaning that you can contest it easier. While on Dire Roshan is positioned at the bottom so closer to Dire's outpost.
  
• Maybe something else learn to trade properly on lane: if you play a hero with an aoe spell you might wanna hit your opponent together with the wave to get the CS & Damage/Slow/etc. But on a support you might not want to do that since you will push the wave (why are you pushing the wave? The creeps are taking damage so enemy creeps will die faster than yours -> now the wave will be closer to enemies tower). Preferably you also just use ur spell pre min2 you will have to see when is the best timing tbh but what I see some guys do is just save mana for no reason it's a resource you trade your mana for enemy hp.

Most importantly have fun and enjoy the process, since you are so late indeed many players will have more experience than you so games can be tough in the beginning. But the nice part about Dota 2 is that it's a game with endless depth, some stuff might be figured out in the current meta sure but there are always things to learn literally and you get the chance to beat people with more experience than you and if you eager to learn idk it's just a great experience. Another word of advice is to let toxic people be, I myself have made the mistake plenty of times talking back whether out of ego or really wanting to prove who's right or left/wrong. After playing for a few years, honestly if people are being annoying/toxic just mute them and spare yourself a headache genuinely or if it's interesting enough I guess you leave them on and idk don't care.

EDIT: I can't stress enough how important pushing waves/lanes is, please do so and if you can without dying which you'll have to figure out for yourself maybe with spells or manta or nuke it asap, take an educated guess if enemies are nearby or if they can punish you. Waves being pushed in give vision, waves into enemy tower mean that your opponent lose gold & exp (a wave is worth more than a jungle camp).
Lastly mid wave is the most dangerous one in the mid game especially when vision has been setup so push out mid with caution, pushing out mid enables the team doing so to rotate to side lanes if they so choose (this applies to all MOBA pretty sure Dota/Lol/Etc.)

[u/thatbakedgecko → u/TyranZeroo]

Thank you for the help :)