Farming Patterns for Carry in Dota 2

Have you mastered your farming patterns for carry in Dota 2?

Did you know? Dota 2’s The International has one of the largest prize pools in all of esports, having exceeded $40 million in 2021. Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games are among the most popular competitive games. They consistently have very big player bases and some of the most successful competitive scenes in esports.

Dota 2 is at the very top of the MOBA genre, rivaled only by League of Legends. Learning how to play Dota 2 at a very high level may be profitable for some people. One way to climb the ranks and get recognized is through playing the carry position.

If you want to master the carry position quickly, check out our quick guide on the best farming patterns for carry in Dota 2.

Dota 2 Carry Position

The Dota 2 carry is a type of position and hero that is usually considered the strongest and main focus of a team. These heroes are typically the weakest during the early game, so they usually need a support player to help them in their lane. However, these heroes scale very hard and ideally become the most powerful heroes by the late game.

Some of the best carry heroes in Dota 2 currently are Faceless Void, Monkey King, Phantom Assassin, and Ursa. 

Faceless Void is an extremely versatile hero who can close down distances quickly, zone their opponents into a small area, and even render them completely vulnerable with her ultimate, Chronosphere. Having such a mobile hero also means getting in and out of jungle camps safely.

Ursa is also a carry hero but has a different playstyle than Faceless Void. This hero focuses on catching opponents out of position and mauling them to death with his passive abilities and auto attacks. Earthshock allows Ursa to jump a short distance and slow all enemies near the spot he lands on. 

You can then use Overpower to increase attack speed and Enrage to gain damage reduction and crowd control resistance.

Farming Patterns for Carry Heroes

Farming is the best way to funnel more gold to your carry player. Carry heroes are quite weak early in the game, so you must have them farm neutral creeps to catch up and eventually overpower enemies. Here are the best farming patterns for carry heroes in Dota 2.

Quelling Some Trees

Professionals more commonly use this first trick, but it can make a difference throughout a game if you have the patience. Purchase a Quelling Blade at the start of the game and start cutting down trees to make a more direct path toward nearby jungle camps.

This may seem negligible at first, but later in the game, when you have open lanes straight toward the jungle, you can get in and out of your own lane anytime.

This makes it much easier to get extra gold in the jungle while also keeping your own lane protected and keeping your enemy on their toes. If you are brave enough, you can even start cutting down trees from the jungle towards your opponents’ side of the lane.

Creep Stacking

Creep stacking is one of the best skills you can learn for farming in Dota 2. Basically, neutral creeps spawn every minute starting with 1:00. They cannot respawn if a player or ward is in their area.

By drawing neutral creeps away from their area, you can trick the game into respawning a new set of neutral creeps in the next minute, even if the current ones are still alive.

Start by walking close to or attacking a jungle camp. All the creeps will chase you, and you can draw them some distance away from the camp. If you start this at around 55 seconds into the minute, you can have a whole new group spawn by the next minute. 

By stacking neutral creeps and eventually killing them, you can get a large amount of gold almost instantly, which can quickly translate into a power spike through purchasing items.

Safe-Lane Farming

The carry hero usually plays in the safe lane. For Radiant, this is the bottom lane, and for Dire, it is the top lane. The safe lane is where your Tier 1 Tower is farthest from the Ancient and closest to the creep line. This is the easiest lane where you can start farming patterns for carry in Dota 2.

The safe lane takes a lot of patience to play, as carry heroes are typically weaker early in the game. In fact, they are usually too weak to fight neutral creeps in the first few minutes, so you should focus on fighting lane creeps first.

Once you get a little stronger, you can push your own lane into the enemy tower. That should give you enough time to go and farm a jungle camp.

Another good tactic is creep stacking and drawing them all toward your Tier 1 Tower. By having the neutral creeps fight your own creep wave, you can deny the latter from the opponent and even force their creeps to come much closer to your tower. Your opponent might decide to go to their own jungle during this, but your stacked neutral creeps mean you get more net gold out of this exchange.

Now that you have learned the best way to farm jungle creeps, you are well on your way to becoming an effective carry player in Dota 2. Polish your skills a little more, and you just might be good enough to compete in The International someday.