For illustrative purposes, we can separate the way a team plays in three general play styles.

The first and most common way to play is to walk as a team and go for objectives (pushing towers, killing Roshan). This is the most straightforward playstyle as it is the least reactive - you want to force team fights regardless of what and where your opponents are doing. They will be forced to react to your movements, otherwise they risk losing objectives and map control. However, it is only smart to 5-man when you think you have the fight advantage because of your lineup, items, timings, etc.

The second way to play the game is to split-up, roam the map and search for small-scale engagements with your strongest gankers. This will disable the enemy team from free-farming because you will take away the “safe” areas on the map.

The third way to play is to split-up, avoid fights, out-push the waves, split-push, stall the pushes of your opponents and prolong the game until you are in a dominant position. Generally, you want to adopt this play style when reaching the late game will give you an advantage - i.e. when you scale better with items and levels. Moreover, if you are not in position to take a direct fight it will allow you to take trades and maintain map control.

wItH thIs oN3 SiMpLe rUle yOu wILL neVER lOsE aGaIn!

Seriously though - this is a generalization and there are cases where this rule doesn’t really hold. However, most of the time it does and it is strong enough so that if you base your in-game decisions on it you will very rarely be wrong. Dota is too complex and in the heat of things it is extremely hard to make the right tactical decisions. Such a simplification is very useful practically.

The reasoning for the rule is pretty simple - the advantages of one playstyle counter the drawbacks of another.

To maximize your fighting strength you have to group together - this is the logic behind the 5-man Dota tactic. You want to utilize this strength to push and force fights. The problem is, however, that when you are staying together, you are not utilizing the free space on the map very well. You are farming only the lane which you are pushing, while the two jungles and the other lanes are empty.

Split-pushing and Turtling is a natural counter to the 5-man Dota on two levels:

First, when you are split-pushing your cores are very effectively utilizing the open space on the map that you get because the other team is clumped up in one place. Your split-pushers are farming and pushing one lane, pressuring undefended towers, teleporting to other lanes, farming the jungle and so on. Just by doing that, the split-pushing team will massively out-farm the 5-man team and will get a big gold and XP advantage in the long run.

Second, the 5-man team wants to force fights but will have a hard time doing so versus the split-pushing team. If part of the split-pushing team stalls the pushes of the 5-Man team (turtles), the split-pushers will be able to push-out the other lanes and even get towers before they return to defend. If you are the split-pushing team and you know you cannot take 5vs5 fight even under your own tower, you can just trade (a tower for a tower) and you still will be ahead in terms of resources. While the other team just got a tower, you got a tower plus all the farm your carries got from split-pushing. If the 5-man team abandons the push and returns to defend, this is again in your favor - the enemy team has wasted time since they didn’t accomplish an objective, while you were gaining resources from split-pushing.

The deciding factor, in that case, is if the 5-man team can overcome your stalling/turtling and push fast enough. This is very hard to do against a team that is turtling properly with good anti-push spells. If the 5-man team fails to push very fast, in the long term they are at a very severe disadvantage.

The problem with split-pushing is that your important heroes are always “out of position”, in the sense that if they get caught their allies will not be able to save them. So, if you are split-pushing while your opponents are in position to gank, you could very easily end up feeding kills. You need incredibly good map control and vision to be able to avoid all kinds of ganks; even this will not prove enough sometimes because of Smoke of Deceit. In addition, if the other team is roaming and ganking you will rarely see all heroes together, which is the typical clue that you need to start split-pushing. Even if just 1 dangerous hero on the enemy team is missing (e.g. Bat with Blink), split-pushing or even just out-pushing the lanes all of a sudden becomes extremely risky.

The deciding factor here would be if the split-pushers could avoid dying from ganks continuously whilst at the same time attempting the hard task of split-pushing and farming effectively. This is why the best split-pushing heroes are always heroes that are very hard to gank (Ember Spirit, Anti-Mage, etc.) or even heroes that can split-push with units without getting out of position (Naga Siren, Natures Prophet, Arc Warden, Lone Druid). 

The issue with roaming and ganking is that, when you are doing it, you are looking for small-scale engagements. This means that your enemies have to be spread-out around the map, otherwise it is simply not possible to find ganking targets. You want to pick-off single targets (or small groups) rather than fight the whole enemy team.

You are searching for fights but you are moving in small groups or even alone. When the enemy team is moving as 5, if you find the fights you are looking for you will simply lose them. I.e. when the enemy team is playing 5-man Dota, if you try to gank somebody because you see him on the map, you will walk into the whole team and probably pay with your life. This way you waste your time and effort and in the end - you give resources to the enemy team.

You should react to how your opponents are playing by changing your playstyle accordingly.

If they are pushing as 5 you need to spread-out and use the free space on the map as efficiently as possible.

If they are pushing as 5 and you don’t think that you can easily stop the push by fighting it off (this is likely to be the case if they decided to push), it is smart to leave heroes with long range spells to stall the best split-pusher on your team (the pos. 1) is split-pushing.

The key here is who is faster. Your opponents will likely push faster as 5, but if you are stalling their push effectively you can buy your carry a lot of time. If your carry is making good progress – your opponents will most likely have to TP to defend, wasting a lot of time for an unsuccessful push. If they are faster, you might have to either take a trade or TP back to defend. Usually if outer towers are in question, a trade benefits the split-pushing team. If your opponents are knocking on your HG, however, you might have to make a stand.

Moreover, if stalling has reduced the HP of your opponents this could be a good time to TP back and commit to a fight (that’s why HP sustain is vital for a 5-man pushing team).

If your opponent team is playing together as five, it is a great idea to prioritize out-pushing lanes heavily. This means that when they commit to a push you will always have an opportunity to start split-pushing immediately. Moreover, the out-pushed lanes will give you information where the enemy death-ball is located which is very valuable for your playstyle.

If your opponents are spread-out and farming/split-pushing, you should try to gank the farmers with your strongest kill potential heroes. If you don’t have very good map control, use as much Smoke of Deceit as possible. Should you be successful, this will not only stop the split-push but will help you to get map control over the area you are ganking. Even if you are not successful, by pressuring the enemy split-pushers you restrain the space on the map they have for farming.

While you are doing that the rest of your team should farm. In some situations they will have to take care of enemy summoned units (Illusions/Treants/Wolves/Necronomicon Units, etc.). Pushing-out lanes is also important because it will take longer for a split-pusher to take a tower if he/she has to push out the whole lane towards your tower.

If your opponents are trying to gank you consistently, it is best to stick together with your team. This way you can defend the target of the gank, counter-gank and get some kills out of the efforts of your opponents. Staying together will also help you go for objectives. Most heroes that are good at getting pick-offs are not as effective at 5vs5 clashes, especially before they get good items. By staying together and getting objectives you are not allowing them to fight on their own terms.

Naturally, 5-man Dota is the playstyle in which you will get the least farm. The whole team is in one place, let’s say one lane, so the whole team is farming only ~8 creeps for each minute spent in that lane + possibly the closest camps to the lane.

When Roaming and Ganking, always try to farm the resources of the location you have ganked. This way you not only get the kill but the resources in the area which you have overtaken - this is part of the reward for a successful gank. Moreover, the heroes who are not participating in the gank should farm the free safe space that their teammates are providing them.

When split-pushing, of course, you are constantly farming the lanes which you are pushing-out, so in this scenario, it comes more intuitively. Rat Dota is often the the most farm-intensive playstyle.

It is very important to have a good idea of whether you are ahead or behind in the game. There are a few factors to consider:

When you combine the three factors, you will get a very good idea if you are ahead in the game and why. Don’t try to judge if you are ahead only based on the fact if you won or lost the last fight. You might have lost because of execution, not because you are behind. Starting to play as if you are playing from behind, therefore, is a big mistake in this situation.

The “three playstyles” theory explained so far doesn’t change in any way if you are ahead or behind in the game. The relationship between the three activities remains the same. What changes, however, is how forceful/aggressive you can be in your playstyle. To illustrate we can use 5-man Dota. Forceful 5-man Dota is pushing towers together while your opponents are alive and able to defend. Defensive 5-man Dota is when your team stays behind your carry smoked waiting to counter initiate or when you defend your base as 5 (using the vision, high ground, positioning, and defenders advantage). When you are behind, you are not likely to be successful if you do the first - your opponents are ahead, which means that they will gladly take an open 5 on 5 fight. The second option, however, might give you good initiation which could win you a 5v5 fight even when at an XP and Gold disadvantage.

Generally speaking, the forceful options bear greater risk (and are more rewarding). Fight advantage (because of the lineup, gold, and XP or map control) might allow you to pull such plays off unpunished. Defensive/Low-Risk plays are less risky - they allow you to fight on your own terms and can usually compensate for some XP/Gold/Lineup disadvantage. Such play usually allows you to get back into the game.

To make the right tactical choice is vital. If you are behind and you are continuously defensively 5-manning, your opponents will simply out-farm you and out-split-push you. The game will quickly get out of hand and you will be unable to win whatever tactical choice you choose.

Therefore, you need information first, and to counter your enemies second. If you manage to get up some wards when your opponents are farming the lanes and jungle (or simply if you suspect they are doing so) - the right tactical choice will be to gank. Yet you are at a disadvantage. You cannot “aggressively” gank the enemy carry with 1-2 heroes without smoke - he will simply kill you or you will get counter-ganked. You can only “defensively” gank. The “defensive” or, more accurately said, safer way to gank is to smoke up as a group (4 or even 5 heroes) and gank in that way.

When you manage to get some map control and some kills, your opponents will probably react to your ganks and will start moving as 5. This is the moment when you need to change your tactic - you want to go back to turtling and split-pushing. Use the new map control you have to safely farm with your carries and push out the lanes while the other members of your team are stalling the push. Just before (or when) your opponents decide to commit, bring your carries back to the base (with TP’s) and try to defend the base/tower. If you are that far behind that you simply cannot do so, try to get trades. A tower for a tower or a Rax for a Rax is an incredibly good trade when playing from behind.

If your opponents don’t change up their playstyle (continue farming up and pushing the lanes out despite your ganks), you need to keep on doing what you are doing - in that case ganking. Things will get much harder when you run out of Smokes, however by that time hopefully you would have done some warding and dewarding and you will have some map control, i.e. you will be able to gank successfully without Smoke. Be very careful not to get baited into an unfavorable. Try to initiate on your target when you see that at least some enemy heroes are out of position to help out.

When you are ahead, follow the same logic and exploit the opportunities of having the more forceful position. If you see the enemy team is turtling as 5 in their own base, spread out and farm the whole map. Take advantage of your opponent’s Jungle, Ancient’s, etc. This way you will not only have more places to farm multiple heroes, but you will take farm away from your opponents. If you see that your opponents are trying to gank, gather as five, prevent the ganks, get some kills and get objectives (tower, shrines, Rosh). If you think that your opponents are not in a position to win a 5v5, you should group as 5 and go for an objective - either push down towers, shrines or take Roshan. The new map control/Aegis might be the thing you need to finish the game

After a successful gank, you will have the numbers advantage. This will allow you to be more aggressive - you should farm the area in which you killed the hero and you may even want to transition into a push. Even if you are not a great 5v5 lineup and you don’t think you have the team fight advantage, you probably can take a 5v4 or a 5v3 fight; don’t be afraid to capitalize on that. Either take a tower or force an enemy to buyback and retreat afterward.

After a successful gank you will also be actively controlling an area. This means that you will have the opportunity to place Sentries and Observers which could give you the information you need to gank once again in the future.

You should keep in mind important cooldowns. If you have successfully ganked, for example, a hard carry Luna, and you used your Black Hole for the gank but the Luna never used her ultimate or BKB, in the next fight you will be at a disadvantage - you will not have a Black Hole while the Luna will have both a BKB and her ult. This applies to pushing as well, and a buyback from a hero with his abilities off cooldown might turn the fight drastically. In this kind of situations, you might consider split-pushing the map, until you have your cooldowns up again and have the advantage in the fights.

After a successful push, you are likely to be on low HP and Mana, so it is smart to back-off and recharge. If you don’t need to do so, back off and farm-up the other lanes or jungles. Be careful not to get carried away in the push. Often players will fail to notice that some enemies have respawned and end up throwing their lives away needlessly, even after the objective of the push was completed. Don’t overstay your welcome. As we already mentioned, after a successful push you are likely not to have your important cooldowns as well, so even if you are on max HP and Mana you should avoid fights until these CDs are up.

After a successful Rosh, you need to decide how to use the Aegis advantage you have. You either want to push and force a fight (two lives on an important carry might be enough to win the game) or if you are not confident you can win a 5v5 even with the Aegis you might want to back off and farm up. If your opponents decide to bring the fight to you, you will have the Aegis plus the Defenders advantage.

If you managed to force a TP reaction by your opponents, simply back off and use the knowledge of their location to farm some more resources. You can farm the jungle or even better - TP to another lane to push it out while your opponents are certainly not there because they just TPed to the other lane.

After a successful defense of a tower/base, your enemies will be backing off (likely to their base, to heal up, etc.). Use the time and space you have to regain some map control - push out the lanes, ward, and deward, farm their jungle.

Vision is incredibly important to be able to make decisions (making good decisions without having information is impossible). Imagine you see one hero pushing a lane towards your tower while you have no vision around the map. You think that the other heroes are in their jungle, farming, while this one is split-pushing, and you decide to counter this by ganking him. You commit 2-3 heroes to killing that lone target, yet all of a sudden the whole enemy team counter-initiates on your gankers. It turns out that the enemy team wasn’t split-pushing, but rather playing 5-Man Dota which as we mentioned is the natural counter to ganking. So, even though you thought you were tactically countering the enemy team, you defeated yourselves by making the wrong assumptions.

In that sense, making assumptions is risky. You want to have reliable information, and the only way to be sure of what your opponents are doing is to see them do it.

Without vision, the only viable option is 5-Man Dota. Remember, it is the least reactive playstyle and requires the least information about your opponents. You cannot stick to 5-Man Dota all game long, though. You are going to get severely out-farmed by the split-pushing team who has vision and knows where your whole team is. So, if you lose your vision around the map, your first priority is to recover it in some way. Probably the safest option is to smoke up as a team and walk to important locations, warding and dewarding.

If all heroes in Dota were equally good in all three activities, then the rule we outlined and the information that Vision gives you would suffice to shape a game of Dota. The team that counters tactically the enemy team will always win. In reality, this is not the case. Even though each Dota hero can be played in all the three playstyles, the skills and stats of a particular hero usually accommodate one playstyle more than the others.

Let’s illustrate this with Night Stalker. He is one of the best gankers in the game (very mobile; good single target DPS; night time vision granted from his 3^rd and his ultimate are one of the best map controlling/vision spells in the game; potent single target slow and silence to prevent the target from running away). In the same time, he is a pretty weak hero to turtle and split-push with. He farms slowly and doesn’t have any means to push out waves and take towers. He doesn’t have good anti-push to help in the turtling either.

So, your picks might limit you tactically. If your team consists of 5 very strong gankers like NS, you will be incredibly good at small scale engagements. Yet if your enemies gather as 5 and start pushing you will have serious problems. You will not be able to gank anymore, you will either have to win fights or to split-push; since your heroes accommodate ganking but not the other two activities, you will be at a lineup disadvantage.

It is very important to try to give your team tactical freedom. This means either having versatile heroes who have potential in all three playstyles (in the middle of the triangle) or compensating for your more extreme picks with other heroes who excel in situations where the extreme picks struggle (having a colorful team).

Note that nowadays whit the item choices that you have, even if your hero is not versatile you can make him such simply by buying items. Let`s use SF for example: if you want to 5-man with this hero you can simply buy Drums/Sange Yasha and BKB and start fighting whit your team. If you want to gank split-pushers you can buy Blink + Euls. If you want to split-push yourself - you can go for mobility items like Travels, Shadow Blade or Blink and some DPS items to deal more damage to towers. The problem with this line of thinking is that you need to get to the items - your SF wouldn’t be able to gank or split-push efficiently right away. This is going to be hard if you are losing the game tactically from early on.

The more balanced your lineup (and the more versatile your heroes), the more tactical freedom you will have. You will be able to adopt all three playstyles well, thus creating for yourself the freedom to decide what you need to do and how you want to play. The more extreme your lineup, the more narrow your tactical choices will be. A Naga (1) + Puck (2) + NP (3) is quite an extreme split-pushing lineup (all your core sare closer to the split-push & turtle side of the triangle). This means that, with equally good execution, this lineup is likely to win against a 5-man team and lose to a hardcore ganking lineup because they have trouble 5-manning until they get items.

Hence in terms of strategy and picking your heroes, you can either choose to counter-pick your opponents with a more specialized lineup OR play it safer and build a more versatile team that has tactical freedom. The second option is generally the way to go in pubs (and even in most competitive games) as it is more often fail-proof.