The DotA Times

Puck vs. QoP comparison

2009-03-26T20:36:00.014+05:30

I wrote the actual post before, and it was twice as good and twice as long (well, not really), but because of Blogger's mistake, I had to suffer. The scheduled maintenance was on the 25th, but they postponed it to 26th without updating the notice. Anyway, here's the post. I've probably missed out a few lines, since I've had to retype the whole thing again without any backup.

One of the most hotly debated hero choices, we've seen this topic sprouting up on discussion forums dozens of times. Yep, we're talking about Puck and QoP. Both of them play similar roles in a team. Both of them are top league heroes. Both of them are my personal favourites. Here are just a few points I can make on this topic.

First, Puck.
Puck is an overall fantastic hero, with an awesome skillset and excellent spell synergy. He works as an initiator, which is a rare trait for an Intelligence hero. He can lane well with most heroes and functions well both solo and in a dual lane. His AoE is HUGE because of his blink-like Illusory Orb (both an initiation tool and an escape mechanism in one neat spell) and Dream Coil. Puck is noticeably stronger than QoP early-game, and by level 7 his combo is already devastating. His skills are also easy on his mana pool so he doesn't have mana problems like the QoP does.

His trademark initiation combo viz. the Orb + Rift + Dream Coil combo, is gamebreaking; and coupled with the silence, is considered one of the deadliest combos in the game, which explains why he's banned in almost all competitive games. Phase Shift, is one the best skills in the game in proper hands. Puck can dominate with just a few items at his disposal. The recent July 2008 PDL list by MYM Ruven shows that Puck is the most banned hero. He works wonderfully well with most other league heroes and requires a fair bit of cooperation from the team.

Basically, Puck's main role is to initiate, do as much damage as possible with his combo, and then Phase Shift. Your allies then follow up. Enemies can either decide to wait for you to come out of Phase Shift, or they can move to attack your allies (which they probably will do, because any time wasted here gives your team the upperhand in the combat situation). Nevertheless, your job is done and you can rest in peace. If you do survive, you can easily single out low-HP heroes and finish them off. In one line, Puck is a powerful AoE early game initiator and ganker, and can offer tons of support late game.

Agreed both QoP and Puck have similar roles, but in some ways, QoP is better. Here are a few instances:

1) Puck does not have the adaptability that QoP does. He's an initiator/ganker, but that's the only thing (of course, he's excellent at this.)

2) Bad attack animation compared to QoP's, but can be overcome with enough practice.

3) Gets weaker during late-game, where his spells barely scathe enemies.

4) As an escape mechanism, the Illusory Orb + Phase Shift + Ethereal Jaunt is not as effective as QoP's low CD blink.

5) Banned in competitive games almost always.

Next, the QoP.

The Queen of Pain is, in other words, the Queen of Unmatched Mobility. She was a notorious league pick during the 6.48 days and was always banned. The game progressed, new updates came along and IceFrog decided to nerf her. This made an impact, but a good one in fact. She moved from the list of ALWAYS BANNED heroes to PICKED heroes. Players started to think of new ways to bring her back to the glory days, and have been quite successful with the carry QoP.

What sets her apart from Puck is her mobility, versatality and adaptability. She can take on any role the team throws at her. Want a carry? QoP's there for you. Want a nuker? QoP's there for you. Need support? She's there again. She can chase indefinitely and can also serve as bait, which is priceless. Her best ability is to quickly sneak up behind enemies and slowly, but surely, remove their HP with SoP. And when the battle is almost over with just a few survivors left, she can kill all of them with the SoP + SW combo. Blink is THE best skill in the game. Period.

As a theorycrafter, I'd say that all the enemy's have a blind spot (region near your enemy where they can see, but can't notice because of the intensity of the current team battle). QoP can easily get into their blind spots.

She has one of the best attack animations in the game and can easily get last hits. She can turn the tide of the battle with her massive AoE damage, and turn the hunters into the hunted. A potential gank can be countered if you successfully get off your SoP + SW, and quite possibly even counter-gank them.

In some situations Puck is better than QoP -

1) Puck has better ganking ability early-mid game.

2) Dream Coil is much better than QoP's Sonic Wave because. At level 16, a 600 damage constant AoE nuke cannot compare to Puck's 200 + 200 damage 3.5 second stun. Dream Coil is much better in team battles. It also has a lower cooldown and mana cost.

3) When playing QoP, having a bad early game usually means that your whole game is more or less messed up. This is because QoP needs to have a level and gold advantage to be powerful. Puck, on the other hand, can make a relatively quick comeback.

4) Puck is better suited to the current metagame because he's much better than QoP at mass team battles and skirmishes.

5) Puck has marginally better lane control.

6) Is not as mana-intensive as QoP and has a better mana pool.

7) Puck isn't as gold-intensive as QoP and functions well with just a few items.

So this was the basic idea. Here's a simple analogy on who's better.

Early game - Puck
Mid game - Both of them are more or less equal
Late game- QoP

As you can see, it's difficult to give a clear cut answer to this question. But we can say that Puck has a slightly upperhand and is a notch better because of his Silence and better chemistry between allies. Also, Puck has more team presence. Again, it depends on your allies as well, but if you want to compare the two heroes like this, this would be my point of view.

The Mid-Solo-Magnus Wonder

2009-03-11T21:33:00.006+05:30

I've seen some people laugh at the very idea of a mid solo Magnus. This is a post to prove them WRONG.
In fact, Magnus is one of the most powerful choices for the mid lane and can actually outcarry a Spectre, despite being a melee STR hero with a bad attack animation, and a hopeless attack swing.
But that doesn't matter, because you'll hardly be melee hitting much. You just need to make sure that you have a good early game, and that you do -- by going mid solo. =)
The key to soloing mid lane with a Magnus just as good as a Nevermore, if not better, is Shockwave.
Yes, just one single usable spell - Shockwave. Let's see why --

Shockwave has a pretty good AoE damage (300), but the cooldown and mana cost is just plain AWESOME. With a 90 mana req. and 11/10/9/8 second cooldown, it's as spammable as it gets.
But the real reason why we need middle lane is for the runes. And the Empty Bottle is the key item for this strategy.
When you start off in the mid lane, make sure you ALWAYS get a bottle, and a set of tangoes. Get the first rune that spawns. Head back to your lane and last hit normally till level 3. Try to get in a few melee hits on the enemy as well. After you reach level 3, start using Shockwave such that you hit the enemy hero AND get your creep kills while doing so. You should spam Shockwave from level 3 to 5. Spam like there's no tomorrow. Rune race to either side of the river and refill your bottle with the runes that spawn every two minutes.
If luck was on your side, and you happened to have a newb opponent laner, then you should have gotten a kill or two by level 5. If you did your 'Rune Racing' well, then your opponent just doesn't stand a chance.

If you're still not convinced, then just try it out. Works wonders.
Here's a replay of me playing Magnus mid solo (Sentinel) in a pub game on Garena

http://files.filefront.com/FeynorMagnusMidSolo/;13447931;/fileinfo.html

Observe the early game part of the game, which is the most important part of your play. I lane with an opponent Mirana who doesn't have the time to hit me because I'm always moving around for runes and spamming shockwave (plus, she wasn't exactly the best Mirana I've known. :P)
I get a quick godlike spree, followed by two silly deaths, and then a few kills again. Watch, and see for yourself how powerful a Magnus can get.

Note: Where I play, people still use v1.20e. So if you want to watch the replay, just use the 'Warcraft TFT Version Switcher'. Click here to download.

Oh, and I won't be discussing item builds or anything in this post, because there are guides for that. For items, I think it's pretty obvious that you get a Blink Dagger and maybe something along the lines of Armlet of Mordiggian.

Manipulating trees and exploiting spatial advantage

2009-03-06T18:18:00.027+05:30

Finally done with my exams, and here's a post to celebrate it. =)

Okay, so here's a new concept which I guess some of you already know, but I'll be presenting it differently. I'm sure it hasn't been brought out as a separate tactic elsewhere, so this should be interesting.

Terrain and fog of war is an extremely important aspect of playing DotA and is often overlooked by new players. Tree manipulation is just as important.

So here's the basic idea: You use skills and items which destroy trees to establish and maintain lane control early game, and also use it whenever necessary; if the situation calls for it. Here's what I think is one of the most basic types of tree tactics (but useful nonetheless)

Side Lane Tactics (top lane for Sentinel and bottom lane for Scourge): This one involves destroying trees near the first tower and occupying that region, so that you can stop the enemy laner from entering into your AoI (area of influence), denying him both EXP and gold. It works with most heroes, but EXCEPTIONALLY well when you're a ranged hero with 'tree-chopping' techniques (Power Shot, Wild Axes, Lightning Strike Array, Split Earth) allied with another ranged hero.

There are basically two ways of destroying trees. You can either use your hero's skills... or you can depend on one of my favourite items - Tangoes. Using tangoes to destroy trees takes a longer time, but you can regen HP. It isn't so bad if you can get your ally to help you with this.

To explain this, I'd like to do it with a hero as always. For this post, it'll be Alleria the Windrunner in the top lane. You can do this solo, but it's better to have an ally. Take a look at these pictures I made. (Click to enlarge if you can't see them clearly)

STEP 1: The AoI (Area of Influence) is the region in dark gray where both your AoE's overlap over each other. An AoI is stronger than a single hero's AoE. Also note that your range is just enough to cover the creeps and the trees, but not the enemy hero. So he still can get a lucky creep kill when you're trying to get last hits. He uses his tower as a safe base from your harassment.

STEP 2: Next, use Powershot or Tangoes to destroy the trees. Both work. Move your hero into the empty region.

STEP 3: Now your AoE shifts position and you have better spatial control. The pink area (your AoE) covers your opponent, so he moves back to avoid harassment. Now you've accomplished the task of forcing your opponent to move back. The position you're in, right now, is a very favourable one. You can keep your opponent in check, AND farm effectively at the same time. You have absolute lane control.

P.S: Note that AoI is different from AoE. AoE is a single hero's range capacity, whereas an AoI is the region of overlapping of two different AoE's. If two heroes with similar AoE are just next to each other, then their AoI and AoE would be almost equal. If they're farther apart, like in my images, then the AoI is lesser.

Comments and Suggestions

2009-02-13T20:20:00.008+05:30

Notice: I will not be posting till 6th March because of my exams, although I may still check my blog once in a while to reply to comments. Sorry for the inactivity =(
Meanwhile, you can subscribe to feeds or submit your email in the 'Subscribe to posts by email' menu so that you know when the blog is back up and running.

Okay, so it's been half a month since I started this blog, and I'm going to be inactive for a few days as stated above. So I'd like to know how my blog has been so far. How do you like my blog's theme? How are the posts? Do you want any changes in blog layout? What kind of posts do you want to see in the future? Anything.
Comments and suggestions to improve the blog are greatly appreciated and I will try to implement them if they seem appealing.

This post will also serve as a permanent comments and suggestions page and I will link it to the blog's main page.

Here's a list of links to all the posts:
1) Introduction: First Post
2) Linear Skill Growth vs. Exponential Skill Growth
3) Understanding hero combos
4) Top 5 Most Useful DotA Programs
5) Advanced Last-hitting strategies
6) Garena and B.net comparison
7) v6.59 Update commentary
8) Analysis post -- Tanks: The DotA Meatshields
9) Warcraft 4... is there ever going to be one?
10) Earthshaker - most accountable team hero
11) Sun Tzu's Art of War and DotA
12) DotA Actions Hierarchy
13) INT Heroes' late-game potential

INT Heroes' late game potential

2009-02-11T11:14:00.005+05:30

Common idea: INT heroes are good early-mid game but they become quite useless late game. Wrong. Actually, INT Heroes are strong early-late. It's just their usage and playstyle that changes. In the laning phase, they're important because of the sheer power of their nukes and stuns which is extremely useful for any team situation. Not to mention their ability to arrive on the scene and kill quickly (which gives flexibility for planning strategies spontaneously.)

In fact, I believe that INT heroes are 'carry carries', because they're the ones that hold the game long enough for the true carries to get powerful. Which is why they're picked in each and every game.

So let's get to the topic: How INT heroes can be useful late-game (even in public games)
For one thing, we know that some of the INT heroes can become semi-carries (sometimes, the main carry) late game. Examples are Nortrom, Obsidian Destroyer, QoP, Alleria, so on.

Though some may disagree, nukes are still powerful late-game because of their RELIABILITY. Look at my 'Understanding hero combos' post for more details. Nothing beats arriving to the scene and dealing quick and instant burst damage. I'd like to call nukes as the early game 'EARLY GAME OBLITERATORS' and the 'LATE-GAME CARRY COUNTERS'
Early game, you dominate by relying on your nukes' damage. But how they're useful late-game is what's interesting.

Late game is when most carry heroes rely on their physical attacks (Troll, Morphling, etc.) and have to stand and trade hits to deal damage. So when you're up against such a hero (farmed), standing and trading hits with him is not the best idea. A better idea is to stall for time and waiting for the initiators/nukers arrive. Nukers don't have to trade hits; because they can quickly and efficiently deal damage regardless of how strong the opponent is. This is what makes them important 'carry counters'. When it's an AGI vs. AGI it depends on who has more DPS (bash chance, lifesteal, etc. also comes into play; but let's keep things simple). The weaker person can't hold his own in a stand-ground duel vs. the enemy carry. But NUKERS can ninja a spell from afar.

Let me illustrate this with an example: Zeus, an INT nuker.
Early game your nukes hurt hard, and if you play your cards right, the game shouldn't last very long. Mid-game you take on the role of a ganker. Late-game (where most people believe you're weak) is where it's different. Now, heroes can take on your spells and still survive. So you have to move into the 'second-line' of attack and change your playstyle to 'ninja' mode. Before the bulk of the battle begins, try to get in a Lightning Strike on a key hero; it helps more than you think it does. Even a -200 HP to start with makes your team target that hero first. Also you're good at initiating a 'focus-fire sequence' because of the huge casting spell effect. Improvise.

There are loads of other things which you can do late-game as well. Here are a few:
Initiate 'focus-fire sequence' with a Guinsoo (which most people buy for INT heroes); provide solid support to your team in the form of a Shiva's Guard; massive AoE, mind games (because of your low cooldown-spells and a disable if you've purchased a Guinsoo), ability to counter carries, so on and so forth. The possibilities are endless.

Sometimes, overfarmed carries tend to think gung-ho and look down on their team's casters and nukers. And you know what'd happen to such a team.

DotA Actions Hierarchy

2009-02-09T12:10:00.008+05:30

In a game of DotA, you have to focus on many aspects of gameplay. And how you do it decides whether you win, or lose. Let's see what's important in different situations. Here's my DotA Actions Hierarchy (three ways to win a game -- Pushing, farming, killing)

1) Pushing: Easily the most important factor in deciding the outcome of games - Pushing. When you push, not only are you getting closer to the enemy's Frozen Throne/World Tree, but you're also putting pressure on the enemy because he won't be able to farm in a lane when he KNOWS that you're pushing a certain lane and if he doesn't do something about it, he'll lose the game. So assuming that you time your pushes right, you can really waste your opponent's precious time by pushing till he comes closer and then retreating. Note that you have to know how to distribute the pushes; that is, know when to push and when not to. If it's possible for your team to reach there soon, then waiting for them will do you no harm. It's much better to push with allies. You never know when there might be a potential gank waiting for you.

I'd like to split up Pushing into two types:

a) Single-lane focused pushing: This kind of pushing is most effective in the middle lane. You can quickly gain an upperhand if you take down the first two towers before 20 minutes. Exploit and capitalize on the enemy's mistakes and use it to your advantage. When your opponent laner decides to go to the river for a rune, you should quickly use that time to get down the towers instead of going after him (no point anyway, because he went before you and you can't beat him to the Runes unless you're on a steroid movement speed skill). But sometimes, a problem arises. When you push too far in one lane, enemy heroes tend to group together to protect it. When this happens, you should quickly shift focus to another lane and try to get down a tower with YOUR ALLIES (in unorganized games, enemy players will expect individual heroes on your team to go to different lanes and farm on your own, so they won't come after you when you're shifting lanes). You can establish this type of lane-pushing by being strong early game and forcing them to play passive. Common when there are two ranged heroes vs. melee heroes. When an opportunity presents itself, exploit it by pushing further. Don't miss out an opportunity to push. Ever.

b) All-lane slow and steady way: Pushing this way is more common when you're matched up against opponents of similar skill levels. There are no drastic and revolutionary pushes here, and the game usually takes on a very monotonous and predictable path. When this happens, games are usually won purely by outfarming or outganking and by establishing hero dominance.

2) Hero killing and Ganking: Second best way to win a game. Ganking not only makes you stronger, but also makes your enemy weaker. By constantly and continuously ganking, you can really set back your opponents. They start to play passive, and grow a sense of fear. Doing so establishes psychological dominance and they tend to give up focusing on farming, counter-ganking and stuff, and instead just SURVIVING. Note that you have to balance farming and ganking. Hero kills are better than just farming because of the massive EXP they give. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't farm at all. So here's the next one --

3) Outfarming your opponents: A sure-shot way to win, and just a LITTLE less important than the above. Items often determine a game. They're what allow a carry hero to carry. Watching an overfarmed Troll killing you like ants isn't an uncommon or surprising sight. Ganking and killing is all well and good, but if you don't atleast TRY to farm, you're going to lose out on items (unless you're getting all the hero kills). Farming this way is good, because you have a back-up in case your enemy Troll just escaped a few ganks with 5 hp and is now saving up gold.

All this said and done, this hierarchy is in fact situational. It often depends on the in-game situation, so what you do changes accordingly. But this should give you a general idea of what's important and what's not. There are loads of other factors which are purely specific, but I couldn't possibly shoehorn all of it into this post.

Sun Tzu's Art of War and DotA

2009-02-06T17:41:00.002+05:30

For those who don't know --

"Sun-tzu ping-fa (Sun Tzu The Art of War) is one of those rare texts that transcends time. Though it was written more than 2,000 years ago, it is arguably still the most important work on the subject of strategy today.
Written by a brilliant and experienced Chinese general named Sun Wu, The Art of War was intended only for the military elite of his time period. However, this treatise would later be absorbed by others of influence -- from the fearless samurai in feudal Japan to the shrewd business leaders of the 21st century.
The book is even more fascinating than its background. Only reading it will one see the principles are timeless and true, the words pragmatic and universally applicable to any situation that requires absolute victory. Equally important, a person can learn to avoid disasters."

The Sun Tzu's Art of War is one of those books, whose teachings you can apply anywhere and everywhere. DotA is no exception. After reading it, I found myself comparing the lines to in-game DotA situations and they were so very relevant. Reading this will change your whole outlook on the subject of strategy and strengthen your in-game planning as well. I've often found myself getting annoyed because of something unexpected happening in-game and then asking myself what went wrong. In fact, 50% of the deaths in DotA are caused by the player himself. I think that every DotA player/strategy gamer should read this. For your sake, I've compiled a digest version from Sonshi.com (it's in MS Word format)

Here's the download link:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/afg2d03/n/Sun_Tzu_s_Art_of_War_doc

Earthshaker - most accountable team hero

2009-02-05T14:43:00.007+05:30

If I had to pick just one hero in every game for the rest of my life regardless of the enemy heroes, I would pick the Earthshaker. I can count on him in every game. As an AoE attacker, his spells combo well with most other heroes (esp. other AoE heroes). From pubs to the highest level of games, you know you can count on Raigor. He's the best hero to counter pushes and also to initiate pushes. With his 1000 range Fissure spell which can stun a hero from far, it also has dozens of other uses like saving allies/trapping enemies with its blockade-ability. Really flexible spell. Once he has a blink dagger, he can wipe out entire enemy lineups in the blink of an eye... especially with another AoE damager (like QoP). With the Blink-Fissure-Enchant Totem-Echo Slam (or blink-echo-enchant-fissure) combo you can completely destroy enemy pushes. Late game image carries like TB, Naga or Phantom Lancer are no match for ES's Echo Slam. And if you get a refresher, they don't stand a chance.

I can tout for him to be the 'most useful hero for every situation' in DotA. There's no bad time to pick him. He's useful in every game regardless of enemy heroes. Just get him a Bottle and Dagger and he can still own. Raigor's gold-effectiveness ratio is excellent. He combos well with most heroes.

There's no reason not to pick this cow in every game.

Warcraft 4... is there ever going to be one?

2009-02-04T18:33:00.001+05:30

With the release of StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3, I assume that Blizzard had its hands full on these two major projects. Not to mention WoW. So will we ever get to see a Warcraft 4? If so, when?

As expected from Blizzard, the game will be awesome if it ever is made. And IceFrog will probably create a DotA map for WC4 as well. The transition of heroes and items from WC3 to WC4 can be done relatively easily, but the problem is with strategies. It will completely change, and it'll be almost like playing a new game. Does it mean the end of WC3?

I'm guessing it'll become something like the Quake series. Even after Quake 4's release, people still play more of multiplayer Quake 3. WC3 will retain its charm for AGES to come. With millions of people already into DotA, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't shift to WC4 overnight. The cycle starts all over again. Let's just hope that IceFrog is still there for us when WC4 comes out.

Bye.

Analysis post -- Tanks: The DotA Meatshields

2009-02-03T16:13:00.003+05:30

Wikipedia defines a tank (gaming) as: "In gaming jargon, a tank is a player or unit designated to protect weaker players or units in combat by drawing enemy attacks and absorbing damage. Compared to other units, tanks have a high damage tolerance and specialize in melee combat. The term meat shield is roughly synonymous with tank, often carrying the additional connotation that the unit is relatively expendable or inconsequential and its death is preferred to the death of the units it protects."

Tanks are one of the most important players in a team, and without them the team will easily fall. A team needs atleast one tank. So let's analyse tanks to gain a better understanding.

A common misconception among DotA players is that the only tanks are the high-STR heroes with massive HP. They tend to overlook other key factors like armour, evasion and overall EHP (effective hitpoints, which factors in both armour and evasion)
They believe that tanks are solely for taking the damage, and are usually incapable of dishing out damage and carrying the team.

Sure, the Wikipedia definition is true... tanks must have high health, must be capable of taking in damage, and must die for the team. That's what we all want -- our team's tank taking all the punishment for us so that the lower-HP heroes can survive and attack the opposing heroes. And that's what we believe our tanks are doing... stocking on HP items before even considering what would be the best way to help the team.

This, is the ideal concept of a tank. But no one, and I mean NO ONE who's decent at DotA will target and focus fire on a tank UNLESS he's of some threat or hindrance to them.

I would like to partially rephrase the 'tank' term to suit the game of DotA - 'A tank is someone who can take the punishment for his team, acting as a meatshield and getting focus fired but at the same time can deal significant damage to the enemy.' A tank's presence must be felt. He must have the ability to last long in battle and contribute to the team as much as possible. Getting focus fired means that you're buying more time for your team mates to attack your enemies, and possibly saving your main carry.

This is why it is advisable to buy a Radiance for ALL TANKS. It's a key item for tanks and is what allows you to take the role of a tank. Immolation damage is invaluable to your team and I believe that there should be one on your team in almost every game. This is because with immolation, people will target you first (which is what you want) because it damages them over time. Coupled with your stuns/disables, you can really cause problems for them. Almost always, you should get it before a heart. Because if you get a Heart first then you would delay the Radiance taking it into late-game where it's not as effective as in the mid-game stages. Also, most tanks have some form of block damage either by skill or item, which helps them to play some mindgames coupled with their strong HP regen. Life-steal and the uncommon evasion on tanks (ex. Panda) also helps.

That said, a tank doesn't always have to be a STR hero. Even late-game agility carries like Troll Warlord, Faceless Void, Phantom Lancer, Mortred can become tanks in some cases because it's hard to bring them down with physical attacks (with the exception of magic/exact damage, which in fact tells us about the usefulness of INT heroes late game) because of their high armour and excellent evasion.

With this, it's easy to understand why heroes like Centaur, Axe, Bristleback*, Syllabear*, Davion, Leviathan, Sven, Panda, Balanar, Barathrum are commonly picked tanks. If you notice, ALL of them are also capable of carrying the team if the team requires one.

*Bristleback: Even after the nerfs (STR gain decrease), Bristleback remains one of the best tanks. This is because of his incredible ability to stay in battle because of his BB skill, and stouts/vanguard which you'll buy for him. He gets focus fired, but can still deal damage in an area with quillspray. Coupled with Radiance, you can dish out lots of damage in an area. And his STR gain nerf is nothing to worry about, because in the end, its just about a 10 STR less at level 25 (190 HP less, 10 damage less, and a small decrement in HP regen). He still has his awesome skills.

*Syllabear: After he gets True Form at level 16, he gets a MASSIVE 1k HP boost along with the skill "One" which enables him to share half the damage received with his bear. And you can keep it on endlessly. It's really hard to bring this guy down once he's fully farmed.

Oh, and tanks are fun. =)

v6.59 update commentary

2009-02-02T16:49:00.000+05:30

6.59b had no notable changes except for the memory glitch debugging.

v6.59 Update Commentary: (Here's the link for the changelog)

Notable changes affecting gameplay:

1) Ironwood branch cost reduction: Ironwood branch cost decreased from 57 gold to 53 gold. Definitely a plus. Often, I've found myself just one gold short to buy the branch. While this may not seem like much, the branches have one of the best resell values in the game and can be a life-saving item sometimes because of the +19 hp (1 str)

2) New mode -er: IceFrog added an Experimental Rune mode on this update. Here's what the changelog says --

"Experimental Runes: This temporary mode changes the rune system to a more experimental one. I will be changing how -er works from version to version to try out different ideas. I don't plan on any one version of the new runes to replace the current system directly, so do not panic Instead, it will be used as something to create discussion, spark ideas, find flaws and playtest different concepts over time. How -er works for this version: Runes spawn simultaneously on both sides at 3 minute intervals (instead of 2). Again I have no plans to make this permanant."

Interesting, but if he ever does decide to make the runes spawn every 3 minutes instead of 2, it'll completely change laning strategies of mid-lane heroes like Magnus, PotM, Puck, etc. who solely depend on rune racing to establish lane dominance. Still, he said that he wouldn't implement it on the main version so no need to worry.

3) Furion's Wrath of Nature mana cost decreased from 200/380/610 to 150/175/200: Wow. Real wow. This is such a huge buff, that we might even get to see Furion being commonly played in pub games. No need to worry about spamming this skill anymore mid-game, where it's needed most. Definitely a nice buff. :)

4) Windrunner's Powershot cooldown from 12 to 9 seconds: Nice buff, we'll get to see Windrunner again. 9 seconds is pretty imba for teamplay or killing fleeing heroes and improves spammability quite a bit.

5) Spectre's Spectral dagger no longer gives vision: I guess IceFrog has seen too much of Spectre in competitive play. No vision is bad. Real bad. It was bad enough already after he nerfed Reality by making it end Haunt on other heroes if it was casted. Spectre is soon going to descend from the Throne of Carries in Leagues.

6) Ursa's Fury Swipes buffed from 3 to 5 seconds: This buff helps Ursa get kills in his early game stages. I've seen heroes get away with 50 hp left because Fury Swipes ended. This one buffed Ursa's early game to a certain extent (not to mention, last hitting ability on creeps)

Most notable buff this time was the Furion buff. By far.

Next post... still thinking. Maybe a while before I post the next one.

Garena and B.net comparison

2009-02-01T19:41:00.000+05:30

Recently, Garena just reached 10 million registered users. A staggering number. Who would have thought that the GG-C would have risen to such heights. But is it enough to beat the old-timer B.net at its own game? Let's see...

Garena:

An excellent client for playing games with players from other countries. (I get better pings from Singapore players than my own country's server. Amazing isn't it?). B.net on the other hand lags a lot if you're playing with other countries. Inter-continental games are not uncommon.
No more -em games. Period.
Lags less.
With its new ladder system, games are a lot more fun in Garena now. Especially when there are high level players (MYM and SK to name a few) playing in clan rooms.
GG-TV which allows users to watch live matches.
It has a 'level-up your char' feeling like in MMO games.
Easy to make friends. Friends are your biggest asset if you want to play any game online.

If this is not enough, then how do you explain the sudden shift in the case of professional players from B.net to Garena. Not to mention normal players as well. No offense to B.net players; but this is just my view, and I really think that you should try Garena once.

In the end, I'd say Garena wins hands down.

Next post... 'My views on the v6.59 update'

Advanced last hitting strategies

2009-01-31T20:37:00.001+05:30

Last hitting is one of the most important things to learn when playing DotA. When you're talking about last hitting, there's always room for improvement. Always.
Last hitting is interlinked with lane control and overall dominance of a team. It's the core of the game.

If you're reading this, then I presume that you know what last hitting is. We all know it... moving around back and forth and trying to avoid harassment whilst trying to get as much gold as possible by getting the last hit on creeps when it has a sliver of HP left.

One hit-one kill. That's what I believe is good last hitting. You have to understand that by giving in more hits, you're upsetting a very delicate balance of creep clashes. If no hits are given, then the two creep waves will always meet at the same point. More or less, for every hit you give, you have to deal the same damage back to your creep to keep the wave clash in one place. Simple concept of "give n' take" With a good understanding of this, you can manipulate and move the creep waves in any way you want. One big plus to the team. :)

In fact, good last hitting and wave-manipulating is linked with almost everything in DotA. For example, good last hitting indirectly affects you getting ganked, or your team ganking the enemy. If you push the creeps too far ahead into the towers, you'll just give more EXP to the other guy and reduce chances of snagging a kill. You're susceptible to ganks as well. On the other hand, if you control the waves well, then you can play safe and not get ganked.

A common mistake which many players commit is last hitting consciously with concentration in the Early phase of the game but their concentration tapers off as the game progresses. If you're able to last hit consistently without losing focus throughout the game, then I'd say you're a good last hitter. This is more difficult than it sounds. In fact, it's a litmus test for the skill of a player. Remember that last hitting is more important than denying (since you can't deny the full creep exp like in older versions of DotA)

Here are a few advanced last hitting techniques:

1) MICROWAR WITH YOUR TEAM MATES
When you're given a chance to free farm, you'll get almost all the creep kills if you last hit well. But this doesn't always happen, and if you play against a good team they won't let you free farm very long. How then, do you stay on-par in terms of items?
The answer is to win the microwar WITHIN your OWN team. This involves deception in terms of movement pattern to get the last hit if your allies are good last-hitters as well.
Here's how you do it:
Move to and fro, as always and watch out for any low HP creeps. At this point your ally would have noticed it as well (if he's any good). Now both of you are likely to walk towards the creep to snag the kill. Often, it depends on your heroes attack swing, but it's still possible to do it -- right click the creep and when your strike is about to land cancel it and move a few mm. away. But since your ally thought you were going to land
the hit, he'll click the creep as timed by him. Most likely, he expected you to reduce the creep's health to just one TINY sliver so that he can get the hit, but now he did it for you, and you can get the creep kill!). Remember that you have to use the H key whenever necessary to perform this technique well.
Note that this is possible only when the creep's HP is enough to survive atleast two hits (from you and your ally and maybe your creep)
Explaining this micro strategy in words is difficult, so I'll try to edit and include pictures later.

2)TOWER-SIDE LAST HITTING: As you all know, if you're getting hit by a creep and you enter the tower's range, then the tower shifts its target and assists you by attacking the creep which is hitting you (As long as the creep is in it's range). The tower can help you last hit this way, because it quickly and easily reduces the creeps HP. You have to get to know your heroes attack swing (if you're melee) or projectile speed (if you're ranged)
With a little foresight, you can manipulate the creep's HP beforehand, such that you can get the last hit after the tower throws in a few attacks... say 2 or 3. This technique is SLIGHTLY easier to do if you're on Sentinel because the tower's projectile is a stone, which is easier to judge than Scourge's energy beam.
This strategy will help you farm fast by getting the creeps near your tower.

3)COORDINATING AoE SPELLS TO GET THE LAST HITS FOR ALL CREEPS IN AN AREA - Let me explain this to you by example: Say you're playing Queen of Pain. We know that at level four, you deal 300 damage to creeps with SoP. But by the time you get level 4 SoP, the Necromancer creeps have slightly over 300 HP. Now assume that you're walking with your creep wave and it clashes with a HUGE enemy creep wave. Give a hit (one hit) to each of the Necromancers. While you're at it, your creeps should have managed to halve the Ghouls' health. Now with a single SoP you should get all the creep kills. :)

That's all for now.

Next post: Garena vs. Bnet comparison

Top 5 Most Useful DotA Programs

2009-01-31T15:22:00.000+05:30

Here's my take on what I think are the Top 5 Most useful DotA Programs (legal, of course)

1) Warkeys: Coming in at rank 1, this is definitely something that every DotA Player should have. Highly flexible and functional, you can customize keys to your preference. Don't like how hero skills are placed? Don't want to click items like Necronomicon in your inventory with the mouse? Then this tool will definitely help you. You can remap your keys easily. You can have a standard 'QWER' keyset or you can have your inventory items on the 1, 2, 3, 4 keys. Apart from this, it also has the neat ability to display HP bars without holding down on the alt button. You have one extra finger for pwnage.

Download: http://www.garena.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=62433

2) Ventrilo: A thousand letters is worth 5 seconds of audio. Ok, maybe not, but with this you don't have to type while playing DotA (if you're playing with friends) All you need is a headphone and you're set to use this. Ask your friends to install it and you can coordinate much better. Much. You'll see how it improves your win rate. Voice chat beats text chat when you're playing.

Download: http://www.ventrilo.com/

3) Warcraft III HP View Helper: Same function... viewing HP bars without pressing alt key. But the interesting part is that you don't have to install anything. Just download the 200kb file and place it in your Warcraft folder. Helps when you're playing in cyber cafes or places without Warkeys and you don't have time to install.

(Note: My bad, but I forgot to tell why you would want to see HP bars after v 1.22 was released. The reason is, some of the Asian countries still use v1.20e and v1.21 where you can't enable HP bars in the WC3 Client.)

Download: http://www.trinigamers.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=18

4) ReplaySeeker: Currently, we don't have a program that allows us to view replays like you would in a media player like VLC. So we have to settle with this. It allows you to speeden the replay length upto 36x. With this you can get screenshots or make videos even if you skip further ahead in your replay.

Download: http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?showtopic=196471

5) DotA Theme Manager: It allows you to have different tilesets for your DotA map. Currently there's Beach Theme, Hell Theme, Snow Theme or Barren theme. They're all very nice and you should try them out. Apart from the aesthetic aspect, it may help you target or last-hit better because of the color contrast... depends on you though. :)
Note that using this changes the tilesets of all maps in WC3 so if you're playing something else then you better switch back to Original.

Download: http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?showtopic=185881

Other useful programs:
Warcraft TFT Version Switcher: You don't have to create a backup folder for playing DotA in other servers. Mainly for use in Indian and Philippines servers where they still use 1.20e and 1.21.

Credits to ahmet476 for these:
1. DotaHIT by danat
2. DotBeer by Mendoza32
3. DotAReplay by d07.RİV

Next post: Advanced last-hitting strategies

Understanding hero combos

2009-01-30T19:48:00.002+05:30

We all know that it's not good to pick all Agility or all Strength heroes in a serious game. The reason for this being, these heroes don't have the raw power that INT heroes are able to achieve with nukes early game. More importantly, they are not reliable early game (more explained later on in the post). Most of them can really be set back in the game if they're ganked a lot. In serious games, we need heroes who are an asset to the team even with sub-par items because you can't run around site-seeing in these games - you're bound to get ganked.

So the best way to maximize efficiency would be to have a blend of INT/STR/AGI heroes. Ideally, we would like to have two nukers, a carry, a tank, a tank-carry, but this can change depending on the situation and enemy picks. That said, those two nukers don't have to be strictly early game. INT heroes like QoP or Nortrom can really carry the team if it needs one, so they're really flexible. An ideal combo is called a 'Lineup'. Popular double lane lineup combos include: Leshrac-SK, Lina-Crystal Maiden, and Earthshaker with just about any hero who can deal damage quickly (Juggernaut, for example)

Popular lineups used in league games are: Leshrac, SK, QoP, Spectre/Rikimaru, Bristleback. Axe is also starting to get popular these days. The reason heroes like Mortred or Troll aren't picked very often in serious games is that they aren't a reliable source of damage. The key word here is reliable. While they are certainly powerful when trading hits with heroes, you can't follow this idea in serious games. In serious games, you need damage that you know will DEFINITELY work, and that you WILL be able to execute it (eg: nukes, fixed damage attacks, AoE attacks)

Performing Combos
When performing a combo you have to talk with your team about who does what first. Initiators are the MiPs (Most important player :P) here.

Let's take the case of a Magnus-Warlock-QoP combo. The best way to perform the combo would be - Magnus blinks in, uses Reverse Polarity and tries to get as many heroes clustered together. Warlock then uses Fatal Bonds (damage shared partially between linked units) to link the heroes and summons Infernal. Magnus uses his Shockwave.
Right now, the linked units receive partial damage each, i.e, each of them gets 175% damage. Since all of them are clustered together QoP can easily finish them off with a Scream and a Sonic Wave, obliterating them.

[Note: The reason we don't get Warlock to use bonds before Magnus casts his ult is because when enemies realize that they're linked, they'll start to spread away from each other, and we definitely don't want that because it'll become difficult for Magnus to catch them all in his ult.]

This was just an example, and the combos you can perform in DotA are infinite. The only thing you need, is coordination. If the Magnus-Warlock-QoP combo had been performed differently, the results wouldn't be enough to kill all the heroes, or with maximum efficiency. You need to know your place. For this you need to talk a bit with your allies.

Countering Combos

Countering enemy hero combos is an important aspect of winning the game. Even a small change in their attack pattern can be very beneficial to your team, allowing you to push further or mess up their entire strategy. You have to understand the role of each hero in the enemy team. Human psychology tells us to dish out all our spells on the main enemy hero. Is this correct always? No. More often, it's the initiators and disablers that mess up our strategy; so we have to eliminate them first, so that we can focus fire on the carry later. Disablers are what help the carry to dish out his damage. Know where the enemy heroes stand and what role they're playing.

You can always pick counter-heroes with skills to counter your opponent team. That, or you can pick an all-rounder like QoP and improvise by buying items.

Here are a list of items that you can use to perform or counter combos.

1) Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse - By far the best counter item. Can wreak havoc if used properly. Even the most powerful carry heroes can be brought down if you have a double-guinsoo combo on your team.
2) Blink Dagger - Every initiator's favourite item. Helps in loads of things, and the possibilities are endless.
3) Lothar's Edge - It's pretty useful on initiators after the blink dagger nerf in 6.48. Eg: Nevermore/Ursa.
4) Orchid Malevolence - Next best counter item after Guinsoo. 5 secs of silence is godsend to your team if you know when to use it.
5) Shiva's Guard - AoE damage is a definite must for every serious game. The armour bonus helps, but it helps immensely on AoE heroes like Puck/QoP/Earthshaker by supplementing their already powerful damage.

There are lots of other items, but I found these to be the most important in terms of combos. It's always good to have a Guinsoo on your team in every game. Spend time formulating and thinking about combos, it'll help in the long run. Definitely.

Linear skill growth vs. Exponential skill growth

2009-01-29T19:11:00.000+05:30

So you've just started out DotA recently, and think you're getting good. Like everyone, you want to get better at it, and fast. If you think playing 24/7 is going to get you to proness in the quickest way possible, then think again. While this may certainly improve your skill when you initially start out, after you reach your intermediate stages, it'll lose its efficiency.

I can put it this way: When you start out DotA and play for about a month, your playing ability improves very fast. After five months, you're still growing, but not as fast as before. After a year, you're practically the same as what you were two months ago.

So why then, are there some players who are better than others who may have started out before them? It depends on the individual, but there are ways for everyone to get better.

I'd like to explain this with a simple theory which occurred to me because of my busy life: Linear Growth vs. Exponential growth.

An example of the first: Mr. A plays 9 hours of DotA a day on Garena. He doesn't really care about who he's playing against, and just wants to play for the sake of it. He's been doing this for a year now, and still he isn't that spectacular. He doesn't read about DotA, and his strategy is based purely on in-game experience. At the rate he's going, one can expect him to stay the same after a year.

An example of the second: Mr. A's friend Mr. B plays about 3 hours of DotA a day. On Garena. He can't play as much as Mr. A can, so he enjoys what he can in those 3 hours. He reads strategy guides, discussion forums, and thinks about WHY something was said in the guide, than just blindly following it word to word. He also tries to improvise his own strategy and playing style to suit the game situation. Mr. B watches replays of professional players and is amazed at how good they are. He starts to think like them, and eventually improves fast. At first, he tries to mimic them but later improvises according to the flow of the game. He improves fast. Really fast. He learns from his games and his mistakes in game. Eventually he gets better than Mr. A (who started out before him) and is ahead of him by a margin. He plays better than his friend because he has a strong strategy and understanding of the game. He WANTS to improve. This is what sets him apart most -- he WANTS to improve at DotA.

You may argue that by saying that playing DotA this way spoils the fun of the game, as it's a game and meant to be played for fun. Not really. When you don't have all the time in the world to play, you'll really try to make every minute count. You'll learn from the game. You'll be better than what you were yesterday.

This might make your games better and more enjoyable. :)
Adios. Next post: Hero picking in games/Analyzing combos.

P.S: Next post may take a while 'cause I'm busy at the moment. :(

Introduction: First Post

2009-01-29T19:09:00.002+05:30

Hi there, and welcome to DotA blog. I decided to create a blog because DotA is game that will always have something new because of the regular updates and has lots of scope for discussion. The blog platform is perfect for me to pour out my thoughts into a layout. DotA stands for Defense of the Ancients and is one of the most popular maps in Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne. It is one of the most widely known games, and is more popular than the stand-alone PC game Warcraft. It has elements of both strategy and skill; and a strong focus on teamplay, so it's definitely worth trying out. . You can either play Blizzard's official online ground - battle.net or a custom client like Garena. That said, this blog may not help beginners much. I'll be discussing strategy and in-game tips mainly, but I may post about map updates once in a while.

'Nuff said. Let's move on to the next post.
Linear skill growth vs. Exponential skill growth