Step 1 : A winning mindset
• Your very first step to success begins here. Before looking for a game, let's think about what we're gonna do: the heroes we're willing to pick. We should pick heroes we're comfortable with. We shouldn't improvise heroes we don't know how to play in ranked, the stakes are high since it could cost us a game or two.
  
  Step 2 : What are we gonna do, captain?
  
• Many people just don't talk with each other ingame. A match could be potentially lost when players won't state their intentions, randomize or just rage picking. We should and definitely can prioritize what our team needs! Of course, we can't play as a carry every game, we can't go sitting mid every time and we shouldn't take lanes randomly. Let's assume we're playing Medusa (as an unexperienced player) and our plan is to sit for a bit through the offlane to farm a bit. It's preposterous to assume our lane won't get bullied, but many players might that from time to time. Let us just be frank : we can't predict how good or bad our laning phase will go. Wouldn't be safer to rest easy lane, protected by our supports? That sounds better.
  We might also forget about dual lanes while we're at it, as it might weaken our gains. We can just leave alone our offlaner, as he might need more farm and definitely more experience in order to rotate and fulfill his role! But as we get in his way, he'll just get less experience, less gold, and our team will suffer less rotations. Just like clockwork!
  
  Step 3 Laning phase
  
• Here we are, where many players get confused: The laning phase! This might be (and probably is) a very critical moment in our game, a keen player might predict who's gonna win or lose the next phase of the game just by looking at the map.
  What can we do in this situation?
  Is there a way out? Of course there is, in fact, there are many. Let us focus on our objectives for a start
  Are we playing mid lane? No problem, let's just farm, deny creeps and try our best to get the most out of the rune spawns. Let's try to survive, asking our teammates if any rotation is needed, we can also farm camps if needed, we don't even need to roam. As the meta changes, a mid lane's fate changes as well! Let's just don't run in circles looking for kills and dying in the process, the gold trade is not worth our time, and we're disrupting laning space. Let's just sit down for a couple of minutes, farming and growing up. We should bully the enemy's tower, as it will increase our space!
  
  Are we playing carry? Easy peasy: let's just try to land as many last hits as we can, we shouldn't tank, and we definitely don't need to tank any creepwave, there's no need to be greedy if we can last hit correctly! Let's focus on farming, in the meanwhile, our supports will do the job and we'll be gently or abrutly thrown into the game when it counts! We shouldn't also forget to farm our jungles and our fat ancients. The mission is simple yet very complicated: farming and keeping ourselves alive, that should be easy for us now, right? I'm sure you can do it, just as every efficient carry does it.
  
  Are we in charge of supporting? Ok then, let's put an end to this: the current meta needs 2 supports for maximum efficiency and also decency. When playing as Support #1,we must aim for a 5th position unit (our purchases at the very start should be a courier, wards, and smoke if needed). When playing as Support #2 we should get ourselves ready for a 4th position unit, we should be able to complete our core items while providing support expenses when needed.
  We might forget the infamous Aghanim rush on popular heroes such as Witch Doctor, Lich, Lion etc.
  Litch and WD can build up a mekansm, Lion should aim for a far more useful Blink Dagger!
  If we're in charge of Lion with Blink we can initiate fight, and destroy the enemy carry. Disrupting our opponent's strategy is the key that leads to the victory.
  Let's also always carry around at least 1 teleport scroll, that's our bread and butter.
  
  Good laning supports : Dazzle, Witch Doctor, Treant protector, Bane, Abaddon, Crystal maiden, Lina, Skywrath Mage, Silencer, Pugna, Ancient apparition etc.
  
  Excelent roaming supports : Mirana* , Vengeful Spirit, Earth shaker, Disruptor, Jakiro, Leshrac, Rubick, Sand King, Ogre magi, Skywrath Mage
  *Mirana shines the most when she can roam freely. She can land deadly arrows in the early stage of the game, bringing nightmares to every mid laner. If we play wisely we'll create a whole lot of space, and that very space will get put into use when the clock ticks 20~, to initiate a nice push, farm etc.Creating space as a roaming hero is a great opportunity to improve, and to win games.
  
  Are we playing Offlane? Again,we don't need to be greedy. If we're facing a trilane and die, it might be our fault, maybe we're getting a bit greedy and we died for a last hit or two. Was it worth it? If we can't farm last hit, we can focus on leeching experience instead.
  Our efforts as an Offlaner is to reach lvl 6 asap! If you're a high impact hero like Doom, Batrider, Timbersaw, you definitely need your levels.
  
  Are we Jungling in ranked? Oh silly me. We're not doing that in this guide!
  
  Step 4 Pushing phase
  
• In the current meta, pushing is what makes us win, as sad as it might sound. If we're playing a match and we're not scoring any tower, there's something going on.
  We should push sometimes, if we want to win, right? A correct push might secure us Roshan, or might just secure us some camp for extra xp. It's awesome to have space!
  It's really effective to unload your double damage rune on a tower as a middle laner, if we have a high ground advantage, and we're playing ranged, we can harrass our enemy back to his tower as well.
  Take advantage of the situation , push when it's needed but don't forget to defend and retreat if needed.
  
  Conclusion and Late game
  Late game is when our game might really go south, even if we've played well until now. Let's just don't forget the basics: carry a teleport scroll, retreat if needed, regroup with your team when they need you, and push when the time is right.
  
  Tips
  
• Teleport scrolls are our bread and butter, we need them all the time!
  
  
• Midas is not as effective as you think. Sometimes, effective farming just works better, and faster
  Getting this item or not might depend more on your team rather than your own needs, let's keep this in mind
  
  

Being able to speakis might prove itself the missing link to a steady victory.
Communication is something we can't avoid in most ranked games. When we're able to state our intentions to our teammates, things have the tendency to work out well; Everyone seems to get along just fine ...I hope.
- Dota2 allows you to set your main language and this guide will refeer to the infamous "ENGLISH PREFERENCE" setup.






Iconographic:

CAN YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?

• No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Winrate chance: less than you might imagine
  
  
• Not quite well, but I can at least make myself clear, or just use the wheel -> Winrate chance : almost 50%
  
  
• Yes -> Winrate chance : Above 50%

Was it that easy?

We just entered a ranked game: what are we gonna do? In order to win or play correctly, we can play around our objectives.
Objectives are indeed simple, we just need to understand what to do at the given time.
Let me show you the ropes with some drills

• We have a pair of fine hands to type, so why aren't we telling our teammates what are we gonna pick? Let's just start by saying "hi" to our team, and let's not assume we're going mid for now!
  Let's not increase our enemy count above 5, shall we?
  
• Understanding our position (#1 -> #5)
  For players who aren't familiar about positions, don't worry, I'm covering up that later
  And don't forget, trilanes might also need a pack of sentry wards. Just in case the enemy team decides to block our pull camp, we're gonna deward that asap, or else, we're sharing a single lane in three. Not ideal
  
• Vision is not an opinion: there's no game in which we don't need map vision. In fact, we need as much as we can to prevent the enemy from ganking us, pushing, or stealing Rosh
  
• Don't flame or initiate in-team fights. Team morale is important, and guess what? We're in charge of that too
  
• Don't initiate fights that you can't win. No ultimate? No vision? Low ground? Casually roaming in enemy's territory? Forcing a couple of fights, then losing them, is the fastest way to throw a game out of the window, at any given advantage (comeback mechanics are always lurking behind a corner)
  
• Let's never underestimate high grounds while pushing the enemy's Tier 3 Tower (Base). They got vision, they got high ground, they can just reverse our push and send us back flying to the respawn area. We might lose a tower or two, we might lose a game or two.
  Let's retreat and go grab the Aegis instead! Let's scramble, back to farming! No losses for us indeed

What are the secrets that lead us to victory in ranked then? It's all about smart picking, smart playing and fixing some commons misunderstandings we might carry.
We can review our game, and bust some myth or two in the meanwhile

There's a weird tendency to assume Mirana is a carry. But she doesn't really carries the stats, nor the abilities to live up to the expectations.
On the other hand, she might prove being very flexible and swift. Her stats allow us to roam with a bit of freedom in the early stages, and her kit allow us to stun and kill anyone while creeping from the shadows, much more if the enemy team forgot to read this guide's part about warding!
She has a decent start even in a trilane; after finishing a couple of pulls we can start moving through the map to their middle lane high ground, if possible. Bonus point if you carry a smoke with you and go undetected (granted they don't have true vision). Her impact after killing the middle laner is a great way to bully your way through ranked games, as middle laners have the tendency to throw a game after a death or two.















There's no written rule every game should have a dual lane formation. To be fair, there aren't rules at all.
Playing trilane once in a while might put your opponents in distress, as they're used to play 2v2
Being unpredictable might be a right choice once in a while

Let's assume...p

We're having this peculiar draft, and we're playing Radiant


Let's try naming positions, as an exercise
Offlane (#3) = Dark Seer. He's probably one of the best offlane heroes out there, he can farm from a safe distance, he's got a reliable escape and he needs his experience fast in order to create space.
Mid (#2) = Ember Spirit. He's just a great hero, can land successful pushes, can farm from a safe distance, has a great kit, he needs expensive items to maximize his potential
Trilane (#4/5 + #1) = Abaddon, Crystal Maiden, Medusa. A generic trilane


Now, let's review the draft for a second time:



Sadly, not every match is a midas game, steady timing is key, but not always.
Let's assume you're sitting in safe lane, farming., Laning phase goes smoothly, your support is zoning the offlaner and your other support is peacefully pulling the creeps waiting for a rotation. In this case, tell your team you're getting a midas.
The moment you finish building it, everyone in your team should be informed you're focused on farming, and farming alone. Yeah, midas carrier can't fight, you cannot afford to die anymore. Your team is obliged to create space for you; because losing space resulting in a mida carrier that can only pull a pushing creep is not ideal. Forget about your build, you can't afford a pair of boots now.
Even in a favorable scenario where the midas carrier gets his item in 20 minutes, you should always keep in mind that you're losing the farming competition against the enemy carry until late game, for a final clash of networth.
And don't think about getting 2 or more Midas in a single team. Having more than 2 heroes farming in order to strike a last desperate suicide attack in late game is absolutely impossible. Let's not compare our matches to competitive Dota. Completely different enviroinment.
It should also be stated that midas is more of a exp farming item, more than a gold farmer. It explains why you might've seen different Invokers building it religously. For the good or for the bad, granted.


Trilaning proved itself to be extremely taxing? No problem. We have a cart spawning soon
Let's repeat the drill first, trilane goes to #5, #4 and #1 in position.
We must decide who's gonna buy sentries, if our enemy is smart, they might block our camp just by putting a ward in the field, denying our main income source. As the camp is blocked, we're forced to put 3 heroes in a lane, resulting in a devastating xp divide between the supports and the carry. No one gets levels, it's a disaster.
By spending 200 gold, we can just deward our camps with sentries. Don't worry about the money you've just spent, you will get it back with interests, as pulling camps is extremely cost effective.





The siege creep or cart, is a special creep unit we can exploit into pushing a lane for our own benefits. It spawns every 3 minutes in the game
By the time the cart is done killing the neutral creeps in the camps, another squad of regular creeps will spawn and march just in time to join the cart: we've gotten ourselves a double push.

To perform this act effectively, you have to pull the 3:00 minute mark neutral creep spawn into the lane. Your cart squad will start chasing them! Then, you just have to wait the 3:30 minute mark spawn to create a double pushing squad. But remember : for this process to be effective, a single pull is required. Don't pull the wagon through the medium camp, you're gonna lose the 3:30 minute mark wave spawn (RADIANT SIDE)



As you can see, their offlane Tower is taking a lot of damage from your creeps. If you're playing in a trilane and you decide to go for a full offensive push, this tower will be destroyed in less than 4 Minutes.

Let's respect positions to win more easily
In ranked games, it is advisable to play a 1-5 formation.
Plase, keep in mind that many heroes can be played in many different positions according to the strategy and the situation.

From 1 to 5 - Working as a Team
• First position
  . Carry
  He gets uncontested last hits, money and all the space that is available at the moment he decides to rotate.
  If you're playing as a carry, focus on last hitting while sitting in your lane. If you're facing an aggro trilane, or any hero that can easily bully your laning phase (Axe, Abaddon, Clockwerk) you might want to consider swapping lanes. Talk to your team, and if they agree, swap with them and go mid or go offlane. Granted your team allows it.
  The carry MUST farm safely. The #1 position is in dire need of last hits. If you can't last hit in a lane where you're supposed to farm, you might want to step back and go practice somewhere else. Last hitting is very crucial! Your networth needs to advance and surpass the enemy
  h1]Excelent heroes to pick in a #1 position according to the current Meta and players

[/h1] : Naga Siren, Terrorblade, Spectre, Antimage, Medusa, Faceless Void
: Weaver, Luna, Tiny, Lycan, Razor, Shadow Fiend, Dragon Knight, Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit, Troll Warlord, Meepo, Juggernaut, Gyrocopter, Sven, Templar Assassin, Ursa, Drow Ranger, Clinkz
(usually awful, yet popular) : Phantom Assassin, Phantom Lancer, Slark, Necrophos, Sniper, Alchemist, Riki
These heroes can be played as a 1st position, but always keep in mind that their entire kit is countered by the purchase of a single item.

#2 position / Mid laner

. Your Core hero, usually creeping the middle lane. He should always surrender his farming needs to his #1 position carry, but never to everyone who's below him.
Your focus as a #2, is to focus on keeping everyone on the enemy team busy until your carry can step in.
Farm, work with your supports to make effective ganks, try to take advantage of your jungles if needed, and always try to stay one step ahead the enemy team. If your farming and gold per minute is going well, you can definitely spend money on strong items. For example, if you're playing Brewmaster, and farming efficiently, you might get a very fast blink dagger before hitting lvl 7.

Excelent heroes to pick in #2

Take note that some of them are here as a core : Brewmaster, Windranger, Invoker, Templar Assassin, Puck, Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit, Razor, Outworld Devourer, Queen of Pain, Silencer, Dragon Knight, Shadow Fiend, Lina, Troll Warlord, Magnus, Zeus

Average heroes for a 2nd

Death Prophet, Nyx Assassin, Pudge (this one in actually awful. As a support it's okay, but people like to play him mid), Kunkka, Juggernaut, Tinker, Huskar, BeastMaster, Earthshaker, Viper, Necrophos, Nighstalker, Bristleback, Legion Commander, Slark

3rd Position / Offlaner

. The turtle beats the hare. Slow paced, gets tons of exp, gets early kills at any given opportunity, doesn't matter if he dies. Enjoy the most relaxed position in the game

Excelent offlaners

Doom, Tidehunter, Dark seer, Clockwerk, Centaur Warrunner, Bristleback, Earth Spirit, Magnus, Undying, Nyx Assassin, Puck, Nature's Prophet, Batrider, Legion Commander, Phoenix, Beast Master. Timbersaw, Bounty Hunter
There are no average or mediocre offlaners, because they're all extremely efficient

4th and 5th - The supports

. As already mentioned before, supports are very important. If you don't have any support in your team, you just lose the game. Every game must have at least 1 support. Having 2 supports is a necessity, as just one support alone cannot possibly provide for all the team.
You can have a Treant Protector that heals you globally, places wards and he would just need one item in his pocked = Blink dagger; his kit provides well enough for his low income. There's no need to land last hits or hit creeps outside of pushing, he really doesn't need anything outside of cheap basics. That's the innate power of a #5 position hero!
#4 position heroes just need a couple of fully built items to initiate fights or being more efficient. Let's always think about useful items when we're playing #4, let's not waste our hard earned cash. A steadly built medallion can secure your team a very early Roshan.
Don't get intimidated to play as a support, you're keeping your team alive, and you're definitely the one calling the shots. In the world of Dota, supports are the ones that wear pants

[/list]

Do not fret, if you die, you probably deserved it. Instead of blaming it on your team, just take a deep breath, respawn, and go back at it. Every game counts, and every win or lose matter
Don't worry, take it easy and take the habit of reviewing your playstyles through the many matches you'll play
Also watch replays, but don't cringe too much

How can we avoid mistakes?
Everyone, even heavily experienced players make mistakes. Sometimes, there's no right or wrong decisions, sometimes, things just happen against your best prediction.
Mistakes are everywhere, be it in form of building, farming or rotating through the map
We will review and explore other instances that might help us preserve and gain more insight


Playstyle tip: Do not take runes while you're covered by smoke.If the enemy team got vision on that spot, they'll notice the rune has gone missing and it will give away your gank. You and your team might even end up dead for a small mistake. Always assume your enemies are smarter than you

In order to gain a better networth, you can take advantage of neutral camps. Stacking these camps, be it normal neturals or ancients, will steadily allow your team to grow faster and quicker. Your Networth (the total farm you have) will outclass the enemy, both in gold and in gained experience. The one who controls the map, controls the game. It's just like chess, really






Some other useful tips:

• Clicking your Power Treads in your inventory allows you to manage your mana, regeneration and stats on a whim
  
• Mekansm grants you an active Armor bonus
  
• Medallion of Courage can be used on friendly units and Heroes, they'll get a bonus armor
  
• Urn can be used on enemies resulting in a damage over time on target. He won't be able to use dagger, tp away, or you might just kill someone with low HP.
  
• Ring of aquila buffs your creeps and makes them push faster. You can disable it if you don't want a push, you'll still gain your stats. Don't worry
  
• Ring of Protection now grants 3 bonus armor. Getting two Rings might result effective in some instances where you really need armor, and cheaply
  
• Dust of Apparition works on enemy unity only. It won't show any ward
  
• Couriers can use Smoke of Deceit. Just click it through its inventory

I hope you enjoyed this guide.
Don't stress too much on ranked games, fun and enjoyment should always come first
Let me know if it's still helpful, albeit outdated.
Feel free to take its contents, translate them in your favourite language, or distribute them as you like