Dota 2 - Sniping Couriers - Is it Worth it?

Introduction

Since Dota 2 is one of the first MOBAs that came to existence, the game features some unique mechanics that you can't really find anywhere else. One of those unique aspects of Dota 2 is courier sniping. This is a mechanism where someone tries to camp and kill the enemy courier. When this happens, the player, as well as his team, get gold. However, the thing that hurts the most is that the enemy hero won't be able to get the items that were on the courier until it respawns, which takes a couple of minutes.

So, is it worth going through the hassle and do it?

The short answer is No

Generally speaking, it really depends on what patch you're playing on. Previously (prior to the Outlanders Update), each team had only one courier. So, whenever you killed it, it meant that the entire team was not able to use it, which definitely had an effect on the game. What's more, the courier itself provided a pretty significant bounty, unlike now.

After the Outlanders Update, the game completely changed. Instead of having just one courier, each player now has his very own one, which he can use whenever he likes. This means that courier-sniping is definitely not as effective as it used to be, especially when you take into account all the time and preparation that you need to make to do it.

Sure, if you happen to see a courier passing you just kill it. However, we believe that it's just not worth the time to stay and camp it. You can use this time for many other things such as ganks or just overall lane help. This extremely important, especially in a meta such as this, where the early game is so important.

Which heroes are good at doing this job?

If you decide that you just want to have some fun and make your opponents miserable, you have to know which heroes are the right ones to get.

On theory, every single Dota hero has the potential to kill a courier. However, there are a couple that definitely makes this job easier:

• Nature's Prophet allows you to teleport directly to the courier and then kill it in just two attacks. 
• Bounty Hunter and Riki are also two heroes that are widely used for courier sniping. After all, both of them are invisible, which helps a lot in this situation.
• Winter Wyvern is another popular pick, even though many players might not realize it at first. Thanks to the Arctic Burn, this hero can hit the courier from a very long range.