All Dota 2 Courier Hotkeys (With Tips On How To Get Better at Using Them)

The Courier is an interesting mechanic in Dota 2, which other MOBA games don’t have. The Courier is an animal that all ten players have in a Dota game, which will deliver their items from the base or the shop to wherever their Hero is on the map. The flying Courier can also be controlled to do specific movements and tasks. Learn all about the Courier hotkeys in this article!

Select Courier

The first Courier hotkey is to simply select the Courier. Once you select the Courier, you will be able to control the actions of it, such as its movement and abilities.

Here are all the Courier ability hotkey settings that you will need to know.

Retrieve Items

The first Courier control hotkey is used to retrieve your items in the fountain. By pressing this hotkey, your courier will immediately run back to the direction of your team’s fountain to pick up your items in the stash, then it will proceed to deliver your items to your hero.

However, if your items are not in the stash and are already inside the Courier, then the Courier will simply go back to the base and stay there, not delivering your items for you. This helps in the early game when you have to buy lots of small items.

Go To Secret Shop

The second Courier control hotkey is used to send the Courier to the Secret Shop. Your hero won’t be able to make it to the Secret Shop due to the area being dangerous, or because the journey there is just not efficient.

By using the Courier’s second hotkey, you’ll send it to the direction of the team’s Secret Shop where you will be able to purchase your items. After purchasing your items from the Secret Shop through your Courier, simply use the Retrieve Items ability to send the items your way.

Return Items

The third Courier control hotkey is called Return Items. By pressing this hotkey, your Courier will send the items that it is carrying back to your stash. There are two situations where this may be helpful:

1. You have just died while your Courier is sending your items to you, so by sending your items back to the stash, you’ll be able to pick them up even while you're dead.

2. Your Courier is on the way to you with your items, but you’re planning on teleporting back to base, so you can send the items to your stash since you’ll be able to pick them up when you’ve teleported back

Speed Burst

The fourth Courier control hotkey, the Speed Boost, is probably the most useful Courier hotkey that all players should make use of. The Courier gains 50% extra movement speed, when this ability is used and has a 120 second cooldown.

Players should make use of this ability as using it will make the Courier send you your items faster, or will help the Courier get out of a dangerous situation. Since this ability is so useful, players should have a comfortable bind for this hotkey and make it a habit to spam this ability.

You can also set a custom hotkey for the Speed Bust in the Advanced Hotkeys options under Shop Actions.

Transfer Items

The fifth Courier control hotkey is used to transfer the items inside your Courier to your hero. The way the hotkey works is quite interesting, so we’ll break it down.

Let’s say you have items in your Courier and it’s already making its way towards you. You then purchase an item and it appears on your stash. If you click on the regular Courier Deliver Items hotkey, then the Courier will travel back to get your stash items. But, if you click on the Transfer Items hotkey, then the Courier will bring your items to you, ignoring the items in the stash.

Courier Shield

The last Courier control hotkey is the Courier Shield. By activating this ability, your courier will be immune to any sort of damage for 2 seconds, at a 200 second cooldown.

Unlike the Courier Speed Boost, the Courier Shield shouldn’t be spammed and should only be used wisely. You can use this ability when:

1. Your Courier is crossing an enemy Creepwave

2. An enemy hero is trying to kill your Courier

3. Your Courier is flying toward the Secret Shop and the enemy team can potentially be there in the late game

Similar to the Courier Burst, a Courier Shield hotkey is also available if you’re interested in binding that onto a key.

Courier Deliver Items

This hotkey can be binded into any key, and is arguably the most used Courier hotkey. This hotkey simply makes the Courier grab your items from the stash and deliver it to your hero. Instead of having to click the Courier button on the bottom right corner, you can bind this hotkey to a key and save you some wasted time.

That concludes it for all the Dota 2 Courier hotkeys! Efficient control over your Courier can be really important if you’re looking to achieve a high Dota 2 rank. To learn more about Dota 2 hotkeys, check out our articles on micro hotkeys for control group purposes, shop hotkeys, and proper itemization hotkeys!