Top Preface Welcome to my masterpiece. The day I started this guide I knew it was going to become a gigantic chunk of words. To keep everything nice and tidy we will have the guide divided in different big chapters. So if you want to go straight to the information, or are looking for something in particular, use the index right up there.



Let's move out of the preface and get into the guide, we have a quite a way ahead.





It seems like a trend lately adding a nerfnow comic to a guide. So here is a fitting one for myself.



6.81 tonker rip in peperoni



This is a really useful tool to measure your improvement.

Top 1. Very Basic Guidelines The midlane is the heart of DotA, it is not only the shortest lane, but the lane that leads to your throne. Mid means duel, means a face-off between the two sides represented by their midders, its like their number 10 in football, it's like the queen in chess, the vocalist in a band. 1v1, Mid only, mid or feed, ez mid, push mid, please commend tinker.



Unless it's a duo mid, I will get into that later.



Whoever goes mid is bound to the hero they are playing. The way you play mid depends on two things: One, your play style, aggressive, passive, thoughtful, bully, etc. Two, the nature of your hero. This is dictated by:



-Skillset

-Farm and Exp Use

-Farm and Exp Hunger

-Early to Mid Game Potential

-Level Dependence

-Core Item Dependence



Don't worry, I will go into deeper insight on certain heroes.

Your midlane can vary a lot depending on the hero and the personal play style of the mid player, but here are some basic guidelines.



The mid hero controls the center of the map, this gives him/her substantial game flexibility, and really high impact early game, as a single solid rotation from mid to a side lane can go a long way, and decide how early game is going to play along. If they won mid, midders are the players with the most farm in the early and mid game. Only the midder can farm a Min 15 Orchid Malevolence, or a Min 10 Dagon without skipping items, level 6 at 4:10 , they have a lot of advantage over everyone else, except the other mid, and there is where the tension builds up.



I want to state right now that even if some heroes have an easy time ganking side lanes, it's not necessarily part of their responsibility, and if needed, side lane heroes have to gank mid aswell (in depth later on).



The mid hero is also a big space creator if played as such, giving the team's position 1 more room and time to farm, securing the late game to some point.



Remember that you are farm priority number 2 most of the time, meaning that you have the right to taking support's farm and kill last hits, this is totally acceptable, now, if you are an specific hero, with hard coded item objectives with expiration dates, such as Tinker Boots of Travel Magnus Blink Dagger Battle Fury Nature's Prophet Hand of Midas don't be an ******* . In a team this is of course no problem, as your teammates trust your skill, and know that if you snowball harder is better than the carry farming, as with the gold you will create farming space for him. Your midlane can vary a lot depending on the hero and the personal play style of the mid player, but here are some basic guidelines.this gives him/her substantial game flexibility, and really high impact early game, as a single solid rotation from mid to a side lane can go a long way, and decide how early game is going to play along. If they won mid, midders are the players with the most farm in the early and mid game.The mid hero is also a big space creator if played as such, giving the team's position 1 more room and time to farm, securing the late game to some point.that you are farm priority number 2 most of the time, meaning that you have the right to taking support's farm and kill last hits, this is totally acceptable, now, if you are an specific hero, with hard coded item objectives with expiration dates, such as'sor, you can also take your position 1's farm, under the single condition that you will utilize the gold effectively, or have more impact with it than what they would have otherwise, but don't delay other key core items or early farming items, so don't kill steal the Antimage with half a, or thethat is struggling to get a fast. In pubs this might get you some hate or draw attention, but if you are confident of your limits, your act and plays will speak by themselves, but. In a team this is of course no problem, as your teammates trust your skill, and know that

Top 2. Blocking Mid First things first.



What is blocking? Body Blocking your creeps in their way to find the opposing creeps, with the 0:00 wave. This is done by simply walking in front of them and constantly stopping your hero, so they stop aswell and try to path around.



Why should you do this? Blocking your lane gives you an advantage as your creeps reach mid later than the opposing creeps, pushing your lane back. Having the creeps fight in your side of the uphill makes fighting that wave easier, as the opponent, if ranged, will have a 25% chance of missing their auto attacks, so you avoid harass and can hide in the fog or war (Details later on), it also keeps you closer to your tower, and so you stand safe from ganks from supports, and if you are a farming mid you should be expecting level 1 ganks, and even Smoke of Deceits.



How to block? Its different for each side. See the next sections.

Top 2.1. Blocking Radiant Side Here is a 1 minute long video by Slahser showcasing the best way of blocking Mid from the Radiant Side:



See this picture:



Perfect Block

No Block



Simple right? Simple right?

Top 2.2. Blocking Dire Side Again here it is another short video on how to do it, this time Dire side:





See this picture:



Perfect Block

No Block



Done! Done!

Top 2.3. Stutter Block This method of bodyblocking actually pushes the lane further if not done in the midlane. So dont try it when not midding.



Alright, so you already understand the concept of stopping and making the creeps path around, but there is a more efficient way of doing it, and its by using the hero's hitbox to the max, this method is done naturally by pros, when creeps go slightly to a side, causing a longer creep stop. You can actually exploit this by pushing the wave over to a side and then back to the middle, causing two stutters on their pathing.



Your hero will be stopping at 45° every time you want the creeps to stop back and stutter.



Look at this sophisticated MsPaint diagram I made:



Turning 45° makes your hitbox slightly broader, and the creeps take just a fraction of a second longer to calculate the path they are going to take. Zig Zag right and left to be in a 45° again and again, repeating the process and making the creeps pathfind over and over.



Stutter block is great to out-block someone, getting a more pulled back lane than a perfect block. But this also means that if they do a mediocre block or not block at all you are going to back the creeps all the way to your tower and miss last hits and give easy and fast exp to the opposing mid.



Also remember letting the ranged creep through, as he has lower Hp will die first and serve as a human shield to keep lane equilibrium.

Stutter block is great to out-block someone, getting a more pulled back lane than a perfect block. But this also means that if they do a mediocre block or not block at all you are going to back the creeps all the way to your tower and miss last hits and give easy and fast exp to the opposing mid.

Top 3. The First Bounty Rune As you may know, 6.83 implemented a change in which the first rune spawn, at 0:00, makes both runes bounty runes, but steroid bounty runes, that give out double exp and 100 gold (!).



Let me put it this way. Its 0:00, and its giving you half a level of exp and a creepwave worth of gold, effortlessly. This rune right here is first blood material, fights are going to break out for this little thing, so be very very careful if you plan grabbing it as the Mid.



If you want to take the full advantage of the runes do as following.



-Someone in your team must purchase Smoke of Deceit.

-The support with the highest movement speed buys the ward.

-Activate the Smoke.

-Rush with the support with wards to the top rune.

-Ward uphill and if you are on radiant side block jungle camps if needed.

-Hide in the fog.

-At -3 seconds for battle begin move out the support to scout, move out of the fog and grab the rune.

-Run back quickly and stutter block from the second half of the lane.



Do not attempt if you have under 300 movement speed or if there is a lineup that could 5 man gank you if you are a farming mid.



If you succeed you will have better wards for laning phase and a faster Bottle in mid.



Top 4. Laning Mid 101 Sure laning is about last hits, denies, and keeping the opponents controlled. But Mid behaves in a slightly different manner, and remember, you are alone in mid.



Unless its a duo mid lane, I'll get to that later.



Little fluff to brighten the guide.

Top 4.1. Zones Radiant Side Here we have another fancy diagram section.



This picture represents roughly how your zones are layed out in mid (for the tier 1) from the radiant side.



(I say roughly because your zones vary depending on who is mid against you, the hero you are playing, and also your movement speed.)





First off here we have a basic dire hero+tower range, meaning that if you cross the red line, you are giving the opposing mid a chance to initiate on you.



Be especially careful around:



Pudge

Vengeful Spirit

Brewmaster

Tusk

Axe

Puck

Earth Spirit

Ember Spirit

Storm Spirit

Invoker

Magnus

Slark





Same as before, but when the lane is pushed.





If you have the proper hero you can dive the tower from around X:11/44 to X:29/59, meaning there is not creepwave to disrupt you, if uphill is warded, you can take the orange route as an escape, and it is not usually expected.





What we have here represents a rune defensive stance. Taking this position blocks out the posibility of a rune race, etc, and leave the other mid busy taking the creep aggro off the tower.



The Red "X" represents possible gank routes for opposing supports, its easy to tell if they are starting a gank on you, as the midder will start moving differently a couple of seconds before the setup of the support But do be careful.



On the other hand, the "X" marked in green represents a small hiding spot between the trees that makes you hide in fog if they come from the uphill, useful whenm you do not have uphill warded. Or if you are on the Dire team, to check runes without opponents noticing.





Classic defensive stance, if you pretend using this spot to initiate on the opposing mid, wait until the creeps are down hill, so he doesnt see you get in, and your plan ends up working effectively





This is what I like to call a pressure spot, standing here you are guarding the other midder from moving up their lane safely, and having to either stay back or fight, or run exposed. This juke spot is useful for smoke gank supports, so keep it in mind.



If your creepwave is pushed up to the tower you can go closer as the tower's aggro wont try to find you, and you can take that spot between the tower and the juke path, marked in orange lines. This place is great because if the other mid walks through you can close him off with a support, of alone if they are low. They may also think you went for the push and left for the bottom rune, so use the tactical advantage to flank them around. This is why this mass of trees is really problematic.



The tower and fog of war ranges are included in a separate section. Same with warding. here we have a basic dire hero+tower range, meaning that if you cross theline, you are giving the opposing mid a chance to initiate on you.if level 6.with rune or level 6.But do be careful.Or if you are on the Dire team, to check runes without opponents noticing.If your creepwave is pushed up to the tower you can go closer as the tower's aggro wont try to find you, and you can take that spot between the tower and the juke path, marked inlines. This place is great because if the other mid walks through you can close him off with a support, of alone if they are low. They may also think you went for the push and left for the bottom rune, so use the tactical advantage to flank them around. This is why this mass of trees is really problematic.

Top 4.2. Zones Dire Side Same as before, this time for the Dire side.



The Radiant Side Tier 1 Mid Lane is a really scary zone of the map. You are going to be diving Radiant side way less than Dire, because of all the paths possible that supports could take to close you off. What makes it even more powerful is that you can take a Town Portal Scroll way further up in lane, and this can lead for some really bad rotations from supports. So DO NOT dive Radiant Side unless you are really confident OR have a Force Staff, since the uphill to the top side is extremely overpowered escape for Blink heroes or heroes that core a Force Staff.





Moving on...





As you can see, the danger zone is way closer to the river, and the vision is way narrower unless you push up, which is dangerous, but not that hard.



See the next picture.





As you can see, pushing up the lane gives you some more vision, but puts you in between the two main hiding spots, one marked in a red "X" . And as I said before, without a proper escape





If you saw a support wrapping around the jukes to the right of the tower, you can attempt this route. Its way nastier though. Running straight back is of course easier, but it isnt always possible, as they run around expecting you to take the routes, win some distance and attempt your escape when the creepwave hasnt arrived yet.





Memorize this jukes, they are useful no matter what side you are playing on.





This is a common smoke gank route, here the supports come through the dark green line and close the enemy mid, which can be in either juke side, or staying behind at the red "X" . You, as the mid, just stay in your lane and wait for the setup, with your best poker face.



If something goes wrong like the supports break the Smoke of Deceit Observer Ward light green route if its the uphill ward what got you, so you stop updating their information on you. And as the midder, try to not draw attention and back off, or try grabbing the top rune.





For the narrow vision thing I adressed earlier, you cannot access this jukes safely from the Dire side, for any purpose, since the path is under the tower, and its such a linear juke, that if you get into it, its obvious where you are standing, and are more likely to get initiated on, than initiate.



So big No-no.





Without Observer Ward If they have eyes on you, the midder can rotate towards the top rune, and someone can rotate TPing into the tier 2 mid, and close you off sandwich style. The best reason to be up here is if the tower is being pushed up, and you are thinking of initiating... or have a Force Staff



Exp Range included aswell for you dumbers that think you can leech exp safely from up there. You might only get a couple of creeps off if they are undertower but nothing else.



Thats it for Tier 1!. See the next picture.and close the enemy mid, which can be in either juke side, or staying behind at the. You, as the mid, just stay in your lane and wait for the setup, with your best poker face.If something goes wrong like the supports break the, get spotted by jungle, or rotations are coming, take theIf they have eyes on you, the midder can rotate towards the top rune, and someone can rotate TPing into the tier 2 mid, and close you off sandwich style. The best reason to be up here is if the tower is being pushed up, and you are thinking of initiating... or have a

Top 4.3. Tower Range & Map Cues YES! Have you seen those cool smoke throws in CS:GO? Where they setup and land a smoke across de_inferno? Well, this is equivalent of that knowledge in Dota 2.



Using Map Cues can be a faster way of knowing the tower ranging, instead of just feeling it out, what you achieve with experience, the gut feeling.



Take a good look at these. Credit to Axxhelairon , from /r/dota2, he did this imgur album a while ago now. But we only care about Mid in this guide.





Radiant Tier 1. Notice the bushes.





Radiant Tier 2. The bush and leaves on the ground





Dire Tier 1. There is a crack on the floor, and the rock as reference.





Dire Tier 2. The rock and the bones.



Back in my day we didnt have this stuff. Should give you some help if you memorize them.



If you wanna know numbers.



-700 Attack Range

-900 True Sight Range

-500 Aggro Range (this means that if you are standing out of the 500, and the tower is attacking something else, and you attack a hero, the tower wont aggro you.



Top 4.4. Fog Of War Range The pictures here for Fog or war range include some key positions and the tower vision range.



I am including this because its always useful to have this information and the guide wouldnt be quite complete without all this stuff.









Radiant Tier 1 Tower Vision Range.









Hero Vision Range when standing right in the middle of your uphill.









Dire Tier 1 Tower Vision Range.







Dire's Side Hero Vision Range when standing at the middle of dire's uphill.





Vision Limits when standing downhill in the river from the dire side. (Its just as limited from the radiant side aswell).





Pressure and/or Hiding Spot I was talking about earlier.





Safe top rune scout range from radiant side ancient ward cliff.





Safe bottom rune scout range from radiant side jungle entrance.







Safe bottom rune check from dire side.





Radiant Balcony.



Top 4.5. Off Time & How To Behave From now on we will call "Off Time" to any moment there is nothing going on in mid, no ganks, no runes, no blocking, no pushing; just last hitting, denying and harassing.



During off time is when you realize who is the best midder. It makes the player work on a certain set of skills, particular to the midder character.



See the next sections including these set of skills.



Top 4.5.1. Last Hitting Number 1: Last Hitting. Yes, as simple as it sounds, practice makes perfect, and its not only last hitting, but last hitting in an environment in which the opposing mid denies, harass and there is overall a lot of variables and threats. Practice your mechanical skill to last hit, with at least 8 different heroes, your favourite mid heroes if I may.



Averaging the creepwaves to 5 creeps each, for 10 minutes:



Bad: 0(!) to 20 last hits.

Poor: 20 to 30 last hits.

Decent: 30 to 55 last hits.

Substancial: 55 to 70 last hits.



If you can get over 50 last hits, and help in ganks, and deny, you are solid at creep scoring. Grats.



Top 4.5.1.1. Last Hitting Under Tower So in your experience maybe you have had some trouble last hitting under towers, here is a general guideline to ease your suffering.

Melee Creep Under Tower:



- Tower Hit

- Tower Hit

- Tower Hit

- Tower Hit

- Last Hit

Ranged Creep Under Tower:



- Right Click

- Right Click

- If you have low base damage you are going to need a third right click

- Tower Hit

- Last Hit

Siege Creep/Catapult Under Tower:



- Tower Hit

- Right Click

- Tower Hit

- If you have low base damage you need to right click here

- Tower Hit

- Last Hit



Top 4.5.2. Denying Number 2: Denying. If you arent the highest skilled player you probably believe denying creeps is an advanced technique, that outplays the opposing mid humilliating them into a lost lane and a sad life. But actually denying isnt that big of a deal, if you can do it, alright good; but its far more important focusing in getting your own farm, and then in second hand, meddling in their farm.



Allied creeps and siege units can be denied once they fall below 50% health. Denying an allied, non-hero unit grants half experience to enemies within a 1300 range. To deny a unit, you must force an attack command on it. 50% for creeps, 25% for heroes, and 10% for towers.



Denying creeps is an excellent way to control a lane and gain a lead over your opponent. It not only prevents them from gaining gold and moves the lane towards your tower, it also denies your opponent experience which can cause a noticeable level difference in lane.



Recently, denying creeps got buffed, making it so a denied creep only rewards half the regular exp, but still, the effort you put into denying your creeps can be better spent zoning out the opposing mid, maybe out of lane, where they really lose exp.



Denying a tower is a big deal though. Considerably reducing the gold reward.

If you dont know how to deny: its simple, you need to start an attack action, default "A" key.



You will see how your cursor turns red.



Then proceed and left click the creep you want to deny.

its simple, you need to start an attack action, default "A" key.You will see how your cursor turns red.

Top 4.5.3. Harassing The Opponent Number 3: Harassing the opponent. Harassing is attacking the opposing mid to force them under a point in their hp that they have to either retreat, waste their regen items, leave lane, or be left exposed for initiation and potentially die.



Targeting a hero in lane for an attack draws you aggro, this means that their creeps will target you, like if they were defending the hero. Your attack doesnt necessarily needs to land to draw this aggro, which you can use to your advantage, or to draw aggro with a melee hero being far away; I will explain this in the next section.



Anyway... using spells doesnt draw aggro. So you can do it freely, some honorable mentions for good lane control spells:



- Puck's Illusory Orb

- Queen of Pain's Scream of Pain

- Tusk's Ice Shards

- Pugna's Nether Blast

- Shadow Fiend's Shadowraze

- Lina's Dragon Slave

Among many others



And powerful harass nukes:



- Skywrath Mage's Arcane Bolt

- Tinker's Laser & Heat Seeking Missile

- Bane's Brain Sap

From the Dota 2 Wiki:



The most basic form of harassment is simply damaging the enemy Hero with physical attacks. This is most easily accomplished if your hero is a ranged one (with a greater range allowing for a greater degree of harassment) while the enemy Hero or Heroes are melee or have low range. Directly attacking an enemy Hero will draw creep aggro, which means that nearby enemy creeps will attack you. This can be partly prevented by right-clicking the ground to move into attack range, performing an attack and immediately retreating to avoid being damaged by creeps.



When manually used, castable attack modifiers like Viper's Poison Attack or Huskar's Burning Spear will not draw creep aggro at all, making them extremely powerful harassment tools.



Most damaging spells can be used for harassment purposes, and are especially effective because they do not draw creep aggro. Especially suited are slowing abilities like Crystal Maiden's Crystal Nova because they allow the user to perform some additional physical attacks on a retreating enemy, as well as spammable abilities with a low mana cost such as Clockwerk's Rocket Flare. Experienced players usually integrate this technique into their farming: A well-placed AoE ability can get a last hit on a creep while simultaneously damaging an opponent.



Items that provide some early mana regeneration (e.g. Soul Ring, Clarity Potions or Arcane Boots) can greatly increase the harassment potential of a Hero. Although ranged Heroes are generally better suited for physical harassment, an Orb of Venom can allow some melee Heroes like Riki to harass effectively.

The most basic form of harassment is simply damaging the enemy Hero with physical attacks. This is most easily accomplished if your hero is a ranged one (with a greater range allowing for a greater degree of harassment) while the enemy Hero or Heroes are melee or have low range. Directly attacking an enemy Hero will draw creep aggro, which means that nearby enemy creeps will attack you. This can be partly prevented by right-clicking the ground to move into attack range, performing an attack and immediately retreating to avoid being damaged by creeps.When manually used, castable attack modifiers like Viper's Poison Attack or Huskar's Burning Spear will not draw creep aggro at all, making them extremely powerful harassment tools.Most damaging spells can be used for harassment purposes, and are especially effective because they do not draw creep aggro. Especially suited are slowing abilities like Crystal Maiden's Crystal Nova because they allow the user to perform some additional physical attacks on a retreating enemy, as well as spammable abilities with a low mana cost such as Clockwerk's Rocket Flare. Experienced players usually integrate this technique into their farming: A well-placed AoE ability can get a last hit on a creep while simultaneously damaging an opponent.Items that provide some early mana regeneration (e.g. Soul Ring, Clarity Potions or Arcane Boots) can greatly increase the harassment potential of a Hero. Although ranged Heroes are generally better suited for physical harassment, an Orb of Venom can allow some melee Heroes like Riki to harass effectively.

Top 4.5.3.1. Avoiding Harassment Physical harassment should be countered with items that provide damage block, health regeneration or armor: A Poor Man's Shield, combined with a Ring of Health can render a Hero almost immune to regular harassment.



Harassment with Spells can be mitigated with a Magic Wand, as they will constantly gain charges and provide the holder with a steady supply of mana and health.



Some abilities are excellent counter-harassment tools. If a player faces heavy harassment, he might consider adapting to a defensive skillbuild, (e.g. investing as many ability points as possible into Dragon Blood or Backtrack).



In some laning situations, it is better to force a small skirmish and attempt to kill an enemy Hero instead of just passively allowing the enemy to gain lane dominance through constant harassment. For example, a Vengeful Spirit and Pudge lane will quickly lose the lane against Drow Ranger and Ancient Apparition icon.png Ancient Apparition in terms of harassment. However, they have a distinct advantage if they try to kill their opponents instead of just passively laning against them.



Top 4.5.4. Aggro Number 4: Aggro. This can be tower or creep aggro. Although they are very different they are both critical to your laning success, and are perfomed in a similar fashion.



See the next sections.

Top 4.5.4.1. Creep Aggro This is the most important of the two.



Creep Aggro means creeps are trying to attack/already attacking you.



For example: Entering the boundaries of a Jungle Camp draws the neutral's aggro towards you.



Lane creeps target first enemy lane creeps, secondly enemy heroes, and lastly enemy siege creeps. Nearby creeps will report their aggro on you if you attack an enemy hero, allowing you to bring them behind your own creeps in order to farm more safely. Lane creeps can also follow you very far, inside the jungle and even as far as another lane. They stop chasing you if they lose sight of you for a long time.



Top 4.5.4.2. Tower Aggro Tower Aggro is different, and even if its not as vital for laning, it is important and will become handy, especially to take more of those windows of opportunity, when combat gets a bit out of hand.



Towers have a specific targeting priority that determines which enemy it will attack. This list represents that priority in descending order:



1. Closest enemy unit or hero attacking a friendly hero with auto attack.

2. Closest enemy unit or hero attacking the tower itself with auto attack.

3. Closest enemy unit or hero attacking any friendly unit with auto attack.

4. Closest enemy unit.

5. Closest enemy hero.

6. Closest enemy catapult.



The tower will only switch targets under four circumstances:



1. If the targeted enemy unit or hero goes out of range.

2. If the targeted enemy unit or hero dies.

3. If an enemy unit or hero targets a friendly unit or hero.

4. If an enemy hero being attacked by the tower manually attacks another enemy unit or hero (in which case, the tower will select a new target based on the above priority order).



Number 3 is what I was talking about. This way you can draw tower aggro off of you without backing out of the range.



Doing it is simple. You just have to do like if you were about to deny a creep (it doesnt have to be under 50% health), and the tower will target that creep instead of you for the following shots.



Top 4.6. Offtime Jungling Offtime jungling has become slightly less significant than what it used to be, but its not obsolete just yet. So here you go.

Offtime jungling is a method of farm boosting, it is done by farming, usually a large camp, near mid.



Large creeps are difficult enemies. They all have access to some abilities that can be dangerous if they're not approached with caution. They give anywhere between 86-161 gold and 160-243 experience.



An average Large creep camp yields 124 gold and 200 experience.



As the mid what you do to farm this camp consistently is:



-First off you need a good AoE Nuke, pretty much anything that fits in that category. The best example is Shadowraze Scream of Pain Shockwave



-You can stack the camp if you want, but it doesnt always boost your farm, a bad stack can bottleneck you if you cant take it down as fast.



-Bottlecrow, the large camps close to mid are also relatively close to the base, if you manage to get a flying courrier early on, you will be able to use your nukes freely to take down the camp over and over between waves.



-It is recommended to first nuke the lane's creepwave, to push it up as much as possible, and create some time for you to go into the jungle, bottle up, nuke the camp, bottlecrow, and get back to lane.

Large creeps are difficult enemies. They all have access to some abilities that can be dangerous if they're not approached with caution. They give anywhere between 86-161 gold and 160-243 experience.-First off you need a good AoE Nuke, pretty much anything that fits in that category. The best example is, its really low cost, really high damage, and you have three on separate cooldowns. Other spells like, etc, do the trick aswell.-You can stack the camp if you want, but it doesnt always boost your farm, a bad stack can bottleneck you if you cant take it down as fast.-Bottlecrow, the large camps close to mid are also relatively close to the base, if you manage to get a flying courrier early on, you will be able to use your nukes freely to take down the camp over and over between waves.-It is recommended to first nuke the lane's creepwave, to push it up as much as possible, and create some time for you to go into the jungle, bottle up, nuke the camp, bottlecrow, and get back to lane.

Top 5. Warding Ugh... damn full guides. Well, here we have warding, which is placing Observer Wards, exciting am I right?



The following are 10 key spots for observer wards, with the "why are they useful".





First off we have this really classic ward for the radiant side, the reason I like this ward when playing radiant is because it not only shows you a bit of the jungle uphill, but also shows you the path from top to the rune, and you can time properly if you need to race for it against enemy supports from top.







These couple of wards are really good. Placing them along those corner, near the ramp, puts them far enough that the true sight radius doesnt catch them. It helps you providing constant vision of the opposing mid, for easy missing calls, and to know what they are up to, also helps to harass and fully removes their possibility of using fog of war uphill.





This ward can be a little hard to place without getting noticed, but in that little bush the tower true sight range doesnt reach, from either tower, again, its like the uphill ward, but more invasive and useful for a smaller amount of situations.



Situational ward.





Same for the radiant side, but this one has the uphill advantage.





When playing dire side this ward is great, gives rune vision, vision of the uphill, and all the paths leading to the bottom rune, except the river. I would say if you are running an aggresive trilane this ward is a must.





When playing radiant, this ward gives you vision of the opposing mid's uphill, good for preventing rune races. Also gives rune vision.







When tier 1 falls, and your team is expecting retaliation or a counter push down of their tower, ward it up.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Sometimes against some mid heroes, warding a rune is a must, and if you are in a pub where people wont buy wards, you can sacrifice your Iron Branch

Sometimes against some mid heroes, warding a rune is a must, and if you are in a pub where people wont buy wards, you can sacrifice youres to have yourself some wards, and play confortably. Dont risk it for 150 gold.

Top 6. Hot Time & How To Behave In contrast to "off time". Hot Time is the parts of the game where stuff is going on, ganks, rune constests, pushes, teamfights.



Knowing what to do during hot time and doing it properly is the signature of a kickass mid, so check it out.



See the next sections.



Top 6.1. Windows Of Opportunity Simplifying it a tad. A window of opportunity is when the opposing mid ****s up. This means that he is out of position, is at low hp and its not leaving, is attempting an obvious gank, or is trying to contest a rune when you are going to win it, and maybe even turn around and get the kill if its a good rune.



So. How to take advantage of the windows of opportunity?

Number 1: Be confident. When diving a kill for example, the last thing you want to be is hesitant. If you already started diving its for a reason, but dont be dumb; see next point.

Number 2: Dont be dumb. You need to realize where are your limits, and so have to do your teammates, if some supports are trying to kill a jungler, and the jungler manages to pull off their escape, winning a considerable distance, its not time to rotate, its time to leave the kill, as you can be counter ganked, especially if you dive a tower and the rest of team realizes it, a single TP behind you, the tower you are just diving will even the odds, and be careful with offlaners, they will kick your *** with their level advantage. Be especially careful around Tidehunter window of opportunity.

Number 3: Know your weapons. At least for the heroes you play the most, memorize the numbers for spells, and right click damage. When midding, and in early fights, its really helpful if not key, having the gut feeling and knowing exactly if those Heat Seeking Missile

Number 4: Know your enemy. Keep in mind who are you midding against, if its Pudge

Killing the opposing mid, solo, and without a rune, its a big ego boost. And it really shows who is the alpha male in the match. And for his mistakes their teammates will suffer. When diving a kill for example, the last thing you want to be is hesitant. If you already started diving its for a reason, but dont be dumb; see next point.You need to realize where are your limits, and so have to do your teammates, if some supports are trying to kill a jungler, and the jungler manages to pull off their escape, winning a considerable distance, its not time to rotate, its time to leave the kill, as you can be counter ganked, especially if you dive a tower and the rest of team realizes it, a single TP behind you, the tower you are just diving will even the odds, and be careful with offlaners, they will kick your *** with their level advantage. Be especially careful aroundhe is a massive early rotation machine if given aAt least for the heroes you play the most, memorize the numbers for spells, and right click damage. When midding, and in early fights, its really helpful if not key, having the gut feeling and knowing exactly if thoses are going to reach, and knowing if they are getting the kill, is extremely rewarding.Keep in mind who are you midding against, if itsdont run around like a headless chicken, but have well measured moves, so you minimize the chance of getting caught out. Dont dive people with disables, all that stuff.

Top 6.1.1. Right Clicks & Bodyblocking This section is aimed for early fighting posibility. Not creep blocking.



If you have seen competitive matches, you will see that in those ultra mlg level 1, 5 man ganks or teamfights, you will notice that they use their hero to bodyblock enemies and stutter block them to slow them and the rest can catch up. This is actually not that hard once you are positioned well.



With tons of practice, and a proper hero, you can do this when in 1v1 situations, stutter bodyblocking and ocassionally right clicking, of course if you have a slow is better, but this can create some extra couple of seconds to right click someone down.



My favourite heroes for doing this are:



- Pudge

- Queen of Pain

- Vengeful Spirit



Especially Queen of Pain as with a level 1 blink you can position yourself really well for bodyblocking, but try to not be predictable.



Top 6.2. Ganking Ganking! Wheeee!



To make my life, and the guide easier I will refer to the Dota 2 Wiki here, and do a small synthesis here to what is relevant.

Ganking, if you didnt know, is the act of actively moving around the map in order to kill an enemy hero, most of the time, in a numbers, or item/level advantage.



Ganking is used to gain an overall experience and gold advantage. Successful ganks can significantly slow down an enemy carry's farm, help a teammate recover a difficult lane, and provide a time window to push down a tower or to kill Roshan. To gain an early advantage, active ganking and pushing are essentially mandatory. Additionally, ganking is often the easiest way to kill heroes when the other team has a large advantage in the late game.



Ganking also serves as a counter to enemies trying to push because they must move deep into your territory, where they are often isolated and have little vision. After the enemy pushers are ganked, your team can execute a counterpush to negate the advantage the other team was trying to gain.

Here are some ganking tips I found on reddit



-Ganking needs to be well timed and well planned to work. A successful gank should result in enemy kills without loss of your own heroes or wasted time spent doing a gank. If your not confident of a gank succeeding, don't do it. Failed ganking and overextension are on the commonest reasons pub games are lost.



-You can do a gank at any point of the game. A level 1 gank is particularly strong if you are part of a trilane.



-Your gank targets should be someone both key, i.e. carry/mid player and easy to kill. Some heroes are a lot easier to kill early game: Storm spirit, Naix are great examples. You want to shut these heroes down as soon as possible.



-It is obvious enough but do not target heroes who you don't have a strong chance of killing. For example, as stupid as it sounds, it is common in pubs to throw nukes and stuns on a Bounty Hunter



-The ability of a hero to do a successful gank is level dependant. Vengeful Spirit Bane



-Ganking mid is a bit harder - you usually need atleast 2 disables to gank mid. And when ganking mid, make sure you smoke up and walk up to the high ground. This way, your mid hero can initiate on the enemy and you can come and flank the enemy mid from behind

Preparation, communication and the element of surprise are both key to a successful gank.

Preparation - invis hero? - get dust/sentries. Nature's Prophet Quelling Blade



-The person in lane should prepare for a gank by controlling the creep equilibrium such that the enemy is further away from the tower - do this by denying creeps earlier. Do not look aggressive before your allies are in position.

Proper positioning is important for ganking. Some heroes have low range disables/abilities. Lina Zeus



-Surprise - to walk into a lane, unseen and into position there are many ways. Smoke of Deceit Tiny Storm Spirit



-Communication - communicate who you want to target and who will initiate. Make sure all people involved in the gank focus the same person. Too many pub ganks go wrong because there is no focus fire



-Chaining stuns - you want to chain stuns and not stack them. There is no point stunning a hero who is already disabled. Instead, time it such that the next disable hits right after the first one wears off. However, if your target has a ability like Blink



-Save abilities to guarantee kills. For eg: as a Lina Dragon Slave



-Saving abilities, if possible try to save a disable so that your target can't just TP away from you. In the early game, do not hesitate to use big ults to secure kills on important targets. A solo Black Hole



-When the target is disabled, move your hero so you position yourself along the expected

retreat path of the target.



-If you think you'll be doing a lot of ganking as a team, pick Bounty Hunter



-Sizing up the enemy you are ganking is also very important. For example, a farmed Lifestealer Infest



-Vision, wards and game sense are critical to successful ganks. Running into the entire enemy team by accident will lose you the game. Hence, if you see a solo farming carry, in most cases, they are not stupid and either have backup nearby or some escape plan. Look at the map - if you see the whole team missing, he may be playing bait.



-Consider how fast reinforcements may arrive when ganking. Diving past towers is risky because the enemy can TP in fast. Conversely, a gank in the enemy jungle is safer because it support takes longer to arrive. Be very wary of invis heroes and heroes with global

presence like wisp, tinker, prophet. They may be quickly turn the gank around.



-DO NOT overextend. There is no point chasing a hero who has faster MS than you unless you can get off a ranged disable.

However, some heroes have to be played balls to the wall; For example; Night Stalker



-If you do decide to tower dive, let your tankiest hero take the shots. If the person tower tanking is getting low, switch tower aggro by A-clicking an allied unit. This way tower damage is balanced and one hero is a lot less likely to die.

Wow, sorry for that, it was just relevant. Lets get into detail shall we...

Ganking is used to gain an overall experience and gold advantage. Successful ganks can significantly slow down an enemy carry's farm, help a teammate recover a difficult lane, and provide a time window to push down a tower or to kill Roshan. To gain an early advantage, active ganking and pushing are essentially mandatory. Additionally, ganking is often the easiest way to kill heroes when the other team has a large advantage in the late game.Ganking also serves as a counter to enemies trying to push because they must move deep into your territory, where they are often isolated and have little vision. After the enemy pushers are ganked, your team can execute a counterpush to negate the advantage the other team was trying to gain.-Ganking needs to be well timed and well planned to work. A successful gank should result in enemy kills without loss of your own heroes or wasted time spent doing a gank. If your not confident of a gank succeeding, don't do it. Failed ganking and overextension are on the commonest reasons pub games are lost.-You can do a gank at any point of the game. A level 1 gank is particularly strong if you are part of a trilane.-Your gank targets should be someone both key, i.e. carry/mid player and easy to kill. Some heroes are a lot easier to kill early game: Storm spirit, Naix are great examples. You want to shut these heroes down as soon as possible.-It is obvious enough but do not target heroes who you don't have a strong chance of killing. For example, as stupid as it sounds, it is common in pubs to throw nukes and stuns on awithout any form of detection.-The ability of a hero to do a successful gank is level dependant.is an excellent roamer for having a strong guaranteed level 1 stun whileis more powerful at level 6 when his ganks have a almost 100% chance of success.-Ganking mid is a bit harder - you usually need atleast 2 disables to gank mid. And when ganking mid, make sure you smoke up and walk up to the high ground. This way, your mid hero can initiate on the enemy and you can come and flank the enemy mid from behindPreparation, communication and the element of surprise are both key to a successful gank.Preparation - invis hero? - get dust/sentries.? - getor make sure you have tree clearing abilities.-The person in lane should prepare for a gank by controlling the creep equilibrium such that the enemy is further away from the tower - do this by denying creeps earlier. Do not look aggressive before your allies are in position.Proper positioning is important for ganking. Some heroes have low range disables/abilities.andare excellent examples. If these heroes are too far away, wait for them to come closer.-Surprise - to walk into a lane, unseen and into position there are many ways.helps you walk past wards. Town Portal scrolls allow you to be across the map in seconds. When TPing, obviously avoid letting the enemy creeps see you coming. Night time, it is a lot easier to do this. Later in the game, blink dagger and force staff are awesome for surprise initiation, as is's throw.is a hero who excels at surprise initiation.-Communication - communicate who you want to target and who will initiate. Make sure all people involved in the gank focus the same person. Too many pub ganks go wrong because there is no focus fire-Chaining stuns - you want to chain stuns and not stack them. There is no point stunning a hero who is already disabled. Instead, time it such that the next disable hits right after the first one wears off. However, if your target has a ability like, you want to make sure that there is some overlap between the disables so there is no risk of the target escaping.-Save abilities to guarantee kills. For eg: as aganking, I would savefor later as it has sick range and will prevent enemy heroes from escaping. This doesn't mean KS. Use your abilities to guarantee kills but don't use it to KS guaranteed kills from your carry.-Saving abilities, if possible try to save a disable so that your target can't just TP away from you. In the early game, do not hesitate to use big ults to secure kills on important targets. A soloon an enemy Antimage is worth it if it guarantees the kill.-When the target is disabled, move your hero so you position yourself along the expectedretreat path of the target.-If you think you'll be doing a lot of ganking as a team, pickand get rich.-Sizing up the enemy you are ganking is also very important. For example, a farmedis very very hard to kill. If you wanna gank him, make sure you have the right stuff - preferably a stun that goes through magic immunity, enough DPS. Kill all the creeps near him with AoE abilities so he can't-Vision, wards and game sense are critical to successful ganks. Running into the entire enemy team by accident will lose you the game. Hence, if you see a solo farming carry, in most cases, they are not stupid and either have backup nearby or some escape plan. Look at the map - if you see the whole team missing, he may be playing bait.-Consider how fast reinforcements may arrive when ganking. Diving past towers is risky because the enemy can TP in fast. Conversely, a gank in the enemy jungle is safer because it support takes longer to arrive. Be very wary of invis heroes and heroes with globalpresence like wisp, tinker, prophet. They may be quickly turn the gank around.-DO NOT overextend. There is no point chasing a hero who has faster MS than you unless you can get off a ranged disable.However, some heroes have to be played balls to the wall; For example;. Still, tower dive only if you know what you're doing. As always, not dying > kills in most situations.-If you do decide to tower dive, let your tankiest hero take the shots. If the person tower tanking is getting low, switch tower aggro by A-clicking an allied unit. This way tower damage is balanced and one hero is a lot less likely to die.

Top 6.2.1 Sidelanes Ganking Mid A sidelane rotation towards mid is needed when the opposing mid is, either getting out of hand, or is a farming mid that can farm safely, and there is not much you, as a mid, can do alone.



This is when supports come in! yay!



Actually landing a gank on mid as a support is simple, its as simple as:



-Having better warding.

-Dewarding.

-Being sneaky and knowing good gank routes (see below).

- Smoke of Deceit, and using it to it max potential.

-Good setup. Stun, disable of sort, maybe a good slow such as Leech Seed could work in some situations.

Top 6.2.1.1. Ganking Routes For Radiant Mid To clarify the title, these are ganking route for ganking the radiant midder.





The most basic one, do this if you have a proper disable, such as Frostbite Disruption Sacred Arrow





This one is a bit more aggresive. The first support enters from the right, being obvious and making the enemy mid return to their safe zone, then, the mid and the support keep pushing in, a second support comes out of the juke paths at the right of the tower and sets up with a stun or slow. The mid and other support follow up.





A variation in which both supports go from the juke paths to behind, better against mids with quick escapes, such as Leap Skewer





As a ganking support, this is a path you should avoid at all costs, this alley highground is really dangerous in the sense that you are going too deep behind a tower that could call in TPs from teammates. You can dive in if you think you can complete the kill, but be ready for rotations and trades.

The first support enters from the right, being obvious and making the enemy mid return to their safe zone, then, the mid and the support keep pushing in, a second support comes out of the juke paths at the right of the tower and sets up with a stun or slow. The mid and other support follow up.this is a path you should avoid at all costs, this alley highground is really dangerous in the sense that you are going too deep behind a tower that could call in TPs from teammates. You can dive in if you think you can complete the kill, but be ready for rotations and trades.

Top 6.2.1.2. Ganking Routes For Dire Mid These are some common routes for ganking the dire mid hero.





This route is really obvious and easy to escape unless you have a really good setup, or the opposing mid is deep in lane, which wont happen much.





This one is a little better. It creates a choke point and makes very easy for the support coming from the river to set up. It does require the pushed lane though.





If you manage to pull this off it will work every time, unless you are ganking something like a Slark Coming down from that uphill really closes any escape windows, but positioning yourself up there requires quite a walk, so see if its worth it.





This is a dire tower dive. Effective if done with the right heroes, remember how I told you it is easier to dive dire side? Those trees are the key.

It creates a choke point and makes very easy for the support coming from the river to set up. It does require the pushed lane though.Coming down from that uphill really closes any escape windows, but positioning yourself up there requires quite a walk, so see if its worth it.Effective if done with the right heroes, remember how I told you it is easier to dive dire side?

Top 6.2.2.1 Mid Ganking Sidelanes (Radiant Mid) Routes you, as a Mid, can take to gank the dire sidelanes.





Most basic one, if the lane if pushed up to the sideshop, this gank will work most of the time if they didnt have vision of you.





Although this is a great follow up route. If you arent careful you can be spotted by lane creeps when they walk by though.







This is sort of your safe approach if you think there are wards around.





With sidelane initiation, near the tier 1 radiant tower, this is a good follow up for kill securing. Haste rune is optional.





Not the most effective route, as this is a better route for ganking radiant heroes. But still, can work with a rune.





The safe approach for the next route.





This is a nasty one, if you manage you set yourself here and come out when its the most critical, the gank ends so fast you can call in rotations and still come out without trading deaths.

If you arent careful you can be spotted by lane creeps when they walk by though.

Top 6.2.2.2. Mid Ganking Sidelanes (Dire Mid) For the Dire Mid, this is some routes to kill radiant sidelanes.





Most of the time this side is warded, to prevent this gank route, but if you take the jungle side way you can get up to here without being spotted. Its a great dive route and the only possible escape is through the juke paths, that arent really an escape route.





This route is mostly defensive. See the next variation.





This route calls for more action, careful because if your top lane buddies are scared of diving the tower you could die for going too deep.





This is not the most effective route, but its more of a counter initiation from the mid to help out, if you saw someone rotate top to kill your top lane buddies, take this route and give them a hand. But time it properly or you will get in the middle of a lost fight.





As I said, as the dire mid, this route is more efficient. Since the radiant safelane is longer than the dire hardlane, to the mid point, usually they will have to run further or juke around if they want to stay alive.

Its a great dive route and the only possible escape is through the juke paths, that arent really an escape route.But time it properly or you will get in the middle of a lost fight.Since the radiant safelane is longer than the dire hardlane, to the mid point, usually they will have to run further or juke around if they want to stay alive.

Top 6.2.3. Mid Ganking Junglers Ganking junglers as a midder is really easy.



Until the 10 minute mark, most junglers have no way of escape, except for Nature's Prophet, that can teleport. Coming in with some right clicks and a nuke is usually enough. If you get a haste rune and there is no lane to gank, and the opposing mid is too strong, gank their jungle.



The key to not cause a fall back is too go along the treelines, so you are hidden in fog, and look for any evidence, like an empty camp, and predict where they are gonna be, and close their escape routes that way. Most of the time a jungler's escape route is just the shortest way back to their base.



Top 6.3. >Pushing Mid! Oh no, they are doing it. You know how annoying is when you are doing a great job mid, and your teammates just come over and push the enemy tower down?



Taking down the tier 1 mid tower happens in two different situations



-There is a big teamfight from defense and offense from both sides.

OR

-Nobody cares and creeps push it over.



In your experience I am sure you have noticed this, that those early tower defenses almost never happen in mid lane, its just sidelanes, because yes, losing mid leaves you sort of exposed, but mid is a short lane and a few meters up there is another tower. However if you are playing Dire side and your top tier 1 falls, your entire jungle is left exposed, and it will be a pain in the neck farming from behind.



So, most of the time you are going to be pushing the mid tower by yourself, there are heroes really good for these kind of jobs.



- Techies Demolitions

- Pugna and his Nether Blast

- Kunkka with his fast clearing creepwaves and high base damage.



If you won your lane, you can take down the tower by yourself in three creepwaves, of course, if said creepwaves are not pulled back, etc, its also a sort of push and pull between you and them.



Get the last hit on the tower, is a big pile of gold. And dont get denied, even better, lure them into trying to deny the tower and gank them around, I do that a lot with Pudge for example.

Top 6.4. >Defending Mid! Defending the mid lane, especially the first tower is really tricky. The lane is so short that people either go all in and force the defense out, or dont push at all. The key to exploiting this is on the smoke of deceit, moving similarly as if you were to gank the opposing mid laner, but this time, you are going to gank a full team.



Refer to the gank routes on previous sections.



Midders I really like for defending my tier 1 tower with my team:



- Magnus

- Puck

- Shadow Fiend (if I went for Shadow Blade or my team has initiation)

- Brewmaster.



Midders I really dont like defending with:



- Tusk even though he is great at it, he isnt mighty with walrus punch on cooldown.

- Pudge, sure, if you can fish out a carry that will serve as initiation, but you have to position yourself really well or else you are initiating on yourself.



If you are playing a farming mid you will find this really annoying and will **** up your farm speed, transition into the jungle or attempt to hurry up the initiation to get it over with.

Top 7. Runes Runes are the Mario Kart Boxes of DotA. Runes are stronger than what people think, if you don't see haste runes as easy double kills you don't get the point.



I consider Bottle core on anyone who takes mid, maybe it can be skipped on some farming mids for a faster core item, etc. But your best bet is buying a Bottle, as your first purchase after starting items.



On the vast majority of heroes, a full bottle means full health and mana pools, by far. This means that if you have a rune that you can grab safely, uncontested, you can literally, empty your mana pool at the other mid as harass, refill 100% of your mana pool, get the tune, and have a full bottle + a rune effect to kill the other mid if they didn't retreat from your harassing, or 50 gold and some exp.



If you need hp or mana and lose the possibility of a rune, you are going to have to bottlecrow, and in the meantime, the other mid who did get the rune is going to zone you out horribly, and you will lose exp.



So contesting runes is key. See the next section.

The runes and what they do is pretty self explanatory, but I will include how the effects help you as a midder.



If you didnt know:



At the beginning of every even minute on the game clock (x:00), two random runes will spawn, and one will always be a bounty rune. Existing runes are replaced by new spawns. At 0:00, both rune spawns are Bounty Runes that are twice as effective.



Runes can be picked up and stored in a Bottle



Bounty Rune: When activated, gives the hero experience and gold depending on the length of the game. Gives 50 + (5 * minute) experience and 50 + (2 * minute) gold. Both Bounty Runes spawning at 0:00 are twice as effective.



Apart from the Bounty Rune, Runes can be of various types. Here they are, listed by overall usefulness:



Haste Rune: When activated, sets the hero's minimum movement speed to 522 for 30 seconds and prevents slowing effects from bringing it below 522. The haste rune is noted first because as mid hero, especially one with proper spells for ganking, killing mids, ganking mids, swift mids, whatever you like to call them. With a Bottle Great for initiating the fights.



Double Damage Rune: When activated, gives the Hero, any controlled illusions, and Meepo clones within a 500 radius a +100% damage buff for 45 seconds. Illusions do not benefit from this buff. This only affects base attack damage and damage gained from attribute-increasing effects, not spell damage or damage increasing items like Divine Rapier Tusk Phantom Assassin does not serve as an initiation tool, but as a follow up tool, it adds more weight to your side of fights.



Rune of Invisibility: When activated, after a 2 seconds fade effect, gives the Hero invisibility for 45 seconds. Invisibility is broken if they perform actions such as attacking, using items, or using spells. Heroes can still be spotted by any unit with True Sight, such as towers or Sentry Wards, but will not lose the invisibility buff. Units under the rune will maintain their collision. During the fade time, it is possible to attack, use abilities or items without breaking invisibility. Nasty surprise! Not as good as the other two, but really helpful on the right situation. Such as getting off a perfect Dismember Duel Flaming Lasso Nether Swap Techies Reverse Polarity Skewer Also when bottled is a free escape.



Rune of Illusion: When activated, conjures 2 illusions of your hero which deal 35% damage. Melee illusions take 200% damage, while Ranged illusions take 300% damage. The illusions last 75 seconds. Underrated rune, if you are a ganking hero, placing illusions on sidelanes can make them play carefully, giving your mates in that lane move up and initiate, they provide a lot of vision, they can bodyblock, really important, and they provide some damage if you manage to lock down the enemy hero. My favourite ones are: Bottle Clockwerk Hookshot Power Cogs Bane Fiend's Grip Necronomicon Legion Commander



Rune of Regeneration: On activation grants a big bunch of regen that will almost always refill fully your hp and mana, if the user takes damage it stops the effect. Only a limited amount of opportunities will present the regeneration as a combat upperhand, this is most of the time a sustain rune, aids your laning, and by a lot. During the effect, use all the spells you can, to harass, or whatever, free of charge.



This order is only referring to general lines and can be different depending on the situation.

At the beginning of every even minute on the game clock (x:00), two random runes will spawn, and one will always be a bounty rune. Existing runes are replaced by new spawns. At 0:00, both rune spawns are Bounty Runes that are twice as effective.Runes can be picked up and stored in a. Runes that are stored in bottle will be automatically used after two minutes. A hero that stored a rune can use the stored rune manually by using the bottle. Using a bottled rune will refill the hero's bottle to 3/3 Full. Bottles cannot be dropped or transferred if they have a rune in them.When activated, gives the hero experience and gold depending on the length of the game. Gives 50 + (5 * minute) experience and 50 + (2 * minute) gold. Both Bounty Runes spawning at 0:00 are twice as effective.When activated, sets the hero's minimum movement speed to 522 for 30 seconds and prevents slowing effects from bringing it below 522. The haste rune is noted first because as mid hero, especially one with proper spells for ganking, killing mids, ganking mids, swift mids, whatever you like to call them. With a, since the haste runes duration is rather short, activating it just when you need it makes it really strong, guaranteed kills if they arent hugging a tower.When activated, gives the Hero, any controlled illusions, and Meepo clones within a 500 radius a +100% damage buff for 45 seconds. Illusions do not benefit from this buff. This only affects base attack damage and damage gained from attribute-increasing effects, not spell damage or damage increasing items like. The double damage rune is, as you may think, good on high base damage heroes, some nasty heroes with double damage are those with critical hits built in, such asand, however, the main difference is that the double damage, it adds more weight to your side of fights.When activated, after a 2 seconds fade effect, gives the Hero invisibility for 45 seconds. Invisibility is broken if they perform actions such as attacking, using items, or using spells. Heroes can still be spotted by any unit with True Sight, such as towers or Sentry Wards, but will not lose the invisibility buff. Units under the rune will maintain their collision. During the fade time, it is possible to attack, use abilities or items without breaking invisibility.Not as good as the other two, but really helpful on the right situation. Such as getting off a perfect, a spooky, a point blanksuicide squad attack, a-lessWhen activated, conjures 2 illusions of your hero which deal 35% damage. Melee illusions take 200% damage, while Ranged illusions take 300% damage. The illusions last 75 seconds.if you are a ganking hero, placing illusions on sidelanes can make them play carefully, giving your mates in that lane move up and initiate, they provide a lot of vision, they can bodyblock, really important, and they provide some damage if you manage to lock down the enemy hero. My favourite ones are:d illusion oninto, use the rune and mess them up,, activate the rune,, micro illusions into attacking,style, also with, same logic.On activation grants aif the user takes damage it stops the effect. Only a limited amount of opportunities will present the regeneration as a combat upperhand,During the effect, use all the spells you can, to harass, or whatever, free of charge.This order is only referring to general lines and can be different depending on the situation.

Top 7.1. Contesting Runes & Rune Races Contesting runes is something that will happen really often if the lane and matchup is balanced. One support is enough to control a rune race from happening, as he doesnt have to fight to prevent the enemy mid from taking the rune, but just take it and go back to lane. If you are caught in a similar situation, move up to him, and compell him to grab it, but dont go in dangerous situations; by doing this, you are making the support have no other option but take it, as you are approaching, however, coordinated or experienced teams and supports, will try to bring you to the line as close as they can, and use this strategy I am telling you, against you, as an initiation tactic. So if you dont feel confident dont risk it.



If there is a brand new wave arriving, and it is important that:



-You get the rune, for whatever, refilling, for a gank.

-They don't get the rune, sustain, etc.



Moving in for the rune at xx:54 is usually enough, when warded, when not warded, going at xx:51 or even xx:48, can serve as a signal for supports nearby that you are going to camp it, and if contest happens, you will have people on your side; and if the rune spawns as haste or double damage you could have an easy pair of kills.



Top 8. Mid Heroes So, Mid heroes. Heroes that excel in solo play, and in fact, are limited when teammates are around or more than one enemy are up against them. Mid heroes are most of the time dependent on their spells, and so, mana injection, via bottle.



Also Mid heroes are known for being powerful early, from having an exp and gold advantage, and using it to push their teams advantages.



Mid heroes are divided into two big groups, the, what I like to call, swift mids (ofter called ganking mids, combat mids, killing mids, etc), and the farming mids.

On top of these, there are some special lineups, not commonly seen, that run a duolane mid.



See the next three sections.

Top 8.1. Swift Mids Swift Mids. I will trust your experience and try to address what swift mids are by telling you various examples, before giving you a proper definition.



- Puck

- Pudge

- Queen of Pain

- Magnus

- Huskar

- Mirana

- Night Stalker

- Slark

- Storm Spirit

- Earth Spirit

- Tusk

- Zeus (depends on the player)



For the most part, some others can be considered too:



-Pheonix

- Axe

- Vengeful Spirit when played mid

-Some playstyles of Invoker



As a swift mid, you want to be on top of your opponent, a 1v1 on mid with two swift mid heroes is where the most action happens. In these scenarios is when the most rune contesting and mid killing mid happens.



If you dont want to risk the game leaving mid to be a true 1v1 (as someone who doesnt trust whoever is midding), support ganks to mid generally do the trick, and limit the possibilities of a swift mid, especially if killed a couple of times or zoned out, leaving them underleveled.

Top 8.2. Farming Mids Farming mids. So these are less exciting, the concept of a farming carry is to give the possibility of easy farm to a hero with potential lane dominance. These are very spell dependent to keep a good lane equilibrium and to keep the opposing mid cornered.



Main examples for this that come into mind are:



-Farming mids. So these are less exciting, the concept of a farming carry is to give the possibility of easy farm to a hero with potential lane dominance. These are very spell dependent to keep a good lane equilibrium and to keep the opposing mid cornered.

Main examples for this that come into mind are:

Death Prophets Crypt Swarm, Razors Plasma Field, Dragon Knights Breath Fire & Outworld Devourers Astral Imprisonment.

Other heroes played as farming mids that come into mind are;

Viper, Templar assassin, some playstyles of Tiny, some playstyles of invoker, most playstyles for ember spirit, necrophos, Lycan, Legion Commander, Drow Ranger, among others.

The farming mids tend to not leave mid unless it is completely necessary, this can represent any sidelane ganking, rune contests, etc. They are primarily focused in completing a solid creepscore and so, gold advantage, and so, item advantage, for an upper hand later in game.

Farming mids are sometimes considered so bound to their lane that they can delay their ult skill for level 9-10, to keep skilling spells to aid them lane, for example Death Prophet, while the other mid, for example, can already have something like Dream Coil available, and your laning becomes more and more dangerous, especially then that you dont really have a proper big item. See Offtime jungling as an option.



- Death Prophets Crypt Swarm

- Razors Plasma Field

- Dragon Knights Breath Fire

- Outworld Devourers Astral Imprisonment



Other heroes played as farming mids that come into mind are:



- Viper

- Templar Assassin

-Some playstyles of Tiny

-Some playstyles of Invoker

-Most playstyles for Ember Spirit

- Necrophos

- Lycan

- Legion Commander

- Drow Ranger

-Among others.



The farming mids tend to not leave mid unless it is completely necessary, this can represent any sidelane ganking, rune contests, etc. They are primarily focused in completing a solid creepscore and so, gold advantage, and so, item advantage, for an upper hand later in game.

Farming mids are sometimes considered so bound to their lane that they can delay their ult skill for level 9-10, to keep skilling spells to aid them lane, for example Death Prophet, while the other mid, for example, can already have something like Dream Coil available, and your laning becomes more and more dangerous, especially then that you dont really have a proper big item.



See Offtime jungling as an option.

Top 8.3. Duo Mids Duo Mids! Aw rubbish, nothing like doing your block mid, arriving to the river and realizing you are going to have to mid to two people at the same time. Its heartbreaking, and you know that you are going to have the toughest lane of all, its like playing offlane, but in a shorter lane and with less juke paths.



Actually, a proper duo mid is really good, viable option. If done in the optimal conditions, breaks the lineup from their mid point, and is really good against strats that depend on a powerful mid movement, except King of Pain (not to be confused with Queen of Pain, king of pain is an old, gimmicky, strategy, that actually with 6.83 may become viable again, where you level 1 rosh with a Queen of Pain, a Lone Druid and three other heroes, when roshan is low, everyone leaves except Queen of Pain and the spirit bear, giving the aegis, last hit gold, and almost 6 levels straight to Queen of Pain, that means Bottle, Boots of Speed, and possibly first blood).



There are three weaknesses on playing a duo mid, even when played properly, your other lanes are left weak, and you are using one of the supports in mid. Second, the heroes that can run a duo mid can run a solo mid aswell, and sometimes it is just better; this is not the weakness, but those heroes are really limited, there are not much heroes that can duo mid without that much withdraw of exp and gold. And finally the third weakness is that, by doing a duo mid, you are asking for a centralized game, these occurrences tend to happen more on pubs than in proper matches, but they result in a really strange game, where most of the people have severely hurt economy, and lack of exp.



Centralized games are those that call all 10 people to defend and attack tier 1 mid constantly, but there is no initiation, and when there is, and teamfight happens, most of the time the heroes return and the situation is still stuck, people are afraid of going out and farming because when noticing movement, the teams move in big groups, 4 and 5, and getting caught out alone by that large group is not only resulting in your death, but in a possible teamfight.



To avoid this happening, your duo mid must focus their objective on taking the opposing mid tier 1 tower as soon as possible, and your teammates from the sidelanes, push up aswell, so any rotation is controlled by multiple pushes.



Basically how the duo mid plays out is that you play a hero that is great at almost killing, such as Tiny or Dragon Knight, that have a good kit but never quite get the kills done if the foe is at full hp at first. Heroes that need follow up on their fighting in order to complete kills, and that is what the duo mid support does, contributes with damage output, and sustain, such as healing, mana replenishing and ultimately, rune control.



For your core duo mid component you can get creative, under the criteria I gave you, but here are some really good duo mid support components:



The infamous Wisp (thats Io for you dota 2 newbies), Keeper of the Light, Omniknight ( Degen Aura is broken in duo mids), Undying (surprised? Decay, healing; Tombstone is one of the best spells for early fighting), Situationally abbadon, but he is really defensive and thats not what a duo mid is for, Vengeful Spirit (best hero ever, fits everywhere), Shadow Demon! (he is amazing along Kunkka, Disruption is a great setup spell, and you can brainlessly land a ghost ship with it, with Soul Catcher amplification).

Top 9. 1v1 Mid Only Playing 1 on 1 against other people to measure who is better at mid doesnt really says much, mid is more that just offtime and windows of opportunity. But yes, you can use this to practice many things, how to block, how to maintain creep equilibrium, contesting runes, harassing and avoiding harass, among other stuff. Funny enough, heroes that are good at 1v1 Mid arent really the best mid heroes when we look at regular matches, but these heroes are obscenely good at 1v1.



Gyrocopter Rocket Barrage Homing Missile Force Staff Kunkka X Marks the Spot Torrent Meepo Poof Pudge Shadow Fiend Kunkka Templar Assassin



Also dont pick silencer when in a 1v1, its just nasty good, dont do it. mid is more that just offtime and windows of opportunity. But yes, you can use this to practice many things, how to block, how to maintain creep equilibrium, contesting runes, harassing and avoiding harass, among other stuff., heroes that are good at 1v1 Mid arent really the best mid heroes when we look at regular matches, but these heroes are obscenely good at 1v1.(So much burst damage, if you catch them without creepwave,does a ton of damage, and having a 500 magical nuke in, ranged, that no one can kill by themselves is really an easy win, also,),is great at 1v1 because he has so much lane control, hiswas buffed beyond ridiculousness with 6.83, landingand ghost ship is really easy now, at least at one hero, get phase boots and a crystalys and you are good to go; but dont forget your bottle., he is amazing at sustaining a lane once he has a second meepo to stack the jungle, go back to base and back to lane effortlessly, if you know a bit of micro you can do earth bind after earth bind, andis a ton of damage output aswell, and on top of that you have a slowing attack. Any of these will destroy your typicalorcould have problems withbut thats it.

Top 10.1. Blink Dagger I have to make a section on this item just because it has so many uses.



As you have already seen, the blink ability can be used to disjoint spells, forward a bodyblock, escape, bait, hard initiation if you get it early and a burly ganking tool.

Mid heroes I consider Blink Dagger is a core pickup.



Brewmaster, Magnus, Templar Assassin, Axe, Bane, Kunkka (in some builds, personally I dont like blink first item Kunkka), Necrophos, Puck, Core Venomancer, Greedy Lina builds and some Windranger builds, position 4 Tusk, Tinker (rip in peperoni).



When you have practice and feel comfortable using a Blink Dagger often, consider it on any hero, even if your brain tells you need more damage items or survivability, get it if you need it.



It boosts your farming considerably aswell, if you are the jungling type.



BUT, THERE IS A BETTER OPTION!

Top 11. (Bonus) The Advanced Techniques Why the hell not, lets give out some more bad advice shall we?



Alright, these following concepts are about the stuff behind the show, stuff that has helped me in the past improve and get more confortable with concepts, especially practicing mid.



I hope its something helpful anyway.

YES! Ok, this is something I find that helps myself, but its not like the music its a motivator or something weird like that.



No no. If you are playing a hero in which you need to do specific stuff at specific times, having a playlist will help you with timings. Its basically having audio cues for your match. I have different playlists for different heroes of course.



Also helps you remember that you are supposed to have fun. See Dendi being all calm and collected when mistakes happen.

Muscle Memory : It is key that you are confortable with your keybinds and that you are able to perform them quickly and with no error. Basically have macros in your brain.

For the rest practice, and get the feel of everything, nobody lands blind Meat Hook Sun Strike Ok, this is something I find that helps myself, but its not like the music its a motivator or something weird like that.If you are playing a hero in which you need to do specific stuff at specific times, having a playlist will help you with timings. Its basically having audio cues for your match.For the rest practice, and get the feel of everything, nobody lands blinds ors without practicing and feeling confortable with their playing.