In Dota 2, creeps play a fundamental role in the game, as they are the main source of income and experience for heroes. In this guide, we’ll take a look at the different types of creeps in Dota 2 and touch on additional mechanics like controlling creeps.
Lane Creeps
Lane creeps are the most common type of creeps and are spawned in each lane every 30 seconds. These critters are responsible for pushing the lanes and helping heroes to control map objectives.
Since lane creeps are automatically aligned with your team and the enemy team’s waves, they are extremely easy to farm while both waves attack each other.
Types of Lane Creeps
A group of lane creeps is often referred to as a creep wave. In a creep wave, there are several types of creeps.
- Melee Creeps: These creeps have moderate health and deal melee damage. They moderate gold and experience bounties.
- Ranged Creeps: These creeps deal ranged damage and have significantly lower health than melee creeps. They provide the highest gold and experience bounties among lane creeps.
- Siege Creeps: These creeps attack enemy units at far range, dealing bonus damage to structures. They only spawn in every 10th creep wave (every five minutes).
Super and Mega Creeps
Barracks play a critical role in the game. Each lane has two barracks: one melee barracks and one ranged barracks. These structures are located just behind the enemy team’s Tier 3 towers.
If the barracks in a lane are destroyed, the creeps in that lane are upgraded to Super Creeps. This means that the regular lane creeps will be replaced with stronger variants that are much more difficult to kill.
If all six barracks are destroyed, creeps in all three lanes will be upgraded to Mega Creeps. Mega creeps have the health pool of support heroes and are extremely difficult to deal with. Successfully claiming mega creeps almost always leads to a guaranteed victory.
Neutral Creeps
Neutral creeps are spawned in the jungle and offer players gold and experience to players who farm them. Though they spawn in each team’s jungle, neutral camps are not aligned with either team and can be killed by both sides for resources.
There are various types of neutral camps in the jungle, categorized based on difficulty. A higher difficulty rewards players with larger bounties.
Small Camps
Small camps consist of the easiest and least dangerous neutral creeps. These camps contain a group of weak creeps that offer a small amount of gold and experience when killed. These camps are ideal for early-game farming.
All Small Camps:
- Kobold Camp
- Hill Troll Camp
- Hill Troll and Kobold Camp
- Vhoul Assassin Camp
- Ghost Camp
- Harpy Camp
Medium Camps
Medium camps are a step up from small camps in terms of difficulty. The creeps in these camps are noticeably more powerful and offer higher rewards. Heroes begin to struggle to farm these camps in the early game.
All Medium Camps:
- Centaur Camp
- Wolf Camp
- Satyr Camp
- Ogre Camp
- Golem Camp
Large Camps
Large camps contain some of the most powerful neutral creeps in the game. They are significantly stronger than the medium camp and offer high experience and gold rewards. These camps are tough to farm in the early game.
All Large Camps:
- Large Centaur Camp
- Large Satyr Camp
- Hellbear Camp
- Wildwing Camp
- Troll Camp
- Warpine Camp
Ancient Camps
Ancient camps are an entirely different beast compared to the previous three. They provide the highest rewards in terms of experience and gold but are incredibly challenging and require the correct equipment to kill.
All Large Camps:
- Dragon Camp
- Large Golem Camp
- Thunderhide Camp
- Frostbitten Camp
- Prowler Camp
Roshan
Roshan is a unique neutral creep with a special role in Dota 2. It is a powerful neutral boss that provides a team with significant rewards when killed, namely the Aegis of the Immortal. Roshan is less of a farming tool and more of a crucial Dota objective that teams must group up to secure.
Controlling Creeps
Several heroes and items in Dota 2 have the ability to manipulate or modify the owner of the creeps. This mechanic allows players to take control of the creep and cast its abilities (if any).
Creep Controlling Sources
There are three abilities and two items that allow players to control creeps in Dota 2:
- Holy Persuasion (Chen’s ability)
- Enchant (Enchantress’ ability)
- Infest (Lifestealer’s ability)
- Helm of the Dominator (Item ability – Dominate)
- Helm of the Overlord (Item ability – Dominate)
These abilities allow for full control over creeps – you can walk, attack, and cast its spells. Some abilities have limitations of which creeps can be controlled. For example, ancient creeps or siege creeps can only be controlled with Helm of the Overlord and Infest.
Best Creeps To Control
Neutral creeps are equipped with valuable abilities or auras that can be of use to teams. As a result, some neutrals are more beneficial to control than others. Here are some of the best creeps to control:
- Centaur Conqueror (War Stomp ability)
- Alpha Wolf (Packleader’s Aura ability)
- Centaur Courser (Cloak Aura ability)
- Wildwing Camp (Hurricane ability)
- Dark Troll Summoner (Raise Dead ability)
