Dota 2 is one of Valve’s most popular games and one of the biggest esports titles in the world. However, similar to other popular games, this one lost a lot of its loyal fans over the years. Some of them gave up playing, whereas others decided to focus on something else.

Even though Dota 2 does not have as many players as before, the upcoming Christmas holidays is one of the best times of the year for gaming. Most people will stay home and will want to have fun with something. Consequently, they might decide it is time to make a comeback and start playing again.

Users who’ve played in the last couple of months won’t need that much help because they just need to read the latest patch. Sadly, those who haven’t been around lately will have specific problems that have to be addressed. So, let’s go through some of the things that you should know.

The Dota Pro Circuit

Also known as the DPC, this is Dota 2’s professional league that Valve organizes. It attracts the best teams Dota 2 teams in the world, which are divided into 6 different regions. Each region has a Division and Division II, and consists of 3 tours. After each one comes to an end, there will be a Major that will gather the best-performing teams from Division I.

If you haven’t played for a long time, you will most likely not be a part of the DPC. However, it is important to know more about it because this is Dota 2’s professional league. In other words, you can keep track of it and watch the best teams in action. Besides watching the most interesting matches on Twitch, you can also keep track of them inside the Dota 2 client.

During the Pick/Ban phase, picking the same hero will automatically ban it

Most people who’ve played Dota 2 in the last several years know that players have to pick and ban heroes before they start playing. This only applied to the CM mode, but now, it is present in almost any other mode.

Speaking of picks and bans, if you decide to pick a given hero and someone from the enemy team also goes for it, the latter will be banned. Once that happens, you will have to choose something else.

The fact that players can get one extra ban can be used to your advantage, especially in situations where you know that the enemy will go for a specific hero. For example, there are cases where heroes like Templar Assassin or Drow Ranger can be very dangerous. By picking one of them, you can force a ban if someone from the enemy team also wants to get their hands on it.

While we are on the topic of the pick/ban phase, once you decide which hero to go for and pick it, you will have the chance to purchase your starting items right away. This was implemented several years ago, but some of you may not have noticed it yet.

Neutral Items

Even though are around for some time now, some people may not have played for a while, which means that we had to include some info about the Neutral Items. As their name suggests, those items drop when you kill Neutral Creeps. However, they do not always drop, so you may have to kill a lot before.

Keep in mind that there are different tiers of Neutral Items that become available after a certain time. Needless to say, the higher tiers are much better than, the lower ones, but you will need to wait for a while before they start to drop.

There aren’t any junglers, and offlaners rarely go alone

Several years ago, people often picked Junglers when they didn’t want to play a support. This was never one of the popular positions in Dota 2, but a lot of people used it in PUBs because it allows players to farm and gives the team an extra core. Sadly, this often comes at a cost because the team with the jungler does not have the 2nd support. Hence, the other lanes can’t expect any help or ganks.

Even though you might find some people who choose the jungle, this is usually different. Instead, most players focus on 2-1-2, which means that you won’t find that many offlaners who stay alone on the lane. There are some exceptions with heroes, such as Timbersaw or Tidehunter, but the 2-1-2 setup is becoming more and more popular. Besides helping the offlane, this thing allows players on this lane to do more pressure than usual. So, don’t be surprised if you pick an offlaner and someone decides to join you. 

Make sure you kill the special creep

One of the things you will notice once the laning stage begins is that there will be a melee creep with a flag on it. Securing the last hit on this creep is extremely important because it will allow you and your teammates near it to get bonus gold. The extra gold is almost as if you kill another creep, which means that you have t to do everything in your power to get it.

Besides trying to secure the last hit, you should also focus on preventing your opponent from killing this creep. Although this is not easy, it will definitely give you an advantage because you will prevent the hero from securing the last hits.

Camp stacking

Everyone knows that camp stacking is one of the things that makes Dota 2 more special than other MOBAs. While it is true that this “bug” continues to be a part of the game, Valve decided to make it more advanced.

Previously, when you stacked a camp, you had to stay close to it to get EXP and even kill a few creeps to get gold. However, after the changes, someone from your team can clear the camp, and you will receive bonus gold. 

Unsurprisingly, this mechanism positively impacted the Dota 2 community, especially when it comes down to lower-rated games. Supports didn’t feel like stacking before, but now, things are different.