How To Lock the Camera In Dota 2?

Much like how certain players prefer playing Dota 2 with a joystick instead of a mouse and keyboard, locking camera in Dota 2 is also a preference. Not something we endorse! But still a valid preference.

We won’t discriminate in the Dota 2 community, so here’s how to lock camera in Dota 2:

Settings on how to Lock Camera in Dota 2?

To lock your camera on your hero in Dota 2, there is an available setting to configure by following these steps:

First, navigate to the top-left corner of your Dota 2 in-game main menu.
Select the Settings option, indicated by its cog icon.
Click on the ‘Hotkeys’ tab.
Find the Unit Actions section and bind your preferred hotkey for the ‘Select Hero’ setting. We recommend the Number 1 or F1 key for convenience.

Additionally, you would have configure your Camera settings too by selecting the ‘Options’ tab and find the ‘Camera’ section.
Lastly, enable ‘Hold Select Hero to Follow’ and disable the ‘Edge Pan’ option too.

The configuration to disable the Edge Pan is necessary here to prevent the camera from unlocking when you move your cursor beyond the screen. While this prevents you from moving across the map using your mouse, you can still use your arrow keys or manually click on the mini-map instead.

How to manually lock camera on your hero in Dota 2?

Alternatively, if you are hesitant on this strict setting for locking camera in Dota 2, perhaps you can try out the default method to lock the camera. By double-clicking your hero portrait, it will lock the camera. However, this does not disable the Edge Pan, so moving beyond the screen will unlock your camera.

Should you lock camera in Dota 2?

Consider yourself warned! Locking camera in Dota 2 is not advisable for several good reasons. In fact, no Dota 2 pro player settings use this because it has some major caveats.

Notably, locking your camera limits your own map awareness. It’s often necessary to pan across the map in great lengths to view any sudden events or clashes that are happening. Furthermore, many Dota 2 heroes have a long range of auto-attack and skill range. In some extreme cases, such as Winter Wyvern’s Arctic Burn can extend up to 925 range, excluding range-boosting items. This means with locked camera, you might not even be able to see where you’re being attacked from.

There may be instances, where a LoL player might be transitioning to Dota 2, who wants the locked camera experience they are used to in LoL. However, this is what differentiates LoL vs Dota 2, such that map awareness and movement is crucial to step up your Dota 2 game.