
How to be a Pro at DotA: Taking your Game to Higher Level "Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for." ~ Socrates |
Preface If you are sick of being just an ordinary player, you might want to read this guide that's based from years of analyzing what good players do and what works for us. I'm not saying that I'll transform you to a competitive player at once but I assure dramatic improvement after following my advice to improve your game. |
1. Practice and be Confident Have you spent time alone, watching replays, thinking of strategies, or doing last hitting drills? Did you want to sleep out of boredom while doing these things? If yes, you're not alone. Most people want to play rather than practice. The main reason for this is lack of discipline. 1. Practice like you're the worst player! One of the factors that is important in having discipline is humility. Pride keeps on telling us: "Why bother practicing when, in fact, this is just a simple game?" After we lost a game, we can't accept it because we're too proud. We need to practice whatever field we're into.2. Perform like you're the best! In actual games, you should be confident. You cannot afford having fear and negative thoughts on your mind. From your previous practices, you have learned a lot and now you're confident that you have tons of secret weapons. While practicing, be very keen. Observe and analyze everything. Try to acquire as many strategies and skills as you can. When playing, be confident because you are now equipped with new things from your humble practice making you have advantages over your opponents. 2. Have this 5 Quick Things Have you ever wondered what are the edges of top players over you? It's not experience and hardwork alone. You can play for 10 years and not be as good as them if you're not focusing on the right skills to develop. Here are the things you should be considering to play like Pros. 1. Quick Calculations This skill is very important in 3 things:2. Quick Hands This skill is important in 3 things:3. Quick Plans Planning is essential in DotA as it is in war fares. As soon as the drafting starts until the game ends, several plans should be made. The team who came out to have great plans quicker would surely win.4. Quick Eyes This skill is very important in 5 things:5. Quick Reaction This skill is important in 5 things: 3. Do this 5 Tricks 1. Watch professional replays and imagine that you are one of the players This is a trick that will make you improve quickly. Rather than having a "Wow, he's so good!" mindset, think of it this way "I am this Shadow Fiend I am watching. This is my replay. I am currently farming and harassing at the same time. There might be gankers nearby, I should hide first." etc.2. Make it a hobby to watch your own replays Don't just say "Yeah! I won time to go!" or "Damn it! I lost". You’re won or lost games should all be watched. If you're aiming for perfection in your game you shouldn't be lazy to check out what are the errors you've done that needs to be corrected. May it be a simple last hitting problem or a huge turning point problem that caused your whole team to lose, you should be aware of the things you're not doing right for you to be able to correct them.3. Have enough time to play desired hero to be mastered Have you ever wondered why your game is not as good as your other games playing different hero? Improving your game also comes from improving on how to use a hero. That's the reason why there are DotA-hero-guides spreading in the internet.4. Always play against better players You'll lose. So, what? If you're not too big to handle criticisms, you're to small to be praised. Playing against better players will make you realize your flaws and the things needed to be adjusted on your game. You'll also be inspired to surpass his skills, if you are optimistic enough (which you need to be).5. Close your eyes and do this Close your eyes. Think of what you want to achieve (may it be DotA or not *this is effective*)... Then if you have already thought of what you want to be, imagine that you are that person right now. Make your imagination realistic with all the specific elements included in your background. Relax and imagine you are that successful person you want to be. Believe it's happening now. After imagining your goals, open your eyes and believe that it really happened. It's a part of your experiences because you are already that successful person you want to be right now. 4. Do this 7 Habits Successful Dota players have one thing in common, it is having good Dota habits. I have played with several types of Dota Players, I have watched several professional Dota Players, and I have observed how and why these players win or lose most of the time. Some players will say that they have done everything they could but they still fail. Some players don't practice that much but they are much useful than those who play almost everyday. Some players boast that he plays 20 games/day and he has level 50 Garena account, but after playing with him, you would think that he may just be playing 20 games of snakes and ladders per day. The amount of games you play per day can contribute to your improvement but it is not an assurance, specially if you quit after being the first blood and count it as 1 game. There are several DotA guides and tips on controlling your hero but what is more important is your attitude toward the game. So, how can players be so effective? 1. Conceptualize How many times have you said, "Sorry, i thought he was alone."? You got killed by 5 enemies because you tried to kill a worm but it happened to be bait. Unless you can kill him in a second and you can escape safely, it would be fine. But, in reality, you are not playing in 'whosyourdaddy' mode. You have to conceptualize or you have to visualize things happening in your mind before it actually happen. Conceptualizing won’t make players die often because of bait. They would look at the map and after realizing that there is only one opponent displaying himself, they would make an assumption that the other heroes might be hiding through the fog. This assumption makes him don't want to touch that bait. If you want to play aggressively have wards so you'll know when it's bait and when it's not.2. Anticipate Situations This is actually the most important trait of an effective DotA Player. Having great predictions would make you have successful team fights and lesser deaths. Predicting opponent's next move is very important in most competitions. May it be chess, basketball, or boxing, prediction wins games. Why? Because you know how you would counter a move before it is done. You have to think 2 steps ahead. "If he does that, I’ll do this". The following are some instances that consider anticipation. "If the enemy pushes, we're going to stab them from behind and kill their earthshaker without giving him a chance to move." "If they respond using their disables, I'm going to turn my BKB on." "I would attack him first because he will use his dagger of escape to dodge my magic missile." "I will reserve my coil in this gank because he has teleport scroll and may just tp out from my face." These simple predictions make you have corresponding plans to counter it. Having plans is way more effective than not. You may have seen Hexor placed a torrent where a fighting-for-her-life mirana will surely leap after getting stunned. It is fun to watch players like him who understands the game and evades most damages/disables if possible. He who enters the fight when he knows he won’t enter then dies in one second - every skill that can stop him like stuns are programmed in his head. Once those skills are done by the opponents and it's in cool down time, he acts and does his role. Prediction is easy if you're not day dreaming. You should be alert. Know what might be the dangers in doing your next move. There might be a ganker on the uphill waiting for you to show up. Dying is very crucial. Enemies will have extra gold from your death and from your absence on the lane.3. Be Patient Benjamin Franklin said, "He that can have patience, can have what he will." What does patience really mean? Patience is not waiting passively, it is laziness. Patience is the ability to keep going even the going is hard and slow. A patient man doesn't give up. In the game of DotA, there are just several ways to win fights. I notice players ran out of morale after losing a clash. Losing your confidence is like removing your guard and waiting for the killer blow to be thrown on you. If you lost a clash, think why you did and try another one emitting that error. An example would be you lost a clash because your main carry, a Nevermore, was stunned to death in 3 secs. Next clash, try baiting the enemy with other heroes who have greater tanking ability and make your Shadow Fiend enter the battle after the enemy throw some of their skills. If you don't have tanks, you may try to place observer wards on blind spots and initiate the fight first so you can make a hero or two die without having any use. Patience is so important in this game. Rush the fights without planning; you'll be most likely to have your hero inside the tavern.4. Never Lose Calmness "The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom." -James Allen5. Be Unpredictable Professional teams entering tournaments always have a surprise hero picks or strategies to beat their strongest opponents. Other teams will watch your games before you even face them thus they are prepared for whatever they've seen. If you're going to do the same thing, they have their counter picks or strategies that focus on your game plan's weaknesses. Almost all things in DotA have counters and good players will utilize these counters to beat their opponents. I watched a local team played very good games. They end the games they played in 30 minutes or less. Their main hero was Axe. Then the finals had come. The game started. -cm was typed. Tic tac tic tac. Turn of their opponent to ban... First ban... Axe... After the game, the team I watched and admired a lot lost. I happened to be that this team didn't have a surprise plan. They were predictable. They really do plan to use Axe until finals.6. Have Power Over Your Emotions Michael Jordan, a great basketball player as well as a trash talker, once said "I know the game so well that I can psych out people making it easier to beat them." Once your emotions take over, your focus will be greatly affected. Getting angry at an enemy would lead you to be aggressive in a wrong way. You may tend to gank that enemy without considering that he has backups. You may tend to focus him on a clash first even if his hero is Bristleback with 100K hp. Getting upset with a team mate may have you not save him on some circumstances. When you're having a hard lane and your upset with yourself because you cannot farm, you may tend to rush farming and end up 0-10 in 5mins. This is a mind game not a heart game. You should use your mind to try to win not your heart to whine when losing. Yes, it may not be your fault when you lose but this is a multiple player game. Losing is bitter for those who swallow it. You can choose your response in any situation. There are several people who can't control their emotions. When they lose, it's like an automatic switch for their anger. They have the program --if lose turn anger.exe on-- in their system. Anger comes from selfishness. Not getting what one wants is it's root. You can choose not to be angry or upset in any situation. It's called being proactive.7. Learn From Errors Learn from your or other player's errors. Simply playing 100 games per day won’t get you better if you are not critical with your errors and you don't work to avoid doing those again. In losing games there are errors you need to find out. Some errors are obvious, some needs more analysis but generally, these errors are present. After you find out what are the errors that cause a game, a gank, or a team fight to end up a 'lose'. You need to learn how to avoid it and do the right things. "Gems cannot be polished without friction." It is natural to make a lot of errors if you want to be a better player. After several errors made and corrected, a Gosu will be born. Experience is your teacher, not your worst nightmare. Like a teacher, you should know exactly what it is trying to convey to you. Not a nightmare that you don't want to go through it again. Losing is like going to class. Some doesn't want to come but those who sacrificed and come to class every day, learned a lot. After several classes, here comes graduation. Graduation, in this case, is your award of being a Highly Effective DotA Player. 5. Think Properly There are times when we can't understand why we go on a horrific losing streak. What we don't know is our brain is too focused on having a win rather than thinking of ways how to win. Don't you wonder why when you're sick or sleepy; your performance is not as good as how you really play? Not being able to think properly is the main reason for this. How to be able to think properly: 1. Get enough rest When you're sleepy, sleep (if you have nothing important to do). Then just play when you wake up. Forcing yourself to play when tired will result not having focus. You would also be emotional destroying your game totally.2. Plan, plan and plan Never stop planning. From early to late game you should be having plans. You should plan how you'd be stable on your lane, you should plan how to attack in ganking, you should plan how to fight in team clash, and more. That makes you have directions on your game.3. Predict and counter Predict the deadliest thing the opponents can do and have the best counter for it. Your opponents may not think of it but you're ready whenever he does that. Moreover, you can easily counter them when they do weaker attacks on you, expecting them to be deadlier.4. Know your strengths and weaknesses Keep in mind where you, your team and your heroes are good and bad at. It is always important to know yourself and your team totally. You would know which strategies can fit or not. You can have better plays if you maximize your strengths and you can do something to turn your weaknesses into strengths.5. Know your opponent's strengths and weaknesses Aside from yourself, you should also know your opponents totally. You would be able to have a plan on countering their strengths like picking heroes or farming items to counter them. Most importantly, you can play by their weaknesses. Nothing is much easier than taking advantage of the opponents’ weaknesses. It's like playing other RPG games where the master usually has weak spots, most of the time it's their belly, foot, and mouth. You know that to beat that Master you should find a way to hit their weak spots that are often hidden. You have several things to think about when playing and laziness to think is not an option in this game. I regret playing when I cannot think properly because I know I can do better. Losing is not bad. You learn from your mistakes and from your opponents. The bad kind of losing is not doing everything you can to win. And the worst part is, not doing your very best because you were lazy to think. 6. Think like a Pro ![]() So how pro DotA players think? I started from being an ultra noob player and stayed the same for almost 2 years. It changed after I started watching Pro DotA players play. The first pro team I watched was our local ph team, Flow. I questioned a lot! Why chen? Why test of faith? How do the carries farm around 1400 in 5 minutes? What time did they start pushing? I was so curious on everything! It was after watching pro dota player's game when I, with my own team, started dominating in DotA scene. Then, I started watching international replays. MYM and Virtus.Pro made me realize that there are other strategies than Chen Sven QOP Lich Bristleback and other team flow heroes. I tried to dig into each player's minds. I was so curious what they are thinking about before and during the game. I know the only way to improve my skills dramatically is to change my understanding of Dota and have a Pro-like mindset. I studied every game I watched analyzing how they think. Here I am to make you skip that hard work I've done and unleash the mindset they have that I discovered. A. Before the Game 1. Which team are we going to fight with? 2. What strategy are we going to use? Pro players can either rely on a strong strategy they have or counter pick their opponents. In most cases, it is a combination of having their own strategy and countering opponent's pick but they are mostly different. They don't want to be predictable. 3. Do we have enough strategies? In tournaments, pro players are always prepared with at least 3 strategies. The first one should be enough to pawn everyone, the second would be an alternative in cases the first strategy is countered or the opponents simply ban the key heroes of that line up. The 3rd one would be for finals. It would often be best of 3 or something making you needs another strategy. Having more teams in a tournament requires you to be equipped with more strategies.B. Early Game 1. What are my Advantages/Disadvantages? This is the first question pro players ask themselves in games. This is why they buy items like more branches if they are low hp, they buy more clarity for mana dependent hero, buy more flask if his hero is prone to harassment. This is also why they change play styles in different types of hero. If they are using early painful heroes, they tend to play aggressive and ensure that opponents won’t be farming more gold. When they are using heroes like spectre, their focus would be on how to get more creeps but they still mind supports when they initiate. 2. What are my opponent's strengths and weaknesses? The best DotA players in the world detect opponents’ strengths and weaknesses quickly that they control most of their games they play. May it be individual hero, team combo or player's gaming nature, pro players are aware of them. 3. How to win my lane? These pro players have great desire to win their lanes that's why they would usually counter opponent’s hero from the hero picking phase. Once they're on their lanes, they won’t allow opponents to have a free lane. They would usually disturb opponents with their goals which for now is also to win their lanes and to farm. 4. Should I stay or should I roam? Choosing when to gank and when to stick to lane is very crucial for serious games. From my observations experienced players tend to dominate their own lanes first before roaming to dominate other lanes. Sometimes, when it is impossible to dominate a lane because of poor pick, they tend to roam early to make sure they win other lanes. Sometimes, players focus on one lane, making it impossible for the opponent's hardcore carry to farm. Other questions that come up after this are these: Do other lanes need help? Do they have wards? Do we have the potential to destroy opponent's trilane combo? Who should initiate? Who goes next? These are questions you should consider too to take your game to higher level.C. Mid Game 1. Where are my opponents? Pro players ask this question to be able to know where they should go. If they think that the opponents might be hiding nearby for ganks, they would either play passively or ask for assistance to take advantage of the opponents wanting to gank by killing them instead. They also want to know where are their opponents to be able to gank them at this stage. Pro players never want to give any gold to their opponents. They try to limit their free farm place as few as possible. They also ask this question to answer the following question: to push or not to push? 2. Push or Not? Pro teams want to destroy opponent's tower as fast as possible to gain gold and map advantage but they still ask this question to make sure they won’t get in trouble. If their opponents have early advantage, more likely they won’t push and fight 5v6. Yup: 5 enemy heroes + 1 enemy tower. If they happen to take down a key hero for the opponent, they would often decide to push. 3. What's his next move? 4. How should I react? They think of situations right before it happens. They judge the heroes combo. What if they are caught, what would be their means of survival? What would they do if a team mate is disabled and focused fire at? What would they do if a shadow fiend with haste suddenly appears behind them? What would they do if they are silenced? Preparation is always better than impromptu. 5. Is it a bait? They would always think whether to attack a lone hero or not. They know that they can be wiped out in no time if that hero happened to be bait. Sometimes, I saw them attack bait if they have a follow up plan to attack the entire team, like when they are having a hungry Earthshaker waiting for them to pile up. 6. Which hero should we take down first? Plans before clash always have this question present. Who to kill first? They would normally go for the key heroes that are easy to take down. They never plan on taking down a Bristleback first. They may attack a high hp hero if he is offering a free hit or to deceive the opponents making them think that they are going for that hero but when they finally showed up, change targets will happen. 7. Where should I position? I believe that success in DotA is all about positioning. Pro players would always want to be in places they should be. It's like a chess game. Your key hero is your Queen. You shouldn't trade that for any lower rank army. Your tanks are your pawns. They should serve the defense and they should make it easy for the team to attack. Supports are your bishops and horse. They should be able to attack as well as to trap opponents. Other carries are your rooks. They should be in perfect place to aid the key hero in getting kills or have the kill by themselves.D. Late Game 1. Do we have the upper hand? Late game is decided by early game. If your early game is not that good most probably you are in a level and item gap against your opponents. They ask this question to know if they can play offensive or should they play defensive game. 2. Can I pressure lanes? There are heroes that have escape mechanisms that can pressure lanes making it harder for opponents to push but they still consider if they can survive if opponents start to attack. What if opponents have Kunkka? It would be one X-mark away to win the game, especially if that hero cannot buy back. 3. How can we end the game? Ending the game is easy if you defeat your opponents badly in items and level. You can just go directly to their frozen throne after stepping on them. But, if the game is a close match, it's not that easy. Sometimes pro players tend to push all lanes to avoid AOE nukes and to pressure the opponent. Sometimes, they hunt first. There are tons of different endings in a DotA game and mostly it is dramatic that's why DotA is such a fun game. 7. Watch Anime You may say it's crazy but it's true. Watching Anime stories with fight scenes may also inspire you a lot to be a better DotA Player. When I was on my early years in the game, I simply do the things that must be done. If I need to win, I farm heavy items to be able to kill them all and push. If I need to survive, I simply run back to the fountain. If I need to gank, go to other lanes then I use my skills at once to kill them. In short, there was no art, no prediction, no precision in my game back then. Most people today improved their games through experience and by watching how the pros do it. In my case, my first improvement in this game is after getting inspired by how Anime characters think during battles. These are some anime character's traits that may also inspire you in playing better in DotA. 1. Precision Anime characters taught me how to be precise in every move I'll make in DotA. They would often have a plan on how to attack the weak points of the opponents. Though faced in difficult situations, they have the ability to have a clear mind to think of the best next move. They wait if they should wait. They attack if the time is right. They prepare more if they can't go through. Watching Anime inspired me to do what I call 'Ninja moves' in DotA. It is the ability to fool your opponents because you already predicted what he's going to do next. Anime characters would always study their opponents carefully and won’t ever be baited by the opponent's made moves.2. Doing impossible things Weak anime protagonists often beat stronger opponents. This is my inspiration why I have this much confidence. I'd face anyone in tournaments. I know I can beat anyone though they may have more experience than me. Having confidence in you is the key to beat anyone. If you think you won’t win, then you won’t. Focus on beating them, not on your differences. Focus on your strengths and how to maximize them.3. Quick improvement ability The longer the series continues, the stronger they become. Protagonists would often start without any knowledge that they have powers to beat opponents who are already strong from the day the series started. But, in the end the protagonists would be incredibly strong to face the main opponent to beat them. I didn't stop practicing until I reached my goal. Like in anime stories, we managed to defeat the teams we worshiped before.4. Presence of Mind The characters fight with a lot of concentration. I find it funny when they would shout the name of their skill before they actually do it. But, going deeper, they are showing how to be conscious of your actions. Most of the times, we die because we don't know that we are farming too far. Most of the time we lose a clash because we don't know that we are not yet capable of beating the opponent's early heroes in clash. Presence of mind is so important to be able to know what you are doing and be conscious of advantage and disadvantages.5. Invulnerable No matter what happens, the protagonists won’t die, they would just be injured if they faced strong opponents but they won’t actually die. At the end of the series they will be the one to succeed. This is obvious in Anime stories but this had a large effect on me. It inspired me not to give up. For no matter how many times I've been down, it's a fact that I'll be the one on top if I would work hard for it.6. Team Work Characters which don’t have any magical skills yet, would defeat opponents with powerful skills when they are together. They would use team work to do this. In DotA, you can still win the game though even how the opponent's are individually. The only thing you can fear in this game is perfect team work, for it requires a better-than-perfect team work to beat them.7. Respect Anime characters know how to respect opponents no matter how evil they were in the series. This leads to not doing trash talks against my opponents after defeating them. I've learned to treat this game professionally. I trash talk some times but it's for the sake of psyching my opponents out. Making them grow arrogant and have a negative effect on their game. But, after winning the game, I would approach them like nothing happened. |
How to be a Pro at DotA: Taking your Game to Higher Level is presented to you by iGk.Jakku and NinjaMovesPro Disclaimer: Some of the pictures used aren't the editors' property. Thread Page View | Main Page View | Print Page View |
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Taking your Game to Higher Level
How to be a Pro at DotA
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