Farming is one of the most important aspects of playing the carry role in Dota 2. By playing carry, you are given the highest farm priority on the map, so it’s your responsibility to make the most of it.
However, many players fail to understand that farming isn’t just about last-hitting creep – it’s about movement efficiency and farming with impact. In this article, I’ll guide you through the best Dota farming patterns and habits to improve your carry gameplay.
Maximizing Efficiency In Lane
Every Dota 2 match starts with the laning stage, and this phase is especially important for the carry role. Most carries depend on farming items, and going off to a strong start can accelerate your timings. Here are some tips you need to follow to maximize your gold gain in the laning stage.
Farming The Hard Camp
The number of creeps that spawn each minute remains constant, so there’s a natural limit to how much gold you can earn from lane creeps alone. So, the difference maker here is the ability to use nearby neutral camps, especially the hard camp.
Some heroes like Ursa with Fury Swipes, Lifestealer with his built-in sustain, or other self-sufficient cores don’t have too many issues clearing this camp as early as the 5-6 minute mark. If you’re playing one of these heroes, you can focus on clearing the enemy wave quickly and use that extra time to farm the camp.
Farming the hard camp every minute is a great source of gold (Image via Dota 2)
Yes, you’re shoving the wave into the enemy offlaner for them to farm it safely, but the math adds up. In the scenario where you’re winning your lane, you can clear multiple types of creeps from both the wave and gain additional gold from the hard camp, while the enemy offlaner is only getting gold from the waves. For every minute that passes, you’re getting one hard camp over your opponent, which is a net victory.
Push, Pull, Farm
If the laning scenario doesn’t allow you to bully your enemy offlaner, or if your hero can’t clear the hard camp well, you can utilize the “Push, Pull, Farm” formula.
Once you’re in a stable position, usually around the 7-minute mark, you don’t need to maintain strict creep equilibrium anymore. Instead, you can shove the enemy wave as fast as possible, then pull the neutral camp.
You can either pull the small camp or the hard camp. The hard camp is usually more rewarding, as your creeps will tank it while you farm safely without taking damage yourself. Just remember to time your pulls correctly so you don’t miss the incoming wave. Also, stay alert for enemies contesting your pull. You don’t want to give them free farm or even punish your positioning.
Where To Go After The Laning Stage (Post-Laning Stage)
The laning stage usually ends once either of the tier 1 towers goes down, or once the map starts getting dangerous, usually around the 12-minute mark. By this time, you should have made your decision on where to go next. You are presented with two main options: stay in the lane or retreat elsewhere.
When To Stay In Lane
Usually, staying in the lane is a bad idea because the safelaner is often expected to lose the lane, as offlaners hit powerspikes and timings much earlier. The rare case where you want to stay in lane is if your hero is difficult to push out.
Heroes like Ursa, Weaver, and Lifestealer are extremely hard to kick out of the lane, as their abilities make them tricky to kill. If you’re playing one of these heroes, you can stay in the lane for a longer duration.
Protect your tower for as long as possible, and focus on clearing creep waves and farming the camps around you. When doing this, make sure to purchase your own observer ward and place it on the side of the lane to detect incoming ganks.
When To Leave The Lane
In most cases, carries are expected to retreat from the lane once the laning stage ends. This decision should be made if the lane starts feeling unsafe, or you’re close to being able to buy your farming item.
Typically, most players simply default and retreat to the jungle to farm their item, which isn’t necessarily wrong if you have nearly enough gold. However, some heroes struggle to sustain in the jungle this early into the game.
The ideal option is to retreat to your offlane. If your safelane tower is under attack, there’s a solid chance your team is also taking the enemy tower. You can take the Twin Gate to the opposite lane and help your team finish off the tower and access the camps and waves there. However, this move should only be made if your team is in a position to siege the tower.
Farming Pattern Routes
Once your farming item (Radiance, Battle Fury, etc.) has been acquired, you’ll be able to farm at maximum potential. The key to farming efficiently is choosing the correct routes based on where you are on the map.
Side-Lane Routes
If you’re farming towards any of the two side lanes, you’re on the ideal route. The best way to maximize gold gain from farming is by killing creep waves. When you’re in the side lane areas, adjust your farming pattern to catch as many creep waves as possible. However, do it only when it’s safe.
The pattern is simple.
Go to the lane and farm a creep wave
Hit any camps that are closest to you while waiting for the next one
Keep your focus on the mini map to check out how your opponents are moving.
Sometimes, it’s unsafe to go for the next creep wave. When this is the case, retreat back to the jungle and wait for an enemy to push it back in your favor.
In these routes, prioritize ancient camps whenever possible. There are now ancient camps located next to each team’s Tier 1 tower, making it the perfect camp to farm in between waves. Other than the ancient camp, look for the medium and hard camps closest to the lanes.
Ancient Camp (Image via Dota 2)
If a lane seems dangerous to farm, you can retreat to deeper camps, such as the camps in the triangle or the ones close to the Wisdom Shrines.
Mid-Lane Routes
If you’re currently farming in the middle area of the map, the best choice is to farm towards your next destination. This “next destination” should be the lane that will most likely push into your tower. So, for example, if you think the enemy creeps in the top lane is going to push into your tower before the creeps in the bottom lane, you should farm towards the top lane.
If you’re unsure, the best course of action is to farm your triangle camps, as there is an ancient camp located there. While you’re farming the camps, you can decide whether it’d be best to return to the mid lane to catch the wave, or if a side lane is the better option. Remember, you can also use a TP Scroll to get to the opposite side of the map.
Clockwise/Anti-Clockwise Routes
If the map feels unsafe, and you would like to focus on hitting your jungle camps, there’s no specific “best” farming pattern or camp order to choose from. But one concept to keep in mind is to farm clockwise or anti-clockwise, to minimize downtime from walking.
Ideally, you want to head towards the closest ancient camp at around the 40-second mark. This usually ensures you will be in front of the camp in time to stack it. Once you’ve stacked the ancient camp and farmed it, you can go counter the route you went on previously.
AFK Farming vs. Farming With Impact – Know The Difference
When farming as a carry, there’s a massive difference between AFK farming and farming with impact. Many low-ranked players do not understand this concept, and it’s one of the best ways to gain MMR quickly. Here’s the gist of it.
AFK Farming
AFK farming is when you solely focus on hitting creeps, without considering what’s happening on the map. You tunnel-vision your GPM but ignore fights, lane situations, or opportunities to pressure objectives.
Most of the time, this happens when you’re simply hitting jungle camps instead of potentially pushing up lanes when you can. While this may help you farm safely, you are essentially leaving the rest of your team to play 4v5. Instead, you should farm with impact.
These camps are too deep to farm with impact (Image via Dota 2)
Farming With Impact
The easiest way to start farming with impact is by farming creep waves more often. Not only do creep waves provide you with the most gold and experience for time spent, but you should also realize that creep waves are walking observer wards.
By pushing up a creep wave, your creep wave will march deeper into enemy territory and provide you with information. If, for example, you have pushed a creep wave onto an enemy’s tower, and nobody is teleporting to defend it, that likely means they’re looking to gank your team with a smoke.
If you shove lanes, enemy players will be forced to respond and farm the creeps since they naturally see the pushed wave as free farm. By doing this, you’re not just farming efficiently – you’re also dictating enemy movements and forcing them to respond to you.
When opponents are forced to teleport and clear the waves, they are now tied to that part of the map instead of pressuring your towers or setting up ganks. This simple action effectively relieves pressure from your teammates.
Farm Priority
Now that you’ve understood some concepts and rules to keep in mind, here is how farm priority is typically arranged for carry players. Follow this order of different creep types to ensure you are maximizing gold income.
First Priority – Lane Creeps
Lane creeps are your most reliable and efficient source of gold throughout all stages of the game. They spawn consistently and give both gold and map control. They provide you with the best gold-to-time spent ratio.
This is why your farming patterns should always revolve around a specific lane. It is ideal to farm around the side lanes, but the mid lane is also an option. However, be careful of exposing yourself to ganks.
Second Priority – Outer Camps
You’re not going to spend every minute farming creep camps, as you’ll have remaining time to clear out camps. This is why the outer jungle camps, which are positioned next to lanes, become the second priority.
If you’re farming around a lane, they are easy to access and allow for quick transitions between waves and camps. However, be mindful of how deep you are in enemy territory, and be sure to back off if you feel unsafe.
Third Priority – Inner Camps
Inner jungle camps are those deeper within your territory. They are close to your Tier 2 towers. Though they are very safe to farm, they should only be your backup sources when lanes are unsafe or contested.
Sometimes, it is necessary to farm these camps due to them being safe, but try avoiding these camps as they are less efficient.
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Owen Harsono
Dota 2 writer
Owen is as competitive as it gets, choosing to play the holy trinity of Dota 2, CS2 and Valorant with a primary focus on the former. He peaked at 8,500 MMR in Dota 2 and follows the professional scene religiously. You can still catch him as a regular on the Southeast Asian leaderboards.
