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Inspired by a recent video, I have decided to talk about roles in Dota 2. Everybody knows the classic role distribution: Carry, Mid, Offlane, Support and possibly Jungler. Often these roles are assigned numbers to imply their farm priority from 1-5, because saying a hero or a player is situated in the midlane, does not necessarily say what kind of role he is actually playing or what kind of playstyle is to be expected of him.
In contemporary Dota 2, the roles are very versatile and flexible. The midlaner is not your typical ganker anymore and being an offlaner does not mean you can't farm yourself. Especially in the current meta, every hero can expect to see a bit of farm his way, as games tend to go on longer. This has especially paid of for 4 position supports. As Team Fire's Brian 'Fluffnstuff' Lee pointed out in a recent interview with GosuGamers, "the 4 role is where it become ridiculous because literally the entire pool is open." He elaborates his thought on two examples: "Heroes like Elder Titan or Zeus for example are the result of us trying to stay relevant and digging deep. They don't add any value to the laning stage or taking objectives, they just kind of mock core and because the game goes later and later it almost doesn't matter if you get away with it."
"The entire hero pool is open for position 4 supports" - Fluffnstuff
We have seen quite a lot of different heroes in the supporting role. Some are rather common choices, like Naga Siren, Mirana or Alchemist, and they all seem to make sense now, despite being obvious carry heroes a few years back. Yet, just because they start out as a support and fulfill typical support duties doesn't mean they can't transition into carries.
Similar things can be said over other roles: Beginning in the safelane does not force you to become your team's number one farmer and even being your team's top farmer does not mean you can't gank. Mason and EternaLEnVy have both displayed numerous great performances on a core position Storm Spirit, neither of which have failed to gank accordingly with their teams.
This sort of flexibility leads to swapping roles in teams. Looking at Vici Gaming, their cores swap around quite often and even Black^, infamously known for his farming approach, has displayed strong performances on ganking or splitpushing positions.
There are however negative examples which showcase that this perceived flexibility leads to confusion and can cause issues. ESports journalist Duncan 'Thorin' Shields has taken to the issue and has extensively talked about it in a vlog. "Role swapping and the Star Player's Fallacy" is the title and the basic idea of the video is to discuss the issues that come up with swapping roles, just to acquire names and stardom for your roster. In this case, Thorin talks about the roster change for Team Secret, who acquired Arteezy and zai from Evil Geniuses. Thorin states that both Arteezy and s4 are excellent mid players and thus a conflict would arise when one of them would be forced out of their natural position. He goes on to talk about other examples in other eSports titles and even in the NBA, that swapping roles for the sake of acquiring stars can hurt the team in the long run.
Now here is where Thorin is wrong: as for Team Secret there has yet to be a problem. On paper, the team seems as if the roles fit each player individually and the team could possibly work out, given previous playstyles. The reason zai left Evil Geniuses to begin with, supposedly, is the fact that he could not play a more farm orientated role. In fact, zai has played the offlane during Heroes of Newerth and in Dota 2 before, so he is quite familiar with the position. As for Arteezy, he has been the iconic player that introduced (semi-)carries to the midlane, with heroes such as Lycan, Naga Siren or Phantom Assassin. Sure, Arteezy can take on the classic ganking roles as well, but him switching to the carry position is not at all putting him outside of his comfort zone.
Thorin also mentions that two like-minded players, i.e. players that usually play the same role, could potentially lead to bad plays, as they would act similarly in-game - he uses his NBA example to emphasize the importance of diverse in-game behaviour. However, what Thorin does not factor in, at least for the Team Secret example, is the fact that Arteezy has already played as a carry in the past. In fact, Fear and mason, EG's designated carries throughout 2014, took on more flexible, even ganking roles. Carrying and farming are not at all something Arteezy has to familiarize himself with.
"Nowadays, it is not easy to determine who is carry and who isn't"
If anything, this change will benefit Secret. While the team was still amongst the top tier ranks, it certainly felt as if the cores could not unfold their true potential. Kuroky is most likely set to return to his support position, which he excelled at during his time with Mousesports and Na'Vi. Together with Puppey, the two of them has become a fearsome support duo, and as seen by other top tier teams, a strong support duo is an important core factor. The only question is going to be which kind of heroes zai is capable of playing on a high level in the offlane. He certainly has shown how to farm and gank, but now he needs to do it on other heroes.
The Team Secret example aside, Thorin does have a valid point. Role swapping has been an issue in Dota 2 in the past, most notably Vigoss, who upon his return with Team Empire took on the offlane role and could not at all live up to his potential. Aui_2000 was quite one-dimensional in his play when he started with Kaipi and had to play support. Team Tinker is the most recent example in which the issue Thorin talks about has shown: A roster full of popular and skillful players, most of them in wrong positions.
While Thorin does have a point, the issue itself is not as clear-cut as it used to be. If he had released this video two years ago, it would have been easier to agree with. Nowadays, it is not easy to determine who is carry and who isn't. While there are many examples that prove him right, there are just as many that prove him wrong. As pointed out above, Vici Gaming as well as Team DK both have/had squads with very flexible roles, including very heavy farm orientated players. What Thorin describes as an issue turned both squads into unpredictable juggernauts.
Role swapping for the sake of acquiring names has been an issue and it certainly still could be. However, looking at many cases individually, it was bigger issues that plagued the teams. Let's take Team Tinker as the most recent example once again: Yes the players swapped roles over and over again, but that was due to insecurity and obvious lack of leadership. A different drafter every tournament and the lacking results forced them to switch things around.
If anything, role swapping has had many positive cases in the Dota 2 scene. Kuroky, a former carry player, has become one of the best supports. Aui_2000 and EternaLEnVy both had different roles prior to their Kaipi engagement and have now climbed the top of the scene in their fields. MiSeRy- has excelled at many roles, be it support or carry.
I suppose Thorin's main issue is that it can create a bit of tension and could potentially lead to issues. The example of Kaipi however should show that if you overcome these issues, it will turn you into a better team. If your team can't overcome these comparatively small issues, it was not set to last to begin with.
Swapping roles in Dota 2 does not strike me as big of an issue. In fact, being able to adapt to many roles will make you a better player. Bulba has stated that he did not know the hardships supports went through prior to him taking on the support role. If you can understand each and every role in each and every situation, it will make you better. Yes, it can be troublesome and rocky, and it may not be for everyone, but I'd argue that, to climb to the top, a team and its players cannot be stagnant in the traditional roles, not anymore.
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