• My English might be bad, All I know is by self-study, so... Yeah, probably I suck. Then I used Chat-GPT to help-me translate it. All the text was write by me in portuguese, I just translated using it.
  
  
• I am not an experienced player, both in terms of time and skill.
  
  
• The information may not be explained in the best way.
  
  
• If you are more experienced and have any information you think would be better modified or added, please write in the comments and I will update the guide!
  
  
• I believe this last point should be directed to all Dota players, both newcomers and experienced ones. Stop being egocentric. A major issue I've felt with this game's community is the hostility towards new players, inexperienced individuals, and people who refuse to accept that they don't know. You weren't born with all the wisdom in the world, and considering that you're still in the shallowest layer of the game, even after years of playing, accept that you're not good and be willing to learn.
  
  Arguments these people might present include things like "Oh, I work, I have kids to take care of, do you think I'm going to study the game!?" And my response is: No. I don't expect you to study the game. Like any other game, it's just a place to unwind and have fun (as long as you're not trying to play competitively, with rankings, etc.), however, if you expect to get angry with other players, scream and tantrum like a child, I don't believe that argument applies to you. While you live your adult life outside the game, within it, you're nothing but an immature kid.
  
  This guide was written for people who want to learn, improve, and consequently have more fun in the game. Don't try to understand this guide superficially; it focuses on HC behaviors, but if you play MID, OFFLANE, or SUP, think about how to adapt with the same information in mind.

I will not exemplify the part about items or build paths, as I don't think I have enough wisdom to explain that part of the game, considering that I myself don't know what the best starting items are in x situation. However, depending on the HC you are playing, something that helps a lot to recover from the early game disadvantage is the "Mask of Madness".

Heroes like Luna, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord... Heroes with passive abilities in general can efficiently use this item to accelerate farming of neutral creeps. Not all HC have this item as a viable option, but those who do can greatly expedite the process of obtaining XP and gold. I believe that characters who do not adapt well to the use of MoM (Mask of Madness) will prioritize "Battle Fury". The area damage provided by this item greatly assists in clearing, however, due to its high cost, I'm not sure if it's a viable option when far behind.


The reality is simple: you are already behind. Regardless of everything, you don't want to take risks and fall even further behind. Moreover, if you take risks and die, you are only giving more XP and Gold to your enemy, which will make it increasingly difficult for you to get back into the game.

The first thing you should be aware of is the Gold and XP you lose when you can't kill a wave of minions. It's important to note that every 7:30m, the value of creeps increases by 1 gold.


So, for each wave, we have 3 Melee Creeps, 1 Ranged Creep, and sometimes 1 Siege Creep. Therefore, for each wave that you cannot obtain the total value of gold and XP lost, sequentially it is 145g and 240xp. Although it's a lot and a valuable resource, it can be ignored if it's to avoid risks.

And here's the amount of XP needed to level up:

Never forget, wards are free! Don't hesitate to buy them. "Oh, but I'm a HC!!! My Support should buy them!" If you think that, wait for them to buy, keep dying, and don't bother me.

Imagine the following situation: you've already died 2 times, you're walking back to lane because you don't have a TP, what to do? In this situation, the first thing you should pay attention to is: What's the safest route for me to get to my lane? If you're in the Dire Safe Lane, it would be through the top part of the jungle, while in the Radiant Safe Lane, it would be through the bottom part of the jungle.


"Why do this when I can just go straight to my lane?"

Minimize risks and get some resources on the way to the lane. During the journey, there will be neutral creep camps to be cleared, although they don't give as much gold and XP as lane creeps, they will allow you to get the minimum without taking risks. While you're in a situation where you can't expose yourself, always prefer farming neutral creeps instead of lane creeps.

Always pay attention to the tier of the Neutral creep you intend to face, the lower the tier, the less risk of you dying in a stupid way. If you don't know how creep tiers work, pay attention to the map; A complete triangle: Ancient Creeps, drop more gold and XP, however, they deal much more damage and have more health. Small triangle: Neutral Creeps at the lowest level, and as it goes up, the symbol will have a line below the triangle.



In all situations, what we should take into account is the positioning of your team and the positioning of the enemy team, let's consider that we don't have wards anywhere on the map and you're Luna in this situation. What is the smartest choice to make? Don't show up in the Lane or enter the top part of the jungle. These are the two places you want to avoid 100% right now. You don't know where 3 of the enemies are. They could be waiting for you either on the way to the lane or even in your jungle. The first thing you'll want to do in this situation is to farm neutral creeps as safely as possible without appearing in the enemy team's vision.

"So can I stay there without any fear of being killed?" And the answer is: No.

Just because you're out of the enemy's vision doesn't mean they won't enter your jungle to hunt you down, the best thing you can do is buy the Ward that I reminded you of a few seconds ago, and place it in a favorable location. Don't expect your support to do this, your ally is as unpredictable as your enemy.


The locations marked with X are the positions you should completely avoid getting close to. The green circle shows the best place to ward to ensure your safety when retreating. Since it's a High Ground, the ward provides vision of a very broad area and will give you greater security.

One very, VERY important thing to emphasize is: It's not necessarily bad for you to lose your tower! Although the enemies gain more space on the map and more gold, the wave of creeps will be pushed back towards your side of the map, meaning you'll be in a more favorable position to farm lane creeps and go to the jungle without exposing yourself too much. However, now besides putting a ward, it would also be necessary to put a sentry, because now the invasion attempts will become more constant.

The same situation on the Dire side:

Now, let's consider this second situation:

Only one enemy is missing from the map. Now there's only one question to ask: "Is he stronger than me?" If the answer is "Yes," and the situation is worrying to the point that if you expose yourself and he appears, you'll die, it's not worth the risk. But, if you believe he's not strong enough to kill you, go to your lane and farm safely. And now, you have more room to farm on the map, meaning your path would be focused around the Lane creeps, but you could go to the less hidden jungle to complement the farm while waiting for the next wave.

Always pay attention to the map and keep your camera at all times where there are the most people, you always want to be aware if there's a fight going on, if someone is teleporting, or what's happening, this information is necessary for you to stay safer and know when to advance and when to stay a little more withdrawn.

Although the map is more open for you to farm, it's not worth going to the top part of the jungle. You'll only want to do this when your wave reaches under the enemy tower and you have nothing else to do but wait for the enemy wave to advance. Take into account your clear time and the time it will take to walk from one point to another.

It's worth mentioning that, while you're behind in the game, you don't want to fight! You want to expose yourself to as little danger as possible, however, this doesn't mean you won't help your team if you're close to them and far from the danger of dying, a kill or two will help you accumulate advantage. But other than that, it's forbidden to TP to "help" the team, focus only on farming.


Remember that the ones marked with green are not for you to always farm. Measure your priorities always prioritizing the Lane creeps.

Now, in the last situation, let's go through the situation where all 5 enemies appeared on the other side of the map, and now? This is the moment when you'll focus 100% on the Lane creeps and the tower. There's no imminent danger to harm you, focus on taking down the tower and gaining more space on the map, as well as the gold and XP you'll gain with the minions.

"But my team is in danger! They're at a numerical disadvantage and will lose the fight!" First thing, your team shouldn't fight if they're at a numerical disadvantage, it's foolishness. Unless they find an opportunity to gain an advantage, they shouldn't fight. When the enemies are concentrated in one place, the gold and XP they can obtain are drastically reduced, meanwhile, you on the other side of the map are capitalizing on everything alone, gaining more advantage over your enemies.

You'll only want to join your team when you're strong enough to kill the enemies or a favorable situation comes to you, until that happens, just gain an advantage by farming and not exposing yourself.

As the game progresses, always move around the map in a way that you can farm both Lane creeps and neutral creeps. But remember, only walk where you have vision! And it's not enough to just have wards, you need sentry wards too, to prevent invisible enemies or enemy vision from catching you off guard. In the late-game, the last thing you want to happen is to die and lose all your advantage!

If you follow everything that has been said in the guide, rest assured that it will help you become a more consistent player, which will consequently increase your net worth per match, and with the experience you'll gain from playing, you'll gradually improve your decision-making.

I hope this guide has been useful for you, I tried to make it as simple as possible. I'm sorry if it wasn't enough. If possible, give an award to the guide. =)