Three carry tips and tricks that will rank you up in Dota 2

By Kenneth Williams

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Dec 24, 2021

Reading time: 3 min

These three tips and tricks will help you rise up the Dota 2 ranks as a carry player.

Position one is one of the most difficult roles to play in Dota 2. Its your job to eventually win the game for your team, but that doesn’t mean they’ll make it easy for you to carry. You need to make constant decisions about the best times to fight and how to get farm without dying in the process. But no matter how hard things may get for you, these three carry techniques will help you on your quest to rank up in Dota 2.

Think ahead with your item build

As the carry, you will most likely acquire the greatest share of gold on your team. That means that you have access to more items than anyone else, and you have access to these items earlier. While carries usually follow a fairly rigid item build in the early game, it’s important to think ahead and consider the enemy heroes’ strengths and weaknesses. Certain heroes get almost entirely shut down by specific item builds. While Daedalus and Mjollnir are fun to use, they can also lose you the game if they don’t effectively deal with the enemy draft.

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Is the enemy Alchemist getting out of control? A fast Spirit Vessel will put him in his place. Enemy Drow Ranger melting your team with armor-piercing arrows? Assault Cuirass will keep you and your team alive. Bristleback popping off? That calls for a Silver Edge. Going out of your way to purchase counter items will allow you to join the fight sooner and give the enemy team a nasty surprise.

Master the split push

Split pushing is sometimes thought of as being reserved for the Nature’s Prophets and Tinkers of the world, but almost all carries can do it effectively. Pushing a lane away from the enemy team can result in several good things happening for you and your teammates.

Lane creeps are a much better source of gold and experience than jungle camps. As you push, the enemy team will eventually need to either teleport back to deal with the wave or risk losing a tower. Splitting up the enemy team is one of the best tips and tricks for playing carry in Dota 2, as it creates advantageous opportunities for you and your team.

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The best carries for split pushing are Lifestealer and Juggernaut. Both have innate access to spell immunity, so they can pop Rage or Blade Fury and teleport out once the enemy team shows up. Other carries with good mobility tools like Faceless Void, Anti-Mage, Morphling, and Slark can jump into the trees and leave.

Forcing the enemy team to chase you around the map is one of the best things to do as a carry player. If your enemies are wasting time chasing you, they’re not farming or pushing waves.

Don’t be afraid to fight early

The position one carry usually enters fights towards the mid game, but several carry ultimates can swing the tide of an early fight. Having an extra body to tank spells and right clicks can keep your teammates alive and ready to tank an important map objective. Carries are generally good at clearing out waves, and all that damage will help take objectives after a successful brawl. As long as you don’t die in the process, showing up to fights early is a good idea. Just don’t hesitate to bail if your teammates start dropping, as dying is most punishing for the carry hero.

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The best carries for fighting early are Luna, Juggernaut, and Faceless Void. Luna’s Eclipse deals a massive amount of damage assuming you have points in Lucent Beam. Juggernaut’s Omnislash is great for picking off someone on the edge of the fight or for dealing a bunch of damage to multiple targets. Faceless Void doesn’t hit very hard early, but his Chronosphere ultimate is excellent at setting up your teammates’ damage and abilities.

This Dota 2 carry tip can also open up new areas to farm. The gold and experience also usually outweigh the amount you’d get from hitting jungle camps, assuming you win the fight.

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