Analyzing The Difference Between 2k & 5k Carries
The topic of responsibility has been touched numerous times in our previous discussions of the core role. While, undoubtedly, each and every hero on the battlefield should serve a purpose, it is the core that will usually deliver the final blow. A very disenchanting trend, especially among the lower MMR players, is the lack of aforementioned responsibility. It can manifest itself in a variety of ways, be it suboptimal itemization or general unwillingness to coordinate.
Overcoming this obstacle is a first step towards becoming a better player. To do that, an understanding of these trends is necessary. What exactly do the better players do? What thought process do they go through when evaluating their next move? Statistics has an answer to that.
The Draft
When talking about the cores in this post, the main focus will be on the carries, rather than the utility ones. Carries are expected to deal damage, take objectives and generally do a lot of heavy lifting in the later stages of the game.
The differences between the core pick preferences between 2k and 5k+ players are surprisingly minor. The former tend to over-rely on 
Legion Commander, 
Sniper and 
Phantom Assassin, while the latter are more likely to pick [missing hero: outworld-devourer] and 
Morphling. Otherwise, the usual bunch of 
Pudge, 
Invoker, 
Juggernaut and 
Slark are roughly equally represented in either bracket.
Interestingly, the most popular picks in 2k are more successful. PA and Sniper both have above 50% win rate, while Legion Commander is only marginally below the “perfectly balanced” mark. Moreover, Slark and Juggernaut are also more successful in the lower brackets.
This is the only point that goes in favor of the lower MMR players — their popular heroes are actually based on their success, rather than what better players perceive as the current meta. In a patch where everything works, relying on the same heroes over and over again can be a mistake, it seems.
The Farm
This subsection is more or less self-explanatory. Better players farm better. They utilise more of the map’s resources, are more likely to land a last hit and generally have much higher GPM.
What a lot of people do not realise, however, is that, to a certain degree, it is the difference in the lineups that allows for more carry-friendly environments. Looking at the numbers, it is clear, that the average last hits by a certain minute in the 5k+ bracket frequently exceeds the possible amount of creeps killed in the lane.
It often boils down to players in higher MMR games having better supports. Not only are you more likely to get a proper support in these games, but they also tend to be a lot more impactful. Stacking the neutral camps, harassing the enemy offlaner and sacrificing yourself for the greater good is a well-known support guideline, but not often it is actually applied.
However, better carry players themselves also tend to stack more. The recent changes to the terrain made it possible to make a second pull, from the hard camp close to the lane. There is a reason this camp is so contested — the amount of utility in terms of lane control you get from pulling to it is comparable, if not higher, to the pull to the stacked small camp. And it is some extra farm on top of it, if you can time the pull correctly.
The Fights
Better players tend to have marginally lower amount of kills, marginally higher amount of assists, but a significantly higher average KDA on carry heroes. Given relative equality of the two KDA factors, the difference has to come down to the amount of deaths — better players value their lives and lives of their teammates higher, than the players from the lower skill bracket.
There can be several reasons for the lower amount of deaths in higher skilled games:
Given a slightly higher amount of assists, it is more likely that the teams are more often grouped up. Not only does it prevent certain pick-offs from happening, but it also allows your supports to have a larger impact — support heroes tend to be less mobile and it is frequently the case that the carries run away from their team, chasing farm.
Better map awareness also fits here. Reading the map is a very complicated skill to develop, but it can pay off by allowing you to farm more reliably. Vision plays a crucial role in this as well, and the vision is often lacking in the low MMR games.
Higher amount of kills in the lower bracket is a direct result of the higher amount of deaths, obviously. But it is also reliant on lower MMR players playing more aggressively and taking unnecessary fights too often. Trading your life for the life of the enemy support as a carry is almost never a good deal. Especially if it jeopardizes the lives of your teammates.
The Deaths and Gold Tab is a good evidence of the points made — for almost every hero, the highest amount of gold fed is in the <2k games.
The Strategy
While miniscule, there is another very interesting difference between the 2k and 5k brackets — the average match duration. The difference fluctuates between 1.5 — 2.5 minutes for any given hero, but it significant enough (especially given the amount of matches) to make a point.
Better players finish games faster. This is partly due to higher farming efficiency. Heroes get stronger faster and it catalyzes the match progression. It's also partly because better players tend to stick together more, leading to less pick-offs, leading to less time waiting for a respawn. Higher skilled players also have better focus and know that taking objectives is ultimately how you win the game.
As a general rule, the carries are the shot callers in the later stages of the game. It might not involve actual voice or chat communication, even though it is preferable, but can be as simple as actually moving towards enemy towers. More often than not, especially after a successful fight, the carry hero will be followed by his team. If, however, instead of capitalizing on an opening, the carry player decides to go farming, the game will drag on.
Opportunity Cost
Many of the things 2k players don’t do are not bad in absolute terms. Farming is good, so is killing enemy players. What they often fail to understand is the opportunity cost of their actions.
If a player is presented with a choice of gaining 5 units of abstract utility and 10 units of abstract utility, going for the former is always going to be a mistake. You can only farm your lane, without paying attention to the neutral spawns and you will gain gold. But you will not gain as much as you realistically could. You can go safely farming after a successful teamfight and you will be able to get higher net worth, but it is likely you will get more as a team by taking the objective. You can run around solo making kills and it will slow the enemy progression and will earn you some bounty, but it might get you punished and it might not amount to anything in the end, given the comeback mechanics.
Finally, you can get a higher MMR despite the obstacles in the form of uncooperative teammates, but it will take time and effort.
3rd my fav well done man
I farm like shit but at least I'm not one of those people that pick pa every game.
Some of the things here are so true it is scary. Like, myself being a Support Player in lower brackets, I often see a lot of other supports not play them properly and the carries, who are the most important, being way more relaxed and less willing to communicate, what I call playing like the game is call of duty, playing super greedy farming bad giving no care about your team and being desperate for kills no matter the cost.
I would like to read some articles for low skill players about
So, i have a really lot of time played dota, but i am "rak" and teach slowly (2.4k)
My main problem is that i can`t realize relatively easy skill combos like pugna`s WQR or use medusa`s snake in fight pretty properly
So, i have heavy problems with coordination. E.g. i am bad sniper because i often can`t A+Lclick enemy because i miss the enemy with a cursor.
Similar problems occur when playing as saviors like Dazzle, Oracle or Omniknight - i miss my skills in a stress situations, so i repel enemies or just don`t use skills my team needs.
So I ask to tell sth about solving problems when player can`t realize abilities that he wants. TY
after all objective gaming as its best , kills doesn't matter if lose..
PTFO guys
There can be several reasons to enjoy playing dota: winning, playing well, playing with better players, killing, being on an edge of action, pushing, overfarming enemies, sor statistics.
Playing for action makes lower interest in game result, main is the process. So, 2k carry players are less concentrating on getting advantage and more at using their heero in fights and challenges.
It`s also a question of motivation.
I only play dota to pick agility based overpowered meta heroes and get good KDA like I am playing call of duty
11st yyay :)
2k just a bunch of 5-man carries in your team throw games after have good farming gg lost -25mmr
"Finally, you can get a higher MMR despite the obstacles in the form of uncooperative teammates, but it will take time and effort" - Amen.
Хорошая статья, спасибо
With how greedy dota has become, and with the introduction of mid laners becoming somewhat of a carries again, if my team has more haevy farming people, I tend to join fights more than I normally would with a safe lane carry.
Too bad the team think a safe lane carry should farm 30 minutes straight and flame for that, even when we have another 2 heavy farmer heroes, and the enemy has somewhat of a team mentality.
Hard choices, hard choices.
Great article!
i dunno why 2k players only pick their own heroes and not thinking what they should pick for the game and mostly they underestimated support ability, so that u'll see all carry in the game...
I increased my MMR from 700 to 2.4k over a course of a year by actually reading and watching dota a lot and the problem now is,
my team doesn't listen to me and I fail to control the tempo. like when I have already first picked and the opponent team goes all physical damage heroes I suggest picking Omni but no one listens, they go ahead and pick WK against AM and PL. when I suggest buying diffusal on a agi carry against an Omni they refuse.
Most of the games I can tell in the beginning itself that my team is definitely gonna loose by looking at the picks themselves. People need to learn how to pick and counter-pick before actually learning how to farm. I feel like that is the first step toward becoming a better player.
Most Low MMR supports are not willing to supporT! they think supporting is some sort of a disease! when the enemy team is dead and you ask your support to plz deward our jungle and he says "Cyka" or If he knows English "Fuck you"..... is an example. another thing is reallllly not paying attention to laning phase. i mean they don't pick the right supports. I play @ 4.5-4.7 mostly on my main. I play support. on this account, i started playing mid and carries to practice to some extent and boost this account. I find it really difficult to find myself in a game with good support. I have never ever seen any support to stack for me. Most of the time i'm glad if they even buy wards. What i tell them is this: if you want to win, you keep supporting the game.
another thing is itemization of these supports. When other team has lot of stun and disables (WK,pudge,tide, BH) and my support goes aghs first item shows they know nothing about items. when support WD dies almost instantly in any team fight.......
the other game my support BH went deso into BF.... How many coutnless times a guardian greeves or lotus orb could have saved the carry.....
Anywho this is my thoughts. Gr8 article. Thank you.
I especially hate it when i've made my pick, (sometimes carry/support) and then the other players deliberately lose some gold and pick beyond the pick time but still doesn't get counter pick hero and instead goes for carry heroes like pa or sniper causing the team to
1)have no support/s
2)the team is full of carries
3)they're just effing selfish and doesn't play as a team. Doesn't even bother to buy support stuffs.
Though i've played against a team full of carries but they still can support each other pretty well although not fully functioning carry-turned-support.
Well thats what pub games are like lately.
"I farm like shit but at least I'm not one of those people that pick pa every game."
PA does not need much farm to be effective. She is a mid game dominator and falls of heavily against agility carries with mkb late game (abbysal helps you a bit to man fight them, but she still excels in the mid game). I see so many idiots rushing bf on her instead of getting deso and dominating the mid game.
I fucking hate 2k. I calibrated at something like 800 mmr because I played the calibration games when I was bad but I climbed my way up 2k. But everyone in that bracket is an idiot. Offlaners who are feeding never rotate to jungle or even the hard camp near the shop. Carries have no map awareness and farm in places where they die easily. Mid heroes pay no heed to missing calls and then flame when they die to the enemy Pudge and then supports just AFK in lane and sap XP doing nothing. There's actually such a shit quality of play in that bracket that it's not even funny.
Now this is a good article.
TL DR: follow my path and afk farm to get to 5k
kappa
@Stark maybe you should question how u're in the bracket.
At the end of the day this article of very little use coz it goes all hand in hand -_-.
Carries need to play better but thier supprts need to be good too so its never gonna happen that u solo 1 v 9 unless u r 6 k material in like 4 k bracket :)
Dota is all about hero picks, and most people simply cant pick proper heroes for nuts.
Almost every time a game starts, you can already predict which team will win based on heroes. These days skills and mmr dont even matter much anymore.
THE LOW MMR PLAYERS CAN READ THIS SO THEY CAN GET A HIGHER MMR! :D
helpful article (y)
@Stark play mid every game and pay attention to which team has the better lategame, because 2k tards dont know what early push is and most of the times you will loose those games when you have weaker lategame. When you reach 3k play safelane carry and around 4k its safe to play whatever role you want. Its easy as long as you have good knowledge of the game.
I calibrated at 1.4 guys ( i dont know why maybe valve is just shit) then i worked my way till i reached 2.6 (proves i dont belong in 1k) WHERE I GOT STUCK FOR 5MONTHS BECUASE OF RETARD TEAMATES, tried playing support, only made me lose more mmr because of this 2k idealogy of winning a teamfight then going to farm afterwards. which is very fucikng bad. then i made the decision of playing meepo. and yeah i became 3k in just 1 month, playing meepo allows you to farm effectively and independently early game and being a monster late game. u can just carry your team with meepo, i am serious
well, u just need to use the damn allied chat to figure things out during the draft.
Even 4k-5k players act like they dunno how to use the chat for the first 5 mins
2k mmr is nightmare trust me.. lol ive been there for a while.. very big differences now when im in 4k mmr..
in 2k mmr we can act solo.. but in 4 or 5k mmr i think not that easy.. everybody already know game mechanic so its not that easy.. lol
yea thats right friend.. even in 4k still sometimes no communication at all.. lol
but anyway i agree below 3k mmr is junk.. lol
PA is feeding my Tinker
I should be 6k but Im 2k thanks to my bad team8s that cant read my mind. Let me just buy a 6k account and derank it ,ruining other ppl games, to 2,5k were i trully belong! No Kappa
Solo 2k-3,2k on SEA wont get anywhere.. this environment is sick already
"what is the meaning of abstract utility"
>2k supports: Rush Aghs, forget the rest.
pudge best carry lul
was bi 3k 4elik stat'y napisal pro 5k+
Отличная статья, думаю она мне очень сильно поможет в дальнейшем. Спасибо авторам и переводчикам.
2k mmr carrier? joke?
It's really sad to be supports in lower skill brackets because after winning teamfights, the carries get back to farming and your team doesn't get any objective as spoils of war. So if someone in lower skill bracket wants to play supp, he better picks a supp who can push
Just came from a game that was heavily thrown.
We had a jungle anti Mage
A veno who wanted jungle but didn't get it, called GG at 3 min. Not a single ward purchase the entire game.
And a mid medusa who got mad at us asking why she never ults, decided to ult in the fountain to "show us".
Lovely, lovely sub 2k. It's so f'n hard to stay sane some days.
Play Carry in <2k be like
i will farm at 1 - 45 min of game so go warding and f you all
Play Jungle in <2k be like
f alll of you 1 support is enough
Play offlane <2k be like
solo lane pls (10 min later 0 - 8 - 0)
Play Midlane <2k be like
WTF R U DOIN IN MY LANE? GTFO (fail mid)
Play Support <2k be like
oh wait a minute what is support?
Kappa
Well, sometimes you'll see in the lower bracket... the enemy frequently said.
" go fat pls " ; " kill me pls " ; " noob " etc
And in your team.. you'll meet...
"*gamethrower* " ; " *Teammates mental breaker* " ; " *pick voker and fail * " ; " ME MID, WTF ME PICK FIRST! " then lost the game.
Dammit. so much cancer player.
And here we see 1ks and 2ks whining about shit teammates. As expected. xD
Hey 2k bitches! You know how to get a support in your game 100% of the time? Pick a fucking support and buy fucking wards.