Beginners - Game Modes

For those of you who are just starting out, there is time for you to catch up. Here are some basic game modes that you need to know when entering a game of dota, that in my experience, a beginner should have some grasp on (assuming a full 5 vs 5 game). There are many different game modes that you can play which the host chooses at the start, the most popular, but not all are:

• -arem : which stands for All Random Easy Mode. All random means that each player is given a random hero from the pool and easy mode simply increases the frequency by which gold is given during the game on top of killing creep. In easy mode, heroes level much faster as well, gaining more experience with each creep and hero kill than normal. Also towers do much less damage than in long games.
• -apem : which stands for All Pick Easy Mode. All Pick means that each player gets to pick their hero at the beginning of the game from the hero pool. Easy Mode is the same as explained above in the -arem explanation.
• -rdem : which stands for Random Draft Easy Mode. Random draft is like a mixure of All Random and All Pick. The hero pool in Random Draft is generated randomly from the total hero pool, choosing only some of the total hero pool to play in the particular game. However, once this is done, then a 1-2-2-2-2-1 pick mode begins with either the sentinel or scourge starting the picking. Each player gets to pick from the random hero pool the hero they wish to play, and when you get to pick is based on your position when you join the game. For example, either blue or pink gets first pick, then it goes down the list for both teams ending with orange and brown, who get the last picks.
• -ar , -ap , -rd : these games are the same as above but without the easy mode command (-em). This makes the games harder because as a player your hero levels much slower, and gold beyond creep kills is given to you less frequently. Microing ones hero, and other advanced tactics such as last hitting creep and towers, play a much larger role in long games. I write on these tactics in the advanced blogs.

Other modes you may see beyond these, or combined with these modes, but less frequent are -wtf (no spell cooldown time), -xl (a league mode), -as (all strength pool), -ai (all intelligence pool), -aa (all agility pool), -sc (super creep mode placing ancient type monsters in lanes periodically), -sp (shuffle player mode), -mm (mirror mode).