Dota Allstars Map Version 6.71 Review

Several changes have been made in the past versions of Dota but there are still imbalanced heroes existing in 6.70 version. Some of these heroes are Visage, Pugna, Doom, Morphling, Alchemist and Broodmother. These heroes are called imbalanced heroes not because they are the strongest but because they possess more potential from other heroes if used correctly. Does Ice Frog's quest to balancing every heroes in Dota now achieved in this latest version, 6.71? What would might be the changes in hero picking and strategies in this version? What would now be the top pick and ban heroes? Let us analyze what will happen after the major changes made to some heroes.

Morphling

Morphling is a top pick hero by professional players because of several reasons. 1st, survival rate is very high. Among all the heroes, this hero has the highest number of escape mechanisms. 1. Wave Form can teleport him from one place to another instantly. 2. Morph if activated can increase his strength a lot giving him more time to run. 3. Replicate can be used to simply disappear from danger. Not to mention his adaptive strike that can push opponents backward with a slight stun duration. May it be early, mid or late game, morphling rules. Now, with the item Ethereal Blade, morphling can easily kill a fully equipped agility heroes or int in a single combo. Casting Ethereal blade, waveform and adaptive strike is one sick combo. Morphling can have all his strength turn to agility which makes adaptive strike able to deal crazy damage.

Now, what have Ice Frog done to nerf this dangerous liquid monster?

Dota 6.71 changelog for Morphling:

Adaptive Strike damage rescaled
Original: Up to 0.75/1.5/2.25/3.0x Agility
New: 20/40/60/80 + up to 0.5/1/1.5/2.0x Agility

Review: At first I thought this was only a slight nerf but when I further analyzed it, it's a huge nerf for morphling. The old adaptive strike have 3 x Agility at maximum level which means that if morphling has 150 agility, adaptive strike will have 450 damage.

Now, max adaptive strike will have 80 + 2 x Agility damage which means that if morphling has 150 agility, adaptive strike will have (80 + 2x150 = 380) 380 damage. The difference is a lot specially when morph has greater agility like 250. Old Adaptive strike will have 750 damage but the new Adaptive strike will only be 580.

Using Ethereal blade would further show how great the nerf was to adaptive strike. 40% additional damage for magical damage from ethereal blade made the old adaptive strike a killer blow but now, the damage wont be so high. The old adaptive strike will give a total of 1050 damage out of using adaptive strike on a banished opponent if morph's agility is 250. But now, it will only have 812 damage. It cannot take down a fully equipped agility hero anymore in one blow.

Overall, I believe that morphling would still be a top pick because of his high survival rate and versatility all through out the game. He may have lesser adaptive strike damage but it is still dependable. Ice frog simply balanced the skill because he is like having a free Laguna blade in the previous versions.

Alchemist

Alchemist is an imbalanced hero for having a great tanking ability, a long range duration disable, a great nuke best for defending and team fights, additional gold skill and regeneration + hp bonus ultimate. This hero is one of the hero I'm praying to be nerfed. I hate to ban heroes just because they are imbalanced. I know good counters for this but some errors would lead this hero to be an invulnerable monster late game.

Now, what have Ice Frog done to nerf this indestructible armored beast?

Dota 6.71 changelog for Alchemist:

Alchemist
- Movement speed reduced by 5
- Chemical Rage bonus HP from 350/700/1050 to 300/600/900

Review: Movement speed being reduced by 5 is quite ignorable. Alchemist has +30/40/60 movespeed from his ultimate. Movespeed reduction by 5 may lead him to be a little slower to hit his target but this hero is always placed on the trilane so he have slowers and stunners to make the prey easier to kill. One good thing about this nerf is that you can escape Alchemist chasing you while charging his unstable concotion if you have the same or faster boots. Level 3 Chemical rage bonus hp being reduced to 900 disappointed me a lot. This change made to Alchemist is a very unnoticeable nerf. He can still tank with like he used to. It's hard to even take his hp half when it's late game so I guess 105 hp nerf from chemical rage is really useless. It would be more helpful to nerf his regeneration rate when Chemical Rage is activated.

Overall, Alchemist didn't change that much and I expect him to still be used a lot.

Pugna

Pugna is one of the Dota Top 10 Fastest Pusher Heroes and he is also a good hero for clash. Most players would often ban pugna to avoid losing towers early. It's hard to defend a pushing team with pugna with them because of his ability to clear creeps and to damage your hp and mana whenever you cast a spell. Early game his ward hurts a lot. You would want to destroy his ward first before entering the battle but it is not that easy.

Now, what have Ice Frog done to balance this skeleton tower terrorist?

Dota 6.71 changelog for Pugna:

Pugna
- Strength gain reduced from 1.45 to 1.2

Review: That's it. Ice Frog simply reduced his strength gain. Every 1 strength gives 19 hp for the hero. Giving lower str gain for every level makes pugna a stat-item dependent hero. This str gain nerf is a big one because at level 25, pugna would only be having 1005 hp without any item or stats. One laguna wave with aganims will burn this skeleton to death in an instant. Pugna was already a low hp hero but with this str gain nerf he would just be a worm that needs to give more effort being safe.

Overall, with the strength growth nerf on pugna, he would still be a viable pick but not a top pick. It only takes a good initiator to aim on pugna and he's through. He is not that versatile anymore because he already lack the team fight potential. He should not be displaying a lot anymore making him not cast his blast quite often. Nevertheless, with good playstyle, pugna is still one dangerous hero to fight with. It's up to you on how to utilize this hero to achieve his full potential.

Tuskarr

Though this hero still cant be used at captain's mode, I heard a lot of complaints about this hero and I experienced it myself. It was posted at My First 6.70 Map Review where I played Leshrac and solo laned against tuskar and phoenix without even knowing what their skills are. Though I died on my lane, we still managed to win because of reaching late game and having BKB. Tuskar gave our team a hard time from early to mid game because of its imbalanced ganking, laning and clash initiating skills. He have a nuke that will create a barrier behind you for trapping purposes. A snowball that can bring the whole team with him and initiate the clash from the snow ball. Though I know good counters for this hero I have to admit that this hero is really a strong hero that even a not so good player can dominate using this hero.

Now, what have Ice Frog done to nerf this dirty old man?

Dota 6.71 changelog for Ymir

Tuskarr
- Snowball maximum roll duration reduced to 3 seconds
- Snowball movement speed per extra hero reduced from 100% to 50%
- Frozen Sigil HP reduced from 300 to 220/240/260/280
- Removed the extra landing damage from Walrus Punch

Snow ball having a duration of 3 seconds is easier to dodge. You may either be a high move speed hero or a hero with escape mechanisms like blink. Snowball now isn't a big problem anymore having its extra move speed reduced to 50%. Nerfed HP from Frozen Sigil is good because Tuskar would need to max this out to be able to use it longer. Removed damage from Walrus Punch is also a good thing because Walrus punch by default already gives a great amount of damage.

Overall, Ymir wont be feared that much anymore in public games but I think in captain mode games he still shouldn't be included. Good teams can take great advantages on his skills specially his snowball and ice shard making it easier to dominate early game.

Phoenix
One of the most coward hero created in Dota. He have the ability to dive out of danger just by using his dive and casting another skill. He also have very long range nukes that can continuously damage and slow heroes from a very safe place. Moreover, he has an ultimate that makes him invulnerable to magic while inflicting damage to opponents and give him full hp afterwards. He is a very imbalance hero from early to mid game because of these skills he have.

Now, what have Ice Frog done to nerf this gay painful chicken?

Dota 6.71 Changelog for Phoenix:

Phoenix
- Base strength reduced from 22 to 19
- Sunray activation manacost increased from 10 to 35
- Sunray slow from 14/20/26/32 to 10/16/22/28%
- Fixed a bug that caused Sunray to always affect the first target regardless of magic immunity
- Reduced the duration Sunray slow lasts on you from 2 to 1 second
This is the duration that the slow lasts on you after you are no longer hit by the Sunray.


Review: The base strength reduction makes him weaker early game because most of his skills requires some of his HP to cast spells. Icarus dive requires 10% of his hp to cast, Fire Spirits also cost 10% of his hp to cast. His sunray requires 25% of his hp. Reducing his hp is good but with right amount of playing safe, this nerf didn't make Phoenix weak at all. Mana cost of sunray activation increased. I guess this helped in nerfing this bird because it wont be advisable now to turn this skill on and off anytime. The slow nerf for sunray, making it 28% at max and making the slow last for only 1 second instead of 2, also is a good nerf. The Sun Ray before isn't that hard to evade. Right when you see the ray, make it chase by moving to your side. The ray moves slow. If incase you're hit, you still can lose it if your not disabled by another hero. Now, that the slow is nerfed to 28%, it will be even easier to avoid this skill. Anyway, if you get bkb, there's no way he can use skills on you for they are all magic.

Gem of Truesight

I find it incredibly funny that they only nerfed it now. It's been a long time Techies, Rikimaru, Bone Clinkz and invisible heroes are waiting for this. Techies, with all his efforts placing mines and tactical strategies on where to put it, only takes 700 gold to make him useless. Rikimaru even have his ultimate called 'invisibility' but Gem of truesight makes him feel like he only has 3 skills and no ultimate. So far, this Gem of Truesight nerf really balanced the game. Invisible heroes and Lothar's Edge will be a viable choice in this version. Sents and Dusts are good but these require more gold. Sents have short range while dust needs perfect timing to be used making invisible heroes have more time stalking or positioning. I can say that this is a brilliant move by icefrog.

Keeper of the Light

Dota 6.71 Changelog for Keeper of the Light:

Keeper of the Light
- Manaleak now applies a stun instead of a slow when the target runs out of mana
Stun duration: 1.25/1.5/1.75/2.0 seconds
- Manaleak duration from 5/6/7/8 to 4/5/6/7
- Manaleak cooldown from 20 to 18

Stun for 2 seconds is way better than his slow before. Ezalor wasn't pick much before because of not having a stable disabling skill though he has perfect skills for supporting. With his damage, mana support, mana leak for enemies, recall and blind, I guess he is arguably the best support hero in Dota allstars. Now, with his improved mana leak duration cool down and disable, he will be giving more trouble for the opponents and I'd do the honor picking him on our first CM game depending on the line up.

Blood Seeker

Bloodseeker
- Bloodbath now gives 50% of its normal regeneration if he doesn't kill the target but is near it
This change does not affect creeps, it is hero only. By default you gain 10/20/30/40% of a dying hero's max HP if you get the killing blow. If you don't but are within 200 range of the dying hero, you gain 5/10/15/20% of the max HP.

Review: Blood Seeker owns a lot in pub games where people aren't caring for their team mates. He has the ability to kill low hp heroes alone. But in team fights he is not a top choice because of his low hp and easily countered ultimate. Now, with this rescaled blood bath, he can now engage in team fights because he doesn't need to kill a hero to regenerate his hp. Whenever an opponent dies, he will regenerate 20% of that hero's max HP. This can make blood seeker engage in battles and end it with close to full hp. Maelk, whose favorite hero is blood seeker, may have thought of this idea and suggested it to ice frog. Blood seeker is now a gank and team fight oriented hero. Good job.

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Posted in: Dota Map Review,Reviews

10 Ganking and Supporting Defense of the Ancients Guide

"Supports are the true 'carriers' of the team."

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.

itsme.JAM will change your boring impression about supporting role.

Last Friday, Mafia, one of the finest team in Bicol came to play against itsme. They had 3 games and itsme won all of them. It was quite a surprise to win 3-0 against them because the last match against them was a devastating lost. I, then, decided to watch the replays. I realized that having Jam and Ldrige on the team made a big difference. They are totally comfortable with each other and played as one. But, the one who stepped up the most was Jam. He controlled the gank and map awareness for the team. He made the plans and most are successful. Itsme would always dominate early game in all of the 3 games against Mafia. Thanks to these excellent supports.

These are some things you can learn from itsme.JAM and be a better support player for your team.

Have a Gank Strategy Plan

Killing a hero is not easy if it is controlled by a good player. Good players are aware of gankers. In this screen shot from game 1, their strategy is to hide near at the secret merchant where most players wont expect gankers to come from there. This wasn't done in the next games because if they've done it again, the opponents will trap them and easily kill them.

Planning your ganks that would surprise your opponents will leave them unguarded and will be easier for you to kill them. Ganks that are monotonous may be successful at the first time but good opponents will easily learn your strategy and will build higher fences against it. You can find a lot of suggestions in ganking here - Dota Ganking Style. Ganks should be planned and smoothly executed. There must be a perfect timing on when to engage, who's the first one to cast spells and who to aim.


Unique Ward Placement

Supports are the masterminds of observer wards. Placing observer wards in important areas like rune spots is very important. Mid heroes will have great advantage dominating the rune. Defensively, wards are important to counter opponent's gank threats. But in most cases, opponents will predict where you placed your wards and either destroy them or find another place to hide. Having your wards in unique spots is a wise decision. It will be hard for opponents to deward and will make your opponents waste their time waiting.

In this case, Jam placed a ward infront of the opponent's tower. Placing this ward here is very tricky. You would know if a support is hiding behind the carry for back up and you would be able to ensure successful attacks.

This picture right here showed how this ward helped in killing Necrolyte. Necrolyte thought that he wont be seen in buying his item from the secret merchant but the ward shows very clearly that he went there. The supports then took advantage of trapping him and killing him easily.






Learn to Wait

In ganking, you cannot be impatient. You should always wait for the perfect timing to engage. The game shows how patient Jam was waiting for the perfect timing to kill Dragon Knight as shown in the pictures below.

venge got invi

He positioned himself and wait for the perfect timing.

and waited...

and waited...

When DK finally showed up and was far enough from the tower

venge stunned him, giving more time for Alchemist to respond.

DK is in big trouble now and tried to hide in the forest which I think was not a good move.

Then, they finally killed DK.

Waiting for the perfect timing gives more chances of killing your target and make it safer for you.

Never get tired of trying

Jam was quite successful in most of his attempts. It is the combination of prediction and luck. Luck, unfortunately, is included in the game but good gankers would always bet their effort and time. In the games played against Mafia, you would see Jam hiding in the forest waiting for an opponent to farm.

These are some screen shots where venge(Jam) is waiting for a prey to be ganked.

And these are the results of waiting and trying...

Try to gank more instead of sticking to lane. Don't wait for your opponents to be strong and farm items that will kill you in 3 hits. Make it hard for them by being a big pest on their lanes.

Create Advantages for Carry

Supports are needed to dominate early game. They have skills that can disable, nuke, give vision, slow, or heal. They doesn't need to farm a lot to be big help. The only problem is heroes with such good skills doesn't have much potential in late game. That's why carry heroes are still needed. Supports should be around to help team mates get kills, help them dominate their lanes, give them vision for better defense and help them survive.

Venge gave vision for tinker to kill ES

Venge helped tinker kill SF

SF died

Be a Ninja

How does a Ninja fight? If you're a ninja fan like me, you're aware that Ninjas attack from unseen areas. You'd feel their swords inside your chest before you even know where they are. Gankers should be like a Ninja because of 2 important reasons. 1st is simply the low health of support heroes. Good opponents would not hesitate getting you out first. 2nd reason is to make the gank more successful. If you are seen before you engage in your gank, the initial reaction of your opponents would be to retreat. You'll then waste the chance of killing that hero. As you can see from the pictures above, Jam hides in the forest a lot, and show himself along with his magic missile.

Always be ready for clash

Supports are very important in early clashes. They have the skills that are deadly for these low level opponents. Stun and nukes are essential to kill most of your opponents. Jam would use his clarity and flask if he has low hp and mana to be ready for team fights. He doesn't loiter around when he has short mana or hp. Jam would run through the fountain quickly and regenerate if there are no other chance to have his mana and hp back. Then run again to lanes where he is much needed. He can cast magic missiles, terror and swap anytime because he didn't waste time loitering instead of regenerating.

Destroy your opponent's wards early

Jam realized that the opponents have wards where he would hide to gank them. He immediately bought sentry wards to remove the opponents defensive advantage. You can see at this picture that it was only 9mins and he already took the initiative buying sentry wards to destroy opponent's wards. Destroying your opponent's wards is very important if you want to gank. Good opponents would always have their eyes on the map and would know if you are planning to gank them. You should never skip buying sentry wards in ganking.


Always back your team mates up when they are in trouble

Map awareness and always having tp scroll with you makes it easier for you to back your team mates up. You can either walk if you sense that team mates in other lanes would be in trouble or you can buy tp scroll and teleport as soon as you see the opponents charging through your team mate. There are big chances that you or your team mate would be the one to kill the opponents who tried to kill him. If not, at least you saved your team mate from losing his golds and letting the opponents have extra gold.


Psych out your opponents

In every game, once you mentally defeat your opponent, he's done. Try to psych out your opponents and make him feel that he should fear you. Like what Jam done here. We all know that this venge cannot kill shadow fiend in this case, but Jam is trying to psych out the Shadow Fiend by trying to show that he can.  Though venge didn't continue killing SF, he left something to SF that wouldn't make him reach his potential, fear.  

Supporting is not boring.  It is up to the player whether it would be boring or not.  Give supporting an art and be a fun to watch player whatever your role is.

Watch how itsme.Jam played support here Itsme vs Mafia 1 2 3 .

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Posted in: Guides,Strategies

Dota 6.71 Changelogs

Heroes

Abaddon
- Increased Aphotic Shield cast range by 50

Admiral
- Ghost Ship cooldown reduced from 100 to 90
- X Marks The Spot Return icon placement and hotkey adjusted
The return ability now takes the position of the main ability when it is active and uses the same hotkey as the primary spell


Alchemist
- Movement speed reduced by 5
- Chemical Rage bonus HP from 350/700/1050 to 300/600/900

Axe
- Battle Hunger cooldown reduced from 25/20/15/10 to 20/15/10/5

Bane Elemental
- Fiend's Grip Scepter duration from 5 to 6 seconds

Bloodseeker
- Bloodbath now gives 50% of its normal regeneration if he doesn't kill the target but is near it
This change does not affect creeps, it is hero only. By default you gain 10/20/30/40% of a dying hero's max HP if you get the killing blow. If you don't but are within 200 range of the dying hero, you gain 5/10/15/20% of the max HP.
Bounty Hunter
- Track team bonus gold from 50 to 50/100/150 (this is still considered Reliable Gold)

Bristleback
- Back damage prevention from 10/20/30/40 to 16/24/32/40
- Side damage prevention from 5/10/15/20 to 8/12/16/20

Broodmother
- Base movement speed reduced from 315 to 310
- Spawn Spiderlings manacost increased from 75/90/105/120 to 80/100/120/140
- Spawn Spiderlings buff duration increased from 0.9 seconds to 2

Chaos Knight
- Phantasm duration increased from 20 to 24

Chen
- Test of Faith cooldown rescaled from 30/28/26/24 to 24

Dragon Knight
- Dragon Blood regeneration increased from 1/2/3/4 to 2/3/4/5

Dwarven Sniper
- Shrapnel DPS increased from 10/20/30/40 to 12/24/36/48

Earthshaker
- Enchant Totem no longer dispels if you animation cancel

Faceless Void
- Chronosphere duration rescaled from 3/4/5 to 4/4.5/5

Furion
- Sprout can now target the ground again
Fixed a previous issue where it became harder to target a unit reliably

Sprout: A21E
Guardian Wisp
- Tether movement speed bonus reduced from 20/25/30/35 to 15/20/25/30
- Spirits cooldown rescaled from 14 to 20/18/16/14

Huskar
- Lifebreak HP cost rescaled from 40/33/25% to 35/30/25%

Invoker
- Cold Snap no longer triggers on self damage

Jakiro
- Macropyre damage increased from 75/125/175 to 100/140/180

Juggernaut
- Healing Ward regeneration rescaled from 1/2/4/5 to 2/3/4/5%

Keeper of the Light
- Manaleak now applies a stun instead of a slow when the target runs out of mana
Stun duration: 1.25/1.5/1.75/2.0 seconds
- Manaleak duration from 5/6/7/8 to 4/5/6/7
- Manaleak cooldown from 20 to 18

Leshrac
- Diabolic Edict is no longer reduced by damage block items(Stout, Vanguard, etc)
- Fixed Pulse Nova sometimes turning itself off after getting hit by certain ability types


Lina Inverse
- Attack range increased from 600 to 625

Lycanthrope
- Feral Impulse damage and attack speed bonus increased from 10/15/20/25% to 15/20/25/30%

Magnataur
- Skewer cooldown reduced from 45 to 35

Meepo
- He can now use cyclone on his other clones

Morphling
- Adaptive Strike damage rescaled
Original: Up to 0.75/1.5/2.25/3.0x Agility
New: 20/40/60/80 + up to 0.5/1/1.5/2.0x Agility

Nerubian Assassin
- Urna Swarm rebalanced
- Maximum summons reduced from 2/4/6/8 to 2/3/4/5
- Infestation dps increased from 20 to 40
- Infestation aoe increased from 275 to 300
- Cooldown rescaled from 14/11/8/5 to 26/19/12/5
- Manacost rescaled from 10 to 40/30/20/10
Obsidian Destroyer
- Arcane Orb cooldown removed

Ogre Magi
- Ignite rescaled
- Damage increased from 10/20/30/40 to 26/32/38/44
- Slow increased from 10/15/20/25% to 20/22/24/26%
- Duration from 7.5 seconds to 4/5/6/7
Phantom Assassin
- Coup de Grace critical strike rescaled from 2/3/4 to 2.5/3.25/4x
- Reworked Blur fade mechanism
Blur:
Note: Your hero is no longer always fully faded out. It now only gains partial transparency when the new secondary effect below is active. This still retains the permanent 20/25/30/35% evasion.

Passively blurs your hero when near enemy heroes, causing your model to fade out partially and become hidden on the minimap to enemy player.

Distance: 1600

Has a 1.5 second delay when adding or removing the effect.
Phoenix
- Base strength reduced from 22 to 19
- Sunray activation manacost increased from 10 to 35
- Sunray slow from 14/20/26/32 to 10/16/22/28%
- Fixed a bug that caused Sunray to always affect the first target regardless of magic immunity
- Reduced the duration Sunray slow lasts on you from 2 to 1 second
This is the duration that the slow lasts on you after you are no longer hit by the Sunray.
Pitlord
- Dark Rift cooldown reduced from 180/160/140 to 130

Pugna
- Strength gain reduced from 1.45 to 1.2

Queen of Pain
- Shadow Strike duration damage rescaled from 15/30/45/60 to 30/40/50/60

Rhasta
- Ether Shock damage increased from 75/150/225/300 to 80/160/240/320

Sand King
- Burrowstrike manacost rescaled from 140 to 110/120/130/140

Slark
- Pounce cooldown reduced from 16 to 12

Spirit Breaker
- Strength gain increased from 2.5 to 2.8

Tauren Chieftain
- Movement speed increased by 5

Thrall
- Static Storm cooldown increased from 75 to 85

Tidehunter
- Anchor Smash chance to proc increased from 20 to 25%

Tiny
- Grow bonus damage increased from 40/80/120 to 50/100/150

Tuskarr
- Snowball maximum roll duration reduced to 3 seconds
- Snowball movement speed per extra hero reduced from 100% to 50%
- Frozen Sigil HP reduced from 300 to 220/240/260/280
- Removed the extra landing damage from Walrus Punch

Undying
- Flesh Golem's Plague slow increased from 7% to 9%

Vengeful Spirit
- Removed the small attack damage reduction aspect of Wave of Terror

Viper
- Corrosive Skin damage, slow and magic resistance increased from 5/10/15/20 to 10/15/20/25

Warlock
- Rain of Chaos Aghanim Infernals HP and damage increased from 50% of original to 75%

Zeus
- Static Field aoe from 900 to 1000
- Thundergod's Wrath Scepter from 355/460/570 to 400/500/600

Items

Ancient Janggo of Endurance
- Attribute bonus and attack damage increased from 8 to 9
- Charges increased from 3 to 4

Ethereal Blade
- Ether Blast damage rescaled from 2.5x Agility to 75 + 2.0x Agility

Gem of True Sight
- Gem now has a stock cooldown of 6 minutes

Phase Boots
- Active boost increased from 15 to 16%

Smoke of Deceit
- Reduced detection area from 900 to 850
- Movement bonus increased from 10 to 15%
- Initial cast aoe increased from 900 to 1200


Gameplay & Cosmetics
* Allies are now notified when you purchase a Smoke of Deceit
* Swapped the attack projectile of Thrall and Chen (280542)
* Added a new visual effect for Omniknight's aura (393596)
* Enigma model now shows team colors (395228)
* Reduced Phoenix model size a little bit
* Added a test mode command to respawn roshan (-roshan)
* Added an ally only visual effect where Ghost Ship will land
* Improved Dark Ritual mana text display so it is easier to read
* Finger of Death and Laguna Blade no longer target magic immune (since they do 0 damage but waste spell)
* Illusory Orb flashes right before it is about to expire
* Added -disablehelp support for Disruption
* Some map size reductions (Unexpect3D)
* Medallion visual effect is played on the caster now as well
* Added a status buff icon for Shallow Grave (251251)

Bug Fixes


* Fixed Geomancer clones sometimes getting the wrong initial boots before pickup/drop
* Icarus Dive disarm now gets properly dispelled if you become magic immune while the debuff is on you
* Fixed various inconsistencies with Eredar's spell behaviors and Disruption
* Fixed Spawn Spiderlings failing to affect Ethereal units
* Fixed Bloodseeker model size issues with BKB
* Fixed Switch bugs with Strygwyr's Thirst
* Fixed various tooltips
* Fixed a bug with Illusions working against Supernova
* Fixed Empower status buff icon
* Fixed some rare bugs on Spirit Bear death
* Fixed Io and Harbinger icons moving in tavern
* Fixed Power Treads triggering Last Word
* Fixed enemies being able to see Ice Blast on the minimap when near towers
* Fixed lots of abilities/items having rare bugs during some hero transformation/morphing abilities
* Fixed a visual glitch with a magic immunity icon appearing on your ability list while Nether Striking
* Fixed Plague Wards instantly killing Homing Missile
* Fixed gem overhead visual with shared gem
* Fixed hero vision bugs after quick buybacks
* Fixed rare cases where a courier delivery would fail to give you an item and place it far away from you
* Fixed Requiem of Souls not adding charges to Necromastry
* Fixed Serpent Wards instantly killing The Swarm units
* Fixed a bug with batrider where he would sometimes lose his flying height
* Fixed Medallion triggering and ignoring Linken Sphere
* Fixed some small bugs with Power Cogs that can cause them to die prematurely
* Fixed minor inaccuracies when casting Ghost Ship near map edges
* Fixed a bug with Homing Missle not being able to hit a hero if he is standing near map edges
* Fixed a very rare bug with muted items being created in the center of the map
* Fixed an exploit with item manipulation
* Fixed Orchid triggering and ignoring Linken Sphere
* Fixed Scepter Infernals not being affected by Blackhole
* Fixed Visage's Familiars not being affected by Blackhole
* Fixed enemy Gem and Circle of Power interaction
* Fixed potential buggy interaction of some aoe spells with Kraken Shell
* Fixed interaction between Shrapnel and Power Cogs
* Fixed an exploit with Circle of Power
* Fixed some buffs not being properly removed by Dark Pact
* Fixed an old fatal error exploit possible while using couriers
* Fixed an issue with Gem on couriers
* Fixed a bug with HCL bot game modes
* Fixed some bashes/stuns not being detected properly for Sunray and Relocate purposes
* The following overhead text tags have been fixed to no longer display through fog of war: Meld, Multicast, Walrus Punch, Chaos Bolt and Dark Ritual
* Fixed some visual effects not always being displayed properly for observers
* Fixed Flesh Heap gaining str from suicide (recently reintroduced bug)
* Fixed a bug with Spirit Bear and Bashers
* Fixed an abuse possible with couriers and hand of midas
* Fixed some cases where the flying courier is still able to go into the enemy fountain area
* Fixed a bug that caused Viper Strike to no longer be deniable
* Fixed rune messages not always appearing to both observers
* Fixed HP bar appearing on Spin Web

Download 6.71 here


Source

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Posted in: News,Reviews

Pros and Newbies Differences

People would often rate a player based on how well they play. Players that play superb and are inspiring players would often be called 'Pro'. If a player is called professional, he should be earning from that game but we love to exaggerate things so we call them Pro. Most people tend to call uninspiring players as noobs but I prefer calling them newbies because noob, for me, is a very hurtful word. We all started from being ignorant of the game so calling a person noob or dumb is way too heart-piercing. Are you wondering what are the qualities Pros have that are not present to Newbies? What are the things done by newbies that make them uninspiring and prone to criticism?

Here are some things that separates Pros from Newbies

Newbies: I'll do what I feel like doing.
Pros: I'll do what should be done.

Newbies: I will execute my plans no matter what.
Pros: I will wait for the perfect timing to execute my plans.

Newbies: I will pick these heroes because they are strong.
Pros: I will pick these heroes because they have perfect chemistry and they can counter the opponent's hero line up.

Newbies: I died. It's time to blame my team mates!
Pros: I died. I'll be more careful and alert next time.

Newbies: The opponents are so strong, I'll quit and find weaker opponents.
Pros: The opponents are stronger than me, I should learn from them and try to beat them as soon as possible.

Newbies: Damn, gankers are behind me. I'll click so fast towards the fountain, there might be miracles that I may live.
Pros: Gankers are now behind me, I should try to make them chase me at the forest and increase my chances to survive. I'll try to buy items and not waste my golds from my death.

Newbies: The opponents are pushing! They appear so strong, I don't know what to do but, CHARGE!!!!! oops, I died.
Pros: The opponents are pushing, I should find a good position to spam their creeps to death and wait for my team mates to set.

Newbies: That hero is one hit away from death, I'll chase him though I don't have mana. He might be a noob and press hold.
Pros: I wont chase that dying hero for there is no possible way of killing him. I will just put myself in danger.

Newbies: The hero retreated when I was about to gank him, this is a pub game, grrrr!! map hack!!!
Pros: There might be wards here or he's just careful. I'll buy sentry wards to destroy his wards so I can gank him easier.

Newbies: My opponents need me but there are still a lot of creeps to give me more gold. I'll just tell them I don't have a TP scroll.
Pros: My opponents are about to engage in a team fight, it's time to buy a TP scroll.

Newbies: I wont buy obs, it's a waste of 200 gold.
Pros: It is better to spend 200 gold for observer wards than to waste more gold from dying.

Newbies: Grrr... I wont waste my time waiting here for nothing, I should gank him even though a tower is next to him.
Pros: I'll wait for better chances because I can't afford to die from ganking impatiently.

Newbies: I was stunned, stunned and stunned to death darn! There's no way I'll survive this lane!
Pros: I know what are the things the heroes of my opponents can do. If they are going to execute their combo, I have plans on how to survive and counter their attacks.

Newbies: I will steal more kills so I'll be famous.
Pros: I'm playing support role it's better to give the kills to our carry to give him more farm.

Newbies: It's clash time! Oh, a Bristleback! Attack!!!!!
Pros: Their tank is baiting we should find a way to find their most dangerous hero before we kill this high hp but low attack damage hero.

Newbies: My opponents are all hitter but I'd still buy BKB because I saw vigoss bought BKB and own his opponents.
Pros: I will buy items that will increase my armor to limit the opponents damaging potential. BKB is such a waste of 3800 gold, buying HP items would be a better choice.

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Posted in: Guides,Mindset

10 Things You Can Learn From MYM|Maelk

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. 

Think of the easiest route to victory

Winning was so difficult for us back then. We were panicking and praying that our carry would get farmed up to carry us to victory. But, when I read Maelk's comments on games. He pointed out that in every hero line up, there's a hole. You should find out what's that hole and beat the team using that hole.  It is taking advantage of your opponents' weaknesses.  Maelk was so good in detecting and countering opposing team's plans and strategies. I tried to study every hero line ups for quite some time and realized that we could really have won easily the games we played before if we played focusing on opposing team's weaknesses. Hero picking contributes a big part of winning.  Before the game is played, you'll see how Maelk already beat the opposing team seeing the hero picks.  Combined with the team's great talent, he became a well known deadly strategist.

Play any roles
From being arguably the best Queen of Pain player before, he switched to playing support roles and still own. His chen is the only type of chen I can't imitate. His level of aggressiveness is simply incredible that he can be safe in every ganks but would still contribute a lot. His versatility lead his team to having fun games and a lot of wins.

Inspire your team mates

One thing I observe on how the MYM became successful is Maelk's great Charisma.  The team appreciates him for having great wit and leadership skills. Maelk would show the team how to execute the game plays. He would show the level of play style for them to reach. Inspiring your team makes them want to play more with you and will have an urge to improve.

In an interview, MYM|Mania said: "Of course I think he(Maelk) is the best captain, else I wouldn't play with him through all these years. His strenght is his way to think outside the box in a lot of situations in the game, hes good at taking the quick decisions that occures through a game, and many times we win because of these tactical moves."

Be a good listener

Maelk is a captain who is open for suggestions. He respects the opinions of his team mates. He weigh things up first before making decision. This is the difference between leading and managing. Leading is making your team mates want to do your plans while managing is forcing your team mates to do your plans. It became a lot of fun for all of us when I started switching from managing to leading. I believe that a team is stronger if they all desire a single goal.

Be active in Dota forums

Yes, dota forums are not made for nothing. These are made for discussions towards improvement. Maelk would always read then you'd see him post comments to clarify and enlighten people's minds. Seek help. It's good to be independent but you will find useful things on forums because there would be experienced people who may already have solved problems or queries like what you have now. It is best to learn from others errors for you don't have to undergo the same bitter experience to improve.

Analyze every game critically

It is from Maelk that I realize that there is more to farming, ganking, pushing and winning. There are tons of points to analyze and critically understand. Without him, I'd treat Dota like tetris and I wouldn't be here blogging stuffs about Dota. Every answers from his interview were all new to me and I tried to treat Dota the same way he treated it.  One great ability of a leader is being able to solve mysteries for the team.  Your team mates may not understand why in the world have you lost.  A good leader will find it out and clarify everything to his team mates.  Maelk is definitely that kind of leader.

Be Original

He was the one who formulated MYM's strategy. He analyzes every heroes and concluded on what may be the best play style to win games. He is like a hero line up scientist. His strategies are from his own ideas. He was never afraid to try something new. Whenever he feels like a strategy would be successful, he goes for it. Examples are: pudge omniknight lane. This was even used in an important tournament. I remember him saying that he used this strategy because it would be great to try having a free radiance in early game. He also introduces Bradwarden in Dota scene.  He also formulated the triple push strategy.  Where they defeated an AOE focused team by pushing 3 lanes at the same time.  This trapped the opponents at their base having hard time to defend.  It is one of the best games I ever watched. You can view it here KS vs MYM.

Have firm CONFIDENCE in yourself

Most people who hated him for being cocky didn't realize that MYM's strength relies greatly on Maelk's confidence. His confidence made his team mates more at ease in the game. Leading a Dota team is a big responsibility. You should have the right amount of confidence because no one will trust you if you, yourself, is in doubt of your skills. Honestly, in the first Dota tournaments we participated at, I was so nervous. I feel like vomiting out of fear. I was the captain and I know top teams are included. I was so afraid to let my team mates down. They were nervous too. So, I was a useless leader because I should be the one making them calm. Good thing I became a follower of Maelk. I changed a lot and lead my team mates to being better players and win a lot of tournaments.

Make quick but good decisions

In games where plans have great chance of failing, you should know how to make quick adjustments to still have the game running on your side. This is one trait of Maelk that even his team mates can prove. His judgments are simply so perfect everytime, making him decide the best things for the team to do. Teams with leaders like him are so lucky because there will be less confusion and they can act at once. In this game, time is just too precious to be wasted on thinking what to do next. Situations change quickly. Opportunities passes by in a blink of an eye.

Be a Doer not just a Dreamer

We were all dreaming of becoming a great Dota team but we never thought it would be possible. Dreaming is good but if you take no action it is a total waste of time. Pursue your dreams. If you want to reach the moon, go. If you fail, you'd still end up reaching the stars. Maelk didn't directly say this but you'll realize it after seeing his hardwork in analyzing each and every heroes to formulate strategies. He worked hard practicing with his team mates that made MYM one of the most successful teams in Dota.

I might have been quite nostalgic about the history of MYM and myself but these 10 things I learned from Maelk had inspired me a lot to become a better player and leader.  Right attitude is important in Dota and he can inspire you a lot too to have these winning traits.  There may be a lot of other good teams right now you can learn from but I think there is no one who shares a lot of insights like Maelk. 

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Posted in: Guides,Mindset

Icefrog Angry at Zeus?

Zeus is one of my favorite hero but I find so difficult to use him at captain's mode Dota games. Zeus was a dangerous hero during 6.48b. He was even a top pick and a decent ban. Why was Zeus's era ended? Most tournaments today doesn't use him anymore. I last saw him used by a top professional team when DTS used him to counter Windrunner at lane but if you want to assure your game to win you wont pick Zeus. Zeus was nerfed indirectly so badly. Zeus has powerful lane control back then and has great early mid and late game potential. But these things happened...

Dagger was nerfed

This was the end of Zeus's escape mechanism. Zeus without dagger can't escape once he is caught by stunners. It will be very easy to gank him. He can try to kill one hero with his combo but whether he kill him or not, he'd still die in ganks. In team fights he will always be the main target because with him alive means a lot of damage for the opponents.


Hood of Defiance was Added
Lightning bolt is one deadly skill, but with defiance it is one funny skill. Arc lightning also contributes a lot of damage before because of its short cool down, but defiance made it ignorable. Wrath doesn't give enough damage too on a hood of defiance holder. Zeus was made to spam spells. All his spells are long range but his normal attack is quite short and it doesn't give enough damage to hurt opponents. Zeus can't beat most opponents with hood of defiance because before he can use 3 lightning bolts he may be at the tavern already waiting for him to resurrect.


Crystal Maiden's aura was nerfed

It was so fun to pick Zeus when there is an allied Rylai because he can use his nuke a lot early. Mana regen along with a bottle or ROB is enough to make Zeus's opponents bleed. Nerfing the aura removes that fun. The aura's regeneration now is only sufficient for heroes having low mana requirement skills.


Magic stick/wand was added

Zeus, having a very short range normal attack, needs his arc lightning to safely farm against dangerous opponents. However, intelligent opponents would simply buy magic stick and benefit from Zeus spamming arc lightning to farm and harass. When clash/gank comes, the opponents have big advantage because of having a lot of magic stick charges.

Hood can already be upgraded to Khadagar's Pipe of Insight

Hood already made Zeus weak but now Khadagar's Pipe of Insight made him pretty much useless to be picked. The barrier made by this skill will last for 8 seconds, enough time to finish a clash. Zeus obviously cannot use his ultimate at once because that would be useless. Spamming his skills will somehow help to break the barrier but still he cannot damage that certain hero quickly. He would have to wait to break that barrier and cast his spells, but good teams will end the clash before he even have the chance to cast one lightning bolt. rofl. Furthermore, the price of the recipe of this item is now cheaper(from 1000 to 900 gold).


Smoke of Deceit (New item at 6.70)

This skill will place a buff on everyone on the team but they shouldn't be near at enemy towers/heroes. This somehow countered Zeus's wrath of god because Wrath of god doesn't damage invisible units. It may be a good way to hide whenever you have low hp and Zeus might use his Wrath. It lasts for 40seconds, enough time to run through your base and regenerate.


On the positive side, arcane boots was made that makes Zeus a little better and lightning bolt's cool down was reduced from 7 secs to 6.5secs. I hope Ice frog can make Zeus stronger because I'm a big Merlini fan and I miss using this hero. Maybe remove arc lightning from the list of skills that charges magic stick or make lightning bolt pure damage. Doing so, Zeus may not be able to run from gankers but he may use his nukes to kill the threat and escape.

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Posted in: Heroes,Reviews

Dota Guide: Best Lessons I Learned to Improve My DotA Game

I'd like to share this to everyone because maybe some people may also learn from my lessons.  After 5 years of playing this game,  I knew the game well enough to determine the winning formulas for most DotA games.  This was the product of both my passion for the game and hardwork to build a good DotA team.

Here are the Best Lessons I Learned to Improve my Dota Game

Never rush things

This the most important thing I've learned that made me have a better DotA game.  I was used into rushing.  Rushing to push, rushing to gank, rushing to kill, resulting to rushing to the tavern and wait for my respawn.  I was so impatient before that I even get pissed if my team mates are still farming.  I want action and I want to dominate the game as early as 10 minutes.  My impatience caused a lot of defeats.  I always end up under leveled and I never had the chance to farm luxury items.


Never skip basic items

I was used into playing lina in pub games where I always dominate by buying dagger before boots or other basic items.  I would gank alone with my combo and go back to the fountain.  Then gank again.  It was pub game where my opponents would be troll mortred etc.  When it comes to facing opponents with perfect team play, while Lina would be farming her dagger, the team may already be dominating and you are already feeding because of skipping the basics.  Always remember to win at your lane. 


Keeping my eyes on the mini-map

Looking at the mini map often made me quicker to respond.  Once I see a red dot charging towards my team mates, I'll sure be there to back them up and turn the gank into our advantage.  Thus when, opponents are not seen on the mini map, I can decide to either search for them or to play safe because a gank may be coming.  My reactions become quicker because of having the habit of keeping my eyes on the mini map.


Don't hesitate to buy wards

Observer wards became my favorite item in this game because of its ability to give me a lot of 'W'.  Observer wards are saviors of my hero's life.  They also serves as an offensive tool for searching and trapping opponents.  Before, I didn't want to buy wards because I feel like I'll be delayed in my items.  I realized that my death costs more money than wards.  If I bought wards, I'll be safe and I wont lose farming time.

Early Sentry/Dust/Gem

Don't wait for anybody to buy this for you.  Most invisible heroes have low hp and it is a waste if you don't abuse their big disadvantage.  Buy sentry/dust and kill them.  Buy gem if you are confident enough that you wont die. Not killing invisible heroes early game will make them farm deadly items to finish you off on the latter part of the game.  You'll lose and all your efforts will all be wasted if you don't take the initiative to buy these items.


Trash Talk

It's not the trash talking that you make to quarrel your opponents.  This trash talk is useful if you are playing on lan.  Trash talk serves two things.  First, it gives confidence to your team mates.  I tested this a lot of times.  My team mates played better when I trash talk.  They become more calm and they can think better.  2nd thing, you can psych out your opponents when you trash talk.  This will test their mental toughness.  If they are affected by your trash talks, their game will greatly be affected.


Read Hero Guides

I don't have hero guides here yet.  I recommend playdota.com for this.  They have good authors that give hero guides on their favorite heroes.  They give detailed information on the do's and don'ts, item and skill build, strategy early to late game etc.  After reading, apply them in your game and apply your original creativity.  It will make you play the hero better.

Watch Professional Replays

To improve more in playing certain heroes watch professional players play it.  Use them as inspirations to your game in playing the certain hero.

Play Against Good Players

Never have the quest "search for the noob".  Always fight against players who inspire you.  Don't play against weaker players just to make you feel good.  If you really want to improve, beat players who are on top of you.

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Posted in: Guides,Mindset

Hero Skills Blocked by Linken's Sphere

Linken Sphere is a very confusing item. Some skills are blocked totally, some doesn't take any effect, some only block a part of the skill. This is to enlighten everyone who is confused whether a hero skill would be blocked or not. These are lists of hero skills that Linken Sphere has something to do with. Skills not listed here take no effect from this item.

Remember:
When a skill is totally blocked - the skill is evaded completely and the linken's sphere goes to cool down state.
You can cast any skill on any allied Linken's holder hero not triggering the item.
The heroes are arranged alphabetically to give you ease on searching.

Abaddon - Lord of Avernus

• Death Coil - damage is blocked
• Aphotic Shield - damage from breaking the shield is blocked

Aiushta - Enchantress

• Enchant - slow is blocked

Aggron Stonebreaker - Ogre Magi

• Fireblast - damage and stun are blocked.  Multicast fireblast are all blocked.
• Ignite - slow and damage are all blocked.

Akasha - Queen of Pain

• Shadow Strike - slow and damage are all blocked

Anub'arak - Nerubian Assassin

• Impale - stun and damage are blocked if cast on the hero with linken, otherwise, Linken Sphere has no effect on it.
• Mana Burn - damage and mana reduction are all blocked
• Urna Swarm - Scarab's infestation is totally blocked

 Anub'seran - Nerubian Weaver

• Shukuchi - the attack after invisibility is blocked by linken's sphere.

 Atropos - Bane Elemental

• Enfeeble - totally blocked
• Brain Zap - totally blocked
• Nightmare - totally blocked
• Fiends Grip - totally blocked

 Azwraith - Phantom Lancer

• Phantom Lance - slow and damage are blocked

 Balanar -  Night Stalker

• Void - Slow is blocked but damage and ministun aren't
• Crippling fear - totally blocked

Banehallow - Lycanthrope

• no skils are blocked by linken

Barathrum - The Spiritbreaker

• Charge - the linken's cool down will start if the charge of darkness icon appears on the opponent but this skill wont be blocked.
• Nether Strike - totally blocked(no damage nor stun)

Black Arachnia - Broodmother

• Spawn Spiderlings - totally blocked
• Incapacitating Bite - totally blocked

Boush - Tinker

• Laser - blind is blocked but damage isn't

Bone Clinkz - Bone Fletcher

• Wind Walk - attack after wind walk is totally blocked by linken

Bradwarden - Centaur Warchief

• no skills are blocked by linken sphere

Cairne Bloodhoof - Tauren Chieftain

• Earth Splitter - only slow is blocked

 Chen - Holy Knight

• Penitence - Slow is blocked but not bonus damage
• Test of Faith - totally blocked, (test of faith on allied heroes have no interaction with linken sphere)

Crixalis - Sand King

• Impale - totally blocked if clicked on the target hero, otherwise there's no effect.

Darchrow - Enigma

• Malefice - totally blocked

Darkterror - Faceless Void

• No skills have interaction with linken Sphere

Ezalor - Keeper of the Light

• Illuminate - will be on cool down if clicked on the hero but wont block, otherwise it has no interaction.
• Mana Leak - blocked totally.  If cool down of linken's sphere ended while on mana leak then the hero ran out of mana, slow will be blocked.
• Blink Light - blind is totally blocked but will still be pushed

Furion - Prophet

• Sprout - totally blocked
• Wrath of Nature - blocked totally if targeted on the hero itself but bounced damage isn't

Gondar - Bounty Hunter

• Shuriken Toss - totally blocked
• Track - totally blocked

Harbringer - Obsidian Destroyer

• Astral Imprisonment - totally blocked

Io - The Guardian Wisp

• Spirits - blocks one instance totally

Jah'rakal - Troll Warlord

• Blind - totally blocked

Jakiro - Twin-headed dragon

• Dual Breath - Blocks damage but slow and damage over time aren't.

Kaldr - Ancient Apparition

• Cold Feet - totally blocked

Kardel Sharpeye - Dwarven Sniper

• Shrapnel - If the hero with linken move towards the AOE of this skill, slow will be blocked but not the damage.  If cast on the hero itself, linken will be on cool down but will still take full effect.
• Headshot - totally blocked
• Assassinate - totally blocked

 Kel'Tuzard - Lich

• Frost Nova - totally blocked if targeted on the linken holder but not if clicked on a unit next to him.
• Chain Frost - first hit of the frost is totally blocked the rest aren't.

King Leoric - Skeleton King

• Hellfire Blast - totally blocked

Knight Davion - Dragon Knight

• Dragon Tail - totally blocked

Krobelus - Death Prophet

• No skill has interaction with Linken's Sphere

Kunkka - Admiral

• Torrent - blocks slow but neither disable nor damage is blocked.
• X Marks the spot - totally blocked
• Ghost Ship - Blocks stun but not the damage.

Lanaya - Templar Assassin

• Poisonic Trap - totally blocked

Lesalle Deathbringer - Venomancer

• Venomous Gale - totally blocked

 Leshrac The Malicious - Tormented Soul

• Lightning Storm - totally blocked

 Leviathan - Tidehunter

• Gush - totally blocked

Lina Inverse - Slayer

• Laguna Blade - totally blocked

 Lion - The Demon Witch

• Impale - Blocks totally if clicked on the linken holder, otherwise there will be no effect.
• Voodoo - totally blocked.  If linken becomes available after cool down, it wont end the voodoo.
• Mana Drain - totally blocked.  If Linken's Sphere becomes available after cool down, it wont end Mana Drain.
• Finger of Death - totally blocked

Luna Moonfang - Moon Rider

• Lucent Beam - totally blocked

 Lucifer - Doom Bringer

• LVL? Death - blocks the first instance of ministun and damage
• Doom - blocked completely

 Magina - Anti-Mage

• Mana Void - totally blocked if  casted on the linken holder.

 Mangix - Pandaren Brewmaster

• Drunken Haze - totally blocked
• Earth: Hurl Boulder - totally blocked
• Storm: Cyclone - totally blocked
• Storm: Wind Walk - attack after invisibility is totally blocked

Medusa - Gorgon

• Mystic Snake - Linken's Sphere would be in cool down but no damage nor mana reduction is blocked.
• Stone Gaze - Only starts Linken's Sphere cool down but wont block anything.

Mogul Khan - Axe

• Battle Hunger - totally blocked
• Culling Blade - if the hero is one culling blade away from death there would be no interaction but if culling blade is used just to damage the Linken holder it will be blocked totally.

Morphling - Morphling

• Adaptive Strike - blocked totally
• Replicate - blocked totally

Mortred - Phantom Assassin

• Split Dagger - blocked totally

Naix -  Lifestealer

• No skills have interaction with Linken's Sphere

Nessaj - Chaos Knight

• Chaos Bolt - a ministun will subsitute the full stun but the damage isn't blocked.

Nevermore - Shadow Fiend

• Requiem of Souls - Starts Linken's cool down but no damage is blocked.

Nortrom - Silencer

• Last word - silence is totally blocked

Pudge - Butcher

• Meat Hook - starts cool down but nothing is blocked
• Dismember - totally blocked

Pugna - Oblivion

• Decrepify - totally blocked
• Nether Ward - totally block mana flare
• Life Drain - totally blocked

Purist Thunderwrath - Omniknight

• Repel - totally blocked

Raigor Stonehoof - Earthshaker

• Fissure - if clicked on the hero, the Linken's sphere will start its cool down but the stun and damage wont be blocked.

Razor - Lightning Revenant

• Static Link - If clicked on the hero the Linken's cooldown starts but the skill would still work normally.
• Unstable Current - totally blocked

Rexxar - The Beastmaster

• Primal Roar - damage and stun is blocked but not slow.

Rigwarl - The Bristleback

• Viscous Nasal Goo - totally blocked

Rhasta - Shadow Shaman

• Ether shock - if targeted on the hero, it'll be blocked normally but if targeted on nearby allied units, the linken's sphere, there is no interaction.
• Voodoo - totally blocked
• Shackles - totally blocked

Rikimaru - Stealth Assassin

• No skills have interaction with Linken's Sphere

Rooftrellen - Trent Protector

• Forest Sentinel - blocks stun totally
• Overgrowth - totally blocked

Routund'jere - Necrolyte

• Reaper's Scythe - totally blocked

 Rylai - Crystal Maiden

• Frost Bite - totally blocked
• Freezing field - linken's sphere starts cool down but neither damage or slow is blocked.

Slardar - Slithereen Guard

• Amplify Damage - Blocks totally

Slithice - Naga Siren

• Song of Siren - totally blocked

Shendelzare Silkwood - Vengeful Spirit

• Magic Missile - totally blocked
• Nether Swap - totally blocked

Spectre - Mercurial

• Spectral Dagger - totally blocked if targeted in the hero.

 Strygwyr - Blood Seeker

• Blood rage - totally blocked
• Rupture - totally blocked

 Sven - Rogue Knight

• Storm Bolt - if cast on the linken holder, skill is totally blocked.

Squee and Spleen - Goblin Techies

• No skill interacts with Linken's Sphere

Terrorblade - Soul Keeper

• Soul Steal - totally blocked
• Sunder - starts cool down but skill still works normally

Tiny - Stone Giant

• Toss - if the Linken holder is the primary target of the toss's AOE, the linken's sphere will start its cool down but damage wont be blocked.
• Craggy Exterior - totally blocked

Traxex - Drow Ranger

• No skill has interaction with linken's sphere

Ulfsaar - Ursa Warrior

• No skill has interaction with linken's sphere

Viper - Netherdrake

• Viper strike - totally blocked

 Visage - Necrolic

• Grave Chill - blocks totally but visage would still get the bonus speed.
• Soul Assumption - totally blocked

Vol'jin - Witch Doctor

• Paralyzing Cask - totally blocked if the linken holder is the primary holder.

Yurnero - Juggernaut

• Omnislash - if the Linken holder is the primary target the ministun will be blocked.

Zeus - Lord of Olympia

• Arc Lightning - blocks totally if the Linken holder is the primary target
• Lightning Bolt - totally blocked and no Truesight AOE is gained.
• Wrath of God - totally blocked but vision will still be gained.  If the linken holder is invisible, there would be no effect.

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Posted in: Facts,Items,Reviews

Netopia Nation Wide DotA Tournament: New Goal of Itsme

After winning the 2nd prize in the previous Netopia DotA Tournament, Itsme Gaming is now hungry for the 1st place. I played with them last friday to check on how high are the chances to reach the top. I faced them with my own itsme.Gk team. I can say that as early as now they have a 70% chance of finishing 1st. With constant practice they should have no problem.


Itsme Rosters for Netopia DOtA Tournament:

itsme.kwKy

Alton 'kwKy' Aguilar

I cannot express more how proud I am with this player. Not only did he improved in being a player, but he also became a good team player and a great leader. Being the most versatile player on itsme, hero picks are well understood by him. Outsmarting this guy in hero picks is not an easy task. 

itsme.KingEx

Seth 'KingEx' Dialino

The LGD.2009 of itsme. A solid mid player who has the highest level of prediction among all itsme. He knows how to inflict damage quickly in team fights making it easier for the team to win most clashes. Though he is at mid lane, you need to watch out because anytime he'd be on side lanes whenever he feels like having a triple kill. With him on the team is like having a bullet proof armor at your car.

itsme.DESO

Mark Joseph 'Deso' Abasolo

I'm proud to say that I predicted this time will come from the first day I saw him play. He is not the farmer you simply ignore. First of all, ignoring this guy for a little time will make you pay with his ultra fast farming ability. Second, if you gank him, be very careful because his good banking knowledge may lead you to be the one to die. Third, if you try to fight farming with him one on one. You'll realize that in 10 mins you only have 10 creeps and 1 deny. That was the time when he was hiding because he thought there might be gankers.

itsme.JAM

Nico 'JAM' Bautista

This player is not an ordinary one. Call him a magician and I'll believe you. He can play any role and he plays them damn good. He has a great mind hacking ability to know the plan of the opposing team. This make him a good ward placer. Without a gem, you'll waste more money on sentry wards just to destroy his wards. This guy roams all around the map like he doesn't run out of mana. Whatever his strategy is, it's for you to find out.

itsme.Ldrige

Eldrige 'Ldrige' Lim

A real DotA genius. You can see this guy dating, playing online games and eating. You wont see him practice Dota but when he plays, you'd still consider him as an imbalanced player. When he plays support, don't expect to feast on him because you will be frustrated. He is very careful and he definitely wont feed.


Good Luck team mates! You've improved a lot and you have a very high possibility to get the trophy. Go for the gold! ITSME!!!

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Posted in: Itsme DotA News