I won't be touching too much on mechanics as they're already plenty of guides out there which are capable of doing that. My aim is to allow you to help yourself improve your skill level as a pub player, climb in your matchmaking rankings, and improve this wonderful community while achieving the above.This guide is written to help you climb MMR in a realistic and achievable manner, and I will assure you that to achieve success in e-sports, hardwork and attitude is equally critical as talent.Do not expect instant success; there are no quick and easy solutions in life, but I promise that this will be the most definite and quickest way for you to actually improve as a pub player and climb that MMR.No cheesy tricks, no spam picking one or two "over-powered" pub heroes. This will be about how you can have a truly enjoyable game of Dota where you find yourself improving over time and see your MMR increase while you're at it.Перевод: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=304906534

I understand most of your distress when solo queu-ing. Playing with a bunch of strangers who are way more awful than you is such a horrible feeling, isn't it?Unfortunately or fortunately, the only thing you can control in solo queue is how you behave, how you play and how you get people to work with you or how you work with other people.What would you choose? Sulk and lose, or lead and victorious?If you would prefer sulking, it's best you queue with a bunch of friends and just completely avoid solo queueing. The very reason why you believe you shouldn't be of such mmr is because you think that people of your mmr are awful, they are over-aggressive or have bad decision making, bad map awareness, bla bla bla. So if you really think you're way better than these people, take charge and lead them. Take the initiative to remind them to "back" if you recognise that they're too far out or in the wrong position.Here's what you can do in terms of teamwork while solo queu-ing:Communicate1. Ask for the role you wish to play, and ask others for what role they're playing.2. If necessary, compromise on the role you have to take.3. Voice out your ideas if you have any, for example: hero suggestion, whether or not to take team fights, timing to push, simple game plan outline.4. Follow through a plan made by majority, even if you alone think it's "bad". Call out a decision to "back" if any situation arises, otherwise, follow through. Even if the teamfight turns out poorly, it's a team decision that was taken. Don't be spiteful about it, take charge and craft your plan from thereon. This will build trust and if that decison haven't cost you the game, you'll be able to lead in the next fight.5. If a teammate is bad, telling him to "stfu noob" DOESN'T actually help you or him win the game. Instead, work with what you have. If he listens, tell him what he can do to feed less, such as "play near tower", "don't dive the enemy's tower", "be less aggressive," "focus on farming", "farm the jungle" or get teleport scrolls to back him up when he gets dived. Make space for him to farm so that he doesn't end up in a downward spiral and be completely useless. Since you can't control who you get in solo queue, you just have to deal with it.6. Be a good mediator, you may have read this guide, others probably haven't. Educate them with what you've learnt!

Chances are, (after having understood the basics of the game) you have real good potential to be a really good player. You have made big plays, you have great map awareness, and have seemingly understood all there is to the game. (I firmly believe there's always something to learn in Dota, even after having played for 7 years)So what can you do to unleash that potential in you? First of all, and the most important of all..Recognise and reduce your most common mistakes. Some of which you yourself are fully aware of. You don't necessarily make these mistakes every game, but they can be quite frequent on a "bad day". It's only when you decide to face yourself, accept these mistakes and work on correcting them, that you truly improve as a player in terms of consistency and skill level.However, if you are unable to recognise what your common mistakes are, invest some time to watch a couple of game where you play decently well (no point in looking at extremes and imbalanced games), and try to spot for mistakes which you know you shouldn't have made, or think of how you could have made a better decision. Look out for small details that harms your efficiency, whichever role you're playing. Even as you play, you could articulate what you're doing and if it makes sense to you, otherwise, don't do it. If you're not even able to verbalise what you're doing, you clearly don't know what you're doing.Mistakes I used to make as a support:1. Over-aggression without substantial farm, especially after unsuccessful rotation in early game.Farming in the jungle using pull-camps, stacking for you cores, or hugging a tower on a free lane would have been much better. Or simply carry a tp and be prepared to counter initiate on enemy heroes that are diving deep into your tower.2. Using tp without discretion, which could have been saved to tp support your cores.3. Inefficiencies in jungle: lapses in noting the timing and moving towards camps to stack.Common mistakes I observed in pub games:1. Not taking advantage when the team has gotten an advantage such as a mek or a big ulti like ravage before the enemy does. Farming for too long instead of seeking to take an objective could cost you to lose this hard-earned lead. The converse is true, avoid fightining and get farm on the important heroes until the team is capable of fighting. Don't lose more than necessary.2. Not puchasing tp on core heroes which have a big ultimate off cooldown. A tp could potentially turn a big teamfight around.3. In late game, fighting into the enemy line-up while your carry has been caught out of position and has died is a really bad idea. Don't force your own team mate to buy back unnecessarily.4. Buying parts of an item (commonly bkb) which you're putting in your stash anyway is really meaningless. The gold could have been utilised more flexibly such as for a buyback in case you get caught.5. If an objective(even first lane of rax) is most certainly lost, don't lose more than you have to, such as by throwing a short ranged spell and risk yourself getting caught. Wait for your teammates to respawn and punish the enemy if they overstay their welcome.6. Not noting enemy's big cool down timers and forcing big teamfights at roshan or towers while their's are up while yours is not.7. Repeatedly getting team-wiped while attempting to push highground instead of pressuring lanes and waiting to gain one or two more items before going high ground.8. Not looking around the map and click on enemy heroes to check their item progression.9. Not understanding their hero well enough. While certain mid heroes are expected to gank(more so for supports in current meta though), certain mid heroes such as viper, OD, and storm spirit requires substantial farm before doing so. Be patient, farm up before you help your teammates, notify them about your plans and request them to play safer.10. Attempt for more than just kills when you're making an early rotation as a core hero. One good example would be to kill enemy's offlaner and heading into a push while the siege creep is coming into the lane. (Starting at 03:00 and every 7th wave thereafter, 6:30, 10:00 etc.)It's really easy to be good, all you have to do is remove the bad, whatever's that left will be good.If you watch competitve players, one of the reasons why they're professional is due to their consistencies in delivering what they're capable of almost every single game. You too make big plays like they do in your own games, but the hardest thing to emulate is to be so consistent in avoiding mistakes in 90% of the games you play.Let's assume that there are 33.3% of games where the game is won without you having to play well, 33.3% of games where the converse is true, and are near impossible to win. Then there's that 33.3% of games where YOU actually decide the outcome of the game by playing at a skill level above that of others. Aim to win all of these games if you really think you're that good. That gives you a really good win rate of nearly 67%! Take a look at the win rate of the list of verified players on DOTABUFF and you'll find that's approximately the win rate they've got.

Even though you may really love playing solo mid, or carry. Whatever it may be, it's best that you learn to be able to play at least 2 to 3 roles at skill level you're satisfied with. It's important to understand the limitations and capabilities of each role in order to have good synergy with the rest of the team. Also, it would be best if one of which includes a support.Interactions between core heroes are much less compared to that between core heroes and support. That's why it's important that you as a core hero understand what your supports can provide you and what they aren't capable of. Expanding the repertoire of heroes you can use also allows you to pick the right hero for the game.If you're trully individually skilled, it's good to call out solo mid or carry as often as you can. But if there happens to be another player adamant on doing so, pick something that will benefit the team more rather than to snatch for a role that's been already taken. As we all know, a team with 5 solo mids or 5 carries isn't likely to do very well. It also allows you to know the current meta picks in your ranking and discover for yourself what's good against which heroes. Learn these heroes well, and use them if you're capable of doing so.

Everytime you acutally improve with respect to people of similar rank, you should expect to achieve a 60-70% win rate. As I've mentioned earlier, losses are somewhat inevitable, and such a win rate would be considered really good in most cases. Keep in mind that that is pretty much the win rate of most professional players.This win rate means that over a course of 100 games, you can expect to have 60wins and 40losses. That's a difference of 20 games, equivalent to a increase in merely 500mmr, after 100 games. That's how hard it truly is. Unless you experience a quantum leap in your skill level or have really good fortune. I would suggest that you avoid counting on those and get down to improving yourself as a player and truly enjoying this great game, each and every time you play.Convincing yourself that you're a really good player doesn't help you improve, it's only when you recognize your flaws and correct them that you truly improve as a player. The rankings will pretty much come quite naturally. Good manners and good behavior creates a good environment for you to have a great game.Avoid playing when you're in a bad mood, you'll only make yourself feel worse. Trust me.Cheers!