Checklist for a good DotA mechanical skills:
- Good map awareness/mini-map awareness.
- Good last hitting and denies.
- When to dive or to back off.
- When to farm, to gank, to save teammates, or to run away.
- Carrying a TP (you can't have enough TP).
- Rune spawn time. Rune is an instant cheat provided by the game, abuse it.
- Resetting creeps/tower aggression.
- When to push towers and barracks.
- When to buyback, as well as know when to save buyback gold.
- Communication with the team/capability to figure out their intention.
- Ability to figure out the opponent's intention.
- Always make missing calls, repeat every minute/half a minute.
Tips & Common mistakes:
- Don't overextend, your life is worth more than theirs (unless you can get 2-3 kill for it).
- Finish the game ASAP. Comeback gold is terrifying (this is also your hope if you're playing from behind).
- Positioning do very well in a teamfight, more if you're a ranged hero.
- Know who to focus your target on (hint: squishy supports before carries and save tank for last)
- A cheap item in the beginning of the game is a good investment. Stop buying those and move on the more expensive item as the clock ticking in.
- Killing heroes worth a tons more of gold and exp than creeps, but it also applied to you so know your limitation.
- Always carrying a TP.
- Stout Shield/Poor Man's Shield is a lifesaver early game.
- Orb of Venom is a beast early game.
- Changing Power Tread to Str (or Int) could save your life more often than you imagined, even more so if you're a squishy carry/support.
- If you can kill, go fight. If you can't kill, go farm/split push.
- Watch your reliable gold, try to spend as less as reliable gold as possible during late game for buyback purposes.
A quote by dorjedor:
Or: "How to play Dota 2 in 2 short sentences"
“If you can kill, yes. If not, then continue farming until you can kill.”
