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Welcome to my first guide.
I've been playing DotA since half a year or so and the reason I am writing this guide is because there are really no basic comprehensive guides to the mid solo lane. Fortunately, in these 6 months( which is a pretty less considering how massive a game DotA is) I have mostly played as the solo mid aka the number 2 position. This guide is written keeping in mind the atmosphere of pub games and will cater to pub level games. There is going to be lots and lots of text, which sounds boring but trust me, it will be worth the read. Cant really provide fancy pictures as this is a general gameplay guide; not a hero guide. Like I said before, this is my first guide so please be patient and all suggestions are welcome :)
In my personal opinion, solo mid is perhaps that position which requires a certain skill cap to be good at because almost all the solo mid heroes require high skill. You WILL have to practice A LOT before you actually start making your presence felt. Thus, PLEASE practice with bots at least once with every new hero that you decide to play because like I mentioned, the solo mid heroes are not that easy. Before you even realize, the opponent team will be farming YOU more than the creeps. But then it is certainly fun and will [in my opinion] boost your understanding of the game.
Pros and Cons of being a mid player
Pros:-
1. Playing 1v1 is really fun and there's no better feeling than killing a good mid player.
2. You don't depend on your team that much, practicing mid in pubs is way easier than the other lanes.
3. You get to play some [in my opinion] of the most interesting DotA heroes like Invoker, Puck or QoP.
Cons:-
1. Mid requires a lot of multitasking: using courier constantly, checking for enemy ganks, controlling the lane equilibrium, harassing, lasthitting and finally controlling the runes.
2. The responsibility of ganking, reacting and dictating the gamepace relies on you.
3. As you own the most powerful hero early-midgame, you can also do the biggest mistakes
4. If you lose your mid solo, the enemy player gets a huge advantage that often wins the game.
You probably already know that the solo mid lane is meant only for certain heroes; heroes that are level dependent, heroes that need to level up faster than the rest to have an impact on the game. And then there are certain with whom you just cannot mid; those that are too weak like all hard carries who need a hard support/babysitter. Below is the list of heroes that are generally chosen.
Ranged Heroes:-
1. Batrider
2. Puck
3. Queen of Pain
4. Outworld Devourer
5. Templar Assassin
6. Invoker
7. Storm Spirit
8. Viper
9. Sniper
10. Mirana
Melee Heroes:-
1. Pudge
2. Magnus
3. Nightstalker
4. Dragon Knight
5. Nyx Assassin
The above list is NOT exhaustive; they are just the commonly played mid heroes. Feel free to try other heroes but if there is any hero from the above list in your team, let that person go mid.
If you have observed, I have listed more ranged heroes then melee heroes; which is no co-incidence. Ranged heroes, in general, have an upper hand on melee heroes when it comes to the mid solo lane for many reasons:-
1.The most obvious reason is that ranged heroes can safely harass melee heroes.
2.If you manage to block creeps and ensure that the creepline is on the river than you can stay on your high ground and last hit; something that a melee hero cant. This kind of makes it tough for opponent heroes to gank you from the side.
3. Since you can stay on the high ground and last hit and the melee hero will be on the river(low ground), he will not have any vision of you. Thus you can try to initiate on him eg; Pudge can easily hook in such a case.
4. Lastly, it is easier to use the creep aggro mechanism to give yourself a heavy advantage over a melee hero. More on this later.
It is not that you cannot mid lane with a melee hero; people do and do it pretty good. For instance, it is easier to last hit with a melee hero since there is no projectile time; something that you will always have to keep in mind when playing a ranged hero. But, as a word of advice, try the ranged heroes first and then the melee heroes.
You have heard about it, perhaps even tried it, failed at it and never tried it again. WRONG.I cannot express how important creep blocking is. A successful creep block, wherein the enemy creeps are on the low ground and your own creeps on high ground(visual, http://chaqdota.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/perfectblock25.jpg), gives you many advantages over your opponent:-
1. Harassing from the highground (enemy can't trade hits effectively with 25% uphill miss chance)
2. Controlling the lane and creep balance way easier, makes enemy miss lasthits.
3. Enemy can't see you and your positioning.
4. If he gets too close you can use one of your spammable spells.
So perhaps now you realize how important creep block is but just cant get it done effectively. No worries, I will try to explain the most common method of doing it; the "stop-spam" method. This basically involves you walking ahead of the very first creep and spamming the S key and repeating the cycle. The catch in this method is that the time for which you make your hero stop(by pressing the S key) should be just enough to stop the creeps from walking; stop too long on the ground and the creeps will simply walk around you. Practice is must before being able to do it efficeintly. Following youtube link will be of help
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcF0IP3JCvE
This is the most important part of this guide. Creep aggro is a concept whose mechanics even experienced players do not know fully. You must have seen that if you right click on your opponent hero, enemy creeps instantly start attacking you. This is called creep aggro. Or at least, what almost all people perceive it to be. Incomplete information often does more harm than good. So, what is creep aggro? the following points will illustrate it clearly.
1. Creeps will aggro anyone trying to attack allied hero in a 500 radius. That means if you attack a hero while 501 units away from the nearest creep, the creep will not attack you.
2. Creeps have aggro cooldown of 2 seconds.
3. It doesn't matter where the enemy hero you are attacking is. As long as you are in 500 radius to the closest enemy creep you might as well right click hero on a different lane and you still will draw aggro.
Now, as you know the very basics let us move on to the really advanced things: in a good players' hands aggro is an extremely powerful laning tool that can be used in many different ways:-
1. Securing last hits: Failed to block your creeps? No worries. Just go and right click on the enemy hero (making sure that the enemy creeps are near you; within that 500 radius AoE) and immediately back off. Your right click will trigger creep aggro. This will cause the enemy creeps to attack you which in turn will force your creeps to come back or go ahead. Either case, you have drawn the enemy creeps towards you which will help in securing the last hits.
2. Maintaining creep equilibrium: Oops, you messed up your creep block and your enemy hero did his to perfection. The result? The creep line will be somewhere on the enemy high ground. What do you do in such a case? Use creep aggro. Like mentioned in the above point, right click on the enemy hero and retreat back. Do this 2-3 times and the enemy creeps will retreat towards your side. But beware, creep aggro multiple times in a short duration and you will simply end up pushing the creep equilibrium towards the enemy side. This is because when you creep aggro, your creeps keep attacking but the enemy creeps are not; hence the enemy creep die faster and the creep line gets pushed. Thanks for telling me to type this in Rudd :)
3. FREE and SAFE enemy harass: This legendary ability, mastered by the chosen few does indeed exist and in fact it's not as hard to pull off as some people may think. Perhaps you've even done it before but you might have not noticed it. If you have ever wondered how some of the players attack enemies without being attacked by their creeps this section is for you. To start off, this works the best against melee/low ranged heroes. PLEASE see the video in the link before reading further
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uo9_Eu28Doo
As you have probably noticed, despite being in the 500 range aggro zone, Queen of Pain was not getting attacked by any of the creeps. The magic behind this is amazingly simple: you have to attack the hero outside of the 500 aggro range, then without issuing any other command run to him and attack. What happens is that after you attack, the creeps want to attack you but can't as you are not in their aggro range. Your attack command triggers 2 second cooldown on their target so as you run to the creeps you have 2 seconds of free attacks on your enemy when you won't get damaged by the wave. The number of attacks depends mostly on your levels and attributes for most int heroes it's 1, sometimes 2 attacks before the creeps start attacking you again.
Point no 3 is perhaps what distinguishes a good, skilled mid player from a common one. Being good at using creep aggro to your advantage will certainly give you a massive upper hand on your opponent; be it in the number of last hits, maintaining the creep equilibrium or even harassing each other. If you learn and master the rules of creeps aggro, your skill on the mid will skyrocket.
Tip: To be as efficient in using creep aggro, memorize the 500 unit AoE circle in your head. You can start off by enabling a 500 AoE circle by using the command "dota_range_display ###" wherein ### will be substituted by an appropriate number (in our case, 500). Do this in a private lobby with cheats on. This command is to be typed in the console. If you do not know how to activate the console in dota2, then please google it. This command will draw a circle around your hero which is of 500 radius. You can initially practice with this to give yourself the idea of 500 radius AoE. But keep in mind, this will disabled by default in games (since it is a cheat, duh). Hence practice enough so that by the time you actually start playing mid, you already know what 500 unit distance feels like.
This is something I often notice beginners completely ignore. Whether you like it or not runes and randomness that comes with them often wins or loses games. Controlling who gets the rune is an important factor in how good a mid player you are. Always buy a bottle when going mid; runes stored and used at the right time(like during ganks) will always be better then rather just activating the rune right away. Even if you are playing a mid hero like sniper who does not really need the bottle, buy the bottle simply because a ganking oriented rune(like double damage, haste) will assist you to get kills to a great extent. Moreover, runes fill empty bottle with three charges which is an extremely efficient way of regenerating both your health and mana. Whenever I go mid (which is most of the time, duh) I almost always bottle rush because it caters to both your regeneration needs. However, it is not at all compulsory to bottle rush; feel free to start with items but please do buy a bottle.
A good way of making sure that you get the rune almost always is that first and foremost ask your support to place a ward at either of the runespots. Since runes spawn in 2 minute intervals, you should push the creepwave that comes just before the ending of the 2 minute interval so that when you leave your lane to get the rune you will not lose out on gold and the exp you could have earned from your lane.
Runes can effectively be used to gank other lanes. More on this in the next section. One small important aspect of the invisibility rune that you should know is that you can use bottle once after activating it without breaking the invisibility buff.
THIS is what makes the solo mid player different from all others. As a solo mid, it is completely upto you to decide when to gank and when not to. Are your teammates crying in the hard lane and asking you to gank when you arent even level 6? Just tell them NO. Never listen to offlaners crying about how hard their lane is, if they tell you to come gank before youre even level 5/6; it means they have no idea about this game.
Since mid heroes are in a single lane, they almost always reach level 6 around the 6 minute mark; the time when all other heroes will mostly be at level 4. So yes, you do have a level advantage over all others. But that simply does not mean that you leave lane for a gank.
1.First and foremost, check if your teammates have health and mana; there is no point in leaving your lane, going all the way to the other lane only to be informed by your teammates that they are going back to base because they are in a depleted state. Dont expect that you will kill both(or 3, in case of a tri lane) enemies on your own just because you have a 2 level advantage. DONT BE DUMB, PLEASE.
2. When going to gank, always inform your teammates in that lane about it by either pinging or typing it in. Do not take it for granted that they will see the minimap and spot you heading to their lane; trust me it just does not happen in pub games.
3. WHEN to gank; perhaps the most important question. Here is how I do it and it works most of the time. Ask your teammates if they have any idea as to enemy wards being present in their lane. If they say that wards are present then simply DONT leave your lane; the enemy heroes will spot you and retreat back and you will waste all the time travelling for NOTHING. Wait for the 7 minute mark; this is when the wards will mostly run out as wards last only for 6 minutes and then gank. And if your teammates are sure anyways that there is no ward, you might as well gank as soon as you hit level 6.
4. However, it is still better to gank not when you hit level 6 but after the 7 minute mark and here is the reason why: push the last creepwave before the 8 minute mark, leave your lane around 7:50 and head towards any lane. Take the rune,if any, that spawns. Now, if it is a double damage/invisible/haste rune then it just made your gank way easier. Activate the rune and gank; the gank should be fruitful. And if despite having these runes, you are not able to get kills or help in getting kills, then you and your teammates did something seriously wrong.
5. NEVER go from the river; you will be spotted as the river is low ground and the lanes are on higher ground. Travel the river until the runespot and then head into the jungle. Positioning is key. DONT just head into the enemy from the front; they will simply go back and hug their tower. Wait inside the jungle and tell your teammates to NOT push/scare away the enemy heroes. Let them go further in your half of the map. And then come in from behind.
6. In some cases, you can gank before you are level 6. For example; you see that an enemy hero in one of the lanes is low on health and you have a rune like double damage or haste then you can go for it. But remember, before you are level 6, taking tower damage will hurt A LOT; so avoid tower diving at that stage.
Remember, like I mentioned right at the start of the guide, you will dictate the pace of the game and if you screw up your position and role, the enemy have already half won. Thus, dont screw up your ganks; screwing up ganks is perhaps the fastest way of losing out exp,gold and perhaps your throne. Successful ganks will stop enemy from getting gold and exp and when this is done repeatedly, you are basically making your team's work easier to get a win. This is why solo mid is the most important position until end of mid game.
I listed the commonly played mid heroes. With time and experience, you will realize that some of them are hard to play against. I'll give you a heads up and the possible ways you could counter them.
1. BATRIDER
One word: NIGHTMARE. If in the right hands, this hero will make you cry. And if he manages an early blink dagger, before you can even notice he will blink in, lasso you and drag you all the way to death. Batriders sticky napalm is one of the most annoying skills in the game. It makes you turn forever, easy to harass and zone out. One of the biggest flaws on batriders laning is his projectile speed. Good bat will get 100% of his lasthits, but as napalm obviously doesnt work on his own creeps you should be able to farm a bit too. But just dont risk it for getting a few last hits. Not only does his napalm slow you down, it also amplifies damage you receive. So his auto attacks alone will drain your health and before you know it, some hero from a lane will team up and gank you and since you are napalmed, you wont even be able to run. If you dont die to him by getting caught, believe me it already is a big win for your team. You really cant counter him; your best bet to survival is backing off ASAP every time you get 2-3 napalm stacks and buy a magic stick. Heroes that are decent against him: QoP, Puck, OD and ...... ZEUS!!
TIP: If you see the opponent team pick batrider, just avoid going mid.
2. OUTWORLD DEVOURER
Want to know why he has the word "devourer" in his name? Cos HE WILL SIMPLY EAT UP YOUR MANA and make it his. And since OD is an int hero, his auto attack damage will increase which will make it easier for him to last hit and deny you. Guess what, before you even realize you are being outlaned. When up against him, NEVER take a strength based hero like pudge; he will not leave you with mana enough for even one hook. Secondly, try to take heroes like Razor and Huskar who are not at all mana dependent; they are almost perfect counters to OD. The best way to play against him is to position yourself properly; never go in his Astral Imprisonment range. This is something that will only come with practice.
3. TEMPLAR ASSASSIN
Welcome to the world of splash damage. Templar Assassin's Psi Blades is the skill that makes it so hard to lane against her. At early levels, if you are hit even thrice with her splash damage, your health can easily come down to half. Moreover, her refraction charges will simply negate all the harassment that you do to her. The only way to avoid her splash damage( which you must, since psi blades deal pure damage) is to position yourself properly. Never stand right in her line of vision. Always try to be out of that AoE of splash damage. Sure, sometimes you will lose out on last hits in trying to do so but is it not better than losing your HP? A straight way to counter her though is by picking a hero that has a Damage over time(DoT) skill such as viper and QoP. DoT skills simply eat through her refraction charges. For that matter even Pudge's rot will do the trick, instantly.
4. QUEEN OF PAIN
Like her name says it, she is a pain in the ***. She has an outrageous range of auto attack and pretty good starting damage. The result? In the right hands, and she will take harassment to a different level altogether. Come mid game and she will take out squishy heroes in one single combo. Even ganking her does not guarantee success since she has an insta blink too. To keep her (and your lane) in control, always take a good ranged hero; like puck,OD, viper and sniper. Use creep aggro as much as you can and occasionally call your other teammates to gank on her. Even if she doesn't die but is forced to go back to base, think of it as a small victory. Rune controlling is of utmost importance against her since you will need the constant supply of regen. And if nothing seems to work, take the good old batrider xD
5. PUCK
Surprised? Right now, you must be like what can that seemingly harmless blue fish do to me? Firstly, puck is not a fish; it (he or she; nobody really knows) is a Faerie Dragon. Yup, a dragon specie. Puck, in my opinion, has the best skill set in all of dota. Puck has a disable,silence, a skill somewhat like blink and a skill that makes puck invulnerable to any kind of damage. Puck is best known for being an extremely unpredictable and slippery target. Expert use of Puck's abilities will let you appear out of nowhere, suddenly leave your enemies crippled and disadvantaged, and get away in the blink of an eye - but mess up your timing or misjudge the situation, and there is little left to save this fragile Hero from death. Templar Assassin is a direct counter to this hero. Apart from that, you really need to play cautiously and position yourself extremely well. Do no get caught in his orb. Before you know it, Puck will jaunt with the orb, silence you, coil you and kill you. Yes, a seemingly harmless blue fish just killed you in a blink of an eye.
6. VIPER & SNIPER
I am not writing individually for the above two heroes since the factor that makes it hard to lane against these two is the same: harassment. Sniper, has the longest range of auto attacks in the entire game. He even out-ranges towers. So, he will stand near his tower and keep hitting you from way out. What makes it worse is his 3rd skill that gives him a chance to mini stun. And before you realize, just by right clicking he will drain your health to half and then simply use his ultimate to kill you. Meanwhile, viper is one irritating hero to lane against. His first skill is basically an orb effect that does not trigger creep aggro which means a skilled player will continuously harass you using the 1st skill and wont even draw creep aggro. FYI, viper's 1st skill is a DoT skill that also makes your movement and attack speed slow.
The trick to counter these two heroes is to gank them since both are extremely squishy. QoP,OD,Puck are heroes that will do well against these two heroes. Templar Assassin does extremely well against sniper since her refraction charges will negate his auto attacks; even sniper's ultimate is negated by refraction. Sniper's auto attack harass can also be reduced considerably by a stout shield.
NOTE: I am NOT saying that the above listed heroes will always make your life tough in lane. If an inexperienced player is playing the above heroes then obviously there will not be too many problems. Conversely, I am not saying that heroes not listed above cant make your life tough. A good player can make it tough for you to lane even with a hero not listed above; eg: Storm Spirit. All I am saying is that if you are up against a skilled mid player than you will certainly have a hard time if he picks any hero from above.
DotA has a very steep learning curve and there is no short cut to get to the top. You will have to put in time and practice as much as you can. I hope I have helped you in some way or the other and if you have any questions regarding solo mid, feel free to comment. Like I said right at the beginning, this is my first guide and thus I will very much appreciate some feedback/criticism/praise from YOU readers. Some very important knowledge in this guide I myself got from ChaQ's guide; a big thank you to you ChaQ. Here is the link to his guide but there is some pretty advanced stuff in his guide; try taking it in slowly.
http://chaqdota.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/chaqs-ultimate-guide-to-advanced-solo-middle/
My first shoutout goes to my college friends with whom I regularly played. These guys allowed me to play mid almost all the time even though I was a complete newbie and kept good faith in me even when I fed away to glory and single handedly made them lose. Looking forward to playing many more games with you folks: Prodigy, pr3dat0r, Hitman and thegrinreaper.
My second shoutout goes to CultLynx: the guy who first told me about DotA around 2 years ago. Back then, there was no dota2. So lets just say I found the Crysis 3 graphics to be much more amazing than warcraft 3 :P xD
Also, to AgentPJ for constantly telling me to play DotA and giving me the DotA2 invite.
To BamBam; this guy really showed some patience in setting up a lobby just to teach me over voice chat about the game. Right from last hits to Aegis of Immortal.
And lastly, to you readers for taking out time and reading this guide; the dota2 community, Icefrog and Valve.
Cheers!
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