Dota 2 Teamfight Guide (2026): Initiation, BKB, Saves and Focus

Fight sequencer · ten seconds

A teamfight is a sequence, not a brawl.

Who goes first, who waits, and when the big spells land. An example fight with Valve's 7.41f durations:

InitiateFollow-upClean-up

Pos 3Tidehunter

Blink0.0 sRavage · 2.4 s stun0.3 s

Pos 4Earthshaker

Blink0.6 sEcho Slam0.9 s

Pos 1Faceless Void

BKB1.6 sChronosphere · 4.75 s2.8 s

Pos 5Crystal Maiden

Glimmer on Void · 0.5 s delay + 5 s1.9 s

Pos 2Storm Spirit

Burst0.9 sWait outside the sphere2.8 sClean-up7.5 s

0 s2 s4 s6 s8 s10 s

• Blink Dagger
• Black King Bar
• Stun
• Damage
• Chronosphere
• Save
• Waiting

• Chronosphere waits for Ravage to end: it freezes every unit inside except Void's own, your team included.
• The mid waits outside the sphere, then cleans up when it drops.
• Glimmer has a 0.5 s delay, so the support casts it before the enemy reacts, not after.

An example, not a recorded fight. Durations and delays are Valve's hero and item data on patch 7.41f at maximum level (read 8 November 2026); the order of play is BoostPirate's advice.

Most Dota 2 games are decided by three or four teamfights, and most teamfights are decided in their first three seconds. Below Ancient, fights often look like five players pressing every button at once; above it, they look like the timeline above: one hero starts, the others follow in an order, and each big spell lands when it does the most. This guide breaks a fight into its phases, then covers initiation and follow-up, Black King Bar, where each position should stand, who to kill first, saves, cooldown windows, and when to walk away. Ability numbers are Valve's own hero data on patch 7.41f, read 8 November 2026; the fight plans are our coaching advice.

The four phases of a fight

Most players only think about phases 1 and 2. But a fight you start without vision, with your carry farming a lane away and your initiator's ultimate on cooldown, is lost in phase 0 whatever happens next. Before every fight ask three questions: can we see them, are we all here, and is our initiation ready? If any answer is no, don't take the fight; take something else, or wait.

Initiation: who starts the fight, and how

The initiator is the hero who commits first and decides where the fight happens. In most drafts that's the offlaner (pos 3) or the soft support (pos 4), on a hero with a large area disable. The best-known initiating ultimates have very different sizes:

Radii (units) and effects from Valve's hero data on patch 7.41f, maximum level. Circles drawn to scale with each other.

Size changes the job. A Ravage covers most of a fight on its own, so Tidehunter can start from the edge; a Black Hole or Reverse Polarity needs the enemy grouped and the caster right next to them. That's why so many initiators buy Blink Dagger (2,250 gold): it teleports up to 1,200 units, but Valve's item text says it "cannot be used for 3 seconds after taking damage from an enemy hero or Roshan". Blink from fog, before anyone has hit you. An initiator who walks into the fight first and then tries to blink is an initiator who can't.

If your team has no big initiation, you can still start fights with a pick: a single disable on the enemy's most important hero when they're out of position. Fights that start four against five are usually won before the fifth hero arrives.

Follow-up: order your spells

The second hero into a fight has a harder job than the first: they have to wait for the right moment, not the first one. Three rules cover most of it.

1. Chain disables, don't stack them. Ravage stuns for up to 2.4 seconds and Reverse Polarity up to 3.5 seconds. Cast the second stun as the first one ends, and the enemy is disabled for both durations; cast them together and you've wasted one.
2. Know what your big spell does to your own team. Chronosphere freezes every unit inside, "except those owned by Faceless Void", so your own heroes inside are frozen too. Black Hole is channelled for 4 seconds, so anything that interrupts Enigma ends it. And Force Staff "has no effect on units inside Chronosphere, Duel, or Black Hole".
3. Spend damage where it kills. Area damage on five stunned heroes is good; three nukes on one hero who was already dying is not. Look at health bars before you press the button.

Earthshaker's Echo Slam is the classic example of a spell that rewards waiting: it deals 70, 90 or 110 damage for every unit near each target, and "real heroes cause two echoes", so it hits hardest when the enemy is clumped together, often right after another hero's pull or stun.

Black King Bar in a fight

Black King Bar is the follow-up hero's ticket into the fight: its Avatar gives a basic dispel, 60% magic resistance, and "negative effects from enemy spells have no effect" for 9 seconds on the first use, 8 on the second and 7 after that, on a 95-second cooldown (Valve's item data). Click it as you commit, or the instant the enemy's key disabler appears, never after you've been stunned.

BKB also changes how the enemy fights you. Against a hero with BKB up, the enemy should save their disables for the seconds after it ends, and you should know when that is. If the enemy carry pops BKB at the start of a fight, kite and save your stuns; a 9-second Avatar on a hero you can't kill is a reason to fight somewhere else. Some effects still go through it: Valve's data marks some abilities and items, such as Abyssal Blade's Overwhelm, as piercing debuff immunity. Our itemization guide covers when to buy it.

Where each position stands

1Carry

Behind the frontline until the key enemy spells are used, then in with BKB. Alive matters more than first.

2Mid

On a flank, ready to burst the first hero the initiation reveals. Don’t be the first target.

3Offlane

In front. Initiates or absorbs the enemy initiation, then disrupts their backline.

4Soft support

Second initiator or the one who catches the runner. Often blinks in after pos 3.

5Hard support

Behind the carry, in save range: Glimmer reaches 600 units, Force Staff 550 on an ally.

The common mistake is everyone standing in a line at the same distance. In a good fight the team is layered: the frontline takes the first spells, the damage dealers stand where they can hit without being the easiest target, and the supports stand close enough to save and far enough not to be caught first. Spread out against area spells: a five-man Black Hole or Echo Slam is a positioning error as much as a good play by the enemy. The positions guide covers what each role does outside fights.

Who to kill first

There's no fixed kill order, but there is a question that works in almost every fight: who can we kill fastest whose death changes the fight the most? We teach it as a short ladder; it's coaching advice, not a rule of the game.

1. The hero who is out of position. A core caught alone or a support ahead of their team is a free four-against-five.
2. The hero with the save or the counter-initiation. If their support can Glimmer, Force or reflect, kill or disable them first.
3. The damage dealer you can reach. Their carry or mid, if their BKB is down or not bought.
4. The frontline, last. The tank exists to soak your spells; hitting it first is what the enemy wants.

Agree on it before the fight, not during. "Kill the Crystal Maiden first" said at the rune is worth more than five people choosing five different targets in the middle of a Ravage.

Saves and counter-initiation

Every fight has two initiations: yours, and the enemy's answer. A hero who holds a disable for the enemy's initiator, rather than using it first, often decides the fight. Save items buy the same seconds for your team:

Two habits make saves work. Watch the hero they're jumping, not the hero jumping: your save goes on the target, so look at who's in danger. And don't save into the end of the fight: a Glimmer on a hero who's already at full health after the enemy left wasted a 15-second cooldown you'll want in the next skirmish.

Cooldown windows: when to take the next fight

The fight after a fight is often the most important one. Big ultimates have long cooldowns, so when the enemy uses theirs, you get a window. Valve's 7.41f values at maximum level:

So if the enemy Tidehunter used Ravage at 24:00, he won't have it again until about 26:20, even at level 3. That's your window to take a tower, Roshan or a fight. The reverse matters just as much: after you use your big spells, don't start the next fight until they're back. Tracking two or three enemy ultimates is enough; the smoke ganks guide shows how to turn a cooldown window into a pick.

When to fight, and when to walk away

Disengaging is a skill. When you leave, leave together and leave early: the hero who stays to "get one more spell off" is the hero who dies after the fight is decided, and every death adds to the enemy's gold and your respawn timers. A fight that ends 2–3 and a walk back is recoverable; a fight that ends 1–5 because three players chased isn't. Our comebacks and buybacks guide covers the fights you take while behind.

Common teamfight mistakes

• Fighting with one hero missing. Wait for the carry to arrive or don't fight; four-against-five is the most common way to lose a fight you'd otherwise win.
• Blinking after taking damage. The dagger is locked for 3 seconds; initiate from fog.
• Using BKB too late. A BKB clicked after the stun landed protects a hero who is already dead.
• Stacking all disables on the first target. Chain them; the second hero should land their stun as the first one ends.
• Chasing after the fight is won. Take the objective instead; the enemy's buybacks are waiting.

Related guides: itemization · smoke ganks · objectives and high ground · offlane guide · positions explained