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Healing Salve
Boots of Speed
Animal Courier
Magic Wand
Boots of Travel
Aghanim's Scepter
Orchid Malevolence
Sange and Yasha
Bloodthorn
Eye of Skadi
Blink Dagger
Dragon Lance
Gem of True Sight
Linken's Sphere
Boots of Travel 2
Aegis of the Immortal
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Hey, Steve Woody here and this is my first post on Dotafire. I'm 33 and live in London, UK. I've been playing games for many years but life, love and business got in the way so recently returned to see what the world had to offer.
Being an avid Command and Conquer player when I was younger (If you remember Red Alert then you're old lol) I was keen to check out Dota as I've heard nothing but amazing reviews.
I know I'm late to the party but here are some things I've found that I really hope help other noobs. It's from my perspective of 100 hours in my first week of playing.
DON'T be tempted to click "Play Dota" and jump straight into a matched battle. It's not fair on the other players and you will not only affect their experience but most likely have a bad one yourself. Rather to begin with (Given you are here already, it's a good start) I would recommend doing the training in game, learning the mechanics and understanding the basics.
Here are a few things I've learnt quickly along the way.
1, Watch a youtube video.
Just type in Dota 2 Ranked Player and watch how they play, you will learn so much just from watching a couple and it will impact your thought process during the game.
2, Pick One Hero.
Seriously there are so many that it can be overwhelming but pick something that you like and master it. Once you are getting consistent wins then master another. That should consume a good portion of your life :)
3, Keyboard Shortcuts.
I can't stress this enough. The only thing you should do with your mouse is use it to move and attack. Every option in the game has a hotkey and you should spend some time setting them up.
Open Shop - Call Courier - Upgrades, everything should not only have a button but you should be able to click it confidently in the middle of a hectic battle should you need. (my point here is learn them well)
Also learn about using Ctl and Alt on the mini map to alert, avoid or indicate an attack or defend. Just don't draw a ***** on the map towards the enemy as it starts all kinds of trouble and people get distracted from playing :)
4, Lingo
You are going to feel very lost in a game if you can't communicate and for that knowing the lingo is so important. Top, Mid, Bot, Push, Back. Those are all the obvious ones but understanding words like Farm, Feed, Creep Push, Creep Pull and Gank are really going to improve not only your game but the overall game for everyone on your team.
5, Situational Awareness
It goes without saying that if you don't know whats going on it will hurt you. Every other second you should be glancing at the map, knowing where your team are and where the enemy are. You should know where the creeps are, how many towers are left and have routes planned to get to every part of the map, specifically the secret shops when you need them.
That's about it for my noobs introduction.
I've found that not many people like to talk in game, OMG I did this so much on my first few games and was greeted with things like STFU NOOB :)
I can see why so many don't want to talk in fear of shutdown but also I know how annoying it can be trying to listen to the awesome music when someone who likes their own voice so much wont pipe down.
Also the language barrier can be challenging with some people so stick to in game commands until you start a team :)
So I did some research when I started and learnt that Viper was one of the easiest heroes to learn, I also like that he has the ability to control early and late game, even turning a sure defeat around if used the right way.
I just want to stress that I am still learning this game and there are many things which I am sure can be improved. This is not the answer but just something I have found works time and time again in battles.
Ultimately you will need to consider your heros because whilst Viper works really well against some early game he is bad against others. You need to know this because how you start the first 10 minutes will make or break you.
So to start with I always recommend that the whole team gets to the Runes, 2 on one and 3 on another. From there it should be easy to get a first kill and a little bonus before heading off to your lanes.
I'll assume here that you have an understanding of the game and I'll just explain how I get to Level 25 with Viper :)
I made a video which you can find at the bottom of this guide to help explain better what I wrote here.
At the start it's about two things. Getting the last hit on as many creeps as possible and harassing whoever is in your lane.
Viper plays best solo from the middle but can also work either lane very well. Ideally you would have him mid with support when needed from others.
You should purchase the Courier at the start because you can and also it's a nice thing to do. As a noob it's appreciated when you muck in and help the team as you will prob be making mistakes, people will be more forgiving if you are trying your best. Also it allows you to start a conversation in the game by letting everyone know that you will get it and you can casually say - and I'll take mid solo :) - I use this chance to ask someone to take control of wards so I don't have to focus on it as later in the game, you will have your hands full.
You should try not to get too involved at the start with 1 on 1 fights as you prob won't win. Just try to keep whoever is in your lane on half health. That was as soon as you reach Level 6 and get your Viper Strike Ability you can finish them, also keep awareness of your mana level. You don't want to run out, if need be send the courier for clarity.
You should be using the Quick Purchase option and be getting items as soon as possible towards your magic wand. This will save your life many times in battle and should be assigned a hotkey.
As soon as you have the magic wand it's time to focus on getting those last hits and also the Runes so that you can get yourself the 2000 gold for Boots of Travel. This is quite a push and normally takes you to the 10 minute mark in the game, if you die, have multiple people in the lane or you are getting harassed it might prove hard to accomplish but it's worth it because no-one will expect you to have that ability so early on and you can use it to scout the map and pick your easy kills.
This is where the fun begins, Using your awareness, position yourself to pick out solo hero's or gank up on those less fortunate. It's where you will start to pull ahead of your team and you should be looking to finish most kill's here. Your poison is great for getting the first hit so the team can come in and attack, normally the ongoing damage your poison does is enough to give you the last hit.
Your first focus in items should be Aghanim's Scepter as this gives Viper a massive reduction in the Viper Strike Cooldown to just 12 seconds and also lowers manacost to 125. As an added bonus it increases cast range to 800.
Once you have this you will then need to get Orchid Malevolence to ensure your Mana regeneration can cope with your mega kill streak :)
When you put the Orchid into the quick buy panel make sure that you get both Sage Mask's first as they will add 50% to your mana regeneration.
Once you have both of these items you should be confident to take on anyone 1 on 1 and have created quite the score sheet. Look out for both opportune moments where you can pick of weak heros and also ganks you can start.
Just think that in real life a Viper will sit in the bushes and wait to strike. You too should sit in the trees and wait until you have cut of the escape of your foolish victim. If you have a good team they will be waiting for you to strike first so they can swoop in and tidy up :)
After the 30 minute mark you should have enough kills to allow you to upgrade your items. There is no prefered order in the next two but I recommend Sange and Yasha / Eye of Skadi as they both cause your enemy to slow down making it even harder for them to get away. If they are a good team they will have the ability to silence you now so you might need to consider getting Linken's Sphere to help protect yourself. This might also be the time to consider the Blink Dagger which helps you get out of awkward situations with ease as anyone who catches you and is stronger than you will have an easy feed if you didn't have a great early game.
Finally look to get the Bloodthorn to make you undisputably the most annoying player your enemies have encountered.
Remember I'm a noob. Take of this information what works and ignore the rest. If you have opinions on how to improve it please let me know. I would LOVE to hear if you have used it and if so, how did it work for you.
I'll post a video link soon to show you an example battle :)
Enjoy and thanks for reading.
I wanted to create a video to go with this guide hoping that it will help better explain why I do what I do and how I play to get the best from using it as a noob, against noobs
Click here for the video
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