Ever seen this small box at the right end corner of your setting page?


This setting is important in order to micromanage your units which you control. This setting is called Control Groups


Control groups allow any micro unit to become like an individual unit which can be controlled more vividly and can be given more tasks to execute.

A simple way to show how control groups work is by showing Lone Druid micromanagement

As seen above in the screenshot, Lone Druid is selected because it is the hero and is also the main unit. ( Main units are always selected first regardless of how many units you will micro ) Most players will tend to micro the bear by pressing Tab and selecting the bear and giving him the task. This process however is slow and tedious and eats away a lot of time which can be used to perform other tasks in the game.


Assigning control groups is done by holding CTRL and pressing the hotkey for the control group.

Example : You have assigned Group 2 control group the hotkey 2 and you want the bear to be selected whenever you press 2 . So to assign control group 2 to the bear.

• Hold CTRL
  
• While holding CTRL , press the designated hotkey. In our example, it is 2
  
• The hotkey 2 will be assigned to the bear.
  
  So now, whenever you will double tap the control group hotkey (in our example it is 2), the camera will focus towards the micro unit and will be treated as a individual unit
  
  
  In simple words to say, Control groups work by making your micro unit behave like a seprarate unit which can be controlled independently from the hero.
  
  

Now that we know how control groups work and are used, we can talk about how to add more units in a control group.

Consider this. You are playing as Lone Druid and is expected to push. Your build consists of Necronomicon for a better push advantage. One of your control groups is assigned to the spirit bear but now you want to add the Necronomicon units in the same control group whenever you spawn them.

In order to execute this, drag-box select the units you want to be added in the control group.

Once they are selected

• Hold SHIFT
  
• Press the designated control group hotkey you want the units to be added in
  
• The units will be added in the control group
  
  After you have performed these steps, whenever you will press the hotkey for the control group, the newly unit added will also be selected.
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Apart control groups and Tabbing, there are other settings in Dota which make the process of micromanaging a lot easier.


This is an important techinque of micromanagement which is required for kiting, defensive plays and blocking. As shown in the image by the name Select all controlled units , this setting is used to select all units including the hero and its micro units.

As seen above, every single unit including the hero has been selected when the hotkey is pressed for this action.

This micromanagement setting is used for controlling micro units except your hero. This setting is important for lane controlling, jungling and scouting when your main hero is busy executing other actions or is needed in a teamfight.

Considering the screenshot above, Nature's prophet can assign his treants to jungle creeps while he can teleport and effectively help in teamfights. This will not only offer help to his team since he is in the fight, but side by side his treants are collecting gold.