LMB - left mouse button (click a button or link, drag an artifact or a part of an artifact)
RMB - right mouse button (where to go, who to attack, buy an artifact or piece of an artifact)
You can show where to go on the mini-map.
1. Choose a guide for your hero before the game starts or at the beginning of the game!!!
Before the game starts, choose here:
When the game has started, open the artifact selection window, click LMB on the button in the lower left corner, where the amount of your savings is written, then here:
To make a selection, click the Select button below name of the guide with LMB.
It is enough to select the build for each hero once. Before the next games, you will no longer have to select a build for a hero you have already used. Don't select builds that mention PUNCH.NET or GreyShark.
The build not only shows which artifacts you need to buy for your hero, but also shows in what order it is recommended to buy them. For example:
To open the artifact selection window, click LMB on the button in the lower left corner, where the amount of your savings is written. To close the artifact selection window, press Esc.
If the build is selected, then with the gain of experience, the hero’s abilities are highlighted in a yellow frame, which are recommended to be improved at this stage of the hero’s development, when pluses appear above the abilities.
2. Don't wait until you've saved up enough money to buy an artifact, but drag the next 1 artifact you plan to buy using LMB to the lower right corner here:
If you made a mistake with your choice and want to cancel, click the X next to it on the left. Or drag the correct selection, then the previous selection will be canceled.
After you drag it, the artifact will most likely fall into pieces. Now you can close the artifacts window Esc. When you have enough money to buy a piece of an artifact, that piece will be highlighted in a yellow frame. Then you can buy this piece with RMB, then immediately press F3 to immediately send the purchased piece of the artifact to yourself by courier.
Once you receive all parts of the artifact, it will be assembled automatically. Artifacts can be passive or require activation. If an artifact requires activation, then you can LMB move the resulting artifact to such a cell so that the artifact can be conveniently activated with the button assigned to this cell.
If a part of an artifact has a tent (wigwam) drawn on it, then that artifact can only be bought in a secret shop. If you collect enough money, then this part of the artifact will be highlighted not with a yellow, but with a red frame. Then you either need to run to the secret shop yourself, or send a courier to the secret shop (RMB on the right arrow icon -> and select the secret shop).
Two secret shops are located on the map to the right of the left vertical road and to the left of the right vertical road, approximately in the center of the map. The courier does not need to be shown where to fly, he will fly to the nearest one. And, after the courier reaches the secret shop, the frame around the artifact will change from red to yellow, which means you can buy the artifact with RMB, and then you need to press F3 to deliver it to yourself.
You can send the courier a little in advance, but so that he doesn’t have to wait long near the shop, because he might get killed.
3. Mine, gather, earn means Farming.
Crees - NPC helpers (enemies), very weak, are mainly used:
· enemies for farming,
· own to attack the tower, so that the tower diverts its attention to them.
Farming - basically, the extraction of gold through finishing off NPCs, exactly finishing off, it is important whose blow was the last. You can also farm by finishing off forest NPCs that are scattered all over the map. Plus, farm for killing alien heroes and helping the heroes of your team.
Farming - means not only gold, but also an increase in the hero’s level, which means an increase in health and mana. If you go up against a hero who is several levels higher than you, then your chances, frankly speaking, will not be great, because he will not only have more health, but also better abilities and more artifacts purchased.
To raise your level, hit not only creeps and alien heroes, but also don’t forget the forest NPCs. But, don't bother with forest NPCs until about level 10, because it may end badly. In addition, at the beginning of the game, do not save mana, but use all your abilities as often as possible, this will also raise your level. The faster you level up, the more advantage you will have over your opponents.
4. It's a team game.
The goal of the game is not farming, but the victory of your team. Therefore, we are learning to combine farming and helping our team. It is important to maintain the right balance, but these are subtleties, the understanding of which comes with experience.
First learn not to get into a fight. I hope there is no need to explain that attacking two or more alien heroes alone is a stupid idea, unless of course you are already a pro. Do not have a one-on-one duel if you are not sure of your victory. Attacking, retreating, attacking, retreating. Because your opponent might have an assistant lurking around the corner. Conversely, if you have a helper around the corner, you don’t need to immediately rush to a lone opponent, first make sure that your teammate is ready to help you.
Try to use your numerical advantage: two against one, three against one, all against one. This is not a noble duel, this is a brawl, so try to use all the dirty tricks you can think of.
Study your hero’s abilities and use them not just one at a time, but learn to do combos, use several abilities in a row, but in the correct sequence. For example, first stunning the enemy, then a series of blows.
5. Create your own set of heroes.
You will probably have your own short list of heroes whose abilities you are well-versed in, and if you are not playing in beginner mode, then you will need to create your own custom set of several favorite heroes so as not to search for them in the general list. Then, you will be able to choose your hero faster than other players at the beginning of the game. Also, don't forget to make a ban list of heroes, those heroes you wouldn't want to play against.
In conclusion, I want to note that I myself am far from a pro, and I wrote this guide before I myself forgot what a beginner needs to start the game. However, I did not describe how to install and launch the game, because I don’t remember myself, and the Internet is probably full of instructions. I can also advise you to first start the game with bots, when you gain experience, play in new player mode with real players, and only after in all pick mode, and a ranked mode is for the pros. If you go to all pick without preparation, you will become feeders, those who feed opponent team. Watching training videos did not help me at all, because the pros who made these videos probably no longer remember how they started playing, and what a beginner player needs. Only an experienced player helped me, who explained to me which buttons to press to start playing, and I described these buttons in this guide. Without such help, it is very difficult to start playing Dota 2. That's why I wrote this short guide for those who want to start playing Dota 2, but don't have an experienced player nearby.
Original in Russian.