How do I stop panicking in teamfights?

I was playing with some friends last night, and a few of them picked up on my actions midway through teamfights. I tend to just seize up, and end up strafing my hero instead of getting involved with the action. I feel like I'm letting my friends down sometimes by not focussing as hard :/

Does anyone have a similar problem? Or does anybody have any strategies for not seizing up mentally?


Yes I have had the same problem when beginning to play Dota, and while I'm in no way a pro just yet, over time I have learned not to panic too hard when engaging in a full 5v5 team fight.

My tips are:

1. The most obvious one: Play more. You'll get used to the clusterfuck of a teamfight soon enough.
2. Watch more Pro games. Its great training to watch how pros handle team fights and you'll get used to it more easily than when you're playing them yourself. Also the casters will explain whats happening fairely well.
3. Think about what you want to achieve in the fight before you engage. Are you fairly tanky? Then don't concentrate on your health too hard, but rather on putting out as much dps as possible. Are you a support like omni who mainly focuses on keeping people alive? Then focus on the health if your main carrys and heal them if necessary. Are you the main DPS dealer? Worry about your positioning the most and try staying safe. Also: If you're a support and someone on low health is running away, don't run after them! Rather keep safe and keep the fight going than killing one person and possibly endangering your whole group. Rather 4 enemys dead and everyone of you is alive than 5 enemys dead and 4 of your team.

Know what your role is going into the teamfight. From that, give yourself one job to do.

For instance, if you're a support with a stun, your job is to stun the enemy carry. If you're a nuker, maybe your job should be to nuke the enemy support, or if possible nuke the enemy glass cannon. If you have a silence, there's usually a highest priority target.

If you have a hero that specifically counters an enemy hero, it's usually in one specific situation. Like, if you are playing Lich and the enemy team has an Enigma, your one job is to  Chain Frost Enigma when he activates Black King Bar and casts Black Hole. Or if you're Vengeful Spirit vs Faceless Void, your one job is to swap out Faceless Void or his target in Chronosphere.

These are things you can plan before the teamfight starts.

If you find that you just can't follow the plan, you have to ask why. Is it the chaos of the fight, or is it something else? It might be your positioning for instance, or it might be that the enemy is chain stunning you first. Maybe a Blink Dagger or Force Staff would be appropriate.