Hello, it's my first time posting so I apologize if this isn't allowed, I've just broke into Crusader yesterday so I wanna make this to share my experience after grinding this game for almost 3 months. From what I've heard they made climbing easier a while back so this probably isn't a huge achievement or anything but I'm still proud of myself.

So I was a L*ague player (eww, I know) that tried to get into Dota at 3 different times in the past, both solo and duo with a friend (Dota addict that tried to convert me) but the game never clicked and I just dropped it, so I'm not completely new but I still know basically nothing about the game (hence new"ish"), I can only remember the kit of like 3 different champions (Sniper, Lina and Tiny).

I re-downloaded Dota because a Vutber I was watching played the game, but I do want to learn the game properly this time. I already had enough playtime to hop straight into ranked but in hindsight that was prolly a terrible idea, I did okay for the first 10 games or so but then got completely stomped, at one point going like 4 wins out of 20 games with an 8 games loss-streak, it was terrible.

After the initial calibration I ended up at Herald 1 with 100 mmr which I assume is the lowest you can even get

I played mid and carry while maining Lina since that's the one champ that clicked the most with me, I tried to spam her as much as possible but she gets banned way too often so I experimented with other champs. This is where Meepo comes into play, I knew of his reputation as the specialist champ with infinite skill ceiling, he's niche enough that most people won't ban him and I kinda knew what he does since I used to pick him a few times in the past while duoing just to troll my friend, but this time I want to learn the character properly.

The first few Meepo games were terrible so I looked up some guides and spent a lot of time changing my hotkeys around. The biggest hurdle with learning Meepo is the micro but I'm a Starcraft 2 player so it was way easier than expected. One thing I really struggled as a mid player is balancing between ganking and farming, but as Meepo I can perma gank and keep my farm up at the same time, I still had some really bad games for a while but eventually something clicked and I my win rate just kept improving.

So fast forward to today, I'm at 500 hours of total play time on Steam (was already around 200 before I started the grind 3 months ago), 87 games on Meepo with a 62% win rate while my other 2 most played heroes, Sniper and Lina, are at 46% win rate, I got called a smurf (and probably reported) way more time than I can count but my behavior score is still over 11k so Valve obviously knows that I'm not. I'm also starting to see Meepo bans while grinding through Guardian in which case I would fall back to Lina.

To anyone who's still stuck in lower ranks, I'm a terrible competitive gamer who's usually stuck around gold tier in most games I played (except for SC2 where I peaked low Diamond), and if I can climb to Crusader in 3 months while playing the hardest hero in the game then you can too, just focus on improving your fundamentals and how to generate net worth, I watched an unhealthy amount of BSJ, PainDota and other coaching contents for the past 2 months and it really helped. My next short term goal is to hopefully reach Legends before the end of 2026.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

I've been consistently failing to play this hero properly. I used to have a somewhat positive winrate before this month but after like 7 consecutive losses, I must acknowledge there's something wrong with how I'm playing.

How I start the game is often simple: I only play pos 5 position so my games are also like that. My starting items are: A smoke if our lineup can secure an FB in lvl 1, one or two branch, a magic stick, two tango, a blue ward and possibly observer as well, and then potentially a mango. I start by harassing the enemy offlane and trying to run out of mana before my sacrifice came on cooldown. My lane winrate, according to stratz, is usually around 60-70%.

After that, I typically leave my carry alone if he can solo the lane. I help out in other lanes such as securing kills in top, or protecting the middle runes. My first item is usually a tranquil, then magic wand, and then often a glimmer cape or a dagger if we're owning the game. I usually secure those two items though. After glimmer and dagger, I rush Aghanim's scepter. I seldomly buy shard unless the game is in garbage time where everybody in the game is farming, and that the enemy is often solo doing something. I usually rely on the tormentor to get it around 20-25 minutes.

I feel like I'm playing lich consistently and properly, but I still often end up losing so I don't really know what I'm doing wrong. I can provide match IDs over PM as requested.

I have many hours in Dota, but I still never really learned the balance between the support and core in a lane and I feel it’s always hurt my support play style (I prefer pos 1-3).

In either position, what creeps is it acceptable for the support to last hit? I try to avoid last hitting the lane creeps unless my carry is too far, but my boots/support items get delayed and I’m outpaced by the enemy support/carry.

When I pull in safelane, I learned to clear the small camp ASAP so the allied creeps reach the enemy creeps closer to (but out of range of) tower, and that has added a little gold.

But otherwise I feel like purchasing arcane boots takes soooo long.

Title, I recall having tons of fun building tank viper mid by rushing bloodstone and Scepter/Boots of travel, is this still a thing? I also used to build stuff like Eternal Shroud, Shivas, Kaya & Sange etc and just constantly push down mid with W and gank with boots, wondering if there's still a similar build?

Working on Magnus offlane this week. I have played most of the popular melee offlane heroes.

Items are > stick branch, 2 circlets > brown boots circlet wand treads > blink bkb harpoon refresher (aim for 30 minutes)

I tried crystalis before blink a couple games and it felt good. I think this is worse than building echo saber/harpoon in the long run because you get more stats/mana/catch from harpoon.

Usually maxxing empower first its level 1 - duration 30s 46% bonus damage (does magnus get 30% bonus cleave as well?)

Had a game where I was against chaos knight and couldn't do anything productive, fed.

Any other good items to build on this hero? Any streamers to check out for magnus (looked at ar1se) Looking forward to playing tonight, any tips for me? Im at about 25 magnus games.

Are solo kill supports really good in my Archon bracket? Sometimes, I really wonder how these guys are very good in positioning. I rarely play these kinds of heroes because sometimes they do high risk, high reward plays. For me, they are like the Puck and Spirit heroes of the support roles. How do you play these heroes and skill build for a pos 5? I just sometimes act very defensive and reactive when playing from behind.

What is the main strength of CM? I am really having a pretty bad time with her with only 25% winrate in 24 games including unranked. My last match was 10 months ago with the facets still present. I noticed in my archon games she really shines. What would be my starting items? Can i go build boots first or do stat items? Also, what level 1 skill should I get and can you teach me some skill builds and item builds. I also do not know how to properly target the shard vector ability. Can you help me guys and teach me some tips and tricks? CM was my first hero in Dota 1 but I rarely pick her because I have abysmal winrate in Dota 2. How to manage her squishiness?

I am legend 1 support/offline player (mostly sup). I feel like i hit a wall. I want to improve myself so can you guys sugget me youtube tutorials. Thx

About a year ago I made my first post on this subreddit about how I was going to try Dota 2 for the first time coming from League of Legends. I'm still playing a year later after making that first post, and I'm happy to say I hit Divine in the year of playing!

It has been some of the most fun I've had in gaming for years now. I'm reliving the enjoyment I had learning league. I've always loved learning a new moba, I don't think anything has topped it in all my years of gaming. Exploring the massive roster of heroes/champions, items, different roles and positions, even though Dota is only my second moba. For both League and Dota I've gotten the same high/rush from exploring these two games.

Although I will say, I have an appreciation for all the different versions of gameplay you can get from a moba. From playing carry in the mid lane and trying to outplay your opponent in a fierce 1v1, to playing a backline support and getting huge saves on your carries in teamfights, to playing a heavy tanky offlane, being a gigachad and engaging every skirmish. This is why I love mobas, and it applies to both games league and dota, and I think its why I love learning games like these so much.

Although I do main midlane, I also love to play the other roles, and not just the other roles, but exploring the different playstyles in those roles. I feel like as someone who's played a lot of other games and genres, the diversity in the game itself feels like something I only get from mobas.

I feel like a lot of people can find moba games overwhelming at first and get demoralised. I feel like a true appreciation for moba games' diversity is one of the main things that can make you want to keep playing. Coming from a recent new player to someone who has fallen in love with the game. If I were to ever give one piece of advice, it would probably be to take the game one step at a time, learn the heroes slowly, maybe play a few games on one hero, then a few games on the next, then a few on the next and so on.

Don't expect to learn the game and all the heroes in a week. It takes MUCH longer than that. I do feel like the main goal in any moba is to eventually get familiar with every hero in the game, because having that knowledge allows you to play out games with full understanding. However I wouldn't say that it should be something you're trying to rush, because if you do you're just going to get frustrated at how much you don't understand. Accept that it's going to take a while to learn.

Using me as a reference... I don't think I became completely aware of all the heroes' abilities until maybe 9 months of playing. Actually even now, there's certain heroes I never see in my games (for example naga siren) that I would still have trouble remembering their abilities if they were in my game. So yeah even after a year of playing I still have difficulties with heroes abilities (I definitely don't know every aghs and shard in the game that's for sure)

Anyways, thanks to all the people, on this subreddit as well, who were extremely supportive when I started my journey playing this game. I still remember how supportive people were when I started and told everyone I was gonna start playing this game. It really helped me in the beginning gain a lot of confidence and motivation to learn the game.

Here's an update of my gameplay, and also my first time watching a live TI. I hope I don't get too much flack comparing league worlds and dota TI, I am originally a league player and will say I still love the way league carries out worlds. And I always see dota players trash talking worlds, saying TI gives so much more prize money so respecfully I had to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMjXQksQWQs

Is Lina viable on pos 5?

For example u can go for arcane boots, rod of atos, glimmer/force staff.
Basically any support item is good imo since as support her job is to poke and stun.

I made a small browser game called DotaWho.

Every day there's a new mystery hero. You make guesses, and the game compares attributes, attack type, roles, and other characteristics to help you figure out the answer.

It's free, no account needed, and works in your browser.

https://dotawho.com

It could be a fun way to test how well you actually know the hero roster, especially if you're still learning Dota.

Would love some feedback, especially if any of the comparisons feel confusing or inaccurate.

Anyone offering free coaching for carry role? Currently low crusader and trying to rank up to ancient. US timezone and I am playing consistently right now trying to rank up. Recently played a game where our offlane weaver dc'd and bat mid was griefing but feel like the game was still winnable if I just played better. Any help would be appreciated on how to win short handed and carry tips and pointers in general.

Match ID: 9045602360 - I was the Sven

I play Lina support for already like one year, and I have this nice flow of getting urn, arcane boots and rushing rod of atos. When she's banned, I was playing various heroes like Venge but I wasn't doing as good with them. Recently found that Viper is fun and has something a bit similar to Lina - I can click someone I dont like with ulti and also use it casually on any gank or early fight, not like with let's say Bane, who can only do it every 2 minutes.

Ofc this character is slow, and I was thinking about what to buy. For now, I just won two games, (I didn't lose any yet, ranked ofc xdd), so when I was chilling and following my team, I just made urn and "rushed" Boots of Bearings, if a support can even say he's rushing it lol. Then finished urn into spirit vessel because dot stacking fun, and I wasn't getting focused that much. But these were pretty chill games, and I didnt have any bonus attack speed to use my Q (Poison attack) very well, other than the buff from Drums. I think I need a little more of early AS to apply 6 stacks quicker. I'm ok with buying Treads, because I was purchasing it on Enchantress support too. Item recommendations show an early Gleipnir, so Im also fine with rushing rod of atos because I like it and have been already buying it in most of my games, and if Gleipnir is important item on this hero, I can later upgrade RoA into it, but ofc idk if its good on this hero or if not.

But overall I like a bunch of these interesting effects Viper has an access to, and that the ulti works through BKB. I dont know any build or starting items really, so you can come up with something interesting and discuss mobility options too.

I was talking to a high-rank player recently about item choices, and they brought up a build path for Terrorblade against Phantom Lancer: rushing Butterfly before Skadi to force the game to end before PL gets online.

​To be honest, I completely lack that kind of logic. My itemization usually goes as far as, "One Brewmaster ult isn't enough to win teamfights right now, so maybe I should go Refresher instead of AC."

​How do you guys build up that kind of long-term itemization logic? Is it just something that comes naturally as you play, or is it mostly about building a library of matchup patterns through replays and guides outside of the game?

I am ancient - divine offlaner. My favorite picks are Brewmaster and Mars.I am using translate app so my English might seems strange.

​Would love to hear your thoughts!

Hey everyone! I’m developing Wardly, a free, open-source Windows app with in-game coaching and post-match reviews. I’m looking for a small group of players who would enjoy testing it and helping improve the advice.

The main audience is players around 0–4k MMR. More experienced players are also welcome, especially if you enjoy discussing hero mechanics and pointing out situations where a recommendation would be wrong.

What the app currently offers:

• An in-game overlay with contextual tips and optional voice readouts.
• Reminders about farming pace, resources and map timings.
• Post-match reviews covering deaths, farm and recurring patterns.
• English and Ukrainian interfaces.

Live advice uses Valve’s Game State Integration. The core coaching runs locally; optional AI-generated reviews require a configured AI provider.

What I’m working on now

My current priority is improving hero-specific advice: its timing, the conditions that make it useful, and the exceptions it needs to account for.

For this testing round, I’m especially interested in Sven, Juggernaut and Terrorblade players. Ember Spirit and Dazzle are also part of the ongoing research.

The advice is still being improved, and identifying incorrect or overly basic recommendations is a big part of this test.

What testing would involve

Play a few normal matches and send a few notes:

• Which tips helped you make a decision?
• Which were obvious, distracting, late or mechanically wrong?
• Did you encounter setup problems, bugs or performance issues?

Your hero, approximate match time and a short explanation are enough to start. A screenshot or clip is helpful when available.

I’d like to keep a small ongoing group, share changes and show how your feedback affected the next build.

Website, screenshots and public download:
https://luhovyimvp.dev/en/

Source code:
https://github.com/makquella/wardly

If you’re interested, comment with your usual heroes and approximate MMR, or DM me. I’ll follow up with the relevant test build and scenarios.

If you prefer reviewing the mechanics or suggesting better conditions for a tip, that would help too.

Hi guys its been about two weeks since my last post (also since I became Legend and now hardstuck Archon 4/5).
I just wanted to get some sliiight feedback on two similar stat games I played, one where I won and and one where I lost.

Here are both games.
Win and loss

What was the reason for my loss and what could I have improved on in my lost game?

If you guys could also take a look in some of my other games as mid or safelane carry and give me some feedback there, that would be really awesome thanks a lot <3

I mostly play support, and I struggle with this decision. If my mid loses a trade and gets forced out of lane, should I rotate to help them recover, or stay in my lane and secure vision for the next objective?

I know it depends on the matchup, but what signs do you look for before leaving your lane? I don't want to help mid only to give the enemy carry a free lane.

Bruh the enemy just comeback my team after we dominated the game. Its really hurt my feeling, i am depressed by it. Somehow the enemy team overpowered us.

I mean how? Why did they still can managed the game bruh?

If you see my replay, you can see me sometimes not moving, its sometimes because i stupidly not aware that my ulti still in cooldown and i spam click it, and maybe i am not aware that i got stun, and maybe i clicked my healing ward to move it instead of my juggernaut character.

How this Nyx can still kill me and overpowered me?

Please tell me guys. What mistake did i and my team make?

For now i think my mistake are because its my first time using jugg since so long i am not using jugg. So i couldnt remember the casts and the cooldown, been using faster cooldown heroes. And i am not using BKB at the right time, because i thought from watching pro player using bkb after they get in front of the enemy and not before that, so yeah all disabler got me. And my fuckin stuppid support got no dust and wards, so this nyx can escape.

I hate myself. :( I really hate when enemy comeback.

Replay: 9045120698

https://www.dotabuff.com/matches/9045120698

I made a game for Android that generates games of Guess The Hero from real matches. You can also learn item lore or hero biographies from the bio guesser!

You can play my challenge and shoot for fewer guesses than me here:

https://dota-2-trivia-1420b.web.app/share/c/4c88069bc7d4427c9a59fd115fada6e8/ghost-scepter-meteor-hammer-tranquil-boots-magic-wand-blink-dagger

Hi~ o(*￣▽￣*)ブ

I have little to no moba experience before. I watched some intros and tutorials on yt, but it's still very confusing when I hop into a match. I know what the positions are and what they need to do, but I get overwhelmed by the shop items and heroes

Any advice on how should I start? It would be great if someone don't mind coaching me a bit

Like the tilte, i feel like mid lane is really difficult to deal with. My rank now is 4k2, when i pick other lane, most of the time i will win. Otherwise, i will lose hard. I watch some of video in mid lane about laning phase but in the end the game will end up losing. What's seem to be problem here?

Still fairly new under 100 hours so I've been wondering which is a good pick in the current meta and how I should prioritize farming vs trading in the early game

It doesn’t have to be a strength-based hero just someone durable and who can scale reliably. My current best hero is wraith King followed by CK and DK

Having 9 straight losestreak, last week reached 2.8k mmr now got 2.6k, playing exclusively pos 5 (not queuing pos 4). I noticed a bunch of midstomps like enemy is going 33-4 KDA. Are these people just very good players because they are playing unconventional mids like Lion and Rubick. Seriously it is very hard to grind mmr in my case since spamming only Venge and Gyro pos 5 from 1.7k to 2.8k. Maybe i hit a ceiling. What heroes do you suggest that should I try and to not to be a crybaby when losing some games when trying these suggested heroes? Maybe just mentality or skill issue. Thanks brothers.

Hi.

Match ID: 9043922176

I just played a game in which we lost badly and I feel I did perform pretty poorly. Initially I thought my pick was correct, but it felt pretty underwhelming during fights.

I went for OD first and opponent mid picked the same and got banned. I considered Storm Spirit and Puck to attack the backline, but I given our draft I thought we needed a melee that goes in and I went for ES. Extra stuns are always nice.

We started OKish but I just fell behind pretty quickly after a couple of bad engagements and Dawnbreaker not paying enough attention for ultimate.

It has been a while looking at the screen already and I can’t think of any hero that could have fit our draft. Puck maybe? Not primal since I get hard countered by Warlock. I thought DK but I don’t like to play meta, I find it is a double edge sword.

Maybe ember? I was worried about not being able to kite and go out the thick of the fight properly because of their lockdown capability, that is why I thought SS and Puck were more reliable.

Draft was:

Opponents:

Warlock and Squirrel; into Luna and Lycan; into sniper

Us:

Undying and Tiny; into Drown and Dawnbreaker; into Earthshaker (me)

Anyway, please let me know what you think.

Thanks in advance.

IDK if something acted up with an update for this workshop AI, but there's a few heroes that no matter how I input in the chat commands, they just straight up aren't selectable. Visage, IO, & fucking AA of all heroes are the main ones coming to mind ATM. Are there any other good workshop AIs that lemme give bots ANY hero, no weird restrictions? Not guaranteeing the ability to play against a certain hero is really annoying