Dota 2: Basic Controls guide by Purge.
*Note that most hotkeys are customizable in the Dota 2 settings! Go poke around in there.*
Left click to select your Hero. When your hero is selected right click to move to a location. To attack a hero, press the A hotkey and left click their hero, OR right click on the enemy hero.
If you press the A hotkey and left click on the ground(not on a hero) you will move to that position attacking the closest enemy, creep or hero on the way there.
To use an enemy or ally targeted ability, click the ability icon or PLEASE LEARN AND PRESS THE HOTKEY and then left click on the hero.
I strongly recommend selecting your hero and pressing Control+1(unless you use the number keys for hotkeys in Dota 2). This hotkeys your hero to number 1. F1 is also permanently selected to your hero without any setup. If you ever need to find your hero or select him, just double tab 1(or F1) and the screen will center your hero, and he will be under your control.
Animation Cancelling
Every hero has an amount of time it takes to perform an attack, like swinging your sledgehammer back before crushing brains. This is called an attack animation.
All heroes have different attack animations. Some are very long, some are very short. They are all quite reduced late game when your hero gets more attack speed. Slow attack animations are most notable early game. All attack animations have attack points. I am going to explain this with an example.
Lets say it takes Necrolyte 1.5 seconds to finish an attack animation, but he actually throws his attack at 1.1 seconds. This means that you ONLY have to wait 1.1 seconds to throw an attack. The best way to cancel this is to right click on the ground to move at 1.1 seconds. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT WHEN CHASING. It is normally called attack move or Orb Walking(when heroes have orbs like slows).
If you do not cancel your animation at 1.1 seconds, you will stand there for NO reason for .4 seconds, which could be used to move towards your opponent, and is sometimes the difference between getting a kill or not. Always, always learn the animation cancel for your character if they have a long animation. Most melee heroes have a faster animation, and generally ranged heroes have the longer animations.
If you would like to submit your own controls tips for Dota 2, please post a comment below. Thanks for visiting! Also check out our main Dota 2 section for more guides. The link can be found below.