Dota 2 offlane guide for beginners

Call it Initiator, the tank of the team, the aura guy, the offlane or the position 3 player, it is a crucial role for a smooth Dota 2 game.

There are a lot of expectations from the offlane player throughout the entire game. If the carry makes the difference in the late game stage and the mid laners are supposed to set the tempo through the mid stage of the game, the offlaner must perform from the early laning stage to the very last teamfight of the game. Usually, the offlane heroes need to be beefy, to stay alive through teamfights and tank the most damage or to survive the initial burst from the enemy team. It’s not an easy task, especially because if you are playing in the offlane role, your game will be tough right from the start.

Offlane = Hard lane

Back in the day, the offlane was also called the hard lane. Some aspects that make offlane the hardest lane in the game are still in place to the present day. However, if in the past, the offlaner was mostly playing alone against three enemy heroes (carry plus two supports), nowadays, the side lanes are played 2vs2.

In the offlane, you will be playing against the enemy carry hero and his hard support, and you will need not only to stay alive, but to grab every last hit, farm for yourself, contest the lane pulling and keep an eye on the minimap, especially in your safe lane at all times. Although you will be starting with a support by your side in the lane, expect that fairly early, he will begin to rotate on the map or will adventure into the enemy jungle to steal the bounty runes, set vision, block camps and so on.

Your role through the first five to 10 minutes of the game is to deny as many creeps as possible from the enemy carry, while also keeping your own last hits fairly high.

Besides the actual creep deny in the lane, you or your support are supposed to pull the lane into the medium caps as often as possible. The deny mechanics are incredibly important for the offlane. It’s the main tool to slow down the enemy carry as much as possible. When your support is in the lane, it’s his job to do that, while you should focus on harassing the carry or at least his support. When you are alone, you need to be able to assess the situation in lane and keep yourself safe, but not inactive.

That’s one of the reasons why you should pick a hero with high base stats and good armour. Usually, the offlane heroes have Strength as their main attribute, but there can be a few exceptions. If you are more likely to pick a non-Strength hero, you should keep in mind that you need a strong sustainability.

Beginner-friendly heroes for offlane

• Axe
• Centaur Warrunner
• Tidehunter
• Doom
• Mars

Your capacity to survive through a lot of damage is not resumed at laning stage only. As an offlaner, you need to be able to initiate and stay in the frontline in the late game scenario. After survivability, crowd control is also crucial to have. Most offlane heroes have a heavy lockdown ability, but if you pick one that doesn’t have a disable, keep that in mind and fix it through itemisation.

Offlane itemisation

To be able to initiate, almost all offlane heroes will need a Blink Dagger, and most of the in-game guides will recommend it as the first key item choice. However, there are plenty of situations when you should delay the Blink Dagger and build something that is useful for the team. For instance, if you find yourself playing against a lot of magical damage, your first item choice should be Pipe of Insight.

In the majority of your games, you will have to build a mix of multiple aura items and defensive items. The item choice will depend on the draft and sometimes on what the enemy team is also building, so keep in mind to check the enemy cores from time to time by clicking on their portrait.

Some of the most common offlane items are Pipe of Insight, Crimson Guard, Vladimir’s, Lotus Orb, Shiva's Guard, Assault Cuirass, Heart of Tarrasque, and Refresher Orb. It’s impossible to have them all, and that’s why you need to keep in mind that everything is situational in Dota 2, and you will have to learn how to adapt and make the right decisions for you and your team.