Power ups

There are different power ups in the game. They can be found in the river, between the top and middle lane and between the middle and bottom lane. The magic bottle can be used to store these runes for future use. The five power ups are invisibility, illusion, double damage, regeneration and haste. Invisibility grants the user the state of being unseeable. Illusion creates two weaker copies of the user. Double damage multiplies the attack damage of the user by two. Regeneration regenerates the life and mana of the user until full. Haste makes the user move extremely fast.

Raigor Stonehoof the Earth Shaker

Raigor is a strength hero who is actually a spell caster. His skills are Fissure, Enchant Totem, Aftershock and Echo Slam. Fissure deals damage with stun, and also creates a wall from where Raigor casted. The wall can actually be used to block or trap an enemy. Enchant Totem makes his next attack stronger. Aftershock gives Raigor the ability that when he casts spells, enemies around him recieve damage and stun. Echo Slam deals damage to enemies around him with an extra damage that bounces. If there are more enemies, this would deal more damage. A good item for Raigor would be the Blink Dagger. This gives him the blink ability. He could blink in the middle of many enemies and cast Echo Slam and the other spells.

Magina the Anti-Mage

Magina, as the full name states, is strong against spell casters or intelligence based heroes. His skills are Mana Break, Blink, Spell Shield and Mana Void. Mana Break gives his attacks mana burn and reduces the life equal to how much mana was burned. Blink lets him teleport to a different location, which can be used to go in or out of battle. Spell Shield reduces the damages of spells recieved. Mana Void deals damage to an enemy depending on how much mana the enemy has left. The less mana left the stronger the damage. Magina is also a late gamer. Good items for him would be Monkey King Bar and Butterfly. The first gives attack speed and damage bonus while the second increases agility with some other bonuses.

Mortred the Phantom Assasin

Mortred the Scourge Hero is very powerful during the late game. Her skills are Stiffling Dagger, Phantom Strike, Blur and Coup De Grace. Stiffling Dagger damages and slows an opponent but deals half the damage to heroes. The mana cost is low, so this can be used continously wether for harrassing a hero or for killing creeps for money. Phantom Strike enables her to blink to an enemy and attacks with an attack speed bonus for three seconds, with a maximum of four attacks. Blur lets her dodge some of the attacks and makes her transparent, making it harder for players to see her. Her ultimate gives her a chance to deal critical damage, which is why she is very powerful at the late game. A good item for this hero would also be Helm of Dominator.

Jah'rakal the Troll Warlord

The Troll Warlord, a Sentinel hero, is a killer who can be strong enough to take on Roshan alone. His skills are Berserker's Rage, Blind, Fervor and Rampage. The first skill turns him to a meelee hero from ranged and gives him bonuses together with a passive skill called Bash. Bash gives Jah'rakal a chance to stun an opponent and deal extra damage. He can turn to meelee and back to range at any time. The second skill causes an opponent to miss on some attacks. The third gives troll an attack speed bonus and also the allies close to where he is. His ultimate, when casted, gives his whole team a large attack speed bonus and small movement speed bonus, and will last twice as long on Troll. A good item for troll would be the Helm of Dominator, which gives the holder lifesteal and the ability to control a creep.

Balanar the Night Stalker

Balanar is a Scourge hero. He is a hero who is stronger at night than at day. His skills are Void, Crippling Fear, Hunter in the Night, and his ultimate, Darkness. Void damages and slows an opponent. Crippling Fear silences and causes the attacker to miss on some of the attacks. The first two skills are more effective at night time. Hunter in the Night gives balanar a movement and attack speed bonus during night. His ultimate turns the day into night temporarily. Some good items for Balanar would be Sange and Yasha, an item that gives strenght and speed increase with some other bonuses, and Satanic, a strenght item that when used gives a very powerful lifesteal. Also, his ultimate can be used during the night to extend the period.

Invisibility

Invisibility, or the state of being unseeable, is a skill of a hero called Stealth Assasin and a skill that can be possesed by holding Lothar's Edge. That is a recipe item that can be created by buying certain things. Invisibility is very useful because it gives the player a surprise attack advantage and enables the hero to escape easily. The skill goes well with certain heroes because of their skills. In order to counter this skill, a gem could be bought. The gem allows a player to see invisible heroes, but will be dropped when the holder is killed. Another item that could counter the invisibility is the sentry ward. However, it has to be planted on the ground and lasts only for some time.

Fountain of Health

The fountain of health is where a hero can regenerate life and mana. It is located at the very ends of the map, bottom-left for Sentinel and top-right for Scourge. Being in the lane and going back to the fountain to heal will actually make a hero miss some experience from creeps killed and some gold, since the battle is in the middle parts of the map during the earlier part of the game while the fountain is at the end. However, there is an item called Empy Bottle that could store up to 3 charges of life and mana. The charges could be gotten from the fountain. A player can also have a courier bring the bottle back and forth to the fountain and to the hero. A player may also choose to buy healing items and mana potions.

Mega Creeps

After pushing the three levels of towers in any lane, the next is two barracks. Once these are destroyed, the creeps for that lane become stronger. They will appear larger and will give less gold when killed. Once all the barracks of all the lanes have been destroyed, the creeps become Mega creeps. These are the strongest creeps a side can get, and will make it much easier to push all the way to the throne or tree because of the strenght of these creeps and the gold they give upon death.

Items

There are various items in the game. There are potions which could be used at the early part of the game for regenerating life or mana. There are items which give bonuses to damages or attributes. The more powerful items can be created by combining certain items. The different recipe items give different bonuses and sometimes spells. Certain recipe items can go well with certain heroes, especially with the spell. The spell from the item can go well as a combination with the hero's own spells, and also adds to the team's combination. Some of the spells that come with these items are heal, invisibility, and slow.

Roshan

Roshan is the most powerful neutral creep in the game. He is located in the middle of the map, below the middle lane of the Scourge side. He is a large purple golem with skills such as stun. Killing Roshan would usually require more than one hero, sometimes the whole team, depending on the strenght of the heroes. However, heroes such as troll may be able to defeat him alone. Upon defeating him, the hero that killed him recieves gold, the whole team recieves gold, and he drops an item called Aegis of the Immortal, which grants the holder another life after death. Roshan will be revived after a long time but will be much stronger.

Neutral Creeps

Most of the experience that heroes get come from creeps. They can also get from heroes killed. However, they can also get experience by killing neutral creeps. These creeps do not belong to any side, thus the name neutral creeps. In the mini-map at the lower left side of the playing screen, these creeps appear as the color green dots. These creeps are not in any of the three lanes. They appear as many different kinds. There are golems, satyrs, gnolls, trolls, centaurs, etc. The different neutral creeps have different spells and abilities, while some don't have. Some of them are strong while some are weaker, giving different amounts of experience points. These creeps are useful for heroes like the Troll Warlord and the Phantom Assassin so that they could earn money and some experience points without enemy heroes confronting them.

The Roles and Types of Heroes

Some heroes are for killing other heroes, some are for support, and some are for tanking(absorbing damage for the team). There is also the pusher, which are the heroes that are effective in killing creeps(the units of a certain side that fight with the heroes) and destroying towers in order to push a lane. Each hero also has a certain type. There is the strenght, agility, and intelligence. Strenght heroes are usually the ones who tank and inflict great damage, especially in the late part of the game. Agility heroes are hero killers who are also strong in the late game. Intelligence heroes are the ones with powerful skills or spells that can kill heroes, but would only be supporters or pushers in late game. However, the different types can sometimes play other roles, depending on the hero.

Strategy of DOTA

Players of both sides can choose between heroes of both sides. This means that a Sentinel player can choose a Scourge hero, and vice versa. All heroes have four skills. Three regular skills and an ultimate skill. Different chosen heroes can be a combination because of their different skills. For example, one hero is a stunner and the other is a damager. It could also be a double stun or two stunners. But since there are 5 heroes per team in an official game, the combinations can get much stronger and complicated than that.

Background of DOTA

DOTA is a 5 on 5 game where team work is necessary. During the start of the game, players can choose between a number of different heroes. There are two sides, the Sentinel and the Scourge, with each side having their own unique heroes. Once a player has chosen a hero, he or she chooses between three lanes. Heroes then compete with each other and level up while gaining experience. The two sides push against each other, having to destroy three levels of towers in all three lanes. After the towers are destroyed, there will be some structures and a tree or a throne. The tree is for the sentinel and the throne is for the scourge. Once the tree or the throne is destroyed, the team wins.