Dota 2 mid lane guide for beginners

Congratulations! You have decided to play the most intense and complicated role in Dota 2! What now?

Position 2, or the solo mid lane role in Dota 2, is the most complex, frustrating and hard to master of all five roles in the game. If this doesn’t scare you, or if you want to take on this challenge, it’s perhaps also worth mentioning that the solo mid lane role requires you to constantly be able to anticipate, to make decisions on your own, and to communicate with your team.

Hero picking

Traditionally, the mid lane player is the one who will make the difference in a match through his contribution, especially in the early to mid-stage of the game. As a mid-laner, you set the tone and the course of the game in many aspects, and to have a shot at succeeding, your decision-making starts in the drafting phase.

Don’t rush to pick your hero early in the draft, but rather wait until second to last or even last pick, and take something that will give you a favourable match-up. The last thing that you want to happen is to get countered by the enemy mid-laner. If you are completely new to Dota 2 and it’s hard to assess now which heroes are countering which heroes, you can start by avoiding picking a melee hero if the enemy mid laner picked a ranged hero.

If you might have to choose your hero before the enemy, then you should aim for something that is traditionally good versus most of the other heroes. Some examples include Viper, Sniper, Necrophos, or Kunkka.

Beginner-friendly heroes for mid lane

• Viper
• Sniper
• Necrophos
• Dragon Knight
• Zeus

The mid lane heroes can be split into three big categories and depending on how the draft looks before it’s your time to pick, you should have three aspects on your mind: Do I want or can I be the tempo controller, or do I need to be a semi carry and focus on farming?

Examples of tempo controlling heroes are Puck, Queen of Pain, Invoker, the three spirit brothers (Void, Ember, Storm), Leshrac, Lina. Usually, heroes who scale with levels.

Solo farming heroes for mid lane include Shadow Fiend, Sniper, Viper, Alchemist, Dragon Knight, usually heroes who scale based on farm.

There are also so-called cheesy picks such as Meepo, Arc Warden, Huskar, and Broodmother. These are heroes who, through their unique mechanics, can become truly broken in the right hands, but are hard to master.

Warding

Another pregame decision that you need to make is how you want to use your wards. You should always start the game with an Observer and a Sentry ward, and if your supports didn’t provide them, you absolutely need to buy them for yourself. There are a couple of ways to use your wards.

• Aggressive, placed on the enemy high ground to see the enemy tower, enemy hero, and the enemy ranged creep all the time and be able to harass.

• Defensive, usually placed to see the possible ganks coming from the enemy offlane and one of the river runes.

• Lane ward, placed on your high ground, closer to the tower to make it less likely to be dewarded, but close enough to the river to give you just a bit of vision on the enemy high ground to see the enemy ranged creep.

Starting items

Depending on which hero you have picked, you need to make a quick decision about which items you go in the lane with. Do I need extra Iron Branches (up to 4) to maximise the amount of damage? Do I need a very fast Bottle? Do I need extra regen because most likely the enemy will be the harasser in the first couple of minutes? These are questions that you will need to answer yourself before the game starts.

Lane control

Maintaining lane control is the most important aspect for mid-laners. Ideally, you want to keep the creep wave fighting near or on top of your high ground, but just outside the tower range, because playing close to your tower creates a safe area for you. There are a few ways to ensure that the creeps meet at the right spot, and you need to master all of the mechanics that will help you do that.

Creep blocking, last hitting, denying, and dragging creeps back by taking agro are some of the mechanics that need to become second nature. If you are struggling with those, you will lose the lane, so better to perfect those in lobby matches or unranked games.

Minute 5

This is a critical moment for your gameplay. The first night comes at the 5-minute mark, and 60 seconds later, the first Power Rune will spawn. At night time, you are more susceptible to ganks, and because the First Power rune spawns in 60 seconds, expect the enemy supports to come help their mid laner. Your supports should do the same, and if none of them is doing it, don’t be shy to ask for help.

At the five-minute mark, you need to have good vision. If possible, even two Observers and two Sentries should be used in your lane to have good vision. A pair of wards should be used for vision over the enemy, and one pair should be used for rune control. Once the night hits, you need to make sure that the creep wave is dragged back near your tower. Ideally, you know how to last hit under the tower, and even if you struggle with that, it’s better to lose a creep or two than lose your life.

In almost all cases, you should not push the enemy tower during night time, and especially during the first night time cycle. However, if you had a strong lane until this point, you should use the five-minute mark to push with the catapult and then start your map rotation.

Rune control

As a mid laner, rune control is one of the top priorities, even if you are playing a hero who is not rune dependent. From minute 2 to minute 6, Water Runes will be spawning on both sides of the river every 2 minutes. These will help with your regen, and even if you don’t need them, it’s always good to deny one of them from your adversary.

Minute 6

At the six-minute mark, you can dictate the course of the game. Even if you are not a hero who is absolutely dependent on Bottle, you should make the most use of the first Power Rune. An Amplify Damage rune (formerly known as Double Damage or DD rune), Arcane, Invisibility or even a Regen rune can make your hero feel really broken at this time in the game. So, if you are lucky to get one of these runes, you should make your first big rotation and secure a kill or more in one of the side lanes.

From here on, you need to keep making decisions for your team. You should be the most farmed and the highest level hero on your team so you need to take advantage of that. If the lane match-up went terribly for you and you are behind, you need to find solutions to stack for yourself and recover through fast jungle farming.

PMA

No matter the situation, you shouldn’t tilt. You need to be patient, have a positive attitude and find the solutions to whatever the problem might be in the game. One of the beauties of Dota 2 is that comebacks are possible; you just need to have a clear mind and collaborate with your teammates to find solutions.