Dota 2 Tips: A Guide to the 1-5 System

Have you been hearing people refer to heroes with numbers? Confused? Read this guide and shed some light on the ranking system and how it's used. The 1-5 hero role system in Dota 2 ranks heroes' item and level farm importance from 1 (very high) to 5 (very low). Hero roles are not set in stone, many heroes can fill more than one of these positions. This is just a general outline of a commonly used system while creating teams in Dota 2. :)
Note: Jungling was not included in common laning suggestions, as there are only a few heroes in each catagory that commonly jungle.

Position 1:

First priority for levels and gold, because they are very farm dependent (items and levels); your hard carry. This hero is relatively weak in the early game, stronger through mid game, but really shines late game. This hero is crucial to the team and their farm can make or break a game. It's essential to keep these heroes alive and farming as much as possible; kills to the enemy team are a bonus.

Common Heroes
High right-click damage output heroes often with high mobility and slows or short stuns.

Common Items
Increased right-click damage (including crit), AOE Damage, stuns, survivability.

Common Laning
Dual/Trilane: Heroes like Anti-Mage, Faceless Void, Luna, Sven, and Phantom Assassin can greatly benefit from dual and trilanes. Having your hard carry in a lane with one or two supports gives your 1 a safe environment to farm with the option of playing aggressively for early kills. The heroes benefiting most from this lane are often melee or short ranged carries that are glass canons from early to mid game. If this lane is successful, ensuring the carry's survival through the farming phase, your chances of winning will be exponentially greater.

Solo Safelane: Heroes including Lone Druid, Luna, Medusa, Sniper, and Weaver can farm well in a solo lane due to their harass potential, escapability, and ease of last hitting (due to range, summoned units, and attack modifying passives). If the your 1 is confident enough to solo, this lane will give them faster experience farm.

Mid: Ranged heroes like Drow, Morphling, Gyrocopter, and Shadowfiend are able to dominate mid lane and still keep up on farm. It's often more beneficial to put your 1 in one of the aforementioned lanes, but depending on your team composition, mid lane can be the best choice for your position 1.

Position 2:
Second priority for levels and gold, position 2 heroes take a different lane than the position 1 heroes, and they get the farm priority in their lane. Position 2's are often comfortable soloing, and make very good gankers and/or pushers. These heroes are pretty strong early game, strongest mid game, but can fall off late game (against position 1's). They rely on less expensive items than 1's, but many of the items they build towards are crucial to mid and late game.

Common Heroes
High initiation potential, with crowd control and/or AOE damage, and durable/evasive.

Common Items
Initiation/movement, extra crowd control, durability, damage amplifier (ability/right-click).

Common Laning
Mid: Position 2's, like Queen of Pain, Invoker, Outworld Devourerer, and Nightstalker can make very good mid heroes because they require relatively high farm. A lot of position 2's make great mids because of their ability to last hit, harass and/or escape. They can also be very durable. Being mid also requires the hero to offer ganks to other lanes. Many position 2's have great ganking abilities, so they can often be the best choice for this lane.

Safelane/Hardlane Solo:Postion 2 heroes, like Clockwerk, Mirana, and Brewmaster can almost always solo lane with ease for the same reason that they can solo mid. Position 2's can often solo against two or three enemy heroes and still get decent farm and dominate the lane. Having your position 2 in mid or solo side lane is often the most beneficial for several reasons.

Dual/Trilane: Sometimes it is necessary for your position 2 to be supported, most commonly in a dual lane. Heroes benefitting from this lane comp. include melee heroes like Juggernaut, Centaur Warrunner, and sometimes Lifestealer when he is out of jungle. Usually these heroes can easily secure early-game kills and creep farm in lane when paired with a support, making this a very good lane for the position 2.

Position 3:
Middle priority for farm, position 3 heroes often have strong team fight abilities and high initiation potential. They have a moderate farm priority because rush their ultimates is crucial in getting a leg up on the other team, but the items they require are relatively cheap. By late game most of the position 3's items will cost <4000g. They tend to focus on initiation and durability items. Position 3's are very versitile heroes that have potential to be comfortable in any lane that needs to be filled. Alone, they are able to do well, but with team mates their true potential really shows.


Common Heroes
Often strong ultimates with high damage and/or utility, high initiation potential, team fight.

Common Items

Initiation/movement, team fight, support, durability/survivability.

Common Laning
Dual/Trilane: Sometimes position 3's prescense in a solo lane is not the most beneficial with the given team composition. Postion 3 heroes can also to very well in a dual/trilane because they offer such high harass. With a position 3 in a sidelane with a partner(s), it is very easy to dominate the lane and push enemies back. Heroes that excel at this include Elder Titan, Tusk, and Axe.

Mid: Position 3's are very common in the mid lane. Most position 3's have abilities that allow them to harass enemy heroes in lane, giving them space to last hit. Most importantly, most position 3's want to rush to level 6 for their ultimate, because position 3 ultimates are very commonly crucial to team plays. Heroes like Puck, Rubick, and Batrider are commonly seen mid.

Safelane/Hardlane Solo: Having a position 3 in a solo lane can be extremely beneficial to the team. As stated earlier, most position 3's have harass potential in lane, making it easier to solo. Another reason they are useful soloing a sidelane is that they don't require substantial gold farm, but they rely on level farm to be useful early and mid-game. Heroes that are often seen in side-lane include Dark Seer, Bounty Hunter, and Magnus.

Position 4:
Second lowest priority for farming because position 4 acts as a secondary support. Position 2's tend to be slightly stronger than 5's and rely on a few key items to really get the most out of them. Because of this, they are more farm dependent than position 5 heroes. These heroes are very important to team fights and laning because of their high utility.

Common Heroes
Regeneration, crowd control, durability, high initiation potential.

Common Items
Pure support [when needed] (wards, dust, smoke), team support, initiation.

Common Laning
Dual/Trilane: Postion 4's will almost always be laning with another hero in a side lane. They usually have abilities that, on their own, will not secure early kills but, matched with another hero's abilities, could be deadly. Heroes like this include Sand King, Tidehunter, Earthshaker, and Witch Doctor. These heroes have slows or stuns and relatively high damage output early game, but may have a difficult time in a solo lane.

Solo Lane: It's very very uncommon for a postion 4 to be anywhere but a dual/trilane, but depending on the team composition the position 4 can find themselves soloing safelane or mid. Heroes capable of doing this include Shadow Shaman, Pugna, and Nyx Assassin.

Position 5:
The least prioritized, because they are the hard support; their key items are inexpensive and are for the benefit of the team. These heroes tend to be very squishy, but have the potential of outputting high spell damage in team fights, and offer regeneration and/or crowd control with their abilities. Most position 5's will only be able to complete their boots and another item in the entire game because they're basically the ward bitch. Although they are lowest priority for farm, they are an asset to the team, and can really shape the early game.

Common Heroes
Regeneration, crowd control, low right-click damage, potentially high spell damage, low HP.

Common Items
Pure support (wards, dust, smoke), cheap team support, cheap survivability.

Common Laning

Dual/Trilane: Position 5's are most useful in dual or trilanes with position 1's and/or 2's harassing enemy heroes, stacking and pulling creeps, and helping to control the lane. Heroes like Keeper of the Light and  Dazzle are most useful for their regeneration abilities. Heroes like Jakiro, Lion, Shadow Demon, and Crystal Maiden are most useful to carries for their strong disables and slows.

Mid: It's very very very rare to have a position 5 mid because these heroes are often much more useful with their carries, and are often too weak for a crucial solo position. Heroes like Lich, Shadow Demon, Lion, and Lina have been seen mid because of their harass potential in lane, but it's almost never the best choice with most team compositions. 

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Content in this article can be supported with information in this article and this spreadsheet.