THN DOTA2 Roll Call

[Zhar]

Might aswell paste this into here, also a reminder that "hero guides" are always trash. If you want to learn how to play a hero, play him. Tips and tricks and such are good to look for, as some things may not be obvious at first with certain heroes. Dotafire and the official steamguides should be avoided at all costs. Every purchasable item is situational on every possible hero. If you do want a "guideline" as to what is good to pick up on what hero, check dota2alttab.com, they also have some pointers for every hero.

New players read this if you have no ARTS experience or need a refresher course: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123364976
Information Archive: http://freetexthost.com/x121apds21
Quick Guides: http://dota2alttab.com/
Wiki: http://dota2wiki.com/
Blog: blog.dota2.com
Competitive Game Analysis: http://dota-academy.com/
Stats: http://dotabuff.com/ or http://jankdota.com

 

[Ronin Storm]

Information Archive: http://freetexthost.com/x121apds21

Lot of good links for learning in there. The first 4 minute learning video is the one I point people to as well. Thanks for that.

 

[Panda with issues...]

Played this this weekend.

Yeah, I'm CRAP, but did enjoy.

Also, thanks to the Pyrion Flax videos, I realised why docbot was getting angry with me last night... I'll try not to do it again docbot, sorry!

 

[Ronin Storm]

We all started crap. Yes, as crap as you. We got better with practice is all.

Also, thanks to the Pyrion Flax videos, I realised why docbot was getting angry with me last night... I'll try not to do it again docbot, sorry!

Stealing farm?

 

[Tempscire]

We all started crap. Yes, as crap as you. We got better with practice is all.



Stealing farm?

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been around much to play even though I said I would. I've been very busy aaaaaaand I just bought a new computer :-D

It arrives tomorrow and DOTA2 will be one of the first things I install. Do you guys play a specific day or as and when?

 

[Ronin Storm]

It arrives tomorrow and DOTA2 will be one of the first things I install. Do you guys play a specific day or as and when?

Uhm, no? Well, kinda. Friday, 22:00ish seems to be one slot where we can get 3-5 of us and generally a bit over the weekend. I (and, just now, Panda) are on around 22:30ish in the week for one or two games. I think others are around earlier than me, but I'm sure they can speak for themselves.

It's almost to the point where we can get 5 online at once over the weekend, and if we can get more (6-8) then we could do a 3v3 or 4v4 with bots filling out the gaps.

 

[Panda with issues...]

We all started crap. Yes, as crap as you. We got better with practice is all.



Stealing farm?

Nah, I was subconsciously pushing lanes by doing extra damage to creeps, rather than just last hitting them for gold, and thus getting closer to their tower in the suicide lane, essentially feeding them more creeps than they should have

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been around much to play even though I said I would. I've been very busy aaaaaaand I just bought a new computer :-D

It arrives tomorrow and DOTA2 will be one of the first things I install. Do you guys play a specific day or as and when?

I may be around earlier eves (8-9pm), but I need to sort my life out in the late eves and get to bed early enough to get to work earlier.

 

[Tempscire]

Ok cool. Hopefully it shouldn't take me toooo long to get everything sorted. I certainly don't expect to be able to play tonight, but I should be around every other day except Saturday

 

[Traxata]

Being an hour ahead in DK, I'm around usually Mon/Tues/Wed from 6to7 uk time. And usually most of Saturday and Sunday.

Thursdays are a sometimes day due to work nearing the end of the week and pub quiz. Fridays are usually spent at someone's or a bar.

 

[Panda with issues...]

We all started crap. Yes, as crap as you. We got better with practice is all.

Also, I no longer think of myself as crap.

I would now describe myself as 'bot and team competent'.

'What does that mean Panda?' you may ask...

Well, it means I'm no longer acting like a complete tool or goon, understand the basics of what I'm doing regarding last hitting, levelling, some of the items. Getting a grip on the feel of the game, i.e. when the laning phase is ending, understanding what the different team roles entail, and how I should be playing them, what lane I should probably be in etc. I'm not sure I'm a competent jungler, but other stuff is coming together.

It's difficult though, with bots on your team to coordinate properly, to the point that I don't know how much extra I'll get from playing with bots aside from learning new heroes.

I've now used probably about 1/3 of the heroes, but feel generally much more confident with agility and intelligence heroes, particularly ranged ones.

Heroes I feel I click with:

Axe (but who doesn't, he seems to be retard proof)
Slardar (slither me timbers, he seemed straightforward to play)
Night stalker - Either I just 'got' him, or he's massively overpowered. Was whipping people
Undying - Ronin saw me grow in competence with him rapidly over a single game last night
Riki - I now understand how to use him, and when to take risks.
Windrunner - YES YES YES.
Shadow shaman - Came back to him with a bit more knowledge and found him much more effective
Death Prophet - Moron proof. Highly effective.
Batrider - Fire farting everywhere was fine.


Heroes I can use and won't cripple the team:

Tidehunter
Spirit breaker (though maybe helped by trax trapping this angry bear/wolf thing in a cage with himself and letting me rip him to pieces)
Poss. lifestealer, though jungling is not my forte.
Dragonknight - He's boring.
Juggernaut
Sniper
Templar assassin - not quite got the hang yet, but won't embarrass myself.
Ursa - Also retard proof, but not as effective as axe?
Bloodseeker
Phantom assassin
Clinks - Died more than I should
Crystal maiden
Lina



Ones where I (or they) suck. Hard.

Pudge - Don't let me use pudge. It's an autoloss for our team. Passive bots could wipe the floor with me if I was using pudge.
Anti mage - Yeah, tried, and died.
Drow ranger - Apparently she's easy to use? Should tick all my boxes? Then why am I so ineffective with her? Just feed the opponents all the time.
Vengeful spirit - Much thinner than pudge, but much the same outcome.
Bounty hunter - Docbot got the full brunt of me sucking with him on sun night.
Naga Siren- That's a nagative.
Slark - Oh dear.
Storm spirit - he's blue, probably from me getting him beat on too much.

 

[Ronin Storm]

It's difficult though, with bots on your team to coordinate properly, to the point that I don't know how much extra I'll get from playing with bots aside from learning new heroes.

Yeah, this. For myself, I've stopped playing with bots now, but I'm still happy enough to help others learn in bot matches. There is benefit in playing characters you haven't, even in bot matches, but even with ones you know a vs humans match can reveal things about heroes in combination that just can't be seen in "cooperation" with bots using the same heroes.

Beyond the basic mechanical skills of last hits, denies, pushing, pulling, escaping and killing, I think the game relies on players understanding where they should be at a particular moment. i.e. an understanding of position.

e.g. If you're over the river in your "safe" lane without support then you're being aggressive and this can make you vulnerable to ganks (safe lane isn't safe).

e.g. If you're laning and the rest of your team are in another lane pushing a tower, then you're probably out of position (why aren't you with your team?).

e.g. If mid is missing and you're deep in the suicide lane then it's usually best to assume that it's a gank on you and you should retreat. You'll lose some XP, you'll miss out on some last hits and gold, but you don't feed the other team lots of XP and gold, and lose what gold you had got to that point.

All of this comes down to a mixture of map awareness (where am I? how can I be ganked from here? where are my escape routes?), situation awareness (where are my team? where are the enemy team? who is missing? what's going on in my blind spots?) and then experience (practice, practice, practice).

Of these, SA is supported through judicious use of observer and true sight wards (plus some hero powers). We sometimes lay some wards at the beginning of the game, but usually from about 6 minutes in we're blind again... something to work on.

 

[Panda with issues...]

Been messing around with a few other heroes.

Wasn't a big fan of Tiny, just found him a bit slow, and very limited in mana.

Didn't like Morphling at all, just couldn't get on with him in any way.

Conversely, Faceless Void is highly effective and very easy to use. Enjoyed him, though he's a bit of a one trick pony.

I didn't like witch doctor very much, but potentially it was due to the game we played in, where we had a 0-18 gyrocopter player or something who just happily fed them all game.

Dazzle was ok. He's definitely hard support, and I probably need more practice at that position.

Love love love Outworld Devourer and Visage. Outworld Devourer is annoying as hell for opponents to deal with, and is an excellent ranged carry. Visage might be the ultimate ganker. He's incredibly effective in the midgame when opponents take a bit of damage.