Dota 2 Hero Positions: Roles 1 to 5 Explained

Dota 2 hero positions are numbered 1 to 5 by farm priority: position 1 (carry) plays the safe lane, position 2 (mid) the middle lane, position 3 (offlane) the hard lane, and positions 4 and 5 are the supports. The lower the number, the more gold and experience the hero gets and the more the team relies on that hero's items in the late game. Supports do the opposite: they give up farm for vision, control and protecting the cores.

A role is not welded to a hero. With the right items and enough skill, many heroes can play mid as comfortably as they play support. Still, the basic grid of Dota 2 heroes by position looks like this, and knowing it keeps you from being a Faceless Void on support duty or an Invoker with no farm wandering the jungle. Below is every position: its job, key requirements and example heroes. The full roster is covered in our guide to all Dota 2 heroes.

Dota 2 hero positions at a glance

Positions 1, 2 and 3 are called cores: they need gold and items. Positions 4 and 5 are supports: they buy wards and consumables, and their heroes are built around abilities rather than expensive items.

Safe Lane (Carry, Position 1)

A common view is that position 1 heroes in Dota 2 are mindless damage dealers who only farm. In reality, the carry plays the safe lane (bottom for Radiant, top for Dire) and becomes the team's main source of late-game damage against both heroes and buildings. The carry's core job is to understand when its power peaks and to collect gold as efficiently as possible, starting with last-hitting creeps in lane.

Anti-Mage is the textbook item-dependent carry. Manta Style helps him survive and farm faster, while Abyssal Blade and Black King Bar turn him into a hero that is hard to catch and hard to stop. The enemy is not idle either and builds counter items such as Monkey King Bar, so a carry has to read the opposing build rather than follow a fixed item order.

Strong carries deal damage that is hard to counter, move quickly around the map and stay reliable for the whole game. Classic examples:

• Anti-Mage;

• Phantom Assassin (PA);

• Faceless Void (Void).

The strongest carries shift from patch to patch, so check the current list of the best Dota 2 heroes before you commit to one.

Mid Lane (Mid, Position 2)

The mid player's job is close to the carry's: farm and deal damage. The difference is that the mid plays one on one in the middle lane, so this hero gets more experience, reaches key levels first and is the first to gank other lanes. It is one of the most skill-intensive positions: a lost mid hurts the whole team, while a won mid hands the team the initiative on the map.

The logic is simple: more experience and levels lead to control over the opponent, which leads to more damage and a stronger position to keep growing. A good mid does not sit in lane all game. They watch the runes, help teammates and turn the lead into kills and towers. Many mid heroes can also slide to position 4 when needed, since they are built to play off their abilities and roam.

Typical position 2 heroes:

• Tinker;

• Windranger;

• Invoker.

Invoker is considered one of the hardest heroes in the game: he has three orbs (Quas, Wex and Exort) and ten spells to combine on the fly. Once you understand the system, he stays useful until the very last minute of the match.

Off Lane (Offlaner, Position 3)

Position 3 heroes in Dota 2 play the hard lane against the enemy carry and that carry's support. The offlaner's job is to keep the opposing carry from farming in peace, survive under pressure and draw the attention of enemy supports, without whom the cores are nearly helpless early on. In the midgame, the offlaner usually starts fights and soaks up damage.

Offlaners are loosely split into greedy and non-greedy picks. Non-greedy heroes need only a couple of items to do their job and leave the farm to the carry and the mid. Greedy ones need more gold and are picked more often for long games, where an item lead decides the late game.

Position 3 used to be associated with junglers: heroes such as Enigma, Nature’s Prophet (Furion) and Lone Druid often farmed the jungle. In modern Dota the offlaner almost always plays a lane, and the cores pick up jungle camps as the game goes on. Key requirements for an offlaner:

• high skill and game sense;

• the ability to hold a tough lane;

• a big health pool or ways to escape;

• good map awareness, including the jungle;

• the ability to start a fight or push a lane.

The classic offlaners and the easiest heroes to learn the role on are Axe, Centaur Warrunner, Mars and Tidehunter: they are durable and strong initiators even without expensive items.

Soft Support (Position 4)

Position 4 is more situational because it depends heavily on the draft. A few examples:

• the draft lacks damage: pick Witch Doctor or Skywrath Mage;

• the cores need saving: pick Dazzle or Oracle;

• the team lacks control: pick Shadow Shaman or Lion.

In Dota 2, position 4 heroes barely farm and rely on their abilities. They do need items, but not critically, and they spend gold with purpose: boots, wards, consumables and useful situational items. A soft support can help the position 5 player with wards when needed, but that is not the main job.

These heroes are strong from the start of the game, and they largely decide how fast the team seizes the initiative. A soft support is not tied to one lane and can show up anywhere on the map to help the carry, mid or offlaner.

Classic position 4 heroes in Dota 2:

• Lion;

• Shadow Demon;

• Shadow Shaman (Rhasta);

• Rubick.

A handful of items and they are already useful. The key skill is learning to roam and gank efficiently.

Hard Support (Position 5)

The line between positions 4 and 5 is blurry, but the hard support gets the least gold and experience on the team. This hero lanes with the carry in the safe lane, protects the carry from enemy heroes, helps secure last hits and deny creeps, and later provides vision for the team.

Position 5 is responsible for consumables and wards: vision, spotting invisible heroes and knowing what is happening in the fog of war. Without wards the whole team plays blind, so discipline matters more here than flashy kills.

Position 5 heroes are picked on a minimum-greed principle: maximum value from the very start. The second criterion is how much the hero strengthens the carry's lane, since the two stay together for the whole early game. Rubick, for example, is weaker in lane, while Winter Wyvern usually shines there.

Classic position 5 supports:

• Winter Wyvern;

• Witch Doctor (WD);

• Oracle;

• Lich;

• Vengeful Spirit.

How to pick your position

Dota 2 depends heavily on the situation: items and play style can noticeably change a hero's role in a match. That is why it pays to learn at least two positions and understand the jobs of the rest. Beginners usually do better with forgiving heroes, collected in our list of easy Dota 2 heroes. Once you settle on a position, put together your own build for it, and only then start working on raising your MMR.

And if you already have a favorite hero, you can dress it up: Dota 2 hero cosmetics are sold on the LIS-SKINS market.

FAQ

How many positions are there in Dota 2?

Five: position 1 (carry), position 2 (mid), position 3 (offlaner), position 4 (soft support) and position 5 (hard support). The number reflects farm priority: the lower it is, the more gold the hero gets.

What is the difference between position 4 and position 5?

The soft support (4) lanes with the offlaner and roams a lot, taking a bit more gold. The hard support (5) lanes with the carry in the safe lane, protects the carry and places most of the wards.

Which position is best for beginners?

The usual advice is to start with position 5 or a simple carry. Position 5 is a good way to learn the map, while a simple carry teaches farming and last-hitting. Mid and offlane take more experience.

Which positions are cores?

Positions 1, 2 and 3 are the cores: carry, mid and offlaner. They need gold and items, while positions 4 and 5 give up farm for the team.