Ultimate Dota Supporting Guide

 The Support

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.

Main tasks of supports

• Now most people's knowledge of a support hero's job is only limited to
  providing the courier, roaming and warding when in truth a support needs
  to do more than that. Here is a list of what a support user must do for
  his/her team:

1. Providing the courier
2. Warding/Dewarding
3. Roaming/Ganking
4. Babysitting
5. Teamfight Setting/Initiation
6. Lane Harrasment
7. Team Defense
8. and last but not the least and also the most important: Overall Map Control

Preferred skills for supports

• When choosing a support one must take the following abilities or spells into consideration:

1. Single Target/Area Disables
2. Global/AOE Beneficial Aura
3. Healing Spells
4. Movement Reduction Spells
5. Burst Damage Nukes
6. Status Reduction Spells
7. Teamfight Oriented Abilities

Gameplay

• A support user greatly relies on their own movements on partially on the
  items on their inventory. Supports usually go for items that add beef or
  STR type items for survivability, wards and town portal scrolls. A good
  support player should be able to survive a whole teamfight and get the
  tide of the battle in favor for their team. Here is a sample item core
  build for a support player:

1.Warding/Dewarding

• Warding
  and Dewarding are two of the most important skills that a support user
  should have. Knowing when and where to place wards gives a very great
  advantage in vision, pushing, farming and teamfights. 

Placing Observers, When to Ward, Where to Ward:

• This
  section would cover certain wardspots for Observer Wards in certain
  situations and phases in the game. I'll start with the sentinel side
  first

Early Game/Before Creepspawn
Lane Wards


Cliff beside mid lane, gives a decent view of the river, blind spots and rune area thus giving a safe mid lane farm.


One of the most commonly used spots in game, gives a good view of the
river, rune area and also provides vision for both the jungle and roshan
entrance.



Yet another commonly used wardspot, gives a quite larger view of the river, runearea plus jungle and roshan entry points.



Defensive
ward area for going against a Scourge trilane on bot, gives a rather
good view of the fogged area, Scourge's tier 1 tower and could be used
to offset incoming ganks.



Another preferable wardspot when going against a Scourge bottom trilane.

Mid-game/Ganking

Jungle Wards

Wardspot for Scourge jungle area, gives a good view of the two creep spawn points


Scourge jungle ubercliff, one common and very useful wardspot

Pre-push Warding
These wards are helpful when doing massive lane pushes, they provide decent
vision on the back of the tower to give sight of any incoming enemy
defender(s)


Pre-push ward for Bottom Tier 1 Scourge Tower


Mid lane Tier 1 Tower Pre-push ward area


Ward
area for when your team wants to push the Tier 1 tower on top, could
also be used as a defensive ward for going against top trilanes.


Pre-push wardspot for Midlane Tier 2 Tower

Base Warding
These
spots are good for doing that final massive Tier 3 tower push, gives a
good view on the enemy base and greatly reduces fog areas on the top
cliffs.


Bottom Lane Base Ward


Base Wardspot for Mid Lane


Base wardspot for top lane

Situational Wardspots


Mid Lane fog reduction


Top lane anti pull also gives a good view of the jungle entrance, offsetting incoming ganks


Ward area when your team wants to go for roshan or to scout if enemies are planning to go for roshan.


Another
defensive ward area for mid lane, gives a good view of the gank road in
the jungle plus reduces the fog area on the river and the opposite
cliff.


Another ward area for offsetting midlane ganks


Ward area for protecting your top lane solo hero


Ward area to give vision on the gank lane

Now that' all for the Sentinel Side, let's now check on for Scourge Team ward areas.

Early Game/Before Creepspawn


This spot gives a decent view of the river, runearea plus it eliminates the common fog spot used in ganking


A rather defensive ward spot for protecting your mid laner


Wardspot to block a creep spawn point and prevents bottom lane creep pulls


A good spot to be used when going against top trilaners, gives a good view of the river below, tower and some fogged areas.


Top rune wardspot, please note that this spot could be also used by the Sentinel

Mid Game/Ganking
Jungle Wards


Uber Cliff Wardspot, a common wardspot used in-game

Pre-push Wards


A good vision spot when your team wants to do a push on Mid' Tier 1 tower


Ward area for pushing Bot's Tier 1 Tower


Top's Tier 1 Tower Pre-push Wardspot


This area gives a further view at the back of the tower, signaling for any incoming enemy defender


Ward area for pre-pushing Mid's Tier 2 Tower

Base Warding


This spot gives a good view of both the Top Tier 3 and Mid Tier 3 Towers


Base wardspot to give vision of the Bottom Tier 3 Tower Area

Situational Wardspots


Wardspot
to give an additional edge for your mid-laner, this spot is good
against defensive and tower-hugging opponents, gives a good view of the
tower area plus eliminates a few fogged areas.


Ward area to give vision of the gank lane and jungle entrances.


Defensive
ward area to protect bottom laners against aggressive gankers, gives a
good view of the river plus eliminates the jungle fog area


Ward
area for scouting the roshan entrance, could also be used (and normally
used) as an early game wardspot since it gives a good view of the rune
area.


Ward area used to offset incoming ganks or to foil enemy setplays.


Defensive ward area to offset backstab-type gankers on the bottom lane

Now that would be all for the warding section.

Dewarding

• Dewarding,
  from the term itself, it is an act of locating and destroying enemy
  observer wards in the map. This is to reduce enemy vision to a minimum
  and it also helps in landing successful ganks and team setplays. There
  are two main ways to deward, one is through the use of Sentry Wards or by using the Gem of Truesight.
  Now for this section I won't be posting any pictures regarding on
  locations on where to put your  Sentries, why? Plain logic: If you know
  where the wardspots are then you should know where your enemy's wards
  are located. Knowing every wardspot in the game plus the proper
  observation if whether your ganks are predicted or not already gives you
  an edge on whether if the enemy is warding or not and where to hunt for
  enemy observers.  Also, take note that Sentry Wards have limited
  natural vision on itself

• The red circle shows the natural sight range of a Sentry Ward while the
  transparent white circle shows its true sight range, knowing this gives a
  good edge in Dewarding since you won't be wasting too much sentries to
  locate multiple observers that could be located by only one when placed
  correctly.

Ganking/Roaming

• Yet another vital
  skill that any support user should posses, proper knowledge on when and
  how to roam gives a very good advantage favoring your team. Plus
  partnered with warding and dewarding skills, total map control could be
  achieved without any hassles.

Some tips about Roaming and Ganking

1. Go roam or do ganks at night, during this time most heroes and
   units visions are lessened making it easy for you to find blind spots
   behind heroes for surprise kills.
2. Ninja moves is a must, use the fog, this is your best friend when
   roaming, proper utilization and abuse of the fog-of-war in-game is an
   advantage both in attacking and backing out.
3. Do it fast, a good gank should last for no more than 10 seconds to reduce the chance of enemy counterattacks
4. Stunlock like a pro, mind the duration of your disables, plan your
   moves on who throws the stun first, who throws in next and when would
   you or they throw the stun.
5. Hero block, after stunning, quickly run forward and block your enemy's lane so that your ally could deal a good amount of DPS.
6. Timing is everything, here's a tip, wait for the next creep wave
   to get near to the enemy so that he would not have any vision or
   whatsoever from behind him, also take a look at your own creep wave to
   anticipate on where the enemy wave is currently located.
7. Be careful when towerdiving, don't directly attack or right-click
   on your opponent when your diving for them inside the tower, try moving
   in advance to where he is running and then throw some spells or nukes,
   doing this reduces the chance of the tower and the creeps going aggro on
   you thus reducing incoming damage that could possibly be taken from
   both the tower and the creeps.
8. Bring potions, if you wanna be a solid, hardcore, roamer/ganker having potions in your inventory ensures  continuous
   ganks without having to go back to the fountain to often but also be
   mindful on how much you're spend for pots for you might not be able to
   stack up for your core items which are badly needed during mid-game.
9. Anticipation and mind games, try to think ahead of your enemy, try
   to guess where he would be going or what move will he be doing next.

Babysitting

• This is the act of protecting your lanemates to ensure a safe farm for them, Babysitting is best and mostly done for heroes that are totally fragile on the early game phase or don't have any escape mechanism skill whatsoever like:

• Now take note that babysitting is not limited to these types of heroes. Babysitter type supports are mostly the ones having healing and protection type spells like:

• Well of course supports of these types are not limited to those heroes only. Now as opposed to the offensive Trilane, babysitting is a lot more defensive in every aspects, babysitters don't do too much harass but they do everything to their extent to protect their lanemate, either by slowing down enemy progress, disabling or in most cases healing.

Saving

• Now most people think that a support should sacrifice himself just to save the carry, now this is not true in most cases. A support must always do everything within his ability in order to save a dying colleague without going into the need for sacrificing oneself. A support could do this by disabling or slowing down enemy movement, healing, path blocking and drawing enemy aggro to oneself if necessary.

Teamfight Setting and Initiation

• Distance is important when doing teamfights, this is to ensure that your Support Hero would last throughout the whole clash without dying in order to deal the highest amount of damage output possible coming from you, the support user. 

When to engage in team fights?

• Mostly you go in after your carries or tanks, then throw a spell (mostly stuns), back out a bit then go back and throw a spell or a burst nuke again if you have one. Always keep an eye on who your team is focusing on and on who hits your carries to know who to nuke or disable.

When to retreat?

• A Support (or your team) should back out when:

1. There is no mana left to throw a spell
2. Carries/Tanks are dead/low on HP
3. Failed Gank Attempts

All in all, a support player should be able to master or if not at least gain a fair amount of knowledge regarding hero synergies, clash initiations/settings, warding/dewarding, proper roaming, fog abuse, and overall map control in order to be totally effective in the game. One must not be totally dependent on what items they have in their inventory but must rely on their movements and decision making skills in order to become a good support player.

oOo

Well I guess that would be all for this guide, here are some other useful articles to help you along in your journey in becoming a good support:
http://www.playdota.com/guides/the-forbidden-techniques  - "Ninja Moves" Manual
http://www.mineski.net/discussion/11067/tips-and-tricks-facts-gathered-from-all-around-the-web./#Item_65  - Fun DotA Facts Gathered from all around the Web
http://www.mineski.net/discussion/11892/mastering-warfare-tips-for-getting-that-clash-control-and-effective-hero-kills/#Item_7  - A Mini Guide for Mastering Clash Control


Credits to Salawayun for the article.

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Posted in: Guides,Strategies

Extreme Mirana Nightshade Elune's Arrow Guide

Elune's Arrow is one of the most dangerous skill in Dota. The only problem is, there are only few people who use this accurately. I watched several players who used POTM, but there are only few who are skilled in using Elune's arrow.

Professional Mirana Users

Vigoss
-Highest arrow accuracy so far, best for his gank oriented play style.

Slahser
-One of the most fun to watch POTM player because of his blind arrows.

Longdd
-He used POTM in a pure ganker role and this was always successful because of his great arrow accuracy.

Playmate
-Whenever he uses POTM it's like an arrow showtime.

Locally,

happyfeet-Julz
-Have the ability to dominate his lane with POTM alone because of his highly accurate arrow.

itsme.titi
-My only team mate that I tell him to arrow... not try to arrow. When he uses Mirana I'm always expecting one opponent to be stunned for 5 seconds.


First of all, Mastering Elune's Arrow needs experience. It's like learning how to swim. You don't learn how to swim by simply reading. You read to know what you should develop to make you a better swimmer. Reading this article will make you more strategical with your arrows.

Traits needed to land arrows perfectly:

• Extra Patience
• Keen Observation
• Imaginative
• Position Awareness
• Optimistic

When to Use Arrow:

1. Prey is farming
2. Prey is fleeing
3. Prey is in a clash
4. Prey walks through small areas
5. Prey is going to respawn
6. Prey is attacking you
7. Prey is using channeling spells
8. Prey is chasing your team mate
9. Prey is chasing you
10. Prey only have one safe route to run through

Mirana Nightshade Arrow Highlights by Hexor

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Posted in: Guides,Strategies

DotA Turtling Strategy

What is Turtling?

• The term turtle is widely used in Strategy games.  It is also a popular term in Dota scene. It is referred to as simply focusing on making a hero get all the levels and items he need before that hero joins the battlefield. Turtle is the term used because the pace of that play style is slow.

Why do we need to Turtle?

• Teams would usually turtle when they cannot win team fights early game.
• Turtling is also used for playing safe.  It is one of the safest strategy in Dota because the turtling hero can be a turning point for a lost early game at times.
• It is also good to turtle if you have a team mate who farms fast.  Take advantage of this to give you an easier win.

What are the types of Turtling?

1. Massive Nukers team mates - Defense oriented.  It is simple defending opponents early push to make your carry hero have more time farming.
2. Ganker Team mates - It is executed by ganking the opponents constantly making them busy for their survival making your carry hero farm more gold.
3. Baby Sitter team mates - the entire team are focused on giving the carry safe lanes to farm.  Supports and other heroes would always protect the carry hero from gankers.
4. Hybrid - it is the combination of the aforementioned types of turtling.

What are the things to remember in using this strategy? 

1. The 4 heroes who aren't turtling should have skills that would make them win team fights early until mid game.  
2. Be sure to have sufficient disables and nukes to help your carry survive and even give him kills early game.
3. The turtling hero should farm his items as fast as possible so the team would stop taking risky 4v5 battles anymore.
4. Be sure that the hero picked to be turtling could beat the opponent's late game heroes too.

Turtle Line Up Example:

Fairy Dragon - Puck
Tinker - Boush
Earthshaker - Raigor Stonehoof
Crystal Maiden - Rylai
Mercurial - Spectre

Puck and Tinker would go solo lanes and the other 3 would be on trilane.  Early game, Earthshaker and Crystal Maiden can harass opponents to give Mercurial a safe farming lane.

 Once gankers come for Mercurial's head, Puck should be ready to teleport and coil making the enemies the one to die.

Tinker can babysit Mercurial continuously by teleporting back and forth to his lane and spam missile to the enemy heroes on Mercurial's lane. 

Clashes can easily be dominated by those 4 heroes Early game with their painful nukes, puck's silence and their AOE skills that hurt a lot early game.  Spectre can join clashes after the opponents used their skills already or simply give them killer blows for extra gold.

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Posted in: Basic,Guides,Strategies

820 will Play Carry for New EHOME Roster

Source: Super players SGamer.COM Editor: SGamer.COM | rainy night is young

Clan officially announced earlier this month after the new lineup(Related reading: eHome team officially announced the list of New Year message to send ), in 2010 the king of the division achieved a miracle  EHOME also recently announced the start of training camp.Experienced  Burning &  KingJ leaving the team and  LongDD & Countries who joined the Warriors, the new EHOME attitude to meet what will be more intense competition for 2011 it? Carry the responsibility within the team who will take up - is the captain of the WGT Carry during the restore  820 or veteran LongDD? The answer seems to have been announced!

According to the latest news, EHOME2011 the new location as follows:

 820 (Captain): Carry 
 LongDD: Carry / Gank 
 Dai: Gank 
 States who Musou: Gank / Support 
 357: Support

In view of this, 820 will return to the C bit, and LongDD Vice C and will play Ganker, Dai will wield the sword Ganker, state disability, and veteran unparalleled position number 357 featuring 4,5.

WCG wild card race is about the recent start, the ECL Gaming DotA Champions League will also increase throughout the year projects and events will, EHOME This time the training is bound to win the opener in 2011. So now let us look forward to their wonderful performance of it!

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What's up with National Pride? Does Nationality Makes you a Better Player than Anyone?

"I'm proud to be an American, German or European..." National pride, what the heck is this?

After being active in international dota forums, I observed a very unreasonable mindset, National Pride. People who are carrying the flag of a popular country in Dota would often discriminate countries who aren't.

"I can never understand National Pride." -George Carlin

In my case, I am a Filipino but I'm never proud of myself whenever Manny Pacquiao wins a fight. I'm not proud even he is now a legend in boxing. Why? Because I believe that PRIDE should be reserved for something you achieve or attain on your own, not something that happens by accident of birth. I pity people who are living in an illusion, an illusion of pride. It is being proud out of nothing in reality. Not because you are Danish, you are as good as Maelk. Not because you are German, you can replace KuroKy. You should start achieving things on your own and prove to people that you should really be a proud person.

A country is full of different types of people. There are good, bad, hardworking, lazy, smart, dumb. Well, you may be a country of tall people, does this thing alone make you proud? What if you are to compete in a chess game? Will your height help you? This National Pride is a mere brainwashing nonsense imposed to people. If you want to be popular, work for it. Do not simply ride on the popularity of others because you will be seen as a lazy parasite.

I don't believe in generalizing people. There are a lot of people in our own country who are not like us, in fact, we hate what they are doing. If you are going to generalize people according to their Nationality, all the Germans should be creating their own Gas Chambers to kill people who seems useless to them.

Dream big. Don't let any other people, who are blinded by national pride, bring you down. Success lies in a person's own outlook and response to things. If you fall and a person will try to step on you, dodge. Stand up and learn from what made you fall.

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Posted in: Facts,Reviews

Fountain of Life Destroyed by Itsme in a Showmatch

One of the strongest thing to do in Dota, is to destroy the opponent's Fountain.

The Fountain is the most dangerous place for opposing heroes. It can burn and kill any hero in seconds. To destroy the Fountain in a real 5v5 game, you should be powerful enough to inflict high damage to the Fountain and to constantly kill reviving enemy heroes. 

Watch how ITSME Dota Team did this in a Tournament Showmatch.

Heroes of the Game

Priestess of the Moon - Perfect solo lane against 3 heroes at bottom lane. He even managed to farm sick items and became a killing machine reaching 37 kills 0 death 13 assists.  He has close to 100% arrow accuracy.
*credit to itsme.DESO*

Shadow Fiend - Owned mid lane and carried the team fights from early to late game.  Good map movement and sensational use of Shadow Raze.
*credit to itsme.kwKy*
 
Download Replay Here

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Posted in: Game Reviews,Reviews

Dota Traits that are Essential in Dating your Girl

This is a Valentine's Day Special Article.

I am sick of Dota vs Girlfriend issue. Why don't people realize that being a good dota player corresponds to being a good partner? Dota is a training in having a good decision making and this can be applied in any aspect of life. I'll prove that in this article.

Playing Dota and Dating Traits You Should have:

Spontaneity

Dating:
To make your girl have her days with you become the best days of her life, you should have this trait, spontaneity. You should know how to listen carefully whatever your girl is saying and you should know the wittiest replies on what they are saying. She would appreciate your being a perfect listener and you would be able to leave her a good impression of your wit. You'll surely make her wanting for more as soon as you drive her back to her home.

Dota:
Like in Dating, Dota requires spontaneity. You should be able to read your opponents and you should know the wittiest thing to do based on their moves. Time is too precious in Dota to alot more time thinking what you should do next. You need to play spontaneously and have the quickest but the best response on every situation.

Confidence

Dating:
Girls find confidence the sexiest trait in a man. They want a boyfriend that they could look up to. If you, yourself don't believe in yourself, how could your girl entrust herself to you? Be confident and calm. Girls are equipped with the most advanced technology in detecting nervous guys.

Dota:
Playing Dota, certainly, needs confidence. The moment you think that the opponent will beat you is the exact moment you lose. Without confidence, you'd be a chicken being hunted by the opponents. Calmness comes with confidence. It is even included in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Dota Players.

Source of Fun

Dating:
100% of the girls want fun. Remember, you are not her father to preach her while dating. You're not her brother to just play your PSP while with her. And you're not her sister to fight with her. While dating, you should want to have fun. Don't be the best pessimist on stuffs, specially the one she loves. Try many things. Girls want a bad boy not a nice guy, know why? It's because bad boys usually give more fun than nice guys. Bad boys are the guys that will take them to go for mountain climbing, scuba diving, skydiving and other breath taking stuffs. And they are fun! Nice guys are the one who would simply spin with girls while saying "We'll get through this baby." No matter how many girls say, "I want a nice guy." No, they dont!

Dota:
In playing Dota, never forget to have fun. If you are too serious, you'll end up losing all your team mates because you are one perfectionist wh0re. Have fun and you'll have better games, I assure you. I saw some players slamming the keyboard everytime they die or lose. I'm like, "What? Are the demons nearby going to take your soul after that death?" Have fun. It's the best advice I can give to you to become a better gamer.

Be Full of Surprises

Dating:
Girls definitely love surprises. They don't want predictable guys. They have several assumptions before your date. They may expect you to be wearing a simple shirt, shorts and cap like what you always wear on your dates. Now, the moment she sees you and you're in your polo shirt, slacks and new hair style, she'll totally be amazed.

Dota:
In Dota, you definitely need this. You should be unpredictable because once the enemy knew what you're going to do, they would surely beat you because you gave them the gift of preparation.

Not too Emotional

Dating:
You shouldn't take yourself seriously if you want to win with girls. What I mean is don't be too sensitive on things. Don't lose your mood when your girl acknowledge the presence of your small pimple. Take this opportunity to even have more fun. Use it to tell a joke or story that will surely make her smile. This will make her admire you for being confident and mature. Emotional guys are one of the type of guys women avoid. They offer more drama than fun in dates.

Dota:
Being emotionally stressed will surely make you fail at your dota game. Anger or frustrations will surely affect your game a lot. Your brain won't function the way it should be and you'll be playing without actually thinking.

Enjoy your Valentine's Day! Show your girlfriends that you are more than a good dota player. Show them how good you are at decision making may it be in Dota or real life.

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Posted in: Guides,Mindset

Captains Mode: Ultimate Hero Picking Guide

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.

How can we do this? How can we be trusted leaders when it comes to Captain's mode Dota games? How can we be a Hero Drafting King to lead our team in having the easiest route to victory?

I'd like to start with this simple quote from Einstein, "Imagination is more important than Knowledge."

We all know that Earthshaker has Fissure, enchant, aftershock, echo slam, but it's our imagination that made us decide to buy Kelen's Dagger of Escape. We imagined that in a clash, a surprise attack from Earthshaker have great chances on wiping out the entire opposing team.

This applies greatly in hero picking. You need to have a good imagination. Some good captains played Dota for centuries just to be a good drafter. But, what if you don't? We play Dota for fun. We are not having BS Dota as our course so we don't really have that much time to experience all the Heroes Line up and decide what works best. The shortcut to being a good Drafter is your imagination.

These are the things you need to "IMAGINE"

1. Potentials of Heroes

You need to imagine the things heroes can do to give trouble to a team. You need to conceptualize what they are capable of. Pugna, for example, can push undefended towers quickly because of his Blast. Alchemist, when farmed up, can turn into a very painful and hard to kill beast. You need to know what heroes are capable of because this is where you'll have to imagine the next number - Hero Counters.

2. Hero Counters
 
Now that you have imagined how those heroes will give you trouble, you should start thinking of what counters you're going to have. You may think of countering Pugna with a Jakiro to defend towers. You may try slardar to reduce Alchemist's armor late game. You may try anything you think would counter certain heroes. Some may be effective, some will fail. What's important is you fail forward because you learned from that error and you're ready to have new plans. I can't teach you how to be an instant Professional Dota Captain, but I'll surely give you the vision how to skip experiencing tons of lost Dota games just to improve.

3. Laning

Laning is very essential. You also need to use your imagination to determine how you're going to win your lanes. In most cases, you need to know how to dominate a lane but sometimes you just need to know how you're going to survive. May it be solo lanes or trilanes, you need to imagine the abilities of your opponent's heroes and take advantage of their weaknesses.

4. How to Kill Early Game?

Why are supports essential in the team? Yes, it's map control and early game dominance. Supports are important because they would give the team more kills early game. They have painful skills at lower levels like disables and nukes. Now, you need to imagine how you're going to kill. You should not just pick 2 supports without thinking how good their combo is.

Here's an example of a good pair of supports
Crystal Maiden + Sven - The slow of CM gives sven more hits on the opponent. Storm bolt and frostbite adds more.
Here's an example of a bad pair of supports
ES + Chen - In ganks, Fissure can block Chen's creeps at times making the prey flee safely.  There are other heroes that have better chemistry with Earthshaker or Chen.  I'm not telling though that they shouldn't be picked.  I saw Chen and Earthshaker picked at the same time by pro players.  They didn't rely on ganks.  They focused on team fights and was successful. 

You need to conceptualize how you're going to kill your preys at early level. If you visualize that it'll be harder to kill with your planned line up, think of a new one. Never just pick randomly. Good opponents would take advantage of your weakness at drafting and they're going to use that against you.

5. The Team Fights

Imagine what you're going to do at team fights. Are your heroes capable of wiping out the entire team? or after 3 kills, all your killing mechanisms are gone? That's why there are combination of nukers and hitters in the team. Nukers alone won't kill all the opponents. Hitters alone would consume more time to kill everyone. But, the most important part is, knowing how your opponents will fight. What are the things they are capable of at team fights? At drafting itself, you need to be prepared for the strategies they're going to execute with their heroes.

Now that you learned the most important key in Drafting, which is imagination, let us learn what should happen in Drafting Phases.

1st Banning Phase

What happens most here is you ban heroes you don't want to see in the game. There are several reasons for banning.

1. Those heroes will disrupt your plans.
2. Those heroes are difficult to counter.
3. Bluffing to use certain heroes.
4. The opposing team is comfortable in using those heroes.

1st Picking Phase

This is where both of the teams will pick 3 heroes in 1-2-2-1 order. I suggest picking good supports 1st because of 2 reasons. 1. Limited good support heroes 2.Goal to counter opponent's carry heroes. If you pick your carry heroes at once, opponents will grab that opportunity to counter your carry heroes. They're going to pick heroes that focuses on the disadvantages of your carries.

I'd like to point out the advantage of having the last 1 pick. This last 1 pick is a treasure. You can pick any carry hero here without any fear. After you pick the certain hero, the next phase is the 2nd ban phase. You can simply ban the heroes that counter that hero you picked.

In this phase you can have a glimpse on how the opposing team would play. You can decide now what kind of play you're going to execute against their plan. In my case, I pick my supports and I pick a carry hero that is difficult to counter or is a counter to my opponents.

If you have a plan on using a combo that you have thought before, you should never give your opponent a hint that you're going to execute that combo. Remember to always deceive your enemies. Banning and picking heroes that won't reveal that plan is good at this phase.

2nd Banning Phase

Most people take this for granted but this is my favorite phase in drafting. This is where you are to ban 2 heroes after the 1st picking phase. Now, what happens here is I look at my opponent's 3 heroes. I will determine what are the missing pieces that will make their line up a solid one, then I'll ban the heroes that will fill the holes. If the opponents picked 3 carry heroes at the first phase, I take that advantage to ban strong supports that will make the game easier for them. They'll be left no choice but to pick the weaker support heroes left.

I also use this phase to eliminate the heroes that will counter my picked heroes. Like, when I picked Tinker in the 1st Picking Phase, I'd ban Night Stalker or Puck in the 2nd Banning Phase.

You can also ban heroes like what you did on 1st banning phase.

2nd Picking Phase

This is the phase where you are to pick your last 2 heroes in 1-1-1-1 pattern. In this phase you should choose what your first pick is. In case you are the last one to pick, you have the advantage of giving a surprise pick for the opponent. In case you are not the last drafter, you should be prepared on what the opponent may pick. Your line up should now be complete. You should decide what solo heroes you're going to have and what would be the heroes for trilane. The heroes you're going to pick now should complement the 1st 3 heroes picked. Their skills should have a smooth flow for team fights. For example you have picked ES venge WR at your first picking phase. You shouldn't pick another melee hero because your trilane has an Earthshaker. It'll be a hard life having 2 melee heroes at your trilane. You may pick a melee hero for mid lane but not for trilane because you'll be having a passive trilane which is prone to harassment. 2 melee heroes in a trilane also means an easy farming lane for the ranged opponent carry hero.

Summary:

Kinds of Hero Drafting
1. Hero Countering Based
2. Complimenting a hero played good by a team mate with a good combo
3. Creating a combo for the team to execute
4. All of the above

Note: No. 4 is the best. Combining all of these kinds will surely guarantee a solid Hero Line up for your team.

Reasons for Banning
1. Plans not to be disrupted
2. Can't play that hero well
3. Hard to Counter heroes
4. Opponents love it
5. Bluffing

Imagination is the Key

Things to be visualized before or while drafting
1. Potentials of Heroes
2. Hero Counters
3. Laning
4. Killing Early
5. Team Fights

Things to remember at Drafting Phases
1st Banning Phase: Reasons for banning
1st Picking Phase: Pick flexible heroes first. Be ready to counter.
2nd Banning Phase: Ban heroes that will strengthen the opponent's line up. Ban heroes that will counter your previous heroes picked.
2nd Picking Phase: Compliment heroes with the previous picks. Continue with your counters.

Professional Dota Replays are everywhere. There are a lot of websites giving you these but copying their play styles won't give you any chance of beating them. To understand the game thoroughly and to have original game styles are the factors that will make you have a successful team.

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Posted in: Guides,Strategies

25 Signs of Dota Addiction

1. Whenever you lose a Dota game, you want to grab your weak team mate and punch him in the face.

2. Your left thumb is always on the alt button whatever you're doing at your computer. Maybe you want to check your facebook friend's hp bar.

3. When you get amazed at anything you call it 'imba'. 'He scored 99 at his math test, imba!'. You also call things that annoy you, 'imba. 'That guy is imba, he is damn fat'.

4. You relate people's appearances with Dota characters. You call guys with sharp teeth, Gondar. You call black friends, Nevermore. You call ugly fat guys, pudge.

5. Winning a Dota game makes you feel like a celebrity. You stand up feeling that everyone is looking at you. You tend to snob weaker players and treat them as your fans.

6. You start getting fat because of lacking exercise but you ignore it. You think that as long as you win, you'd be a handsome celebrity.

7. You play Dota from the moment you wake up until the last hour you are awake. Then, you continue playing in your dream.

8. Playing Dota is having several code names like, "mom, I'm doing my research I'll be home at 2am.", "yeah, dad I'm changing the tires of my car.", "hello sweetheart, where am I? (thinking...) Damn, damn, the battery is low... (turn cell phone off and resume game)"

9. You become so thrifty on anything except on Dota.  You would endure not buying food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, then spend everything you earn playing Dota.

10. Dota became a third party on your relationship. Your girlfriend is starting to let you choose between her and Dota. The worse thing is, you choose Dota.

11. You say the word 'aw' in really life. Girlfriend: "my mom is sick." You: "aw, sorry to hear that.."

12. You have a facebook photo album full of Dota screen shots though people don't really care about it.

13. You judge the totality of the person based on how good he plays.  Ugly but good player would say, "How the hell that noob guy got a hot girlfriend?!  I'm gonna tell his gf that he's noob so she can change her mind."

14. You are enumerating Dota character names while doing other things like watching tv, walking to school, cooking, eating, pooping, dating.

15. Sexy fan arts of lady Dota characters make you aroused.  Worse, you search for more sexy pics of Dota character.  Worst!  You search for their nude pics.

16. You find it difficult to sleep after losing a Dota game.  Your body rotates like 30 times while thinking before you sleep.  You even hammer your pillow and repeat a phrase several times, like "I did my best!".  And sometimes, you'd do the most pathetic thing ever you can do with your life, you cry.

17. When you go to a party with your friends to hang out, the topic you're going to discuss are the following: Dota games played, Dota new plan, Dota character's strengths and weaknesses, and how 'imbalance' is the food you're eating.

18. You try teaming up with good players because you get so afraid to lose a Dota game.  You feel like losing a Dota game would turn you into a vapor and dissolve out from this planet.

19. You remember the exact time you bought all your items but forget the time your home will be locked.

20. You try to play better whenever a girl is near, thinking that they would approach and ask you to be her boyfriend after.

21. The years you are addicted to Dota would be the years you are in a different world, forgetting your real life. You wake up suddenly, "wtf, I'm 30 and I'm still at high school?!"

22. You depend on Dota games whether you'd be having money for your meal or not.

23. It's your birthday and your birthday wish is to play Dota and won't be disturbed by anyone.

24. You start to have a hot-temper, like you want to cast lightning bolt on your teacher.

25. This is the ultimate test.  Check your yahoo messenger, if 90% on the list are Dota buddies, congratulations!  You are within the portals of Dota Realm.

I made this post to warn people. I am giving a lot of Dota Strategies but I don't want you to give up your priorities. Dota should never come first nor second. There are a lot of things to focus on. If you are making enough money from Dota to run a big family, no problem. What you should spend time thinking about is how to be successful in your real life, not your Dota life. Treat this game, not your studies, as past time. Play for fun. The only thing that can beat all the strategies I told you is having fun. If you have fun, nothing can beat you. Win or lose, you still won because you didn't waste your time being slamming your keyboard out of stress. This is the main purpose of games - to have fun.

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Posted in: Facts,Reviews

Analysis on MPGL Championship Game: Happyfeet vs Minerva

The Biggest Local Gaming in the Philippines, Mineski Pro Gamer League, is over. Happyfeet, which was the team most people expected to win, did end up the MPGL Champion. They are the most solid team who had the highest number of wins on international matches. They are so ahead in terms of experience. They are arguably the finest team in the Philippines at the moment. I'm admire this team for not copying any other play styles. Most of the time they would have same hero line ups and counters. They don't aim to be fancy. They aim to win. One thing that makes them very successful is their rock like desire to win. We all want to win but what makes successful people different from those who are not, is giving everything it takes to achieve our goals. Happyfeet doesn't have superstars. They only have the popular 'Julz'. But, I gotta tell you guys, he is not the reason of Happyfeet success. He is only a part of it. Let's get in to the game. This is not 'Happyfeet's Winning Formula' article.



Sentinel: Happyfeet
Scourge: Minerva

I'll start off with the hero ban and picks apparently. Minerva goes first.

1st Banning Phase

Minerva's First Ban: Shadow Fiend

Minerva knew that Happyfeet uses SF good with Julz on the team. Banning it would make the game easier for Minerva since they have new strategy that they have already use most games at the tournament. They might be using it in this game too.

Happyfeet's First ban: Pugna

A decent ban to avoid getting rushed

Minerva's Second Ban: Dragon Knight

With Happyfeet's love for Bottle-Crow, which I discussed in my Bottle-Crow Strategy Discussed article, Dragon Knight has a very high chance of getting all geared up and simply click heroes he wants to kill. Minerva doesn't want this thing to happen.

Happyfeet's Second Ban: Morphling

Difficult to kill early game and painful late game. nuf said

Minerva's Third Ban: Alchemist

Great tank. Minerva might be relying on nukes and there's no time to waste on Alchemist.

Happyfeet's Third Ban: Doom Bringer

Early game's big red evil pain in the a**. Supports will just be 2 clicks away from death early game.

Picking 1st phase

Minerva's First Pick: Earthshaker

At this point Minerva appeared to be planning to play defensively. I rarely pick Earthshaker because of his lower aggressiveness nature.

Happyfeet's First and Second Pick: Mirana and Venge

Shadow Fiend and Morphling getting banned, they would not want to lose POTM. She is one of Happyfeet's core heroes. Earthshaker does have good combo with Mirana, so letting the opponents have it will just lead them to have better line up. Venge was picked and I expected that. She is just what the team needs everytime. She got good disable, vision, armor reduction, increase damage, swap for initiation and for saving.

Minerva's Second and Third Pick: Gyrocopter and Windrunner

Gyrocopter's homing high-damage stun along with his other painful nukes is a useful hero, specially if it'll be used by smart players. Minerva used this hero on their wins against VTAG and 2011. They didn't change their hero line up and I find this risky for a Championship game. Windrunner, a versatile hero with high survival rate and ability to effectively handle lanes alone, is a wise pick.

Happyfeet's Third Pick: Crystal Maiden

2nd best support in the game. She has slow, hold, mana for the team and freezing field that is very helpful at times. They may also have picked CM because the opponent can pick CM on the 2nd pick phase which is a very complimentary gank mate of Earthshaker.

2nd Banning Phase

4th Ban of Minerva: Raijin

Raijin is one bad opponent of Gyrocopter. Gyrocopter has slow nukes that are easy to dodge by raijin. Good ban.

4th Ban of Happyfeet: Balanar

Balanar is simply good at killing low hp heroes and Happyfeet might be planning on picking tinker or QOP. Silence, void, heavy nukes by Gyro would be deadly. This is definitely a wise move by Happyfeet.

5th Ban of Minerva: Kunkka

They are banning tanks for Gryo and X mark is a dead mark on windrunner.

5th Ban of Happyfeet: Tinker

Most of the finest mid heroes are gone now, they can't afford to let tinker be the next pick of Minerva.

2nd Picking Phase

4th Pick of Minerva: Witch Doctor

They need another support for trilane and wd is the now the best choice.

4th Pick of Happyfeet: Sven

A carry Sven for tanking and disable.

5th Pick of Minerva: Batrider
Earthshaker and Vol'jin doesn't give fair amount of disables. Batrider fills up that empty space.

5th Pick of Happyfeet: Queen of Pain

A high-damage nuker to complete the team's line up. Also, to avoid gyro's homing stun.

Final Line-up

Laning:

Happyfeet

Top: Mirana
Mid: QOP
Bot: Sven Venge CM

Minerva

Top: Batrider ES WD
Mid: Gyro
Bot: Windrunner

This lane offers big disadvantage for Minerva. They sacrificed the bottom lane with a solo windrunner making Sven farm all the gold he wants. A farmed Sven gives more pain than a farmed Batrider. At mid lane, QOP vs Gyro gives happyfeet a safe mid lane. Homing missile will be easily avoided by QOP due to her blink. Overall, I can say that the laning is equal when it comes to early game. Both Mirana and Windrunner will have a hard life. No upper hand hero at mid lane. This game will be decided based on the heroes movement. If Minerva would allow Sven to continuously farm and finally got a DPS and BKB, this game would be over.

Enough with the analysis, let's get into the game.

The game started with ward placement, as usual. However, happyfeet used smoke of deceit to not let the opponents know where the wards are.

Mirana and Windrunner, both, are experiencing extreme harassment from the supports. It took 2 minutes and 30 seconds before Windrunner reached level 2. At that same moment, the level 1 Mirana was killed at the top lane. Mirana managed to leap out from the fissure but Batrider on firefly passed through the fissure and chased her to death. Batrider was level 3 at this time and he has boots when he got the first blood.

Mid lane was a close fight. QOP managed to survive Gyro's non-stop harassment with homing missile and normal attacks. She even had her bottle at 2:58. By the way, QOP isn't using her blink to escape the homing missile. She accepts it like a diploma. It's alright because lower level of homing missile doesn't really hurt and she just focused on creeping.

Bottom lane, Sven is like a baby overprotected by her 2 moms, venge and rylai. He got 18/6 CS at 3minute mark. This is quite scary for Minerva because they doesn't have a high DPS insurance for late game. Windrunner is expected not to have a lot of farm because of that difficult lane. Late game will rely on Batrider and Gyrocopter which are easily countered by BKB.

At 4:30, gyrocopter is farming with half HP, waiting for his flask to arrive which was used by Windrunner that caused delay. At the same time when she received her flask, a rylai is suddenly behind him and QOP blinked in to finish him. That's a perfect timing by rylai to gank that gave QOP the upper hand on that lane.

At 4:55, sven got his treads. Switching lanes wont benefit the scourge anymore. Rylai didn't left the mid lane. She waited for Gyrocopter to come back. When Gyrocopter finally arrived on the lane from the fountain, he was sent back to the tavern again by QOP and rylai. Another brilliant move by rylai noticing that there was no wards at the bottom lane.

At 5:54, the bottom tower was destroyed by the sentinel. Sven and Venge greedily chased Windrunner through the woods but WD, Gyrocopter and ES teleported and killed both of them. However, Sven managed to kill Windrunner. This move was definitely one of the errors made by Happyfeet. Sven might have felt gigity for Windrunner.

That death of Sven and Venge somehow helped Mirana. Mirana took advantage to recover since Vol'jin and ES teleported out from that lane. Vol'jin and ES quickly regenerate and marched back to the top lane. We all know how dangerous Julz is. Leave him for some time and you don't want to look at his inventory anymore.

QOP and Sven already have item advantages. 7:45, QOP has treads, 2 nulls and a bottle. Sven has treads, quarterstaff and a magic stick.

At 8:00, scourge's mid tower is at its last breaths but it can't be denied yet. Venge hid near that tower waiting for a chance to gank gyro and destroy the tower but Gyro felt it and flee. He went at the top neutrals maybe trying to wait for a chance to gank Mirana so Venge and QOP destroyed the Mid tower. Minerva's support could have rallied towards that tower and try to deny it. It was only two of them who pushed the tower. There's a good chance of denying it if the supports moved but they stayed on the top lane pulling. There are a lot of lanes that needed assistance. Batrider already have advantage on the top lane. It would be good to move a lot. Supporting is the most fun role for me because I tend to use my brain all through out the game. I'm not to discuss it here but you can learn from my team mate who's a very fun to watch support player here Ganking and Supporting Lessons You Can Learn From Jam.  In this case, Minerva may have done something to dominate other lanes too like their top lane.  Happyfeet's supports are just so good at moving around the map that caused them to dominate 2 lanes, Mid and Bottom.  In less than 9 minutes, Happyfeet got mid and bottom towers.

At 9:06, a clash happened at the bottom lane. This is what happened. Sven and Venge started pushing Scourge's Second tower. Sven activated his God's Strength and start hitting the tower. Here comes earthshaker and alleria. They spammed on Sven that caused him to bleed. Sven started running but QOP was suddenly behind ES and Alleria and killed them both in 2 seconds with Rylai's help. Batrider teleportand and caught QOP. He killed QOP but he also died. Witch doctor came to help but end up killed by the bleeding Sven. The clash was 4-1 in favor for Happyfeet. At the top lane a sneaky Gyrocopter killed Mirana.

Item and CS Update at 10mins

Sentinel:
QOP: treads, 2 nulls, point booster, Bottle CS: 60/18
POTM: boots, 2 wraiths, Bottle CS: 21/0
Sven: Treads, Lothars, Magic Stick CS:60/11

Scourge:
Batrider: Treads, Planewalker's Cloak, stout shield, Basilius, and Magic Wand CS: 49/5
Gyrocopter: Stout Shield, boots, Magic Stick CS:12/2
Windrunner: Boots, Basilius CS: 11/2
ES: Ring of Regeneration, Sobi Mask, (no boots yet) CS: 4/2

In 10 minutes, you can already tell that Happyfeet is the controlling team. Minerva will have great difficulty in recovering, specially if Happyfeet will put constant pressure on them.

Now, the supports are aiming on pushing the top lane which happened to be having half HP. They caught Gyrocopter but didn't successfully kill him. However, they managed to get the tower because of the creep advantage. Another undefended tower lost for Minerva. This is going really hard on their side.

At 11:35, Sven quickly killed a farming earthshaker at mid lane using his GS lothars hit bolt and hit combo. Then he farmed on that lane. QOP is pressuring the bottom lane while Mirana Venge and Rylai are planning some attacks on Windrunner who was farming on the top lane. They successfully killed WR with a perfect trap ganking style. Scourge can hardly go out from their base. The game just suddenly turned into a nightmare for them. The Happyfeet's heroes are now a lot stronger than them. Happyfeet's supports are pretty much successful with their ganks to limit the opponent's carries. Great Teamplay by Happyfeet is very visible at this game. Minerva is a good team. I'm somehow a fan of vash who is quite fun to watch but Happyfeet's teamplay is so solid. At the beginning I was thinking that the game will be balanced at early game. Heroes are balanced at early game. Within 10 minutes, they managed to win the game. I know it's not over but if Happyfeet won't lose map control and would just pressure them up, the game is decided.

At 12:30, Venge Mirana and CM tried to gank batrider but they made a big error.  Venge stunned batrider but POTM may not be looking and didn't cast his arrow at once that made Batrider free to attack the supports with Vol'jin's perfect chain stun on venge and rylai.  This resulted the Scourge to win a 4-0 clash. Only sven survived at the sentinel.  That was a good move by Minerva.  They quickly reacted and took advantage of that error.  However, the game is still not easy for them to win.  They can't chase their levels and items that quick.  They would need to make 3 more of that kind of won clash.  The score is now 11/9.  In favor of Happyfeet.

At 13:54, batrider got killed because of being stuck because of the unlucky position where his firefly stopped. He was seen by sven because of an observer ward and was killed. Team mates came to help but Happyfeet supports are ready for their attacks.

Happyfeet decided to push mid tower because of Batrider's death. The supports, having good position, caught windrunner and was killed by the 3 of them- POTM, CM and venge. They try to avenge her and Gyro started the clash nuking but unfortunately, there was an invisible Red Sven behind them and QOP is on her way. The clash ended a 5-0 sweep. The happyfeet then pushed the 2nd tower.

Happyfeet didn't stop pressuring Minerva making them stuck on their base.

18:00, Sven now has BKB. They clashed 4v5 at the bottom while Mirana with Double Damage pushed the top 3rd tower unnoticed. They made the 4-1 push. Happyfeet having the upper hand chose to split the push. They will force a clash on one side so the other side will be able to push freely. If in case the opponents fought 4v4, it'll be a sure win because of several advantages of the Happyfeet. This is a good call by the Happyfeet.

22:00, Windrunner, Gyro and WD planned to gank Sven and Venge who was left farming at the bottom. They managed to kill sven but their top Barracks was pushed by Rylai and Mirana who now has a Linken's Sphere.

Scores Update(25 minutes):

Happyfeet
Sven: 9/3/2
QOP: 8/3/4
POTM: 5/3/3
CM: 2/3/11
Venge: 0/3/7

Batrider: 6/4/3
Gyrocopter: 4/4/2
WD: 2/4/7
WR: 1/6/4
ES: 0/6/3

At 27:34, Sven rushed inside 5 opponents with only venge and rylai behind him and they're far from him. He couldn't hit anything and when his BKB is about to stop, he retreated but it was too late. QOP and POTM went to help but it was too late. Minerva won a 5-1 clash. Only Earthshaker died from Minerva.

29:00: The score is 26/22 in favor of happyfeet. 7 Towers taken down by Happyfeet and top lane barracks while Minerva has only 1 tower destroyed.

It was 33:00 when Happyfeet decided to push all mid but the Happyfeet committed another error that caused them to lose the clash.

At 35:00 the game is tied at 28.

Minerva is good at defending and team fights. Gyrocopter is the reason for this. He inflicts too much pain with his nukes. Batrider uses flaming lasso on sven to prevent him from hitting. This is a good strategy that now have a great opportunity to win the fight. The only problem is, they have a long way to go. They only destroyed 1 tower. This is a lot of time for Happyfeet to get more items and to pressure them more.

36 minutes item update:

Happyfeet
POTM: Maelstrom, Manta, Linken's, Treads, Magic Wand
QOP: Aghanims, Refresher, Treads, Orb
Sven: Lothars, Treads, BKB, Sange

Minerva
Bat: Dagger, Pipe, Treads, Basilius, Stick
Gyro: BKB, Planewalker's, stout, phase, Magic Wand
ES: Dagger,Boots,Magic Wand
Windrunner: Meka, Force Staff, Phase Boots, Basilius

Happyfeet now has luxury items while Minerva just farmed their Core items. Minerva's great team fight abilities made them reach this far but winning is still difficult. If their early game weren't that damaged, I'm sure they could have won the tournament but these great Happyfeet supports and semi-carries really hurt their early to mid game making them less powerful at late.

Happyfeet realized how strong they are in team fights so they split pushed. They are putting a lot of pressure on Minerva. POTM holds mid lane. QOP holds bottom lane. Supports are switching lanes-Bottom and Mid. Top lane has mega creeps. Sven is taking advantage farming neutrals. POTM successfully destroyed Mid's 3rd tower. Venge was caught by Batrider and that started a clash. It was a close clash but the mega creeps on top destroyed the Frozen Throne.

It was one epic game because of the skills showed by both teams. Happyfeet is so good at dominating early game and getting heavily farmed up. Good supports is the main reason for this. Minerva has a great ability of making a big comeback. I didn't expect that they could make the game last longer after that disaster early game. Vash is a player who is not item dependent but contributes the most in team fights. Generally, Minerva did have a great chance to win that game but early game is king. It can change everything. Happyfeet's team play is more omniscient. They are good at almost all aspects of the game. That's the reason why they are the Mineski Pro Gaming League Champions. Congratulations, Happyfeet!

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Posted in: Game Reviews,Reviews