Controls

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

Unit Controls



 * mouseleft 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.


 * mouseleft on the world creates a selection box. Upon letting the mouse key go, all the player's units within the box get selected.


 * Shift 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.


 * mouseright
 * On the ground when having units selected orders the units to move to the targeted point if possible.
 * On an enemy when having units selected orders the units to attack the target if possible.
 * On an ally when having units selected orders the units to follow the target if possible.


 * Shift or Shift causes the order for the unit to get queued. This means the units will execute the order once they finish with their current order. This is also known as Shift-queue.
 * It is also possible to Shift, if the Hotkey is bounded to an ability or item, it also causes the order for the unit to get queued.


 * Ctrl sends the order to the highlighted unit when having multiple units selected.


 * 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.

Shift-queue
Shift-queue refers to the ability to assign several actions to the unit with Shift, and it will complete one after another without needing any additional mouse clicks. It can be used to queue or to chain hero abilities and item usage with no lag time and efficiency.

A green flag action queue indicator will appear on the map where the command is shift-queued indicating the next possible action.

The hotkey for shift-queue can be
 * Shift
 * Shift
 * Shift

Communication
A list of possible ways to send a ping notification to your team mates.

Inventory Ping

 * Alt on an item in the main inventory tells your team whether the item is ready or not. When the item is not ready, it 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 ui_ping.mp3 ping 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.

Abilities Ping

 * Alt the slot while it is empty announces that it is empty, together with its current cooldown.
 * This can be done on allies and enemies as well, however, it does not reveal the enemy's cooldown).
 * Alt on an ability tells your team whether the ability is ready or not. When the ability is not ready, it announces the remaining cooldown and/or how much more mana it needs to be cast.
 * When the ability is not learned yet, but having a skill point available, Alt tells your team the ability is ready to be learned if learnable.
 * When not learned and not having skill points, Alt 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.

Lanes Ping
Hero Top Icon Alt
 * On an enemy hero's top icon will alert your team that said hero is missing from their respective lane.
 * Ctrl on the top icon will alert your team that the hero has returned to their lane.


 * On a dead enemy's icon in the top bar will announce that they are dead, and when they will respawn.


 * On a unit's health and mana bars declares the current health and mana.
 * Ctrl on a unit's health and mana bars declares the current raw health and mana values.

Buffs & Debuffs Alt
 * On buffs and debuffs on self or enemies announces them to your team.
 * On 's debuff on enemies announces their current in the chat.

Buyback Status Alt
 * On your respawn timer announces your respawn time to your team.
 * On on your gold will alert your team that buyback is ready or needed gold for buyback.

Game Status Alt
 * On the Glyph button will announce its status.
 * Ctrl the button will suggest not using the Glyph yet.


 * On the Game Clock will declare the current game time.

Shop

 * mouseright 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.


 * mouseleft 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 an item declares to allies that you intend to purchase it.
 * Ctrl an item suggests your allies to purchase it.

Quickbuy Bar
 * Shift an item displays it on the Quickbuy bar.
 * Ctrl an item appends (not replace) it to the Quickbuy bar.


 * Alt the Quick Buy area declares how much gold is needed to complete the item.
 * Ctrl the Quick Buy area declares how much is needed for both the item and buyback.

Inventory

 * mouseright an item shows the option menu for it (Almost every item can be Sold, some items can be Disassembled, and while in the fountain, almost all items can be Moved to Stash).
 * mouseleft an item uses the item's active ability.

Alt
 * On an item declares the item's status to allies (Either available, on cooldown, or lacking mana).
 * On a will declare any Runes stored in the bottle.

Observer and Sentry Wards
 * Ctrl an item and a hero after it gives a single copy of a stacked item to the hero ( and only).

Dragging Items mouse
 * 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.

Moving the 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:
 * 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.


 * mousemid 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.


 * Camera Grip Hotkey functions the same way as dragging the camera with the middle mouse key, as an alternative.
 * The Hotkey is not assigned by default.


 * Using the assigned Hotkeys which are commonly assigned to the up or W. This way, the camera can also be moved into the 8 cardinal directions.

Zoom
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 spectator 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.
 * mousescroll causes the camera to zoom in when scrolling up, and zooming out when scrolling down.