DOTA 2 ULTIMATE POSITIONS GUIDE 

Dota 2 as we all know it, is a 5v5 competitive MOBA game where each team consists of 5 players who ultimately have to destroy their enemy team’s ancient in order to win the game. These 5 players are each assigned a different task according to their positions and are meant to maintain their roles throughout the entirety of the game. Today we will be talking about the 5 competitive positions that exist in Dota 2 and what each of their purpose is. 

 

WHAT ARE THE 5 POSITIONS IN DOTA

The 5 Positions in Dota consist of :

• Position 1 (HARD CARRY/SAFELANER)

• Position 2 (MIDLANER/SEMI CARRY/SOLO GANKER)

• Position 3 (OFFLANER/UTILITY CORE)

• Position 4 (ROAMING/GANKING SUPPORT)

• Position 5 (HARD SUPPORT/BABYSITTER)


However, before you continue, it is extremely important for you to know about Farm Dependency. In Dota 2, Farm Dependency is the measure used to describe how reliant a hero is on gold income. The heroes that thrive when they have the money to buy big items are typically the core/carry heroes. The heroes that do not need to rely on their farm and items and are able to depend on their spells to be useful in the game are usually the support/utility heroes. With that being said, the top most farm priority usually goes to Position 1, then it goes to Position 2, then Position 3, Position 4 and lastly Position 5, with the least farm priority.

So without further ado, let’s go through what each of these positions are typically meant to do as well as what they are expected to achieve in the game and what their jobs are, individually.


DOTA POSITION 1 - HARD CARRY

Hard Carries as discussed before, get the most farm priority in a game as they require gold to get strong in order to carry the game. Position 1 Hard Carry/Safelaner heroes are usually weaker in the earlier stages of the game but get stronger and scale better as the game progresses and will ultimately win you the game. The faster they make their items and hit their timings, the stronger they will be in the game, hence it is always the  best idea  to give the Hard Carry players the top-most farm priority in the game as the whole team will greatly benefit from it.

Hard Carry/Position 1 heroes consist of:

 

DOTA POSITION 2 - MID LANER

Mid laners are solo laners. They are usually considered the second carry of the team as they are usually the most farmed heroes after the Hard Carries in the game as well as the fact that they are ahead of everyone in terms of levels since they lane alone, which means no one saps experience from them. Mid laners usually have two types of playstyle - Playing to create space for the Carry and Playing to Carry the game. Although the modern day playstyle of the Mid lane suggests that the best way of playing Position 2 is by making plays in the map and creating space for their carries, Mid lane players can also choose to carry a game only if their Hard carry player fails to do their job and proves to be inadequate.

Mid lane/Position 2 heroes consist of:




DOTA POSITION 3 - OFFLANE

The Offlane role is a very important role as they have to take care of multiple things in a game. They are usually the initiators of the team, meaning that they initiate/start a fight and are most of the time the tankiest hero of the team, meaning they are very tough to take down due to the way they itemize as well as the fact that most of the Offlane heroes fall into the strength category. The Offlaner’s job is to make the enemy Hard Carry’s game tough by denying them as much farm as possible. It is also very important as an Offlaner to make sure you are covering what your team lacks. Offlaners tend to make items such as Pipe of Insight, Guardian Greaves, Crimson Guard, Solar Crest all of which greatly benefit their teammates (especially the Mid laner and the Hard Carry) and they usually front line in a teamfight as they can afford to take incoming damage from the enemy without dying. It is also the job of an Offlaner to sacrifice their own game if they know that their core players can benefit from it. It is also very important to note that as an Offlaner you should not occupy the jungles and take the safe farm from your carries unless you are the sole win condition of the game and you really need the farm, which is most of the time not the case.


Offlaner/Position 3 heroes consist of:

DOTA POSITION 4 - SOFT SUPPORT

This style of support emphasizes less on babysitting the carries and more on bringing discomfort to the enemy by creating pressure in the map. Soft Supports/Position 4 heroes typically lane with the offlaners in the offlane, and leave the lane soon to roam around the map and help to assist other lanes. Heroes such as Earth Shaker, Tiny, Earth Spirit and Nyx Assassin for example, do a great job in exerting pressure by rotating to other lanes in order to kill enemy heroes for their team to achieve a lead. Soft Supports are typically very mobile which helps them to transition from one lane to another, and they often purchase Boots of Speed as their first item to benefit from the added movement speed early on in the game. Position 4 Soft Supports hit their item timings much faster compared to Position 5 Hard Supports as they participate in a lot of engagements and invest less on itemizing to save their core players.


Soft Support/Position 4 heroes consist of:


 

DOTA POSITION 5 - HARD SUPPORT


This variation of playing the Support role focuses on making sure that the carry is able to have a comfortable laning stage and they also need to ensure that their carry players are able to secure farm throughout all stages of the game. Hard Supports almost always lane with their carry player in the safelane, and they usually do not get the freedom to leave the safelane to roam around the map as they need to help their safelaner in the lane. The job of a Hard Support is to provide aid to the team - healing, warding, stacking, saving teammates from dying and making items that benefit the team all around. Investing in items such as Glimmer Cape, Force Staff, Mekansm and Holy Locket can prove to be very helpful when it comes to saving teammates and helping them in general.


Hard Support/Position 5 heroes consist of:




In dota, there are no roles that are less impactful than the other, as all of the roles are equally important and are equally necessary in order to win a game. Traditionally the core roles are weaker in the earlier stages of the game, but get stronger and scale better as the game progresses. Support heroes have a massive impact in the game earlier on and get weaker as the game keeps going - but that does not mean they are completely useless later on, they are just as important as the core players. If you as a player play the role you enjoy playing and perform well on the role, you can win most of your games.

Good Luck!