Ace listed common mistakes made by offlaners and explained how to handle various situations on the lane in Dota 2
Former Team Liquid offlaner Markus Folke “Ace” Holgard Christensen shared tips on playing a difficult lane and item builds in Dota 2 in a video on his YouTube channel.
On starting the game with a support on the lane
Before the laning phase begins, ask your support one thing: “Can you block the large camp so I can farm the creeps?” Then check their inventory. If there’s a Sentry there—great, you have a support who’ll be playing the lane, and you can spend your gold to actually win it. If there’s nothing there—well, now you know that you’ll most likely be on your own for the next few minutes. And that’s okay, because you found out now, not at the four-minute mark.
Don’t buy six cheap items just for a lane you’ll never win. Spend less, take what the lane gives you, and save your gold for items that make your champion useful. Block the first wave so the creeps meet in the middle of the lane, not near one of the towers. Yeah, it sucks, but situations where you invest in a lane and find out at the four-minute mark that you’re on your own lose more games in the offlane than any team fight ever does.
A common mistake when enemy creeps are clustered together
When the lane starts moving toward you, stop rushing out for last hits. I understand why people do this: you see your own creep with low health, and it seems like you can easily finish it off. But when the wave is coming at you, there are more of their creeps than yours. Stepping forward for a last-hit means walking into a large wave of creeps where two heroes are waiting for you. This is one of the most common causes of death on the lane at any skill level, including high-rank games. Let the wave come to you; you can even pull it toward you a bit. Denying might save you a little gold, but your life is worth much more. Don’t deny when the lane is pushing toward you.
On Helping Supports
There’s a parallel fight happening on the lane, and most offlaners completely ignore it. I’m talking about the support fight, and very often it’s this fight that determines the outcome of the lane. Low-rank offlaners get fixated on the carry—every attack is directed either at him or at the minions, but if your support whittles down their opponent’s health by half, the opponent is forced to back off, leaving the enemy carry alone against the two of you.
Whenever possible, it’s worth hitting the enemy support. Even a single hit will help. It’s funny that sometimes you don’t even have to actually attack: just take a step to the side, as if you’re about to engage in a fight, and most supports will start to back off. During that time, your ally will land two uncontested hits, and all you had to do was take a couple of steps forward.
A common mistake after winning a lane battle
You take their tower, feel powerful, and head to mid to help take another one. And as soon as you leave, their carry returns to the lane and farms it for free. Five minutes later, he has items, and no one even remembers that you won the lane. A destroyed tower isn’t the end—it’s just the beginning. Place wards in the jungle, hold your lane, and don’t let their carry touch the jungle camps. That’s the whole point of winning a lane.
Here’s one little trick that really helps: after the tower falls, pull the large camp into your next wave. The creeps will fight in the jungle, the lane will stay on your side, and the enemy won’t have anything to farm. Of course, if there’s a worthwhile fight you can win, it’s worth taking a break to join in. But then get back right away. Being away for 30–40 seconds is fine, but after 5 minutes, a lane you’re winning will turn into one you’re losing.
On Item Builds
Many offlaners build the same items in every game because that’s what some guide once said. Your situational items should be your answers. Look at their heroes and ask yourself: “What will defeat us?” If there’s a lot of magic damage, build a Pipe of Insight; against Lion or Rubick, build a Lotus Orb. If the enemy has heroes with illusions, such as Phantom Lancer, Naga Siren, or Terrorblade, buy a Crimson Guard.
The latter deserves a separate explanation. Crimson Guard blocks a fixed amount of damage from every attack on you and your allies. Illusions don’t deal much damage, but they attack frequently, so subtracting a fixed amount from each individual hit provides much better protection against ten weak attacks than against a single strong one. Against heroes who fill the screen with copies of themselves, this isn’t just a random item—it’s the answer. Buy solutions, don’t just stick to your habits.
Earlier, professional player and Team Yandex ambassador Roman “RAMZES” Kushnarev highlighted Crystal Maiden’s farming speed when equipped with Aghanim’s Shard and advised not to skip the Octarine Core in the Dragon Knight build.
Photo: Valve.
