DotA was the first MOBA, or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, game. It was a custom map for Warcarft III that launched in 2003. DotA stands for Defence of the Ancient. Valve, famous for their game Half-Life, offered the developers of the mod jobs to make a standalone version of DotA. In 2013 DotA 2 came out of beta. There is little difference from DotA to DotA 2 in terms of gameplay, but there are completely new graphics and an improved engine. In games of DotA, which usually last 30-50 minutes, 2 teams of 5 battle to destroy the Ancient, a large glowing orb of magic and stuff. Players pick a hero form a pool of over 100. Each hero has 4 or more different skills which they use to gain levels and get gold. There are 3 lanes which heroes follow NPCs called Creeps and destroy towers, which shoot energy and attempt to kill you. Once You defeat 3 towers in the lane and then 2 in front of the ancient and the ancient itself, you win. In this post I will explain how to make a good and balanced team.


Dota 2 1-5 role system:
The 1-5 role system is a model of how a team should be structured. The lower the number, the more farm dependent they are. Keep in mind this will make minimal sense to someone who does not have a general understanding of how Dota works.

1; The hard carry:
This is the most farm dependent hero on your team. Generally they safe lane with the hard support. They should get all last hits and solo farm when the support pulls. Most hard carries are agility, because when they buy agility items they both damage and attack speed, making them hit really hard. They generally build towards survivability and damage.

2; The mid:
This hero goes solo mid and gets solo farm. The goal of mid is to reach level 6 as soon as possible, so heroes with ultimates that are good early game are best for mid. Another responsibility of mid is to gank, so some positioning is also important. This positioning can come in many ways, whether its a blink or a haste rune. Mid heroes are semi-carries, but if you are forced to play a mid hero in another lane, you should shift towards being more of a support. Initiation, damage and survivability are common item types to get as a mid hero.

3; The offlaner:
This hero goes in the offlane, alone if your team is trylaning or you have a jungler. If your team is not doing one of these, you will duel lane, and depending on with who, split or get the last hits. The offlaner, like mid, gets solo farm and will get early items and levels. Put them good use by possibly ganking mid or the jungle. Your main goal is to not die. If you have 0 deaths when the laning phase ends, you won your lane. Almost always the offlaner will play support, so help out your hard support with some wards! Other than that, build towards team fight items like mek or drums. Most offlaners have an escape of some sort, but some extra positioning never hurts. If your team doesn't desperately need mana, buy phase boots instead of arcane boots and possibly a force staff for all those delicious stats.

4; The jungler:
The jungler will stay in your teams jungle for the majority of the laning phase, occasionally ganking the safe lane. The heroes that make the best junglers have another unit to tank for them. For example Ench and her creeps, Chen and his creeps, Enigma and his eniglets, and Lone Druid and his bear. Jungling heroes can have different roles altogether, so items you can buy vary. If you dont want to run a jungler, this position will be a support, usually for a trilane.

5; The hard support:
The hard support lanes in the safe lane with your hard carry. They only focus on buying support items like wards, sentries, dust, or smoke. Usually a hard support will have arcane boots, a wand, and maybe an urn or medallion for the entire game, and spend the rest of their gold on the support items listed above. They may also buy a mek or pipe if the other supports choose not to.

Also note that many heroes can be played as multiple roles. Most jungling and mid heroes can also lane. Also keep in mind that all item and most skill choices should be purely situational! Counter their heroes! Dont just follow a build, look at who on their team is the biggest threat and what they are weak to. Laning against a caster? Get an orchid. Sneaky Phantom Lancer always dopplewalking? Buy some sentry wards or dust! Getting harrassed by clinkz? Buy a bracer! So go out with your new knowledge and be the only pub player who knows how to play their role!