Difference between carry and semi-carry?

[「Choobs」]

I'm new to this game and see these terms thrown around a lot. What exactly is the distinction here? Does it have to do with ability to carry effectively, damage, raw power, etc? Is it just a term for bulky DPS?

People also seem to disagree slightly on exactly which heroes fit into each category, adding to my confusion. Any info is appreciated.

[no one cares]

The main carries have higher damage spells than the semi-carries and generally have more late-game potential.

[jay jay the dank planezinho]

i'm not really sure if i'm totally right, but as I understand, a semi carry will function as a carry till mid game, maybe getting kills and keep the enemy team at bay while your main carry try to farm as much as he/she can so when late games comes, when the semi carry won't be as powerful as before, he will be powerful enough to finish the game for your team.

[Ry]

the more nukes you have, the less "carry" you are.

[76561198159162140]

In dota you have 5 positions ranked from 1 to 5 which correspond to the farm priority ;

1. Hard carry (all the farm is dedicated to him and prioritized)
2. Semi-carry / second carry (it's basically the mider)
3. Offlaner
4. 1st support that needs a little bit of farm to exploit its full potential
5. 2nd support = true support (he is going to run with boots and branches whole game :D as he is gonna spend his gold in wards/sentries)

Now you get that, the main difference is the hard carry needs a lot of farm to be efficient and litterally destroys everyone : for example Faceless Void, Sven, Lifestealer, AM etc. They're going to get their apogee in the late game (if they get the farm needed...)

However a semi carry needs less farm to be efficient, generally he relies more on LEVELS so on XP rather than farm that's why he is going to solo mid (SOLO = MORE XP), and he's going to be effective already in the mid game, best example is Invoker or Shadow Fiend, Storm Spirit etc.

[A Street Sweeper]

People ague and argue about this sort of stuff, so it's pretty hard to get a clear answer. But basically it goes like this as I understand it:
Hard carry, E.G Spectre: Has passives or skills that scale exceedingly well with better items (the richer she is the more her skills do)

Semi carry, E.G Silencer: Hauls out the damage when he has enough intel and certain items can make him more able to stand and fight. Other than his orb attack his skills do not become more effective with better items (unless you count aghs).

Hope this helps

[Chebs]

Generally, hard carries need large amounts of farm to be useful at all, but if they do get farmed they're able to do insane amounts of damage. Semi-carries can typically do fine with with minimal farm, and don't benefit from farm as much as the hard carries. Some semi-carries can even start out in the support role, but transition into more of a carry as the game goes on and they get farm. The distinctions become pretty tricky considering characters like Void, who doesn't need a lot of farm to be able to get a kill (he only really needs MoM at early-mid game to be able to kill a squishy hero,) yet he's still considered a hard carry because of how well he scales into the late game.

[MEL GIBSON]

Originally posted by Chebs:

Generally, hard carries need large amounts of farm to be useful at all, but if they do get farmed they're able to do insane amounts of damage. Semi-carries can typically do fine with with minimal farm, and don't benefit from farm as much as the hard carries. Some semi-carries can even start out in the support role, but transition into more of a carry as the game goes on and they get farm. The distinctions become pretty tricky considering characters like Void, who doesn't need a lot of farm to be able to get a kill (he only really needs MoM at early-mid game to be able to kill a squishy hero,) yet he's still considered a hard carry because of how well he scales into the late game.

I would say not so much how void scales, but how his abilities are. Chrono is amazing, and back track is one of the best abilities ever.

[SynC[+]]

Not sure if there are any changes in role definition between dota1 and dota2 but semi-carries are considered a sub role usually associated with gankers (along with other subs like initiator/nuker/disabler/tanky etc).

Semi carries are essentially gankers and like other gankers, their main purpose is to dominate early-mid game and spearhead ganks along with the other roaming supports to 'create space' for your farming carries or secure map advantage. The difference though is that in the case of such gankers, if they manage to secure a lot of kills/farm, they can transition much easily to the late game and can act as a 2nd/3rd carry. Compared to a utility ganker (mostly initiators/tankys) they can do a substantial amount of DPS late game (though not as much as late game carries).

All in all, semi-carry gankers are essentially early-mid game 'carries' with a chance to 'carry' in the late game if they manage to secure a lot of farm but are in general doesn't scale as much true carries...

Originally posted by Rick_is_Life:

i'm not really sure if i'm totally right, but as I understand, a semi carry will function as a carry till mid game, maybe getting kills and keep the enemy team at bay while your main carry try to farm as much as he/she can so when late games comes, when the semi carry won't be as powerful as before, he will be powerful enough to finish the game for your team.

You've just described the ganker role lol

[Chebs]

Originally posted by MEL GIBSON:

Originally posted by Chebs:

Generally, hard carries need large amounts of farm to be useful at all, but if they do get farmed they're able to do insane amounts of damage. Semi-carries can typically do fine with with minimal farm, and don't benefit from farm as much as the hard carries. Some semi-carries can even start out in the support role, but transition into more of a carry as the game goes on and they get farm. The distinctions become pretty tricky considering characters like Void, who doesn't need a lot of farm to be able to get a kill (he only really needs MoM at early-mid game to be able to kill a squishy hero,) yet he's still considered a hard carry because of how well he scales into the late game.

I would say not so much how void scales, but how his abilities are. Chrono is amazing, and back track is one of the best abilities ever.

When I said "scales into the alte game," I was referring to both items and abilities. He's a hard-carry because he benefits so well from items, largely because they work so well with his passives and ult, and he'll be useful pretty much no matter how late the match goes.

[chevalierknight]

Originally posted by DarkZone17:

The main carries have higher damage spells than the semi-carries and generally have more late-game potential.

lina and lion both have a 1k puls ult so not really as both are supports carry are heros that do good mid game when they have items from ganking a laning but fall off light game because the items dont give them an eddge anymore. hard carrys need help in laning and need the right items for the hero and are stronger then the carrys because there spells lvl well with items

[Lucifer Morningstar]

Carry relies on items a bit more than semi-carry, Semi-carry relies on his abilities a bit more than his right click.