DOTA 2 Walkthrough

DOTA 2 is a free-to-play action strategy game developed by Valve. Fight together with the team to destroy the opposing team’s ancient, while defending your own. Gamezebo’s quick start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to play your best game.

Game Introduction – DOTA 2

Quick Start Guide

Getting Started

DOTA 2 is free to play, and can be played by clicking the “Play Now!” option at the top of this page.
When you start DOTA 2, new players will be invited to select the first tutorial levels to explain the basics of the game.

DOTA 2 basics:

After choosing a hero, you will join one of two factions, and work together with other heroes to defeat the other faction’s ancient. Easier said than done, as every match basically starts everyone out anew: you have a level 1 hero, some starting gold, and it’s up to you and your team to come out the strongest.
As you engage enemy creeps, buildings, and heroes, you gain experience, earn gold, and get stronger and better equipped. As your team gets stronger, you will be able to start taking out the first defensive towers, and one more, and another one, until you reach and ultimately defeat the ancient.

Choosing your hero

TIP: A particular hero can be chosen only once per battle, which means that multiple players may want to choose the same hero. If you have one specific hero that you really like playing as, you can jump directly to that hero by typing its name. Press ALT + Enter to quickly confirm your selection.

Preparing for battle

At the start of each round, you will be given an amount of start gold, which you can spend on some of the starting items.

TIP: you don’t have to spend all your starting gold right away. If you don’t much care for some items in the beginning of the game, keep that money in your pocket so you can upgrade to better items sooner!
Be sure to buy an animal courier at the start. Normally you can only pick up bought items at the store, but if you have an animal courier it will bring you any item you purchase at any time.

Start of the battle: leveling up

No matter how experienced you are, every player starts a battle at level 0. This gives both new players and experienced players an equal chance. By taking part in battles, you will earn experience points, level up, and become stronger.

In order to earn experience points, you don’t need to deliver the final hit to an enemy, per se: if you are in the vicinity of a dying enemy, you will receive the experience points. Certainly when you’re still in a lower level, you can just hang around your creeps as they fight the enemies.

TIP: Want to increase your survival chances in early battle? Let your creeps attack enemies first! Enemies attack whoever attacks them first, so once a creep has taken the first hit, you can start fighting an enemy and he will never attack you (until your creep dies). In case you end up hitting an enemy first, or a creep dies and the enemy turns to you, simply run away until another creep (or hero) starts fighting the enemy.

WARNING: Enemy heroes will always choose to attack you when they can (unless they’re falling back to heal), so hiding behind your creeps won’t work as a tactic there. Don’t get caught out by enemy hero attacks.

Pushing through the enemy ranks

As you gain experience, level up, buy better gear, and become stronger, you can start to push through the enemy ranks. Work together with the other heroes on your team to take out the protective towers.

Don’t forget, however, that there are two teams playing. You might be battling towers, creeps, and heroes at the enemy ranks, but there will also be enemy heroes trying to break through your ranks. Make sure that you communicate with your team, and consider both offensive and defensive tactics. Talk to your team-mates, consider who has developed which strengths, and play into those. If you’ve developed yourself into a strong defensive character, use those strengths and give hell to any enemy heroes trying to kill your ancient!

Tips and tricks

DOTA 2 is a game that may require some patience to truly master, but it is very much worth it in the end.
Take your time to level up: there’s no point in dying over and over again, which will only cost you time and money. The game is won at the end, not at the beginning.
Remember: running headfirst into battle is rarely the best strategy!

Try different heroes, different ways of playing, and different items, to ultimately find a style that fits you best.
Playing with friends? Try to balance your team so that you’re able to put a campaign together that has as few weaknesses as possible.
And lastly, we cannot stress this enough: communication with your team-mates is key!