Need advice on how to help people learn the game.

[Obes]

Hi,
I have had few friends want to get into the game. None of us are DOTA people and all of us are 30somethings.

Now I am far from experienced, never played DOTA, and played about 100 games. Have a very ordinary psr (sub 1300) and as long as I stick to games in that bracket it's all good.

ie. A bad/a noob ... whatever I enjoy it.

So I'd also like to save my mates the pain that was the first 10 or 20 games. I went 2:200:something in my first 20 games.

For the first friend, we fired up vent and played a 1v1 for about 20mins where really I was showing him how things worked, where things were. It definitely helped because we entered a 5v5 pub game and he wasn't the lowest level and no one abused him.

But his feedback to me was that the 1v1 didn't prepare him for the pace of a 5v5 or the importance of distance and staying alive. And really didn't explain how shops worked.

Tonight another friend wants to give it a whirl ... what advice can people give me in helping them get a foot in the door ?

ps. I have already given them links to the movies from this forum, and pointed them at various guides (mostly from the premium guide forum).

[Blaat]

I think the best way to learn the basics/even more is just to practice. You can also practice against your friends. You against your 2 friends, let's sap AP mode and only the middle lane.

This way you have no flaming, no whatsoever and you can teach them how to play. (at least the basics)

[Puchi]

Create a private game all of you get on the same team and just run around a show off the map.
After that show them laning, lasthitting, denying, creepblocking, neutral creep pulling etc.
Show them wardplacment, Currier etc. and show them standard items that you need on every hero IE: Boots(enhanced, Steam & post haste. tell them whats good about each pair and on what hero to get them) Bracers/soulscream rings/Exiles, regen items(blight, mana/health pots). Show them the recomended tab in Shop.
Play for a while then end the game, start a new private game and now you play 2v2/3v3 or whatever number you are, try to match experianced players with the noobs. and basically you play a game here and try to give you teamm8 as much tips as possible.
Try to introduce easy heroes first good examples are:
Swiftblade
Hammerstorm
Bloodhunter
Soul Reaper
Thunderbringer
etc.
Heroes who have 1 or more passive to thier name's are usually good heroes to start with. stay away from heroes with abillity's that are hard to aim.

[Ationi]

I was a total noob in this game when I started, but I concentrated heavily on teamplay. I practiced the intelligence support heroes (and Thunderbringer for middle play experience). As the time goes by, I "invented" strategies such as bottle-courier and warding.

I think this game should be learnt as small pieces at a time. It might feel unconfortable if you just slap them with some build order diagrams and expect them to be able to handle it without them even knowing what some basics are.

I'd say that if you master animation cancel technique (and orb walking) it will make you ridiculously more effective in battle. Positioning is really important.

gtg -->

[Shadowcamsy]

The good thing about HoN/DotA is that everyone has their own way of playing and learning the game. A few of the ways could be considered bad but as long as you're talking about the game topic your friend is going to learn something new about the game. DenyTheTruth has written up a good guide that mentors have to take their apprentices through, which is found here: http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showpost.php?p=335575&postcount=4

I luckily still have the first replay of dota when I started 5 years ago. I was playing Doombringer (not ported yet) and I got boots and 4 gloves of haste, ended up 1-13 and I lost :( No one told me what items I should be getting, and I didn't have the slightest clue about last hitting. The big turn around for me was when I logged onto the dota forums and read Indeed's (mini) guide to dota. The only guide I've seen so far of similar quality (although out of date) is: http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=5465

Keep in mind that they only need to know basics for their first few games until they know what all the heroes can do. Then they can start developing their skills like Lane control, farming, and pushing as a team.

[TreeHorse]

The good thing about HoN/DotA is that everyone has their own way of playing and learning the game. A few of the ways could be considered bad but as long as you're talking about the game topic your friend is going to learn something new about the game. DenyTheTruth has written up a good guide that mentors have to take their apprentices through, which is found here: http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showpost.php?p=335575&postcount=4

I luckily still have the first replay of dota when I started 5 years ago. I was playing Doombringer (not ported yet) and I got boots and 4 gloves of haste, ended up 1-13 and I lost :( No one told me what items I should be getting, and I didn't have the slightest clue about last hitting. The big turn around for me was when I logged onto the dota forums and read Indeed's (mini) guide to dota. The only guide I've seen so far of similar quality (although out of date) is: http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=5465

Keep in mind that they only need to know basics for their first few games until they know what all the heroes can do. Then they can start developing their skills like Lane control, farming, and pushing as a team.

Good points. It's not worth trying to teach them about warding, couriers, and all that bullshit at this point in their skill level. They need to learn the BASIC BASICS first (how to buy items quickly, a decent starting kit that works for most heroes, avoiding hero harass, DON'T autoattack etc)

The worst thing you can do is overwhelm him with information. Start off small, tell him what all of his hero's abilities do, and let him figure out when is a good time to use them.

[akitoes]

ps. I have already given them links to the movies from this forum, and pointed them at various guides (mostly from the premium guide forum).

Add VoDs and they'll become average+ players in no time ;)

Self-education is the only true form of education.