Splitpushing as Warlock, And Why You’re Playing Dota Wrong

For the past 2 years, I have been playing Dota 2 almost exclusively as Warlock - but not in the way you might expect. No teamfights. No five-man deathballs. Just pure, efficient splitpushing. In Turbo. You might ask: How does Warlock splitpush? Isn’t he useless without his ultimate? That’s the first blunder most players make - they play Dota only at the micro level. But Dota is chess, not checkers. And you’re playing like it’s a blitz match, not a slow positional grind.

From the start of the game, I claim map tempo by buying every Smoke of Deceit I can get my hands on. With Aether Lens and Aghanim’s Shard, I can clear waves from off-map using Fatal Bonds and Shadow Word. With Solar Crest and Drums of Endurance, I buff my creeps like advancing passed pawns, steadily trading tempo for control. Then, with the level 15 Upheaval talent, I buff creep attack speed while zoning defenders - slowing them, damaging them, and triggering exploding Imps from the Shard. Then the real game begins: I force a reaction. Enemy heroes TP in? I’ve already cast Smoke and castle myself safely to another file; TPing to a new lane, pressuring the opposite side, always preserving initiative. I never fight fair. If I get caught, I drop Chaotic Offering and let my Golem walk to the next lane like a wandering rook splitting their attention, demanding trades, and creating zugzwang.

Most Dota players play like it’s a tactical brawl, obsessed with skirmishes, kills, and shiny net worth graphs. But Dota is a territorial war. A solved game of attrition, resource starvation, tempo control, and incremental advantage. You don’t win by padding KDA. You win by removing structure, by invading space, and ultimately, by toppling the Ancient - your opponent’s king.

That’s why I compare Dota to chess. Every lane is a file. Every tower is a control square. Every creepwave is a pawn, expendable, but instrumental. If you overextend for a kill mid without securing your back rank, you lose positional advantage. They get a kill on our safelaner? Good for them. I just captured their Tier 2 top with my pawn storm. And while they reset, I’m already rotating pressure to the other side of the board.

My job as Warlock isn’t to join teamfights. It’s to pin pieces, to fork lanes, to bait rotations and force them to burn TPs inefficiently. Every moment they spend chasing me is a moment they’re losing initiative. It’s tempo theft. Psychological pressure. They don’t see me on the minimap, and panic. Where is he now? What’s he setting up? They check treelines. Drop sentries. React to shadows. But I’m already a move ahead.

A team fight breaks out, but the camera starts panning to their Ancient. The game is over.

Warlock isn’t just a support. He’s a positional powerhouse. A rook, quietly controlling open files, swinging from lane to lane, applying unrelenting pressure until the board collapses.

You can chase kills. I’ll chase mate.

/jk