A team of scientists working to uncover the perfect methodological approach to Dota have isolated what they believe as the perfect amount of the mysteriously powerful entity known to all players as “try”.

Research indicates that the baseline level of what is termed “acceptable try” by the average pub player is just below how much is needed to win the game. Players at risk of stepping beyond this level should be wary, lest they fall into a category the study describes as a “tryhard [redacted].”

The team based its studies on the exponential increase in the number of these “tryhards” since the launch of ranked matchmaking, frustrating a large proportion of public players who are unused to losing to what they deem “unfair” tactics like smoke ganking and dewarding.

“I was playing mid and the enemy support checked top rune for their mid,” said username. “Some tryhards will do anything to win.”

It was initially believed that the value of acceptable “try” is a constant, like Pi (π), but now scientists believe the value actually varies based on several key factors, most notably whether the player trying is a teammate or enemy.

While not everyone is in danger of crossing the line into the “tryhard zone,” many players have experienced difficulty in recognizing the factors that may contribute toward excessive “try.” Some of these factors include, but are not limited to:

1. Buying and using smoke

2. Ganking middle lane

3. Body blocking creeps

4. Pooling regenerative items

5. Attempting to gank an enemy jungler

6. Using a TP scroll to assist a teammate

7. Picking heroes before creeps spawn

8. Picking a hero others find overpowered

9. Placing observer wards near runes

10. Buying sentry wards

11. Upgrading to flying courier at or near 3 minutes

12. Stacking with friends

13. Coordinating abilities with teammates

14. Split pushing in any way

15. Choosing heroes with blink abilities

16. Purchasing Black King Bar

17. Stacking or pulling in the jungle

18. Calling missing

19. Purchasing branches at the start of the game

20. Repicking into a hero you are good at

21. Retreating after taking a tower

22. Dodging sunstrike, hook, rocket, or other skill shots

23. Activating Black King Bar

24. Picking Earth Spirit

25. Playing Captain’s Mode

26. Pushing with five heroes

27. Randoming a good hero

28. Randoming a bad hero but playing it well

29. Bottle crowing

30. Blocking enemy jungle camps

31. Scouting or warding Roshan

32. Building a Mekansm or Pipe

33. Harassing or zoning an enemy

34. Abusing high ground vision

35. Juking into the trees

36. Using a hero who has a teleport ability

37. Farming faster than enemies

38. Disabling backdoor protection

39. Successfully roaming

40. Learning from mistakes

41. Playing a difficult or high skill cap hero

42. Micromanaging jungle creeps

43. Stacking Ancients

44. Picking invisible heroes

45. Purchasing dust or sentries against invisible heroes

46. Ganking an enemy carry before he is farmed

47. Spending unreliable gold

48. Saving for buyback

49. Purchasing a magic stick

50. Using a magic stick

51. Upgrading the magic stick to magic wand

52. Using a magic wand

53. Baiting the enemy team

54. Buying a Gem of True Sight

55. Not feeding a Gem of True Sight

56. Killing the enemy courier

57. Building a Hand of Midas

58. Dodging projectiles

59. Orb walking or animation cancelling

60. Cancelling abilities that won’t land

61. Picking heroes that lane well together

62. Always carrying a town portal scroll

63. Redirecting tower aggro

64. Diving a tower before 5 minutes

65. Diving a tower after 5 minutes

66. Pausing when a teammate disconnects

67. Reading the guide section

68. Playing with a coach

69. Stacking with players better than you

70. Purchasing items from the side shop

71. Picking heroes with team fighting abilities

72. Picking hard carries

73. Farming well with hard carries

74. Picking supports that have stuns

75. Buying boots early in the game

76. Having a high ranked game MMR

77. Only playing mid heroes

78. Only playing heroes you are good at

79. Playing heroes with summons

80. Denying a teammate who is going to die

81. Accumulating charges on Blood Stone

82. Using Force Staff on teammates

83. Using Force Staff on enemies

84. Etc.

Indulging in one or many of these behaviors could be the first step down the slippery slope of tryhard status, ruining games for all involved. However, while these factors contribute toward the tryhard label, players can avoid the shameful tag simply by remembering the “Golden Rule” of tryhard avoidance as determined by Dota 2 players everywhere:

“If you are winning, you may be trying too hard.”

