Dota 2 Gold and XP Guide (2026): Net Worth, Levels and Buyback

Every graph at the end of a Dota 2 game is about two resources: gold, which buys items, and experience, which buys levels — and with them abilities, talents and stats. This guide explains where both come from on patch 7.41f (8 November 2026), what the curve from level 1 to 30 looks like, what a death really costs, and how to read your own GPM and XPM. Where Valve publishes a formula we quote Valve; where it doesn't, we say whose number it is.

Where gold comes from

Gold arrives from five places. The proportions change with your position — a carry lives on creeps, a support on passive income, runes and assists — but the sources are the same for everyone:

Reliable and unreliable gold

Dota still splits your gold in two, as the community Dota 2 Wiki describes it. Reliable gold comes from passive income and bounty runes; unreliable gold from kills, creeps, buildings and similar sources. The difference matters at three moments:

The practical lesson: if you're carrying a lot of gold into a risky fight, spend it first — on the item, on a component, even on consumables. A death with 2,000 gold in your pocket throws part of it away.

The XP curve, level by level

OpenDota's game constants list the total experience for every level. The curve steepens twice: around level 6, where most heroes take their ultimate, and after level 25, where each level costs 4,000 or more.

Highlighted: level 6 (most ultimates) and the levels that give talent points since 7.40 (10, 15, 20, 25, 27–30). Levels 26–30 alone cost 29,500 XP — 86% of everything needed to reach 25.

Two things follow. First, the early levels are cheap and decisive: being level 6 a minute before your lane opponent is often the whole lane. Second, the cap is far away. Most ranked games end with the cores between levels 20 and 28, so the talent points at 27–30 are a long-game bonus — see the talents guide.

Where experience comes from

• Creeps near you. Experience from creeps you or the enemy kill is shared between heroes nearby — you don't need the last hit, just to be in range. Per the community wiki, the hero-kill sharing radius is 1,500 units.
• Denies cost the enemy XP. The community wiki says a denied lane creep gives the enemy only 50% of its experience. Valve's 7.41 notes raised the flagbearer creep's experience from 57 to 60.
• Hero kills. The community wiki gives (100 + 0.13 × the victim's XP) ÷ the heroes sharing it, plus a streak bonus — killing a high-level hero is worth more.
• Wisdom Shrines. Valve's notes: they replaced Wisdom Runes in 7.38, fill every 7 minutes and are collected by standing within 300 units for 3 seconds. The XP goes to a random hero there “and also to their teammate with the lowest experience”.

Since 7.41 a shrine's countdown also reverses while enemy heroes stand inside, instead of pausing — so contesting a shrine actually pushes it back. The first shrine gives 200 XP, and each later one 300 more than the last. Because the lowest-XP teammate gets the same amount, a shrine is the best catch-up tool a team with an under-levelled support has.

Kill and assist gold

Valve reworked assist gold in 7.40. The formula in the notes is 15 + (50 + victim net worth × 0.037) ÷ number of heroes, and each hero sharing the kill gets that amount. Worked through for a few cases:

Each hero's share, rounded. Assist gold only — the killer's own bounty and streak gold are separate.

Read the table two ways. Down the columns: a 30,000 net worth carry is worth more than six times a 3,000 net worth support, which is why the losing team's best comeback is catching the richest enemy hero. Across the rows: sharing a kill splits the variable part of the reward, so five heroes chasing one support each earn very little. The comebacks and buybacks guide builds a whole plan on this.

What a death costs, and when to buy back

Valve doesn't print these formulas in the client, so we quote the community Dota 2 Wiki: a death costs net worth ÷ 40 in unreliable gold, and buyback costs 200 + net worth ÷ 13, rounded down. Each buyback also adds time to your next respawn. Worked out:

In BoostPirate's coaching, buyback is a question of what the next minute decides. Buy back to defend your high ground, to stop Roshan or to finish a fight that ends the game. Don't buy back to farm, to chase a kill or because you're bored of waiting — the gold and the longer next respawn are the price. And if you're the carry, keep the buyback money from the 30-minute mark on: the table shows it grows with your net worth.

Reading your GPM and XPM

The post-game screen shows gold and experience per minute for every player, and the graphs show the team totals over time. How to use them, in BoostPirate's experience:

1. Compare with yourself, not with the pros.

   Your average GPM on a hero over ten games is your baseline. A game 20% under it is worth a replay.

2. Look at the first ten minutes.

   Most GPM gaps open in the lane. If you were behind at 10:00, the last-hitting guide is the fix.

3. Read XPM for supports and offlaners.

   Their gold will be low by design; a low XPM means they weren't near fights or creeps.

4. Find the swing.

   The net-worth graph usually turns at one fight or one objective. Rewatch that minute.

Gold and XP by position

Positions exist because there isn't enough gold for five carries. Ranked is queued by position, so the farm order is agreed before the game: position 1 takes the most, then mid, offlane, and the two supports. What changes by position is which resource you chase:

Mid lives on experience — a solo lane gets every creep's XP alone. Offlaners need levels more than items to survive and to fight. A support's best gold is the gold the team doesn't miss: passive income, bounty runes, Greedy from a neutral craft (see the neutral items guide) and assists. The positions guide covers each role.

Economy habits that win games

If your graphs keep showing the same gap, coaching (from $14.90 an hour) with an Immortal player finds where the gold went in your own replays. The farming patterns guide is the next read.