Best ways to get better at farming in Dota 2

Efficient farming in Dota 2 is an art – a skill set only a few can master. Farming is a sure-shot way to fuel your hero’s potential and secure victory – by amassing gold through securing creep kills and jungle resources – for your team.

Remember the mantra, “Gold is King.”

Today, we are writing a comprehensive guide on how to enhance your farming skills in Dota 2. Do give it a read.

Understanding the basics: Last Hitting in Dota 2

Learning the basics is the most fundamental aspect of anything we do in life. Similarly, Last Hitting is the cornerstone of effective farming – an art of securing creep kills and maximising your gold output.

One of the best ways to enhance your farming skills in Dota 2 is to understand how to become proficient at last hitting. For that, you need to be aware of certain specifics – creep health, last hit and deny.

Understanding creep health is of utmost important. Familiarize yourself with the health and damage of the creeps that spawn in the lanes. The health and damage of creeps increases as the game progresses.

Additionally, with the help of health animation bars – an indicator that notifies you of the enemy’s health – one can excel at last hitting.

Don’t go around hitting the creeps from the get-go. Remember, creeps spawn on both sides of the map. All you need to do is wait, let the creeps do the majority of the job and when the creep is about to die – you jump in and secure the last hit.

However, remember to focus more on securing the ranged creep, as it gives more gold and experience.

Denying in Dota 2

Last Hitting and Denying are two sides of the same coin – one cannot coexist without the other. Denying is an art in itself. While last hitting secures you gold, denying deprives the enemy of a chance to amass gold and experience for themselves.

Allies – creeps, towers and heroes – can be denied under different scenarios. For instance, the mechanics of last hitting a creep and denying a creep is the same. Wait, watch, make it a mission to secure last hits on the enemy creeps and at the same time deny your allied creeps.

When the health of the allied creep falls to a certain level then it becomes an excellent candidate to get denied.

However, its not easy since the enemy can be mechanically better than you and have more experience and games under his bag.

It is always going to be a battle of skills – the better player will always get an upperhand over the inferior one.

One of the most essential strategies to enhance your farming skills in Dota 2 relies on the way you itemize your hero from the beginning.

Proper Itemization: Sharpening your Scythe

We’ll keep this one short and focus on the basic in-game builds needed to become efficient at farming in Dota.

To enhance your Dota farming skills, you need to ensure to build stats on your hero during the early game. Heroes are divided into three categories – Agility, Intelligence and Strength – each having its unique characteristics.

The most effective in-game item to purchase is the Quelling Blade. It is the most effective item that grants you additional damage while farming creeps – it only works against creeps.

Accordingly, build items that will synchronize with your hero’s base element – Agility, Intelligence or Strength. For example, the perfect early game builds will be:

• Wraith Band for Agility
• Null Talisman for Intelligence
• Bracers for Strength heroes.

These items not only upgrade the primary stats of your hero but also boost the secondary stats.

Neutrals, Stacking and Pulling in Dota

Another way to enhance your farming skills in Dota 2 is to get acquainted with the jungle and its dynamics.

Similar to lane creeps, there are creeps that languish in the jungle in deep slumber until a foe (you) approaches them. The neutrals or neutral creeps, as they are popularly called, are divided into different levels.

They spawn on certain spots along the Radiant or Dire jungle. Each neutral spawn has its unique characteristics and is categorized into different levels that determine its damage output and difficulty level.

Farming in the jungle is another way to maximize on your farm, although they don’t provide much gold or experience as the lane creeps do, barring a few exceptions.

You can stack the neutral camps with multiple spawns together, granting a burst of experience and gold. It is a method usually deployed to pros to propel their carry’s farm.

But more than basic neutral camps, focus on farming/stacking Ancients – a camp that spawns ancient creeps with high damage and health, who upon being killed grant more experience and gold than normal neutral camps.

However, the Ancients are not easy to kill and your hero needs to have adequate farm and item build to secure them.

Another way to maximise your gold output is by pulling creeps. Pulling involves luring these stacked creeps near your tower for safer farming. You can pull a neutral camp towards your allied creeps and subsequently deny the enemy an opportunity to gain experience or gold.

Runes and Items to enhance farming in Dota 2

You must keep yourself informed about a few runes and items that can help enhance your farm in Dota 2.

Bounty rune is one such rune that grants you and allies with gold and experience, only if you acquire it in time. They spawn at certain time intervals on both sides of the map, at particular junctures, and can be contested by both sides. You should be aware of the bounty rune spawn timing in Dota and secure them.

Hand of Midas is an item that can propel your farm. By opting of this item, a hero can devour an enemy creep or neutrals (except Ancients), gaining gold and experience. However, this item build is extremely situational.

Dota 2 Map Awareness and Decision Making

Constantly keep an eye on the minimap. If a fight erupts elsewhere, consider joining if your presence can make a difference. However, don't abandon a good farming opportunity unless absolutely necessary.

Just to be absolutely sure, don’t be one of those players who only prioritizes farming all game and doesn’t contribute much towards the betterment of the team. Remember to always prioritize efficiency over greed – be firm in your decision making.

After clearing a creep wave, consider pushing the lane towards the enemy tower. This creates pressure on the enemy as they rush to protect their side of the map, potentially giving you the opportunity and space farm another lane and taking other objectives.

Practice makes Perfect

Play co-op games, play against bots with the highest difficulty level, and practice the art of last hitting, getting familiar with the map, being aware of the spawn timings for creeps, neutrals and runes, and trying out different heroes and item builds.

Watch Dota pro games and tournament streams and learn how the pros engage under mounted pressure.

Practice, Practice and Practice some more.. until you get perfect!

We hope this comprehensive guide on the best ways to enhance your farming skills in Dota 2 helps you.