[1.09]

Man, I don't think I would ever use tab. I wouldn't trust it to pick what I needed. Control groups for this man!

? You must not have read what i typed very carefully. When you press tab, it automatically selects the next unique unit in your current control group, thus if i had earth, storm, fire and i wanted to get to earth from storm, i'd just double tap tab.

[Taborcarn]

Bumping this for the current page since it looks like a lot of new invites have gone out.

Some suggestions. Start with this video - DOTA 2 in 4 min- This will cover objectives and the general layout/mechanics of the map. The often quoted - Welcome to DOTA - You Suck guide should also be good prerequisite reading as well. From there, more Purge stuff...specifically his learn about DOTA vids (for starters) How to Spend your Starting Gold Purge Gives an Item Summary- Goes through shop layout and items one by one Purge Talks Trilane- You most likely won't ever trilane as a beginner but this video explains some ganking positions as well as proper areas to stack/pull during the laning phase (two things that you will be doing no matter what) Purge Talks Lanes- How the laning phase works and his Purge plays as (insert hero here) series on how to specifically play certain heroes.

[BeesEight]

I briefly read during the LoL vs Dota 2 debate that sparked up last page, I wanted to throw in my two cents on that. I kind of wish we had a seperate "Dota 2 vs LoL vs HoN vs whatever other game like this you want to name |OT|"

Man, I have so much dislike for LoL. To be fair, I only ever played it because my friend pressured me too and I was too impatient to wait for a Dota beta key.

I think the design team had their hearts in the right place when creating League. They were trying a whole bunch of new ideas and mechanics and they wanted to create an environment that was still fun but took out some of the harsher edges of Dota.

But it's clear these guys are terrible game designers. Each and every change they added made their game worse. Even more hilarious is that they hold to their proven poor game design as if it were gospel and consistently look down upon the solid design that Icefrog has done. Anyone that's seen Mirello's Anti-Fun tenets will know what I mean.

But the discussion was on character design and it's one thing I've absolutely loathed about the game. And this is even that the art is bad. Which is it - probably some of the worst official art in the industry. Take a look at some of League's earlier skins and you'll see what I mean. But the actual design behind their Champions is so haphazard. There is no unifying component in colour, design or theme. It literally looks like a muppet convention puked against a wall. You have scanty pirates running beside steampunk centaurs, a little girl with 80s sweatbands and a backpack fighting medieval knights and Disney homages. And this isn't even touching their skins.

That anyone considers their designs better than Dota's baffles my mind. It's like those arguments when Dota 2 was first revealed and you had so many League players arguing that LoL looked graphically better than Dota 2. Clear fan favouritism if I've ever seen it.

[kingellesar]

Thanks for all the suggestions, reading through them now :)

What a crazy week, finally got back to ME3, then Trials came out, downloaded Ghost Recon Beta, Witcher 2 arrived....and now DOTA 2. Thank god I only have a week left on my uni course and then a lot of spare time!

[Stahsky]

? You must not have read what i typed very carefully. When you press tab, it automatically selects the next unique unit in your current control group, thus if i had earth, storm, fire and i wanted to get to earth from storm, i'd just double tap tab.

My bad, I knew it did that. What I meant is that I wouldn't trust myself. I feel better just assigning control groups for those sorts of things

[wakajawaka]

I hate channeling skills >_<

[Deadly]

? You must not have read what i typed very carefully. When you press tab, it automatically selects the next unique unit in your current control group, thus if i had earth, storm, fire and i wanted to get to earth from storm, i'd just double tap tab.

Just wondering since you still have tab as switch unit in control groups, what do you use to show the scoreboard?

[orangecaramel]

Isn't tab the default key for switching through your selected units? I usually just click the scoreboard if I'm curious.

[Deadly]

Isn't tab the default key for switching through your selected units? I usually just click the scoreboard if I'm curious.

It is but alot of games has tab as scoreboard so I set it there since F1 wasn't an option. Just figured alot of people do that since the default scoreboard button is \ and that's kinda terrible.

[Haly]

I use V.

[Gully State]

Ugh...Dota 2 just keeps crashing on my dad's brand new laptop (wont even launch)..I guess no dota for the rest of the week.

[Davidion]

Played Spirit Breaker in the tea time IH last night, and I can't figure out how to make the most of him during early mid game. The laning phase is usually fine but once larger scale ganks and team fights start to kick in I feel like a deer in headlights. His speed and attack are both crucial and at that stage of the game, before I'm able to farm up a MoM, I always feel like I'm missing one or the other.

[Irish]

What are you guys' control setups in general?

Personally, I have:

C- for character
V- for Donkey

• Q- Back to Base
• W- Secret Shop
• E- Retrieve items from stash
• D- Deliver
• F- Transfer to Stash
• R- Speed.

VEDRC is a nice quick combo for purchases.

My inventory is 1-6, which I just realized the other night could interrupt my control group stuff if I had pets.

Haven't really fooled with any of the other options for shop and quick buy. QWEDFR for attacks.

[Hylian7]

F1 - Hero selection
ZXCVBN - Autocast for respective spells
Alt+QWEASD - Items
T - Select Courier
One of my extra mouse buttons - Voice chat

I believe I left everything else on the default.

[BeesEight]

I use V.

But how do you speak?

[Marsipolami]

What are you guys' control setups in general?

F1 for Hero Selection.
N for courier.
1, 2, 3, MOUSE4, MOUSE5 and Spacebar for items.
Z for level up.

Other than that, mostly the regular binds.

[Phandy]

Here we go again, I'll start:

I use WASD for camera control, COME AT ME!

[Haly]

But how do you speak?

I don't.

Here we go again, I'll start: I use WASD for camera control, COME AT ME!

Phandy is the new Sanjay confirmed.

[xero273]

qwerfg for skills
zx for attack and stop
c for courier
123 alt+qwe for inventory
asd and mouse3 for camera
spacebar to focus to hero

[Haly]

qwerfg for skills zx for attack and stop c for courier 123 alt+qwe for inventory asd and mouse3 for camera spacebar to focus to hero

What the crap?

[Meteorain]

Here we go again, I'll start: I use WASD for camera control, COME AT ME!

I bet you also click to use your abilities.

[Zareth]

Played Spirit Breaker in the tea time IH last night, and I can't figure out how to make the most of him during early mid game. The laning phase is usually fine but once larger scale ganks and team fights start to kick in I feel like a deer in headlights. His speed and attack are both crucial and at that stage of the game, before I'm able to farm up a MoM, I always feel like I'm missing one or the other.

Spirit Breaker is one of those heroes where your team has to almost be built around him to be successful mid/late game and if the other team is disable heavy he is basically useless without a bkb.

[IHeartTSwift]

1 - hero
2 - courier
q, z, 3, 4, spacebar, k - items
legacy for spells

[Forkball]

Wait there's a focus on hero button? WHERE

[xero273]

What the crap?

but it's not wasd!

Wait there's a focus on hero button? WHERE

i think default it's f1, hit it twice and camera locks on to the hero.

[Haly]

Glorious HoN Bindings Master Race:

2 - Courier
3 - Hero

QWERDF - Abilities
Alt + (QWEASD) - Items
A - Attack
S - Stop
V - Scoreboard

but it's not wasd!

It's worse! You're using two control paradigms to fulfill one function!

[Phandy]

I bet you also click to use your abilities.

Haha, I'm the NEW sanjay. New and Improved.
Now with added us of hotkeys for skills!!

I'll say it again;
WASD - camera
QERF (TY) - skills
extra mouse buttons - Attack/hold
ZXC - items
1/2 - hero/courier

It works because, i dont lose Attack/stop because they go to my mouse.
Chances of me needing 3 hotkeyed items is unlikely too.

[Haly]

It works because, i dont lose Attack/stop because they go to my mouse. Chances of me needing 3 hotkeyed items is unlikely too.

Someone doesn't play support~

[Hylian7]

Glorious HoN Bindings Master Race: 2 - Courier 3 - Hero QWERDF - Abilities Alt + (QWEASD) - Items A - Attack S - Stop V - Scoreboard It's worse! You're using two control paradigms to fulfill one function!

How do you do control groups though?

[Haly]

14567?

When I played DOTA I always bound my hero to Ctrl Group 3 anyway, so for me it's the "hero" button.

When I play heroes with multiple units I usually use 1 and 4. In case of heroes like Sylla, I use 3 for Sylla, 1 for bear, and 4 for both.

Meepo...

I just bind everything to 3 for Meepo and bust out that APM to manually select Meepos.

[Procarbine]

F1 for centering
FWER for skills
` for courier
Naga buttons for items
1-3 for control groups when playing heroes that need them

[Pai Pai Master]

Mouse 4 for Hero, Mouse 5 for all controlled units. Defaults for abilities. 1-6 for items. C for Courier.

[inky]

I have all the defaults for movement/abilities, + C for courier. 1-4 items, z/x for the other 2. I didn't know TAB cycled through your controlled units, so I bound the scoreboard to that. I should probably bind it back then or get a mouse with buttons.

[Renoir]

do we have a list of dota gafers?

something like this??
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...3lVYjVzZUw4UlE

[Macattk15]

That Sven just started hitting for insane amounts. 1700 in a single hit, ouch. Poor Zeus.

Damn. I was poppin entire teams for 1535 yesterday as Kunnka in a game. I thought that was pretty high :(

Some people on my team must of never seen a fed Kunnka ... cause when I'd walk up to an entire creep wave and explode the entire thing they'd all act amazed.

[Tenck]

Controls.

WASD Camera

Mouse buttons for items.

123456 for skills.

[Haly]

UGH MY EYES.

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

WASD - Camera
QERF - Abilities
ALT + QWEASD - Items
C - Shop I think or V
Z - Attack Move
X - Stop/Hold
1- Hero
2- Courier

Think that's it for custom controls.

[Uriah]

WASD - Camera
1 - 1st skill
2 - 2nd skill
Q - 3rd skill
E - Ultimate
R - 4th Skill
F - 5th Skill
3 - Deny
4567- control groups
zxc - items
space - center hero
mouse 4 - courier

[Tenck]

UGH MY EYES.

Serves it's purpose, and that's to play.

Edit: Of course I have binds for courier, attack, deny, stop, and whatnot. Just chose not to say those.

[I H8 Memes]

So using my mouse against the edge of the screen is the wrong way to move the camera?

[Haly]

So using my mouse against the edge of the screen is the wrong way to move the camera?

No, it is the right god fearing way to move the camera.

Any other way is Communist.

[Tenck]

So using my mouse against the edge of the screen is the wrong way to move the camera?

It's all preference.

I personally cannot stand it. I don't see the point in moving the camera with the mouse when you have to move it against the edge, when you can do it instantly with dedicated controls. Sure you have some more keys to work with when binding, but can easily be overcome by working around that and binding the most crucial stuff closer to your hand.

[Phandy]

YESSS, Look at all these glorious WASD control schemes (I sure hope your all awesome dota veterans).

Except Uriah, that scheme is full of wtf.

Someone doesn't play support~

I play a tonne of support, but in general 3 hotkeys is enough for your items, in terms of items that desperately need a hotkey. Normally some of the items can get relegated to mouse-clicking. Like TP scrolls etc.
Only time Ive ever had a problem was when I was playing a very farmed game with Tinker. BoTs, Sheeps, bottle, Shivas and some other stuff + his 4 skills. I was in micro hell.

[Haly]

I personally cannot stand it. I don't see the point in moving the camera with the mouse when you have to move it against the edge, when you can do it instantly with dedicated controls.

The main purpose of mouse pan, in my experience, is to never take your hands off your ability keys.

Like TP scrolls etc.

Most definitely not good sir!

TPing at the drop of a hat is quite important when running away.

Same goes for stuff like dust, force staff, eul's, mek, pipe, soul ring, urn, manta, etc. There are really very few items that do not benefit from faster and more precise access, at least, I can't think of any.

[Phandy]

The main purpose of mouse pan, in my experience, is to never take your hands off your ability keys. Most definitely not good sir! TPing at the drop of a hat is crucial when running away.

Ah yes, but while you are wasting time moving your mouse to the edge of the screen for moving the camera, My mouse is free to click on items! It works out pretty well 99% of the time.

[Tenck]

Ah yes, but while you are wasting time moving your mouse to the edge of the screen for moving the camera, My mouse is free to click on items! It works out pretty well 99% of the time.

While you're clicking for items someone might attack you though. Always have to have mouse prepared. That's why I bind all my items to mouse buttons.

[Haly]

Ah yes, but while you are wasting time moving your mouse to the edge of the screen for moving the camera, My mouse is free to click on items! It works out pretty well 99% of the time.

Panning does not require extreme precision, but item clicking does!

[Dreams-Visions]

While you're clicking for items someone might attack you though. Always have to have mouse prepared. That's why I bind all my items to mouse buttons.

+1 on that.

but I can't fuck with the WASD movement controls. damn that.

default controls for me.

[Insured]

I've changed bindings several times every time I run into a new hero I have difficulty controlling due to binding/control group issues, but this is what I'm currently running:

F1 - hero selection
F2 - "select all non-hero units" button (it's somewhere in the options, SUPER useful)
2 - Courier
1 - all units + hero (ones that I aim to move in a single group)
3, 4, 5, 6, 7 - control groups for individual non-hero units, dominator creeps, possible bottlecrow etc.
QWER for skills, D+C for #5-6 (I've got F bound for an inventory slot because I find F extremely convenient to use while so few heroes actually need the key)
Alt+QWERDC for autocast toggles
F, Z, X, space, mouse4, mouse5 for inventory
G for fast leveling up skills, +stats at V (might be even too convenient, sometimes I end up leveling skills before I realize I was at 11 and could've taken ulti level 2 etc)
B - Shop
Y - Scoreboard

I don't really use tabbing between units usually, unless I just summoned units and have no control group set for them but need to use something fast.