Learn how to farm and block creeps in Dota 2 like a pro

Let’s go through the basics of Dota 2 Creep mechanics and also the various strategies associated with them. In DOTA 2, gaining and using Gold are two important factors that affect a player's performance: You can only win a match by getting stronger, beating your opponents, and pushing. With that said farming AI units is always a clever way to bolster your strength. And so, this guide will cover how to creep pull, creep aggro, creep block, creep farm and so much more!

What are creeps in Dota 2?

Credit: Valve Corporation

Creeps are AI-controlled units in Dota 2 and they have a noticeable effect on the game as every player relies one way or another on them. They are an important source of gold and experience, as well as having an impact on the pacing and strategies used in the game. Two main types of creeps in Dota 2 are lane creeps and neutral creeps.

Lane or lane creeps are the infantry for every team starting from the base and going through the three lanes towards the enemy base. They come in three types: melee, ranged, and siege. Melee creeps have a lot of health points but a minimal damage output and serve as a buffer for every wave. Ranged creeps are weaker in terms of physical endurance but have a bigger damage capability and attack from the back. Siege creeps have great damage and are able to bring structures down, this is why they are created every 5 minutes. They are useful in somewhat leading pushes in lanes because they have high magic resistance.

The second type of creeps, jungler creeps, are scattered around camps around the map, this makes them to be non affiliated with any team and enable them to be stationary until attacked. Unlike lane creeps, these types of enemies have different abilities and come in more efforts and gold than the more common types. They are beneficial to players who are looking for a fight and an edge over other players.

With that said, “jungling” isn't without its risks. The fact that map control is a constant fight, while farming there makes you susceptible to ganks from the enemy team, is a thing. So good map awareness and warding is important when going to the jungle.

Creeps also help the teams in the stalker mode of the game where they try to maintain the equilibrium of the lanes. The area where the two teams' creeps intersect and try to kill each other is called the “creep line” or “lane equilibrium.” And this can be controlled through pulling, denying, and creep aggro so that it becomes easier for you to farm or puts your enemies in a better position to be attacked.

How to pull creeps in Dota 2?

Credit: Valve Corporation

Creeping is a term used in Dota to mean pushing and this is usually done to force the lane according to the advantage the push giver wants over the opponent. One of the most common techniques used in pushing is creep pulling which is the art of drawing your lane creeps across to a neutral creep camp. Pulling serves many purposes on that you get to deny the enemy heroes some creeps for them to farm, it also helps in bring the phase of the lane closer to your side, and lastly, it helps you to farm both your creeps and the neutral camp namely increasing your gold and level at the same time.

To successfully accomplish a creep pull, you will need to focus attention on a neutral creep camp at the appropriate time so they follow you into the lane at the moment your creeps are ideally passing by. You can never aggro too early, and while it can vary from lane to lane as to what the best time would be, it is easier to remember as “the :15s and :45s aggro rule”. The end result is that there is very little chance of your lane creeps losing their balance and getting over fought.

Nevertheless, creep pulling does not consist only of such timings and understanding of your lane. If you find that you are too far ahead, pulling will help keep the action closer to your tower which provides a safer farming area. If however, the situation is reversed then pulling may not be the best idea as it may end up putting your tower under stress.

In addition, it’s worth mentioning that there are variations of pulls. For example, A single pull consists of pulling the small neutral camp into the lane creeps. This can help in pushing the lane or quickly clearing the neutral camp. A stack pull, on the other hand, requires you to stack a neutral camp before you pull so that the total number of neutral creeps will be enough to wipe out your entire creep wave, thus denying your enemy that experience and their gold income.

How to aggro creeps in Dota 2?

Credit: Valve Corporation

Creep aggro in more simple terms refers to a set of criteria that determines the specific set of inside units that creeps will be targeting. In this case, if you know how the creep aggro works, you can make use of it to shift the position of the creep wave and make sure that it is in a more favourable farming position for you and more difficult for your opponents to farm from it.

There are targeted billionaire's protocol when targeting creeps as they have buying agents at every target zone. They will first prioritize allied heroes that are being attacked by enemy units, then enemy units attacking themselves, and last enemies units that are being attacked by allied creeps. This can work to your advantage if you take damage to enemy creeps causing them to change targets.

There are multiple ways of manipulating creep aggro and the most basic one is right-clicking an enemy hero in the vicinity of enemy creeps. This will cause a shift of aggro towards you from those creeps. After they engage to you, you can pull back which in turn makes the creeps follow you and that changes the position of the creep wave.

There is another technique where you use “de-aggro” on the creeps. For instance, if you have been the focus target of enemy creeps, you can alleviate that by attacking your allied unit. This would redirect the attention of the creeps onto a different target and in turn rest them.

In order to fully understand the tower aggro, the understanding of the creep aggro is, in fact important. Like the creeps a tower is also governed by some rules of aggro. Once you learn how to control a tower aggro, it would be possible to go under the towers for kills or even push towers without suffering too much damage.

How to farm creeps in Dota 2?

Credit: Valve Corporation

Creep farming or more popularly termed as last hitting is inflicting the finishing blow to a creep. The importance of this is that unless a player is the one to get the last hit on a creep, he will not get gold for it. A successful last hitting practice involves deliberately hitting enemy creeps while denying some of your creeps by using the same tactic when their health status is critical.

To prevent yourself from risk, fixate on the bars of health by focusing on targeting specific creeps until the last second where its health points go from any number to zero. Moreover, it is increasingly essential to be aware of how hard your hero can attack and the duration between each attack. There are heroes who have greater base damage and a quicker attack animation hence easily getting a last hit but there are heroes who have a delayed animation and need practice to meet the required skill set.

But creep farming isn’t only about the last hits either, it is also about controlling the equilibrium of the lane or knowing when to push the lane or when to hold it static. It also knocks you towards the creeps under the enemy tower which may put you at gank risk. However, if you are able to farm near the tower, then it would be easier for you to farm due to the area being heavily guarded, making it hard for the enemy to initiate upon you.

An additional dimension to creep farming is jungling. With well fought neutrals come a hefty amount of gold and experience which would enable you to progress in item procurement. Jungling however isn’t as easy as it sounds. The jungle is a hot topic when it comes to vision and farming it itself makes you an easy gank target. So it’s important to have a good map positioning and wards when going for a jungle.

How to block creeps in Dota 2?

Credit: Valve Corporation

Creep blocking is the process in which, by moving controls of the lane creeps, the user aims to prevent them from getting to the middle of the lane. This control is applied towards the beginning of the game as well as the respawn control of the creeps after each every other. This was done so that overall strategy is to dominate the position of the creep equilibrium even on the tower side so that it is easier to farm around that area.

To block creeps, one has to control the movement of the hero to be in front of his own creeps so that the enemy creeps are blocked, which in turn can be performed to the desired angle to achieve the aforementioned objective. This takes time to perform therefore resourcing to not only using your human body but the hero as well, whereby the speed of both the creeping heroes has to be approximately the same. If the speed is too slow, the creeps go pass you but fast does nothing good.

Creep Blocking should also be viewed as a beneficial action within the mid lane, as this is the place where the two towers are significantly closer to each other. The type of farmer a player manages to reach control farming on their own and how exposed they are makes a major difference. On the side lanes, to block the enemy from pulling and disturbing the equilibrium of the lane, supports use either their bodies or their ability to block the neutral creep camps.

Conclusion

Understanding the concept of patrolling creeps in Dota 2 is crucial for enhancing your game play. Through the proper use of pulling, aggroing, farming and blocking creeps one can dictate the tempo of the game, achieve an economic edge over the opponents, and set the stage for his/her team. Keep in mind that Dota 2 is a game of a millimeter, and the smallest advantage can reach for the win.