Dota 2/The Map

Unlike other RTS games, or most multiplayer games in general, Dota 2 only has a single map for every match. Despite this, the game avoids being repetitive due to its layout. Familiarizing oneself with the map is very important to playing well.

Basic layout
The map consists of two factions seperated by a river that runs across a diagonal through the entire map. These factions are the Radiant and the Dire. The Radiant is the side that takes up the bottom left corner of the screen, having lush green vegetation and grass. The Dire is the faction up in the top right corner of the map, having a darker and more sinister environment with decaying trees and lava.

There are three lanes that connect each faction to the other. The middle lane runs in a straight line across the diagonal from one base to the other. Two sidelanes run next to the perimeter of the map. The top lane lines the left and top border, while the bottom lane lines the bottom and right border. The middle lane is usually abbreviated as "mid" and the bottom lane is usually abbreviated as "bot".

Between these lanes is the jungle. This area contains creep camps where neutral creeps spawn. Units from either faction can defeat these creeps to gain some gold and experience.

Buildings
There are several structures on the map that can be destroyed, most that are vital to winning the game. Each faction has the same type of buildings located at set locations.

Ancients
Ancients are the main objective throughout the game. Each team needs to make sure it doesn't fall, while trying to cause the destruction of the enemy ancient. Due to its importance, it is guarded by towers and is completely invulnerable until the two tier 4 towers fall.
 * Health: 4350
 * HP Regen: 3hp per second
 * Armor: 15

Towers
Towers are the primary form of defense against the destruction of the ancients. They will automatically fire at nearby targets and do enough damage to seriously damage heroes during the early-game. Towers belong in 4 tiers, each tier being progressively stronger than the last. There are 3 towers in every lane, a tier 1 nearest to the river, a tier 2 in the middle of the lane and a tier 3 guarding the lane's barracks. Destroying a tier 1 tower will cause the tier 2 tower in the same lane to lose its invulnerability and so on. Two Tier 4 towers guard the Ancient, but both of them lose their invulnerability as soon as any tier 3 tower falls.

Barracks
Barracks, commonly abbreviated as "rax", affect the power of enemy creeps. There are two barracks in each lane guarded by a tier 3 tower, one that affects melee creeps and one that affects ranged creeps. The barracks lose their invulnerability if the tier 3 tower in that lane falls. Destroying the barracks will greatly improve the health and damage of the corresponding creeps, but it will not affect siege creeps at all. Destroying both the melee and ranged barracks will cause the team that did it to gain Megacreeps, which not only have boosted health and damage, but also drop less gold on death. As melee creeps appear more often than ranged creeps, the melee barracks will take more hits to go down than the ranged barracks.

While their destruction isn't necessary to win, it will give the team that destroys it with a great advantage. The advantage of having powered-up creeps will ensure that the lane is pushed constantly, forcing the enemy to spend more time defending than trying to take out allied structures. In fact, most players will usually give up as soon as one or two sets of barracks fall.

Fountain
The fountain is the spawn point of the faction's heroes as well as a safe haven of sorts, granting greatly increased hp and mana regeneration to all units in it as well as rapidly firing deadly shots at any enemy that wanders into it. The fountain also restores all Bottle charges and is where the main shop is located. Unlike other buildings, the fountain cannot be destroyed. Sufficiently farmed heroes can also tank the fountain's attacks and take out heroes within it.

Miscalleonous Buildings
There are random structures scattered inside the base of each faction. They do absolutely nothing and exists to be destroyed, but they're invulnerable until a tier 3 tower fall. They grant both gold and experience, which can grant extra income to the attacking faction.

Shops
There are a bunch of shops scattered across the map, selling items and components, as well as buying any unwanted items at a lowered price. The main shop is located at the fountain, having the widest variety of items and the stash, which stores up to 6 items if your inventory is full or if you're not within shop range. The Secret Shops are located in each faction's jungle adjacent to the faction's short lane, selling exclusive and powerful item components. The side lane shop is located near the corners of the map where the lanes of both factions converge. It sells a mixed bunch of items from both other kinds of shops and serves as a more convenient spot to buy commonly purchased components like Boots of Speed and Town Portal Scrolls. All of these shops can be used by both sides, and heroes can even remove items from their stash if they're close to the enemy fountain.

For more information about what each shop sells, visit the Items page.

Jungle Camps
The space between each lane is the jungle. It serves as a lesser-travelled area used by gankers as well as contain neutral creeps which can be killed for gold and experience. There are 1 Small Camp, 2 Medium Camps, 2 Large Camps and 1 Ancient Camp in each faction's jungle. Neutral creeps spawn at set locations at a certain time, the first at 0:30 on the timer and every minute after that as long as the camp isn't blocked. Creeps will not spawn if there are wards or any unit near the camp, which can be exploited and forced by warding these camps. Creeps will attack units of any faction that wander close enough or attack them, and will chase them for up to 7 seconds.

Terrain
The map is not just one flat piece of land. It is full of hills, valleys and cliffs, which create height differences that will actually affect gameplay. Units standing on high ground can see parts of the map below them, but units standing on low ground will be unable to see units higher than them. This feature can be exploited by using your height advantage as a hiding spot, which is why it is advisable to be careful near ramps and along the river, as enemies will be able to see you from a higher spot. This vision advantage also applies to wards, which is why Observer Wards are usually placed on hills or cliffs to give a wider view of the area.

Additionally, ranged units attacking other units higher than them will have a small chance of missing. This means that staying on a higher elevation than your enemy can reduce the damage you will take.

Trees
Trees are a major interactive feature of the map, and they can be found almost anywhere. Like different layers of elevation, trees can also block vision, letting gankers hide behind them. Trees are an impassable object, and cannot be destroyed unless one uses an ability or item such as a Tango. Some heroes also have abilities that interact with trees, like Nature's Prophet who can summon Treants with them and Windrunner whose Shackleshot can tie a unit to a tree for a longer stun.