Dota 2 is a complex game, there is no denying that. Even when the game was just a map modification back in the 2000s, many people were struggling to master it. Some players just seemed so much better than the rest. There was a falsehood that you are either “good” or “bad” at the game and it turned many people away from this beautiful game.
However, this falsehood has now been busted. There is no such thing as being good at Dota 2. Even the best players are constantly improving, says dota2-bet.com which is tracking the top-tier players and teams in the competitive play. According to the website, improvement in Dota 2 is a matter of a mindset rather than any innate ability to play this game.
Here are several tips that will help you improve your gameplay by a whole lot and make the experience a lot of fun. Part of it is pure knowledge. Another part is a muscle and mechanical skill that is trained over the course of hundreds of hours of play with a positive attitude and deep self-analysis.
1. Accumulate Relevant Knowledge
The first thing to do if you want to really up your game playing Dota 2 is to accumulate sufficient knowledge. With 120+ heroes in the game and some 1,000 abilities, there is a very good reason why you should be familiar with everything these heroes are able to do and how they do it. As such, you want to spend your time taking it easy and studying all of them.
But studying sounds awful as a suggestion, doesn’t it? Well, it does, we will be the first to admit. Listen, the studying can be done against AI or against other inexperienced players. Dota 2 is incredible level fielded right now and you will only be matched against players of a similar level.
All of this makes for a great bit of fun, and you will have a lot of fun playing and collecting all the relevant data you know to excel.
2. Focus on One Position and Few Characters
Now, the second piece of advice is to be very focused on your Dota 2 experience. You need to only choose one role. This can be a carry, a midlane or a support role. In all of these, there is a pool of “five meta heroes” which are considered the best. You should focus on mastering them.
Master these heroes and know your role. Try to get the most out of your gameplay and your character. This won’t come easy. It will take time, effort, dedication, and a whole lot of trial and error, but the good news is that in the end you will be able to stand up and defeat some pretty outstanding players as well.
However, getting there will be a journey. That is why focusing on just a few options at a time is incredibly important and it may be all you need to succeed. Keep at the characters you have picked and alternate so that you are never bored.
Remember, even the best players that have won millions playing Dota are always playing until the end because, in their own words, there are still new things to learn and adapt to.
3. Don’t Criticize Others, Focus on Yourself
One of the worst things about any video game is the online toxicity. When a team is losing, blame is easily and quickly assigned. It makes the team feel a little less bad about themselves, but it’s also a bad strategy.
If you end up on receiving end of this, there is nothing you can do, but the best piece of advice the pros will give you is to only focus on yourself. Try to analyze your mistakes, try to see if you really did bad – and if you lost, you clearly did something that was less than optimal.
Carries often blame their team for not securing enough farming space, but then they fail to pitch in in crucial fights to make sure that they are helping everyone succeed. It’s all about the teamwork and you cannot shift blame around and expect positive results.
That is why a positive attitude is very important and you will definitely want to enjoy yourself by focusing on what you could have done best.
4. You Need to Spend the Time Actually Playing
Unfortunately, Dota 2 is a skill and just like any other skill you would need to spend a lot of time playing. The game is definitely challenging and to master it you would need to have some experience with it. The golden rule is 10,000 hours to become a master of Dota or at least get to a level where you are only playing against the very best.
Of course, there is zero obligation to actually do that, and you may instead choose to stick with playing recreationally. Even as a hobby player, you can still find many cool angles to really up the ante and make the most out of any situation when it comes to Dota 2. All you need to do is focus on the experience and enjoy yourself.
5. Watch What the Best Players Are Doing
There is no denying that if you spend some time watching how the best players and teams perform, you are likely to start emulating them yourself. There are many reasons why this makes sense. First of all, you can’t know all strategies there are out there. That is why you are going to watch videos and try to find out more about the game as you do that.
There are certain challenges in understanding the game just by watching, there is no denying that. After all, Dota 2 is best learnt through experience, and we agree with that. However, it’s also important to take every opportunity to improve yourself in Dota 2 seriously and act on it from the start.