How to Climb Out of the Trench | Dota 2 

A comprehensive and intimate showcase of knowledge regarding player behaviors by ranking and how to remedy that? I think this is one of your greatest content pieces, Zach! Really well done!

Ironically people want to get out of the trench because they assume its going to be more fun if their teammates are better, not realizing that the opponents will be better too. The game is never going to feel "better". Its only getting more stressfull.The only way to have more enjoyable games is to quit playing dota and do something else 😅

Coming back to this video a year later, I can say that the main thing that was always holding me back was me myself. At one point years ago before the medal system came into the game, I was ranked 4.3k, but over the years my mmr kept going down slowly, and stagnated at around 2k. Picked up a lot of bad habits in the process and ended up in this toxic loop of terrible games 3 outa 5 times. For me, I've always felt like mechanically I was good enough to be able to climb again but I think mentally I had lost my love for the game and simply kept playing cause I had nothing else I wanted to play. I eventually ended up taking a very long break from the game (about 2years in total) and only started playing regularly again the past few months. Took some time to shake the rust off, but with a refreshed mentality, everything came back pretty quickly and I now find myself solidly climbing rank again. The biggest difference now vs a few years ago, purely the fact that I actually enjoy playing the game again. I think in addition to that, taking a long break has also allowed me to reset mentally in terms of self control and I am far better now at dealing with toxic people in games and that has improved my games massively. Also knowing when to play or when not to play in terms of my mood. So if anyone else can relate to this, maybe just take a step back for a while to clear your head a bit. Might just be the change you need to get back to winning ways :)

As an archon player this is painfully accurate. The number of times I've seen someone in this bracket who I can only assume is playing with 1 hand and wonder how on earth my sweaty ass is the same rank baffels my mind. I must have to work on the game knowledge aspect.

Having been an Archon I that recently recalibrated as Crusader I and then lost my way down to Guardian III, and then started focusing on Game plan (using the deadlane theory and focusing the correct objectives and taking good fights) and made my way back to Crusader with ~70% wr since, I have to say you ABSOLUTELLY NAILED IT for Guardian-to-Archon bracket. Even communication and calling the right fights. This got me amazed, really.

Been in dota for over a decade. You’re a breadth of fresh air and good vibes in the sea of harsh and gruff content creators. It will benefit as you as a dota coach and content creator. Keep it up!

showed in my feed and didn't expect anything, and it just sums up every single lost pieces I've been receiving through some coaching from some people. Very comprehensive and easy to understand! Not disappointed clicking the video

Really great video, i rewatched it like 3 times already and when i feel it's needed to gather some ideas on what parts of my playstyle should be improved, i come back here. Thanks a lot man for your awesome content, i used to be in crusader bracket, now i am legend 2

Im a newer subscriber, This helps quite a bit and overlaps nicely with all the things Ive been coming to realize recently. Thank you for the awesome videos!

Thank you for actually going into detail about the topics you are talking about, most DOTA creators just go with the overarching themes, but this was very detailed!

Excellent content and thank you kindly for making this game, which is really hard lol, a more approachable game for newbies. You're an incredible creator and teacher.

U can tell he did his research on the lower ranks to give the best insight. Such a great video. Thank you

I wish I would have found you four to five years ago! FANTASTIC content dude. I've paid hundreds of dollars just to hear the same exact points you've said in your videos. And at times you've explained them even better than the coaches I've had. Thank you!

Yesterday I played a game in herald 3 where I went 15/0/11 at 30~min until my void teamate decided to chrono me in and let my opponents kill me. The game ended immediatelly cause I had no bb. Coming from csgo to dota has been harsh, but my experience in competitive games allows me to keep focused on whats important. There are games that you just can't win, it's just impossible. All we can do is stay consistent in every game as in the long run the bad teamates (who are there but are not the solo reason I'm herald :p) will even out and we will promote to higher leagues. Just stay confident on your skill and always play to learn more and more

Awesome video! Really interesting to hear the thoughts at each level. As a crusader, I'd be really interested to learn more about game plan. I feel like I've gotten a good handle on laning and often play in a party so I'm interested in how to approach the game especially after a couple tier ones fall because it always feel like I take a bad fight and throw any lead. Thanks again for all your great content, appreciate the support hero focus and holistoc view of dota.

Thank you for this Video! Im divine and just starting to put more emphasis on predicting what moves around the map the enemies are going to do next and its helping me a lot.

This is the greatest guide. I have watched so many guides and they basically all just say "hit more creeps". This actually covers all the aspects of skill that can contribute to winning a game of dota.

Excellent analysis, make Dota 2 a study-way to explain problems is A MUST that people do not deem as necessary. Please keep up the good content (new sub to you). Teach it as an academic course so people can actually get something out of it. Thanks a lot

Very well spoken! I feel like I knew this stuff but couldn't pin point it. I appreciate you taking the time to help lay it all out and help me win some more games (hopefully)

super awesome vid man. I think my personal issue right now is actually identifying which of these categories I'm weak in. You always think it's one thing but then you sit down in a coaching session and have something pointed out to you that you'd never considered before haha

This is outstanding analysis right here. I love the perspective on every rank and many different player archetypes, this is content for nearly all Dota players and makes some really brilliant, astute observations. I'm super excited for the chance to evolve my gameplay and improve based on your framework, Z.

Thank you for your content! hoping to see more of them cause you really help us out!

Honestly I’ve been looking for something like this for a long time now. Really needed the “what am I missing??” Filled in.

I appreciate your content here, an indept analysis of what to do, thank you.

Great video! Consistency is definitely important. Which is why when I play really well in a game I get nervous if I'll be able to play as well in the next one. But as I worry, I start to play worse :p

Fantastic content! You outdid yourself! Thank you for the amazing content! 🙏

Thank you, great video. One thing that jumped out at me that I am struggling with is when to farm as a pos 4 or 5.

I like how you conceptualize things, such as your definition of "the trench" - it's not any particular badge, but rather stagnation.

Spot on analysis! I started out at around ~800 MMR and my highest has been Divine 3. The naunce you go into really helps me understand how I can move forward.

So much information! You are helping us grind with your videos.

Absolutely fantastic video! Congratulations and thank you very much

really some of the best educational content out there for dota !

god, you're right. it's very much awareness that's lacking in lower mmr. i'm so focused on my own hero and i find it more and more difficult as the game goes on to look at other players and check items etc. i wonder if mental fatigue plays a part in that

Rly good content, bro! Keep it up! Thanks!

Love this , keep uploading this kind of content🔥 more power to dota

Great video. Definititely feel i am in the herald trench. Play mainly pos 4 or 5 and although i still have a lot to learn, i have improved my awarness a lot of late, but I feel often its the lack of awareness by cores and carries will determine the game. Maybe some more insight how to work with a team that have bad awareness would be useful :-D

I’m new to Dota (230ish hours!). Honestly I find your video so helpful! You’re the only RU-vidr that makes Dota context that actually make sense to me. Really appreciate this context you are sharing. Is there any other way we can support you other than ‘like’’subscribe’ your channel?

This is awesome, thanks. Do you have any advice for mixed ability stacks? My group ranges from herald to legend, and I've always suspected there's a special knack to playing optimally under those conditions.

Mate you're such a good teacher!! ty for the content!!

I think what makes you good in the immortal bracket is being able to adapt your playstyle to the other visions of players since you can only lose if both parties resist each other. at the end of the day you'll end up being placed higher than the players that do resist because they will lose more games by throwing because of differences in opinion. besides that it comes down to how well you understand games in general and I think good game sense will allow you to play at different paces and make different moves within the realm of your situational capability. As for anything below ancient I think having a decent macro game understanding can get you to ancient because you're able to look at the game objectively and not be dissuaded from trying because things went badly. We play from south africa so ping is already a problem for us which means that winning a lane can sometimes be difficult. so instead we play macro game, wait item timings and win just because we understand the advantages we have. Sometimes its even a matter of taking just one good fight and winning the game. the amount of times I have had a 1% win probability and winning is astounding and that comes from just using the maximum power of our heroes to get a really good push after winning a teamfight.

Nice video man, very well explained.

The fact that Guardian, Crusader and Archon are together shows the video is more focused on higher ranks (and kind of laziness) but still is the best systemized information i have seen on you tube. In addition there should be another row called 'BALLS SIZE' if you have small balls you can't rank up!

thank you very much man, you are very useful and will go for in success

Nice video bro. I am a Guardian. There are lots of information to digest. I am trying to play HC to get out of this bracket. So I also study one role more.

Perfect content! Pls continue this work

Additional point for gaurdian to archon TAKE ROSH AFTER A WON FIGHT. Cool channel. You could do a whole video on when to rosh.

excellent content, subscribed!

Im more impressed with the powerpoint slides than the content, great uni level presentation haha

great job on presention dude, subbed 4 sure.

That pit quote about herald really hit home!! But I’ll still run CM mid😤

You are an amazing teacher Zach

Thanks, great content, keep it up.

understand when the lane is lost and how to come back to it (from every position perspective) / when to rotate to mid/safelane (pos4 perspective) when to build defensive items and when to be greedy

Herald Sea is next level adapting is a requisite, if you are mid or safe you must pick whats missing in your team. ie support/tank is most common. Two hard carries is 90% certain in the team for a herald game.

I think about variability in guardian + is so true. I cannot tell you how many games I've won against absolutely terrifying invoker, puck etc players who absolutely ruthlessly destroy everyone for 40mins, only to split push at the wrong time and have the other 4 people on their team die across the map. In these sorts of games a well timed tip can be a game winner.

The amount of variability in Dota 2 is what keeps me into the game. Another thing to the newbies watching this guide. Don't worry a lot of people don't know what they are doing and are trying to figure it out as they go. So yeah try to improve all of these things but at your own pace. It DOES make a difference.

I feel like there should be several strategies which you can quickly communicate with your team. When styles clash it's really hard to teamplay. It would be good to know this before it's too late in the match. Some people play dota as a 25 minute game, some as 40 and a lot (in ancient-legend) as 60. Just to synchronize timings. We need a shorthand for these things that 5 solo qeue people could use.

I commented this on another video, but I would love to see you break down how to know if you're showing to the enemy on the map, and tips and tricks to stay hidden

Regarding communication and in-game calls: I find this to be an issue when multiple people are trying to make several calls and they contradict. Unfortunately, during the middle of a game is not really a good time to go into an extended debate about what the correct decision is, and people get their egos hurt easily. Whatever this happens to me a lot of the time I will just stop making the calls and go along with whatever plan the other caller wants to make. So long as the decisions aren't immediately game losing, I think having some sort of unified plan is better than to go against it. Especially if said teammate already has support from others. Of course there are times I will mute them and continue to call shots, either because they are making absolutely game losing calls, and/or the rest of my team is going along with whatever I say instead. I'm curious if you have any insights into this. Edit: I just finished watching the video and I noticed at the end you mentioned how sometimes it is better to keep quiet in immortal. For reference I am an ancient / divine player. I think what you said can also be applied to those brackets. Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks for making such a great video.

Love to see more support guide, content is better than BSJ

It’s funny as a herald you are right. You really just need to hit creeps and then contribute to team fights. My issue is I’m either farming well or contributing to team fights. In games I win it’s where I can split the difference. In games I’m up by like 200 last hits I struggle in team fights cause I got my items so I’m cocky and position bad. Or I’m not last hitting well but I’m scared causing me to think about positioning a ton and then can Contribute to fights, sometimes the game will turn around in my favor due to better contribution in fights. But usually we just plowed and it doesn’t matter cause I’m so far behind. TLDR: to win games in herald hit creeps and help your teammates in fights

I'm crusader/archon. I feel like the only thing that's hard for me, is counter picking a unusual pick/combo. Then, I also only solo queue, so even though I suggest to my team what to pick, but that doesn't mean they care or listen, and they will pick something like pos1 bristleback, and still go rush a vanguard and pipe, with no regard to actually go for a aggressive carry build first. And this keeps happening, you get a lot of people that grief after landing stage and buys a Shadow amulet etc. I as a solo player can only do so much.

I usually play very well when I'm watching the minimap. Sometimes I'll catch myself just spacing out on my lane and go oh wait, I have no idea what is happening anywhere else.

Thank you for this!

Awesome video!

itemization.. everything else will follow.. build orders and versatile items between heroes. I stick to this build order -> wards boots at start then I work on Cornucopia for regen followed by Hyper-stone for speed. These 2 parts are the start to a later build of Bloodthorn. Next I go Skullbasher as I hit woods so I don't get ganked as it costs 2800 while rest of item list is relatively cheap. After this I go for Witchblade then Crystalis & Portal Boot recipe. Then I finish off Bloodthorn and get blink & finish Abyssal. Sometimes I will get mask for lifesteal & build it up or I might get Echo Blade & "Specialized Array" might work like on PA.

Stuck in the sub 500 trench. Over the last week I got MVP 6 times out of 20 games as a support (the games we won). I do the same thing every game, stay in lane to help the carry until they are 6 or strong enough, pull creep agro to the carry to make it easier for them to last hit the melee, pull lanes to balance the lane, get runes, ward in smart places and de-ward, stack when I can but I always have the jungle and triangle triple stacked by 15 minutes. I direct my team to the towers in the correct order: mid; offlane, safelane, mid, offlane; safelane. I push the lanes with the catapults every 5 minutes to make space. But still I'm 43% win rate and keep sinking lower. If I get mid or offlane which is rare I use Visage 900 game main hero, dominate 80% of the time usually with 80+ last hits and 20-40 denies by 10 mins, push mind and their safelane tower by 12 minutes. Still only win 53% of the time. It's definitely my teams fault or smurfs ruining the game.

thanks bro, maybe some videos more in depth on itemization would be cool.

Very good video. I liked it

At every bracket you talk about the importance of watching your own replays. I've tried to do this more regularly, but some replays i find useful and learn something to work on, but others it just feels like wasted time. When I see stuff of lower mmr players, it's easy to identify not only what was wrong, but would have been a better option instead. When i see higher mmr stuff, honestly I probably don't even notice the wrong stuff, let alone have any idea what would've been better. When I look at my own games and my own mmr, what I really struggle with is figuring out what the better option would have been. I can often figure out 'something was wrong here', but i can't decode it myself. How do you 'coach yourself' with replays when you don't always know what the correct thing to do is? Maybe a video about how to analyze your own replays?

Whether I've won or lost the lane, in the phase after laning I always get lost on what I should be doing next... on basically any hero, any position.

what i learned from 10 years of dota and beginning from herald to divine is you must pick a certain heroes you know youre good at.

Zach is quite literally "Blessings from the Lord!" For DotA!

This is some great content, I just started a month or so ago and i've been playing ranked for almost 3 weeks. Started at 1880 MMR around Guardian5/Crusader1 and now I'm around 2350 in Archon with a 65% win rate. Your comment about games going on so long in this bracket is so true. I watch a lot of high MMR games, replays, coaching sessions, etc. and it always feels so hard to get my team to push the early advantage. We'll be up like 10-0 and instead of continuing to run at them and disrupt the game, my team will just back off and farm, not push lanes, etc.. Then eventually the team starts catching up and the game lasts an hour. I'd say that most of my games last between 40 and 50 minutes just because people in this MMR do not know how to end or they prioritize pushing every lane equally instead of just shoving down mid T3 after getting multiple kills.

I almost never comment, but I just wanted to say this video is really great.

As someone right around legend “blame teammates” phase.. when I’m 20-8 and we lose and the graph shows me being top farm the first 20-30 minutes, it’s less my fault than theirs. I killed, I farmed, but as a team we didn’t execute.

As a support that is now Archon, but have been to Ancient. Seem to struggle with reliable cores. I feel comfortable in the laning phase and consistently win one or more lanes and then still lose. I think my issue is the mid/late game and cores running around doing god knows what. Feel I shouldn't follow and should push lanes. But maybe I should just follow them around? Would love to see something about support in the mid/late. Most content focusses on laning stage and says if you win that you win. My experience as a support is MUCH different, to the point where I am not sure the laning phase matters much at all.

16:04 completely agree with this, thats why you dont copy 100% of what the pros do.. try adjust a bit.

Good effort on the video.

oooo mystery skills i wanna know now >_< awww herald is a special place

As a legend player I find myself struggling to create opportunities. My plays are usually reactionary and while there are heroes for that kind of play (like Dazzle) it does limit my impact. I would love to hear something regarding playmaking/making space.

I have been at crusade to divine then archon then crusade again, 1 thing i know but it just so hard to change, its your emotion. The fact is, you always have to adjust the play style on different rank. along the dropping trend, i slowly find it out. The lower you go the worst support u gonna get, when u at divine, the support more likely to know what to do(most of the case), but when u go down to lower archon and crusader, the support mostly are not doing support, and in laning phase, they play with no purpose(well, not all of the case). So, if i play 1~3pose, i bough ward, smokes(usually i bough the most in most game), thats how i slowly climb back up. Of course there still of issue, no just the suppott, but u get what i mean. During the esrly drop phase, i just couldnt adjust to it, thats makes me mad at the other players, thats spark thing to the worst. Thats why i think emotion account for at least 40% to winning the game

for me at least from the brasilian server in crusader those support almost always pick a defensive support, which is cool if i'm playing 4, if i'm the 5, the 4 usually pick a defensive support like dazzle or warlock but the most annoying thing is the mid, you can't do shit with a farmer mid, even a wk or am, that shit is awful

I used to be about 3800mmr then i quit dota for a few years jaysus did i get bad at it. Took me months to get used to modern dota and i sank to like 300mmr during that time. Back to 1500 currently and have like 58% win rate now so climbing. But as an offlaner mainly it took so long to wrap my head around actually having a support every game.

Got to immortal in 2019 and stopped playing til 2 months ago, Lately I realized I was really autopilot when I play 5 (i'll do EVERYTHING I should, but itemization would basically be hero dependent, between mek, blink, aether, glimmer force. ) and no game vision or plan (leads to not making a lotus where its super important) and it's made me suffer on other roles, so I don't see my own team''s game, and the enemies item build and learning from that too (or my own teammates) I got like 7k games on pos 5 and i am probably a 3k mid, carry or offlaner because of this. Doesn't help I kinda just filled my day with 12+ games of dota a day so the effort really dwindled and probably learned super bad habits. Lately I decided I wanna bring my average performance on carry and offlane higher, and it's so nuts. As support you basically choose between tranqs or arcanes, maybe skipping full boots and rushing shard. But for cores it's like, itemization can really twist a game into your favor In 2012 when I used to play cores, I would adjust and adapt my builds so easily, but it feels like the game now is way more diverse. No longer a "do I want a skadi or do I want a linkens" Like a PA could go bfury deso bkb abyssal satanic, it would not occur to me (i played vs an sf) that I should make AC and maybe skadi. great video, and honestly, just good things to remind myself of when I play now, "game vision" ""purpose" even though i do think those things if i'm on like wyvern or oracle, its still probably gonna win a ton of games for me just to consider it more often. /blog over

I hope you get picked up as a talent, you have great knowledge of the game and have a soothing voice to communicate it.

Thank you so much bro

As a legend player old knowledge can be hard to kick lol. I tried to cut the wave with firefly on lvl 1 batrider, then realized, wait a sec they aren't aggroing lol

I had a brain injury and lost vision in my right eye, I was at crusader but nosedived to the bottom of herald. I'm now herald 3/4 I'm definitly going to improve on my last hits. I know jenkins has a blind side too I don't know how he got to immortal

I've been casually playing Ranked DOTA and I tend to sit between Guardian and low Crusader as a support player. At times I get the feeling that if my carries do not build correctly they can not carry and I take a loss regardless of my own preference (not saying I always play perfectly). I honestly do not want to play a carry just to rank up but a lot of videos claim that you should stop playing support and play mid or some carry position.

Well done. I would like to hear your thoughts on gameplan in losing games at lower mmr. My basic game plan. Ward 1 spot, triangle/rosh by jungle, and try to split push from trees line to hopefully have one player TP back and hope team catches any players out of position. As a support player I hate seeing my team just sitting as 4 in base when I feel like the play is to try to push out the map hard. I ask them not to fight low ground but what can you do right?

very well presented

is hard to get out.. i was guardian 4 then i got some bad team mates lol went back to hearld 3... now i am back at guardian 1.. i just play my strong hero to try to get out from the trench.. i went back from guardian to herald when i started experimenting picking supports and other characters like the pros.. but it does not work here.. if u r playing alone, play your strongest hero and win it for the team.

You should probably recommend at least a couple of good heroes for each bracket to climb out of the trench applying what you discussed. Thanks!

I loved this video

great video

You said you think game plan or purpose isn't that big of a problem for a lot of people, and it's actually an awareness problem. It might be, but I think a lot of people really just don't know what to do in certain situations, like when to buy back, what to do when the enemies buy back, when it's better to push certain lanes/towers over others, and most certainly when teams are comparatively stronger or weaker than one another at any given point (or future point) of the game. People don't understand win conditions very well in general in pubs. I think there is a maxim in this game: A lot of people know how to play a game of dota, not that many know how to win a game of a dota.

Was hard stuck Herald for 3 years, than i decided to grind turbo until my behavior score went from 3k to 10k, after I got my behavior score up I got archon in 2 weeks

What a fucking good video! So helpful!

THANK YOU ALOT ^_^