The Hero and you.
Early game DOTA 2 is correspondent to which hero you decide to play. Carries need damage and sustain, supports need vision and utility, mid lane needs movement and sustain ect.
What you purchase in the beginning of the game should match what hero you’re playing and what that particular hero needs or lacks in order to lane properly. Starting items will determine how often you have to leave the lane, whether to head back to base because of an attempted gank or just simply positioning yourself for certain plays. The less time you spend leaving the lane the more impact you will have after the laning phase.
For heroes like Phantom Lancer this is especially important because he is borderline useless until he completes certain items. Also, because he is categorized as a carry/pusher you’re going to want to push your lane as much as possible and have the means to sustain yourself through all the burst coming your way.
To lane or to not to lane, it’s like, your decision, bro…
Know your opponent and know your allies. Depending on you lane you’ll want to make preparations for it beforehand. In my tip video I’m laning against a Crystal Maiden and a Jakiro, which are both casters with a lot of burst damage and long range disables. If i didn’t have a Dazzle to babysit me while I farmed, I would’ve considered more regen to keep myself alive and stay in the lane for a longer period of time.
Because I had a DazzleBot with me however, I went the usual route for items knowing I wouldn’t need much sustain. Quelling Blade is just overall a really good buy for melee heroes early on, especially for a hero like Phantom Lancer. His base damage at the start isn’t that great and if I can bump it up for a better creep score then I’ll gladly spend the extra gold. The Ring Of Protection is probably one of my favorite early game items, not because of its base stats but because it becomes a Ring Of Basilius which is a hell of an early item. The damage, armor, and mana regen is very tasty for an early game Phantom Lancer. It also gives a 900 area of effect aura to allied units/heroes that gives bonus armor and mana regen.
The breakdown~
Know your hero, know what kind of hero you’re playing and what kind of heroes you’re going up against. More than 80% of the time you’ll want some Iron Branches which beef up your HP/MP pool and your base damage. Always! always! buy tangos or some form of healing! Without sustain you leave yourself vulnerable to the enemy and prone to run back to base frequently missing out on EXP and gold. You definitely don’t want to miss out on either early on, because in DOTA 2 once you’re behind it is extremely difficult to catch up to where the enemy team is leading.
