How many carries can a team have?

[76561198040267591]

"When you are playing with noobs, your team setups are usually 2-5 carries per team. This is wrong. A normal team only needs 1 carry, SOMETIMES 2." - Purge, from Welcome to Dota, You Suck.

Beginner observation: If this is true, then it means that Valve created nearly *half* of all available heroes to fill a single slot in a 5 man team. That is quite a lopsided pool and indicative of poor game design, IMHO.

So which is it:
1. Purge is right and Valve has an obsession with creating carries in disproportionate numbers.
2. Purge is wrong and a normal team can have more than one carry.

I have a sneaking suspicion that #2 is correct. Perhaps this is where the concept of hard vs semi carries comes into play? A team should never have more than one hard carry, but it can have more than one semi carry (or a semi carry alongside a hard carry)?

If I have the hard-semi distinction correct, it raises another question: Why can't Valve list these a separate roles? It's frustrating, as a beginner, looking at the hero list and not knowing whether a particular hero will be awful if I don't get optimal farm (i.e., solo).

If I'm on the right track with the hard vs semi carry distinction, I'd also like to know if there is a definitive list of which carries fall into which category.

Thanks.

[76561198132208487]

With the comeback mechanic in 6.82 greedy lineups would have one lucky team fight and suddenly have the gold they need to come online. Plus in low level pugs it is best to have 2 carries incase one can't last hit or farm to save he's life.

[可爱的小猫]

5, the more the merrier

[Kimber Prime]

Well you technically can have 5 carries on a team. But yeah you should not have that many. I'd say you need at least 2 people either both full support or 1 full, 1 helping. That leaves room for 3 more players so I'd say 1 hard carry and 1 not so hard carry.

[R4bb1T]

You need 1 offlane/tank, 1 AP, 1 Jungle, 1 Support, 1 ADR..Oh wait..I think I have the wrong game..hahaha
I think 1 hard carry and 1 not so hard carry will suffice.

[Yuriverse]

You can have as many carries as your team wants there's no such rules restricting how many carry picks in a game just make sure that you will all get the gold and items your hero needs from whatever strategy you will use, but as per the most common and yet effective lineups there's has to be 1 or 2 only carries in the team so farming is not a hard thing

[Condoriano]

1 if he is really good. Or if they are bad. one can save you. 2 is optimum for a balanced team.
Just had a ck that farmed for 30 mins. We had a nice start since we had nice early damage. But he went bf, mom and halberd and we lost

[SLO7H]

It's not like half of the created heroes are hard carry's. There are a lot of those "carry" heroes that can be played as different things, as different roles. Let us say that you go 5 man carry team, and the other team goes a hard carry and support safe lane, semi carry solo (or with a support) offlane, a mid hero, then the 5 man carry team will lose, IF the other team knows how to play.. Because the other team has the best potential for giving their carry's farm, while the other team has to split their farm over 5 heroes, which is not very good, considering real carry's suck early game, demand a lot of farm before they become "online" and are able to finally pwn. So the team with fewer carry's will get their carry's "online" a lot faster, they will get their items and farm faster, they will then pwn the 5 man carry team, they also have their supports which help them with certain items like mek, and probably brings some spells to have a better teamfight. But they have to know what they do, you know? And in the early stages, almost nobody really knows what to do, therefore the 5 man carry team is more likely to win. But when you and your teammates is more pro, have more knowledge and know what to do, then you should really be the ones winning.

[76561198148761467]

There is no team setup playing with randumb on pub game nor mmr, you cant force them to pick what hero to use because they usually pick what hero they like and want to play on that particular game, you just lucky if a player manage to play certain role like support etc.....so its glhf and ggwp

If you want a good team setup, play with friends who mostly listen...

[gandalf the otter]

fed up of playing solo support :*(

[カネキ ケン]

5 if you are pro lol

[Amplifier]

In theory you can have 5 carries. All of those carries will have no farm, however, and this strat is only really useful if you're playing an hour long game and no one on either team tries for kills ever.

However, you should normally have 2 carries on a team. One hard carry (Anti-Mage, Faceless Void, Dragon Knight, etc.) and one semi-carry who can start killing people in the mid game (Queen of Pain, Bounty Hunter, Night Stalker, etc.)

Typical team composition is:
1 Hard Carry
1 Semi-Carry
1 Random Role (Generally Nuker, Ganker or Pusher. Usually the mid.)
1 Semi-Support (A support who relies on a [few] core item, IE Earthshaker, Lina, Rubick, etc.)
1 Hard Support (Ward ♥♥♥♥♥ who doesn't really need any farm. Crystal Maiden, Shadow Shaman, Dark Seer, another hero with a double worded name [Vengeful Spirit], etc.)


Also something I should mention: The supports aren't getting no farm. They're just getting less farm than the carries.
If Crystal Maiden can get a Blink and BKB, her Ult can be devistating. Likewise Shadow Shaman with Refreshers and Aghs. Every hero is useful with farm, but some have a higher gold-power ratio than others.
Hence their roles as carries.

[gandalf the otter]

u would be suprised how many games ive played solo support and had pepole ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ theres no vision or no mek etc when they have picked 4 carrys and exspect me to do everything this usally happens agaisnt a team with riki or bounty i dont mind being the ward ♥♥♥♥♥ just a little help is welcome prob with pub is everyone picks what they want to play not whats good for the team

[Alpaca Rotorvator]

Originally posted by Magic Mango TigerKirby215:

1 Hard Support (Ward ♥♥♥♥♥ who doesn't really need any farm. Crystal Maiden, Shadow Shaman, Dark Seer, another hero with a double worded name [Vengeful Spirit], etc.)

Got it! So, stuff like Night Stalker, Spirit Breaker, Troll Warlord and Shadow Fiend good hard support!

[Marokai]

Originally posted by Slowpaca:

Originally posted by Magic Mango TigerKirby215:

1 Hard Support (Ward ♥♥♥♥♥ who doesn't really need any farm. Crystal Maiden, Shadow Shaman, Dark Seer, another hero with a double worded name [Vengeful Spirit], etc.)

Got it! So, stuff like Night Stalker, Spirit Breaker, Troll Warlord and Shadow Fiend good hard support!

i actualy like supporting as spirit breaker. he is my favourite hero and i ll play whatever role is needed with him. (except 50 minute hard carry, he cant do that)
i would agree that he is probably the worst babysitter or help in lane (he can only charge and bash(which both hurt / disable tho) and get hit)
but he literaly needs no farm to charge someone and set up a kill. level 2 or 3 should be enough with a good partner.
also when he gets his ult a support will just die. you repeat this and set up ganks, kill lone supports, set up wards to have vision and by the end you have many kills or assists with maybe 20 creeps killed.
as for items. what does a hero eed that can kill with so little? boots, an urn, wards, tps, and if you get kills a bkb or attack speed? thats not much

[Alpaca Rotorvator]

Originally posted by You can not kill those:

Originally posted by Slowpaca:

Got it! So, stuff like Night Stalker, Spirit Breaker, Troll Warlord and Shadow Fiend good hard support!

i actualy like supporting as spirit breaker. he is my favourite hero and i ll play whatever role is needed with him. (except 50 minute hard carry, he cant do that)
i would agree that he is probably the worst babysitter or help in lane (he can only charge and bash and get hit)
but he literaly needs no farm to charge someone and set up a kill. level 2 or 3 should be enough with a good partner.
also when he gets his ult a support will just die. you repeat this and set up ganks, kill lone supports, set up wards to have vision and by the end you have many kills or assists with maybe 20 creeps killed.

Eh, know what? Solid.