One of the most popular roles in Dota 2 is definitely that of a midlaner. This can be seen in particular in unrated games when players fight for the right to take a position in the midlane, as well as in rated matches, as the time to find games for this role is quite long. However, despite the popularity of this position, players in this position, including inexperienced ones, make many mistakes in terms of micro and macro play, which leads to the loss of their line and exposes the team. Since the role of the midlaner is quite important in the initial stages of the game, you need to understand how to play the heroes of this position and what exactly you should do in this role. And we are going to tell you about it in our dota 2 midlane guide.

Midlaner Drafting

To begin with, you should choose a dota 2 midlane heroes. Theoretically, any hero can be sent to this role, but then the question arises as to what benefit this hero will bring in the further game and how effective he will be. Firstly, you should focus on heroes with strong procast. These are characters that can deal a lot of damage in a short period of time thanks to their abilities while having fairly low cooldowns. This will help you participate in fights more often and not be dependent on specific buttons.

Also, your hero should be versatile enough to fit into any team's hero set, and be useful throughout the game. You should take into account the enemy's hero set so that the opposing team does not have strong counterpicks against you. Usually, the following heroes are best mid laners Dota 2: Storm Spirit, Tinker, Outworld Destroyer, Shadow Fiend, Invoker, Arc Warden, Meepo, Zeus, Sniper, Broodmother, and many more. Most of them are heroes with magic, and the main type of damage is magical or semi-physical.

Lane Equilibrium and Creeps Controlling

The average lane in Dota 2 is the ability of a player to realize himself and his skills against another player, using various techniques and skills against an enemy hero. A significant percentage of the victory on the line depends primarily on the player and only a small part on the team's support.

The main question is how to play midlane Dota 2. The first thing a good midlaner should be able to do is control his line. The clash in the middle takes place directly on the river between the highs of the two sides. To take a favorable Dota 2 midlane positioning, you should make sure that the enemy creeps are closer to the allied T-1 tower, but not directly under it. To do this, at the beginning of the game and throughout the entire stage, the midlaner needs to block (or stop) his creeps. This can be done by simply standing in front of the creeps that will try to get around you, or by using the special abilities of some heroes.

That is valuable to know about midlane creep management, Dota 2. Gold and experience are important for a midlaner, so you need to finish off as many enemy creeps as possible, including mage creeps, catapults, and flag bearers, as they give you more rewards. It is also advisable to finish off allied creeps so that enemy heroes cannot get gold for them and also have only half of the experience per creep. This way, the enemy will lag behind you in level.

If the line still feels a bit complicated, then pushing the line is a good option. To do this, you should move your creeps under the enemy tower, trying to find it and pushing the enemy hero back. This method will be quite effective against heroes with a low potential for quick creep clearing. You can also use this method when your line has already been won to be able to move to farm in the jungle or run more often and help your allies.

Map control: wards, runes, ganks

A midlaner needs to have at least one ward set up that will provide a view of the enemy high ground, one side of the river, and a rune. This way, you can more easily analyze the enemy midlaner's movements, and the potential arrival of other enemy heroes, and control the runes.

Until the sixth minute of the game timer, runes of water will appear on the river every two minutes, restoring some health and mana to the owner. It is important to control these runes, or at least one of them. First, you should choose one for yourself to restore resources or refill your bottle to stand comfortably on the line. Second, you will not allow the enemy hero to restore resources, which will force him to return to the base or spend gold on consumables more often. If you are playing as a ranged hero, you can try to destroy the rune before an enemy player picks it up.

Starting from the 6th minute, a rune of enhancement will appear on the river: illusion, double damage, haste, magic, etc. If the rune correlates well with the abilities of your midlane hero, you can use them to help your allies also known as Dota 2 midlane ganking. But this is provided that your health and mana allow you to do so, and you are sure that your arrival will result in benefits for you, not lost time. You should also pay attention to what is happening on the allied lines, if help is needed there, and you realize that you can help, then you should teleport to the team.

It should be understood that the enemy hero can also resort to this tactic. Therefore, if you see that the enemy has raised a rune or simply disappeared from sight for a long time, then you should inform the team about it so that they know about the potential danger from the enemy midlaner. If your hero has control abilities and the enemy is teleporting, you can interrupt it to prevent them from reaching your team.

Support from allies

From time to time, fourth or fifth-position supports may pass by, if you realize that there is an opportunity to kill an enemy midlaner, then tell your ally about it so that you can kill him together. You can also call one of your allies for help in advance if the enemy dominates you and puts a lot of pressure on T-1. Placed wards in the mid can protect you from possible ganks from enemies, but not always, especially if they were under the influence of Smoke of Deceit, so it is also worth asking someone to teleport to save you.

Dota 2 midlane item builds

Every midlane player has to adapt to a specific situation, and they have own Dota 2 midlane item builds. In each situation, the set of artifacts can be different and depends on: the hero and his abilities, damage type, attack type, secondary role, etc. In some situations, you should buy a Bottle to help restore resources on the line and save runes. This item is appropriate for heroes with strong procrastination and costly abilities, such as Lina, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Zeus, Shadow Fiend, etc. This is so that you don't constantly spend money on mana and health consumables.

Some procuring heroes that deal half-magical, half-physical damage may need Orchid of Malevolence, such as Queen of Pain, Invoker, Storm Spirit, Void Spirit. Others may need items to increase damage and pharmaceuticals such as Desolator, Maelstrom, or for mobility — Link Dagger, Shadow Balde. Each situation is different and there is no universal approach to choosing items.

The early stage of the game

The early stage of the game lasts mostly up to 10–15 minutes, depending on the pace of the game and the activity of the teams. At this stage, midlevelers compete with each other for the championship on the map. Each side needs to get level 6 as soon as possible to start running around the map. This will cause trouble for the opposing team, preventing them from farming carry, and limiting the ability of enemy supporters to set up wards and move freely around your territory.

For a midlaneer, almost every cripple on the line is important, because it is both gold and experience that will help you help your team earlier and buy the necessary items: silence, stun, attributes, control, additional damage, etc. If a midlaner manages not only to outrun the enemy on the line, but also to kill him several times and destroy the tower, as well as support the allies, then such a line is won and successful. Which means that the player has done everything in his power at this stage.

The middle stage of the game

In the second stage of the game, a midlaner has to balance between Dota 2 midlane farming and participation in battles. Gold is needed for additional items that will help in combat: additional control, protection from magic and abilities, attribute boosts, etc. But you shouldn't focus on just one item. If necessary, you should help the team and participate in battles. Depending on your abilities, focus on killing priority targets that cause the most problems. 

Firstly, these are heroes with strong control that can harm your team. The outcome of each battle determines the further development of the game and team strategy. After winning and killing key characters, you should go to destroy enemy towers or pick up Roshan. If victory is not on your side, then you should make sure that enemies cannot come to your side too quickly, and therefore you should continue to farm and close your weak points.

The late stage of the game

The late game is a crucial stage of the game, and now the role of each position matters the most. And since midlane is the second position, right after carry, a significant part of the victory depends on you and your skills. If you are killed too quickly in battle or are not able to deal enough damage to your opponents, it means that your character is weaker compared to the enemy corps heroes. Positioning and teamwork, the order of actions, the use of abilities, the choice of priority targets, etc. often play an important role.

If you are strong enough to defeat the heroes, then you should go and destroy the enemy base while the enemies are in the tavern. You shouldn't get cocky and delay the game, as you might even lose your advantage in the long run. It is better to finish the game as soon as possible.

Conclusion

Dota 2 midlane role is one of the most important in the game. The end of the game will depend on your start, but you shouldn't relax in the middle stage, as this is often the turning point that will change the course of the match. You should fulfill the tasks assigned to your role to make sure that you have done your best to win.