How to Get Started in DotA 2

Installing

(Disclaimer: This guide is to help all who do not know how to play DotA 2 at ALL! Yes, some people do not know how to play. This is not representative of the entire blog.)

If you already know how to install Dota 2, skip this step. If you don't, keep reading!
Dota 2 launches from the program Steam™, an "internet-based digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer, and social networking platform" (Wikipedia). Basically, to run Dota 2, you first need to install Steam. After you have done that, open it up. You should see something similar to the following:

On the top right corner, you should see a search bar. Type in Dota 2, and it should pop up, like so:

Download and install the game. Every time you want to play Dota 2, there are multiple ways to open it up. You can go to the Library tab on Steam, create a shortcut, or even right-click Steam and click on Dota 2. Now that you've installed Dota 2, let's get to the fun part!

Tutorial

When you open up Dota 2 for the first time, a tutorial will begin. You cannot skip this tutorial, but don't think of it as a drag. It will teach you the basics in a fun and interactive way. The tutorial also cannot be skipped so that veteran players will have to go through the tedious task of reviewing what they already know and mastered. With that said, the tutorial is a perfect start for beginners, and not many smurf accounts (newly made accounts by veteran players) are there to ruin your first game experience.

Your First Game

The tutorial should have been self-explanatory. Once you have completed that, you can now start your first game! You can do several things at this point. Refer to the picture below:

Since it is your first time playing, I would recommend finding a Bot Match, as shown above. You can either fill your team with bots or use Dota 2's matchmaking system to find a team of 5 humans(including you) to verse a team of 5 computers. If you are up for a challenge, go ahead and click on Normal Match. This will pit you and 4 others against another team of 5 other people!

Basics of the Game

You are now done loading. (There are helpful tips at the bottom of the loading screen, by the way!) You see card things with creatures on them. What's going on? You are choosing your hero for the fight. Go ahead and scroll around and pick a hero that looks the coolest to you. For the purpose of this tutorial, I have chosen Sniper, a fairly simple hero. Here are some basics before we begin.

You should see a mini-map on the bottom left corner of your screen, like the one on the right here. You either going to be the Radiant or the Dire. The Radiant are what you see as the green on the map, and the Dire are what you see as the red on the map. As you can see, the map is fairly symmetrical, but you'll soon learn that there are big differences between each side. However, lets stick to the basics.

There are several things you need to know to get started:

• There are 3 towers defending each of the 3 lanes. Referring to the map, there is a lane ranging from the left side of the map to the top side, a lane ranging from the right side of the map to the bottom side, and a lane going diagonally through the middle. Each square is a tower.
• You are trying to destroy the other team's Ancient. It will be easily identified, as it is guarded by 2 more towers and is the largest building in each team's base.
• To reach the Ancient, you must get through at least one lane.
• At the third tower of each lane, there are Barracks. There is a Ranged Barracks and a Melee Barracks. This will be explained later.
• Creeps spawn on each lane and push toward the enemy base. These units are not controlled by anyone. When you first begin, 3 melee creeps and 1 ranged creep will spawn. Later on, a catapult spawns.
• You can last hit the enemy creeps (be the last one to hit them - make them die) to earn gold, which is used to buy items. When creeps die near you, you earn experience, causing you to level up (Hero Basics will be covered in the next section). If there are other ally heroes around, you will share the experience evenly with them.

Hero Basics

Phew, that was a lot to go over! Try playing around with your hero a bit. You will probably learn (and need to learn) the following:

• After you pick a hero, that hero is the only hero you can play for the duration of the match.
• Heroes can level up, and the level cap for every hero is level 25.
• When you level up, you can put points into your spells. The hot-keys for your spells are QWER, in that order. This means that the first spell is used by pressing Q on your keyboard, and so on.
• Your ultimate, usable by pressing R, can be leveled at level 6, 11, and 16. Of course, you can choose to upgrade another spell at those levels, but usually that is not the case. Try out your spells on the hero you chose!
• As mentioned before, gold is earned by last hitting creeps. Gold is also earned steadily as time progresses and earned if you are near a dying hero/kill a hero. (An enemy, of course!)
• You can also upgrade abilities (to the left of your Q spell) when you level up. However, this is not recommended unless you have no choice (beginning from level 15).
• Towers do immense damage early in the game, so you want to avoid diving, or going past or under an enemy tower, at low levels.

Conclusion

Now you know the Basics (and a little more) to Dota 2! Just remember to combine spells and work well with your teammates. The most important thing about Dota 2 is not individual skill, but is teamwork and communication. Dota 2 features an in-game mic and chat to communicate with your team. Be positive presence and have fun! If you have any more questions, please ask me in the comments below.