If you are new to Dota, then this is the page for you!

Overview

Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena(MOBA) where 2 teams of 5 players battle against each other in order to destroy the opposition's ancient. The ancient is a large structure in each team's main base that is rather difficult to get to.

The lane

The map has 3 lanes: top, middle and bottom. Every 30 seconds, creeps(AI controlled units) will spawn in the lane for both sides and they will travel through the lane to fight the opposition's creeps. These creeps that travel through the lane are referred to as lane creeps. These lane creeps are very important as they provide experience to heroes when they die as well as gold if a hero manages to deliver the killing blow to a creep(referred to as a last hit). The art of last hitting is essential to picking up Dota so spend some time practising it.

Lane creeps fighting each other

The jungle

In between the lanes, there lies the jungle. The jungle has creep camps in them and they are referred to as neutral camps. The neutral camps fall into 4 categories: small, medium, large and ancient. As the names implies, small camps are easy to defeat while ancient camps are much harder. Aside from neutral camps, the jungle is also often used for ganking(dota slang for ambushing someone) enemy heroes as vision in the jungle is limited due to the high density of trees in it.

A large hellbear camp

Runes

Located either near the secret shop or at the river, there are runes which provide benefits to the hero who pick them up. Runes have a few variations. For instance, there is the haste rune which gives a hero max movement speed for 22 seconds. There is also the bounty rune which gives gold to everyone on your team.

A bounty rune

Heroes

Now, the main focus of Dota: the heroes that the player will control. Heroes are categorized by 3 attributes: strength, agility and intelligence. However, this is just a simple classification. Heroes are more commonly categorized by the role they fill. In general, the 3 roles are support, carry and offlaner.

Support

We will first talk about with the support. As the name implies, the support is here to support the rest of the team. A support will typically get wards(for vision) and couriers(to deliver items from the base). During the early stages of the game, a support should not focus on getting gold through last hits but instead, ensure that the team's carry gets them.

This often involves harassing the enemy heroes till they are forced out of lane so that the carry will not be harassed. If possible, supports should try to set up hero kills for their carries. Thankfully, supports are built to do this, especially during the early game. Supports are early-game powerhouses so don't be afraid to play more aggressively and maybe even die a few times.

Carry

Next, we will talk about the carry. As the carry, your main concern should be making your hero the biggest and meanest threat possible. You do this by killing heroes and last hitting creeps. However, it is important to note that typically, carry heroes are not that strong early game so try to play the game safely and secure your last hits. On the flip side, when the game goes late, carry heroes will become monsterous and it is up to them to carry the team on their backs.

Offlaner

Lastly, we will talk about the offlaner. The offlaner refers to the player who is going to the lane where the lane is connected to the opposing side's jungle, thus making the offlaner very susceptible to ganks. As such, offlaners tend to be heroes who are built to survive so they either have a large health pool or certain abilities to help them overcome the lane or maybe even both. In the mid and early game, the offlaner is rather strong so he should look for fights with the help of his supports so that his carry can last hit undisturbed. If you are hoping to fight from the get-go, the offlaner should be your pick.

End

What has been written so far are the key features of the game but there is still a lot more to discover and learn. But for now, this knowledge should serve you well. Good luck in your next game!