▷ Easy Dota 2 Stacking & Pulling Guide (Timing & Tricks)

In this detailed guide you will learn the difference between pulling and stacking in Dota 2 and how to get good at it.

Dota 2 Stacking Timings for each Creep Camp:

The image below shows the exact time when to pull and stack the creeps:

Patch 7.23 (2019/2020):
Patch 7.22 (2019):
White = Shows when you have to stack the creeps.
Blue = Shows when you have to pull the creeps from the actual lane.

Indepth Guide: How to get better at Stacking and Pulling in Dota 2?

Stacking is an extreme efficient method to improve the income in Dota 2. Through this technique you can boost the GPM (gold per minute) of yourself or of your carry player who farms the stacked creep spot. Also pulling in Dota 2 is a quite strategical move, you can check the Dota 2 hero combo table to find heroes that work well together.
Let’s dive into this topic deeper to give you a basic understanding first and then we go on to pro mechanics that you can learn and always improve.

What is the difference between Stacking and Pulling in Dota 2?

Stacking in Dota 2 means to multiply neutral creep spots by moving them away before the spawn timer hits.
Pulling in Dota 2 means to bait a normal creep wave to a neutral creep camp in order to help creeping the spot and to deny the creeps so that the enemy hero has less farm.

When does the first creeps spawn in Dota 2?

Normal waves from Radiant and Dire start with the trumpet sound after 60 seconds with an intervall of 30 seconds.
Normal creeps spawn at 1:00 game time (two minutes after game start).
Roshan spawns directly when the game starts. Checkout the Roshan Timer Guide for more details.

How often do neutral creeps spawn in Dota2 ?

Neutral creeps always spawn at the full minute mark (1:00, 2:00, 3:00 and so on).

Creep Stacking Guide for Dota 2:

Let’s learn what stacking exactly is and how you can execute it to improve your gameplay.

What is Creep Stacking in Dota 2?

Stacking is a process in which a hero persuades Jungle creeps towards himself, and if the creeps do not get into the range of their pit before the full minute mark, then the creeps will spawn again. It’s like a fake to the game system, that checks if there are any creeps on that spot and if the spot is empty, it gets filled again with new creeps. Stacking can be mastered and the full potential can be released in combination with great carry players. To make the most out of stacking, don’t waste too much time for it – integrate it into your normal movement.

The new Dota 2 Patch is helping Beginners to Stack Creeps easily:

Creeping pulling was a quite difficult task until Dota 2 patch 7.21 b came:
This patch is a helping hand for beginner players, Press ALT + move the cursor on creeps pit. A countdown will appear when it is yellow, it means you do not have to hit them, but when it’s red instantly hit the creeps, and they will stack. This new feature is helping many beginners players because, before this feature, it was hard for them to stack. Many players do not even bother stacking because they cannot do it properly and consider it as a waste of time. However, it’s not. 😉

Simple Tutorial how to stack Creeps in Dota 2:

Step 1 Choose the Creep spot that you want to stack and click “ALT” on your keyboard. Now you can see the yellow border and the arrow, with a suggestion into which direction you should move to take the creeps away as far as possible, while not having vision to the creep spot with your hero. Check the timer and wait until it goes to zero.
Step 2 When the timer hits zero, the text is marked red and says “attack now to stack the creeps”. Hit them as fast as possible when it turns red.
Step 3 Now move into the suggested direction fast and run as fast as possible until the timer has reached the respawn time (at full minute).
Step 4 You can move back now and check if the creep has been stacked successfully. Now you have a double creep spot you can farm it, leave it for other teammates or stack it again!
Step 5 Repeat the creep stacking as often as you want to increase the amount of gold that you can get from this creep spot.

Can you stack Roshan?

Of course not. 😉 Roshan is a creep, but he is unique and not stackable. However, there is a lot to learn about the Roshan spawning timings, check out the detailed Roshan guide.

Is there a creep stacking limit in Dota 2?

There is no creep stacking limit in Dota 2, but in reality, it’s nearly impossible to get more than 4 creep spots and 5 ancients. If there are more creeps you have to pull a bit earlier because the creeps block themself and need more time to leave their camp. Often the creeps return faster to their pit if they block too much, that’s why it’s super hard to multiply the camps even higher – but it is definitely possible… And some spots are much easier to stack compared to others. 😉

What are the Benefits of Stacking Creeps in Dota 2?

The safe lane is the most significant lane in Dota 2 because your team’s leading carry is playing on it. If the carry fails, your chances of winning are lower. Stacking is a process that is mostly performed by the support on the same lane like the carry, because the carry does not have the time to stack creeps for himself, because he would lose gold and XP. It is crucial for the support to perform this and it’s not always necessary, some carries can’t even creep big spots well.
A super awesome side effect is that the support player who stacked the creeps, gets 35% of whatever the carry gets for the full camp.

But if performed well, stacks can give a massive boost of XP and gold to the carry hero. Moreover, it will help in pushing the enemies out of the lane. In start keep the lane regular, let the support make a few stacks. Then start pushing the lane, kill the lane creeps as much and as fast as you can because you need to take the stacks in that free time. Now, here comes the logic you are getting XP and Gold from the actual lane and more gold and more XP from the stacks. It will automatically boost your level from other lane heroes.
Heroes like Kunkka, Phantom Assasin, Juggernaut and many more, can easily take stacks in a few seconds.

Dota 2 Creep Wave Pulling Guide:

Pulling and stacking belongs together like Jug and CM. 😀 Let’s check what the basics are and how to execute it well:

What is Creep Wave Pulling?

Creep Pulling is a process in which a hero drags lane creeps towards the jungle creeps. It is a lot more complicated process than stacking. Moreover, there are no helping features for it.

Simple Tutorial how to pull Creep Waves in Dota 2:

Step 1Hit the creeps at the correct time. For example the easy pull stop needs to be attacked at X:44.
Step 2Now run to your lane and the neutral creeps will take the aggro of your creep wave. They follow them and will try to bring them down. Now you can get all last hits and denies to make the most out of that action. Morever you can potentially hit another creep in time to perform another pull inside a pull if any creep spot is near.

When should I pull the Creeps to reach the wave in time?

The Radiant and Dire safe lane have their lane pulling time: As we know the creep waves spawn every 30 seconds, and if you pull a neutral creep wave to you lane creeps, you need to have the perfect timing otherwise the neutrals will turn back too early or you pull them too late.

If you are playing on the Radiant safe lane then hit the jungle creeps at XX:14 or XX:44 and drag them to the actual lane. It will persuade all the lane creeps towards jungle creeps. For the Dire safe lane, the first time is the same as Radiant at XX:14, but the second time has a variation of one second XX:45.

It’s ok to make some mistakes if you pull for the first time, the best advice is to start a lobby bot match and to test around a bit. You can also use Dota 2 cheats to test things faster.

What are the benefits of pulling creeps in Dota 2

Pulling creeps is one of the top techniques to keep the enemy offlaner low. Just like stacking, the process of pulling should also be done by the support hero because the carry has to dominate the enemy creeps. If the enemies are playing a duo offlane, be prepared that the support will try to interrupt your pulling plans.

The first advantage is that the pulled creeps will die and your enemy will not get any XP or Gold. Moreover, the carry will take all the wave creeps and the support is farming the neutral creep camp. Additionally, the support can easily deny a lot of creeps. It’s a win-win situation that you should perfectionate! The support has to perform this technique after every one minute, and your enemy will run out of the lane – and you will dominate the lane like a boss.

Tips & Tricks to get better at Pulling and Stacking in Dota 2:

In top matches Dota 2 progamer show what is possible through stacking and pulling. They experiment with what is given and it’s the perfect area to learn from. Here are Dota 2 pro tips gathered for you!

How Dota 2 Progamers stack and pull and what you can learn from it:

Always make sure to make the most of your farm, stacking is just an option, only perform it if it’s smart. Don’t stack if any enemy could steal it.
Stacking is something, where good supports can shine. Often the impact of support players in Dota 2 seems to be low and people are not respecting them enough. With good stacking, support players can increase the win rate by a tremendous amount. The perfect symbiosis together with a smart carry is a perfect recipe to stomp the enemy. If you want to become a good support player, improve your stacking skills, it will increase your matchmaking rank.
Good players can dominate creeps with Helm of Dominator or with spells like Ench or Chen. With the controllable creep, you can stack and pull, while you are somewhere else with your hero.
To increase potential stack possibilities you can give share to your teammates and to help to control you dominated creeps.
Pros often perform more than one stack at a time through spells. Example: With an Ezalor Wave you can hit two spots at the same time in a short period, without stunning them. Like that you can stack two camps superfast.

Which heroes are the best to creep stacked ancients?

Some heroes are better to creep stacked ancients. If you have one of these in your team, stacking would be a great idea:

Kunkka
Sven (with ulti)
Medusa
Luna
Drow Ranger
Alchemist
Magnus
Huskar

What are the disadvantages of not stacking and pulling in Dota 2

Stacking can potentially increase your team gold amount and if you don’t do it and the enemies do it you run into problems. In Dota 2 many factors come together that create the team gold curve which can be equal, higher or lower than the gold of the opponent team.

The Enemy core heroes could get fat in the first 10-12 minutes, and your cores will be paper later on. The more stacks your hero will take in the early game, the stronger he will get, but this same method applies to the enemy heroes as well. Your enemy will become strong like a mountain, and your heroes will act like chickens in front of them. Often, the offlane enemy hero is playing solo which means that he is getting more gold and XP than you if you playing a dual lane. In this kind of solo situation, you have to take the enemy out of the lane. Tell your support of pull and pull until the enemy is out of the lane. If you are not successful in ruining your enemies farm then in late game he will ruin yours.

Mistakes Dota 2 players make while stacking and pulling creeps

After Dota 2 patch 7.21b, it got way more comfortable for players to stack, but still, some players make immense mistakes.

Don’t place a ward in the creep spot pit’s of your own camps to not block them.
Beginners often do timing mistakes for pulling, not because they don’t know the time, but because they leave their lane too late and miss the perfect pull & stack time stamps.
Some players are so busy on the lane that they forget to stack, try to prevent that. Create an advantage for your carry hero.
Instead of acting as a support, act as a carry, what do you and your cores need to win this game. If the carry is stronger, you also get stronger!

Pulling creeps can give allies a massive advantage, but it can ruin your lane as well. It is hard for beginners to complete this technique correctly. Pulling creeps from the pit and dragging lane creeps to the jungle is an easy task. However, those jungle creeps are weak, and lane creeps will get them quickly. In that situation, you have to drag the keeps to the jungle creeps in the other pit. If this action is not performed successfully, then there will be two groups of allied creeps in your lane, and they will push the lane and enemy will get a massive gold and XP boost. That’s an absolute No-Go.

How to stop the enemy players from pulling and stacking

Always check the enemy carry heroes and if there are aoe damage creeper like from the list above. If they have one of them, they probably stack creeps and you have to stop them from doing it!

How to block Creep Camps with Wards in Dota 2?

Kill the creeps in that pit, so that there is nothing to multiply.
If the enemy starts stacking push the lane tell the Offlaner hero to take those stacks and place a ward there.
Place observer wards behind the enemy lane, to always know where they are. Whenever you see them moving to the stacks, interrupt them and waste their time.
You could push the lane together by getting help from the other lanes, push the lane tower with heroes like Rhasta and afterward take the stacked creeps. You got a double advantage and the enemy can’t do anything about it!
To block a creep camp just choose a ward and select it, the map will show you automatically the yellow borders to block a specific creep camp.
A good tip and to make it harder to deward for the enemy support players, place the creep camp blocking ward behind the spot and in areas that are harder to spot:

To become an expert in stacking and pulling you have to practice a lot, but it’s worth! After a while, it goes into your blood and you will automatically stack and pull like a pro! 😉

Directly connected to pulling and stacking is of course to be good at warding and dewarding. To master this as well, I recommend this extensive tutorial for good wards:
View Dota 2 Warding Guide