Chinese reshuffle light rumours:

iG disbands, sponsor backs off.

Chinese team confirmed: xiao8 + Mu + Faith + Chuan + Hao

New team with: Meracle + hyhy + xFreedom

Wuup

Results of the Reddit Power Rankings January 12, 2014 + Summary of team/DeMoN prize money

Great job! Over 250 votes from 47 countries with help from GAF. I think this gives a truer value to who are the best teams.

Interesting notes:

• DeMoN, the mercenary, has accrued $18k on his own out-earning Alliance since the last rankings. His former team, EG, has only won $12k as a team of 5 since TI3. #hardwork #dedication
• DK with their recent domination deserve top spot
• Gosugamers and Joindota have Fnatic ranked unbelievably low. Sigma > Fnatic, wtf Joindota???
• MVP Phoenix sneaks into the top 10 with their Nexon 2 win. Perhaps Zephyr will sneak into future rankings.
• Alliance will earn a guaranteed $27k this week with the potential to earn $85k if they sweep D2CL1 and Starladder8, so expect their rankings to jump.
• The Reddit poll rating sees Navi 2nd Overall and 1st in the Western rankings, but balanced out with their complete lack of money winnings.
• The Overall Reddit poll correlated perfectly with the Eastern Reddit poll rankings.

Thanks for voting and big ups to Liquipedia for their content! I'll try and organize the next poll after D2CL1, StarLadder8, and G-League2.

You can view the polling results for yourself if you sign up for Wordpress:http://shiradota.polldaddy.com/surveys/2047095/report

RESULTS

Rank	Previous	Name	commercial (/20)	winnings (/30)	reddit (/50)	overall
1	3(↑2)	dk	19	30	50	99
2	8(↑6)	ig	17	24	35	76
3	4(↓1)	fnatic	8	21	40	69
4	6(↑2)	lgd	16	18	30	64
5	2(↓3)	navi	11	0	45	56
6	1(↓5)	vg	10	15	20	45
7	7(-)	a	16	12	15	43
8	5(↓3)	speed	4	0	25	29
9	-	mvpphoenix	0	27	0	27
10	9(↓1)	sigma	5	6	10	21
-	10	tongfu	2	3	5	10
-	-	titan	0	9	0	9

OVERALL RANKINGS (1-10)

Name	joindota	gosugamers	winnings	reddit
dk	2	1	1	1
ig	1	4	3	4
fnatic	8	5	4	3
lgd	4	2	5	5
navi	6	5	-	2
vg	5	7	6	7
a	3	3	7	8
speed	10	8	-	6
sigma	7	10	9	9
mvpphoenix	-	-	2	-

Eastern Rankings: 1. DK, 2. iG 3. LGD 4. VG 5. Tongfu
Western Rankings: 1. Navi, 2. Fnatic, 3. Speed 4. [A] 5. Sigma

WINNINGS since 8/12/2013

name	d2l 4	red bull	wpc-ace	asian cyber	fengyun	nexon 2	fragbite	netolic 4	pinnacle	TOTAL
dk	-	$3,200	$163,400	-	$9,880	-	-	-	-	$176,480
mvpphoenix	-	-	-	-	-	$75,600	-	-	-	$75,600
ig	-	$16300	$49000	-	$823	-	-	-	-	$66,123
fnatic	$15,000	-	-	-	-	-	$7,800	$6,000	-	$28,800
lgd	$25,000	-	$3,250	-	-	-	-	-	-	$28,250
vg	$7500	-	$16300	-	-	-	-	-	-	$23,800
DeMoN*	$3,000	-	-	-	-	$15,120	-	-	-	$18,120
a	$2,500	-	-	-	-	-	$15,500	-	-	$18,000
titan	-	-	-	$15,000	-	-	-	-	-	$15,000
sigma	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	$10,200	$10,200
tongfu	-	$1,600	$3,250	-	$2,470	-	-	-	-	$7,320
rox	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	$3,000	$3,400	$6,400
navi	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	$0
speed	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	$0

WINNINGS since TI3

name	from 8/12	since 8/12	total
dk	$27,400	$176,480	$203,880
startale	$95,000	-	$95,000
mvpphoenix	-	$75,600	$78,400
speed	$68,400	-	$68,400
navi	$67,189	-	$67,180
ig	$820	$66,123	$66,943
fnatic	$24,738	$28,800	$53,538
vg	$20,200	$23,800	$44,000
a	$20,238	$18,000	$38,238
sigma	$20,689	$10,200	$30,889
lgd	$1,640	$28,250	$29,890
DeMoN*	$2,500	$18,120	$20,620
titan	-	$15,000	$15,000
liquid	$5,238	-	$5,238

Old-schoolers Vigoss and Axypa return

Ivan "Vigoss" Shinkarev makes a return to competition following a hiatus and founding Na'Vi DotA member Bogdan "Axypa" Boychuk makes his entrance into the competitive world of DOTA2. The two "old-schoolers" will be joining the ranks of SQreen's Squad, a team aptly named after its maestro Khaled "sQreen" Al Kabbash.





Vigoss returns officially Axypa was one of the founding members of Na'vi in 2010 for DotA1 but left the team along with Goblak, when Na'Vi added Puppey and LightofHeaveN in June of the following year. Vigoss had a long career in dotA dating back to Virtus.Pro in 2006 and more recently competed in DOTA2 for M5 at TI2.

SQreen spoke to joinDOTA about his new team.
"Finally I was able to make stable roster with good and decent players, we will play all tournaments which we can and where we can get invites."
Sqreen's Squad competed in the recent Pinnacle Sports DotA 2 Pro-Am with Vigoss but were eliminated in the first round by Rox.Kis. With the addition of Axypa does he really believe they stand a chance versus the likes of Rox.Kis and Team Empire? "Sure, we played against Rox.Kis in Pinnacle and at one point had a good advantage. We played that match with NS as a stand-in. We have also beaten Empire on scrim, so I think it won't be too hard for us," he stated. "Our main goal is to get a spot in the TI4 qualifiers and to win it or place in the top2 at least."

Where is the best dota community for discussion of strategy / builds / new heroes etc.?

TBH no where, the only place I could think of is dota-allstars. That forum was amazing if anyone brougth up any form of discussion or suggestion, it would most likely be broken down matmatically, gold, exp, cost-benefit analysis, meta comparisions etc. In most of the DA threads it was someone trying to prove their point by theory crafting, presenting the numbers, then treating it like a use case and using data either from play history or meta data to help their point. I a lot of the forums how its mostly "what do you guys think about x,y,z". Leaving it up to the community to break down the math and discussion points for them. You could basically ask "what do you think about the smell of my farts", becasue a lot of the discussions boiled down to the blind leading the blind, with people who were enmaored by the current meta not changing their mind, and letting it be known.

I mean, holy shit BoTs Tinker, the pulling discussion, the BF Dusa, and other aruguments that had literally essays trying to prove their point. The loss of DA really fragmented the community, people either went to DP, or some other language friendly site. The normal response on DA to any suggestion was "show me the proof" it was the poster's burden of proving their suggestion or idea, and not just randomly throwing it in. It was an amazing place every thing was sourced and notated, it was amazing read threads where people disagreed and would use data to back up their points, and even testing out eachother's discussion points in test games to see if it held water.

This was during the day of "hardcore dota", where sitting through 10 a minute loading screen was your entrance fee. Where the standard player was expected to have 3x the number of minutes in cs, and 2x the number of mintues in denies, range hero city, secret vent channels, playing with actual pros on a daily basis and so forth.

I've heard of Pendragon releasing the DA archive back to Icefrog, but I haven't seen or heard of any progression on that front. The forum itself was just more organized, unlike reddit where everything is lumped together in this main subreddit with a few "barely there" supporting subreddits. The strategy section was deep into strategy, and each discussion could go for pages. On Reddit, its hard to find anything interesting, every other post is "omfg singsing unbuttoned his shirt by another button due to heat wave!" or some weird hero worship, or some type of art peice.

I'm not saying the game was better back then, but the community overall was more organized and was very detailed in their arguments. There wasn't an "accepted way" of playing rahter people were more open to ideas as long as you could prove your point. The majority of the posts weren't troll posts, and peopel genuinely wanted to help you or show you how an argument was weak. Mechanics were fleshed out, stuff like that. Instead of bitching about "this is OP" it was more of "okay how do we deal with this, or get around it".

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The best forums where I learned the most were official playdota forums, particularly
advanced mechanics http://www.playdota.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=52
advanced mechanics guides http://www.playdota.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=27
general/strategy guides http://www.playdota.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=108
I was active there like 5 years ago, but I believe it is still up to date with latest patches.
Back in those days also pro players used to participate there, answer questions and post guides, but I think that is not longer true.
Still, it is huge source of dota knowledge.

\\Over and out,
Mexicaner

Dota 2 awards 2013 - source TL

It’s that time of year again. We’re here with Team Liquid’s Dota 2 Awards for the year 2013, and it’s an understatement to say we are excited. The TL Awards are a fixture of the Starcraft Progaming scene, and our Dota 2 Progaming awards follow in their footsteps. We started withlast year’s awards and today we’re proud to bring you our 2013 installment.




We do not take awarding any of these categories lightly, and the names you see alongside these titles today were only arrived at after much deliberation and much back and forth between our editorial staff. Unlike other annual awards lists, the TL Awards are decided internally by our writers and editors and are not based on community vote. We employ this process because we feel that popularity may not necessarily reflect the very best, especially in some categories. Thus, we are proud to stand by every single award given below. After watching a whole year of Dota, here is what we picked as the best of the best.




We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank you, our readers, for making our Dota 2 coverage possible. Without you, we would not have the motivation or drive to write about this great game, and as we head into another year of competitive Dota, we are thankful that we have an audience as passionate and excited about this game as we are. It has been an honor writing for you, and we hope you enjoy our coverage in 2014.




Congratulations to the winners and runners-up! You made 2013 a great year, and for that, we salute you.




















One of the most coveted roles in all of Dota, the carry is the most visible part of a team, and as such, the carry of the year is not an easy award to make. After a lot of debate, and indeed, a lot of voting back and forth, TL is proud to name Xu "BurNIng" Zhilei as the Best Carry of 2013. While this category was hotly contested, and while there are Western carries who performed admirably during the year, we agreed that no other player filled this role as completely as BurNing. Rain or shine, safelane, offlane or jungle, you give BurNing an inch, and he will farm a mile. For ricing out of control all year long, BurNing is our Best Carry of 2013.























Not only did the community want it, there was no other contender who really came close. Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung is regarded as one of the most mechanically sound players in Dota history. He led Orange to 3rd/4th place finish at TI3, and he also stepped into his Mid role on the new Team DK with ease, showing the world that in Seattle or Shanghai, the mid lane was the mid lane, and he could dominate it with his eyes closed. For playing a plethora of heroes, and giving us recurrent nightmares of his out-of-control OD, Mushi is adjudged the Best Mid of 2013.























While the role of the offlane shifted a few times in 2013, Henrik "AdmiralBulldog" Ahnberg’s consistency did not. While he is sometimes criticized for his small hero pool, the fact remains that he can go toe to toe with anyone regardless of matchup, giving his team the edge needed through controlling one of the hardest spots in Dota. Whether he’s pushing aggressively on a Nature’s Prophet, or strengthening a multi-core lineup with his impeccable Lone Druid, AdmiralBulldog showed us repeatedly again last year that he is very, very good at what he does.























Supports play one of the most important, if not the most important role in competitive Dota, and yet they are also one of the most ignored roles when it comes to how we cast and cover the game. Thus, at this year’s TL Dota 2 Awards we would like to publicly acknowledge Alliance’s Jerry "EGM" Lundqvist and Vici Gaming’s Linsen "fy" Xu , two spectacular playmakers who saved the fight, and even the game for their teams on more than one occasion. For being the heroes their teams deserved, EGM and fy are adjudged the Best Supports of 2013.























Though one would expect this to be a hotly contested category, the verdict was clear from the start: the winner would be Gustav 's4' Magnusson. While he did miss out on the Best Mid award, he picks up this one with ease, and that’s because he is more playmaker than straight-up mid player. Give the man a Magnus, and he will drop RP after perfect RP, and give the man a Puck, and he will deliver a million-dollar Dream Coil. s4 wins Best Ganker because he is a player who has an intimate knowledge of positioning in Dota, and used this understanding consistently in 2013 to give his team the edge. Though he isn’t always the star of the action with flashy kills and sexy turnarounds, in the end they are all indebted to his setups and initiations – for without s4, there often wouldn't be a fight to begin with.























While Dota teams come and go, some teams and their compositions remain the same. One of the oldest lineups in all of Dota 2 is Na`Vi, and their long term cohesion relies heavily on the captaincy of Puppey. A veteran of the Dota community, he is a well-loved figure among his peers as well as fans, and indeed one of its most recognizable faces. While his drafting skill is well known, Clement “Puppey” Ivanov gets the Best Captain award this year for leading his team to three consecutive The International Finals and in the process creating the most recognizable dynasties in Dota history.























Every team has that certain player who shines in the spotlight, and for Na`Vi that player is none other than Danil “Dendi” Ishutin. Not only is he one of the strongest solo mid players in the world with an extremely entertaining playstyle, he is also one of the quirkiest and funniest members of the Dota 2 scene. Whether he’s talking while streaming pubs or being interviewed on the big stage at Benaroya Hall, Dendi is a player who knows how to get an audience on his side. It doesn’t matter if you’re rooting for him or against him, Dendi is simply the kind of player you can’t help but like. For being the face of the Dota 2 community for yet another year Dendi walks away with our Most Charismatic Player Award.























Every game has their legends, and in the history of Dota one of the biggest legends ever was ZSMJ. After his outstanding play with For The Dream at SMM 2009, he was henceforth known as one of the greatest carries of all time. After a long stint with LGD, he retired from the Dota scene due to personal problems and proceeded to work a normal job and live an everyday life. But in March 2013 the legend returned and quickly took the scene by storm with his play on Vici Gaming. His return was one of the biggest Dota moments of the year, and for that ZSMJ receives this year’s Biggest Return award.























EGM first stepped into the limelight when he completed Alliance’s five-Swede lineup in February of this year, and since then has proven to us over and over again that his position on the world championship squad is indeed well earned. In fact, EGM is the only player to bag two awards today, and rightly so. Whether he is casting out of control shackles or initiating perfect relocate ganks for Alliance, he is without a doubt the breakout player of the year. He lived the dream, going from relative no-name to world champion in just six months, and for that he walks away with the award quite easily.























Despite a decline in 6.79 towards the end of the year, Alliance clearly accomplished the most throughout 2013. Since their introduction as Alliance from No Tidehunter back in April, they have won 7 major events, and placed 2nd/3rd in many they didn’t win. They won TPL Seasons 4 and 5, DH Summer, StarLadder Season 6, the G-1 League Season 5, where they went undefeated at the LAN Finals in China and as you all know they were the champions of The International 2013. For most of the year they were the strongest team in the West, and were a major force in popularizing Rat Dota and the use of Shadow Blade on Nature’s Prophet.























It stands to reason that the Most Charismatic Player would come from the Most Charismatic Team, and indeed, Dendi’s Natus Vincere is a shoo-in. Whether it’s fountain hooking in one of the biggest games of their lives, or giving spectacular team interviews after events, Na`Vi won our hearts and minds at the first TI and they haven’t relinquished them since. The perennial fan favorites walk away with this award yet again.




However, this year they share the accolade with an up and coming American team.

Speed Gaming’s first major title in Dota 2 was MLG Columbus 2013. However, they were a fan favorite long before that. Indeed, one cannot help but root for five of the scene’s top free agents who come together to pursue their dream. From Aui_2000’s laid back charm to EternalEnvy’s opinionated leadership, Speed is a team that well understands what the fans want: not just players, but personalities. For shocking, thrilling and making us laugh in turn, Speed Gaming share this year’s Most Charismatic Team award with Na`Vi.
































The level 1 Roshan is a strategy that permeates all levels of play, from the depths of the worst pubs to the furthest reaches of professional leagues. Typically, when done in a league as prestigious as G-1, these kinds of attacks are done with some form of obfuscation, or at least are fakes like when No TideHunter styled on EG at DreamHack. This time, however, they beat the system with the most simple trick of all: Town Portal scrolls to get to Roshan before DK could check the status of the pit. Combined with their ban of Clockwerk, who can grant vision extremely easily, it led to an easy level 2 for everyone before DK even knew what hit them.























The biggest comeback is a category that displays one of our favorite aspects of Dota 2. In The Defense Season 3, Liquid showed one of the biggest displays of iron will we have seen in a long time. From the draft it looked like a hard game for Liquid, but far from unwinnable. However, the Phantom Lancer of Mouz did what a Phantom Lancer was born to do: get crazy amounts of farm and then ruin the opposition's day. At around 40 minutes into this game Liquid was already down 2 raxes, while Mouz still had most of their tier 2 towers up. But through the power of persistence Liquid remained intact with Mouz continuously trying to take their base, and with the Divine Rapier pickup on Gyro things were starting to look up. After taking a massive teamfight they made their final death push up mid, quickly taking the rax of Mouz and going straight for the throne. PL made a last ditch attempt to BoTs in and base race Liquid, but it was too late.
































Calling a biggest play in a year full of wonderful Dota is no easy task, and yet, as we looked through our shortlist, one play stood out: the million dollar Dream Coil. Now, we know that there has been a fair amount of back and forth and let’s just say it, a positively insane amount of analysis regarding the last few minutes of the TI3 Grand Finals. However, when all is said and done, we are left with no doubt: s4’s Dream Coil was instrumental in winning Alliance the game. s4 has already won an award today, and if anything, this second category illustrates perfectly why he is the Best Ganker of 2013.




In one of the most intense games of the year, the collective tension no doubt enhanced by the knowledge that they were playing for a 1.4 million dollar first place prize, s4 first cancelled Puppey’s TP and then laid down a clutch Dream Coil that prevented Dendi from getting back to base and defending Alliance’s top lane throne push. While Alliance certainly had a chance even if Dendi managed to get back to base before Funn1k died, for securing his team the path to the throne, s4 walks away with this year’s Biggest Play award. One ultimate for 1.4 million dollars: it doesn’t get any bigger than that!























It can be hard to describe an anti-play. They come in many forms. Some are funny, some are confusing, and some just leave you speechless. While the “PGG Black Hole” defined 2012, this singular moment at TI3 marked the beginning of the end for Orange’s run at the tournament. In a Game 3 where Orange was up 16 kills and 2 towers, kyxy’s Windrunner attack right-clicked an Aegis that seemed destined for Mushi’s Outworld Destroyer, and despite the play looking insignificant at the time, many feel that in the long run it led to the collapse of the Malaysian team’s world championship hopes. kyxy is a great player, but that particular play was definitely the Biggest Anti-Play of 2013.























This award goes to the final game of TI3 not only because it was a nail-biter, but also because it was a microcosm for the entire year of competitive Dota. A game that was all about split-pushing with both teams nearly breaking high ground and then being pushed back on multiple occasions, the match eventually evolved into a blistering base race. Given that these were the best two teams in the world at that point, and seeing how much money was on the line, it’s not that the game really needed to be more exciting than it already was. And then, just when we thought we couldn’t take anymore, a s4 Dream Coil and an Alliance push on the top and bottom lanes gave us the most exciting play of the past twelve months. s4’s clutch Dream Coil won Play of the Year, and yet, somehow, that wasn’t enough. The entire game featured some of the best Dota we saw in 2013, and there was simply no way around it: it was, without a doubt, the game of the year.























To say The International 3 was the tournament of the year may be a bit of an insult, because when you compare them with TI3, nothing else can even be really dubbed atournament. With the biggest prize pool in the history of competitive gaming, and a production team that redefined what we expect from esports tournaments, TI3 was certainly the highlight of the year for Dota fans. While other events are certainly catching up, Valve’s yearly world championship is still far and away the best tournament we get each year, and this is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Thanks, Valve!























As always, this was a hotly debated category, but in the end, the verdict was clear: Winter was the best caster of 2013. Perhaps it’s even a little unfair to have a former professional player in this category, especially since his detailed analysis of situations often leave his co-casters in the dust. However, the fact remains that no one provided a better analysis of live games in the year gone by than Chan "WinteR" Litt-Binn. We loved his casting in 2013, and look forward to a 2014 full of great insights from him.























Visage had quite a run this year. Introduced to Dota 2 in mid-2012, our poor gargoyle friend was often considered one of the weakest heroes his first six months in the game. Last winter, however, he started seeing play in G-1 and Liquid's games in the west. From there Visage became one of the most popular supports as people realized just how potent Soul Assumption can be in trilanes. The best of the best took advantage of summons that can grant vision and chain stun. He became a mainstay in all big tournaments through the year, including 85 picks at The International 3, with an impressive 57% winrate during. Even after a great reduction in his armor and magic resist in patch 6.79 it is common to see a team pick or ban the flying terror, making him one of the most important heroes of the last 12 months.























2013 was the year of Rat Dota, and no other item exemplifies these twelve months than the Shadow Blade. Often still called Lothars by long time Dota aficionados, the Shadow Blade was used by a plethora of heroes last year. Whether it’s Bounty Hunter critting like crazy or a Nature’s Prophet incessantly pushing lanes, the Shadow Blade was an ever-present part of professional play in 2013. For giving us long games with back and forth pushes, and treating us to great ninja kills, the Shadow Blade is awarded 2013’s Item of the Year award.

How to use older dash boards for your dota 2 client:

Go to library, right click dota2 - launch options:

Dota dashboard launch options: -dashboard international_2012 -dashboard international_2013 -dashboard frostivus_2013 -dashboard spirits_2013

#TI2012Dashboardlovah!

If you feel like trying some next lvl shit, then type: -dashboard international_2011

Danish Dota 2 cup

General information:

Free entry
Deadline: Monday d. 20/1-2014 kl. 19:00 CET
Tourney start: Saturday 25-01-2014 clock: 12-17 and sunday 26-01-2014 clock: 19-23
Initial games will be held saturday and the finals sunday
2 games garanteed with double elimation. Saturday = BO1 and sunday = BO3

-No limit how many teams can participate
-Full team consist of 5-7 players
-Game mode: CM
-Double elimation
-Random seed
-Meet 11.30 at #slap.dota @quakenet. - IC username has to have same username as your team leader

Source:http://www.slap.dk/News/2014-01-08/dota-2-trust-challenge/

Global, for everyone! New tourneys

In 2013 we have hosted a total of 26 open Dota 2 tournaments. Now it's time to do the next step. While short cups are great for a lot of people, it was still our goal to make joinDOTA an even more stable place to compete for teams of any skill level. A place to consistently play matches at every week, yet without requiring too much of a commitment from participants. Today we're very close to reaching that goal. We proudly present the joinDOTA League.



Before we introduce our new league, let's do a quick flashback. DotA veterans might remember Pick League, hosted by Dota-League for a very long time. Before it shut down in 2011, Pick League was the most consistent place for European amateur and semi-pro teams to compete. Checking the current the division and position of a team within PL became the most simple way to roughly estimate its skill level. While Dota 2 brought many amazing improvements to the competitive scene, nobody has - in our opinion - been able to adequately fill the gap that Pick League has left behind. joinDOTA is hoping to do that by introducing the joinDOTA League with a similar format.

More information on the matter can be read here:

http://www.joindota.com/en/news/14759-joindota-league-global,-for-everyone

Is this Wong 'ChuaN' Hock's new dream team?

Rumours have been flying around since the start of this year that an impending return of the International 2012 winner Wong 'ChuaN' Hock would be happening.

The latest development comes after LGD.cn's victory last night in the Season 4 D2L finals at the Caesars Palace in Vegas. Shortly after their victory Zhang 'Xiao8' Ning posted on the Chinese networking site Weibo an update which suggests his time at LGD.cn was coming to an end after he thanked his team mates and stated that 2014 would be a new beginning after being with LGD.cn for over three years.

According to the Chinese news site sgamer.com Wong 'ChuaN' Hock's return will be met by a wave of roster changes across the majority of the Eastern scene with some of the giants like Invictus Gaming, TongFu and LGD.cn being affected by the shuffle.

Rumoured Lineup (Including their expected position)
Chen 'Hao' Zhihao
Zhang 'Mu' Pan
Zhang 'Xiao8' Ning
Wong 'ChuaN' Hock
Zeng 'Faith' Hongda

The list is notable missing Zhou 'KingJ' Yang who was another player ChuaN was rumoured to be forming a team with. The expected shuffle is due to take place after the Chinese New Year (31st January) when a number of existing player contracts expire so until that time we will be treating this lineup as a rumour.

Source: sgamer.com

Dota2 Early Game - How to Manage Difficult Situations/Lanes

This is a continuation of my work on the earliest part of DotA - the lane phase. Bad lanes happen to everyone and can set us up for very painful games; this guide is meant to be a quick rundown of tips and tricks to keep in mind when bad lanes do happen. Not every lane is winnable, but by playing intelligently you can minimize the damage to yourself and your team.

Most bad situations are caused by improper planning and poor hero picks for the lane phase. Typically, the hero with nowhere else to go gets thrown in the offlane to drown. While this can be avoided in an organized team, it can be difficult to deal with in solo queue (especially if you play a lot of “all random,” like myself) and offlaners still manage to deal with a lot of the blame game when they drew the short straw to begin with. Even if a lane seems impossibly matched and there is no hope whatsoever, you still have options to consider to help make the most of your early game.

1) Don’t create bad situations in the first place

Yeah, yeah, it’s a pretty cheesy piece of advice for sure, and it goes without saying - after all, if you weren’t in a bad situation you wouldn’t need a guide to bad situations. Still, it’s worth remembering that DotA doesn’t have a magical set of rules that must be followed every game. Try to predict what lanes the enemy will use and play around them, you don’t always have to have a ganking hero solo mid lane with a carry in the safe lane and a jungler. In fact, most popular junglers work great in lanes, and most ganking mids make great supports. Take Nature’s Prophet for example:

Very rarely have I seen anyone use Prophet to do anything but jungle and carry, but he provides fantastic lane support to most heroes in the game with his incredibly powerful Sprout. If I had jungled this game, my allied Razor would have been soloing the bottom lane against Silencer and Weaver - a lane he would have lost horribly. Instead, I help him out in his lane and we have a great game right from the start.

Always judge the situation before the game even starts. If your team has a chance to turn a weak lane into a powerful one, there is no reason not to take that chance. I might have been able to get more gold by jungling with Prophet this game, but it would have come at the expense of Razor and to the benefit of the enemy team. It was far more useful for our team to overpower the bottom lane than for one hero to jungle while another fights an impossible matchup.

A similar piece of advice to this is

2) Phone a Friend

Even if you get stuck with impossible odds, there is no reason to face them alone. Teleportation scrolls are not very expensive, and if you need help with your lane do not hesitate to let your team know. Communication is vital for success, and many players will think your lane is going fine if you never ask for help. Getting the assistance of other heroes, whether it is permanently or only for a short time, can go a long way toward helping you survive your lane.

In the above game, I was sent solo against the infamous Phantom Lancer/Keeper of the Light lane - even by level two I was sent running for the hills. Luckily, I soon gained the assistance of Leshrac and we were able to push the enemy back some, allowing me room to last hit and deny. In the end, our team decided that I needed the help more than Dragon Knight did in the safe lane, a decision that ultimately won the game.

Unfortunately, sometimes help is not coming. Multiple lanes can go poorly at the same time, and the team might not be able to spare any effort to come help. If this is the case, sometimes you simply have to

3) Back off

I cannot stress this step enough, bad lanes are completely reliant on the patience of the unfortunate player. At some point, you must evaluate whether a lane is even remotely worth fighting over. PL/KotL can very easily kill me if I stick around trying to fight over last hits, so why should I? If I fight over the creep wave, I run a high risk of dying and giving the enemy heroes extra gold and experience. Meanwhile, they are going to have complete control of the creep wave while I’m dead. If I don’t fight them and stay away, they will have complete control of the creep wave, but that is all. It can be incredibly frustrating to sit back for potentially several minutes at a time doing absolutely nothing while the enemy enjoys an empty lane, but it is the best decision to make. Regardless of whether you try to fight for last hits or not, the enemy will win the vast majority of them - if you fight and die, you give them even more gold and experience; if you hide, all they get are the creeps. Backing off costs you nothing in a lane where you are already being zoned out. Additionally, enemy supports can quickly grow bored of standing around, themselves. Once they leave to go ganking or jungling, you will have space to get levels with.

Certainly, some early defeats in DotA are the result of a lane getting completely out of hand and an enemy using the resulting momentum to crush an entire team. However, a large portion of this early momentum is the result of kills at very early stages of the game. If an enemy only collects gold from creeps, and not kills, there is a cap on how much gold they can possibly collect in their lane (roughly eight creeps a minute!). Even ten minutes of creeps is not a game breaking amount of gold, especially when few players can perfectly last hit every creep - the lane phase of DotA is not nearly as important as it feels. What matters the most for a bad lane is that you survive it. Every time you die you give the enemy extra gold beyond the limit imposed by creep spawns - gold they can use to overpower your allies.

With that said, there are times where you can strategically use a fight over the creep wave to your advantage. Next bit of advice:

4) Get hit

It can be difficult for heroes to attack you without pulling the attention of the creep wave, especially melee heroes. If you goad them into clicking on you and they get the attention of your creeps, you can drag the creep wave back near your tower where it is far safer for you to last hit. If your creeps are busy attacking the enemy hero, they will die before the enemy creeps and the wave will move toward your side of the map. This method does not even require you to sustain much damage, even a few seconds of the enemy juggling creep aggression will slowly but surely pull the creep wave back. Luring the enemy into using area of effect abilities to damage the creeps even more can also be highly successful. In doing this, you can help reduce the distance between the creep wave and your tower, making you much safer from ganks and giving the enemy less room to push you around.

Note that the above example is rather messy. Spiritbreaker ends up attacking the enemy heroes and gets the attention of enemy creeps himself, reducing the effect of this strategy. This was a mistake for sure, and he sustains quite a lot of damage for only a slight movement of the creep wave. However, health restoring items are not very expensive, and even if you have to trade an entire Tango charge for a last hit, you will be able to buy your way through the lane. While chugging health potions might make you feel like you are losing, you get full experience from last hits that might have been denies instead. Furthermore, the enemy will sustain damage from the creep aggression and, over time, might actually lose their ability to pressure you. This is especially helpful when combined with the next piece of advice:

5) Airdrop Supplies

The courier is an invaluable resource that is not used nearly enough by most players. Many players will simply walk to the fountain to heal up, missing out on long periods of time spent collecting gold and experience in their lane. While you are away, the enemy gets to control the creep wave and enjoy the empty lane, erasing any pressure you might have put up against them. This was the case in the above game, where we pulled the creep wave to our tower by enduring enemy harassment. I used the courier to bring me health regeneration items - more than I could hold, in fact, which is why I dropped the health potion behind the trees for later use. Meanwhile, Chaos Knight returned to his fountain after being beaten to low health - plenty of free time for Spiritbreaker and myself to take control of a lane that was now two against one.

Not only were we able to keep the creep wave near our tower for a long period of time, the extra experience we gained by remaining active and not running to the fountain gave us an advantage over the enemy lane. While we were being pushed back and denied for the first several minutes of the game, the extra level we gain on Chaos Knight enables us to begin fighting back, and I am able to farm Arcane Boots by a respectable seven minutes. At this point, the enemy is unable to effectively fight back against Earthshaker’s incredible anti-melee power, and I no longer need Spiritbreaker at all to handle this lane. With that in mind, he takes to heart the last piece of advice:

6) Leave the lane

Nobody is forcing you to stay in a lane you are totally useless in. In this game, I was able to solo Chaos Knight and Broodmother both once I was high enough level and had Arcanes. By leaving the lane, Spiritbreaker helped apply global pressure with ganks, and being solo allowed me to level up faster in the bottom lane.

This applies to all lanes - getting overly attached to a lane is a mistake many players make, as they feel it is somehow their duty to protect their lane from the enemy at all times. However, again, there is no magic rule that forces your team to have heroes in a lane at all. If a lane is truly unmanageable, and you cannot use any of the above advice to help survive the early game, simply cut your losses and leave the lane. If you are unable to accomplish anything in your lane, you are not contributing to your team. You might not be able to help other lanes to a great extent, but it is still better than sitting around in a lane you cannot survive in.

This applies to all lanes. I have sent my lane supports away many times in lanes where they were of no use. They can help support other lanes where they can actually make a difference, and I can get the extra experience from being solo. One hero can sit around and hide in the trees just as easily as two. Even when you are already solo, if the enemy is strong enough and skilled enough to completely zone you out of experience range, you can accomplish more by running around the map than simply cowering in the forest. Go camp runes, gank enemy heroes, try to jungle. No matter how painfully slow any of these tasks might be, they are still beneficial to the team.

This is the main idea DotA players should keep in their minds throughout a game: “What can I do to benefit my team the most?” After all, DotA is a team game, and five people have a much higher chance of beating an enemy team than one. Bad lanes will happen, even impossible lanes will happen. This does not mean we have to simply sit back and endure the pain. There are ways to play around difficult matchups, and we have played a solid game as long as we actively contribute to the team.

Just remember - whatever you do, don’t die.