Dota, Chen, Hotkeys & Theory

This post, I want to go into what my hotkeys are, why I use them, and some other micro related inputs I use when controlling units.

So, delving in, my hotkeys are as follows:

Numbers 1-9 = Command groups
[Q][W][E][R]
Ability 1, 2, 3, Ultimate

[D][F]
Alternate abilities 4 and 5

[alt+Q][alt+W][alt+E]
[alt+A][alt+S][alt+D]
Items in their corresponding slot.

What you'll notice off the bat, is that most of my keys are all in the same area, and the items are toggled simply by holding down alt.
This hotkeys promotes minimal hand movement across the keyboard, which makes inputs between abilities and items highly efficient.  Its very difficult to lose finger placements and mis-input a keystroke.

Of slightly lesser importance, skills are upgraded with ctrl+Q, W, E, or R.

Regarding control groups, I will simply use three, (unless I'm playing meepo).
With Chen, I will use '1' to control solely him; '2' controls all creep(except the tornado); and '3' to control all units. 

What's nice about Dota is that after the first few times doing it, the game remembers my control groups.


When controlling groups of units, theres also three unique ways to manage the abilities of the groups abilities.

[Tab] is important when multiple units are selected.  It allows you to switch to the next unit in line to activate.  This allows a player to penitence with chen, [tab] to switch to a troll, net, [tab] to a centaur and stun, [tab] to a hellbear and stomp, etc.etc.etc. 
With characters like meepo, this method is used to poof efficiently with meepo. 

[Shift]  allows units to queue actions. This is effective on singular units too.  It allows a unit to attack or move to multiple locations, or sequence abilities.  For instance, you can split push with your pure creep group by holding down [shift], then pressing [a] then left click a location, then attack select another location.   A similar key input can be done to abilities and movements. 

[Ctrl] allows players to isolate the actions of a single unit in a control group.  Where this has its highest utility are in scenarios where you have a group of creeps attacking a unit.  One of your units may have low life. Rather than selecting the one unit, you can [with a group selected], tab to the unit with low life, hold [ctrl], and command it to move away. 
The same keystroke inputs can be used to help chen be protected by a pudge hook, or dodge an arrow. 


[Z] Direct pathing toggle.
Direct pathing is a hotkey that can be set in the settings menu.  When the key is held down and you right click, your hero will move to that point regardless of any obstacles.  This tool is most useful universally with push staff, allowing you to jump over cliffs that your hero would typically try to run around.  Other non-targetable skillshot skills, such as Slark's leap, Mirana's arrow, or pudge's hook also benefit from using this skill.

The other lesser important commands:
[T] Mic on
[Y] Programmed txt
[~] scorecard
[spacebar] taunt - I could be using spacebar for a lot of other more useful commands, namely, select all controlled units, or buy what's in my queue - but taunting is important when I have the opportunity.