DotA Basics for New to Average Skill

[VeNuM]

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Basics
• Survivablity
• Creeps and Towers
• Items
• Hero Classifications (coming soon)
• Credits

Introduction


I thought I would write some of the information that I constantly say in games online to new players or via the in game comms. It is a joint effort with friends the guide will be updated, so if you have any piece of information you want to contribute with, feel free to post it in this thread.

Text in Red is the Heroes of Newerth item name
Text in Green is the same item but the DotA name for it.

Basics

• Don't assume you always have to be fighting to win the game.
• You get experience for being about 2/3 of the screen width away when something dies, you don't have to kill it yourself.
• You get gold from a kill if you make the final, killing blow on it.
• Early on, getting experience is more important than getting gold.
• Killing enemy heroes gets you roughly 200 gold and some experience.
• Dying costs you a %age of your gold, and means your opponents level ALOT faster than you. **[[EDIT 30*Your Level rather than a percentage of your current gold. So a level 4 hero will lose exactly 30*4 = 120 gold.]]**
• Press the quote key ' (or you can remap this in the control's section) to show units health/mana bars above them.
• Heroes abilities decide games.

Therefore, if you don't recognise the hero you are against in your lane, ask your teammates what to watch out for. They will tell you the nastiest things you will face.



Survivablity

Early in game, stand nearby action but don't be involved all the time, don't make yourself a target for enemy heroes. Sit levelling up for a while and you gradually get a small amount of gold in the "background". If you make a few creep kills you get even more gold.

• When you have little health early on, creep hits on you hurt quite alot.
• If you don't have much health and you stick around near combat, the enemy will try to ambush you.
• Your skills are weak early on, and it takes many hits and spells to kill a hero. It is best to conserve your mana.
• Skills increase along with damage and combat later in the game can be brutally fast.
• If you conserve your mana it could be the difference between life and death either for yourself, allys or enemy heroes. (Stuns for example)
• Sometimes no matter how hard you try to play well, you will get beaten on.

If you are levels behind in your lane and getting hurt badly every time you go into combat, CALL IT EARLY and request a swap. Other people in your team doing better may be able to swap with you and stop the rot. You could also ask team mates to come and "gank/ambush" the people in your lane.

Always try to be staying alive, don't go for the jugular until you are sure of your capabilities, and the enemies.


Safe Buys
I would suggest people who have a problem with survivablity take into consideration and perhaps buy these items to help.


Fortified Bracelet / Bracer: + 3 to Strength, +3 to All Attributes. (found in the Initiation Recipe shop)

I would try and get two of these to begin with, the reason for this is so that you have some extra stats and more importantly a lot of extra health which will help you survive, if you have picked a strength hero you will get extra damage.

Steam Boots / Power Treads: +65 Movement speed, 10 Strength, and +30 attack speed. Click to toggle stats. (found in the Initiation Recipe shop)

To make these you need to get [ Marchers / Boots of Speed: +50 Movement Speed - 500 gold ] - which are extremely important for most people as it helps you get into or out of fights a lot quicker (aswell as into Lanes to creep). The reason for this item is so that you can have improved movement speed, attack speed and gain some extra health again. Combined with the Bracelets you won't be extremely squishy and most likely the enemy will have a harder job killing you which is what we want to avoid to begin with.



Creeps & Towers





Your hero will automatically attack units that are close by to it such as creeps(term: Auto Attacking). Here is a run down of why this is a bad thing and hopefully teach new players the reasons why last hitting is something that all HoN/DotA players should aim to perfect.

• Creeps will give gold for getting the killing blow on them.
• Friendly creeps can be denied.
• You kill your own creep to deny your enemy experience and gold, and thus giving you an advantage.
• Creeps are only deniable when on 50% health or lower.
• To deny creeps you should press A and target the friendly creep
• The creep waves are ALWAYS equal to each other, so any interference from players will make the creep wave move down or up a lane.
• If you put equal amounts of damage into friendly and enemy creeps then when the creep waves meet again they should fight in exactly the same place you were just at or extremely close by.
• If you auto attack and push the creeps forward and continue to creep this means that you could become vunerable to being ambushed.

Towers

• Towers hurt alot early on.
• Towers target ANYTHING which is attacking a friendly hero (or should).
• You have to take towers down, but it is much easier late game than early.
• The final hit on a tower gets you hundreds of gold.
• You can attempt to deny a tower by last hitting it
• Towers can only be denied when they are on 10% or less health.
• Denying a tower grants you & your team mates 100/150gold each and non for the opposing team

It is never really a good idea to be pushing towers early on unless your team has decided you need to win the game early and you are a team that is based around early mid game wins. If you kill a tower early the likelyhood is that the creep wave will end up on the enemies side of the map for huge portions of the game until it is either pushed back by enemy heroes (which they should try and attempt not to do by last hitting and denying to keep the creep wave safe in a friendly area) or until they push and take down 1-2 towers to equal each side.

Later in the game you must group up as 3/4/5 players and push one lane, usually the middle to take barracks down. Once you have done this, go another lane. If your team starts grouping you should NOT be alone unless you know what you are doing and why and when. (hint : if you need to read this post, you are dozens of games away from knowing what, why and when.)


Items

• Buying items suited to your heroes helps quite a bit.
• Buying the wrong items just plain sucks.

Therefore : if you are not sure what to buy, ask a team mate with more experience for a build order. Even among experience players there are disagreements and opinions, but they won't be significantly different. Remind them it is a build for a new player so they don't make it too ambitious for you.

Starting Items





(This is what I personally like to buy to start off with in 90% of games I play)

• Pretenders Crown / Circlet of Nobility: +2 All Attributes - 185 gold -
• I buy TWO of these to turn into Bracelets.
• Found in the Accessories section of the shop.
• These will give you extra health/mana/damage.

Now you need some regeneration or healing items so that you can stay in lane for a longer period of time, because its going to be 99% sure you will be taking some damage from creeps or heroes in the lane.

• Healing Potion / Healing Salve: Heals 400 HP over 10 seconds on a friendly unit. 1 Charge. Dispels on attack. - 100 gold.

I also buy TWO of these (found in the Supplies section of the shop). You need to make sure that you stay away from any incoming damage when you activate this heal potion on yourself as any damage will stop the regen effect.

Alternativly you can buy

• Runes of the Blight / Ancient Tango of Essifation: Allows the bearer to consume a tree, restoring 115 hit points over 16 seconds. 3 charges. - 90 gold.

Usually people buy TWO sets of these runes. The good thing about the Runes of Blight over the Healing Potions are that they don't stop the regen effect should you take damage.

Overall it is best that what ever items you decide to go for at the start you should always look to take some health regen items in the form of items or consumables. If you turn up to a lane with no health regen items the likelyhood is that you will get pushed out of lane quickly by enemy heroes that have noticed this and get some attacks in on you trying to force you out of lane.


Hero Classifications

So this section is to explain to people what class or role each hero is/plays within Heroes of Newerth. A lot of the heroes are good at several things and not just one - I will try and give a little run down of what they are good at.

Carry/Assassins
Heroes which specialize at killing other heroes through physical damage. Most heroes that have windwalk, an invsisibility skill, or blink can fall into this catergory. Often these heroes need to get more gold than other classes.

Disablers
Heroes who possess the ability to disable other characters, basically forcing them into a disadvantage while they attempt to fight or flee. Disables include any spells that move the enemy without his or her consent, stun an enemy, reduce movement speed, disallow movement, reduce damage, reduce attack speed, reduce armor, prevent physical attack or prevent spell casting. Though many spells fall under these catergories, the general rule of an effect disable spell is a spell that can extend and enemy's precence in combat against his or her will, which therefor only includes the first four of the listed effects. Also, passive abilities are often ignored as disables. Pollywog Priest and Puppeter are examples as they both have two skills that are classed as Disable.

Support
Heroes whose skills are meant to directly aid the rest of the team. Heroes with healing or protective skills fall into this catergory. Pushers can be counted as support, although somtimes they can be used individually instead of working together with the team.

Nukers
Heroes which possess the ability to cause an significant amount of damage in a single instant via use of an activated spell in lieu of a physical attack. E.g. Pyromancer.

Pushers
Heroes which can quickly destroy enemy towers and creep generators due to their ability to summon additional units or deal damage to an area of enemy creeps.

Stunners
Heroes who posses the ability to stun other characters. Certain heroes have passive skills enabling their attacks to have a chance of stunning. When such heroes are able to keep an enemy constantly stunned it is known informally as permastun or stunlock.

Tanks
Heroes who can absorb huge amounts of damage with either high health or armor count. Typically used to tank towers or enemies.


Intelligence Heroes


[Blacksmith]
Stunner
Nuker
Disabler(Slow)
Support

[Nymphora]
Stunner
Disabler
Nuker/Pusher
Support

[Pollywog Priest]
Disabler
Nuker
Pusher

[Tempest]
Stunner
Disabler
Pusher

[Zephyr]
Pusher(Early/Mid Game)
Disabler(Slow)
Assassin

[Pyromancer]
Nuker/Pusher
Stunner

[Torturer]
Nuker/Pusher
Stunner

[Puppet Master]
Disabler
Nuker(Ultimate)

[Hellbringer]
Pusher
Disabler(Slow)
Stun(Ultimate)
Pusher
Support

[Demented Shaman]
Nuker/Pusher
Support
Disabler/Stunner (Snare Skill)

[Defiler]
Nuker
Pusher
Disabler(Silence)

[Glacius]
Disabler
Support(Aura)
Nuker/Pusher

[Voodoo Jester]
Stunner
Nuker(Maledict/Ultimate)
Support(Heal)



Agility Heroes


[Moon Queen]
Carry
Nuker
Pusher

[Wildsoul]
Carry
Tanker(Bear Form)

[Scout]
Assassin/Carry
Nuker(Ultimate)

[Magebane]
Carry
Nuker(Ultimate)

[Nighthound]
Assassin/Carry
Disabler(Cloud)

[Swiftblade]
Carry

[Slither]
Nuker
Pusher(Toxin Wards)
Maybe Carry

[Chronos]
Carry
Disabler

[Madman]
Carry/Assassin

[Blood Hunter]
Carry
Disabler(Silence)

[Arachna]
Carry
Disabler(Orb effect slow)

[Dark Lady]
Carry
Disabler

[Soulstealer]
Carry
Nuker/Pusher


Strength Heroes

[Hammerstorm]
Carry
Stunner

[Jereziah]
Support
Pusher

[Legionaire]
Tank
Nuker
Disabler

[Predator]
Carry/Tank
Disabler(Slow & Armor reduction)

[Behemoth]
Stunner
Support
Nuker/Pusher

[Armadon]
Tank
Disabler(Slow from Snot)

[Pebbles]
Stunner
Tank
Support

[Keeper of the Forest]
Support
Disabler

[Devourer]
Support
Disabler
Tank

[Electrician]
Disabler
Tank
Support

[Pharoah]
Carry or Tank
Stunner

[Kraken]
Support(Ultimate)
Tank

[Accursed]
Support
Tank

[War Beast]
Carry/Tank

[Pestilence]
Stunner
Support(Ultimate)
Tank


Credits

Shamelessly stole some of the Item pictures/text from Hucklecats thread on Items which can be found here -> http://forums.heroesofnewerth.com/showthread.php?t=521

Anyone who has given input that is now in this guide.

[Glorify1]

#4 I'd expand upon your idea here, of how having the lane near their tower is beneficial to the enemy team. Therefor, if they're able to keep the lane near this area by balancing out the damage the creeps take to make it remain neutral, you're in a very bad position. You can fix this by autoattacking or nuking the creeps into the tower. At first, this sounds stupid because it's exactly what you don't want to do. But this actually bounces the creeps back to a more favorable position. The best position to be in is right near your own tower, but out of range of it.

#10 Denying a tower in HoN grants the denying team 100 gold each, and completely denies your enemy any gold. It's extremely important to atleast make attempts to deny in HoN. In DotA, the enemies still all got 100 gold and the deny'ers got nothing.

[[AS]Kietharr]

Treads aren't really a safe buy on every hero, most casters do not benefit from the IAS whatsoever. Phase boots or travels are a safer bet on casters, with phase boots being cheaper with +armor +dmg and a clicky runspeed/phase buff while travels have that all important teleportation to friendly creeps that can be so essential lategame, letting casters port around to defend against creep pushes while carries are out killing heroes and pushing. Not to downplay the plusses of the phase boots though, they're excellent for speeding up to get that last spell in or to outrun a gank, a small speed buff for a few seconds makes ALL of the difference in HoN.

Also, my advice to new players: Last hit even if you're bad at it, you only get better by practicing. Auto attacking creepwaves pushes them into the enemy towers so they can farm much more safely and aggressively while you are forced to stay back to avoid lethal towershots. Proper last hitting and denying will keep the lane closer to your tower which means you will farm more safely as well as farming more efficiently.

[VeNuM]

This is like a BASIC guide through to newer players which is why I've suggested such basic items.

You do realise that someone that is new to the game may not remember/know about Enchanced marchers or clicking on them and what not, it just adds complications. Steamboots allows them to get more health and can practice last hitting with them, its simple and effective. Don't complicate things, already lots of information for new players to take in without having to teach them the fine points of activatable items and such. All heroes have a basic attack animation and have basic dmg, until they start to learn each hero and each spell telling them about how to port around and push the creeps ect isnt a good idea.

How about you right a diff guide?

The second bit you just said is already covered in this guide? did you read it?

[RedRaider]

I am new to the game and have been spending time lurking around here reading all. Good info up top.

I have been trying to get into action to quickly as a noob it appears. If I am getting exp from 2/3 a screen away then a lot has been answered for me. That needs to be stressed to new players not familiar with DotA.

Thanks

[VeNuM]

In the settings there is a nice tick box that will make everyones life easyier for those that choose to tick it.

In the "Control" section of the Settings there is a tick box that says "Show Experience" or something along those lines, it will have some purple numbers next to units that die that can give experience, so you can see for yourself how much a creep will give you and how much it will give if its denied and what distance you need to be to recieve said experience .

[Mefix]

Nice guide.

Question.
It seems that when you last hit a tower, it says you are getting 200 gold, yet when a creep kills a tower a team gets 350.

What gives?

[[QQmP]FuriousPeon]

Unless the system is extremely broken, I'm sure it's just an additional 200 gold for last hitting the tower.

Edit:

I'd also like to state the importance of letting players know how imperative it is that they understand if they disable a hero with non of their creeps around and all of yours, the creeps will attack the hero, doing a lot of damage. Example: Glacius vs Pest. Sent vs scourge. Scourge has 1 creep left and pest is right next to it, creep is killed and pest begins to run, but Glacius slows/disables him, creeps auto attack the hero for 4-5 hits doing a good amount of damage ontop of magic. I feel like this is "average" tip at the very most. Apologies if I came off intrusive. I understand what you said about new players, but things like this will be imperative in a bad lane, and is a good alternative to just taking the beatings. Also, I've go tto agree with kietar that you need to teach new players the right way, no matter how complex it is. Doing it like this is just going to teach them play left handed in a game that requires your right ( or some analogy like that,) ultimately they'll just be doing the wrong thing for a long time.

Also creep pulling and blocking should be noted (Creep pulling IS possible, it's just a bit harder.)

[VeNuM]

I see your point, but if I was going to teach them how to play the right way all the time I wouldnt tell them to build bracelets on most heroes would I? I personally can get away with not having to build health anymore but it's a good starting point and thats what I've put it for. I think the arguement would be valid IF I was telling them to auto attack because its a good start point but no thats not what I've done, it was merely some suggestions for start items that will help keep them alive so they can learn the game better and stay alive more.

The main focus of the guide is not to debate what items people should be going for, the main focus is getting to grips with the game itself and the importance of actions rather than what you buy. As I said - suggestions and hopefully people will read this thread and the replies and they can take on board some of the good input people have been posting(its all good input thanks ). I would ask though if you want to suggest such stuff please can you put it in the form of a guide/post so it fits in and people have all the info in one place or if its good enough can just edit the first post and put what some of you guys write into it .

edit: On discussions - a good point came up, they are base items which means they can buy these items on all heroes and this is good because its kinda all round, its not the best one but its good enough to help them learn and to help them survive.

[Rob]

I think Steam boots are a pretty safe bet for a new player - even on a caster we're not going to be trying to give them enough mana to do x y z every few minutes. We're talking managing to do x y z before they die.

I'd like to see a build, start to finish that's very generic and can apply to any hero - no it won't be anywhere near ideal, but it removes one element of the complexity so they can concentrate on being part of a team and being in the right place.

They should soon realise there are better items on different heros but they can tweak at their own pace.

[[XWC]Killy]

With regards to Steamboots I usually get them on every hero (usually in STR mode) just so I can get that extra bit of health early on (I buy the Bolstering Armband along with a set on Runes of the Blight) as I find that even on a caster this could allow me to survive slightly longer, you can always change them later on to suit the game.

If you enter a lane with no regen (potions/blight runes/trinket of restoration) early on you may find you get a bit persecuted as opposed to your team mate who will be able to survive longer, other people will see this and try to go for you over your lane buddy.
Make note that you can share items of regen so if you have a trinket, blight runes or even a bottle charge then you could pass these on.

[[XWC]Killy]

Although this may come up as a slightly more advanced part of the game in regards to new to average skill, but you may want to make a note of if the enemy hero which is in lane with you disappears for around 7-10 seconds as they may have either gone around to try to ambush you or to try to draw you forward into an ambush, have gone to check for a rune in which case they will come back stronger, or they may have left lane to try to gank someone else.
In this situation it's best to say through either chat or voice comms that the hero(es) in your lane is missing so the other heroes on your team can be on their guard. The element of surprise can and will win ganks and fights. If a hero then reappears once you've called missing you can just call him back in lane (otherwise known as "RE" e.g. Behemoth missing right lane.... Behemoth RE right...)

[Nighteyes]

Hey thanks for this guide. I never thought about the creep tactic and always just beat on them while trying to get the last kill. Knowing now to stay back and just leech xp should help greatly in my early game.

[VeNuM]

Thread has been overhauled and added some extra stuffs.

[Krangry]

Nice guide.

Question.
It seems that when you last hit a tower, it says you are getting 200 gold, yet when a creep kills a tower a team gets 350.

What gives?

It spreads the full amount of gold over the 5 players, as compare to one getting 500 or so, and the rest 200

[VeNuM]

Updated with Hero Classifications. Any Input on this front is welcome but this is how I see these heroes.

Let it be said that any hero if farmed well and in the correct hands can become what ever he/she wants to play it as even if its frowned upon by most. Example being that most Strength heroes can become carrys with enough farming and the correct items - its not set in stone but what I've put down is what I think they should be as default.

[[BETA]Euphoria]

Don't forget initiation heroes. These are actually the most important on any team and are most likely the hardest to be handled by new players. Behemoth, Kraken, Tempest, Torturer, Devourer, Keeper of the Forest, Hellbringer. These heroes are most often used to start a fight, some may do it to do a large amount of damage early on, others may simply be used for positioning to help other heroes, but these are usually the most important heroes in a fight and take time to learn how to farm them up properly, etc.

[Sapheron]

Not sure if its been mentioned but Fortified Bracelet does +6 str, not +3, unless I've looked at it wrong.

[LuckyDevil]

Not sure if its been mentioned but Fortified Bracelet does +6 str, not +3, unless I've looked at it wrong.

It says +3 str, +3 to all attributes (+3 str, +3 int, +3 agi). 3 + 3 = 6

[[RUF]Hiro]

Cool guide bro. This will help new members a lot, IF they read it. The biggest problem with the really bad noobs is that they don't listen or read, and think they can be a god at any game they play.