31 Reasons of Dota Addiction

Everyday there are hundreds of new addicted DotA(Defense of the Ancients) players and I have no idea when this growth will stop.  Many players are also retiring but new players are exponentially more than the retired players.  From kids to professionals, they can all be addicted to this game.  This game is one brilliant creation by Ice Frog that causes tons of tournaments giving cash prizes.  Some people are called "Professional Players" because they are already paid for playing for a certain team sponsored by companies or industries.  Why is Dota so Addicting?



1.  A Time Killer:  Boredom is the most common problem of most people today.  Dota can consume a lot of time without you even noticing it.  You'll just say "wtf I'm late!" after the game.

2.  Non-exhausting Game: Unlike Basketball or other physical sports, you can play Dota 'til you can still manage to sit, look at the monitor, use mouse and keyboard, and think.  Yes, using your mind is also tiring but it'll take an average of 3 games before you'd want to take a rest.

3.  Fame Source:  Most players want to be the best in this game to gain fame which I find natural but technically nonsense.  I have to admit that thirst for fame drove me to practice and improve my game.  After getting the fame I wanted, I asked myself "Now what?".  For players who don't plan on having Dota as their profession, Fame isn't that important. 

4.  Team Work Game:  When we were kids we already love having team battles.  That's why a lot of team sports came up and multi-player computer games have been invented.  Playing with team mates is more addicting than playing alone.

5.  Tranquilizing:  Dota makes you forget your problems and make you think of simpler problem - how to win.

6.  Non-violent war:  We love wars.  That's why there are shows like Wrestling, UFC, Action Films, etc.  Dota is a chance to engage in wars safely.  We can fight all day long and just stand up from our computer without even having a scratch.

7.  Topic Provider:  Dota is a great topic provider.  That's why you talk about it while hanging out with your dota buddies.  That's why there are forums and blogs like this.  We love chatting and Dota is a great topic to talk about.

8.  Sweet Sound Effects:  "Rampage!!!" - How sweet that sound is?  This sound effect is unconsciously a source of self-affirmation.  Everyone loves to be praised and accepted.  Dota can be a source of this.

9.  Easy to Play:  Survey shows that Dota is played by more people than other strategy games like Starcraft.  One of the reason is it's simplicity.  You only have to control one hero - a great news for people who are not into doing micros.

10.  Total Freedom:  In Dota, you have all the freedom to do anything you wish.  You can gank, farm, lane top, lane mid, lane bot, buy items you wish, you can even annoy your team mates if you wish.  It is like an alternative for people who doesn't that much freedom in their real lives.

11.  Mind Exercise:  Intelligent people love exercising their minds.  This is the reason why crossword puzzles, Rubic's cube, and other mind games are created.  Dota also have this feature needing analysis, prediction and decision making. 

12.  Physically safe:  People care about their safety.  In my case, I don't jump that much in Basketball because I hate landing on another player's foot and causing my ankles to be sprained.  I don't want to try Rugby, Boxing, UFC and other dangerous sports because I care about my safety.  Dota, on the other hand, doesn't offer dangerous injury.  Eye problems may occur though but it's still avoidable.  Just give your time proper rest and use low radiation monitors.

13.  Game Variations:  Every game is different.  You buy different items, you lane against different opponents, you have different combos, you pick different heroes, you plan different attacks, etc.  Variation is important to stay addicted on something.  Nobody would want to do same things over and over again.

14.  Source of Money:  Money is becoming the goal of every humans.  Poker won't be popular if you can't gain money from it.  Dota have been used for betting games and tournaments; obviously, money is involved.

15.  Ability to feel like having supernatural skills:  We all love to have supernatural skills.  In Dota, we have it.  Just pick the hero that possess the skill you want.  You want to teleport?  You want to be invisible?  Do you want to cast lightning on a person? It's all in Dota Allstars.

16.  Tool for anger discharge:  Dota can be the place where you release your anger.  You can pick a killer hero, make it monster-like, then kill everyone you see. 

17.  Varieties of Skills to improve at:  You can improve at farming, ganking, supporting, killing, teamwork, using different heroes, combos, etc.  These are the things that will cause you to be practicing and improving.  More skills learned means more addiction.  More skills to be learned also means more addiction.

18.  Character's Appearance:  Dota Characters' appearances are made with great imagination.  Dota Fan arts spread in the internet showing their appreciation in the Heroes' appearances.  Cool arts and animations add to the addicting potion of this game.

19.  Constant Map Improvement:  Just when you learned enough strategies for you to be called a Dota genius, here comes another new map with new items and heroes.  Now, your learned strategies need upgrade.  You need to study, try and analyze new stuffs again making you more into the game.

20.  Professional Gamers as Inspiration:  Watching pro dota gamers execute strategies perfectly make you want to be like them.  You will be training more after getting inspired by these Pro Dota players and teams.

21.  Peer Pressure:  Right when you don't feel like playing, here comes a Dota Buddy saying: "It's weekend let's play!" or while you're at home, you got a "Buzz!!" followed by the word "rak".  How can you ever forget playing if these peer temptations are all around you?

22.  Game illusion:  While playing Dota, the map becomes your world and your hero becomes you.  Feeling a different world which is more fun and breath-taking is way better than your old room with old stuffs.  When the game's world is experienced, your mind would be constantly searching for that more pleasurable world making you really addicted.

23.  It's haunting:  This game haunts you.  While you're in your classroom, you kept on thinking why you lost or how great your game was.  You would then be thinking of playing Dota as soon as you arrive at the computer shop or at home.  You would also think of what hero you would play or what play style you're going to have.

24.  Winning Feels Good:  Yup, feeling good is really addicting.

25.  Losing makes you thirsty to win:  On the other hand, losing is still addicting because you become more urge to have that wonderful feeling of winning. 

26.  No height or other physical disadvantage:  In basketball you cannot have a team composed of 5 short players.  In Rugby, you should be muscular.  In Dota, you can be as thin and short as you want and still own everyone. 

27.  A balanced game:  Since banning was introduced in Dota Allstars, I considered it to be a balanced game.  Having a balanced game, you wouldn't think of quitting while whining "unfair!". 

28.  A vast number of strategies:  More strategies means more trial and errors.  More trial and errors means more games.  "More games" means more game illusions.  More game illusions means more chance to be trapped in the world of Dota.

29.  Merely being a Strategy Game is addicting:  Strategy games are so fun because it offers unpredictability. 

30.  No age limit:  Yup, no age limit is a cause of Dota Addiction.  Many players should be practicing their professions in real life but they are still stuck in Dota world.

31.  Opportunity to become a Hero:  It is so pleasurable to be feel like a hero.  It is like hitting a buzzer beater in a basketball game or saving a kid from getting hit by a car.  The appreciation is simply awesome.  Self-esteem boosts quickly and exponentially with this.

5 Dota Guides to Improve Game at High Rate

If you are sick of being just an ordinary player, you might want to read this guide that's based from years of analyzing what good players do and what works for us.  I'm not saying that I'll transform you to a competitive player at once but I assure dramatic improvement after executing these 5 simple guides to improve your game.

Yaphets
1.  Watch professional replays and imagine that you are one of the players


This is a trick that will make you improve quickly.  Rather than having a "Wow, he's so good!" mindset, think of it this way "I am this Shadow Fiend I am watching. This is my replay.  I am currently farming and harassing at the same time.  There might be gankers near by, I should hide first."  etc.

The point is you have to feel that you are the who played that hero you're watching because this is the quickest way you could be playing like the real player.  He may be Yaphets, Yamateh, 2009, or other great Shadow Fiend players but you should be the player in your imagination while watching the replay.

I've done this so many times and from my experience, after watching replays of good supports or gankers like 820, NS, and my favorite Vigoss, my decision making in that aspect of game (supporting) improved a lot.  What happens is their experiences became my own experience.  When they fail, I also failed so I know what to do next time.  When they succeed, I also succeed so I knew what works.  I don't have to play against popular teams to experience playing against them because I already did with this technique.

2.  Make it a hobby to watch your own replays

Don't just say "Yeah! I won time to go!" or "Damn it! I lost".  Your won or lost games should all be watched.  If you're aiming for perfection in your game you shouldn't be lazy to check out what are the errors you've done that needs to be corrected.  May it be a simple last hitting problem or a huge turning point problem that caused your whole team to lose, you should be aware of the things you're not doing right for you to be able to correct them.

In team games, is very critical it is very critical to watch your replays.  Almost every game there are failed executed combo.  Sometimes you just won because the opposing team isn't that experienced yet but you still have someone dying.  Yes it's not that easy to have a complete 5-0 sweep clash if you're facing good teams but there might be ways to make it happen.  There might be a need to tweak your strategy or line up.

I was lazy to watch my replays before but when I did, I discovered 1000 gallons of mistakes I was making.   It was only then I changed it.  After having a hobby of watching most of my replays after playing, I was amazed with my own improvement.  If I only opened my mind earlier and have already done own replay watching session, I could have improved 2 years earlier but I'm not regretting any of my experiences.  I learned from all of them.

3.  Have enough time to play desired hero to be mastered (I recommend 2 to 3 days)

Have you ever wondered why your game is not as good as your other games playing different hero?  Improving your game also comes from improving on how to use a hero.  That's the reason why there are Dota hero guides spreading in the internet.

Playing a hero for 2 to 3 days will make you comfortable with the hero you want to master, you'll experience different things that may happen in real games making you prepared for them, and you'll know different strategies that will assure success in using that hero.

I played chen not only for 3 days but for 3 months.  It's because I was still a newbie that time (my 1st year of playing Dota) who was used to playing carry.  I discovered that Chen is the most used hero by professional teams that time.  I don't want to demand this boring practice to any of my team mate so I switched my role to support and practiced Chen for months.  Whenever they see Chen, he is like my twin already for I'm the first person to be in their minds.  Good Chen players were always behind me laughing at how I micro my creeps.  After 3 months of practice our team evolves from a noob team to a feared team in tournaments.  Chen gave me a lot of Championship awards.  You don't need 3 months because I assume you already have more experience in competitive games than I had before.


4.  Always play against better players

You'll lose.  So, what?  If you're not too big to handle criticisms, you're to small to be praised.  Playing against better players will make you realize your flaws and the things needed to be adjusted on your game.  You'll also be inspired to surpass his skills, if you are optimistic enough (which you need to be).

We always lost before.  I even offer free games for good teams to play with us.  I lost my money and I still lost the game but I'd still invite them to play with us again.  The feeling is not so good when losing but what happened was we leveled up.  We watched our replay against them.  We discovered their strategies and we formulated our own better than them.  The time came when nobody can beat us anymore here in our place even the team we paying for.  It's like a business. Investment and hardwork first, then success will follow.


5.  Close your eyes and do this

Close your eyes.  Think of what you want to achieve (may it be Dota or not *this is effective*)... Then if you have already thought of what you want to be, imagine that you are that person right now.   Make your imagination realistic with all the specific elements included in your background.  Relax and imagine you are that successful person you want to be.  Believe it's happening now.  After imagining your goals, open your eyes and believe that it really happened.  It's a part of your experiences because you are already that successful person you want to be right now.

This exercise I made you to do is important because I want you to develop your confidence and optimism.  You'll have more success if you're going to believe in it because your mind will develop a positive aura that makes you do everything to achieve your goal.

Dota Aura Guide| Aura Stacking Issues

Brilliance Aura
- Grants additional mana regeneration to nearby friendly units.
- From Crystal Maiden, Ring of Basilius.
- Stacks with each other.

Command Aura
- Grants additional damage to nearby friendly units.
- From Vengefull Spirit, Kobold Taskmaster, Polar Furbolg Ursa Warrior.
- Do not stack with each other, but stacks with Trueshot Aura or Lunar Blessing.

Lunar Blessing
- Grants additional damage to nearby friendly ranged units.
- From Moon Rider.
- Stacks with Trueshot Aura and Command Aura.

Trueshot Aura
- Grants additional damage to nearby friendly ranged units.
- From Drow Ranger.
- Stacks with Lunar Blessing and Command Aura.

Devotion/Toughness Aura
- Grants additional armor to nearby friendly units.
- From Rogue Knight, Ring of Basilius.
- Devotion Aura stacks with Toughness Aura, but they do not stack with themselves.

Fervor
- Grants additional attackspeed to nearby friendly units.
- From Troll Warlord.
- Stacks with Endurance Aura.

Regeneration Aura
- Grants additional HP regeneration to nearby friendly units.
- From Headress of Rejuvenation, Mekansm.
- Mekansm stacks with Headress of Rejuvenation, but they do not stack with themselves.

Empowering Haste
- Grants additional movespeed and extra damage based on a % of your movespeed to nearby friendly units.
- From Spiritbreaker.
- None.

Gravekeeper's Cloak
- Reflects damage done to Visage to a moderate AOE around Visage.
- From Necro'lic.
- Stacks with Blademail.

Unholy Aura
- Grants additional life regeneration and movespeed to nearby friendly units.
- From Satyr Hellcaller.
- Stacks with Mekansm, Headress of Rejuvenation and Voodoo Restoration.

Presence of the Dark Lord
- Decreases the armor of nearby enemy units.
- From Shadow Fiend.
- Stacks with Desolator and Howl of Terror.

Vampiric Aura
- Nearby friendly melee units will gain a part of their attack damage in hit points whenever they attack.
- From Skeleton King.
- Stacks with Na'ix's Feast and any lifesteal item.


Diffusion Aura
- Decreases the attack damage of nearby enemy units.
- From Necrolyte.
- No stacking issues 

Degen Aura
- Decreases the movement speed of nearby enemy units.
- From Omniknight.
- Stacks with any movement speed decreasing items.

 Endurance Aura
- Increases the movement and attack speed of nearby friendly units.
- From Centaur Khan, Necronomicon Archer.
- Do not stack with each other, but does stack with Fervor.

Essence Aura
- Whenever a nearby allied hero casts a spell, it has a chance to restore a portion of its mana pool. Passively adds to the Destroyer's base mana pool.
- From Obsidian Destroyer
- No stacking issues

Vladmir's Offering
- Grants a +16% Lifesteal Aura (melee), +80% Brilliance Aura, a +5 Devotion Aura
- From Vladmir's Offering
- Any lifesteal ability or item will stack fully with it.

Healing Aura
- +2 HP/Sec Regeneration to all units in a 500 AOE radius
- From Headress of rejuvenation/mekasm(3hp instead of 2hpheal)
- No stacking issues

Assault Cuirass
- +5 Armor Aura (allies),-5 Armor Aura (enemies),+40% Attack Speed,+15% Attack Speed Aura
- From Assault Cuirass
- Does not stack with basilius and vladmir's offering devotion aura

9 Reasons Why Crystal Maiden is the Best DotA Support Hero



The Best support in Dota depends on the player, on the opponent's line up and on your combo.

But why am I writing this post?  It's because when in terms of flexibility and effectiveness  Rylai (Crystal Maiden) is the one who stands out among the rest.  Vengeful Spirit also covers a lot of aspects needed for supporting but there are important things that makes Rylai ahead of her.  It will be discussed here.


1.  We're currently in the Trilane Era

Crystal Maiden is one of the best support in a trilane.  She can play aggressive at early levels because of her 3.5 seconds frost nova at level 1.  She can use it to harass and spam it on opponents, preferably all of them due to its wide Area of Effect (AOE).  It also has low mana cost.  The strategy is to waste some of opponent's HP spamming and doing normal attacks, then execute the trilane combo.

Comparing Crystal Maiden with Vengeful Spirit (the hero most people would argue to be the best support hero), Maiden is way more useful.  Frostnova's slow for 3.5 seconds have higher chance of getting a first blood than a magic missile for 1.45 seconds.  The only advantage of Magic Missile is when the target has blink, leap or other escape mechanisms.  However, it's really not a great option to aim for these kinds of heroes at the trilane as stated at the Trilane Do's and Don'ts, there are other soft and more vulnerable heroes.  Once a hero is slowed, you can land more hits. A short stun duration from Vengeful Spirit's magic missile will make you unable to hit your opponents once they started moving (unless you got great move speed, attack speed and good animation cancelling) specially if you're using a melee hero.


2.  Crystal Maiden has 2 useful disables at early levels

At level 3, Crystal Maiden would have Frost Nova and Frost Bite.  These are 2 skills that would assure a kill at the trilane.  If used with proper timing, the hero will be stucked within 300 range for 5 seconds (3.5 seconds slow from Crystal Nova and 1.5 seconds hold from Frost Bite).

Comparing Crystal Maiden with Vengeful Spirit, Vengeful Spirit can only hold a hero for 1.55 seconds at level 3 (with level 2 magic missile).  She can help reduce armor and it's a good thing but in this case holding a hero longer is a more useful thing to do by support heroes.



3.  Frost Nova makes Rylai aggressively safe

Support heroes are vulnerable because of their low hp but Crystal Maiden can be aggressive and land her Crystal Nova without getting in trouble, thanks to the casting range of this skill.  Opponents will find this hard to evade having the fact that they need to get levels and golds as fast as they could at this point of game.  They also want to dominate the lane because if they don't the game is at risk for them.

Crystal Maiden has 700 casting range(Crystal Nova), while Vengeful Spirit only has 500 casting range(Magic Missile).  With low hp at early game and being the main target at the trilane, it is risky for Vengeful Spirit to cast her disable because when she does, opponents can execute their combo on her and she won't last longer than 2 seconds.  In addition to that, when chasing a hero, Crystal Nova, being able to be cast on land, is more reliable because fog users won't get away easily unlike Vengeful Spirit's Magic Missile that is a hero-target skill.


4.  Frostbite's Duration is long enough to set for a kill

Frostbite's durations at level 1 to 4 are 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 seconds, respectively.  3 seconds hold is just too much to kill a hero getting focused fire in team games.

Can't move?  It's because You're under my spell.
Vengeful Spirit's Magic Missile's duration from level 1 to 4 are 1.45, 1.55, 1.65, 1.75.  Frostbite totally owns Magic Missile in terms of duration though beaten by damage having 210 total damage (70 per second) while Magic Missile has 325(at level 4).  Magic Missile's one advantage over Frostbite is the damage, however Crystal Maiden still has Crystal Nova which adds more damage.


5.  Free mana regeneration for all.

Brilliance Aura's free mana regeneration lets Crystal Maiden's team mates and herself have more advantage over the opponents their fighting against on their lanes.  Having more mana means having more skills to spam for harassments and kills.  It also let other heroes save their golds from buying Ring of Basilius (or other Mana Regeneration items) early game.  Buying Ring of Basilius will stack to her Brilliance Aura and will give more mana regeneration.


Vengeful Spirit doesn't have this so there's no point of comparing.


6.  Long Normal Attack Range

Ideal supports should also be able to baby sit. Other supports have heals(like Dazzle) to baby sit and others have stuns to save from enemy combos (like Earthshaker).  Crystal Maiden's ability to baby sit comes from harassing opponents with her long range normal attacks and skills.  She can also use her skills for saving ally heroes.

Vengeful Spirit only has 400 attack range while Crystal Maiden has 600.  This makes Vengeful Spirit unable to harass opponents on her lane that much because once she tries to harass with her short range normal attack, her opponents won't hesitate killing her in one second.


7.  Vision from Nova

Another advantage of Crystal Maiden is her ability to have vision on fogs, though the range is short.  This can be used to show up a hero being chased, to check for opponents that might be hiding through fogs or to check whether the opposing teams are trying to kill roshan.

Vengeful Spirit totally beat Crystal Maiden in this aspect having longer casting range from her Wave of Terror.  Longer casting range obviously means more safety for the hero.  However, having this kind of ability, though short-ranged, is still a useful skill for the team.


8.  Nova-Bite combo assures successful ganks

Crystal Maiden is also a good ganker using her Crystal Nova and Frostbite to set up a kill.  Hero long ranged slow makes it easy to make sure that the target won't escape from getting a Frostbite.  However, it is not advisable to use Crystal Nova first before Frostbite when trying to kill an opponent with blink.  At that point you should be sneaky and land Frostbite first before Crystal Nova.

Vengeful Spirit's bread and butter in ganking is her magic missile.  Magic missile alone requires her to be sneaky and not scare her target.  Once the target is caught, it should be killed within 1.75 seconds (Magic Missile's Max duration) to kill the opponent.  While Crystal Maiden can hold the enemy longer up to 3 seconds (Frostbite's max duration), not to mention the slow from her Crystal Nova.  The advantage of swapper in ganking is her Netherswap.  A swap and bam is one of the top ganking strategies.


9.  Great AOE for Clash

Crystal Maiden won't be left behind in team fights.  She has a great hold, slow and a very high damage channeling ultimate skill, Freezing Field.  Proper positioning and timing is required to use this.  Don't just do it if you're not suicidal.   Use it when all the deadly skills (specially disables) are made or they are already focus firing an ally hero.  You can walk and do it but if you have a dagger, you'll have greater timing and position so you'll have more chance to inflict greater damage.

Comparing Crystal Maiden to Vengeful Spirit, Vengeful Spirit doesn't have this kind of clashing ability but she has great initiation/saving ability, thanks to her Nether Swap.  She also has an aura that increases her allies' damage within 900 range around her.  Both are useful but Crystal Maiden's ultimate can damage alone making her have the upper hand against Vengeful Spirit in this case.

Other Candidates for Best Support:

Vengeful Spirit - as discussed she's good at some aspects like having a painful stun damage, longer vision, and great skill for saving and initiating(Nether Swap).  However, Crystal Maiden beats her by having more disabling skills, lane domination, clash usefulness, AOE damage for clearing creeps and Free mana regeneration for all.

Witch Doctor - he got healing skill, a stun, and painful nukes.  He's a fair support but obviously Crystal Maiden beats him in terms of disabling opponents having the ability to hold a hero longer.  Witch Doctor needs to perfectly bounce a cask on heroes to hold them longer in place.  Witch Doctor is also too fragile to cast his maledict having a 400 casting range.  It also has a very small Area of Effect, 150.  Crystal Maiden can damage and disable enemies easier as what will be much harder for Witch Doctor. 

Earthshaker - one of the best hero in clash.  He has a long range stun and can turn into a perma stun hero because of his Aftershock.  However, Earthshaker is melee that makes him unable to harass opponents by doing cheap shots.  Duration of Fissure is 1, 1.25, 1.5, and 1.75 from level 1 to 4, respectively.  This requires him to trap the enemy to give more time for his allies to kill.  Thus, if fissure is cast incorrectly he can be anti-offensive disrupting his team mates from killing.  Crystal Maiden has the advantage in ganking, lane control, harassing, vision, amount of mana and mana regeneration for the team.

There are other good support heroes in Dota World but Crystal Maiden is definitely the most flexible and effective specially in dominating the trilane.  She's best at dominating the lane so pick heroes that can be aggressive and have great killing powers.

13 Ways to Counter Night Stalker (Balanar)

Night Stalker is now a high pick in Captains mode Dota games.  He is a horrifying ganker having a skill that can damage as well as slow his opponents, he has high movement and attack speed at night, and he can tank.  People, who don't want that kind of hero to ruin their games, simply ban him.  However, there are other heroes who are more worth banning than Night Stalker.


A good Night Stalker player can completely mess up your strategy if you don't consider countering him.  He can just have lane-hopping and gank the hell out of you.  So, you should be ready whenever the opponents have the option to pick him.

If your opponents have a Night Stalker, these are the 13 counters you can choose from or you can combine number of counters.  

1.  Initiate team fights

Knowing that Night Stalker is a pub game hero utilized to be a ganker in Captains Mode matches, he is a weak hero in terms of 5v5 clashes.  In ganking he can kill alone by chasing his prey wherever it goes.  In team fights, he can't do that.  He'll be stunned and nuked to death.  His skills are single-target making him weaker at team fights.  The best he can do at team fights would be 1 or 2 voids and few punches on his target. 

2.  Have enough amount of disables

You want to kill him?  Then, you should disable him.  Not only he got tanking skills but he's way fast at night.  You want to make him stay in one place long enough to kill him.  You also need disables to help your team mate Night Stalker wants to kill.

3.  Have high hp heroes

Simply because Night Stalker's void is too painful for low hp heroes.  Having high HP means having enough time to run, juke and shout for help.  At early game, Night Stalker doesn't have that much Mana to kill you with his void.  He'd prefer focusing on low hp heroes then.   If your low hp heroes know how to hide whenever they sense danger, the vampire would be hungry the whole night.

Vampires won't dare getting a panda bear hug.

4.  Bait at night

Night Stalker forgot to have a spoiler on his name.  We know that he would gank at night.  Pro players would use this to their own advantage baiting heroes to kill the deceived vampire.  He's predictable.  The only thing you should do is stay focused.  If you don't have the ability to sense when the gank is coming, simply put observer wards.  For Balanar to completely kill a hero the average time would be 8 seconds.  That is the time he void, chase, normal attack and another finishing void.  If you can predict when he's going to gank, why not stealthily wait for him and kill him when he tries to kill your bait?  That way he would have fear in ganking again making him a worse Night Stalker player.

You tricked me... aaahh...

 5.  Take advantage of the vampire's rest hours

Morning is the part of the day when you should be executing most of your attacks.  Yes, he can turn the day into night, but the worst part of using Darkness in the morning is that when the duration of the Darkness end, the morning period stayed the same.  You can also bluff a team fight for him to waste his Darkness and pursue fighting after the skill's duration.  Balanar doesn't have that bonus movement and attack speed making him more vulnerable and ignorable.

TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!!!!!!!!
6.  Have healers

Healers doesn't prevent Balanar from killing a prey but they help prolong the killing.  Once the back ups arrive, Balanar will be left no choice but to retreat.   Some good healers against Balanar are the following:  Warlock, Omniknight and Enchantress.  They are the heroes that can survive Balanar's attack longer.  Chen, Dazzle and Vol'jin are good aids to team mates being ganked by Balanar.  They should be careful though because they have low delicious HP Balanar would want.

7.  Counter his tanking ability

He can be a good tank because of his decent hp and armor.  Countering strength heroes is not new to us.  Heroes like Necrolyte, Slardar and Shadow Fiend are good for taking down tanks.  Armor reduction items such as Stygian Desolator make it easy to take tanks fast too.


8.  Use his movement speed to your advantage

The buff on another pub game hero, Blood Seeker, made him suitable for CM games.  His Rupture can cause great damage to high ms heroes like Balanar.  Another hero that can be used to turn his speed to your own advantage is Ezalor.  Mana leak on Balanar will surely drain his mana.  He may choose not to move but that's dangerous for him specially in Captains mode where most heroes aren't alone.


9.  Use Ghost Scepter wisely

Void is a nuke that will be amplified if used on a hero which has activated Ghost Scepter or in an ethereal form.  Thus, if used wisely, ghost scepter can save a hero's life when being chased by Balanar.  After he used his void on you, that's the time you turn to Ethereal form.  Now, he can't attack you for 4 seconds.  If you have dagger of escape, you can now dagger out.  If you have none, you should be calling for help now before you turn back to your original form and receive quick blows from Balanar, not to mention casting another Void on you.

10.  Respond Quickly

The main reason why Balanar is so strong in pub games is that nobody cares if you're being killed and you can't command your stranger team mates that easy.  Balanar is scared of heroes teleporting on towers because he needs to chase for 8 seconds to cast 2 Voids on a hero.  In Captains mode games, Night Stalker shouldn't be owning a lot if your team knows how to be careful and how to respond quickly.

Prey saved again, darn it!

11.  Ruin his early game

Not making Balanar have an easy game having all the levels and items he needs, makes him not a very productive ganker.  He is also not that easy to farm unlike heroes who have AOE spells.  Once you disrupt his early game, there's nothing to fear much in mid game.  He can gank but responding at once will waste those ganks.  He can even die in the certain gank if he would be aggressive.  By mid game he needs vanguard or other tanking items to make him last longer in clashes.  If you ruin his early game, it is hard for him to recover and he'll be useless until late game where he can be easily killed by a disable and painful normal attacks.

12.  Know how to juke effectively

Take advantage of his range.  He is a melee hero and juking into forests would make him have difficult time landing his normal attacks on you.  Know the juke spots and use fogs.  If you survive until your team mates arrive, you'd be more likely safe now and you can cast a skill to help your team mates kill Balanar or you can run through the fountain if the disables of your team mates are not that dependable. This strategy is not applicable when he got Aghanim's Scepter.

13.  Teleport

Void can cancel channeling spells and teleporting is one of them.  You can use teleport to escape after he cast his first void on you but be sure he doesn't have a team mate with disable or deadly nukes when you're planning to use this.  If he does, juking, shouting for help and panic buying are the best options.  You shouldn't be displaying yourself on the first place if Balanar is not seen in the map. 

You don't have teleport scroll my dinner?
Balanar isn't as scary as his appearance.  He is just scary if you'll take for granted countering him.  Remember,  there are a lot of Dota Guides on countering heroes but all you need to do is find out every heroes' weaknesses.  Then, you can beat them easier by exploiting their weaknesses.

Will the World End in 2012? No.

This blog focuses mainly on Dota but I guess it's time to write a special article to clarify everything about world's end.

After the Japan Earthquake, people are thinking that it is a sign of "World's End".  Oh dear, how many stronger Earthquakes have we experienced on earth?  The strongest Earthquake happened last May 22, 1960 on Chile.  2,000,000 people lost their houses, 5,000 people were injured, 2,000 people died, but did the world end?  No.  Earthquakes are natural calamities that are caused by several factors, one of which is sea floor spreading.  We learned this from high school but we still keep on blinding ourselves.

The Predictions:

1. A planet, named Nibiru, would collide with Earth causing massive destruction.

Why you shouldn't believe this?  Nasa Scientists already answered this with a very logical statement.  They said that if there is any planet that will hit the earth years from now, astronomers could have been monitoring it.  They should be informing us about that because that's the nature of their job.  There are tons of astronomers out there are no claims until now.

"There is no object out there," NASA astrobiologist Morrison said. "That's probably the most straightforward thing to say."


2.  Earth will end because Mayan Calendar ends at December 21, 2012.

Why you shouldn't fear this?  Mayan Calendar is an Ancient Calendar and it will normally have its end just like our calendars at home that end December 31.  The Ancient Calendar is not like your phone's calendar that has unlimited years.   
"It's the time when the largest grand cycle in the Mayan calendar—1,872,000 days or 5,125.37 years—overturns and a new cycle begins," said Anthony Aveni, a Maya expert and archaeoastronomer at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

3.  Nostradamus predicted End of the World in 2012.

Why you shouldn't even be bothered?  Nostradamus is popular because of his famous prophecies.  People thought that he really had predicted events thousands of years before they happen.  An example is people believing that before Hitler came, Nostradamus already knew it because of his quatrain containing the term 'hister'.  What people don't know is that 'Hister' is the word used by Nostradamus to describe the Danube river.  See more of his prophecies debunked at listverse.

4.  The Bible guarantees World's End because of Dates stated in it. (7000 years from the flood; 13,023 years from creation)

Why is this a total lie?  First of all, if they are really reading the bible they should have read this verse below before writing books and websites about world end.
Mathew 24:35-36 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." Jesus Christ.
5.  The Earth will have a Pole Shift and will be a Deathtrap.

Why you can just ignore this?  As stated by Nasa Scientist, who based everything on physics: "A reversal in the rotation of the Earth is impossible.  It never happend and it never will".  He added that magnetic polarity of the earth does take place every 400,000 years, scientists don't believe it will take place for another few millennia and there is no evidence that it will do any harm.

Question:  How many times the world was predicted to end?

Answer:  More than 200 times.

The popular one I've encountered was year 2000 where people are saying that when you divide 2000 by 3 you get 666.666666667 and other reasons.  The Nibiru was also predicted to clash with Earth on May 2003.  Now, they moved it to 2012.  To read all the 200+ world's end list here's the link - http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm

Best Mindset Guide in Practicing and Playing

Practice like you're the worst player, perform like you're the best.
~Your Dota Guide Quote of The Day

Have you spent time alone, watching replays, thinking of strategies, or doing last hitting drills?  Did you want to sleep out of boredom while doing these things?  If yes, you're not alone.  Most people want to play rather than practice.  The main reason for this is lack of discipline.

Why do we need to practice like we're the worst player?

One of the factors that is important in having discipline is humility.  Pride keeps on telling us: "Why bother practicing when, in fact, this is just a simple game?"  After we lost a game, we can't accept it because we're too proud.  We need to practice whatever field we're into.

When we practice but we think we're already the best, we won't be more curious to discover better tactics.  We will be limited to our old play style and I bet these play styles we have now still got a lot of rooms for improvement. 

Practicing like you're the worst player ever, makes you feel that you need to learn every little lessons you can learn from a replay or from your drills.  This won't make you sleepy because you are interested in what you're doing.

After this kind of practice, I am certain that you learned a lot rather than having a prideful practice.

Now, why suddenly we need to perform like we're the best?

In actual games, you should be confident.  You cannot afford having fear and negative thoughts on your mind.  From your previous practices, you have learned a lot and now you're confident that you have tons of secret weapons.

Kobe Bryant, though he's considered to be a superstar, trains a lot.  People even call it 'torturing himself'.  Then, when he plays, you can see how confident he is and now people are considering him cocky.

While practicing, be very keen.  Observe and analyze everything.  Try to acquire as many strategies and skills as you can.  When playing, be confident because you are now equipped with new things from your humble practice making you have advantages over your opponents. 

Trilane Do's and Don'ts Dota Guide

3-1-1 laning is used in most of the Dota games today because it gives your team greater chance of winning. You can have 2 solo heroes that can be stable on their lanes receiving most farm and levels and you can have a lane composed of 3 heroes ensuring a lane dominated, your trilane.  2-1-2 lane won't be successful against trilane because 2 heroes definitely won't win against a trilane and their other 2 heroes couldn't kill a solo hero.


These are the Do's and Don'ts in Dota Trilane

Do's

Have nukes and disables: Without these, your trilane will obviously fail.  The amount of disables and nukes are preferably more than 1. You need to hold your opponents long enough and you have to kill them fast enough.

Have regeneration items:  Trilane definitely would consist of non-stop harassments and battles.  You will need to regenerate your hp and mana in order to be more stable at your lane and avoid going trips back and forth.  Leaving your lane for a while means free time for the opponents to farm and to dominate the remaining heroes.

Buy other important items: Other important items, like magic stick, add to your lane advantage. (See them all here - Dominating Trilane): 

Aim for low hp heroes:  Low hp heroes are easy to kill and most of the time they have the best disables and nukes in the lane, so taking them out as soon as possible is a wise decision.

Maximize skills:  Use your skills with perfect execution and proper timing.  Communicate with your allies and know who should be first to act and who's next.

Have combo:  Your heroes shouldn't be composed of random heroes and just lane them up on the trilane.  You should think of how they would complement their skills.  Here are some of the best trilane combo that can serve as models to you. 

Cheap Shots (Harass opponents):  Try to position yourself so that you can be safe while doing cheap shots on your opponents.  When they have low hp, you'd have quicker time to kill them once you execute your combo.

Kill as quick as possible:  Time is gold.  Yup, even in trilane.  When you're able to kill a hero as quick as possible it's down now to 2v3.  You can choose to kill another one or retreat if it's too dangerous to proceed.

Consider allies' position:  Before initiating know where your allies are.  If they are too far away, you'll just waste your mana and worst you can even die because of that.

Don'ts

Picking heroes that don't compliment each other:  It's best to have heroes that compliment each other because it's easier to kill and there won't be much hassle in battles.

Too many melee heroes:  Melee heroes are prone to harassments and are weak at harassments.  You wouldn't want to give opponents a free farming lane so you should often limit your trilane heroes on 1 melee hero.  There are cases where you can have 2 but it's not advisable to have all the heroes at the trilane melee.

Not warding:  Observer wards are essential in trilane.  It can either be used defensively or for attacks.

Aiming for tanks:  You don't have enough damage to kill tanks in one combo early game.  There are other heroes you can finish in few blows.  Aiming for tanks will get you in trouble most of the time.  He will make your skills useless and he will just run away laughing at you while his allies punish you for your wrong decision.

Playing too passive:  Your opponents will have a free farming lane when you do this.  You should limit their items and levels as few and low as you can. 

Being too aggressive:  Playing too aggressive, on the other hand, causes you to die giving more gold for the opponents.  What you should do is balance your plays.  Know the best time to execute your combo and wait for this opportunity.  Try to bait your opponents too for them to commit errors.

Not considering opponents combo:  Not only your team has deadly combo, your opponents have too.  You should know what are the things they can execute.  This is easy because you already know the skills of every hero in Dota.

Wasting Mana: Don't use your skills on creeps just for the sake of farming, especially if you're using a low mana hero.  Reserve your mana for your combo.  Stun and other disables are also best used in killing not in harassing.  Use nukes to harass.

Creep pulling a lot:  I wondered why most asian teams I watched doesn't pull neutral creeps.  Instead, they keep on harassing and trying to kill opponents on their lanes.  I realized that it is more important to do that because you can help your team mate have more farm by harassing your opponents.  You can also save allies anytime.  Nonetheless, you can prevent your tower from receiving cheap shots.

These are the common things you should and you shouldn't do in your trilane to have greater opportunity to win, not only your trilane, but the entire game.  For more trilane Dota Guides see these: Dominating the Trilane and Some of the Best Trilane Combo

A Great Dota Leader's Goal

"A good leader inspires people to have confidence in their leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves."
~Your Dota Quote for the Day

A Great leader doesn't aim to be popular, he aims to make his team mates better to have a better team.  He understands that he cannot win championships alone.  To make his team mates improve their Dota games, he needs to make them build their confidence first.

Leading a Dota team is fun but it's not easy.  It is different from being just a captain.  Leaders need to consider having good conceptualization, sufficient knowledge on the game as well as on team mates and they need to be mentally tough.


Here are some tips on how to help your team mates build confidence:

1. Power Talk

Before the start of the game, start by giving them a phrase they can run into their minds that gives them confidence.  For example, "We are a complete team, we have good carries, supports and we got good team chemistry" or "We practiced for enough time already, we should just execute it again today."  Those phrases will be stuck on their minds before playing rather than negative thoughts that would make them nervous.

2.  State their Advantages

Once the game starts, tell them what are their advantages against the opponents.  On their lanes, for example, tell them that they have stronger combo than the opponents (if it's true) or you can tell them that they can easily survive opponent's attacks but they should have enough mana.  Tell other things if these things aren't related but never lie to your team mates.  They would lose their trust on you and your words won't have any effect on them anymore if you do.

3.  Compliment their good actions

Praise them when they do good.  You can say a simple "good job" or you can tweak it to make it more personal.  For example:  "That was a perfect timing."  Complimenting isn't bad if it's true.  Most players though they appear to be confident enough already still need affirmations.

4.  Thank them

Be humble to thank them if they saved you.  Thanking them doesn't make them feel like robots made for destruction.  Once they saved you and you said "good job", it's like saying "it's your role, you've done it well robot."  Know when to praise and know when to show gratitude.

5.  Reward their efforts

When they come to gank your lane, do your best not to waste their ganks.  When they are trying to dominate their lanes and you see they're about to lose, teleport and help to make sure they win.  Don't let them feel that they're efforts are useless because they would be lazy or afraid to do those things again.

6.  Find the remedy for their faults

They would normally commit mistakes because they are only human, just like you.  Once they made errors, think of the best way to minimize the disadvantage for the team and don't whine on them.  Once, our main carry had a crucial death being ganked, I know they can destroy middle lane though we defend 4v5 so I told them to give the middle lane.  I, then, destroyed their top lane.  This is one of the best strategy to defend a push.  You have to make them choose to push or defend other lanes.  When one of them teleport top, I'd teleport back to our base and we would fight 4v4 with them.

7.  Make them have fun

One way to remove their anxieties is to let them enjoy.  I often talk to the heroes on my monitor commenting on my opponents moves and making it funny.  They would see me so relax and they would be too.  I've tried this sooooo many times and it's really effective.  Once your team mates are relaxed, their minds will be clear enough to think properly.

8.  Use the "try" magic

The word 'try' is useful when your team mates isn't that experienced enough.  This word lessen the pressure on your team mate.  They wouldn't be so afraid of failing.  You can use it mostly in ganking where perfect timing is really important.  Once they start doing it often, they would be used into it and you don't need to type the word try.  It would now be "G".  Check out why "g" is also important in my previous Dota Quote

There are other things you can think of in giving your team mates confidence.  These are just the most common techniques in this aspect.  Just always remember that your team mates, no matter how poor their performance was, also wanted to win.  Never put them down because of wrong moves.  Just help them learn from their errors because you are his leader.

Game Quote for the Day: Think

Most failures come from being lazy to think. 
~Your Game Quote for the Day

There are times when we can't understand why we go on a horrific losing streak.  What we don't know is our brain is too focused on having a win rather than thinking of ways how to win.


Don't you wonder why when you're sick or sleepy, your performance is not as good as how you really play?  Not being able to think properly is the main reason for this.


How to be able to think properly:

1.  Get enough rest

When you're sleepy, sleep (if you have nothing important to do).  Then just play when you wake up.  Forcing yourself to play when tired will result not having focus.  You would also be emotional destroying your game totally.

2.  Plan, plan and plan...

Never stop planning.  From early to late game you should be having plans.  You should plan how you'd be stable on your lane, you should plan how to attack in ganking, you should plan how to fight in team clash, and more.  That makes you have directions on your game.

3.  Predict and counter

Predict the deadliest thing the opponents can do and have the best counter for it. Your opponents may not think of it but you're ready whenever he does that.  Moreover, you can easily counter them when they do weaker attacks on you, expecting them to be deadlier.

4.  Know your strengths and weaknesses

Keep in mind where you, your team and your heroes are good and bad at.  It is always important to know yourself and your team totally.  You would know which strategies can fit or not.  You can have better plays if you maximize your strengths and you can do something to turn your weaknesses into strengths.

5.  Know your opponent's strengths and weaknesses

Aside from yourself, you should also know your opponents totally.  You would be able to have a plan on countering their strengths like picking heroes or farming items to counter them.  Most importantly, you can play by their weaknesses.  Nothing is much easier than taking advantage of the opponents weaknesses.  It's like playing other RPG games where the master usually has weak spots, most of the time it's their belly, foot, and mouth.  You know that to beat that Master you should find a way to hit their weak spots that are often hidden. 

You have several things to think about when playing and laziness to think is not an option in this game.  I regret playing when I cannot think properly because I know I can do better.  Losing is not bad.  You learn from your mistakes and from your opponents.  The bad kind of losing is not doing everything you can to win.  And, the worst part is, not doing your everything because you were lazy to think.

Game Quote for the Day: Positive Energy

"Radiate positive energy to your team and get positive results."
~Your Game Quote for the Day


Blaming, whining and complaining are some the things players usually do when losing a Dota game.  This negative energy makes the team doesn't want to fully fight anymore.  Once they lost their passion and trust to win the game, it became more difficult to win the game.


I have played a lot of games where we lost early game but end up having a turning point.  This is the result of our determination to wait for their one wrong move that will result to their downfall.  This is because I take the initiative to dispel all my team mate's negative thoughts by explaining to them the reason why I still believe that we can win.


These are the guidelines in radiating positive energy for your team:

1.  Don't find faults, find remedies.

You have to understand that your team mates are humans.  They would really commit errors.  Don't shout at them pointing out how bad their move was.  Instead, be the technician of that action.  An example was when my team mate who was our key to winning a clash was ganged and killed.  Because of that death, the enemies are ready to push our mid lane.  I told them to give the tower while I destroyed the opponent's TOP tower and barracks.

2.  Compliment their good actions

A simple "gj" (good job) means a lot for a player.  They know that their good deeds are appreciated inspiring them to do more good things in the game.  The main reason for this is that you're giving them confidence and we all know that confidence is a very important factor in any sport.

3.  Say "G" before fighting

WTF?  Yes, say "g" before fighting.  This makes them feel that you are confident that you can win the fight.  This is one magical technique in boosting your team's power.  This is like the battle cry of prehistoric wars.  These battle cries aren't made for nothing.  Not only that it is a confidence booster but it also informs the whole team that everyone will now be fighting.  Thus, they won't hesitate joining the war because of this.

4.  Don't show any fear

Scared captain?  What more do you expect from your team?  Being a captain, you are the one they should be looking up to.  You're the role model.  Once you accept that you're scared at the other team, you are not trusting yourself as well as your team mates.

5.  Always play your A game

Once your team mates see how well you're doing in the game, they will be inspired to do well too.  Also think of the best ways to make the game easier for the team.  Pick good heroes, roam if needed to help other lanes, dominate your lane, farm your items quickly, etc.

Radiating positive energy to your team is more important that training for months without motivating them.

Itsme vs DAS highlights

Itsme (iDota) vs DAS - Elimination Round of Netopia Dota Tournament



Highlights:

1.  Itsme.kwKy (Shadow Fiend) was about to be ganked by venge and sven but they end up dying on the hands of kwKy.  itsme.Eldrige (Crystal Maiden) perfectly placed an illusion preventing Rogue Knight from escaping.

2.  Itsme.DESO (Priestess of the Moon) showed a perfect example of having patience in using Elune's Arrow and "Mindgame" the opponent, Vengeful Spirit.  They had a mini-battle but DESO showed Vengeful Spirit that he's going to run away and right when Venge cannot see him anymore, he cast an arrow predicting where Venge is then killed her.

3.  Itsme.Eldrige (Crystal Maiden) entered the opponent's base to cast frostbite on Alleria.  POTM cast an arrow on her and entered the battle.  After killing Alleria, other opponents came to avenge her but out of nowhere, Itsme.kwKy (Shadow Fiend) appeared right infront of their faces casting Requiem of Souls then they killed them all.

4.  Alchemist and Vengeful Spirit tried to kill Shadow Fiend but right when they were close, Itsme.KingEx (Kunkka) casts a torrent disabling Alchemist.  Shadow Fiend end up killing Alchemist.

5.  Itsme.kwKy (Shadow Fiend) was getting focused fire by the whole DAS but he activated his Black King Bar on time dodging Rogue Knight's storm bolt and Itsme.JAM (dark seer) cast a vacuum sucking them all to Shadow Fiend who is casting his Requiem of Souls.  None of them survived this combo.

Thanks to Nikko Barde for the video!

Check out more highlight videos from Itsme here

Dota Guide Quote for the Day: Meeting and Exceeding

"To be good at something, you have to meet people's expectations; to be great at something, you have to exceed their expectations."
~Your Dota Guide Quote for the Day

I know you might be pressured by this one but great players are always surprising.  If your team mates expected what you're going to do, your enemies would probably expect it too.


1st step - Defining

You first need to know what are your team mates' expectations that you should meet.  If you're a support, they probably expect that you place wards on rune spots and to help the team have map control.  If you're at solo lane, you're expected to be stable on your lane and hopefully dominate it.  If you're in a trilane, you're expected to know the combo.  There are a lot of default things that you're team mates are already expecting from you.

2nd step - Planning

After knowing the expectations of your team mates from you, you now need to plan.  You cannot rush into doing it at once. Plan... You need to plan the best possible way to meet these expectations.  If you need to be stable at your lane you probably need to have proper balance of regeneration items, stats and damage.  Dying a lot on your lane will be below their expectations.

3rd step - Upgrading

Upgrade these expectations to the next level.  If they are expecting you to be stable and survive your lane, upgrade to dominating your opponent in your lane totally.  You now have an upgraded goal that you should meet.  Meeting this goal is exceeding their expectations.

4th step - Believing

This won't happen if you don't believe that you can do it.  Trust your ability to do it.  Focus and give your best for that goal.  Don't hesitate, just do it.

Quelling Blade Tips

image

Quelling Blade

Introduction

  • Possible one of the best farming tool in the game, this light, handy axe provides additional damage to creeps making it a lot more easier to last hit using so-called "money shots". Also a good tool for juking and making seemingly impossible paths in the forest because of its active Tree-Chop skill that, as the skill name itself says, chops trees down. 


Item Statistics plus a few facts
  • Gold Cost: 225
  • Deals an additional 32% attack damage to non-hero units if the user is melee, adds 12% bonus damage to ranged users.
  • Grants the ability to chop down trees with a cooldown of 5 seconds
  • Cannot be wielded by Admiral
  • Bonus damage does not work on towers and siege units and flying neutral.
  • Orb Effects override the "Quell" ability, the one that deals bonus damage, except for feedback and if Quelling Blade is acquired after getting the feedback ability.
  • The Quell ability works with Illusions

The Pros and Cons
Pros
  • The added bonus makes it easier to get that creep last hit
  • Excellent for Juking out during jungle chases

Cons
  • A bit expensive for something that doesn't add any stats
  • Doesn't add any stats (redundancy ei?)

Getting the most out of it

  • So, what's the best thing to use Quelling Blade? Juking So maybe most of you will be thinking what the hell is Juking?


Juking
  • In general Juking is a way to trick or fool your enemies during chases, it could be done either by making jungle paths, using in-game juke spots and abusing the fog, in this case for Quelling Blade, juking can be done by making jungle paths when cutting down trees.


Some Jungle Juke Spots that could be found or made using your Quelling Blade
[Note: I won't be able to give everything on this section since there are still some that I didn't discover as of yet but I will giving out useful and some not so common spots that could be used anytime in the game]


Spot 1:
image
Bottom lane sent shop juke spot, cutting down this tree would lead you here:

image
Full path that could be made with Quelling Blade

Spot 2:
image
This part here could be found near the river entrance of the sentinel jungle this spot has two parts, this one would be the entrance

image
And this would be the exit

image
Full path after chopping down both trees. Note, spot could also be used as a hiding spot

Spot 3:

image
Now this part one's a bit tricky and would easily be done using a QB+Tango combo, this part here would be the entrance

image
Now here's the tricky part, the exit, as you can see there would the smaller tree is overshadowed by a bigger one, this one requires a little target practice, or you could use two tangos if you don't get the right one at first.

image
Full path

Spot 4:

image
This spot gives an escape route towards the scourge tier two tower, good against tower diving offensive trilanes or for offsetting ganks coming from the side

image
Full Path after taking down that tree

Spot 5:

image
This one gives a safe path towards the sentinel tier 2 tower

image
Full Path

Now those are some spots that I've discovered and would come in handy when you want to escape or trick out those chases
Added tip: These spots are more preferable to use at night for that added fog abuse.

Some other uses for Quelling Blade
  • Aside from juking, Quelling Blade could also be used in Choke Point Jungling and Dual Neutral Creep pulling, it's also a good item to use in order to escape Furion's tree trap.

That would be all for this guide err review, or what ever you may call it. As what I always say, "Hope this helps, GLHF!'

Credits to:
-S!  otherwise known as Salawayun!

Garena No 5 Seconds Software: Download Autojoiner for Free

I discovered a software that would make it easier for you to join Garena rooms.

This software is called "Auto-Joiner".  It doesn't have any other hacks (like map hack) that ruin the game.

If you don't have money to buy Gold Membership or you have but prefer not spending money on games, this is the right software for you.

Features of Auto-joiner

1.  It removes 5 seconds wait in joining Garena rooms.
2.  Functions as an Autoclicker
3.  You can minimize Garena while Auto-clicking (so you can do anything else while waiting)
4.  Gives notification, a sound and message, that you've already entered the room.

Download Auto-joiner - Click here

A Winning Captain's Principle Dota Guide

A Ship Captain has his ship; A Dota Captain has his team.


As Dota Captains, you should know the right way of leading your team to victory as a ship Captain would do with his ship.

What can you really learn from a ship Captain?  These are the things they would say in every situations.

The ship is broken?  Let's fix it as soon as possible.

Since the team is your ship, you can learn to care more about your team.  If fights among your team mates occur, take the initiative to fix it.  If there are weaknesses on your team, work hard to turn them into strengths.   You should find a way to always have a healthy team and aim to have the best team.

I am nothing without my ship.

Captains know this from the bottom of their hearts.  Their pride comes from the ship first before them.  Even how young and unpopular their ships are, Captains are proud of them.  This is the same thing with Dota Captains.  Good leaders are proud of his team no matter how low others look at them.  They also don't aim to be popular by himself; he aims for the pride of his team.  A good team corresponds to good leadership of a captain.


We will go south by 15 miles, west by 20 miles and make a turn around the island.

Great Captains, having the most knowledge on water, direct the best path for their ships.  They clearly tell their plans to provide smooth journey for the ship.  A Great Dota Captain should also be clear with his plans and be transparent to his team, no secrets or laziness to explain. Dota Captains are the ones responsible for the strategy of the team and he shouldn't be a lazy type Captain at this point. Smooth flow of strategy comes firstly from the clarity of the plan to the whole team then execution and practice are next.

Pirates? Prepare for Battle!

Ship Captains would do everything to defend their ships, may it be from natural calamities or external opponents like pirates.  Great Dota Captains wouldn't let anyone beat his team without fighting and defending.  They may win or lose but the Captain won't be hiding like a chicken in a cage.  He would be all around the ship giving instructions based on his professional knowledge and strategic wit.  He would be there to fight.


Abandon ship? Go, but I will stay...

Great Ship Captains, who fought so hard for their ships then end up losing and people are evacuating from them, preferred to be with their ships and die.  Some will think this is foolish but looking deeper, you cannot blame them.  They loved their ships so much and they cannot afford looking at it sink from a lifeboat.  This is a sign of his high respect for the ship he commanded.

A Great Dota Captain won't leave his team no matter what happens.  He will be with his team through thick and thin.  He will do anything to make his team the best team ever and won't abandon them to have an easy life through joining other teams.

Switched to Snow Dota Theme| Download and Install Warcraft Theme Manager

I got bored with my the old Dota map so I tried installing Dota Theme Manager.  This application consists of 6 different Dota Themes.


1. Beach Theme
2. Barrens Theme
3. Hell Theme
4. Highlands Theme
5. Snow Theme
6. Synergy Theme

I picked the snow theme and I found it better than the old one after exploring the places.  Before, I thought changing the theme would affect how I see the map but after touring my new Dota map, I was wrong.  I learned that Pro Asian teams also have different Dota Theme.  Here are some pictures of my tour.

Base (click to enlarge)
Sentinel's Forest

Mid Lane
Rune Spot
Scourge's Forest
I'm glad that Scourge is not a dark place anymore.  The only difference between Sentinel and Scourge's area is that Scourge isn't covered with snow.

Top Lane (Near Scourge 1st tower)
Hi Roshan!
Overall, I liked Snow Dota Theme but you might want to try other themes too.  The most commonly used is Beach.

How to Install Dota Theme Manager? (3 steps)

1.  Download it here http://www.mediafire.com/?6l28aaanrnqvgv6
2.  Copy the extracted Folder on your warcraft folder.

Warcraft Folder

3.  Run DTMV4.exe and choose your desired theme.

DTMV4
If you want to return back to your original Warcraft theme, just click restore.  Enjoy your fresh Dota Map

 
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