DotA2 - Original Thread

Yea, but the team has both dedication and individual skill, i could easily see them become the powerhouse of the west together with Na'vi and LGD.int.
Although Na'vi needs to get into as serious training as the rest if they want to keep up, they can't keep relying on what they have already.

Also, an offer to anybody: I'm willing to write a guide for any hero, any concept or anything you guys want, just ask about a hero and i'll make a write-up of the things you need to know and so on. I really enjoy sharing know-how.

Being able to watch other games is the best feature ever for noobs like myself!
Just watching 1 game made me understand how item buying works and what I should be doing.
However, one question came up: if I'm playing Nature's Prophet, is there an easy way to keep my treants selected? When I tried it I was having trouble controlling both myself and treants.

Just like in RTS games, you can create control groups, albeit not very useful for units with a timer, if you make it a habit it's quite easy to select your hero at the start of the game and use control+1 and now everytime you click 1 you select your hero. You can do this with your treants too, but when they die you lose the control group, sadly.(IIRC)
Due to the game having roots in RTS, many controls from Warcraft 3 exist in DotA2.

And yea, valve has made a quite amazing game-viewing system. I don't think there is quite any other replay/live game watching system quite like it.

Also:

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivO2M7E5Zxo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R4VCMFxEc8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JNaPH0PmBA

I got a Beta key a while back, but I've been lazy until now trying it out.

I've grown a liking to Windrunner. I'm not that good though.

My only major issue with the game so far is that the camera view is awful. It's not zoomed out enough. I have a lot of issues with vertical combat/running/whatever. I've died quite a few times because I'm trying to keep track of both where the people chasing me are/what they are doing, and where I'm actually going. This isn't so bad in horizontal situations, but if I'm moving vertically it sucks, I can't see anything.

With Fog of War I don't really get the need to have the camera zoomed in so much.

Well, the answer is that the game has been built around the camera having this zoom.
Giving you a bigger field of vision would break a lot of things and abilities, some would be stronger and some would be weaker. There are items such as smoke of deceit that make it so you don't appear on the minimap for example, even if the enemy has vision of you. With a bigger field of vision you'd see them regardless of not trying to spot them. Ruining the surprise factor that it is meant to give. Not to mention abilities like miranas arrow, pudge's hook and and ability like them.
It's something you get used to, honestly. Not that i don't understand why it bothers you.

Also, would anybody be up for some games later tonight? Played a game with @Dusk 2 days ago or so, and if we get a few more to join i'm sure it'd be loadsa fun. Any skill level may join, obviously.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malthe

Well, the answer is that the game has been built around the camera having this zoom.
Giving you a bigger field of vision would break a lot of things and abilities, some would be stronger and some would be weaker. There are items such as smoke of deceit that make it so you don't appear on the minimap for example, even if the enemy has vision of you. With a bigger field of vision you'd see them regardless of not trying to spot them. Ruining the surprise factor that it is meant to give. Not to mention abilities like miranas arrow, pudge's hook and and ability like them.
It's something you get used to, honestly. Not that i don't understand why it bothers you.

Also, would anybody be up for some games later tonight? Played a game with @Dusk 2 days ago or so, and if we get a few more to join i'm sure it'd be loadsa fun. Any skill level may join, obviously.

---

Yeah, I suppose some adjusting will be required. If I play enough I'll probably get used to it. I really don't think it would bother me as much if there wasn't such a vast difference between vertical and horizontal. Horizontally, you have practically twice the view range compared to vertically.

Two questions:
1) What type of game? SPers vs SPers, SPers vs Bots, or SPers vs Random other people?
2) What time, EST? I have to go into work at 11PM, so 10PM and sooner and I'm in.

FYI, I said I'm not that good earlier, but I lied. I suck.

If we have enough for it, i'd love to create private lobbies with SPers vs SPers, we can also play SPers vs bots and we can also play SPers vs random people, whatever people feel like is cool with me.
And, i have time pretty much all day long, up untill something like 11 pm CET, i'm bad at time-zones so i have no idea of when that is EST.

And believe me, i really do not care about what skill level people are, i play for fun regardless and i'd rather play with people i know and have fun than play to win and tryhard with randoms.
And as i've said multiple times before, DotA is just a game of experience and habits. The gameplay itself isn't hard or challenging, but getting used to everything, learning what everything and everyone does and how to react in X, Y and Z situation is something that comes with just playing.

And latest valve news post:

Spoiler

Quote:

---

The Defense 3

The Defense 3 tournament has started and a ticket is now available on the Dota 2 Store. What separates this item from previous ones is the inclusion of an exclusive in-game Courier with every purchase. We are excited to see Tournaments looking for ways to add extra value to their events. In this case, JoinDota teamed up with Vlad the Implyer (a prolific Workshop contributor) to bring you Ramnaught of Underwool.

http://media.steampowered.com/apps/d...nse_bundle.jpg

A few months ago, when we introduced in-game tournament tickets and team pennants, one of our goals was to create new sources of revenue for leagues and tournaments. While sponsors and ad revenue are useful sources for tournaments, they’re indirect – the funding doesn’t come from the tournament viewers themselves. We believe that long-term, for tournaments to be stable and grow year over year they need to be self-sustainable from direct revenue, and not at the mercy of changing attitudes in sponsoring companies. Figuring out ways for tournaments to do that will take some time and experimentation, so it’s great to see the community getting involved in that experimentation, and even more exciting to see the competitive community working with the Workshop community in the process. Initial signs are good – The Defense 3 has earned several times more in its first week than The Defense 1 did in its lifetime.

Yesterday’s update also contains Na`Vi’s official courier, the Weaslecrow, a collaboration between Na`Vi and a group of Workshop contributors. It’s the first time we’ve tried a branded item associated directly with professional players, and we’re excited to see how that will turn out. If you’re a Na`Vi fan like us, you can pick one up over here.

What does this mean for you?

• If you’re a tournament organisation, we’d encourage you to think further about ways you could provide value to your viewers. If there are ways that seem interesting to you, and require some work from us, then drop us a line with your proposal. If you think you could create value by collaborating in some way with a Workshop contributor, then peruse the Workshop and ping someone whose work you like.

• If you’re a professional player, think about how you could experiment with similar revenue sources. If you’re known for playing a specific Hero, why not collaborate with a Workshop contributor to build branded items for that Hero?

• If you’re a Workshop contributor, look for opportunities to work with other people or organisations in the community that provide value to the community as a whole.

• If you’re a player, relax and keep on playing. We hope these efforts will result in a vibrant and stable competitive scene, where professional players and tournaments can focus on providing you with the most entertaining Dota possible. If you’re a fan of a team, or a specific player, and want to show them that you enjoy their efforts, drop them a line and let them know you’d appreciate it if they created a way for you to help them continue to grow.

We’re always happy to listen to community members who have interesting ideas for how to build a better business for the competitive community, so jump aboard and help us figure this out.

---

Oh and if we're missing just a few people for SP vs SP or something like it, i could have a friend or two of mine join us.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malthe

If we have enough for it, i'd love to create private lobbies with SPers vs SPers, we can also play SPers vs bots and we can also play SPers vs random people, whatever people feel like is cool with me.
And, i have time pretty much all day long, up untill something like 11 pm CET, i'm bad at time-zones so i have no idea of when that is EST.

---

You would be 6 hours ahead of me, so I think that's too soon. I still need to get some sleep. I usually wake up around 6PM (Midnight for you), eat something, and then can play around 7-8PM my time (1-2AM yours). If you're up then, then I'll be open for playing. If not, maybe during the start of the weekend would be better.

Feel free to add me on Steam, if you want. My Steam name is ポランタリスPolantaris.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Polantaris

I got a Beta key a while back, but I've been lazy until now trying it out.

I've grown a liking to Windrunner. I'm not that good though.

My only major issue with the game so far is that the camera view is awful. It's not zoomed out enough. I have a lot of issues with vertical combat/running/whatever. I've died quite a few times because I'm trying to keep track of both where the people chasing me are/what they are doing, and where I'm actually going. This isn't so bad in horizontal situations, but if I'm moving vertically it sucks, I can't see anything.

With Fog of War I don't really get the need to have the camera zoomed in so much.

---

Well, the view distance is the same as Starcraft/Warcraft, and imo it's pretty comfortable once you get used to it. Try making greater use of the minimap; you can keep track of where others are without having to scroll over to look at them. Also, I don't do much scrolling except in the direction I'm moving or aiming an ability. I just click on the minimap to jump to a specific location. You can also double tap your hero selection button (F1 by default) to jump back to your hero. This is pretty useful when you want to glance at what's happening somewhere else real quick, then jump back to controlling your hero.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dusk

Well, the view distance is the same as Starcraft/Warcraft, and imo it's pretty comfortable once you get used to it. Try making greater use of the minimap; you can keep track of where others are without having to scroll over to look at them. Also, I don't do much scrolling except in the direction I'm moving or aiming an ability. I just click on the minimap to jump to a specific location. You can also double tap your hero selection button (F1 by default) to jump back to your hero. This is pretty useful when you want to glance at what's happening somewhere else real quick, then jump back to controlling your hero.

---

I'm pretty sure the camera is way better, especially in SC2. Even if it isn't, you don't have nearly as many worries in Starcraft/Warcraft that you do in DOTA2, in terms of camera operation. If you were to lose a scout, oh well, build another one. Hell, 99% of the time scouts in SC/WC are builders, especially early game. If you die in DOTA2, you can potentially be doing nothing for several minutes. Plus, you don't need to be constantly watching the enemy in SC/WC if you're running(that's if you even care to run), but in DOTA2 there's skill shots and all kinds of other stuff to watch out for, stuff you cannot see at all and also guide your hero. Death has a far larger penalty in DOTA2, and many times in SC/WC, you send units out on suicide runs, something you're not going to be doing in DOTA2(very often, if at all).

Just as a comparison to the camera: The main structure that you must destroy to win, it takes up about 80% of my screen, definitely almost all, if not all of it vertically. In SC, your Command Center/Nexus/Hive takes up about 20-25%, maybe 30%.

80%? Which resolution are you playing with?

This is what it's like to me.

Spoiler

http://i46.tinypic.com/sfjjig.jpg

There are some of the resolutions that are quite stupid, honestly.

I'll add you too, Polantris! I'm just starting and learning but it's always better to play with friends :D
Oh, and also: I hate people who leave co op vs bot games... it makes it easier to win for me and I don't learn anything from an easy match.
I'm loving Enigma and Nature's Prophet! Having minions makes it so much easier to get last hits.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malthe

80%? Which resolution are you playing with?

This is what it's like to me.

Spoiler

http://i46.tinypic.com/sfjjig.jpg

There are some of the resolutions that are quite stupid, honestly.

---

I'm playing at 1920x1200. Maybe the 16:10 ratio is screwing everything up, or maybe some setting needs to be changed. Not sure, I'll look into it. That looks way better than what I get.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Words

I'll add you too, Polantris! I'm just starting and learning but it's always better to play with friends :D
Oh, and also: I hate people who leave co op vs bot games... it makes it easier to win for me and I don't learn anything from an easy match.

---

I agree completely. I also am not a fan of people playing Easy bots who are far better than Easy bots. It really throws off my ability to get better when they're just slaughtering everything.

Or, I had an Axe last night that went between the two towers on bottom, where I happened to be, and stole all the creep kills because the AI doesn't react to them doing that. Because you'd certainly get away with that in a regular game.

Yeah, playing vs co-op bots will only get you familiar with the controls and general mechanics of the game. You're honestly not going to get any better by playing bots once you understand that. Just jump in and play humans if you want to learn. There are plenty of other noobies that you'll get paired against. Watching high level gameplay (preferably with commentary) is helpful, too.

@Polantaris: The UI is designed for a 16:9 screen, so it's going to look slightly off at 16:10.

I like playing vs co-op bots because it allows to try heroes and learn basic stuff about them that I don't get from just watching. I need doing and watching to learn.
But the idea of watching high level gameplay with commentary does sound great. Any recommendations or should I just search youtube?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Polantaris

I'm playing at 1920x1200. Maybe the 16:10 ratio is screwing everything up, or maybe some setting needs to be changed. Not sure, I'll look into it. That looks way better than what I get.



I agree completely. I also am not a fan of people playing Easy bots who are far better than Easy bots. It really throws off my ability to get better when they're just slaughtering everything.

Or, I had an Axe last night that went between the two towers on bottom, where I happened to be, and stole all the creep kills because the AI doesn't react to them doing that. Because you'd certainly get away with that in a regular game.

---

Yeah the AI doesn't handle such unconventional things very well, it's a rare thing to do but it's something axe's sometimes try to do and is called creep-skipping, doesn't work very well in normal games unless you outnumber your enemies in the lane because axe becomes an easy target to kill.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Words

I like playing vs co-op bots because it allows to try heroes and learn basic stuff about them that I don't get from just watching. I need doing and watching to learn.
But the idea of watching high level gameplay with commentary does sound great. Any recommendations or should I just search youtube?

---

There are plenty of sources for high level commentary, give me a second and i will get you some extremely good VODs of extremely entertaining games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr15U...layer_embedded - This one is a tad long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=yWGVPWeyPhQ - Interesting game between two top-teams, not quite as long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La--e...layer_embedded - Another incredibly entertaining game, also not quite as long.

And you practically can't go wrong with nearly any of the games in this playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFD6B60BCD84ACE84



And just for fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY7MPdbRvXo&feature=player_embedded

Except for the parts where the guy screams like he's narrating a soccer match, the first video is really fun and educative, for most parts I had to pause, look what some items do, and then keep watching.
I just started watching the second one, and the beginning is so distracting: the only girl I might've spot was asleep haha. However, it seems like a really stressful situation: not only do they have a lot of people in front of them watching them and being noisy but they also have cameras all around them. Unless they can't see/hear what's going on outside.

About playing vs humans instead of bots I'd like to play with friends/SPers... that way no one gets mad at me :3

DotA is often commentated by two people, one with deep inside knowledge and one who can do play by play.
The guy screaming is the play by play guy, tobi wan kenobi who tends to be... very enthusiastic and hyped. The other guy is a professional player himself, named synderen, which is why that video was probably educating, since he can provide actual insight, those two combined are what people tend to see as one of the better duos since it has the hype from tobi and the good insight from synderen.

And i forgot to mention, some tournaments can be found for free within the client, the latest one was the Dreamhack Dota 2 corsair vengeance cup.
All the replays for that can be found ingame by going into the watch tab, then into tournaments and then looking for it in the list. It'll have the full games, you'll have control of what you want to see and when you want to see it and from what perspective and you can even see player perspective(see how the 'best' control and move their hero and camera). It also includes commentary, the last two games had really bad mic quality for the ingame commentary though, sadly. But i imagine being able to watch it in the ingame client might help you, since you can pause and see what a hero does, what the item does and so on :)

And as said, if we get som SPers together i'd be more than glad to play with you guys over on the US servers.

And new hex0r video for those interested:

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njv_fHgSOps&feature=g-high-rec

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malthe

DotA is often commentated by two people, one with deep inside knowledge and one who can do play by play.
The guy screaming is the play by play guy, tobi wan kenobi who tends to be... very enthusiastic and hyped. The other guy is a professional player himself, named synderen, which is why that video was probably educating, since he can provide actual insight, those two combined are what people tend to see as one of the better duos since it has the hype from tobi and the good insight from synderen.

---

I hope it's not like some regular sports where the Play-by-Play guy has no idea what the f**k he's talking about and says crap that makes no sense at all.

I suppose that's more of an older situation though, cause nowadays they tend to get people who have at least a slight clue.

Tobi knows his dota, he has no deep insight though, but he's been with the game for years and knows the basics and some of broader ideas, he's not clueless.
But he's not a genius either and he's quite bad at actually playing it, he doesn't know all the small mechanics and such but has a good idea of how teams are doing comparatively.

The best casting duo IMO, is a guy named Draskyll who can do play by play while having a deep understanding of the game, he plays high tier dota, without being professional and him plus a slightly charismatic professional player gives good insight into the game and a lot of usefull information.
Like here: http://www.twitch.tv/dreamhackdota/b/342299024
Skip to 4 hours and 50 minutes exactly and you'll have one of the, IMO, better casts in quite some time.

When do you guys have time to play? I wouldn't mind setting it up :o

I wont personally have a lot of fluid time untill after wednesday, sadly :(
Uni and shizzle.
Might be able to catch a few games between 7 and 11 CET

I'm on US Eastern time (UTC-5) and I usually play a game or two between 8-11pm if I'm not doing something that night. Taking off from work early tomorrow, too. Any time on weekends as long as it's set up in advance.

I'm in US Central time. Look for me in the SP steam group if you guys are playing. I have a fairly busy week too, but I would probably take a break with a game.

Weekend seem a nice time for all, you seem to have busy weekdays. What about Saturday?
Problem is figuring out what time... I'll ask in steam group to see if we can get more people to join us and decide what time soon.

Neato, also when ingame you can join the chatroom "Southperry" it's my default chat-room.

And yea, saturday would definitely work for me since i'll have time 24/7 this weekend.

Same here, I'm good for this weekend.

I probably won't be on until Friday at all (DOTA2, at least, I'm always online on Steam) because I have finals this week.

I'll be around Saturday, just give me a time beforehand so I don't go somewhere. Afternoon 1-5ish is best (1900-2300 UTC). Night is probably fine too.

Quote:

---

Update Notes - December 12, 2012

Added Timbersaw!

GAMEPLAY
- Ancient Apparition: Fixed status effect ignoring magic immune units (HP Freeze and Shatter).
- Silencer: Fixed Last Word not being triggered by Invoke.
- Slark: Fixed Pounce leashing illusions.
- Undying: Fixed Decay providing too much healing to Undying.
- Fixed Shadow Blade interaction with Cleave and Critical Strike.
- Fixed Cycloning yourself causing you to take damage from Orchid.

---

Incoming Medusa rework? She's been ready for release for like 2 weeks now, what else could be the hold up?

Shredder added? Interesting, and i hope medusa wont be changed too much.
Favourite hero by far.

Also shadow blade fixed :(((((


Edit: Bastion announcer is in the files, yaaay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RTkUgov60g
pineapple i can't wait, just take my money already valve.
This is like the best news announcer-wise in forever. Good bye juggernaut announcer.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malthe

This is like the best news announcer-wise in forever. Good bye juggernaut announcer.

---

So true, but he better give commentary on everything you do or it won't be the same.

Also, i have gotten a ton of invites from friends with no use for them, if anybody on SP happens to see this and wants to give it a spin or anything, feel free to ask. There are invites a plenty.

Also:
http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2012/...ta-610x269.jpg

I can't wait to see how it progresses once Perfect World starts distributing it in china, if they will count as playing on steam that is.

Oh and this video series contains a ton of useful information:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af3avh9unxs&list=PLF50cvv4MhVp_ErjuMdZ1koG 2MZxIm_Vf

Ok, let's play together tomorrow! I'll be on from 1pm pst (4est, 7malthe's time) waiting for you guys :D.
Bring friends or whoever you'd like, the more the merrier ^^
Also, Broodmother is OP... didn't die once, which never happens, got 21 kills and 3 assists!
That ultimate's so strong and it feels like it has no cooldown, Broodmother is my new favorite :D

Oh, oh, oh and I feel like I'm getting so much better at last hitting! I still don't get all I could but I'm getting more than I used to! :D:D

I'll be ready tomorrow, definitely. I assume we play on US east, as far as servers go?

Also, even the best players tend to miss last-hits, especially if you're being contended.

Also a nice infographic from dotabuff:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/DfaTx.png

lmfao @ 0.5% @ China.

Edit: It would appear nobody knows how to play Timbersaw at all: https://dotabuff.com/heroes/timbersaw (He's a good hero, look at the win-rate. I was expecting it to be between 45 and 50%.)

I tried playing him yesterday vs bots and it took me a few hours to figure out what the hell I was doing. The tree hookshot and his ult are pretty difficult to use.

Also, he was in that first batch of heroes that came out in DotA after the Dota 2 beta was already under way, so hardly anyone has played him before. I certainly haven't.

Well, here's a run down of how to play him:
Skill build for solo mid(Which is where i'm going to play him myself):

Spoiler

• Level 1 Whirling death/Reactive armor
• Level 2 Timber chain/Whirling death(If you didn't get it at level 1 and you don't need to escape anytime soon)
• Level 3 A point in whatever you don't have yet, you should be 1-1-1 now.
• Level 4 If you're in a lane against a ranged enemy, you can get a second point in reactive armor now if you are under harassment, if not timber chain.
• Level 5 Timber chain
• Level 6 Chakram
• Level 7 Timber chain(Should be max if you didn't get a second point in reactive armor)
• Level 8 Now add a second point into reactive armor if you didn't do that at level 4, if you did max timber chain.
• Level 9 Start maxing whirling death
• Max reactive armor last and get stats afterwards, get ulti when you can

As far as items goes, he's incredibly mana dependant, core should be:
Mana boots, bloodstone(If you aren't struggling a lot as a team), Euls(To replace bloodstone if you ARE struggling as a team). This is his core as far as mana regen goes, even after getting bloodstone you should still have mana boots, unless you're getting boots of travel, he simply doesn't really benefit from any other boots.

Starting items:
Stout shield is core, IMO.
Some cheap stats like branches are always nice and regen is obviously needed. Quelling blade can be gotten if you're going to be having problems last hitting against high base stats heroes.

Situational items/Lategame items:
Drum of endurance, Scythe of vyse, Shiva's guard, Heart of terrasque, Orchid of malevolence(If you need to lock down a hero with a low-cooldown escape mechanism like storm, anti-mage or Queen of pain that can escape your timber chain), forcestaff, Hood of defiance, Pipe of insight, Mekansm.

How i would play him: Roam a lot after you got max timber chain, you can even be aggressive in lane if your opponent can be hit by a timber chain and then comboed with chakram and whirling death. And feel free to trade blows if you have 1 point in reactive armor against melee opponents or 2 against ranged.
After that, go crazy and gank like a mad man plus be there in all fights.

But yea i'm not surprised his win-rate is so low, or well, i am a bit, but he's a hero that requires a lot of effort and he isn't very cookie cutter.

Double posting because this is worth it:

First of all:

Winter event incoming: http://www.dota2.com/frostivus/
Hoping it'll be as good as the halloween event.


Second of all.... 6.77:

Spoiler

Heroes

Ancient Apparition
- Chilling Touch manacost rescaled from 140 to 110/120/130/140

Batrider
- Batrider can no longer attack while using Flaming Lasso

Bounty Hunter
- Track no longer reduces armor

Centaur
- Movement speed decreased from 305 to 300
- Double Edge no longer interrupts channeling
- Stampede now applies a 100% slow instead of a stun (as always, units cannot be slowed below 100 movement speed)

Clockwerk
- Agility growth increased from 1.2 to 2.3

Dazzle
- Shallow Grave cast range rescaled from 400/600/800/1000 to 550/700/850/1000

Doom Bringer
- Scorched Earth now also affects other units you control
- Doom now has too much armor! (+1)

Drow Ranger
- Trueshot Aura now only affects non-hero units within 900 range of Drow

Earthshaker
- Aftershock stun duration rescaled from 0.3/0.7/1.2/1.5 to 0.6/0.9/1.2/1.5
- Aftershock damage increased from 25/45/75/115 to 50/75/100/125
- Enchant Totem cooldown decreased from 6 to 5

Enchantress
- Untouchable AS reduction increased from 20/40/60/80 to 20/50/80/110

Jakiro
- Ice Path damage from 100 to 25/50/75/100

Lycanthrope
- Base Int increased from 15 to 17
- Spirit Wolves armor increased by 1

Magnus
- Skewer no longer affects magic immune units
- Skewer cast range rescaled from 1200 to 600/800/1000/1200
- Reverse Polarity duration decreased from 2.5/3.25/4 to 2.25/3/3.75

Medusa
- Stone Gaze cooldown decreased from 140/110/80 to 140/100/60

Mirana
- Moonlight Shadow duration increased from 11 to 15 seconds

Morphling
- Cast animation time decreased from 0.4 to 0.25

Necrolyte
- Reaper's Scythe stun/delay increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds

Omniknight
- Purification cast range rescaled from 400/500/600/700 to 700

Phoenix
- Sun Ray max range decreased from 1600 to 1300
- Sun Ray base damage decreased from 16/24/32/40 to 15/20/25/30
- Sun Ray now ends if you are stunned or silenced
- Fixed some Sunray lag issues

Puck
- Illusory Orb cooldown decreased from 13 to 12

Pugna
- Decrepify cooldown decreased from 13/11/9/7 to 12/10/8/6

Shadow Demon
- Shadow Poison cooldown decreased from 3 to 2.75

Slark
- Base agility increased by 6

Spectre
- Haunt no longer ends when you use reality (the targeted illusion is still replaced by you though)

Sven
- Great Cleave damage decreased from 25/40/55/70 to 20/35/50/65
- Warcry duration decreased from 8 to 7 seconds

Templar Assassin
- Refraction manacost increased from 75 to 100

Terrorblade
- Movement speed increased by 5

Treant Protector
- Damage increased by 10
- Leech Seed cooldown decreased from 18/16/14/12 to 16/14/12/10
- Overgrowth cooldown decreased from 80 to 70
- Living Armor damage instances increased from 6 to 7
- Living Armor can be cast through the minimap (only considers heroes and towers/rax in this mode)

Undying
- Decay damage reduced from 40/80/120/160 to 20/60/100/140

Vengeful Spirit
- Wave of Terror damage increased from 18.75/37.5/56.25/75 to 30/50/70/90

Viper
- Base strength increased by 3

Warlock
- Shadow Word cooldown decreased from 20 to 16

Weaver
- Shukuchi damage increased from 90/100/110/120 to 90/110/130/150

Winter Wyvern
- Arctic Burn cooldown decreased from 60/50/40/30 to 50/40/30/20
- Splinter Blast cooldown decreased from 8 to 7
- Fixed Arctic Burn vs Roshan

Zeus
- Strength growth increased from 1.8 to 2.3

Items:

Buriza-do Kyanon (Daedalus)
- Crit multiplier decreased from 2.7 to 2.4
- Recipe cost decreased from 1200 to 1000

Crystalys
- Damage decreased from 35 to 30

Eye of Skadi
- HP bonus increased from 200 to 250
- MP bonus increase from 150 to 250

Shiva's Guard
- Freezing Aura's attack speed reduction increased from 25 to 30

Misc:

- Harpy's Chain Lightning manacost reduced from 90 to 50

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED FOR NEARLY ALL HEROES.

Good games today, let's do it again some time.

Anyone up for a clan of southperry?

Good games earlier guys.

So how much did I suck? =P

I'm up for more if I'm online, just send me a message like Words did yesterday.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Polantaris

Good games earlier guys.

So how much did I suck? =P

I'm up for more if I'm online, just send me a message like Words did yesterday.

---

Not as much as I did :D
It was fun, anyway.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Words

Not as much as I did :D
It was fun, anyway.

---

Don't worry, we can suck together.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dusk

Good games today, let's do it again some time.

---

Definitely, was a ton of fun.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkForgeJ

Anyone up for a clan of southperry?

---

Yea, i'll make it. I suppose nobody has anything against a chinchilla related name?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Polantaris

Good games earlier guys.

So how much did I suck? =P

I'm up for more if I'm online, just send me a message like Words did yesterday.

---

You didn't suck at all, believe me i've seen much much much worse, for new players you both did well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Polantaris

Good games earlier guys.

So how much did I suck? =P

I'm up for more if I'm online, just send me a message like Words did yesterday.

---

I was actually impressed by your Shackles, you landed a lot of really nice ones. And Words wasn't bad at all for someone who just started playing a few weeks ago.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dusk

I was actually impressed by your Shackles, you landed a lot of really nice ones. And Words wasn't bad at all for someone who just started playing a few weeks ago.

---

1 week :f3:
But yeah, thanks :P

Also, I've been watching and reading a lot about heroes that don't need much farm and I think I might enjoy Lycan.
Only problem I'm having right now is that easy bot games are either too easy or too dumb and human games are too hard or filled with people that play well so I end up screwing up or doing nothing...

Lycan actually needs decent farm, and was nerfed to hell last patch. He literally has no real way to be played effeciently at the moment.
And you should just go play hard bot games and keep at it, it'll probably be rough at first because the bots are quite decent at laning, but it'll teach you a lot! :)

If you find a hero you want to learn more about, i'd gladly write up a guide for it.

Also if anyone needs an invite to the SP team ingame, just tell me.

And as dusk said, for the amount of time you've played, you're doing great. You're better than i was after months of playing DotA1, not even kidding, granted i didn't try to learn at all and was a sore loser back then, haha.

I like medium bot games because it allows me to practice last hitting/denies while being "contended". Hard games I get no farm and later in the game I do nothing :P
I'm trying noob friendly support Heroes and I'm enjoying Windrunner, I see why Polantris chose her in the games we had. I can't get used to Lich/Crystal Maiden... last hitting with them is harder, I like Lich's denying skill though.
What other noob friendly support heroes would you guys recommend?

You don't have to know how to last-hit with lich and crystal maiden though, same goes for most supports. They don't need the last-hits since someone else will be taking them to stack gold on one hero since items become increasingly more effective the more you have on one hero.

Other easy/noob friendly support heroes:
Tidehunter, venomancer, Ogre magi.


In DotA you usually split the 5 heroes into 5 positions.
It goes from first position to fifth position.
And it's about how much farm/gold you want on that hero.
1st position is usually a carry type hero, that ends up 'carrying' you to victory with enough gold.
2nd position are usually heroes that go mid because they need both exp and gold to be effective in the mid-game.
3rd positions are usually either going to be jungling or in the 'hard lane'.
4th positions are usually either going to be jungling or with the carry or roaming the map to attempt to get kills.
5th positions are usually with the first position protecting him in the early game.

What lanes they go to and who does what can change from game to game though, but these are very general guidelines.

lich and crystal maiden are very iconic 5th position heroes where wind-runner is great in the hard-lane and is a typical 3rd position although she has been seen utilized in the 4th position.


"Generic heroes" for the different positions:

1st:

Spoiler

• Anti-mage
• Luna
• Drow ranger
• Sniper
• Juggernaut
• Outworld Destroyer

2nd:

Spoiler

• Queen of Pain
• Invoker
• Tinker
• Templar assassin
• Brewmaster

3rd:

Spoiler

• Windrunner
• Beast master
• Dark seer
• Lone druid
• Bounty hunter

4th:

Spoiler

• Enchantress
• Chen
• Enigma
• Sand king
• Undying

5th:

Spoiler

• Crystal maiden
• Lich
• Vengeful spirit
• Venomancer
• Leshrac

Curious, @Malthe;
I saw several builds on DOTA2Fire that suggested to try to play Windrunner as a carry.

How do you feel about that? I can see how it would be possible, but I don't see how you would get away with that in games with all good players, though.

@Polantaris
Dotafire is a pretty bad website for guides honestly :( Sadly there's no hood hub for DotA2 guides. I've been thinking of writing a small mini-guide for every single hero, might do that tonight/tomorrow. Would include general role, general skill-build and general items and a few tips on how-to-play, is that something anybody would be interested in?

Wind runner works as a carry lategame, she's not a good one if built directly into one, but after getting up some core items on her, like boots mekansm/pipe of insight + forcestaff + scythe of vyse you can start building items such as Desolator, daedalus and MKB to increase her DPS.

There's a lot of heroes like this though, if you're a ranged hero in the third position building up some DPS past your core items is pretty common.

But the utility forcestaff, mekansm/pipe of insight and a scythe of vyse give your team are invaluable.

Not that you can't build her as a carry, it's viable, just not quite as good.

Spoiler

If you were to try and build her as a carry i'd go for power treads of phase boots.
The items i would get would be
For defensive purposes: Linkens sphere or Black king bar.
For offensive purposes: Desolator, Monkey king bar, orchid of malevolence, Daedalus.

And tossing in a maelstrom or crystalis without upgrading them between items also work.

Diffusal blade is a great item on her too if you want to remove mana from a target or need to purge something from an enemy(You can purge away all the buffs omni knight provides for his team, for example) and aghanims scepter is also pretty decent in the mid to lategame on her when you have the mana regen to cast your ult when it's off cooldown.

And for the why the pineapple not items:
Eye of skadhi(It's too expensive to be gotten otherwise, but not bad if you're winning hard or just have a lot of cash, or if it's super late-game.)
Satanic(It's pretty expensive and it generally wont save a WR in a fight, but if it's late or if you're winning, you can get it for the lifesteal and strength)
Rapier(Well, if you're winning, this kicks ass)
And.. battlefury, as weird as that sounds. It's not a BAD item on wind runner, she doesn't benefit from the cleave but she needs the mana regen and it has a good damage:gold ratio, if you aren't building an orchid or linkens for some reason, i guess this could work.

Carry WR can be done and it's not bad, it's just that utility windrunner with carry items in the late-game is better for the team, in general.
but if you want to build her as a carry for fun, by all means you can do it.

Windrunner is just a great hero because.. She's so versatile, she can help her team at all parts of the game and doesn't fall too much off at any point, if you look past that her prime-time is around 15~25 minutes, she's not much worse after that but her damage is just relative at its 'prime' in that period and she's amazing as an aggressive hero.

Also a fun fact: Although you'd think attack speed is pointless on her with her ulti, she has a BAT(Base Attack Time) of 1.5 which is really low.
BAT affects how much attack speed improves your actual rate of attack, most heroes have 1.7(95% of the hero pool i think) and then there are some that get reduced BAT from their skills(Lycan, lone druid, alchemist) and heroes with naturally low BAT(Anti-mage, huskar and wind-runner) and heroes with naturally high BAT(Treant protector at 1.9)

Lower BAT=good. Doesn't mean building attack-speed if the goal for a wind-runner that wants to carry though.

Also, Unique attack modifiers don't stack, generally.
But desolator applies a debuff and can work with mjollnir or maelstrom due to this, since it'll apply a desolator debuff and even if mjollnir or maelstrom trigger in the middle of your attacks you'll still have the benefit from both modifiers. So you CAN get maelstrom for farming purposes on windrunner coupled with a desolator for damage, if you really want.

spoilered a lot of it because wall of text.

Leshrac is really fun! First time I tried him I missed all stuns, but the second game with him was much better.
Also, I don't know if it's because I'm playing easy/medium bot games but everyone dies a lot. Even if I play my stun right to give some time to the carry to escape, they somehow manage to die... so I get to farm/deny a lot while they walk back. That's why I was "worried" about it.
I'll try Venomancer, but I think I'm gonna stick with Leshrac for a while, any tips? :3

@Words
Leshrac can be played in quite a few different roles, when coupled with a good slow and stun he can play as 5th position and just help get kills, he can also 4th position in a trilane(3 people in the same lane going for kills most of the time)
And then there is 2nd position leshrac.

Spoiler

The build you go for varies from game to game but i'd say, the most beginner friendly leshrac build is probably going to be Maxing split earth first, then max diabolic edict and THEN put points into your ulti and ignore lightning storm and just get stats. Lightning is good if you need to stop a push, but for a second position leschrac(Going solo mid) it's usually not worth getting points into, and you don't usually have mana for your ultimate early on which is why you go 4-4-0-0 since it's more mana-effecient.

Other builds include:
4-4-4-0 into stats.
1-4-4-0 keeping stun at level 1 till the others are maxed(this is only if you have allies that makes it sure you wont need the extra range.
4-0-4-0 with not touching edict which is decent for a 4th~5th position leshrach.

He's a very versatile hero and if you want you can get his pulse nova at level 6, 11 and 16 but you'll just very rarely have the mana for it.

Items are usually:
Arcane boots, which you can disassemble(Rightclick the item to split it into main components, this only works on very few items that don't use a recipe).
You disassemble it when you're trying to build a bloodstone because then you save 1k gold and bloodstone should solve all your mana problems.

Although if you're 4th or 5th position you'll most likely not be able to afford a bloodstone, which means just keep your arcane boots.
Other boots that work are either phase boots if you really need the chasing power or power treads if you really need the extra strength for HP.

good items on him include:
Bracers(If you just need to get more HP), Drums of endurance, sheepstick, shivas guard, euls scepter of divinity(Allows you to 100% land your stun if you time it right), Aghanims scepter, force staff(Great support item to give yourself an escape mechanism), ghost scepter(If you have problems surviving due to physical damage, Black King Bar(If you get the farm, this is great to allow you unhindered movement mid-fight, Necronomicon(If you want to take towers early on), Urn(Good for support leshrac), Mekansm(can be gotten on lesh if nobody else is suited for it.

I didnt' list the items in order of importance, but leshrac is a VERY versatile hero so there's a lot of paths to go with him.

And tips for his abilities:

His cast time is 0.7 seconds, which means it takes 0.7 seconds before any spell is activated. Ontop of this his stun has a 0.35 delay, which means it takes 1.05 seconds from you try to cast your stun till it actually lands. It's a good timing to know.

Your diabolic edict is composite damage, which means it's partly physical and partly magical. It isn't blocked by magic immunity or physical immunity but is affected partly by magical armor and physical armor. It also works on towers and is a CRAZY ability for taking down towers.

Ligthning is a great tool for farming and counter-pushing.

And pulse nova.. This ability costs a lot of mana but allows you, if you have the mana for it and can survive, to work as a lawn-mower, you stand in the middle of everything dealing massive damage to everybody.

I hope that helped :)

Spoilered most of my two posts because wall of text.

The most reliable way to use Leshrac's stun is to wait for an ally to use their stun, then throw yours a second after (most regular stuns last 1.5-2 seconds). It pretty much guarantees a kill early game if the conditions are right. For this reason, I like picking Leshrac when I'm going to lane with someone with a reliable stun, like Sven or Vengeful Spirit.

Pushing towers is so good in pubs that I almost always skip lightning and just max Edict and run down towers.

A good tip for leshrac is also that you can trick your opponent, if you try to use your stun but click "S" for the stop command before your stun fires, it'll look as though you're trying to cast your stun and enemies might try to avoid it, making them run in a not-straight line of escape, meaning their escape will take more time.
It can also be used to lead your opponents into the actual stun.

His stun is very mind-game-ish, a good hero overall though.

Also i'm on christmas break now already, so i can play most of the time that i am on @ steam, just send me a message.

I am the only one who plays venomancer as a carry? I don't like it as a support .-.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkForgeJ

I am the only one who plays venomancer as a carry? I don't like it as a support .-.

---

No, but he's squishy, lacks escapes/survivability, and his damage doesn't scale, so he's not a very good carry. He's very good as a support and very fun to play, just go around the map ganking everyone at level 1/2 with his OP slows.

When i play venomancer i will mostly go solo mid, he is not a very effecient carry but can work as a second position hero where he builds up items such as mek/pipe/aghanim/Necro books/scythe of vyse.
His scaling kind of lands to be a good carry, he's not locked as a support and has been run as 2nd and 3rd position before.
But he's just such a good support that it's quite crazy, his slow is amazing and isn't dispelled by even black king bar and his ulti deals crazy damage if he gets it to level 2. And his plague wards are just one of the best tools he has for both farming, pushing, defending, scouting and so on.

Anything goes in pubs though, but venomancer + a mid-game carry = easy kills in lane.
Veno+juggernaut is a magical combo for example.

I've done silly stuff myself though, like carry lich/crystal maiden and support riki.


I've never lost mid with venomancer, for example. His ability to mid is extremely good and he's one of the stronger 1v1 heroes and will quite easily get a kill early on if the enemy overtextends just slightly.

Veno mid is the same idea as lich or enigma mid. They're such strong laners that they'll win the lane and get early items that can contribute to a mid-game strategy.

Nothing can take away the role of #1 aggressive support from veno though, him and CM are the two best supports for early agression.

Relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKCS2No2xPs

DotA2 updated with the greeviling and possibly 6.77 changed(Not sure on the last one)

- Frostivus arrives...and is cancelled by the Greeviling!
- Added Polycount Contest Winner Items (11 new hero sets)
- 6.77 gameplay parity update

AND THE BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL, BASTION ANNOUNCER IS ADDED.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malthe

AND THE BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL, BASTION ANNOUNCER IS ADDED.

---

Omg, I love his voice. I never tried the game, though... Might do, as another christmas gift for myself :3
I'm downloading stuff, but once it's over I'll try it just to hear him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bru2HDuboKA
Here is the entire announcer for people who want to check it out.

Quick question, Dota 2 its free to play or what?

Whenever i check the store page in steam it says i already own it but i never bought it?

Check page 15.
It's free to watch.
You need an invite to play the beta.
You can buy it or ask friends for one (some SPers have keys left, I think).
It's free to play with cosmetic shop!
Hope that answers your question.

I see, thanks.

I have a key. Message Otaia on Steam if interested.

I bought the Bastion announcer, loving it.

Yeah, I bought it too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by YouTube comment

Kid starts throwin' money at his screen

---

Nah its ok, thanks though.

Enjoying the new game mode, the blue greevils from last event are broken as pineapple though. As far as teamfights go they are by far the best.
Couple it with a magnus and it's borderline broken.
Reverse polarity -> Change to greevil -> Blackhole -> GG

Also lol @Words and your leshrac avatar :D
"A thousand of your kind have fallen before me" I love his voice actor.

Also yea the bastion announcer is seriously amazing, it reacts and acts according to what you say and do, just like in Bastion, it's so good.

And as stated, we have beta keys a plenty of anyone needs one.

Also, pineapple THESE POLYCOUNT ITEM SETS ARE TOO GOOD, DAMN YOU VALVE FOR ROBBING ME.

And, new blog is up from Cyborgmatt(extraction dude for DotA2): http://www.cyborgmatt.com/2012/12/dota-2-19th-december/

- Juggernaut can no longer instantly kill greevils with his ultimate.


Okay.jpg

He's just too cool. His lore's awesome as well. It's just a shame that his skill delay is so hard to get used to.

That's the curse of having the pretty much best stun(split earth has a huge AOE and great damage ontop of large casting range) and nuke(lightning storm, 265 damage to all targets it hits) on both low cooldowns. :P
Diabolic edict used to be instant-cast and have no cast time, but leshrac too stronk, so he was nerfed a bit.

Which is why it's so fun to play Rubick against leshrac, because rubick has an instant cast animation, and can steal spells. Stealing leshrac stun on rubick is pretty much the best spell you can steal, not counting ultimates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vChZ1-yMheA

This guide isn't the best to follow, it's a bit of a joke guide, but it's hilarious to watch.
It does have some good points though, just don't listen too much to the items and skills and what lane to go into.

I noticed earlier that most of my problems with him are because of the lack of coordination with teammates. *lands a stun on two enemy heroes with no creeps around* *carry runs away* And Leshracs too squishy to even try vs 2.
Also, Leshrac is support, right? But he needs some decent funding too? *doesn't understand*

Leshrac can be played as a hard support, getting nearly no items.
And he can be played as just a support whom will get a few items.
And he can also be played solo mid where he gets a lot of items.

He works in all roles.

A very versatile hero, but most people prefer him as a support-ish hero because he just needs levels, so lane him with a hero where he can get kills and it'll be all good.

Leshrac basically works as both 5th, 4th and 2nd position.

I see, hard carry is difficult when you get pimento teammates. Last game I landed every stun but the 4 carries that were with me ran away every time and since I didn't have the many items I'd be the last running so enemy bots always caught me. They wouldn't let me farm either, so I think I spent the whole game destroying towers and feeding lol. The game before that was much better, every stun I landed there'd be someone there to finish them. It lasted like 20mins, because it was an awesome team and I finally felt like I helped (setting up kills and destroying towers). Leshrac is fun and I'm enjoying a lot learning how to play him... but it's sort of frustrating when this happen.
Time to try something less... squishy.

So, you guys want to play some games tonight? We can play the new for fun game mode as well. :)

It gets boring quickly, constant teamfights is too much. But yeah I'll play if my friends aren't doing anything on GW2.

There have been going rumors around that Merlini(Old legendary DotA player) has considered going professional again, BUT he has also said that being the day[9] of DotA2 could be an interesting idea for him to pursue.
I really hope he does become the day[9] of DotA2, because he has a lot of good knowledge and is pretty good at teaching.

For people who don't know who day[9] is, it's basically a guy who makes a 'daily' show where he teaches people in starcraft 2, both new and experienced players tips, tricks and strategies. It'd basically finally give DotA2 a place where new players could legimitately go to get a better understanding of certain mechanics and heroes and what their role is and how to play them. Would be pretty cool, IMO.

Merlini basically became legendary for being one of the only people to ever make zeus relevant in games between the best.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dusk

It gets boring quickly, constant teamfights is too much. But yeah I'll play if my friends aren't doing anything on GW2.

---

I play it more because because of the items ^^

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malthe

Also yea the bastion announcer is seriously amazing, it reacts and acts according to what you say and do, just like in Bastion, it's so good.

---

I bought him the other day, and during the loading I scribbled on the map and he goes, "Why all the scribbling?"

It was awesome, first thing I heard from him.

Sadly though it was broken for me today, I had no voices or announcers at all. Not sure what was going on (Yes I checked the settings, and made sure he was equipped).

Also, told ya I suck =P

You didn't suck really, problem wasn't you at all. We had a lot of bad randoms, which is why 4-man stacking sucks ass often. Zzzz.
We should try to be 5 next time, so we don't have xXxMLGPRO420HEADSH0TxXx go I MID I PICK INVOKER SO I MID.

In the game before you joined we were outpicked, but our night stalker was super passive in a game where he could've been super aggressive.
First game you joined we had the retarded centaur.
Second game you joined we had the 'pro' invoker.


Invoker pickers piss me off, and only them. Because 99% of them don't know how to play him at all and everybody just go exort because "LOL SUNSTRIKE OPA DENDI XD".
Nobody uses him properly or skills him according to the situation, at all.

Like, i don't care about losing the games, at all, i care about the games not being fun, at all, because of retards who can't play as a team.

Spoiler

http://i45.tinypic.com/35idevo.png

pineapple everything.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malthe

You didn't suck really, problem wasn't you at all. We had a lot of bad randoms, which is why 4-man stacking sucks ass often. Zzzz.
We should try to be 5 next time, so we don't have xXxMLGPRO420HEADSH0TxXx go I MID I PICK INVOKER SO I MID.

In the game before you joined we were outpicked, but our night stalker was super passive in a game where he could've been super aggressive.
First game you joined we had the retarded centaur.
Second game you joined we had the 'pro' invoker.


Invoker pickers piss me off, and only them. Because 99% of them don't know how to play him at all and everybody just go exort because "LOL SUNSTRIKE OPA DENDI XD".
Nobody uses him properly or skills him according to the situation, at all.

Like, i don't care about losing the games, at all, i care about the games not being fun, at all, because of retards who can't play as a team.

Spoiler

http://i45.tinypic.com/35idevo.png

pineapple everything.

---

That Invoker pissed me off so much, and you saw me call him out in game too. I stunned Drow twice, on a tree both times with level 2 Shackle (so 2.25 seconds each), and he did NOTHING AT ALL. He auto attacked. He had full MP! He hadn't cast anything recently either so there was no way he was on CD at all. Then he chases her, which even I knew was retarded, gets killed, and I got killed myself trying to save him which I probably shouldn't have bothered with.

That idiot Centaur decided he should have all the farm too, which pineappleed me up the entire game and I was way behind because of it.

It's why we need more people playing here @ SP so we can just go play inhouses with eachother, where nobody cares about winning or losing and it's all about just playing good games that are fun to play.

Where you can do pomegranate like this: http://divinecourage.dy.fi/

That's pretty cool. It would be fun to try that out someday.

When do you guys play? I am finally free from school, so I hope to join in SP games at last. I'm open to teaching too because I need the help.

Sorry guys, talked with a friend for over 1 hour and I can't talk/play at the same time.
If you play sometime again let me know :3

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Salguod

When do you guys play? I am finally free from school, so I hope to join in SP games at last. I'm open to teaching too because I need the help.

---

Whenever there's a bunch of us on. Add us on Steam, and when we play we just IM around and see who's on.

How difficult is it to play Shadow Shaman? He seems like a really cool Hero!

Shadow shaman isn't difficult in himself, his cast animations are pretty much instant.
The problem he has is being really slow and having really low health, ontop of that he relies very much on having allies follow up on whatever he does. If you're playing with friends, he's great. Since you know they'll follow up.
He can be played both as support and solo mid, albeit the solo mid role is kind of forgotten due to how easy ganking and killing him is.

He's a really cool hero though, and very versatile, ontop of him disables up the butt. And his ultimate is great for pushing down towers, trapping people(If you place it correctly people get trapped within the serpent wards) and general damage.

That game was fun! It's soooooooo much better when you play with friends, specially if they 'tell you' what they're going to do.
3/4 of my deaths were my fault, for being were I wasn't supposed to :P
But overall I feel like I've improved a lot... maybe it has to do with the fact that I've played nothing but Leshrac for the last 14 games. :P

Well that game wasn't that hard

https://dotabuff.com/matches/84153940

Thanks for the game, guys.

0 kills X_X

Also, I've been meaning to ask: What's LH? Last Hits?

Yeah, last hits.

Wow... that website is amazing :glitter: why i didn't knew about it?

Huh, merlini already started doing tutorials. I haven't watched them, but if it's anywhere near the standard quality merlini delivers, these guides are 10/10:

Game settings, camera, hotkeys, shift-queuing, game-time
Warding


Also, merry christmas y'all:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/yVWa8.jpg

Vengeful Spirit seems quite fun and easier to play, compared to Leshrac. Too bad she isn't as cool. :P

Fail Frostivus Box Run

Spoiler

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/4...2122900001.jpghttp://img845.imageshack.us/img845/4...2122900002.jpg

Seems legit :f3:

Spoiler

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/83/2012121700005.jpg

http://youtu.be/lDvx41MpdIQ

Epic Luck Game

I wonder if anybody'd want to join me and try casting something for fun.
Preferably someone who could do play-by-play during teamfights and the likes.


Also, if you want the nice soothing blue from the TI2 back in your dota2 background, go to launch options and write -international