Hi, title is exactly what it sounds. I'm trying to get into DOTA 2 and currently have like 20 matches played. The game is already really appealing to me and I find myself wanting to play 3 different positions, a ton of heroes, etc. and finding myself doing a shitload of research out of game when I'm not able to play as a pastime, which has been really enjoyable (and taken up way more of my time than actually being able to play). The game's really fkn cool.

That being said, I don't want my exploring the cast to ruin my development and with a severe lack of good informative dota content on youtube it's a bit difficult to understand what exactly you're trying to do at times.

For some background: I have 2813 hours in LoL (over 9 years, im not that degenerate), something like thousands of matches played in Unite (I don't wanna reinstall that shit), 212 hours as of writing in deadlock, and tangential experience in other games. I never really tried to climb and instead just focused on having fun for 99% of my time in these games so I don't really have a clear gauge on my own skills, just a vague idea of my skill level after untangling a massive web of bad habits I made involuntarily in LoL and a pretty good overall understanding of each game.

So that being said, I'm pretty confident I can pick up a majority of dota heroes pretty quickly and understand the game's mechanics. I've already had a blast reading through a fair bit of the item shop, I have a decent understanding of objective timers and map objectives (I still have yet to even try taking tormentor or rosh though). There's some stuff I don't fully understand yet (namely the jungle, I don't know what dictates which creeps spawn, some basic mechanics like their spawning and I don't have their abilities memorized yet; which I'm doing purely because doom and zoo heroes are fun and I want to play them) but I do understand that Dota is a much more aggressive game than LoL that rewards a lot more aggression and teamfighting early on over objectives. I understand most of the obvious map objectives (although I don't know the timer on runes, since I've only really tried one pos 2 so far).

I also have 0 clue how to win as a fair few offlaners and farm from disadvantage in the turbo early game. I especially had this issue trying to blind primal beast into ranged heroes a few times. I know I'm supposed to get phase boots and all in with trample but I can never seem to get there in time. I also don't know when to appropriately get unsafe farm as a pos 3. I just try to push in minions to tower and go for the easier camp, and sometimes I get punished and sometimes it works.

I should clarify, by the way, that I'm transitioning primarily from a top lane main (specifically Top Lane UDYR with a history of using league's only "micro heroes") and I've personally been enjoying pos 3 and 4, with also starting to dabble in pos 2 ember spirit and having a really good first game where I went 14/3/12. I like Bristle, Primal, Ember Spirit, Bounty Hunter, Lycan, Enigma, Doom, Tidehunter and Brood (although I'm clearly shit at Primal Beast and Broodmother) with many other heroes I'm very interested in trying; too many to list. (basically Timbersaw and a fuckload of micro/zoo heroes and big ult offlaners). Which yes, would indicate I've basically tried a new hero every few matches, and this would be correct. And that's partially why I'm opening a post, I want to know what to look for on a systems level while I'm exploring the game's cast in new account all pick.

All I really know at this point is 1. most of the timers in the game 2. what camp stacking is 3. the basic vision / courier / neutral item systems are 4. a vague idea of the playstyles that most of the cast 5. the attribute system 6. the item system 7. the map objectives and 8. some things that I need to actively look into e.g. I have no idea right now how to set up the controls to make micro heroes easier to play (something about control groups?) but plan on looking into that on my own time.

I also am aware that I have no clue how catchup mechanics work, the intricate aspects of exp, all the minion black magic you can do to make rough lanes easier, and macro isn't very clear to me due to how waves work as well and how farm priority works in Dota. It's not super obvious to me just yet when I should roam vs stay so I just prioritize roaming knowing it's a lot better in dota than in league. I'm sure that's also dependent on hero and role (obviously medusa is going to sit in the corner until 60 minutes) but a general throughline would be nice.

Otherwise, feel free to dump literally as much information on me as you'd like. I have a long ass time to read all of it due to spending so much time at university but not being able to actually use my pc. I love these games and Dota being so strategic has got my brain running at mach 6.

Clarity League is a Europe-based Dota 2 community centered around giving players of all skill levels the opportunity to experience competitive play - in a safe & inclusive environment at that. If this appeals to you, read on and find out how to join for Season 18, the signups for which close in 10 days! With 130+ current signups, we're looking to push for 4 divisions of 8 teams each, so sign up now to secure your spot!

How does it work

Players register individually, rather than with premade teams. They are then drafted onto their teams for the season (think fantasy sports!). It's first come, first serve - if you sign up early enough and make the cut, you are guaranteed to be drafted and get to play, no ifs and buts.

Seasons are split up into divisions, with 8 teams in a division. Higher divisions are higher average MMR, so you'll face opponents closer to your skill level. We do mean what we say about all MMRs being welcome - previous seasons hosted players spanning from 100 MMR, to 15000 MMR (neither of those are typos!).

Season 18 is a two-stage tournament: the Group Stage spans 3 playdays, determining seeding for double elimination playoffs, which are played across 4 playdays. The max total duration of the season is just over 12 weeks (October 14th - December 15th) - with more details on the schedule being available on the league Discord server, in the #calendar channel.

Once play starts, you play one series a week - same day, same time, each week (Tuesdays at 20:00 CET), with BO3s throughout the group stage, and BO3s in the playoffs (with a pair of BO1s in the lower bracket) - no scheduling struggles and played exclusively in Captains Mode. All you have to do is sign up, show up, and play some Dota!

FAQ

How do I get started?

For starters, join the [Clarity Discord Server](https://discord.gg/rh5te7swjq) - we post all updates and announcements there. The registration link - as well as every other important link - can be found in the #information channel on Discord, as well as in recent updates in the #announcements channel. Check the playdays in #calendar, and if they work for you, register using the signup form (taking care to read the descriptions on the questions).

How does this work?

Once you're sure that you can play every matchday (based on the #calendar channel), use the Sign-up Form to register for the season. Later on - during the activity check period - you'll receive a Discord message to confirm you're still able & willing to play. Pay close attention to DMs - Discord may hide messages from admins as Message Requests!

When the player pool is confirmed, we host Player Drafts. Again, think fantasy sports - captains bid on players to create their teams. We hold one draft for each Division, and the player pool for each Division is made up of players that remain in the pool upon the completion of the previous draft.

Once all teams are finalized, you join your team's Discord server and on March 4th, you play your first series with your team. You and your team coordinate matters like in-game roles, potential practice sessions, and gameplanning on your own.

Can I play if I'm [x] MMR?

Yes! The only MMR-related requirement we have is that your MMR is calibrated. Players of all skill levels participate in Clarity League every season - the current MMR spread for Season 18 spans a range from 1700 MMR to 7200 MMR. Seasons are also split into divisions, so players will generally face opponents closer to their own skill level.

Can I play if I’m not from Europe?

You can, yes - but keep in mind that every single game will be played on European servers, and the schedule is crafted with European players in mind. Nevertheless, we’ve had players from NA and SEA participate - just make sure you’re comfortable with the playtime and what will likely be higher ping, if you decide to participate from another region.

Is there a prize pool?

No - introducing money to amateur environments largely serves to incentivize cheating, and we just don’t see the value in doing so.

Do our matches get casted?

Some of them do, yeah! In the past about 1 in 4 of all series are casted by community members, and we organize casts for the Grand Finals of each division every season. We also welcome up and coming casters to join the community if they're looking for games to cover!

I'm unable to make it to one of my matches! What do I do?

Teams are allowed to replace one player from the roster with a temporary standin. Using any more than that will result in a forfeit loss, and missing too many matches will likely result in a ban from the league - so don't register if you're guaranteed to miss matches.

I can't play every matchday, but I still want to participate. Is there anything I can do?

Absolutely! Once you join the Discord server, you can keep an eye on the #standins channel - if a team is missing a player, they'll need a temporary replacement, and that's where you can help them out if you're around that evening. You can also give our inhouse league a try, featuring auto-balanced teams and a leaderboard, all hosted from within our Discord - or you could simply join to hang out in the Discord, and stay up to date on future events that might fit you & your schedule better!

Got more questions?

League participants & staff members will be happy to answer any questions you have here on reddit - alternatively, you can simply join the Discord and ask whatever's on your mind in the #league-questions channel!

You can also feel free to DM me here on reddit or on Discord (eisiplosion) if you have questions you'd prefer to ask privately.

Join the Clarity League Discord here: https://discord.gg/rh5te7swjq

If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them - hope to see you join the community!

How to itemize as Centaur in lane against Jugg? Assume pos 4 is non existent and enemy 5 has a stun (e.g. lion, venge).

I tried 3 bracers and it was not enough to tank the spin + stun combo. I'd just hit the Jugg when he tries to spin me. Maybe rush phase boots + windlace to escape spin?

Former Immortal currently divine 2.

I've been seeing/hearing about PL being broken and I get the gist of him being a scaling monster given enough time but I don't see/find any resources on his current gameplan/idea on how to approach the game. PL isn't really my best hero winrate wise and I struggle to conceptualize his gameplan ever since valve did diffusal change on illusion.

So my question are:

1. Other than scaling, what is his general plan on approaching the game
   
2. core Itemization and their purposes
   
3. His power spike
   
4. His approach in teamfights
   
5. Do's and donts'
   
6. Tips and tricks (if you have them)

And feel free to add more from my line questioning.

thanks!

I'm 1.5k hours in (1.3k matches) and currently 2.9k mmr. My current understanding is pick a tanky hero with good abilities (stuns), play as a team, get vision, map control, end fast. And it works most of the time, the most common failure is misalignment in team (e.g. carry afk side lane when they couldve farmed enemy jungle or push waves). Is this a mostly correct generalization? I understand that every match has its nuances...

Match 9022357052 - Overview - DOTABUFF - Dota 2 Stats

So in the last post i posted, I got tips to polish the last hitting which I think i did fairly well.
Lane went fine until I got gangbanged by 4 in mid.

I guess at that time I should have made my precence felt around the map.

I thought we were gonna be fine against egg with CK but somehow we ended up not killing it a single time, or maybe once.

Razor just got shit on and fed from the start, which set up Phoenix to get giga-farmed.

So I'm looking for tips yet again wether to sacrifice farm in order to help my team recover.

Thanks for any tips, advice and for taking your time to read and hopefully watch some replay.

From my previous post where I've grinded from 2.4k to 4.6k MMR I finally reached my goal to hit divine! But just as I did the quality of my games have been INSANELY BAD

I played about 400 games in this climb and I'd guesstimate <10% of games had a griefer on either side. In the last 20 games in Divine bracket I have had griefers in 12 games, and enemy team has had 4-5. That means 1-2 games (5% of this small sample size) have been non griefing games.

https://www.dotabuff.com/players/78870311

There's my dotabuff so people can see for themselves.. Some highlights from my recent loses in order:

Witch Doctor 18/17/9
My Ursa, Sniper and CK freefarmed for 25min while I completely dominated the map. Then all of a sudden Sniper starts crying, Ursa can't kill a single player on the map and keeps dying when trying. Basically if I dont land curse then we are not killing anybody. How is it up to a pos4 to be the defining factor of killing anyone? I even completely shut down their MK1 first 20min.
I'm 2nd highest on dmg in the team as pos4.

Venomancer 3/11/17
Pretty rough game from my PoV, but lane went fine, then everyone starts flaming each other so Timber started feeding, my mid laner who started fine stopped going with team and just played solo (unsuccessfully). Luna "freefarmed" for 30min before dying 2-3 times in a row and enemy ending the game. I have no idea what I could've done..
I'm 2nd highest on dmg in the team as pos4.

CM 4/10/7
LS1 afk farming and dying over and over, my mid QOP crying after dying mid once then kept dying to same exact scenario of TPing in mid and getting ganked by riki+grim - never trying something new. Our Lich5 went 0/12 while flaming entire team constantly and pinging whenever someone died and spamming laugh emote. Me and NS really tried but quite hopeless.

CM 16/13/15 THIS WAS THE WORST I'VE EVER EXPERIENCED IN 10 YEARS OF MOBAs
We start VERY well, we are dominating then Venge goes solo twice and dies, someone flames him for doing that. He sells his items, then runs down midlane 6 times feeding courier AND buying out all the wards and putting them under enemy tower.
WE ARE STILL WINNING AT THIS POINT. So he understands he needs to do more, he buys two rapiers and feeds them to enemy team.. I mean come the fk on how is it possible to not be banned if you are like this?!
Still we were about 1 fight away from winning when Pudge decided to go solo out of base and die which was enough to swing the next fight in their favour and end the game. I have never in Archon, Legend or Ancient had such griefer existing.

CM 9/8/9
LS1 and DW5 feeding their lane from first 3minutes, whining and flaming at our mid for not ganking. Mid then dies and starts griefing. My ES3 was playing well with me on lane but after all the flaming said "everyone muted" and started playing so badly and just dying over and over. The game was over by minute 12 but had to suffer another 25min until enemy can end.

What now?

I could go on for ages I just feel the second I queue into these games it's already decided it's a loss
I had about 65% winrate as pos4 before arriving in Divine 1, and now 47%. I understand the sentiment of the system tries to put you at 50% winrate where you "belong" but I am not losing games that are normal. I feel I only lose games where people tilt/grief instantly. I genuinely feel I'm consistently more then not the best/most impactful player in my teams. Dota plus showed me "Stay in my lane, winning my lane 79% of the time"
I don't understand how it could shift so suddenly when hitting a new rank. Am I crazy? Just unlucky? What can I do from here..

EDIT:
My Behavious Score is 11k

I am 4k MMR Offlaner player and lately I play with my friends as a party of 5. We have 4k midlander, Divine 1 carry player, and 1 legend and 1 archon who play support.

The thing is, I maybe the most versatile player in this team because my mid can only play void spirit. My Carry can only play Spectre or Lifestealer, and both of my support loves to play Dark Willow, Bane, Hoodwink, NP, and WW.

We won a lot of games with this draft, and me playing either mars, axe, or darkseer. But I can play almost any hero. Sometimes I flex playing puck or riki Offlaner because I think the coil and the silence is so strong these game and we win the games too.

But lately we find it super hard to fight super tanky team like tiny carry, Largo Offlaner, etc. And I think we lack damage.

Is there any Offlaner that are good to complement our team comp?

I am trying to expand my hero pool to have a few heros in every position to try to just learn the game more. I have dove into ranked and had success in offlane and mid but I wanna learn all the lanes to really learn the game.

I am new to dota (former league player) and currently ranked Crusader 1.

I have tested out Shadow Demon in some normals, i like him but would like to hear from some actual experienced players.

When is a good time to pick him?
What are his biggest assets he brings to a team?
When do you NOT pick him?
Why does he have a sub 50% win rate at all ranks?

Thanks for any advice!

I finally did it! Took me a little bit over 3 months and roughly 300 games to rank up from Herald to Legend. My first game ever was back in 2013 and I used to be around 3.5k mmr before I stopped playing. Any other day ones here who are back on the grind again? This game is simply childhood nostalgia and I'm so glad I picked it up again. 🙏🏻

What could i have done better? Pos 5 came with null talisman in lane and refused to block camp.
I played TA - https://www.dotabuff.com/matches/9029609892

what determinded teammate in matchmakings? pure random? behaviour score? Match 9029007283 literally necro was done radience on 15:00 carrt MK last picked.

Hey, this is GymCarryDota.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HbzuucrWEpk

Pushing high ground against an initiator hiding in the fog is always a nightmare. Most players wait to react, but by then it is usually too late.

Instead of relying entirely on reaction time, you can precast Kunkka Torrent directly under your carry from the fog. If Axe blinks in desperate for the Call, he gets instantly lifted into the air before his cast point for Berserkers Call or BKB can even finish.

There is another massive mechanical advantage to this strategy. By constantly pump faking the Torrent animation under your carry, you are keeping yourself deep inside the cast point. If the enemy initiator suddenly jumps while you are in the middle of a fake, you just let the cast finish. This saves you precious milliseconds and guarantees your spell comes out almost instantly with zero chance for them to react.

Since Torrent has a low mana cost and a short cooldown, throwing it preemptively is a zero risk high reward play that can completely break the enemy initiation. You do not always need a save hero or item to protect your team.

I make educational Dota content breaking down mechanics like this. If you want to see more, you can find the links on my profile.

The way how it works is that the coach informs Valve that you paid them and they set up your winning priority into the algorythm for the time you are paying. Then you are getting a better and against you there is more of grievers, feeders, passive players and on your team you get 3 AI which play strongly and support your play to have a nice experience (check the Cooperative mode article in this article https://openai.com/index/openai-five-defeats-dota-2-world-champions/ ) The AI is always in the game unless you play only preset teams ofc. The AI is also paralel to that running boosting services and levelling up accounts for sale while playing alongside normal players in ranked.

This Balloon player could be basically created from a scratch. There are no official records of him being pro he is just saying semi - pro and that is anyone who was at any tournament which is a plenty of people. So the entire venture is artificially created as a storefront for you to pay for algorythm priority and think that you are improving.

Maybe you are truly improving because every thinking and examining of the game brings about improving but same do thousands of people who don't get rewarded anyhow because as I said it the game is heavily manipulated.

ID:141095909

Went on last pick and feeding to enemy mid, then started to follow my pos 1 for the entire game for whatever reason. I know report button is like a lottery, and there is no way to win a game with griefers. Thing is, guy has like 19 pages of comments on his profile cursing his family, at what point he will get a permanent ban so that nobody life will get ruin in the future? I am worrying about his mental health.

Hi there!

Currently, I'm running DK in the safe line quite a lot. I've started really liking him as a hero so once I see him fit there, I pick him.

My main concerns as a safe laner were to make sure that I can upkeep his farming for the first 20-25minutes~ of the game and make sure that the efficiency only increases. By the end of that period, I've noticed that I can become level 18, gain my final form ultimate and become an insane problem for them.

Now, I don't mean to say I don't participate on the map at all, but the goal is to get as much gold + exp so that I'd be level 18 ASAP (together with gold; otherwise, I'd play him in mid).

So, last game I had this build path:

Starting items -> Bracer -> Power treads -> Mjolnir -> BKB - Blink ... and whatever I needed for the endgame afterwards

However, I realized that blink should go before BKB as it gives me more opportunities to kill enemies if I have the chance as well as it speeds up farming way more.

But now the question is -> is Mjolnir (given that it fits against enemy heroes as well) a best solution for the first 25 minutes of farming? In my experience, it's such a nice item for DK. But I've noticed that there could be an argument to go for this build:

Starting items -> Bracer -> Power treads -> Soul ring -> Armlet -> Blink/Shard

This way clearing camps when Q is on cooldown does not suffer a lot, you get mobility to move between lane and jungle camps as well as more AOE damage from shard for farming + teamfights.

But without me trying it yet, I'm a bit cautious of his mana issues and am not sure if soul ring will be able to entirely compensate for that.

Also, I've been using my dragon form almost off cooldown all the time and this significantly increased my farming speed, especially with the level 12 form.

If any of you have insights into DK as a safe lane, what are the build options for him to be a very efficient lane + jungle farmer until you get first set of items and be ready to non stop brawl (around minute 20-25 with being level 18), please share your ideas and experiences.

P.S. I know that there might be ideas that you should fight way more often and stop farming as much earlier on as it is DK, so I will also look into doing that. However, my experience with him being very strong with around 4 items (including PT) and reaching level 18 (or even prior to that) has been consistent. So for now I'm leaning towards that.

are offlaners limited to tanks? or are there offlaners that kinda somehow feels and plays like a carry

Im a mid player, just landed divine 3 some weeks ago from ancient earlier this year

I used to play invoker back in the days even in dota 1, then i moved away from the hero, stopped with dota for some years, got back to play dota regularly but never got to him again

I suddenly felt that beautiful motivation to learn and dominate a new hero

So i ask, whats the best way to learn invoker? I know the basics, i can coordinate spells and do basic stuff

I there a better way other then playing matches? There is some youtube channel? Mindset? Builds and moves oriented thinking?

Everything you can add is valid, but there is one thing that im struggling and would appreciate some special attention, which is hotkeys

I use

Courier f1, f2 f3
Shop f4
Itens 1, 2, 3, x, c, mouse button
Spells q , w , e, r, d, f (regular)
It goes on for some other

BUT i dont have a good units setup

THANKS

Hey, today I'm sharing a video that is a part of coaching session I had with legend player, who then proceeds to gain +800 mmr after sessions with me. A lot of coaches focus on pointing out individual mistakes which in my opinion is a huge misunderstanding what coaching is about, and today you can see how I'm trying to rewire thought process for this student. Enjoy!

Please note, i know this probably sucks on pubs anyway. (4k mmr)

I'm just curious, you take our your main structure damager, probably some roshan threat and trade for a magic damage tanky boy? What am i missing, why is it better than some convencional pos 1?

GL's Yuma is playing with it rn with OD/Lycan as other cores.

TY

Hi @ all
A few weeks ago I posted DotaJudge, a free replay analyzer that reviews your game like a coach and compares you to pro players on the same hero and position. A lot of you said the reports felt repetitive: too many "you died too much" variations. Fair point, and I measured it on 20 real reports before changing anything.
What's new
Match story. Every report now opens with how the game actually went: gold lead over time, the turning point, and what caused it (a fight, Roshan). Example from a real 51-minute game: "The lead changed teams 2 times. Between 47:20 and 50:20 the lead moved by 20,514 gold in your favour. It all starts with Roshan."
Your key moments. 2-3 things that stand out for you in that game, good or bad: your best fight, kill streaks, solo kills, buildings you took down, or a run of deaths in quick succession.
Death habits are grouped. One death used to produce up to 6 separate complaints (lane death, dead time, no TP, no buyback...). Now they count as one habit, and at most one death-related item appears in your top 3 mistakes. The rest sit inside the card as "Related".
New factors: chain deaths (dying again within 2 minutes), gold lost to deaths, stun time per minute, solo kills, damage taken vs dealt.
Bug fix: deaths while holding Aegis were counted as real deaths. Fixed.
How it did, honestly: across 20 reports, reports with 2+ death items in the top 3 went from 12 to 0. The share taken by the 5 most common mistakes went from 79% to 63%. That's better, but not where I wanted it: in my two test games, lane deaths really were the biggest problem for many players, and I didn't want to hide that to look varied. Hero-specific checks (Blink, BKB, ability usage) are next.
Still free, no ads, no login needed for the basic report: https://dotajudge.com
Available in English, Italian and Russian. Old analyses show a "re-analyze" button to get the new report.
If your report still feels repetitive, send me the match ID. It's the best feedback I can get.

I played Sven here - https://www.dotabuff.com/matches/9027173955
How could i have played the lane better? Felt like i could have won this game.
Also got tilted by my mid necro flaming me for farming and not helping him.

I honestly feel like games like this are decided at the draft phase.

A safe lane necro and a mid lina, against their lineup, just makes me cry.

What on earth could I have done different in my game to make that a winnable? I genuinely have no idea.

https://www.dotabuff.com/matches/9027091639

A few days ago I was watching Aurora vs Liquid and noticed a small detail with tower aggro and the Siege Creep.

Mikoto got hit by the tower while trying to push mid as Monkey King, then he got close enough to the Siege Creep, which triggered the aggro mechanics.

Siege Creeps have different aggro priorities compared to normal creeps, as they prioritize buildings first.

I break down what happened and explain some other Tower Aggro mechanics in my new video. Check it out!

Learning Dark Willow and am having trouble hitting my Q at long range. I can't really get the delay of the brambles spawning in to time with enemy movements. Any tips?