A couple of questions from a newbie

Hi everyone, the game really cool but i'm missing certain points so i'd like to ask some questions,

what does the following terms mean: Gank, Carry, ss bot, jungling?
how can i commit suicede to deny my kill?

Thanks!

Well, if you're still missing the idea of things like Ganking and Carrying, you're probably going to want to start by learning the basics before you try to master more advanced concepts like suiciding to deny a kill.

A gank is when someone leaves their lane in order to come into yours with the intent of killing you. Different heroes gank in different ways. Spellcasting gankers such as Lina or Queen of Pain will usually come in when you're at around 80% health in order to nuke you down quickly so a carry can pick up the kill. (Just noticed you don't know what a carry is, so I'll explain that after this.) Gankers that can carry late game such as Faceless Void, Bounty Hunter, and Rikimaru will usually enter your lane when you are lower on health in order to pick up some easy gold from killing you.

Note: Be careful when laning against powerful initiation heroes, (heroes that have abilities that force you to stay in an unfavorable situation) because they can initiate at the same time as the ganker in order to make sure you can't run away from a gank. Heroes like Earthshaker and Clockwork are notorious for this.



A carry is the cornerstone of a team in the end of the game. Carries are heroes who require a large amount of gear to reach their full potential, but are nearly unstoppable when they've gotten enough gear. Powerful carries you tend to see in most games include Drow Ranger, Sniper, Skeleton King, and Faceless Void. All carries are relatively weak compared to characters who need less gear in the beginning of the game, but during the endgame they are MUCH stronger than the casters in terms of damage.

When playing with a carry as a caster, it's usually best to let the carry get the majority of the minion kills in the lane. This is because the faster a carry can get adequate gear, the more your carry can outpace your opponent's carry, leading to a smoother mid game. Carries are countered by being ganked, so you'll want to constantly be protecting your carry in order to make sure he's safe.. If he dies too often or if he cannot get any minion kills, he'll be useless for the rest of the game, so it is VERY important that you try to not only keep your carry getting gold, but also that you try your best to keep the enemy carries from getting fed as well.



"ss bot" is short for "Bot is missing in action". Basically this means that someone from the bottom lane is no longer visible in the bottom lane, which usually means they're going to other lanes in order to gank. Giving a warning such as "ss bot," "bot MIA," (acronym for "Missing In Action") or "bot miss" is absolutely vital communication for keeping your allies from getting ganked. You will be called out more often than not if someone from your lane ganks without you warning the team, so be sure to call out missing heroes every time you think, even just a bit, that they're out and about.



Jungling is a sort of niche strategy in which a hero, (usually a melee hero with in-built lifesteal) goes into the forest and makes his money purely through killing forest, AKA jungle, creeps and ganking lanes. The advantage of having a Jungler in your team is that you get either top or bot as a solo lane, allowing the person in that lane to get potentially more farm and double experience during their stay there. Junglers tend to get less fed early and mid game than laners, and need to really understand what they're doing when it comes to ganks, as ganks are absolutely vital in keeping them fed. A jungler will usually buy the item, "Hand of Midas" in order to increase his gold per minute and take down more beefy jungle targets. Ursa, Lifestealer, and Chen all commonly jungle.

Note: Jungling is a very advanced position that requires knowing the hero you intend to jungle as inside and out in order to be successful with. I wouldn't recommend jungling to newer players.



There are various methods with which to suicide yourself to deny the enemy team a kill. The most reliable one that I can think of immediately is Pudge's toxic cloud. When Pudge is at low health, he will kill himself with his cloud if he leaves it on. There are various other ways to suicide deny, but they're usually not as effective as just having an ally carry deny you with a powerful attack.

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Hope this helped!

Oh, by the way, you can add me on steam if you have any other questions, and I'll try my best to answer them. My username is Brennan3775. Good luck picking up on the finer intricacies of DotA. ;)

Many thanks for your explanation, i think i have to read it a couple more time to fully understand it but i got the idea :D you explanied so good that for the moment i have no more questions :)

Alright, well the offer still stands if you ever need any advice, or anyone to test a certain hero against.

Just stick with playing and you will learn fast. Its very hard at first so beginners.

i found that i can play with bots without "ruining" my stats(too many loses) and i can leave whenever i want. So i am making most practice with bots ATM. It's not exactly like playing with people but it's good for learning.

A lot of people in the Dota2 community are worse than the bots.

I too need some advice. I played the original Dota for a while, but never got very good at it in competitive terms. What heroes are best to use in the lane? Which heroes are strongest in a lane, but still carry into lategame?

Strong laners are usually heroes that have a stun. Being ranged can also help. As for scaling into late game with a stun and being ranged, try using Mirana. Most other heroes have the problem of being either ranged OR Scale into lategame OR have a stun. Certain heroes have 1 or 2 of those characteristics, but Mirana probably scales the best. Windrunner would also be a good option.

Heroes with strong laning presence that don't scale into the late game are probably the best options to start with. They're usually ranged and have good abilities but don't rely on farming. Heroes like Vengeful Spirit, Lion, Crystal Maiden and Witch Doctor are great for starting players because they can still be useful during most stages of the game without having the pressure of being an efficient last-hitter.