Holding gold. Holding gold in Dota 2: why saving up loses games
Holding gold means that for over a minute in a five-minute stretch you carried free gold: 800+ in lane, 1600+ in the midgame, 3000+ late.
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How to fix “holding gold”?
- 1Know your next item in advance and buy components as soon as you can afford them.
- 2Do not wait for a trip to base: use the courier, the secret shop or the side shop.
- 3When saving for an expensive item, pick up a cheap component that gives stats right away.
How common at each rank
share of matches with the mistake- Herald—
- Guardian51%
- Crusader58%
- Archon57%
- Legend44%
- Ancient55%
- Divine63%
- —Herald
- 51%Guardian
- 58%Crusader
- 57%Archon
- 44%Legend
- 55%Ancient
- 63%Divine
Most common on heroes
How the coach counts it
What is “holding gold” in Dota 2?
In a five-minute stretch of the game you held free gold for over a minute: 800+ in lane, 1600+ in the midgame, 3000+ in the late game. The item you could have bought was not working all that time.
How does the coach find this mistake?
The coach splits the game into five-minute windows and checks how much gold you held in each. The threshold depends on the phase: 1500 on hand is normal late, but 800 in lane is already a missed purchase.
Why does “holding gold” cost games?
Item timings decide whether you win the next fight. Every minute of gold in your pocket delays your power spike and hands the initiative to the enemy.
Norm by rank: GPM (gold per minute)
| Rank | Best 20% | Median | Worst 20% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guardian | 578 | 437 | 326 |
| Crusader | 615 | 457 | 328 |
| Archon | 622 | 461 | 333 |
| Legend | 623 | 472 | 342 |
| Ancient | 650 | 483 | 354 |
| Divine | 670 | 503 | 363 |
All 10 players of every reviewed match; matches shorter than 10 minutes are excluded. Rank is the match's average rank.
How it differs from similar mistakes
- Died with gold in pocket
Holding gold: unspent gold sat in your pocket for over a minute in a row, even if you never died. Died with gold: the coach looks at a single second, the moment of death, and uses its own thresholds.