Dota 2 Guide - Neutral Creeps

Introduction

Even though there are other MOBA games that have a higher player count, Dota 2 still remains one of the most popular games in the world. Not only is the game played by millions of people from all over the world, but there are also players who do this for a living. Dota 2 has one of the most significant professional scenes in the world where players compete for the best money prizes in the industry.

Having said that, before you can become one of them, you need to learn the fundamentals of this awesome game. That's why one of the first things you have to know is what are the Neutral Creeps and what you can get from them. Let's dive in.

Neutral Creeps 101

Similar to the other creeps, the Neutral ones are not under the control of any player, which means they can't move when a command is issued. However, unlike other creeps, these ones are not in the Radiant or the Dire, which means that they can be killed by any player in the team.

Every single "Neutral camp" has different kinds of creeps. Some of them are known for having powerful creeps that can have up to 1200 HP, whereas others are the so-called "small camps" and are way easy to ve killed. Of course, nearly every single creep has different amazing abilities, which can even be used to your advantage if you manage to get a hold of them.

Similar to the other creeps in Dota 2, the Neutrals also provide gold and experience, but their bounty depends heavily on the type of creep. They also scale up, which is good because you can get some good gold from them in the later stages of the game.

Small, Medium, Large, and Ancient Camps

As you probably guessed, these are the four categories that are used in order to differentiate between the Neutral Creeps. As we mentioned earlier, the easiest ones to bring down are the small camps, which also provide the least gold and experience. However, they also deal very low damage and have low HP, which makes them ideal for early game, especially if you need some extra gold. Some of the most popular small camps are the Kobolds, which can be found in a group of five. Apart from them, the other small fields consist of groups of 3.

• Medium camps - these camps are similar to the small ones in terms of their damage and hp, but they provide more gold and experience. Of course, the tradeoff is that they tend to do a little bit more damage. Right now, there are five different neutral camps available - Wolves, Ogres, Golems, Centaurs, and Satyrs. It's safe to say that the Centarus are the strongest ones because the big creep there is very tanky and deals a lot of damage. Apart from them, the other camps can be dealt with relatively easy early on.
• Large camps - as you can imagine, these camps are a lot harder to deal with in comparison to the ones we've covered so far. Every single creep there is pretty strong, which makes it very difficult to bring down in the early game. Similar to the medium camos, there are five different camps here, including Saturs, Hellbears, Wildwings, trolls, and Centaurs. The funny thing is that the Centaurs are basically the same camp as the medium one, but instead of one small centaur, there are two of them here. Still, dealing with them can be a huge problem, so always keep that in mind.
• Ancient camps  - last, but definitely not least, we have the Ancient camp. As the name suggests, these are the most powerful and elite creeps you can find on the map. They are very different than any other creep on the map not only because they do a lot more damage, but also because they are incredibly tanky and have special abilities. This makes dealing with them early on nearly impossible, so most players only proceed to farm them once they have enough items to do so.
  Currently, there are four different ancient camps - Golems, Dragons, Hides, and Prowlers. Every single one of them has some sort of special skill such as magic resistance, damage, root, etc. Do not try to kill them early on unless you are absolutely sure that you will succeed.

Spawning, Stacking, and Items

Unlike the normal creeps, the neutrals first appear on the map when the time hits 1:00. After that, every single camp will spawn a new set of creeps on each minute if the existing one was killed. In other words, the camps won't stack themselves automatically unless you clear it. 

However, there is a technique called "stacking" that allows you to stack multiple camps on top of each other. To do that, you have to attack the camp at a specific timeframe and then just run away so that the spawn box is clear.  Every single camp has different timings, but it usually happens either on the 53rd or the 55th second. For more information, please check a YouTube guide because these numbers are subject to change in the future.

Last, but definitely not least, the Outlanders Update introduced a new thing to Dota 2 called Neutral Items. As the name suggests, these are particular kinds of items that can drop from the Neutral creeps when you kill them. Most of them are very strong, which makes them a perfect addition to some heroes. However, unlike the regular items, you can't sell those. That said, you can always give an item that you don't need for your team-mates, which is pretty cool.