How To Deal With Turtling
The introduction of comeback gold mechanics in the aftermath of TI4 have put turtling strategies back into the meta. For a period of time, the early game advantage was less of a game-deciding factor, with hard carries have reigning supreme. Despite being substantially smaller in scale, the comeback gold is still a part of Dota and turtling is a viable option. Identifying and dealing with it is a very necessary skill in the current metagame.
What is Turtling
Turtling is a gameplay strategy which relies on heavy defense and late-game potential. It is usually associated with heroes that excel with massive Net Worth, despite a general Net Worth and map control disadvantage. Turtling drafts generally work by minimizing the risk of getting ganked, while taking only favorable, high-ground fights.
Dying in a game of Dota has always been severely punishing. Currently, with extra bonus gold, which depends on the Net Worth difference of the killer and the victim, it can result in sizable swings in overall economy of the teams, making the next attempt to breach the enemy base even riskier. The Turtling strategy’s main win condition is getting to a point where an overfarmed late-game carry will be able to win the game in one fell swoop, after several successful defenses.
Early Game
Drafts that rely on turtling the game from the start generally have very defensive heroes to back up their late-game cores. As such, the laning stage of such drafts tends to be weaker in comparison to most other lineups. They might lack damage, lockdown, push potential and a variety of other things. An average pub draft should easily take advantage of at least one of these aspects during the early stages of the game.
During this stage it is not always necessary to kill the opponents, but rather try to gain tempo and take map control. Being reckless against defensive heroes has a high chance of failure. Instead, concentrating on the objectives by forcing the opponents out of the lane, rather than killing them, can be the better course of action.
When taking early objectives it is also necessary to always keep an eye on the potential teleport rotations of the enemy and their levels. Luckily, information regarding the latter is readily available in the scoreboard. Heroes like 
Nyx Assassin, 
Tidehunter and many other are the prime candidates for constant checking—their threat levels increase dramatically once they get their ultimates.
Being too passive in the early stages can be a huge mistake; however, farming efficiency also has a very high priority. It is generally best to leave the cores static, allowing them to farm efficiently, while aggressively rotating the supports. The highest priority target during this stage is usually not the main carry of the enemy team, but rather their playmaker/initiator and a potential split-pusher, if they have one. Once again, getting a kill on these heroes is optional—delaying their item and level progression is the key. The reward for an early-game kill does not always justify the potential risks.
Care for your Supports
Many cores heroes come online very fast and generally have a huge power spike associated with their ultimate. Early game rotations are not exclusive to supports, and sometimes it might be a better idea to let one support farm, while the core roams and applies pressure on the enemy (e.g. letting your Lion get an early game-changing 
Blink Dagger in lane, while Gyrocopter applies pressure).
This will ensure that supports have money for both vision and utility consumables as well as a mobility, survivability or teamfight item. Come mid game this will ensure their usefulness and will make them harder to kill. Given the probable difference in Net Worth, all deaths on your team have a high impact and are best avoided. Ganks and rotations by stronger core heroes also have higher chances of being successful and are more easily translated into objectives.
Mid Game
The mid game against stronger late-game opponent is best as a team of at least four heroes. Getting map control and applying pressure are, once again, extremely important as are the objectives.
If the early game went well, it will be usually easy to take out the outer towers and, with the help of several aggressive wards, take control of the map. By efficiently farming 70% of the map’s resources for a brief period of time in the mid game and promptly getting to your big core items, it is possible to start sieging high ground early.
On the other hand, if the opponent is already capable of fighting, it is best to use hit-and-run tactics. Aggressive wards around the objectives and smartly used Smokes can net a kill on a priority target, which should translate into an objective. Attempting to take objectives against a full turtle-based enemy lineup can be met with a strong retaliation and potentially gift the enemy a chance to get to the late-game.
Regardless of how the early game went, passive farming is borderline suicidal against a team which has a late-game win condition. Even if one or two push attempts have been repelled, it is still possible and advisable to try and find an opening. Passive Dota is one of the main reasons 5-carry lineups even have a chance in the lower skill brackets.
When at least two lanes of outer towers of the enemy team have been destroyed, it is possible to start sieging the high-ground.
Rules of a successful siege
The biggest mistake inexperienced players make when sieging the enemy base is overcommitting. Usually only a hero or two in a team are capable of dealing significant damage to the structures—there isn’t really much even a farmed support can contribute in this sense.
Turtling strategies thrive on punishing mistakes like this. By having several heroes in a small chokepoint, you provide an opening for a massive AoE initiation and risk having several of your heroes wiped before they even contribute anything to a potential fight.
When taking high-ground from practically any team, but especially the one relying on turtling, it is best to only have one hero at a time beating on the structures, with everyone else in relatively close proximity ready to save the teammate or even run away safely.
Worst case scenario, the enemy will have to commit some longer cooldowns on dealing with the single pushers, allowing you to come back later and finish the job. Best case scenario—your team will deal some chip damage, retreat once the creeps have died, regroup and once again send a single pusher to deal some chip damage. This process is undoubtedly tedious, but it ensures safety and massively decreases the probability of enemy winning the game.
If a lane of barracks is taken successfully, fall back, regroup and repeat the process on the next lane.
It is also a very good idea to have your lanes pushing in close to the enemy base. It will provide some breathing room against potential split-push and can also show opening for a low-risk high-reward calculated aggression.
If and only if the enemy main DPS is on the other side of the enemy base taking out creeps, it can be a good idea to aggressively jump the enemy and potentially burst down a target or two. Once again, however, be mindful of buybacks—even if you managed to kill off the enemy Tidehunter or Enigma, you are still probably inside the enemy base and can be forced to take a very unfavorable teamfight.
Late Game Fights
It is best to not get to this stage against a superior late-game lineup, but it can undoubtedly happen.
Maybe a smoke wrap-around caught you off-guard while you were safely sieging or you miscalculated the gold and thus the Power Level the enemy initiator has and have been caught in a massive buyback-ultimate, but it is the enemy who now has the upper hand and has gained enough momentum. First of all—Do Not Panic!
Depending on the situation and the state of the game the enemy can either farm some more or, if the game has been going on long enough, will try to push for the victory.
If the enemy has opted to farm, smoke-ganking should once again become the top priority. Winning a teamfight might be problematic, but with a numbers advantage it can be possible to take down a priority target.
Otherwise, prepare for the Last Fight.
The Last Fight
It is always advised to have buybacks in the late game, but be extremely careful when using them. A bad buyback will leave a dent in your economy and will solidify the enemy position even further.
Use as few buybacks as possible. The first priority is usually not the main core of your team, but rather a hero who is best at outpushing the lanes. If this hero can stall the enemy push long enough it might not be even necessary to use buybacks.
Second priority is your lockdown/initiator hero. This hero should usually buyback only if not buying back will mean losing the game or two lanes of barracks. His job is to help stalling the enemy push, but also to set up for a turn-around.
Wait for the enemy to get overconfident and fully commit to a push. Using too many buybacks early can deter the enemy from pushing at all and in a scenario when the enemy has the tempo and is stronger it is not what is usually best for your team. They will farm some more, while your team will remain frightened and will come knocking on your door in the most inopportune moment.
Good team coordination at this stage is crucial, everything should coincide perfectly. Buyback on your cores and start tp-ing them to the lane immediately (or, if they are mobile enough just use mobility spells). Once the enemy is distracted and/or starts falling back, begin your initiation. This way it is usually possible to disable several heroes at once relatively safely and immediately start dealing damage from the cores which have just rotated.
This fight will usually be game deciding and focusing down heroes who cannot return to it is the best course of action. The enemy core who recently won a fight in her base and has done some pushing on the way will probably have enough money for a buyback and BoTs, so unless you can deal with the hero twice, it is best to quickly wipe other squishier targets and then focus on the main course.
Winning this fight will usually win the game outright or at the very least allow your team to return to the mid game state, where the rules discussed previously will once again apply.
first.
2nd :D
3rd :D
4rd?
The problem with Low MMR games is that they ALL want to turtle. They only do real safe plays. So that's sucks, because anything you're trying they "say" you're most likely dead, so that's what happen. Nobody on your team follow you and then in about time 3 or 5 guys are on you and you're dead. This sucks cause I won't be able to higher my mmr never. Or I will have to be patience as fuck and spent the time I would get 5 wins, getting 2 wins. But, real torture is when there's a guy that calls himself pro cause he knows how to jungle. And then 4 of you are like playing good come on, let's go win. And this guy sits on the jungle letting all the team die on a non-balanced 4x5 fight. If this happens 2 or 3 times in a game, you lost. Ahhhhrg, that sucks. You even have to stand on the side of this guy thinking he's a "pro", with level 11 plus he generally has a 1x0 score or 3x2 or 5x4, whatever, to ensure himself his lame position. Why I haven't been calibrated a little higher? I know I wasn't that good on last hits, but I knew how to play and have game awareness since I use to play Dota 1 long ago. FUCK. When I play mid and carry I feel really lame, because my opponents generally doesn't make a treat to me. So that's me smashing 5 no-brains guys. Is this how Miracle feels by the way?
5 xd
good hero
No, you were not the 5th. I was.
8th zzzz
9th :p
One does not simply throne
These kids are turning a very useful and well done article into a joke instead of comment interesting things...
sadness
i would like the idea to push as 4 heores while having a potential late carry farm freely... the 4 heroes should be: 1 core-mid (pusher), 1 initiator (AoE), and 2 supports... take their towers 1-b-1 (i usually put a ward behind their tower while pushing, so we can see if they're trying to defense theirs), force them to rotate aggressively... the worst case is maybe u get ur carry ganked or forced to leave the lane (so he cant farm)... having a lane ward might be the option to keep ur carry safe and feel comfortable. another ward should be put on your own jungle (entry) might be the last option available,, so ur carry could also farm the jungle... i just dont like to play defensively,, it requires you to have more sustain-able heroes in your draft... in my opinion, playing defensively could limit your overall team farming space... i personally prefer my idea rather than defensive gameplay... objective gaming dudes....!! i know that dota has a lot of aspect to win a single game (walking 20s without any purpose = in-effective).... this is just my idea,, what do you guys think? G.L.H.F gamers.....
13thhahahaha
those that comment on the sequence of their comments will always be in the <3k mmr zone. they don't bother to read the article and learn. click on their profile, 90% will be in the normal skill bracket.
turtling teams needs to be punished real heavily in early and mid game. when going high ground, you will need vision. any heroes with vision or heroes that can force a fight/make someone out of place (bat, dark seer, pudge, axe) is very effective against high ground seige. when going high ground against turtling teams, also have a hero that can seige the towers without fearing. drow, tb all fits this category.
Necrophos Appoved !
Where is 6.88 Pub Tier List? BibleThump
Add potential hero tier list in these kind of strategy articles :D that would be good
Well ANIMAL, abandoning as many games as you do, you can be sure your mmr won't rise up indeed.
I love glue
Seriously ANIMAL why d'u whine with 10% abandoned games
very nice read thank you
22nd
what's the aim of this article
too boring and useless for everyone who managed to get 5 players together also useless and complex for pub randoms
i guess if yu have 4 rl friends and ready to lose them you can try some of those games
The article is good but I am sure good players know it already and bad players won't care.
25 rd EZ
tl;dr version pls
26nd
wohooooo
Maybe it doesn't deal directly with this article, but I find a huge reason I lose in 3k-4k games (obviously because no one supports) but also, people want to take stupid heroes offlane. As soon as game starts, someone first picks AM for safelane and the next picks Jugg for offlane. Nobody wants to have an initiator for the offlane. I wish I could que for "non retard ranked" but alas that isn't an option.
Xyphxer : If you got tb to siege a highground you generally dont fear late game that much except if you dont have the good supports to protect him/have very bad teamfight heroes. Because so far i think there isnt a lot of heroes that can match the dps of a 6 slot terror
Juggernaut with blink can make for a very decent early-mid initiator and blade fury ensures a safe tp out. And 1 point in healing ward also makes jug a headache in the offlane
I like turtles .
Well, looking at, what kind of carries are picked right now, you start to think, what kind of turtling could be. If Slark is picked - there couldn't be any kind of late game, cause he pick sb + orchid = you are in a tavern every 5 minutes. Not in this meta with these broken carries.
@Don'tThinkAboutItTooMuch , which broken carries? :3
Maybe the best dotabuff article I've ever read, these features apply to so many of my games!
35th XD
as a turtle team you can for instance try gaining more time to farm by always counter pushing the enemys, for instance with anti mage.
Orchid limits slarks carry potential , sucks on carry slark , unless game is just steam rolled .
I played a match yesterday when the enemy turtle is just not penetrable. We destroyed their mid rax in 20 min and their techies just changed the flow of the game and we lost then. So how do you deal with techies?
Against turtling? Get a good ganking support like bh and lion Heroes thats needs to turtle are greedy. They need more farm,gank them Force some tp reactions while your p1 farm
translate to german pls xD
^^
You're a moron
You're supposed to pick a push lineup vs turtling lineup.
Push>Turtling>Ganking>Push>Turtling>Ganking>...
Go rosh and then go YOLO
how i deal with turtles
http://www.tribenhtim.com/pictures/thit-rua-dieu-tri-benh-tim-chua-duoc-xac-thuc.jpg
good guide. i would advise split pushing trying to create distractions while the strong pusher goes in for the raxes. usually 4 man bot and 1 pusher top will work or vice versa.
turtling has always been my fav thing
noobs tend to overextend on a failed gank and doesn't use their time to farm (they use it to hunt for kills,and after they do they never take objectives or farm)
The numbering of dunces is over, I guess?
This guy, ANIMAL, wow...
48th
And I can't even understand what that ANIMAL guy is writing. All that broken english lol
Is there more flowcharts about Dota 2 related things?