How to Master Denies in Dota 2: Guide to Creep, Tower, and Hero Denials
Image Credit: Valve, Dota 2
In Dota 2 denying is all about control; a small but powerful move that can set you in the driver’s seat right from the start, even as we approach the end of 2024. Unlike most other games, Dota 2 lets you deny—or kill—your own creeps/minions, towers, and even teammates in certain situations. Doing this at the right time stops the enemy from gaining as much experience or gold and slowing down them down. Here’s a clear guide on how to make the most of this unique mechanic and why it matters.
Setting Up for Denies: The Basics
Before taking a dive into the mechanic we all know as “denying”, make sure you have the right settings so you can deny smoothly and quickly.
Attack Move/Force Attack: This allows you to target your own units for denying. To enable it:
Open Settings by clicking the gear icon and go to Hotkeys.
Under Unit Actions, find Attack Move/Force Attack and assign it to a key (often “A” is a good choice).
Right-Click to Deny: Turning this on makes it easy to deny allied heroes by just right-clicking on them.
Go to Options in Settings.
Enable Right-Click to Deny under Gameplay.
With these keys set, you’re ready to act quickly when the moment comes, whether it’s denying creeps, towers, or even allies in a tough fight.
Denying Creeps: Timing is Everything
In the early-game denying creeps can give you a solid advantage in your lane. Every denied creep means less experience for your opponent which can prevent them from leveling up as quickly.
To deny a creep:
Wait until the creep’s health is below 50% before using Attack Move or Right-Click to Deny.
Focus on ranged creeps if you can—ranged creeps give more experience so denying them impacts your opponent even more.
A steady stream of denies can keep your opponent under-leveled and give you a relatively significant lead. Denying creeps is about taking control of the lane and slowing down your opponent’s progress which can make a huge difference in those first absolutely critical minutes.
Denying Towers: Cutting Off Gold and Map Control
When you deny a tower the enemy team gets half the usual gold and they lose some of their map vision and safe ground to fall back on.
To deny a tower:
Wait until it’s below 10% health and then finish it off with a deny.
Prioritize Tier 1 towers early in the game, but for Tier 2 and Tier 3 towers, hold off until you’re sure it’s necessary. These higher-tier towers are important for map control and losing them too soon can hurt your team’s ability to defend.
As Esports Tales notes, Tier 1 towers are safer to deny because they’re mainly important in the early game. However, higher-tier towers are more valuable defensively, so you want to be careful about denying them until it’s absolutely needed.
Denying Allied Heroes: Preventing Enemy Gains
Sometimes, an ally is in trouble—low on health and under the effect of a damaging spell. Denying them can be the best way to keep the enemy from getting a kill (or… Admittedly just be fun). When you deny an ally the enemy misses out on the gold and experience they’d normally get from that kill.
To deny an allied hero:
Right-click or Attack Move on an ally with 25% health or less if they’re affected by specific spells, such as:
Doom (Doombringer)
Venomous Gale (Venomancer)
Shadow Strike (Queen of Pain)
This kind of deny is rare but can make a big impact, especially in close games or team fights. Denying an ally can stop the enemy from gaining momentum which can be absolutely crucial if they’re targeting key players on your team.
Why Denying Matters: The Key Benefits
At its core denying is really all about getting a consistent and small but steady advantage. Here’s why denying is 100% worth your attention:
Experience Control: Every denied creep gives the enemy less experience, keeping them at lower levels and giving your team the upper hand.
Economy Control: Denied towers and creeps mean less gold for the enemy which can slow down their ability to buy items and ultimately scale up.
Lane Control: Denying can help keep the lane close to your tower, making it easier for you to farm and harder for the enemy to attack you.
Psychological Pressure: Consistent denies can frustrate your opponents forcing them to play more cautiously or even tilt (which is a whole other topic in and of itself). In Dota 2, every small edge counts and making the enemy feel pressured can lead them to make otherwise avoidable mistakes.
Teams that consistently deny have a higher chance of winning. Small advantages from denying add up and, again, give your team more control over the game.
Denying Like a Pro: Tips to Perfect Your Technique
Denying takes practice but if you put the time into it you can become skilled at controlling your lane and ultimately the game. Here are a few final tips from us:
Balance Denies and Last Hits: While denying is undeniably valuable, don’t ignore your own last hits. Prioritize farming your own creeps first, but fit in denies whenever you can.
Look for Ranged Creep Denies: Ranged creeps provide more experience so denying these will hurt your opponent’s leveling even more.
Coordinate in Team Fights: In high-stakes situations, communicate with your team if an ally might need to be denied (obviously easiest if you are actually talking through voice chat). Timing is everything, especially in chaotic fights.
Save Higher-Tier Towers: Only deny higher-tier towers when absolutely necessary to hold onto map control as long as possible.
Every denied creep, tower, and hero takes away resources from your opponent, and in Dota 2, even small advantages can lead to big victories.
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