All Dota 2 Positions and Roles Explained, Pos 1-5 Guide

Dota 2 is a multiplayer game. Whether you load the game up alone or with a party of friends, you're expected to fill one of the Dota 2 position roles in a 5V5 match.

Speaking of which, there are five positions/roles in any Dota 2 team. Other factors, too, play out to allow one team to beat another, but having all positions/roles filled and executed flawlessly is arguably the best move made.

Therefore, it's essential to learn which roles exist in Dota 2, what they mean, and how to fulfill them in-game. But if you're having trouble performing your role well, consider getting a Dota 2 boosting service to get a head start in the MOBA game.

All Positions/Roles - Dota 2

There are five positions/roles in Dota 2:

• Role 1: Carry
• Role 2: Midlaner
• Role 3: Offlaner
• Role 4: Soft Support
• Role 5: Hard Support)

Carry - Position 1 in Dota 2

This Dota 2 role is the ultimate farmer in the entire team. A carry's job is to get as much gold as possible and aim for the win by all means necessary, whether by attacking the enemy high ground, split pushing across lanes, damaging enemy structures, or engaging in team fights to kill enemy heroes to gain an early game advantage.

Carries are relatively weak at low levels during the early laning stage but decisive at high levels, with valuable item gains in the late game. As such, many Dota 2 Carry heroes possess some farming ability. Those heroes lacking natural abilities to farm typically need crafted items that enhance their abilities economically while farming.

In the current meta, the Position 1 carry is backed by a Position 5 hero, supporting and allowing him to last hit. During the laning phase, a carry's presence translates to having all the last hits available to him to build the early-game items, such as Battle Fury and Blink Dagger. In longer Dota 2 matches, this gives you a massive advantage over the enemy team. After a carry has all his key items, he can go into the jungle for some farming before heading to the more contested spots on the map.

Every carry hero in Dota 2 has various power spikes. If your team's carry is set for Position 1, ensure you work towards your hero's item timings. Some good carry heroes are Phantom Assassin and Anti-Mage. Phantom Assassin and Anti-Mage are both great "Agile" carriers.

Midlaner - Position 2 in Dota 2

Position 2 is any Dota 2 squad's momentum setter. Like the Position 1 carry role, the mid-lane Position 2 player also tries to hit specific item timings and power spikes throughout the match. Yet, such heroes' role in mid-lane is often less egocentric than the carry.

Although having a significant gold advantage sounds excellent, this middle lane position needs levels more than it needs gold for a good 1V1 showdown against enemy midlaners. At level 6, a midlaner can gank other lanes to get quick kills. Speaking of kills, as a Dota 2 midlaner, you can also kill your allied creeps running low on health to prevent enemy heroes from farming gold off them.

How you play this role entirely depends on your hero selection. Dota 2 heroes, like Shadow Fiend and Storm Spirit, are played quasi-greedy, meaning they farm core items first and then, for example, transition to assists or kills in other lanes. Likewise, heroes like Dragon Knight and Death Prophet typically go for enemy towers to push down objectives and not seek kills across the map.

Offlaner - Position 3 in Dota 2

Before a Dota 2 meta was established, Position 3 on the team was the hero that farmed the least. This changed over the seasons, and now, offlane heroes dictate the momentum faster than ever by making aggressive plays across the Dota 2 map.

Position 3 heroes go to the offlane together with Position 4 supports. There, with the help of Soft Supports, they try to farm as much gold as possible while disrupting the enemy carry's farm.

Although the Position 3 hero is still a core hero that requires farming to get on the same level as Position 1 and 2, the main responsibilities of the role when in Position 3 are to challenge the enemy carry, lessen the enemy carry team's farming potential, try to keep the enemy team occupied with kill threats (and actual kills). It's a lot for the uninitiated. And if you ever run out of mana while fighting, you can always farm neutral creeps by killing more creeps to get back on track.

Usually, the offlane pairing of Position 3 and 4 is more powerful than the opposing Safe Lane pairing of enemy Position 1 and 5. Position 3 heroes are more likely to have an early-game power spike that they use for themselves. The Blink Dagger artifact comes in much handy here.

Soft Support - Position 4 in Dota 2

If there's a role that plays as much of a flexible, switchable position as the Midlaner of a Dota 2 match, it's the fourth position Soft Support. Since their main goal is to unnerve the other team, they usually rotate to other lanes by securing Power Runes in the middle lane.

Heroes considered Soft Support generally have one or two nuke spells, which provide high damage output and then one crowd control ability. They're not reliant upon levels or gold to get them started. However, a few situational items allow these heroes to affect the game just as much as an Offlaner would logically.

Soft Support hero roles vary depending on who your hero is. For example, as a Position 4, you can be a Rubick or Windranger support hero, bringing plenty of crowd control to team fights. You can also choose Spirit Breaker as a suitable initiator for a support hero. In addition to Spirit Breaker, Earth Spirit, Bounty Hunter, Vengeful Spirit, and Dark Willow are great examples of fourth-position heroes.

Hard Support - Position 5 in Dota 2

The fifth-position support role in Dota 2, the Hard Support hero, typically plays in the safe lane with Position 1 (the carry) and tries to make the lane comfortable for other heroes through creep-pulling, block vision, and enemy pull-blocking. The Hard Support can sneak into the jungle for a quick camp stack if the safe lane is static. While kills can occur based on the synergy between Position 1 and 5, it's unnecessary. The Hard Support wants to ensure that Position 1 can farm up items without dying.

Most heroes that fill a Hard Support role in Dota 2 have some form of healing spells for allies. They also tend to have power spikes during the early game laning phase and almost always have some form of crowd control or nuke abilities.

By the time the game progresses to mid-game, the fifth-position support hero must have planted the maximum number of Observer wards (for granting vision to allies) and Sentry Wards (for seeing invisible units). What's important to know is that these heroes, like Witch Doctor and Crystal Maiden, usually do not scale well in the late game, meaning they provide more for the team through control and stabilization than attempting to damage enemy heroes.

All Ally/Enemy Hero Map Distribution in Dota 2

The ideal hero distribution around the map during the landing stage is 2-1-2, with two heroes heading to the top, one to the mid, and two to the bottom. But that doesn't mean all games utilize this expected setup for hero positioning.

This is the general position for heroes on the map:

• Carry (Pos 1) and Hard Support (Pos 5) in Safelane
• Midlaner (Pos 2) in Midlane
• Offlaner (Pos 3) and Soft Support (Pos 4) in Offlane.

Some games have a hero's trilane, for instance, where three heroes are in one lane together. Some games have two midlaners—although this is rare. However, the optimal and most effective situation is 2-1-2.

What Decides A Hero Role in Dota 2?

Dota 2 heroes are created with attributes and basic stats, such as movement speed, attack damage, projectile speed, etc. The attributes level up differently on different heroes, so these numbers—and the statistics in general—decide what role or position they're best for.

The core heroes, Carry, Midlaner, and Offlaner, have attributes that scale better into the late game. Conversely, support is powerful in the early laning phase but slowly drops in potential late game.

More Niched Hero Roles in Dota 2

These are the more specific hero classifications that can be found in Dota 2:

• Carry - stronger late game if they receive a massive gold advantage.
• Nuker can kill enemy heroes, such as enemy supports and enemy offlaners, in seconds due to high-damage spells with low cooldowns.
• Initiator - An initiator can start a team fight well.
• Disabler - Has a guaranteed disable in one or more of their skills.
• Durable - A durable hero can live much longer in team fights.
• Escape - Can evade death easily.
• Support - Doesn't need to get gold and items and can use abilities more effectively for the team.
• Pusher - can quickly destroy towers or barracks at any point in the game.
• Jungler can farm neutral creeps in the jungle early game easily.