General DiscussionMap Awareness. How do you improve it?

Look at mini-map more and /actually/ interpret what you see.

Too many times I tell my teammates, 'look at the mini-map' and they will but get ganked anyway. Why? Because they aren't interpreting what they see. My rough mental process goes something like this.

1. How many enemy heros can I see?
1a. Is mid missing?
1b. How long have they been missing for, roughly?
1c. Is my own lane missing?

Things to consider here. If it is around the rune spawn time, consider that one of the enemy heros will have rotated to collect it depending on how pushed the wave is. Of course, there is more reason to be worried about a ganking mid than a farming mid. So apply dota logic and common sense.

2. How many hero's on my team are showing?
2a. This applies a little more later on, and sounds obvious. Think about it from your opponents point of view. Gank someone who you can see. People place aggressive wards to facilitate ganks. If you're sitting in lane and farming, and your whole team has disappeared off the map for some reason and their team is also MIA. They are probably coming for you.

This can be learned but it requires the ability to focus for extended periods of time, multi-task and apply knowledge. If you want to practise it, try (during a game) predict where the enemy team are by thinking about those two questions. Or, download a replay. Skip to random spots. Ask those questions. Remove fog, rinse repeat. Pattern recognition.

if by practice you mean you want something to help you improve it short term, try making a habit of scanning each lane like maybe every 10 seconds, get a timer or stopwatch if you need to. all you have to do is actively think about things to do them more often, then after a while they become natural. this is the main reason people believe theyre stuck in mmr trenches, all you have to do is watch your games, and make a habit of doing something that would improve your game.

another thing you might like to do is change the settings in the menu, i found it much easier having face icons rather than the default color icons on the minimap.

The face icons is up to personal reference, I tried to use it 5-10 games and didn't work for me. Everytime I look at the mini map I'll be like 'who the f**k is that, is this hero on my team or their team', so the best setting for me would be the real name of hero (void, naga, axe)

Play support, you'll be looking at that minimap a damn sight more if you're the one in charge of ensuring there's vision on the map. And since generally you'll also be fairly squishy compared to the enemy cores you'll also be more likely to try and get a sense of where the enemy might be when the time comes to place the next set of wards so that you don't feed yourself away in the attempt.

HOW TO IMPROVE MAP AWARENESS...

I DON'T KNOW BUDDY.. HOW ABOUT.. BEING AWARE OF WHAT'S ON THE MAP?? LOL.

SORRY MAN COULDN'T RESIST..

If you are asking how to gain VISION over your enemies MOVEMENTS.. that is different.. Depending on a few factors.. it helps determine where to place your wards..

If
A) You have invis heros on your team who can scout / place wards safely like bounty hunter riki weaver treant
B) You're okay with going on a suicide mission
C) You have taken their first mid tower, and possibly a couple other towers..

THEN.. YOU CAN WARD AGGRESSIVELY.. Meaning. .you put wards closer to the inside of their base area so you can see exactly where each of them rotate / are..

IF YOU CAN SEE WHERE THEY ARE WALKING TO.. YOU CAN USE JUDGEMENT TO SAY .. OKAY THEY ARE OVER HERE.. FOR EXAMPLE.. YOU WARD NEAR THEIR BASE BETWEEN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR BASE ENTRANCE THE JUNGLE.. YOU CAN SEE IF THEY ARE WALKING INTO JUNGLE .. OR GOING MID.. OR IF THEY ARE SIMPLY IN BASE..

Typically you want wards where the runes are...

IT'S ALL ABOUT TRACKING ROTATIONS.. LESS SEEING WHERE THEY ARE.. BUT WHERE THEY ARE GOING ;) ;)

I THINK NEXT TIME WORD YOUR QUESTION BETTER OR YOU WILL GET SILLY RESPONSES

^^^^^^ Zero fucks given about your comment. Check out my last few games.. did I use Leshrac to go 32-0? No.
I used ember spirit.

1. I always play solo. I don't play with parties.
2. Enemy teams in normal skill always pick cancer heroes, and my team always feeds them, which means I need a solution to beat multiple fed enemy cancerous heroes by myself. With Lesh I can fight, push, and even buy wards all game.
3. I happen to enjoy playing lesh cause I think he's fun.. ???????????????????????????
4. Try going 55-39 without going mid with a mid hero who can win games alone on a smurf that doesn't get into very high skill. GOOD LUCK BRO. I WILL WAIT.
5. Suck a dick.
6. 1v1 me bitch
7. All they have to do to counter me is pick huskar or anti-mage. Not that fuckin' hard.
8. Cry more I am still better than you =)

I study Psychology and there is something called "Dual task paradigm" and what it basically means is

Perception is limited to resources;

A good and ez example to understand is Car + cellphone.

Imagine you are in a Car and you are talking on your Phone.
If you are about to crash you will stop giving your attention to your phone as you activily Prioritize the Car and or crash as more important.

Its the exact same thing with Awareness in anything in life.
Therefore.
The less you have to think about Anything that makes you lose overallfocus the more your mind will activly process the information on other task.

The point here In dota is that If you Automize say lasthitting. You dont have to Think about it. And your mind will have more resources left to think about other things like whats going on in the MAP.

i recommend playing mid more often. u sorta have to keep track of whats going on in all lanes, and when there are opportunities for ganks ect. also playing support helps too. this is in oppositon to carry players afk farming their harvest moon.