Controls

Controls in Dota 2 can mostly be customized in the Game Settings.

Unit controls

 * Left clicking a unit selects the unit. If the unit is selectable, it gains a green glow (blue glow in color blind mode) if it is an ally, a red glow if enemy when the cursor is on their hitbox.
 * Dragging with the left mouse key on the world creates a selection box. Upon letting the mouse key go, all the player's units within the box get selected.
 * Shift + left clicking on an own unit adds the unit to your current selection group. Clicking on an already selected unit removes the unit from the selection group instead.
 * Right clicking on the ground when having units selected orders the units to move to the targeted point if possible.
 * Right clicking on an enemy when having units selected orders the units to attack the target if possible.
 * Right clicking on an ally when having units selected orders the units to follow the target if possible.
 * Shift + left/right clicking causes the order for the unit to get queued. This means the units will execute the order once they finish with their current order.
 * Ctrl + right clicking sends the order to the highlighted unit when having multiple units selected.
 * Pressing Esc while having units selected which do not belong to you, will deselect that unit and select the latest unit you selected which is under your control.

Communication

 * Alt + left clicking on the ground or minimap will alert your team about a location by Ping.wav playing a sound and showing an exclamation mark on their minimap.
 * Clicking towers will play a different sound, and generally mean a Ping defense.wav defense/ Ping attack.wav attack of the tower is desired.
 * Clicking on a rune or an item on the ground will Ping rune.wav notify your team about a rune being at that rune spawn point or an item being at that spot and broadcast message telling which rune or item it is.
 * Ctrl + Alt + left clicking on the ground or minimap will alert your team by Ping warning.wav playing a different sound and showing an X on their minimap, generally indicating danger.
 * Alt + left clicking on an item in the main inventory tells your team whether the item is ready or not. When not ready, announces the remaining cooldown and/or how much more mana it needs to be cast.
 * When ready,, , , , , and broadcast a gather message to allies and Ping.wav pings your location.
 * Items in the backpack announce that they are in the backpack. Items which got just moved from the backpack to the main inventory announce the downtime like a cooldown.
 * ALT + left clicking the slot while it is empty announces that it is empty, together with its current cooldown. Can be done on allies and enemies as well (does not reveal the enemy's cooldown).
 * Alt + left clicking on an ability tells your team whether the ability is ready or not. When not ready, announces the remaining cooldown and/or how much more mana it needs to be cast.
 * When not learned yet, but having a skill point available, alt-clicking it tells your team the ability is ready to be learned if learnable.
 * When not learned and not having skill points, tells the team how much experience is required for the next level to learn it, if it can be learned on the next level. If it can't be learned on the next level, tells the team how many levels you need to learn it.
 * Alt + left clicking on an enemy hero's top icon will alert your team that said hero is missing from their respective lane.
 * Ctrl + Alt + left clicking on the top icon will alert your team that the hero has returned to their lane.
 * Alt + left clicking on a dead enemy's icon in the top bar will announce that they are dead, and when they will respawn.
 * Alt + left clicking on a unit's health and mana bars declares the current health and mana.
 * Ctrl + Alt + left clicking on a unit's health and mana bars declares the current raw health and mana values.
 * Alt + left clicking buffs and debuffs on self or enemies announces them to your team.
 * Alt + left clicking your respawn timer announces your respawn time to your team.
 * Alt + left clicking the Glyph button will announce its status.
 * Ctrl + Alt + left clicking the button will suggest not using the Glyph yet.
 * Alt + left clicking the Game Clock will declare the current game time.
 * Alt + left clicking on your gold will alert your team that buyback is ready or needed gold for buyback.
 * Alt + left clicking on 's debuff on enemies announces their current gold in the chat.

Shop

 * Right clicking an item purchases it if the player has sufficient gold and is at a shop location. If the player does not have enough gold or is too far from a shop, nothing will occur.
 * Left clicking an item displays all related items. The items used in its creation are displayed underneath, while items that can be created with it are displayed above.
 * Alt + left clicking an item declares to allies that you intend to purchase it.
 * Ctrl + Alt + left clicking an item suggests your allies to purchase it.
 * Shift + left clicking an item displays it on the Quick Buy bar.
 * Ctrl + Shift + left clicking an item appends (not replace) it to the Quick Buy bar.
 * Alt + left clicking the Quick Buy area declares how much gold is needed to complete the item.
 * Ctrl + Alt + left clicking the Quick Buy area declares how much gold is needed for both the item and buyback.

Inventory

 * Right clicking an item shows the option menu for it (Almost every item can be Sold, some items can be Disassembled, and while in the fountain, all items can be Moved to Stash).
 * Left clicking an item uses the item's active ability.
 * Alt + left clicking an item declares the item's status to allies (Either available, on cooldown, or lacking mana).
 * Alt + left clicking a will declare any Runes stored in the bottle.
 * Ctrl + left clicking an item and a hero after it gives a single copy of a stacked item to the hero ( and only).
 * Dragging an item on a hero removes the item from the player's inventory and transfers it to the selected hero. If the hero has no inventory space, the item will fall to the ground.
 * Dragging an item on ground removes the item from the player's inventory and leaves the item on the ground.
 * Dragging an item on a shopkeeper sells the item if the player is within range of a shop.

Camera
Similar to a pure RTS game, players can move their camera around the entire map and see what is happening in different locations of the map. However, the Fog of War will prevent the player from seeing most areas of the map, and will only be revealed when allied units are nearby, or with abilities that provide vision.

The camera can be controlled in 4 different ways:
 * Moving the mouse to the edges or corners of the screen causes the camera to move in the direction of the edge or corner. This way, the camera can be moved into the 8 cardinal directions.
 * Holding the middle mouse key and dragging the mouse grips and moves the game camera. The camera moves into the opposite direction in which the mouse moving. This way, the camera can be moved freely into any direction.
 * Holding the assigned Camera Grip Hotkey + left mouse key and dragging the mouse. Functions the same way as dragging the camera with the middle mouse key, as an alternative (hotkey not assigned by default).
 * Using the assigned hotkeys which are commonly assigned to the arrow keys or W,A,S,D. This way, the camera can be moved into the 8 cardinal directions.

Besides moving the camera, it is also possible to zoom in and out. However, this has no great use in matches, since the camera is by default at maximum distance and can only be zoomed in a bit. In spectatore mode, the camera is by default at the same distance as the camera is when playing. However, this distance is the minimum distance for spectators. As a spectator, the camera can be zoomed out by a lot, granting a better view of the map.
 * Scrolling mousewheel causes the camera to zoom in when scrolling up, and zooming out when scrolling down.