Repost: A Checklist of Dota2 Mechanical Skills

by dorjedor on reddit:

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).
• Ward location guide.
• Jungle stacking guide/camp blocking.
• 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.”