DotA2 - Original Thread

[Malthe]

Just avoid picking sniper at all, hes an useless hero with no survivbility, everytime I see a sniper in my team it feels like 4vs5. And if you do happen to have no other option, ask for support when you feel that you are getting charged, if your team refuse to help you, then that will hurt them in the end. Going short lane wont help you much if the heroes on that lane can help the dive. But if you happen to que up with a friend, and you feel like playing one of these squishy heroes, tell him to pick earthshaker or shadow demon, they're decent for offense and defense.

As i told you on skype, shut your whore mouth.
If someone wants to play sniper, he can playsniper. And sniper is just fine in pubs.
I feel like a game is 4v5 if people are playing supports poorly as well, doesn't matter what they're playing.

Sniper. Is. Fine. In. Pubs.
With a team protecting him he was even good competitively, even post smoke of deceit, the difference is that the game is too fast-paced for sniper now.

[Raul]

KotL is actually a great counter to Spirit Breaker since he relies on going super fast (like Bloodseeker to some extent and Night Stalker). 750 movement speed is one of the higher achievable speeds that will still allow mana drain to work. Plus he's absurd in general. It's so fun.
But yeah, don't pick Sniper if you can help it. He's entirely useless most of the game and is super squishy with no mechanism to escape.

[Words]

As i told you on skype, shut your whore mouth.
If someone wants to play sniper, he can playsniper. And sniper is just fine in pubs.
I feel like a game is 4v5 if people are playing supports poorly as well, doesn't matter what they're playing.

Sniper. Is. Fine. In. Pubs.
With a team protecting him he was even good competitively, even post smoke of deceit, the difference is that the game is too fast-paced for sniper now.

You're right. Not to mention it's low level pubs. I haven't even played 100 games yet.
He's also the hero with the best win rate for me because first 6-10mins are the easiest. Easy farm, easy denies, easy harass/kills.
I'm trying to learn how to use every carry too but some are just impossible to me atm. Things with summons or Invoker I just can't do.

[Even]

You're right. Not to mention it's low level pubs. I haven't even played 100 games yet.
He's also the hero with the best win rate for me because first 6-10mins are the easiest. Easy farm, easy denies, easy harass/kills.
I'm trying to learn how to use every carry too but some are just impossible to me atm. Things with summons or Invoker I just can't do.

If you want to get better with carries, try something thats rather mid-phased instead of ultra lategame. Even tho Im not a big fan of sniper, he can potentially be one of the most annoying heroes lategame, since he will be hard to reach with his 850 attack range.

You could try more towards the str pool, since those are mostly useful in mid game, like dragon knight and sven. Luna is also a good option, but her laning phase needs to be good, otherwise you cant do much midgame but farm.

[Words]

Trying Sven in a bot match... first time ever they harass me o_o

[Raul]

Qualifier teams just got announced.

http://www.dota2.com/international/announcement/

people are raising a lot of shi't about kaipi not being in. Sucks for EE and Arteezy but I don't think they really showed their potential enough during their existence.

[Malthe]

It's funny, i was watching 2GD's stream yesterday and someone came and asked him about the QPAD logo, he asked: "For the qualifiers?" then realized he was on stream and quickly changed it to: "What do you need it for?"

Also kaipi not being invited makes somewhat sense, they changed their roster and barely any of their current roster has any individual achievements to speak of. I mean you could give EE the dreamhack win, but even then, the majority of the team that won that dreamhack is still together and are doing MILES better without him.

Also, mini guide/tips for ET/TC:
Mana boots over treads, too mana dependant to give up mana boots and attack speed really isn't something he needs that badly.
Drums are good, further fixes his mana pool and synergizes with how the spirit works on his own movespeed now, and he can go super fast with a good spirit return.
Mek/pipe both are good, mek is nearly always good unless you have another core mek-carrier and pipe is good if enemy has the magic AOE to warrant it.
Heaven's halberd is good for holding down an enemy carry and adds a ton of surviveability.
Shivas is also good, even more mana and good active and passive.
Sheepstick obviously amazing, but sheepstick is amazing on nearly any hero that can afford it without being a carry, and even then on some carries it's a very viable pick-up(On PL sheep can situationally be better than abyssal blade).
Necronomicon is another nearly always good pick-up.
Not sure about blink anymore, but i can see the uses of it, but i wouldn't list it as a must-get yet. Especially not with spirit being fully controllable and no longer just mirroring your hero.
Urn is also good earlygame if you're having a good chance of killing enemy heroes.
Euls can work to fix mana issues but i'd put it under somewhat situational, also helps with setting up some stomps/ults.


How he's usually played:
Mid or solo off-lane, he's a lot like wind runner off-lane in being hard to kill and still being able to snipe some farm from the enemy lane. And in mid he can with the help of runes/bottle crow put a spirit on the enemy hero and the creep lane and then go bully them out of lane with sick movespeed and auto attack damage. But bottle crow isn't even needed, he has really good base-line survivability and stomp is crazy for stopping aggression.

[Dusk]

I haven't played him since he had that pineappleed up mirror image spirit. That was so hard to use. The new spirit is really great, just run it wherever you want while moving your hero to a safe spot, then stomp.

[Raul]

@Malthe; I imagine 2GD knew because gd studio is running the qualifiers that QPAD were in. I don't think that bulba and monolith and EE were doing that staged.

[Malthe]

@Malthe; I imagine 2GD knew because gd studio is running the qualifiers that QPAD were in. I don't think that bulba and monolith and EE were doing that staged.

I know that James knew because of his position, just funny that he semi-spoiled one team by accident.
But i'm not sure what you mean about the whole bulba, monolith and EE thing and it being staged. Or was that just a side comment and not to my post? I don't think it's staged either, at all. But i also think the teams that were invited deserve their spots more than kaipi does.

And i think a lot of people forget that the star-power of a team is also enough to get them invited. Kaipi had neither results with their new roster, players with individual accomplishments nor star-power. Ontop of CWM being known for being a bit of a team-hopper and he was unable to get his visa for last TI.

[Words]

Is Life Stealer's feast a unique attack modifier? If I get a Desolator or anything similar would it affect Feast?
The description doesn't say so, I'm assuming it isn't but I was watching a guide, there's a comment that asks the same and is answered poorly, and the only dotafire updated guide doesn't have any items with unique attack modifiers so it makes me wonder.

[Malthe]

Nope, feast isn't an UAM.

http://www.dota2wiki.com/wiki/Unique_Attack_Modifier Here's more detailed information

[IllegallySane]

Feast is it's own thing, and even adds damage to what Naix already does. It's why a Naix with at least a Morbid Mask and some good STR items is rape incarnate.

[Words]

Ugh I'm posting so much but I keep forgetting to ask stuff.

Anyone else having this problem?

No hp/mp bar. Annoying when trying to jungle or not knowing when to leave fountain. Hard to deal with mana that way too.

I'm also having terrible luck trying heroes in actual no-bot matches :(
Auto-attacking teammate+ enemies that actually deny is the worst nightmare.

[IllegallySane]

I'll have to play a game to find out.

In the meantime, seeing your starting item build. A set of tangoes would only work if you are absolutely sure you won't be getting harassed or risked getting ganked. Otherwise, I'd probably get just 2 gg branches and take up a Healing Salve in place of one of your slots. That extra insurance in staying alive and in the lane would help you a whole lot. Wraith Band is pretty nice though on Gyro, since that's +9 damage for him, and once you get Ring of Aquila that's +15 damage for just 985 gold. Great early game item, and the mana regen is really nice too. Just make sure to turn off the ring if you're not pushing so creeps don't get the aura bonus.

[Words]

I searched for my health bar problem and it seems to be happening to a lot of people. Luckily it only happens in practice with bot matches, but it's a shame cause I learn hero animations, skills and stuff in those :/. Also, that was a bot game where I know I won't get harassed at all and will get enough farm for bottle and wand fast. Thanks for the advice though :)

EDIT: Having new problems with bot matches... all supports in one lane and the rest in the other lane. If I take mid it's no biggie, but if I want to lane the other carry won't let me last hit often... that's no way to practice last hitting :@

[IllegallySane]

You're almost never going to be able to out last-hit bots with right-click attacks. They are that insanely good at knowing when to deny, unless you are able to nuke a bunch of creeps at once. Best practice would be against real players sadly, which means you'll have to stink at last-hitting before you get better at last-hitting. :c

[Malthe]

Last-hit training in doto has always been done by going into a game on your own entirely and then going mid and reaching 80 last hits at the 10 minute mark. (Including the creepwave that spawns at the 10 minute mark)
That tradition started out with SF and was called the SF challenge.
You basically bought zero items, did not use your skill points and then just go mid and get every single last hit. Denies are a plus.

What the pineapple are you doing with your life mode: Same challenge, but with techies(Horrible attack animation and starting damage of 29-31)

It obviously doesn't teach you how to handle the lane with an enemy in it, but it's good practice for getting an animation and the timing down.

[IllegallySane]

What's the assessment if you noticeably exceed 80 last hits by 10 minutes? Say if you got 100 last hits, or even 90? Move to a worse last hitting hero like Zeus or the aforementioned Techies?

[Malthe]

at 10 minutes excluding the 10 minute creepwave exactly 80 creeps have spawned from both sides, minus the catapults. With those it's 81 on both sides.
So good luck exceeding it.

Edit: Or well, i guess with the 10 minute creepwave it's 21 waves, then i guess it's minus the 10 minute creepwave.

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