Defending the high ground is one of the most critical aspects of Dota 2 gameplay, it’s the only way to prevent enemies from destroying your Ancient and winning the game. However, proper defense can be tricky, especially when you’re behind in gold and experience. Here’s how to defend high ground in Dota 2!
Advantages of Holding High Ground
First of all, it’s vital to understand that holding your high ground gives you several advantages over your enemies. These benefits make it possible to defend even if you’re trailing tens of thousands of gold.
- High Ground Vision: With how regular vision mechanics work, defenders have natural vision over the ramp, while attackers from the low ground lack vision unless they use wards or creeps. This makes initiating from below much harder and more dangerous.
- Miss Chance from Low Ground: Attacks made from low ground have a 25% chance of missing. This can significantly reduce incoming damage from ranged enemy heroes who are sieging towers or trying to hit your team.
- Tower Aura Bonus Armor: Towers grant allied heroes bonus armor to those who are nearby. This armor can make the difference in surviving a burst.
- Buyback Advantage: If a defender dies, they can buyback and rejoin the fight instantly. In contrast, if an attacker dies and buys back, they must travel back across the whole Dota map.
Together, these elements make the high ground a formidable defensive position if you play your cards right.
Hero Positioning and Roles
Proper hero positioning and formation are essential when you’re defending the high ground in Dota. Though lineups vary, each role will generally play a specific part in maximizing your team’s defensive potential.
- Tanky Heroes Front-line: Durable heroes like Centaur Warrunner or Tidehunter should position themselves near the ramp or chokepoint. Their job is to absorb damage but, most importantly, to zone enemies away from making a play on the backline.
- Ranged Carries Stay Behind: Core damage dealers like Sniper, Drow Ranger, or Lina should be positioned safely behind the frontliners. Melee carries with Blink Daggers can also stay hidden to jump if a good opening is created.
- Supports Maintain Distance: Supports should almost always stay further back, ideally out of vision. They should be ready to cast saves, disables, or heals. Items such as Glimmer Capes and Force Staffs also play crucial roles in these fights.
This layered formation ensures that your team can respond effectively to enemy aggression and punish poor enemy positioning or commitment.
Stall the Push by Throwing Out Nukes
One of the most effective ways to delay or completely stop a high ground push is by constantly hurling out nukes and wave-clearing abilities.
Some heroes are notoriously known for their high ground defense, such as Zeus, Keeper of the Light, Sniper, and Underlord. These heroes have spells that can clear creep waves before they even reach the tower.
Constant harassment forces enemies to use healing items, overcommit to a risky dive, or retreat entirely. Sometimes, the goal is to buy time – whether it’s for your carry to finish an item, for a teammate to respawn, or for the enemy’s Aegis to expire.
Have a Hero Push Out Other Lanes
While your team is focused on stalling the enemy push with nukes and defensive positioning, it’s crucial for a hero to make use of the space created elsewhere on the map to farm. Knowing how to farm in Dota can be tricky, but it can mean the difference between a win and a loss. Since the enemy team is likely grouped up and committed to breaking the high ground, the rest of the map is usually empty.
Assign a mobile or elusive hero such as Nature’s Prophet, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, or any hero with wave clear and a Blink Dagger to push out lanes and apply pressure. The team’s carry can also make use of this time farming the jungle. However, to make this space possible, you’ll need enough heroes stalling the ongoing push.
If a fight breaks out, the heroes outside of the base can teleport in and immediately join the engagement.
Vision Maintenance
Maintaining control over vision is one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of high ground defense. Without proper vision management, your team becomes vulnerable to surprise initiations.
- Deward Enemy Wards: When sieging the high ground, enemies love placing a high ground Observer Ward in between the towers. If they have this vision on the high ground, they can coordinate jumps or reposition your team with heroes like Pudge or Magnus.
- Keep Everything Well-Sentried: Make sure to place Sentry Wards in the gaps between your Tier 3 towers to ensure they do not have any Observer Wards placed. Not only does this deny vision, but it’s also vital against Glimmer Capes or invisible heroes.
Strong vision control turns your high ground from just a regular defense into a fortified stronghold, as your team will have the informational edge needed to survive and punish overextensions.
Initiation and Counter-Initiation
When defending high ground, initiation and counter-initiation will make or break the defense. The team that gets the better jump often determines the outcome of the fight, especially in the confined space of a base.
If your team has a strong initiator like Axe, Magnus, or Tidehunter, you may look for a moment when the enemy is grouped too tightly or out of position.
More often, your team will be playing reactively on the high ground, as you are likely behind in resources or playing the fight with a hero dead. This is where counter-initiators shine. Heroes like Winter Wyvern, Phoenix, or Enigma can punish aggressive dives and turn the fight around.
Overall, effective initiation and counter-initiation rely on vision, timing, and communication. You might have to bait the enemies in by letting them dive a bit too far, but the key is to punish any overextensions.
Wrap Around With a Smoke If Possible
Sometimes, winning a head-on fight from the high ground may not be possible, whether it’s due to a gold deficit or the enemy’s backline being too disruptive to deal with directly. In these cases, a desperate smoke wraparound can be a game-saving play.
Using a Smoke of Deceit, your team can exit the base undetected and approach the enemy from an unexpected angle – usually from the side or behind. That way, you can get a good jump on high-priority targets and backline heroes. A surprise attack will significantly increase your chances of winning the fight.
However, you can’t make this play too obvious. If the enemy team is hitting your Tier 3 towers and nobody is defending or showing, it quickly becomes suspicious, and they may back off to reposition. Consider leaving one or two heroes visible on the high ground while the rest of the team wraps around, or find a good timing.
