ETOFOK LAYOUT

for Dota 2

Advanced Hotkeys & Setup

Preface

A layout should make sense: mechanically and visually.

The more intuitive it is — the better for performance.

I'm reasonably confident: this is the best Dota 2 hotkey layout and settings possible.

It's a strong statement — and I'm going to explain the logic behind all this on this page.

p.s. it's quite extensive

Hotkeys Overview

Unit Select

We want to group all Unit Select keys close to each other.

We cluster them around 1

More on courier usage later.

Alt modifier

Alt is our self-cast modifier.

Think of Alt as "to me".

This enables us to quickly and easily cast what we need on ourselves in battle.

Abilities

Abilities use the intuitive QWERT layout:

Not everyone knows, but Ctrl + Ability # instantly levels up the ability.

This is very convenient.

Abilities — Quick Cast

Quick Casts allow us to cast instantly with a key press, eliminating the need for a mouse click.

Everything should be on Quick Casts, with one exception — precise Area of Effect spells.

Notable examples: Black Hole, Nether Blast, Chronosphere, etc.

Because we need to aim these very carefully — it's better to keep them on Normal Cast.

Alternatively, there is Triggered on key release option for Quick Cast.

Holding down the ability key will not fire it until we release it.

I don't use this option — I find it clunky.

I use a combination of Normal Cast and Quick Cast, as seen on the screenshot.

Abilities — Toggle Auto Cast

Manually bind Toggle Auto Cast to Alt

Abilities — Ability 6

Not every hero has Ability 6.

And when they do, sometimes it's important and sometimes not at all.

Y is not a good key for an important ability — it's too far.

Since we do not have Select Group 4 bound, 4 is a surprisingly great key for one of the abilities.

For example, for Invoker I would use 4 for Invoke, which would mean my invoked abilities are R and T.

But for most heroes I use R for ultimates.

Items

Arguably, instant access to items is more important than instant access to abilities.

That's why we bind items to Quick Cast.

And just like with abilities — we must have instant access to self-cast.

That's why we don't bind items to Alt.

We also want them to be intuitive and easily accessible.

That's why we bind items right below the ability row.

This way, all items are easily accessible, self-cast is easily accessible and the layout is visually coherent with the in-game interface.

You will never misclick anything this way.

Per-Item Overrides

Very few people even aware of this option, but it's the best.

This menu allows us to set Normal Cast per item, overriding Quick Cast slot binds.

Uncheck the following:

Observer and Sentry Wards

Gleipnir

Meteor Hammer

Fallen Sky

Regardless of the inventory slot, these items will use Normal Cast.

This is especially valuable for Observer and Sentry Wards, because we need to see the visual AOE indicator for their placement and be able to double-tap to switch between them.

Neutral Item

Neutral Item is the 7th item, so it follows the C to the right.

Easily accessible and (almost) visually coherent.

Teleport Scroll

Think of G as "Go Ground".

Alt + G follows naturally as the "Go to my base" key.

Despite the fact that in the user interface Teleport Scroll is below Neutral Item, this setup is still very intuitive.

Do not bind Teleport Scrollas Quick Cast - use Normal Cast.

Quickbuy & Sticky

We use these often, so they should be accessible.

B for QuickBuy — makes sense to me.

Buy Sticky is next to Quickbuy, because we often use both at the same time.

Buy Now.

Shop & Courier

While we are on the topic of items, let's discuss buying them.

These keys are unusual and should surprise most players.

We do not want to move our hand from the resting position.

That's why Alt + WheelUp and Alt + WheelDown are fantastic binds.

It's very often we need to buy items while in action — so we need to do it quickly.

And ideally, without moving our fingers — in case we need to react.

These binds solve both problems.

This is by far the best combo for ergonomics and speed.

Alt + B for Courier Burst is easy to reach.

Alt + N for Courier Shield we rarely use, but might need.

Courier maintains its actions on Q W E R T.

Highly recommended to bind Courier Shield to R as its "Ultimate" ability.

R is also much easier to reach.

Attack, Stop

I've been using Spacebar for Attack and F for Stop with great success for more than 10 years in many games.

Attack on Spacebar is a fantastic bind.

The thumb is usually an underutilized finger, so for such a frequent action as Attack it's just great.

Attack right below our action keys just makes perfect sense

Stop is displaced to the right, so that it fits between item binds and teleport scroll.

If you think of S as Stop, think of F as Freeze, Forfeit or F*ck it.

Either way, I promise you will find these extremely comfortable.

Move, Directional Move

Directional Move is used on heroes like Shadow Fiend and Slark.

CapsLock is a great key for Directional Move, because it allows us to use all abilities and items while pressing it.

Move has a few use cases.

For example to stick JuggernautBlade Furythrough the tree jukes.

But it's the least used action key by far.

It is a bit awkward to use, but since we barely need it — it's fine.

Talents

I found having a hotkey for Select Talent more comfortable than not having it.

Select Talent is related to Select, and the next available key is F2.

Chat Wheel

This is not for flavor — this is a mandatory bind, and it has to be easily accessible.

Emotional Damage is a real thing, as is Emotional Support.

The reason we use H instead of, say, F2 is because we want our fingers on action buttons for a quick reaction.

Chat Wheel Setup

Over a decade I figured this is the required setup to play.

We absolutely need these commands on hand.

Towards the top we have progressively "aggressive" call-outs.

Towards the bottom we have progressively "defensive" call-outs.

Go and Get Back are obvious. Required for any coordination.

Fight Under Tower probably contributes to half of my MMR.

Synergizes perfectly well with every other call-out.

Fight Under Tower is the ultimate "DO NOT DO ANYTHING STUPID".

Prepares the team for action.

Reminds them not to dive.

Reminds them not to chase off your own high-ground.

It's the best.

Treat everyone like they have a 3 second memory.

Spread Out is important for any pre-teamfight action, especially when facing big ultimates such as Black Hole, Reverse Polarity, Chronosphere etc.

Generally useful around objectives, especially high-ground.

When used with Get Back or I'm retreating works as the "Please Disperse" call-out to forfeit an objective, so that everyone is free to push out lanes or get extra farm.

Group Up serves as the "Get Ready" and "Let's Go" call-outs.

It's also useful when you actually want to group up, i.e. for Greaves or Smokes

On my way indicates our intent to join.

It serves as "Wait for me" and "I'm not there yet" at the same time.

I'm retreating indicates our intent not to join.

These are great call-outs, because they lower the chance of our team overextending.

The team needs to know whether they can rely on us to make better decisions.

All miss is a great call-out for "They are smoked", "They are ganking", "Watch the minimap" and "Careful."

Use with Fight under tower, Get back and Group Up to bring your team into safety.

Camera Grip vs Edge Pan

The answer is — Camera Grip.

Especially so, if your mouse sensitivity is low (<1000).

I personally have Edge Pan Disabled for years.

p.s. the WASD gang I just don't understand. Do your thing.

Minimap Misclick Protection Time

This one is interesting, because it depends on your skill level.

New players often misclick on the minimap.

This happens to Radiant players intending to walk their hero back to base, but they overshoot the mouse movement and accidentally click on the minimap.

That's exactly what this option is for: it ignores all minimap inputs for a split second to prevent this.

Unfortunately, for more advanced players this setting makes it worse, because the game literally doesn't register our clicks.

Needless to say — that's bad.

Set it to 0.

Auto attack

We use Auto Attack: Never for Tinker and Earth Spirit

We use Auto Attack: Standard for everything else.

We might want to use Auto Attack: Always in the early game for 'Cancel Hit' last hitting.

I personally don't bother with it.

You definitely want to enable auto attack for illusion based heroes such as Phantom Lancer and Naga Siren, so that the illusions auto attack creeps.

Don't forget to enable Quick Attack and Quick Move.

Same logic as Quick Casts.

Minimap

Hero with Arrow is objectively the best option at all times.

Alt should not affect it.

I use 115% and Extra Large Minimap because my eye-sight is no longer perfect.

Turns out: life is — indeed — very short.

Make sure you played enough Dota 2 — you can't take it with you.

Map Background: Simple has less visual noise and is neutral-gray.

Hero icons stand out more.

Dynamically scale hero icons makes them lose their consistency. I find it distracting.

Audio

A couple of years ago I disabled Unit Speech and now I prefer it.

It's a peaceful life.

I disable Chat Message Sound.

I used Captions for years — it helped me with learning English.

I like this option a lot, but it's a bit distracting.

Labs

These are next-level gameplay options.

Interact only with Allied Units can be a lifesaver in a clusterfuck of a fight to use Glimmer Cape, Decrepify, False Promise, etc.

Interact only with Hero Units might prevent you from wasting Doom on a creep.

Interact only with Non-Hero Units is a cheat code for snatching Bounty Runes or Wisdom Runes under everyone's noses.

I personally only use the last one, but that's 100% a skill issue.

On mouse buttons...

I highly recommend to NOT bind any actions to mouse's side buttons.

Use the mouse for aiming.

3 reasons to NOT bind any actions to mouse:

1. Your grip is worse, because you have to account for the buttons in your grip.

2. Your aim is worse, because your grip is worse.

3. Your hand gets more strained, because it's always in this 'preparing to press' mode.

Honestly, it's very hard to explain the true effect.

I've personally used Mouse side button 1 for my Blink Dagger for probably 15 years.

I felt like I need that extra button — but I just had a bad keyboard layout.

I decided to fix my hotkeys, so that I could move away from that practice.

And I started to feel 'lighter'. Quicker.

My carpal tunnel started to heal.

On top of that, it got mentally easier, because all my items got visually coherent.

The positive effect was especially noticeable on item intensive heroes like Tinker.

I highly recommend against binding actions to mouse's side buttons whenever possible.

p.s. just bind Enter & Backspace instead. Trust me.

All options in screenshots

Questions?

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