Introducing Your Special Ones to Dota
Introducing people to Dota is very hard. Introducing people you care about to Dota is even harder. However, as someone with almost two decades of experience with the game and countless students throughout the years, there are some tips and tricks I’ve gathered along the way. Today I want to share those, so that the process of onboarding new players is just a little bit smoother for everyone.
Don’t take interfacing for granted
Dota is a very unique multiplayer game: unlike most popular competitive offerings on the market, the barrier for entry mechanics-wise is quite low. There is no micro if you don’t want to micro, so it is easier than RTS games. The precision required is far from what you need in FPS games. The reaction time requirements are not on the level required for Fighting games and even other Dota-likes on the market are typically a lot more execution, rather than strategy focused.
This is actually the reason Dota blew up back in the day: the first generation of Dota players considered it a game that is “easy to learn and hard to master”. Game design-wise, things didn’t really change all that much since then, but the average gamer certainly did. Even something as basic as being able to interface with mouse and keyboard is no longer a given: many younger players I’ve taught struggled switching from touch-inputs to MKB.
In such cases, my advice is being patient and allowing a player to progress at their own pace. Recommend some other games to play beforehand or in parallel, be it Diablo-style ARPGs or high-intensity Rhythm games like OSU.
Initial Dota-learning experience, even when playing against bots, can be frustrating and stumbling with the basics of control is doubly so. For primarily non-PC gamers some adjustment will be needed, so try not to scare them away.
Find your hook
Another great thing about Dota is how multifaceted it is. There is something for everyone in this game and at a casual, sub-Immortal level of play a player can get away with many inefficiencies in some aspects of the game, while getting satisfaction from self-expression in others.
There are players coming from other Dota-likes. Most of them are used to higher pace and snappier controls, so recommending them something like 
Jakiro will be an immediate turn off. Ease them into why and how turn rates and cast points are necessary and balanced, by suggesting heroes who are skill-shot oriented.
Heroes who have straightforward and set builds are also a major plus: most other games in the Dota-like and ARPG genres are efficiency and execution, rather than strategy-based. So for players coming from them, it is better to get acquainted with Dota through something simple.
On the other hand, there is huge potential onboarding from turn-based RPG and even CCG/TCG players to Dota. There are many intricate and very fun mechanics to explore and toy with in Dota. If you are trying to introduce someone coming from these genres, go with heroes who have flexible item builds and who are mostly utility focused. A hero like 
Vengeful Spirit is a favourite of mine to recommend, as she can build many different support items, execution-wise she is trivial and she also introduces players to both aggressive and save playstyles on a support.
Highlight aspects of Dota that will click with your protege, be it the theorycrafting or outplay potential. It is entirely possible to have below average interfacing levels, but still excel at Dota to a certain point. It is also very much possible to rank up building the same items and playing the same hero over and over again, without bothering with strategy, tactics or meta — Dota is a game where mechanically outplaying your opponent is possible and satisfying.
Dealing with toxicity
Finally, there is the elephant in the room. One of the biggest reasons Dota can be a bit hard to get into is… us, the general Dota 2 community. A lot of good work has gone into making Dota friendlier over the years and it is certainly working for me, at a 12k behaviour score. For new players though, the experience can be very different.
They will be flamed for missing spells. They will be flamed for not paying attention to the minimap. They will be flamed for using voice chat, or for not using it enough, or for one of many other small things. Over the years, Dota got many layers of “common sense” that are not immediately apparent to new players.
The good thing is that catching up to it is quite easy: there are two decades of Dota game theory available across the web in many different forms, with a lot of it covered in our own Blog Posts. The bad thing is that typically, once a player gets over some of the initial hurdles of learning Dota, they feel like they’ve somehow earned the right to look down on absolute beginners. While being absolute beginners themselves and still being in the beginner pool of players.
I’ve tried many ways to help my students work through receiving toxicity. Almost as frequently I’ve tried to prevent some of my proteges from becoming toxic themselves in this environment. What I ended up with is a strict mute all rule for the first 100 games with real people. This may sound like a bit of a defeatist attitude and it might be, but it saves a lot of headache.
The only big downside to correct and guide through, is that when playing on mute all, players tend to concentrate on others’ mistakes far too much: with no regular pushback from teammates, they can quickly start feeling like they are completely faultless, while everyone is ruining their game. This attitude isn’t too bad, as long as they keep it to themselves, but it will stifle their growth tremendously. Gently nudge them towards analysing their own game first and foremost and you will not only speed up their improvement as a player, but will also save the general community from extra toxicity later on.
Closing thoughts
Introducing your friends, relatives or loved ones to Dota is tough. It is a very wide game that is equally deep and getting into it is a lot harder today than it was 20 years ago, when I started playing myself. Back then, nobody knew or thought about meta, lane compositions, item timings and countless other things that are internalised in most veteran players to a point, where it is instinctual.
As I said before, game design-wise Dota isn’t all that different from what we’ve played 20 years ago. There are talents, neutral items and now a bigger map, but for the most part the core principles are the same. Players just squeeze out a lot more out of them than they used to, sometimes even prompting global economy changes from Valve.
Getting into this as a new player is intimidating, but it is my firm belief that Dota is wide and deep enough to have something to hook every single type of gamer out there. It is just the learning process and the community can sometimes be unaccommodating.
This Valentine’s day do give it a try, though. Introduce someone special to you to this beautiful game. It is worth it.
CM is the hero for starters
Hard disagree. She is squishy, spellcasting-reliant, can, should and almost needs to win her lane and her biggest powerspike is level 2. I think Venge, Witch Doctor, Warlock and Jakiro are the best beginner-friendly heroes for support players, while carries should play something like Wraith King or Troll
I feel this post on a personal level. I have introduced 2 of my friends to dota who previously had little to do with strategy games and who have both doubled my playtime since then.
Another friend of mine tried to introduce me to LoL before I started dota, yet another tried to teach me dota at the time. Both lacked the patience or understanding to get me to play their game. Eventually I ended up learning it myself though.
I dont get how the dota community is toxic
I'd pick venge here
Hard time for Dota when you are need a guide to introduce new players into it
I'd pick brood here
dota players have special ones?
I don't really understand the hatred against CM for newcomers, Kawaii. Your points against her are perfectly valid, but I don't necessarily see why you cast her as an 'avoid at all costs' hero. Certainly she shouldn't be the hero one tries at the very start for sure, but maybe after getting the bare basics and they start to branch, she should be attempted. She isn't a bad hero by any means, and her useful abilities and vastly reduced reliance on items make her a hero to teach players that 'abilities sometimes make the hero more useful, versus the hero with any items they wield'.
For your carries, I actually put a point against Troll for his ult. For the inexperienced, it's a death sentence. New players literally lose control of their hero as he just runs head-first into deep enemy territory as they find their commands are ignored entirely. I'd instead recommend heroes along the likes of Luna or even Sniper, the former for being able to farm and push quickly and easily, farming efficiently, and being able to fight somewhat early should they choose with her nukes, and I say Sniper because he seems to be a comfort hero for most new players (at least back in my days, and he was for me personally, don't @ me) due to his long range and ease of use and execution.
I'd never would introduce my significant other to Dota 2, lmao. I wouldn't play competitive games in general.
хуйня пудж лучше
Don’t try to play this game newbies
It's almost impossible. Dota accumulated so many mechanics, heroes, items and map objectives that "playing casually on a coach with your lover" is just not possible if you want to actually have fun. Dota's fun comes really when player knows the game, and with current state of the game you cannot jump in - probably at least 20-30 hours required to understand what is displayed on the screen.
Dota does have good tutorial though, but even with that it's not enough to justify inviting somebody to play. Way too big time investment. And don't get me started on community.
Вообще не понятно для чего этот пост:)
хуйня пудж лучше
For starters support role is better. Party with an experienced carry in safe lane in AI match.
Support: CM, Lion, Shaman, ES, Tiny, Enchantress, Ogre
After learning to play with a carry, learn the carry role in AI match. Solo or Party.
Carry: WK, Drow,
Then play a lot of normal match either support or carry with a party. Learn the mechanics, roles, and other heroes spells.
At this point you already know how to communicate with the team.
Next is to learn the harder roles. Mid and Initiator/Offlane.
Mid: Lina, Storm, DK, QoP, Zeus
Offlane: DK, Tide, Axe, Primal Beast, Doom
Finally, learn how to macro, item timing, event timing, positioning, combo, map awareness, etc.
You're not even playing this game that much. What exactly are you to write something like a journal about Dota 2?
@Cardiotoxin
I've been writing for Dotabuff for 10+ years, but apart from that I am a former top3000 EU Immortal (~3 years ago), currently also casting high level Dota 2 tournaments, with Riyadh and Dream League S21 being highlights last year. And the reason I am not playing that much lately is because most of my time I do coaching for beginner friends on my personal Discord. Hope that answers your questions.
ok now THIS is epic
@KawaiiSocks
Okay boomer 💀💀💀
this game is crap match making is crap people are crap oin here
I like this type of content, thanks Kawaiisocks!
@Ω DeathSpawn your rank says it all.
похуй убей или будь убитым