Dota 2 Positions (1-5) and Goals

There are 5 positions in Dota 2 that you hear about all the time in-game or during Dota 2 esport events. There are lots of misunderstanding when it comes to positions especially when explained to a new player. Initial thought is that the support in the safe lane is always the position 5 or the core in top lane is always the position 3. This is wrong as positions relate to your role in the game and not where you start and how you farm. It all relates to the goal of the position in the game. Thus, this guide hopes to clear out any misconceptions regarding the nuances related to each position and help shed light into understanding the terminology of Dota 2.

About the Author

The alias is Jumbaiz,
I've been playing Dota since 2012 with a current MMR of 4,000. I've always loved playing this game and haven't committed time or effort into any other game. I was a writer in university where I wrote for the anime club about Japanese video games and have always been a college video game analyst. I took several classes on video gaming that include; video gaming communities and cultures and sexism on the internet. Additionally, wrote college reports about the game of Dota 2 and its community.

Introduction

In a game of Dota 2, there are 5 heroes per team, therefore, this leads to each member of the team being assigned a number from 1 to 5. People usually tend to assign this to farming, where 1 needs the most farm and 5 takes the least farm. However, while this assignment holds true in some games, it can not be applied to all Dota games and fails to hold. This is because there are 'greedy' heroes that require lots of farming to come online (coming online in the game means being able to impact a game and be useful to your team, usually refers to getting a set of items that activate your heroes' potentials). For example, if you have a game where Lina is your position 2 and Axe is your position 3, Axe will require more farm than your Lina to be able to help around. Thus, farm is conserved for your Axe while Lina becomes the space creator during the time Axe is farming.

Hence, this guide will try to attribute each position to its respective goal in the game rather than greed because role tends to hold better for the numbering system compared to the 'farming' idea that is currently held. This will be done by analyzing each respective position and giving detailed examples to prescribe each position in hopes of putting an end to the positions arguments that occur quite frequently in Dota 2 servers and forums.

Position 5

The Position 5 is perhaps the most misidentified position in the game. This problem is mostly seen in lower ranks where the guy that thinks he picked into the 5th position of the game but instead picked someone of a higher position and this leads to a conflict in positions that causes the team to be significantly weaker than the other team. Despite having a similar skill level, the team lacking a 5th position will struggle because they are being griefed unintentionally and unknowingly.

The Position 5's goal in the game is to act like a healer in MMO terms. You are responsible for going the extra mile to assure that your team is having the time of their lives without the consequences of the real world. Your job is to be a barrier that makes your carries think they are more powerful than they actually are. You will save them, heal them, and caress them. So to simplify, your job is a healer, you heal. Dota 2 isn't that simple, however, there is a need to do other tasks like warding, dewarding, placing sentries in critical locations, pulling, stacking, and buying helpful items (more details below). This is why this position is seen as one requiring least farm because most of your job revolves around doing things that do not reward you with much gold.

You do not farm, and the items that you do need are very limited in the game. Usually, since you are a healer, one of the best items in the game is the Holy Locket[dota2.fandom.com], this item increases your healing and upgrades your Magic Wand[dota2.fandom.com] which you will be building up anyways + you can use it to heal allies. Additionally, it is a great item to almost always rush because you will be almost always building Arcane Boots[dota2.fandom.com] early on to heal your allies mana. Even on Crystal Maiden it is a good item because - while she does not build Arcane Boots - she does not have many health point healing abilities, but this item gives her that power. Also, if you don't have much healing power in some games where enemies deal lots of damage Mekansm[dota2.fandom.com] is a good item to boost healing.

Therefore, when it comes to hero selection, the best heroes for this role are Keeper of the Light, Dazzle, Witch Doctor, Crystal Maiden (heals mana!), Oracle, Enchantress, IO, Treant Protector, Undying, Winter Wyvern, and Warlock.

Position 4

Position 4 is the most changed position in the history of Dota 2. But, don't worry, it did not go through that many changes. Back in the days, this position was the jungler that occasionally ganks each lane depending on how strong he is compared to the lane heroes that are present on the enemy side. However, this changed after junglers got nerfed into oblivion with mobs spawning 1 minute late, jungling items like Poor Man's Shield and Iron Talon removed, and solo experience for the offlaner (position 3) being nerfed. Now, the position 4 is just the ganker without the jungling part leaving him leeching experience early on from his offlaner (position 3), so that he can help around the game. He doesn't necessarily have to leech from the position 3, he sometimes can trilane with the position 1 and position 5 or can even be alone with the position 1 if the match up calls for it.

Despite that, while in laning he may seem similar to a position 5, his job is to gank as often as possible and respond to any movements in the map from the enemy ganker that may end up successful if not responded to by the friendly position 4. Your job throughout the game is to apply pressure on enemies and remove pressure on allies. This creates space for your team to farm and takes away space from the enemy team. That space is applied through ganking constantly. These heroes usually buy items that help them in ganking successfully and cheap because their constant ganking does not allow them to farm well. Thus, popular items include: Urn of Shadows[dota2.fandom.com], and Medallion of Courage[dota2.fandom.com].

Therefore, the heroes that fit this role perfectly are ones with high mobility to catch up to enemies, stunners and slowers to lock down enemies. This leaves the following from the hero pool: Ancient Apparition, Bane, Batrider, Bounty Hunter, Nyx Assassin, Chen, Clockwork, Darkwillow, Marci, Silencer, Earth Spirit, Disruptor, Earthshaker, Grimstroke, Hoodwink, Jakiro, Lich, Lion, Mirana, Ogre Magi, Pangolier, Rubick, Shadow Shaman, Shadow Demon, Snapfire, Spirit Breaker, Techies, Tusk, Vengeful Spirit, Marci, Hoodwink, Muerta, and Venomancer.

Position 3

Position 3 is the tank of the team. He is the one that is going to hold aggro and take as much damage as possible without dying. This will allow your team to inflict full damage on the enemies without dying because you are holding the enemy with a position 5 healer ready to keep you up so that you do not take lethal damage. Tanks in this game are a bit fluid and complicated. Thus, there is a need to look at tank dynamics of Dota 2. Tanks can be armor tanks, magic tanks, or health point tanks. This tank dynamic explanation helps new players understand why their tank failed to tank. This is because their tank was not built to withstand the type of damage that the enemy gives. So, in-games, the team needs to analyze who their tank can not withstand against, and avoid clashing when the tank counter is present or remove the tank counter before the fight starts.

Health point tanks:

Usually, this is the most gone for tanks because they serve almost the same purpose every game. You want to be targeted by everyone on the enemy team because you have the health points to sustain. Additionally, you can cc (crowd control) the enemy team using your spells - usually - if they decide to ignore you. This makes you the most annoying position to deal with because if they waste a cc on you, that is a cc (crowd control) they can't use on their carry, and if they ignore you, you will cc them. These tanks take on high health point items to prevent them from being killed fast. These high health point items can include Heart of Tarrasque[dota2.fandom.com]

Examples of health point tanks include: Abaddon, Alchemist, Beast Master, Magnus, Chaos Knight, Night Stalker, Brewmaster, Primal Beast, Razor, Spectre, Sand King, Tiny, Underlord, Dawn Breaker, Undying, Primal Beast and Centaur Warrunner.

Armor tanks:

These tanks are strongest only against physical damage. When there is a mage on the enemy team, they can absolutely destroy these types of tanks. However, these tanks are unkillable when there are physical damage dealers trying to gank them from the enemies. Your job is to avoid mages and fights where mages are free to cast damage on you from the backline, but actively look for fights without mages and ones where your team can delete mages from fights before they burst you. These tanks usually rush Vanguard[dota2.fandom.com] because of its cost-efficiency. The average hero has a physical damage of 60 at 10 minutes and Vanguard doubles the durability of the tank.

Examples include: Timbersaw, Tidehunter, Sven, Treant Protector, Mars, Doom, Dragon Knight, Beastmaster, Dawn Breaker and Axe.

Magic tanks:

Tanks that can handle magical damage but are weaker when physical damage is presented. These tanks are played similarly to armor tanks but instead of avoiding mages and focusing on physical, they fight when mages are present and avoid fighting when physical carries are there. These tanks can seem broken - usually - early game because that is when mage users are stronger, but fall off later because the enemy physical damage dealer farmed his items. Thus, if you are playing this role, you want to push to your advantage early on as much as possible before the enemy position 1 can destroy you. These tanks mostly build aura such as Pipe of Insight[dota2.fandom.com] to enhance their magical resistance powers and transfer it to their teammates.

Examples include: Viper, Eldar Titan, Pangolier, Lifestealer, Kunkka, Omniknight, Huskar, Pudge.

Position 2

This is one of the most important roles in the game, but one of the most misunderstood. Lots of the misunderstanding comes from the fact that it is the most impactful. Being the most critical role, smurfers tend to play the position 2 rather than any other position because this position allows them to change the outcome of the game the most. Thus, people tend to misunderstand what and who can go position 2 because smurfers have ruined the idea of who can go there. They have won using the weirdest lineups because their skill level is far beyond the game that they're in. Thus, this guide will help clear out those ideas that are behind the midlane that should not be.

The position 2 usually goes to the middle lane because the lane has an extra creep and the tower is close. This allows for team rotation if something goes wrong, a quick walk to a safe tower, and adds more experience from the extra creep. This allows the position 2 to enjoy higher experience and see less threats (allows for solo). But, the roles that would benefit the most from this are mages, more so than any other role. Mages would then quickly get their strong items and experience that increases their damage output allowing them to dominate for almost the entirety of the game. But why not send him in another lane is because mages can clear out waves faster than any other hero using spells and runes are placed conveniently next to them so that they can replenish their mana. Additionally, mages are the strongest in the game to the point where you'd want your position 1 and 3 to also be mages. However, mages can not take objectives as easily and if the enemy ran a magical tank, the mages would be completely destroyed. If in any game you can get away with having as many mages as you can, then do it!

These heroes tend to usually lack crowd control because their hero is built around dealing massive amounts of damage, thus, rushing crowd control (that can also save you!) is always a good idea on this position. Such items include Eul's Scepter of Divinity[dota2.fandom.com] and Rod of Atos[dota2.fandom.com].

Examples include: Leshrac, Death Prophet, Lina, Outworld Destroyer, Puck, Invoker, Pugna, Queen of Pain, Shadow Fiend, Skywrath Mage, Storm Spirit, Tinker, Void Spirit, and Zeus.

Position 1

This is going to be your physical attack damage dealer. This position can also be called the dps (damage for second) because their purpose in the game is to deal as much damage as necessary. Nothing else matter but damage and reliance on team for protection. To deal as much damage as necessary, lots of farming is required - usually. Thus, it takes a while for this position to come online and that is why it is called the position 1. These heroes will usually go farming items such as Mask of Madness[dota2.fandom.com], Battle Fury[dota2.fandom.com], and Maelstrom[dota2.fandom.com]. Afterwards, they build damage items such as Monkey King Bar[dota2.fandom.com], Butterfly[dota2.fandom.com], and Daedalus[dota2.fandom.com].

Examples include: Anti-mage, Faceless Void, Troll Warlord, Ursa, Weaver, Wraith King, Sven, Templar Assassin, Spectre, Slark, Riki, Razor, Phantom Lancer, Phantom Assassin, Monkey King, Meepo, Medusa, Luna, Lone Druid, Juggernaut, Gyrocopter, Drow Ranger, Clinkz, Broodmother, Bloodseeker, and Arc Warden.

Conclusion

So, to conclude, the positions could be summarized by the following:
Position 5: Healer
Position 4: Ganker/Assassin
Position 3: Tank (health point, armor, or magic tank)
Position 2: Mage
Position 1: Attack Damage Dealer

While you can win by having a duplicate position in the game. This is the correct way to play to maximize your win chances and avoid depending on the enemy team throwing to win or assuming that the enemy does not know how to capitalize on your mistakes. Be aware that smurfs and incompetent enemies can always exist and break these rules.

[Kenwy]

Today is my birthday, please write comments and give a gift of spectacles Thx

[minstakes sequence]

пяточки тинкера 15 sierpnia o 10:45
ENG: Choose the one that's on the list and write in my profile, I will answer the same!
RUS: Выберите что то одно из этого списка и напишите в моём профиле, отвечу тем же!

+rep 🅻 🅴 🅶 🅸 🆃
+rep LEGIT
+rep TeamLead
+rep AWP GOD
+rep good trade
+rep Deagle God
+rep Clutch King
best of the best
+rep 🅻 🅴 🅶 🅸 🆃 profile
+rep Great Aim
+rep n1 trader
+rep GG
+rep Leader
+rep ONE TAP MACHINE
+rep 1Tap Only

[animalia maximus]

It's an ok guide, but there's a fair misconceptions which I find too egregious to be just "simplifications."

Now starting with your description of pos 5. Whilst it's true a lot of pos 5s are healers, many pos 5s just don't do that. Lion and ss are just a few examples of these heroes. This idea that a pos 5 must save their cores by healing is way too simplistic, even for new players. Rather a pos 5 should be enabling their team, whether it be through disablng heroes or to provide vision. There's a lot more things I've left out, but encouraging people to go holy locket is just dumbat least. No mention for how to kite using force staff or glimmer or ghost scepter / euls. Not even a mention for blink/aether to help u get your spells off. It's just too simplistic of an overview for pos 5.

[Mr.Dear Insanity]

Just reached Immortal thanks to this guide and I play carry

[Parpg]

Very interesting guide, sir. Surely I will get out of guardian rank if I read it well.

[.strethrivespl]

|LIKE 4 LIKE| |REP 4 REP|

[RU]Поставьте лайк моим руководствам и я поставлю взамен, или оставлю комментарий у вас в профиле. Добавляйтесь в друзья, за лайк сделаю что попросите!

[EN]Like my guides and I'll reciprocally, or will commend your profile. Add me as a friend, for like I'll do what you need!

1. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2851475655
2. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2851471408
3. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2851449116
4. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2851073807

[Lwnorrie]

Definitely one of the guides of all time

[mivhus]

Really helpful for someone who only ever played lol before!