Recently, there has been a lot of coverage in the press and Internet regarding the emerging professional game - Dota 2. The general focus of the coverage revolves around one question: where will the professional players, known as " mids" fit into all of this? There seems to be some dispute over whether or not there is room for mid lane dominated players in the competitive scene. There is room, however, for a new breed of carry players who specialize in taking out towers and pushing the opponent from the front. In this article, I want to explore this discussion and seek out the truth about the role of carries in the new competitive scene.
What I think we need to first understand Asiaone is what the core heroes are. Out on the map, there are two core carries that can be played at almost any point in the game. Outwards carries, which take towers and set up ganks, and mid lane carries, which get the kills and set up kills for their team but are not an essential part of the attack or defense in most situations. Outwards carries are considered the strongest heroes, while mid lane carries are often seen as "greener" heroes since they don't have to worry about taking towers, roam, and get kills, but can instead just go ganking and getting kills in the bottom lane. It's debatable whether or not mid lane carries are better than carries, but I'll simply note that in both situations, carries have some form of escape mechanism, so their presence on the map forces the opponent to deal with them before they can do serious damage.
The two most popular carries are the magic carry and the agility carry. The magic carry is considered the weaker counterpart of the mid or bottom lane carry, since they rely less on their mobility and instead have more innate burst damage and the ability to easily disable opponents with abilities like arcane magic. A common tactic for a magic carry is to surprise the opponent and kill them with their spell spam or their own damage abilities. However, with the recent buffs to creeps and the general weakness of the other heroes in the game, it has become harder to dominate games with a magic carry.
Agility carries are the opposite. They have the mobility to move around the map, but are also deadly when grouped up in large groups. A typical agility carry will have some form of escape mechanism, either a blink or a mobility item. They have also been known to be very strong solo players. Their main weakness is that they can't really get anywhere by themselves, unless they get an item like courier's services.
The other important aspect of this type of hero is their ultimate, which is usually the most powerful skill in the game. It is usually either a disable or a stun with a range that is long enough to encompass most heroes. The best way to play a support or carry is to either disable or stun your opponents, then either keep them alive by healing them, or simply get the heck out of there before they can do much damage. A well-built ultimate can often carry a team.
I have covered the two most popular types of heroes in this article, and I'll cover one more later in the series. For now, know that there are many different options for each position. You can choose to play a carry, a mid, a support, or even a off hero. There are so many possibilities that it's impossible to name every viable option in the game. There are also a number of different hero builds you can use to adapt to situations. The choices are as vast as the number of games you will be in.
