Dual Lanes - Double the fun
Whenever someone new picks up Dota as a game, often you’ll hear advice such as “play Dota with a friend, it makes it easier and more enjoyable”. In fact, we wrote a blog on heroes your loved ones could play with you if you decided to introduce them into Dota 2. Laning together with your friends is not uncommon, if after all you do want to have fun.
Outside of the beginner scope though, there are numerous dual lane opportunities that allow you and a friend to have fun and win. There are timeless classics that most people know of, such as a variety of 
Tusk or 
Tiny combinations. But these are just a fraction of combinations you can run.
Why dual lanes
First, what are the advantages of a dual lane? The most common dual lane is played in the safe lane. A classic carry and a support will be here to secure the carry’s farm and ensure the offlaner does not gain as much. The alternative is to have a dual lane in the offlane. The primary goal here is to contest the safelane and hold down the enemy carry as much as possible.
There are of course also dual lane combinations for the midlane--the ever so popular Tiny+
Io combo comes to mind that is especially popular in the pro scene. The same concept of the safelane applies here, where securing the farm is the top priority while keeping control over the runes, and thus having a more stable laning stage.
Overall, dual lanes provide reliable experience early on. In trilanes, one support usually suffers heavily, possibly both, but in a dual lane, the support is guaranteed more exp while also giving more to the carry.
Dual Lane kings
We discussed it before, but there are several heroes in Dota that have proven to be extremely flexible in regards to laning. Some of them can be considered top picks for any scenario, and you can almost never be wrong by picking them. 
Bane is a prime example here. He provides everything you could want out of a dual lane support. He needs the xp from a dual lane scenario, he can zone out the offlaner with Nightmare, set up a kill or prevent him from contesting pulls, while 
Brain Sap allows him to trade favorably.
Io is very mobile and has a long range, while his Spirits are a nuisance to deal with. The sustain he can provide in the lane makes it easier for the carry to lane and possibly even be aggressive.
Well rounded carries for dual lanes are usually those who benefit from the xp and kill potential, while also being durable enough to last hit under a tower during a pull.
Juggernaut is always a stable pick as we recently discussed, especially in dual lane scenarios. His mobility, his damage output and the sustain through a value point in Healing Ward make his lane difficult to contest.
Slark is also a hero not to be underestimated in the laning stage. Unlike many other carries, he can in fact set up a follow up stun or nuke from his support.
Safelane
What combination of heroes you should go for always depends on the enemy offlaner. Does he require heavy nuking to be effectively zoned out? Is zoning him out rather difficult, so that you can only hope to not let him farm? Can he contest pulls, and if so, how reliably can he do that? Can you expect to kill the offlaner? Once you’ve established these conditions, that is when you start to plan out your dual lane.
DazzleIf the enemy offlaner is weak and has no innate skill to escape with, exploit it. Slark can devour offlaners who aren’t tanky or can get away from his Pounce. Together with Dark Pact and Dazzle’s Shadow Wave, there is sufficient amount of burst damage to take down a hero. Grave also allows Slark to be more aggressive and provides a backup in case the offlaner is aggressive himself. To top it all off, this combo proves to be strong and reliable outside of the laning stage as well.
Skywrath Mage + 
Phantom Assassin
If you wish to zone out the offlaner, Skywrath provides the sufficient amount of nuke damage through 
Arcane Bolt to do so. He can usually zone out enemy offlaners far away from the creep wave. Phantom Assassin’s ability to either jump into the action with 
Phantom Strike or to nuke from a distance with 
Stifling Dagger allows her to help in either zoning out the offlaner or even killing him.
Midlane
For the midlane, it’s important to have mobile heroes and/or heroes that can contest the runes reliably. Often times engagements will occur every two minutes just to secure said runes, so having reliable slows, disables or escape mechanics is vital.
It’s also worth noting that a dual lane mid has the biggest drawbacks out of any dual lane constellation, as the midlaner will lose crucial xp. Thus running a dual mid is usually only done to secure your own farm safely, if the mid match-up is considered unfavorable, or if there is an opposing dual lane mid that you need to save your midlaner from.
LinaLina by herself is a strong laner, but with a set-up from Bane she can easily net kills early on. Both are able to harass efficiently, while also staying safe through long range and Bane’s 
Nightmare End.
Lich
LeshracLich is another hero who excels in most dual lane scenarios. He works best though if he can use his nuke aggressively as well. Leshrac has a high damage output early on, if he can hit a Split Earth. The slow from Lich’s nuke is a sufficient setup. [missing skill: lich-sacrifice-5136] helps pull back the lane and makes it easier for Leshrac to lasthit, who’s right-click damage is not the strongest and could thus use the assist. Also, the lane tends to push out whenever Leshrac uses a spell to harass or kill with, so being able to balance the equilibrium out is a huge advantage.
Offlane
This is where dual laning becomes tricky. You want to be able to reliably contest pulls, contest the farm and can’t be too squishy to give away kills. There are popular combinations with heroes such as 
Undying, heroes who are difficult to kill and annoying to deal with. But there are some heroes who require a bit more action and that have implications outside of the laning stage.
Weaver
Ancient ApparitionThrough 
Chilling Touch and 
Geminate Attack, one can deal incredible amounts of damage early on. Both Weaver and AA are ranged, giving them the ability to harass efficiently. The slow and vision from ice Vortex should also not be underestimated and Shukuchi and 
The Swarm allow them to contest pulls reliably. They are squishy and suffer against disables, but can punish a weak safelane quite severely.
Lifestealer
LionLifestealer is one of the go to heroes in aggressive laning scenarios, as he is born to fight. [missing skill: lifestealer-rage-5249] protects him from any counter-initiations while Open Wounds and his high movement speed are true nightmares for any support. Together with the setup from a support Lion, the enemy safelane will need lots of regen and defensive abilities to sustain.
A matter of concept
While we did list a few combinations that are worth trying out, these are just merely examples of greater concepts. Many of these heroes are interchangeable with other heroes. Constructing any laning combination requires the knowledge of what you want to achieve and how you wish to achieve it. Break it down to simple terms and ideas. We need a slow, we need a stun - how about Crystal Maiden? Set goals for the laning stage and plan with your partner on how to accomplish it.
Simple goals such as “Let’s try to zone out the offlaner so he does not get any exp until minute 4” help you choose a hero. Make sure, however, that you fully understand the power levels of your enemies in the lane at any time, so that you know when you can or cannot play aggressively.
At the end of the day however, Dota is still about fun. If you prefer running that Tiny + Centaur combo because it is more fun to execute, then who’s to judge you?
whos to judge you? EVERYONE (of my team mates)
What about Axe and omni is great combo
third lol
axe + dark seer
Fifth 4head HI MOM
sorry but how can u not mention ck lina in this? its one of the strongest duolanes for ages now. only becomes weak against great aoe dmg lategame or counter stun like lc abba. But even then its strong-
how can u not mention jugger + void lane
Nuke from a distance with Stifling Dagger?? when did 90 damage become a nuke? We are talking about the lane phase right?
also, shadow shaman + any right-clicker.
ursa would be great with shaman
WHY NO OD + OMNI 4Head
'while also staying safe through long range and Bane’s Nightmare End.' Wrong spell I think, unless maybe you are referring to the potential for Bane to dodge damage, I assume you mean nightmare?
Me and Your Mom
lol. @13 Your Father and the Neighbors Babysitter.
noob noob noob
Lich+sardar mad kill lane
probably the worst explanation for why wisp is a good dual laner ive ever seen LOL
Some very unusual choices here in this article, people in the comments seem to have the right ideas!
I did a video of my top 10 favourites a while back:
https://youtu.be/hmqwaff3gA8
magnus+techies the overlords of offlane duos, enemy trilane for their safelane? no problem, 3 man skewer into mines ez triple kill first blood. If all goes well you will win mmr is 5 mins to their team ragequitting.
@kvo, so what is a good explanation for you?
If peenoise will comment here, he will suggest drow and sniper at offlane, legion commander at mid, and pa and antimage at safelane
best dual ever in offlane: necrophos+kunkka, harass is so tronk they can't even touch a creep, works against trilane too. I did it with a friend for fun, we made their slark go to their ofllane in 2 min and we took the top tower in 5 min, game was won in 25 min lol.
syndereN missing lashits as a free safe lane Anti-Mage LUL xd
Kunkka and clock offlane
Super strong against anyone with combo X - cog - battery - torrent
And dont forget the mighty mirana with bane / kunkka
Phoenix and Undying offlane. Holy shit man, the fire thingy that comes from phoenix make you unable to hit the tomb, not to mention the high amount of harass these two have even when soloing the lane.
damn everyone's saying "how bout this, how bout that" dual lanes .. he doesnt need to mention everything .. but how bout techies and tusk dual lanes?
negrophos tiny techies is better at maximizing the effectiveness of techies which is more important currently compared to maximizing tusk effectiveness.
The listed combos aren't the really strong and scary ones....
Slark + Dazzle ... wtf is this shit combo ~BrokeBack~
Brood/Cancer/m33po + Dazzle = combo wombo
and where the fuck is the classic Lich + Doom offlane
Venge jugger can work too,only after lvl 6 tho,swap,stun,blade fury,easy kill
Before you rush to comment, "OMG HE FORGOT ______ HERO COMBO, WTF, REPORTED", go back and actually read this part:
"There are timeless classics that most people know of ... But these are just a fraction of combinations you can run."
i.e. this post isn't meant to spout the same old combos everybody already knows. It's supposed to propose some relatively new (if questionable) ideas. Yes, he probably knows about Tusk + Techies. No, he's not going to mention it when everybody knows about it.
On another note, I haven't seen anyone in this thread mention CK + AA yet. Scary stuff, that. CK + Omni is also a classic.
How can you not mention ursa + nature's prophet? best combo ever bruh
No mention of CM + CK.
not to mention techies + lifestealer with aghs + spirit breaker
Lina+cm
lol 6char
Well, things like core Lifestealer or Weaver offlane are rather situational. Depends on your other lanes, which makes these examples not very useful. Usually you want to have some kind of initiator and/or bracer in the offlane farming position. I mean it's Dota, nothing is well defined, but each team needs a couple of core components. And it's usually hard to play if you don't have anyone who can stand in front or initiate.
Ursa+SS
Ursa+Bane
LC+SS
Ursa+CM
Slark+AA is hellish to play against and so is the Veno+Viper lane.
No mention of the legendary Anti-mage+spectre lane?
cm + morph
Bane+Mirana offlane
Undying+Zeus offlane
Undying+Lina offlane
PL+Kotl safelane
Juggernaut+Venomancer safelane
Bane+Pudge offlane/mid lane
aka stop jungling you noobs
pugna and axe
4Head
Morph Invoke
CM+Chaos Knight. First freeze the target with CM, after it wears off, stun the target with CK. After lvl 2, you can easily teleport the target, have CM freeze it and finish it with CK. It's actually so unfair its funny.
Invoker + himself
♥invO
I do trilane with me, myself and I