Improve your Dota Skills by Having these 5 Quick Things

Have you ever wondered what are the edges of top players over you?  It's not experience and hardwork alone. You can play for 10 years and not be as good as them if you're not focusing on the right skills to develop.  In this post, you're going to learn what are the things you should be considering to play like Pros.

Na'Vi.Dendi

#5  Quick Calculations

This skill is very important in 3 things:

1.  Mana cost
2.  Estimating damage output
3.  Estimating cool downs


Being quick in calculations give you a lot of advantage and safety.  Knowing if your mana pool will be enough to execute your combo won't get you in trouble and shout "F*ck! I ran out of Mana!" * then die.  Be sure to be quick in calculations because one split unguarded moment can cause you to lose the battle.  Damage output should also be considered to know how quick you can kill a hero or if it possible to kill certain heroes with your number.  You shouldn't just go into battle without having the clash play in your mind.  Cool downs are also important specially if your opponents have deadly ultimate skills.   Use the long cool down of opponent's skills to your advantage.  You can either initiate a clash or push if their skills aren't available.  Doing more calculations than your opponents will give you huge advantages.


#4  Quick Hands


This skill is important in 3 things:

1.  Animation Cancelling
2.  Doing Combos and Micros
3.  Clicking heroes that are hard to click

Animation cancelling is important in playing Dota.  There are a lot of heroes that have spells that have prolonged animations.  You should cancel them to not waste time.  Animation cancelling is also important in harassing heroes.  You can move either forward or backward instead of waiting for the attack animation to stop.  In this way you can harass more or be evade more damage.  Combos require timing and shouldn't be interrupted by just having slow hands.  Micro-ing is the term used to describe controlling more units which also requires quick hands.  Heroes that are hard to click, like Venomancer, is also countered by having quick hands.  You can search for the small icon of the hero in shorter period to be able to hit him thus not letting him escape just because he cannot be clicked.


#3  Quick Plans

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.  Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat'."  -Sun Tzu

Planning is essential in Dota as it is in warfares.  As soon as the drafting starts until the game ends, several plans should be made.  The team who came out to have great plans quicker would surely win.  

Plan 4 steps ahead:

1st step:  What you're going to do
2nd step: How your opponents will react
3rd step: What will be your response to their actions
4th step: Know who will have the advantage after


#2  Quick Eyes

This skill is very important in 5 things:

1.  Map awareness
2.  Finding target
3.  Distance from team mates
4.  Number of opponents
5.  Spells used

Map awareness is very important.  You shouldn't be prone to gank, you should know if your team mates need you, you should know where opponents are to kill or to be avoided, etc.  Finding target in a clash is important.  You shouldn't just cast all your spells on a hero you see.  Pro players expect the back up.  Reserve your spells for better uses.  Distance from team mates should be considered.

#1  Quick Reaction

This skill is important in 5 things:

1.  Dodging skills
2.  Knowing escape Routes
3.  Picking targets
4.  Knowing when to fight and when not to fight
5.  Countering attacks


Dota is a read and react game.  You see the situation, then you give your reaction.  Winning or losing depends greatly on how many good or bad calls you've made and these are called your reactions.  Knowing at once what are the best decisions in almost every situation and executing them perfectly will surely make you are skilled and fearsome player.  You just have to watch carefully, analyze critically and practice seriously.

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Posted in: Guides

How to be Prepared for a DotA Tournament

Dota Tournaments are thrilling because the game itself is quite balanced specially now that Ice Frog has made several modifications.  This is a battle of decision making and skills.  These 2 important things as well as the following are the things you should improve to win most of your Dota games and tournaments.

Learn your effective playstyle

In Dota Tournament games, you don't have time to be thinking of what playstyle you should have.  There's no time for trial and error.  You should know in your practices what works and what suits your team.  If you go out there and play differently from your practice games, the only chance of winning is luck.  You have to trust your practices and yourself.  Yes, you are facing a stronger opponents but don't be intimidated.  Stick to your developed game style and just perform with your A-game.

Lead if you are the leader; Trust if you are a member

Leaders have the greatest role in tournaments.  They are the one who would decide what will be the team's strategy and they are the one who would generate plans in most situations.  Members can suggest but leaders should be the one to decide whether to accept or reject given suggestions.  The main reason for this is to have a united attacks.  If members would decide what to do on their own, the team would fall against an opposing team who are fighting as a team.  In team games/sports, winning is decided by two things: better leader and better trust from members.

Prepare enough strategy

In most tournaments, your games can be watched by your next opponents.  Having only 1 strategy means you're already countered as soon as you played your first game.  Your opponents can wait for you in your favorite ganking areas, your opponents can simply ban your bread and butter heroes, and worst your opponents can even use your strategy against you.  If you're joining a DotA Tournament, it is a must to be unpredictable.  This adds to their fear against you.  How can they defend if they don't know how you will attack?

Be ready to counter as many DotA strategies as possible

Once you have a clue what your opponent's game plan will be, you should be wise enough to be prepared for that plan a week before and execute your counters.  Practice against better teams because it is through them that you're going to know what strategies will surprise and beat you.  Then formulate plans to win against those strategies and know which will work.  When tournament day comes, you're more confident because you learned a lot and you are ready to face a lot of strategies other teams may be planning.

Be comfortable in serious games

I had a problem back then.  When I'm playing games with money on the line, my game suddenly change from great to worse than noob.  I learned to be comfortable when one time, I was asked to play a game against an unknown team.  We defeated that team and after the game I found out that it was also a bet game, only this time I was unaware.  Then, I realized that if I treat serious games not too seriously, my game is way better.  It was the beginning of me winning bet games.  I don't know with you because factors may be different with you.  You might be more comfortable when you are serious but the idea here is find out how you'll become comfortable playing.

And, the last thing is Have Fun ★.

You may win or lose the tournament but if you had fun, you never lost at all.  So, Good luck and Have Fun! ^_^

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Posted in: Guides

10 Major Mistakes in Hero Drafting

What affects winning and losing greatly is the choice of heroes.  Team play is a more important aspect but with poor hero picks, a lesser skilled team would probably beat your solid team.

Hero drafting controls the game.  It is where your laning, ganks, team fights and ending the game will depend.  It is where the entire strategy starts.

Majority of lost games come from getting out-picked and out-played.

Fact:  Fresh teams composed of 5 skilled players will be most likely be beaten up by average players with one skilled hero drafter.

Here are the major mistakes drafters are unconsciously doing:

1.  Picking more than 1 Hardcore Carry

A Hardcore Carry, stated in Dota Roles and Explanations, doesn't have that much use in early game.  For example a Spectre cannot inflict enough damage early game until mid game to be of use. 

In Dota, time is more expensive than gold.  You should have heroes that can kill fast to avoid getting in trouble.

If you would pick a 2 Hardcore Carries, like Spectre and Weaver, in one team, your team's killing ability early game is very weak.  The opponents will take advantage of initiating more battles, pushing towers and ending the game right before your carries farm their items.  Now, that's an easy win for them.

2.  Being distracted by "Imba Heroes"

Imba Heroes are the heroes your team would want to have and mostly banned.  They are strong heroes with painful or very useful skills.  However, you shouldn't be distracted by this in any way because every heroes have weaknesses.

If you would pick all 5 "imba heroes" but there are no chemistry among them, you still won't win.  Imba heroes should be picked wisely.

Doom, Morphling, Weaver, Ancient Apparition, Pugna are 5 imba heroes but pick them all in one game and you would lose against average heroes with proper chemistry.

3.  Not Countering

Countering is simply picking a strategy that will counter the opponent's play or picking heroes that counter the opponent's key heroes.

Why would you not counter your opponents when you have all the rights to do this in -cm mode.  Countering gives your team a relax mood.  They won't have to worry about a single hero pawning them helplessly.

A very fundamental example is picking Slardar against invisible heroes.  You don't want to let this invisible hero hit and run easily.  What you want your opponent's heroes to experience is a hard time all through out the game.

Gank him if he relies on farming.  Clash if they rely on ganking.  Push if they rely on late game.  That's how every sports should be played - Finding opponent's weak point and focusing attacks on that spot.

4.  Not having an insurance

If your plan A fails, there should be always be a plan B.  Most teams surrender after failing in their few attacks because of not having a back up plan.

What if your ganking plan fails?  Is it time for rage quit?  No, if you have a second plan like having a hero with great clash potential.  Initiate team fights so you'll have more advantage.

Most of the professional teams are using late game heroes as their insurance.  It is the safest way because you can have any strategy early game and if all of these fail, you still have a hidden ace. 

5.  Not weighing the trilane match up

Trilane is the most used laning today as explained in Dominating the Trilane.

Knowing if your trilane has the upper hand on the lane or not makes you decide correctly on playing aggressively or defensively.

You should always try to beat their trilane but in some games, you may get outpicked and have a weaker trilane.  The best way is to move your trilane in other lane and sacrificing a hero, preferably with escape mechanisms, to play very passively at the hard lane.  Doing this will waste the opponent's strength in the trilane.


6. Picking several heroes that depend on long-cool-down ultimates

Most ultimate skills are the deadliest skills of every heroes.  However with long cool downs, these heroes shouldn't be picked at the same time.  If you do, the opponents will grow aggressive and rush to your towers when your ultimates are in cool down.

Imagine having an Enigma and Leviathan in your team.  Ravage + Blackhole + other damage dealers means dead opponents right?  However, if both of these ultimates are on cool down and a clash happened, these 2 won't be of great use.

These heroes should be picked moderately because of the obvious counter against them.

7.  Not having a smooth single hero killing line up

In executing a combo on a hero, make sure that combo can be performed smoothly and can kill the target easily.

Example:  Killing a Nerubian Weaver.  A smooth line up would be:  Lion+Ogre+Puck.  Lion or Ogre can both initiate because Voodoo and Fireblast cannot be dodged by Succuchi.  Puck can have a follow up silence in case weaver survived the disables from the 2.

8.  Not having a stable mid hero

Middle lane is very important.  This is where most semi-carries are placed to do most works at mid game.  If your mid hero is beaten up badly, it is very difficult to win mid game.

Mid heroes should be able to be stable in terms of farming, surviving, harassing and fighting for runes.  They should get their core items and levels fast to really "carry" the team to victory.

There are a lot of decent mid lane heroes but be sure to pick the best hero suited on your team's combo and a good counter to opponent's line up.

9.  Picking too many softies

Softies are heroes that are easy to kill.  Picking too many low hp heroes is a gift for your opponents.  They love that because they only need proper timing to kill all of you.

Too many of this kind is very easy to counter.  The opponents only need to have Black King Bar and kill all of you while he's on avatar.

Soft heroes are painful but this will bring your team a lot of pressure.  The first is pressure of being very careful to avoid feeding.  2nd is the pressure of controlling your opponents farming phase because you don't want them to farm sick items, then kill all of you easily.

10.  Banning for the sake of banning

You are given the privilege to ban heroes that can counter your strategy.  You can also ban heroes that you find annoying and hard to counter.  You shouldn't just ban what others are banning.  Ban with reason.

If you see the opponents picking 3 carries at the first picking phase, ban good supports that will annoy your team.  You gave your team a great advantage and you gave your opponents great problem of not having good supports.

If you are planning to pick a hero along with your strategy, you can ban the greatest counter to that hero.  Ban wisely.

Avoid these 10 major mistakes and you can expect more wins on your Dota games.  Hero picking requires logic and analysis.  Don't rush it and it won't rush you.

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Posted in: Guides

6 Best Ways to Start a Clash in Dota

Clash is one of the most critical part in Dota games.  A lost clash means a tower lost.  Sometimes a lost clash means a game lost.  Observing GGnet.Puppey's picks, it is clear that he is going mostly for early game 5v5 clash and push.  Ganking is less in his picks.  The reason here is that players have evolved now.  They aren't that easy to gank anymore unlike in the past years when MYM would usually go for massive ganks.  There are also a lot of surviving mechanisms in today's version.  Going for a gank-oriented line up isn't that secure anymore.

There are a lot of ways clash are started but I observed from best Dota teams before and now that there are 5 best way you can start a clash that would most likely make you win the clash.

#6 Ganking a hero and rushing to push towers

Average teams would most likely go for this strategy because of its safety.  Once you gank and killed a lone hero and you rush towards their tower, you are initiating a handicap match.  If they go impatient and fight 4v5 against your team, you would have a very high chance of winning the clash.

#5  Ganking a smaller group to start a fight

It's difficult to gank a lone hero, specially if they have good supports.  However, you can start sa fight by ganking group of heroes that are outnumbered. For example you see 3 heroes at the bottom lane.  Your team can all go for killing them right before the opponent come to team up with them.  If you successfully killed those 3 heroes or 2 of them, it's difficult for them to win the clash once the back ups arrive.

#4  Using Roshan

One way to start 5v5 matches is using roshan.  Just stay at Roshan's lair to make them come.  Once they are seen by your wards, you can initiate the fight by picking the best hero to kill first.  This is possible because of your vision advantage over them.  If you sense that they won't come, just kill Roshan and get the aegis which is another advantage in team fights.

#3 Dewarding and Hiding

One of the best way to start clashes is being unseen.  This is mostly effective on their neutral creeps camp.  Most of them would be going to farm a lane or go for neutrals, either way you can start the clash by having the advantage of making the move first.

#2  Making them impatient

Once they are going to push, you have the choice whether to charge towards them or to wait until they make a mistake.  Rushing towards them will make them have the advantage of picking the target and they'll have the chance to wipe you out.  If you choose to wait behind the tower, you have the tower as your team mate making the battle 6 against 5.  If they're impatient enough they would march to the higher ground making them so vulnerable.  This is the reason of most turning points in the game. 

#1  Baiting

You can effectively start a clash by baiting. Most of the Best dota teams are using this kind of initiator.  They bait for simple reasons.  One is vision.  Next is protecting the key heroes from being damaged.  When baiting, the opponent shouldn't know and they should focus fire on the bait landing some of their disables, then you come to save him killing their key heroes first(preferably disablers).  Bait should have high tanking ability or escape mechanisms.  If the opponents won't hit your bait, make him push a tower then they will hit him. 

You can't escape from having clashes that's why I share some of my knowledge from my experience and from watching how professional teams do it.  Choose wisely what to use because the type of clash initiator will depend on the situation and your line up.

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Posted in: Guides

Best Dota Teams: What are the Secret Ingredients?

Stop being fan boys/girls because your team can be just like these Pro Dota Teams you are watching.

After observing a lot of Dota teams, I discovered that the most successful teams have 6 things in common.  These are like the ingredients that complete a dish.  Without one of these, they won't be where they are now.

Ingredient #1:  An Experienced and Creative Captain

Thinking outside the box is the reason for most success.  The simple logic that lies behind this is: if you are just a copy cat, how can you ever defeat the original ones?  One of the best Dota team as of now is GGnet.  Puppey would spend time analyzing and discussing heroes' potentials, strategies, counters, and line ups with his team mates, particularly Kuroky.  I am always surprised with their new strategies almost everytime I check their uploaded replays.  There are a lot of strategies in Dota and the best one is still to be discovered.  Creativity mostly comes from having a good imagination which I discussed in Hero Picking Dota Guide.

Ingredient #2:  Unselfish and Coordinated Supports

Best dota teams also have the best Dota support players.  Supporting is often the role underestimated but most of the games are won because of  them.  Observing pro teams, you'll discover that successful teams have great supports.  Ehome, the recent SMM Champions, have 820 and 357 as their supports.  DTS got NS and Dread.  GGnet have Puppey and Miracle.  They are the ones who would disrupt opponents early game.  Once they are successful, the game is almost over.  Unselfishness is required because supports shouldn't be thinking of itself farming, not saving, and not buying necessary items for the team.  Coordination is also important, both with the carries and the co-support because of the need of perfect timing for correct execution.

Ingredient #3:  Playing as a team and having same goals

"Talent wins games, Teamwork wins Championships" - Michael Jordan

Teamwork isn't only for basketball.  This is a skill that is useful in any field of interaction.  Dota is one of these team work oriented game because, in order to be an effective player, you have to consider not only how you play as a member but how you play for the team.  The 2 is different.  You may have a godlike streak but if you only stole kills and escape while your team mates die because you used your ravage to kill a venge, dagger out and teleport to base.  A team mate with 0-10 score but is joining the team fight, baiting, initiating and saving the team is way more useful than that godlike chicken sh*t team mate.  Most of the great teams I'm watching would respond so quickly in clash.  Once a small fire is created, the whole team would be around in no time having a great advantage over the opponents.

Ingredient #4:  Optimism and Flexibility

When you believe at something, your mind unconsciously become more focused at attaining a goal.  On the other hand, if you don't believe you can't make it, what happens is you are scared to exert effort thinking that it will all end up to nothing.  Kuroky, for example, appreciates Asian teams but he's not afraid to face them.  He even said in an interview that he can predict almost everything that LGD will do in case they face them.

Kuroky:

“

Well, Puppey and I try to create new strats to surprise our opponents for a match. Mostly we think about different styles, patches and heroes etc. For example, against LGD, I watched their last 20 replays to predict their picks and style, and I actually had a 100% accurate prediction on their bans, and 80% on their picks, and I guessed their lanes again 100% right.

After puppey and I figured out the aura strat it became easier to "abuse" it against them, as we knew exactly how they played. We put the correct lanes, and it was just a matter of time till we won. It's just about analyzing, predicting and being decisive.

Ingredient #5:  Ability to think 3 steps ahead

How advance do you think while playing?  Do you know why you got killed?  It's because of not thinking 3 steps ahead.  May it be one player or all the players in the team, thinking 3 steps ahead is a must.  A player, for example, should have the ability to tell whether going for roshan would contribute to winning and cause the team to lose.  1st step, thinking about going to roshan.  2nd step, thinking if the opponents will know attack you while attacking roshan.  3rd step, knowing whether you can win the fight or not.  Limiting your team's ability to thinking 2 steps ahead is still not a Best Dota team material.

Ingredient #6:  Being Skilled and Comfortable in Assigned Roles

If you're given a role, the first thing you should know is how to be comfortable with it.  If you're already comfortable, be skilled at it.  Being skilled with your role isn't that hard anymore today as replays are all available.  For example, if you want to be a skilled farmer, watch how Burning find ways to farm effectively and safely.  Observe his actions and implement it in your game.  Chances are you'll be able to think on how to even improve the farming strategy you acquired.  It takes determination.


These are the most important ingredients in making a great dota team.  This recipe isn't an overnight dish, it takes patience.  Rome wasn't build in one day and so are these Best Dota Teams today.

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Posted in: Guides

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.

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Posted in: Guides,Mindset

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.

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Posted in: Guides,Heroes,Strategies

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

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Posted in: Guides,Strategies

Quelling Blade Tips

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:

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


Full path that could be made with Quelling Blade

Spot 2:

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


And this would be the exit


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

Spot 3:


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


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.


Full path

Spot 4:


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


Full Path after taking down that tree

Spot 5:


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


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!

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Posted in: Guides,Items,Strategies

Smoke of Deceit: 5 Great Ways to Use It

Price: 100

Gives:

Consumable

Charges: 1

Stackable in inventory

Store Stock Max: 3

Store Stock Replenish Time: 10 minutes

Places a buff on all allied player controlled units in 1200 aoe. Makes them invisible, grants 15% movespeed bonus, and prevents them from appearing on minimap to enemy players.

If you get within 850 aoe of an enemy hero or tower, the buff wears off. If you attack creeps or Roshan, it dispells.

Buff lasts up to 40 seconds

90 Cooldown

1.  Early Game First Blood

How many of you check for runes before the start of the game?  How many plant wards before the game?  You often times do this right?  What if the whole gang of enemies suddenly surprise you while you are hiding or planting your wards?  It's a first blood for sure.  Your team can use that sample strategy.  Bring a smoke of deceit early game and hunt for these unguarded heroes.  You can either be in a group of 4 or 5.  Just make sure you do this as quick as possible to arrive on time on your lane and not make the opponents have free farming time.

2.  Destroying opponent's wards

Most of the time you die and whine "I was just going to deward :("  Now, there's a cheap item you can use to avoid this cheaper death.  Activate your smoke of deceit far from the place where you might think the ward is then march towards it, put a sentry, destroy it.

3.  Ganking other lanes passing through opponent's ward

It is so hard to gank lanes where there is a single ward placed perfectly to protect these lanes.  Icefrog loves the ganker and create this item for us to use.  This has long duration so you can still be patient to wait for the perfect timing to land your skills on the target hero.

4.  Ganking without hiding through fogs

Most of us rely on fogs to gank.  Now you can simply march towards your target though you are within the creeps vision then execute your combo.

5.  Killing Roshan without alerting opponents

It is impossible to place obs on Roshan's lair.  The only thing opponents can do to prevent you from going to Roshan is to place observer wards where your team would walk en-route to Roshan.  There's a vision limit in which we call phantom spot.  Once you arrive at this phantom spot be sure no one would be outside that fog to prevent alerting the team that you are killing Roshan.

Vision Limit from Roshan

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Posted in: Guides,Strategies

How Pro Dota Players Think

I started from being an ultra noob player and stayed the same for almost 2 years.  It changed after I started watching Pro DotA players play.  The first pro team I watched was our local ph team, Flow.  I questioned a lot!  Why chen?  Why test of faith? How do the carries farm around 1400 in 5 minutes?  What time did they start pushing?  I was so curious on everything!  It was after watching pro dota player's game when I, with my own team, started dominating in DotA scene.  Then, I started watching international replays.  MYM and Virtus.Pro made me realize that there are other strategies than Chen Sven QOP Lich Bristleback and other team flow heroes.  I tried to dig into each player's minds.  I was so curious what they are thinking about before and during the game.  I know the only way to improve my skills dramatically is to change my understanding of Dota and have a Pro-like mindset.  I studied every game I watched analyzing how they think.  Here I am to make you skip that hard work I've done and unleash the mindset they have that I discovered.

Here are the things I discovered that the pro players ask in their minds


Before the Game:

Which team are we going to fight with?

This is a very basic question but I realized that pro players take advantage of knowing their opponents.  They analyze opponent's previous strategies and predict what would their their heroes be in their encounter.  Lately, Kuroky said in his interview: "Well, Puppey and I try to create new strats to surprise our opponents for a match. Mostly we think about different styles, patches and heroes etc. For example, against LGD, I watched their last 20 replays to predict their picks and style, and I actually had a 100% accurate prediction on their bans, and 80% on their picks, and I guessed their lanes again 100% right."

What strategy are we going to use?

I've mentioned 4 types of hero picking in my Captains Mode: Hero Picking Guide article.  Pro players can either rely on a strong strategy they have or counter pick their opponents.  In most cases, it is a combination of having their own strategy and countering opponent's pick but they are mostly different.  They don't want to be predictable.

Do we have enough strategies?

In tournaments, pro players are always prepared with at least 3 strategies.  The first one should be enough to pawn everyone, the second would be an alternative in cases the first strategy is countered or the opponents simply ban the key heroes of that line up.  The 3rd one would be for finals.  It would often be best of 3 or something making you need another strategy.  Having more teams in a tournament requires you to be equipped with more strategies.

Early Game:

What are my Advantages/Disadvantages?

This is the first question pro players ask themselves in games.  This is why they buy items like more branches if they are low hp, they buy more clarity for mana dependent hero, buy more flask if his hero is prone to harassment.  This is also why they change play styles in different types of hero.  If they are using early painful heroes, they tend to play aggressive and ensure that opponents wont be farming more gold.  When they are using heroes like spectre, their focus would be on how to get more creeps but they still mind supports when they initiate.

What are my opponent's strengths and weaknesses?

The best Dota players in the world detect opponents strengths and weaknesses quickly that they control most of their games they play.  May it be individual hero, team combo or player's gaming nature, pro players are aware of them.

How to win my lane?

These pro players have great desire to win their lanes that's why they would usually counter opponents hero from the hero picking phase.  Once they're on their lanes, they wont allow opponents to have a free lane.  They would usually disturb opponents with their goals which for now is also to win their lanes and to farm.

Should I stay or should I roam?

Choosing when to gank and when to stick to lane is very crucial for serious games.  From my observations experienced players tend to dominate their own lanes first before roaming to dominate other lanes.  Sometimes, when it is impossible to dominate a lane because of poor pick, they tend to roam early to make sure they win other lanes.  Sometimes, players focus on one lane, making it impossible for the opponent's hardcore carry to farm.  Other questions that come up after this are these:  Do other lanes need help?  Do they have wards?  Do we have the potential to destroy opponent's trilane combo?  Who should initiate?  Who goes next?  These are questions you should consider too to take your game to higher level.

Mid Game:

Where are my opponents?

Pro players ask this question to be able to know where they should go.  If they think that the opponents might be hiding nearby for ganks, they would either play passively or ask for assistance to take advantage of the opponents wanting to gank by killing them instead.  They also want to know where are their opponents to be able to gank them at this stage.  Pro players never want to give any gold to their opponents.  They try to limit their free farm place as few as possible.  They also ask this question to answer the following question: to push or not to push?

Push or Not?

Pro teams want to destroy opponent's tower as fast as possible to gain gold and map advantage but they still ask this question to make sure they wont get in trouble.  If their opponents have early advantage, more likely they wont push and fight 5v6.. yup.  5 enemy heroes + 1 enemy tower. If they happen to take down a key hero for the opponent, they would often decide to push.

What's his next move?

In a fight, great players would often predict opponent's next move and act according to their judgments.  You saw how pro players dodge skills perfectly in their dota videos.  Their goal is not to make a dota video.  Their goal is to evade most of the opponent's skills as much as possible to make them harder to be killed.

How should I react?

They think of situations right before it happens.  They judge the heroes combo.  What if they are caught, what would be their means of survival?  What would they do if a team mate is disabled and focused fire at?  What would they do if a shadow fiend with haste suddenly appear behind them?  What would they do if they are silenced?  Preparation is always better than impromptu.

Is it a bait?

They would always think whether to attack a lone hero or not.  They know that they can be wiped out in no time if that hero happened to be a bait.  Sometimes, I saw them attack a bait if they have a follow up plan to attack the entire team, like when they are having a hungry Earthshaker waiting for them to pile up.

Which hero should we take down first?

Plans before clash always have this question present.  Who to kill first?  They would normally go for the key heroes that are easy to take down.  They never plan on taking down a Bristleback first.  They may attack a high hp hero if he is offering a free hit or to deceive the opponents making them think that they are going for that hero but when they finally showed up, a change target will happen.

Where should I position?

I believe that success in Dota is all about positioning.  Pro players would always want to be in places they should be.  It's like a chess game.  Your key hero is your Queen.  You shouldn't trade that for any lower rank army.  Your tanks are your pawns.  They should serve the defense and they should make it easy for the team to attack.  Supports are your bishops and horse.  They should be able to attack as well as to trap opponents.  Other carries are your rooks.  They should be in perfect place to aid the key hero in getting kills or have the kill by themselves.

Late Game:

Do we have the upper hand?

Late game is decided by early game.  If your early game is not that good most probably you are in a level and item gap against your opponents.  They ask this question to know if they can play offensive or should they play defensive game.

Can I pressure lanes?

There are heroes that have escape mechanisms that can pressure lanes making it harder for opponents to push but they still consider if they can survive if opponents start to attack.  What if opponents have Kunkka?  It would be one X-mark away to win the game, specially if that hero cannot buy back.

How can we end the game?

Ending the game is easy if you defeat your opponents badly in items and level.  You can just go directly to their frozen throne after stepping on them.  But, if the game is a close match, it's not that easy.  Sometimes pro players tend to push all lanes to avoid AOE nukes and to pressure the opponent.  Sometimes, they hunt first.  There are tons of different endings in a Dota game and mostly it is dramatic that's why Dota is such a fun game.

Play Dota for fun...  and part of the fun is using your brains.  You may not be pro players but you can also ask these questions while playing.  You'd see big changes in your games if you won't be lazy to analyze things and the only way is to ask.  I'll leave you with this simple message for you to internalize.  "Live Curious."

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Posted in: Guides,Mindset

Dota Guides: Ultimate Dota Guide Compilation

This is the compilation of important Dota guides for easy access.

Captains Mode: Hero Picking Dota Guide

This is a guide on how to be a good drafter at Captains Mode though you don't have time to play tons of games.

Not having enough time to play a lot of games to be an experienced and effective drafter? This is the right article for you.

In my article, 8 Essentials in Winning a Dota game, having a better leader ranked 2nd to the most important. Leaders are responsible for their team's motivation and strategies. Hero drafting greatly lies on the hands of a Dota Team Captain. Team mates may suggest but leaders should have the larger vision on how the game would flow. They should be able to pick heroes that will give the team great advantage over the opponents.
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How to Dominate the Trilane

This guide will tell you the important things to remember to win a trilane.

Though I'm fed up of 3-1-1 lane type, I have to admit that this is the most effective strategy offering several advantages. 2 solo heroes will acquire their powerful ultimate skills in less time. They would also have their other skills at maximum quickly. Heroes at the trilane will apparently destroy a dual lane. 2 supports in a lane assures a safe lane for a carry making him farm all the gold he wants. So, in order to win, you have to beat the opponent's trilane. But how? How does the Pro makes trilane so effective? What must be done to dominate your opponents at trilane? Here it is...
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9 Different DotA Ganking Styles 

This guide enumerates 9 different ganking style you should use in any given situation.

Ganking, ranked 4th place in 8 Essentials in Winning DotA Games, is one of the most important tool in winning DotA Games. Thus, there are different ganking styles that will make you sneaky and unpredictable. It is important that you have proper coordination with your team mates if you are going for ganks. Pro players are too careful that they don't often die from getting ganged up. Observer wards are too cheap and placing them in ganking areas is the best counter for Ganks. So, a variety of ganking style is recommended for being unpredictable. 
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10 Things You Can Learn From Maelk

This guide will inspire you by informing you how Maelk became the great player he is now.

Jacob 'Maelk' Toft-Andersen is my very first inspiration in being a leader of a DotA team. I was so inspired on how his plans would always be successful. He would always be interviewed every tournaments because of his indispensable wit. Teams would often fear his team, MYM, because of his deadly strategies and his ability to counter every opponent's plan. His games would often be superb carrying the team to victories. After watching his games, reading his posts, watching his interviews and hearing the comments of his team mates on him, I learned a lot of dota guides and lessons on how to somehow be a 'Maelk' of our team.
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Dota Guide: How to Farm Fast

This guide will tell you how to improve your farming game.

People often want to know how to farm gold fast in DotA, which is a lot different from me. I am thirsty for blood when I'm playing that I tend to roam a lot. Roaming is fun for me, but then, I expect the carry heroes of our team to be equipped with their needed items as soon as possible so that we can take advantage and destroy towers easily. However, some players want to show off their mad farming skills by farming the whole game. This is not fun at all for me. I don't find self-esteem in having 5 divine rapiers but having 0 kills. I better play 4 v 5 than have a Greedy Gold Farmer team mate. However, farming is also essential in winning games. Here are some tips in getting more gold in less time.
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Dota Ganking and Supporting Guide

This guide will inspire you to play a better support and ganker role.


I have been playing support role since forever because I find this role the most fun role in the game. I love actions and I love getting into fights as early as possible. It was a good thing though because most players here want to play farmer and carry. Farming is important but I find it boring because you become an insurance for the team. You simply stick to your lane and try to farm as much as you can at early game. I know you have to dominate your lane too but if your hero have disadvantages at early game against your opponent, you'll have to play passively. I was known for being a great support for our team back then. But I have to admit, after watching one of my team mate play support role, I realized that someone became a lot better than me. I don't play too often now but I still watch replays and I see a lot of boring support players. They would often act as slaves for the team. You wont even recognize them.
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Dota Guide: 8 Essentials in Winning a Dota Game


This guide will tell you the 8 most important things to have in winning a Dota Game.

There are a lot of factors that help you win DotA games. This is the reason of its excitement and suspense. After every DotA game there are just too much to talk about. But the most discussed is how the team won or lost. Among all of these things that made them won the game, what are the most important factors to be able to win Competitive DotA Games? Here they are ranked according to importance...
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Developing Your Own Dota Team Guide

This is will guide you on how to develop a solid and successful DotA team.

I started my own DotA team when I heard about a tournament in one computer shop near our University. The team I made was composed of friends from high school. I was only an average player being taught by my DotA Teacher, Mark Bernardo. He exposed me to his DotA friends who happened to be the best team back then, the Inzane. I observed how good their team play was. Individually, they may experience defeat but when it's time to play as a team, it's quite impossible to defeat them. How did they develop that kind of team? I asked myself. I didn't stop studying how to have a solid team.
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Ultimate Dota Supporting Guide

This is a guide that tells you almost everything you need about supporting from basic to advance.

Definition: Mainly a support is a hero that takes care or, from the name itself, supports the whole team, most especially the carries. Supports are the ones that are in-charge for the overall team defense and map control.
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DotA Pushing Essentials: How to Destroy Towers Successfully

This article is to guide you and your team in pushing opponent's towers without getting into trouble.

In every single game of Defense of the Ancients, no matter how you do it pushing is one vital and the most important thing to do in order to win. Taking down towers in order to get to the main building is one thing that a team or a player needs to master in order to dominate the opponent. Now here are a few tidbits to help you by when it comes to pushing.

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Watch out for more Dota Guides here at Itsme DotA.

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Posted in: Guides,Mindset,Strategies

Dota Guide on How to Push Towers Successfully

In every single game of Defense of the Ancients, no matter how you do it pushing is one vital and the most important thing to do in order to win. Taking down towers in order to get to the main building is one thing that a team or a player needs to master in order to dominate the opponent. Now here are a few tidbits to help you by when it comes to pushing.

Avoid long sieges.

* Make a push as swift and powerful as possible. Laying a long siege on an enemy base or tower may result in your allies going low on HP and MP and may cause some of their skills and ultis to be wasted resulting in unnecessary cooldowns.

Pressure the opponent.

* But not to the extent that you're gonna be reaching a point that everyone in your team is going to be low on HP and MP as stated from above. This scene is commonly seen as a part of the current meta of the game (especially in the PH scene where it is labelled as "pugak") it is an act of doing a 2 lane push wherein 4 members lay siege on one lane while another hero, which is the "one-man-mass-pusher" tries to push another. This is executed by doing a series of "push-and-back-out" tactics in order to break up the members of the opposing team and to outnumber a lane for a clash.

Check the Respawn Timer

* Especially after a teamfight or a successful gank. Know when you're opponents are gonna respawn in order to know when to back out and avoid going into unnecessary teamfights where your team would be placed in a state of utter disadvantage.

Ward Beforehand

* Warding before a push gives a good vision advantage for those fogged areas behind towers, this is to know if there is or are any incoming opponents that are going to defend and would help you decide on when to back out or to continue the push. For a more comprehensive view on pre-push warding you could check it here: S!'s Support Guide

Creep Block

* Have your tank or any AOE/High DPS Carry block or destroy the incoming enemy creepwave in order to have a higher damage output from your own creeps.

Outnumbering the enemy isn't always an advantage

* Always bear in mind what an enemy can do and not how many enemies are left, when pushing and seeing any incoming enemy defender, even if the situation makes you think that you are at the advantage since they are outnumbered, always think to yourself: Will they be able to defend this mass push? Are their spells enough to wipe out our own creep wave? Are our MPs, Spells and Physical Damage enough to take them out swiftly? You must bear this thoughts in mind most especially if you are going against heroes with some sick AOE Spells that could easily deal with massive creep waves.

Avoid the greed

* Going beyond the tower just to kill that incoming enemy defender sometimes gives a dreadful result that gives a huge disadvantage for your team and could lead to a counterpush. As much as possible limit your greed for gold and focus on the enemy tower first before going in for the kill.

Know when to back out

* What's a good way to do after a push? RUN Getting exhausted after doing a siege gives a good advantage for your opponent and could lead your team to a wipeout if you just stay near them after pushing. This is helpful during the early and mid-game phase where most of your teammates MP are easily drawn out from spamming up skills to counter enemy defense or to wiping out creepwaves.

Credits to Salawayun for the article.

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Posted in: Guides,Strategies