Roles and positions
Where the team starts: who does what and what the positions are called.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Core | A hero the team plays around for damage. Farms a lot and scales with items. |
| Carry | The main core, position 1. Weak early, but the strongest by the late game. |
| Mid | The central-lane hero, position 2. Levels up fast and sets the tempo. |
| Offlane | The hard-lane hero, position 3. Often the initiator and the team's tank. |
| Support | A helper hero, positions 4 and 5. Vision, control, saving cores. |
| Initiator | The hero who starts a fight by landing control on the enemy. |
| Positions 1–5 | Role split by farm priority: 1 gets the most, 5 the least. |
Roles in detail — in the roles in Dota 2 guide.
Economy and farm
Everything about gold, experience and how a hero gets stronger. Power doesn't come from the shop alone: knowing neutral items and picking the right talents and builds add strength without extra gold.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Farm | Earning gold and experience by killing creeps and neutrals. |
| Last hit | Killing a creep with the final blow for gold. |
| Deny | Killing your own creep: the enemy gets no gold, and only half the experience from a lane creep. |
| GPM | Gold per minute — your income per minute, a measure of farming speed. |
| XPM | Experience per minute — your leveling speed. |
| Net worth | A hero's total value: gold plus all items. |
| Buyback | A paid instant revive for gold, without waiting for respawn. |
| Core item | A key build item after which the hero comes online. |
How to farm more efficiently — in the farming & last hits and GPM & XPM guides.
Map and movement
Terms for vision, movement and pressure on the map. A lot of it revolves around the river: controlling runes and their timings often decides who sets the tempo in the early game.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ward | A vision item: gives sight (observer) or reveals invisibles (sentry). |
| Gank | A surprise attack on an out-of-position enemy to get a kill. |
| Rotation | Moving a hero to another lane to create an advantage. |
| Push | Pressuring a lane and taking enemy towers. |
| Split push | Pressuring a far lane alone while the team distracts the enemy. |
| Stack | Gathering several neutral camps together for faster farm. |
| Pull | Drawing creeps into the jungle to control the lane. |
| MIA / miss | "Missing in action" — a warning that an enemy left the lane. |
| High ground | The elevated base area with the throne; favors the defender. |
More detail — in the warding, stacking & pulling and smoke gank guides.
Combat and fights
Words you hear during teamfights and trades.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Teamfight | A team battle involving most of the heroes. |
| Control (CC) | Abilities that stop an enemy from acting: stun and hex take control away, root holds them in place, silence blocks spells. |
| Stun | The target cannot move or use abilities. |
| Silence | Blocks ability use; the target can still move and attack. |
| Burst | Dealing a large amount of damage in a very short time. |
| AoE | Area-of-effect damage or effect hitting several targets. |
| Focus | Concentrating the team's damage on one target. |
| Dispel | Removing applied effects — your own buffs or enemy debuffs. |
| Kite | Dealing damage from range without letting the enemy reach you. |
Where to stand in a fight — in the teamfight positioning guide.
Meta and general slang
Words that describe the game's balance and come up in conversation.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Patch | A game update that changes the balance of heroes, items and mechanics. |
| Meta | The set of strongest heroes and strategies in the current patch. |
| Nerf / buff | Weakening (nerf) and strengthening (buff) a hero or item via a patch. |
| Counter-pick | Picking a hero that is strong against a specific enemy. |
| Imba | An unbalanced, overpowered hero or item. |
| Rosh (Roshan) | The strongest neutral; drops the Aegis and other rewards. |
| Aegis | Roshan's reward: revives the hero once after death. |
| Feed | Dying often, feeding the enemy gold and experience. |
| Tilt | A state where emotions stop you playing rationally. |
How to read balance — in the tier list & meta guide, and about Roshan — Roshan & Aegis.
