In Dota, a much overlooked resource is simply what you can fit in your inventory at any given time. Some games everything seems to work out just fine, able to purchase everything you want right when you want it, but sometimes things aren’t that easy. Here are some tips and tricks for making sure you make the right decisions on how to fill those slots.

First thing’s first, one of your slots should have this in it:

Carry a teleport scroll. Always. Rule 1 of Dota! TP scrolls will allow you to get to teamfights, get to farm, or get away from trouble. A good way to make sure you always have one is to buy them in pairs, so when you use one of them it’ll still leave one for when the cooldown expires.

On most heroes at most points in the game, there are 4 item slots to work with; TP scroll will be in one, and 99% of time a pair of boots of some sort are in the other. Late game, you solve this problem by combining the two !

Boots of travel are a fantastic pickup on literally any hero. Late in the game they can be essential in stopping pushes or taking towers, and frees up an item slot that would have previously been reserved for a TP scroll.

Now that the obvious ‘carry a TP’ advice has been stated, let’s look at some other options for helping manage inventory slots.

Disassembly

Disassembling items is a very cool way to conserve item slots, allowing for some really cost effective purchasing that can help you significantly in the midgame.

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Arcane boots can disassemble into just regular boots and an energy booster, which can then be made into a soulbooster/bloodstone. This is extremely useful on anyone you rush bloodstone on, like Storm Spirit or Leshrac. Late game you could even just sell the energy booster and turn your boots into boots of travel, as stated above.

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Tranquil boots are super useful during laning or jungling, and can be disassembled into the ring of protection and ring of regen. This can then allow the ring of protection to turn into a ring of bassillus and use this and the ring of regen for a vlads!

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This vlads rush is really useful for Ursa or Lycan, allowing tranquil boot regen to help jungle or lane more safely but still not delaying the Vladimir’s Offering that both these heroes benefit from getting early.

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This is a very, very rare case but still something that’s very cool to theorize. Chaos Knight is probably the best hero to pull this off on, as he benefits from both the Halberd and the Manta Style. If your farm is going super well, grabbing an early Sange and Yasha will give you a lot of midgame strength and then the disassembly will get you two phenomenal late game luxury items.

What to buy first?

Most of the time item management just comes down to what to buy first. Here’s some tips to help make those decisions.

When buying :

Yasha is a fantastic item to purchase first for your manta if you are having a really solid early game on an agility carry, giving good attack speed, damage, and movement speed. Heroes like Luna, Drow, and even Phantom Lancer can benefit a lot from an early Yasha.

Ultimate Orb, however, offers a lot more defensive stats in the form of 10 strength, a total of 190 health. If you’re a little behind, or in general scared of dying to ganks, Ultimate Orb is probably a better pickup than the Yasha.

When buying :

Again, the Ultimate Orb is a great defensive choice on heroes like Queen of Pain or Nature’s Prophet if you are rushing a sheep stick.

Mystic Staff is a bit more expensive than the ultimate orb, and offers damage on the intellect heroes that build Scythe of Vyse. Like Yasha, this is more of an aggressive item and kind of a risky pickup over the Ultimate Orb. If you are just a farming Nature’s Prophet or an Outworld Devourer looking for damage, Mystic Staff is your best choice to buy first.

Void Stone is the cheapest option and offers some decent mana regeneration, making it a good option to grab first if you are having some mana issues early on and having trouble keeping gold on you on heroes like Leshrac or Crystal Maiden. To boot, it can also be made into an item like a eul’s scepter if sheep stick ends up being way too expensive on these if in a semi-support role.

When buying :

Ogre club is the safe choice for health on just about any hero, such as Luna or Gyrocopter. Also worth noting that on strength heroes like Night Stalker or Chaos Knight, the ogre club gives some damage to boot!

Mithril Hammer is, again, the aggressive choice. The extra damage is fantastic, however, on heroes like Phantom Assassin or Shadow Fiend that rely heavily on having more right click damage than their opponents early on.

When building :

Point Booster! Point booster is just about the best option for an item slot, giving more health and mana than you would get from just an ogre club or staff of wizardry would. Pick up the point booster first on Queen of Pain, Nightstalker, Enchantress, Brewmaster, and just about anyone else you would consider an Aghanim’s build on.

Buying mid-game items:

Sometimes, it’s just flat out better to forgo purchasing the super luxury radiance or farming oriented battlefury in favor of getting items to make you more aggressive earlier allowing more opportunities for kills.

Medallion of Courage is an often overlooked item, that can easily be grabbed on heroes like Weaver or Nature’s Prophet very quickly. The minus armor is very noticeable early in the game when heroes have less armor, essentially giving your entire team that right clicks that enemy pure damage on the opponent.

Drums of Endurance are a great choice on just about any hero. The build up is from a bracer, giving health, and a robe of the magi, giving mana. Luna and Juggernaut can easily grab some drums and contribute a lot to fighting in the mid-game. In addition, just about any support such as Shadow Demon or Crystal Maiden can build their bracers into some drums for bonus stats and a great aura for their team.

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Sometimes planning for a battlefury on Faceless Void or a Radiance on a Weaver does not work out, and these are items you can grab to help you be more relevant faster. The crits from crystalys and the attack speed/lightning proc from maelstrom are fantastic for mid-game engagements, and will most certainly help you contribute more to a rough game than a 25 minute battlefury would.

Remember, you only have six item slots to work with, so make sure that they are doing the most for you and your team that they could be!