Dota 2

Riot's specifically said their engine is terrible for petmaster type champions because the league engine does not support multi-unit selection. So units with a charm/control ability (i think one is Chen?) are impossible to make in league's engine. Invoke and Spell steal could easily be done in League's engine but the designers feel the burden of knowledge is too high so they don't have champions with those kind of abilities.

League still has some (limited) summons. I dont miss more complicated units management, cause otherwise I'd be playing Starcraft II. Or DOTA I guess.

I played a game as Tusk the other day. I really sucked, but damn, is that WALRUS PUNCH◊ awesome.

One hero I really liked was Ancient Apparition, almost solely for his ult.

Landing it from the map away is so sastifying.

Complexity isn't a bad thing y'know. There's probably only a single character where you'll ever be managing more than 4 units, and the ones who do need micromanagement are definitely not even close to stuff like actual RTS'. It's a simple matter of labeling them with CTRL+Number and using hotkeys (Q+W) in case they have abilities, which around 90% of illusions, summons and creeps don't have.

Also, countering that WALRUS PUNCH with a nice old SUCKER PUNCH is a pretty awesome feeling if you can pull it off. Or maybe you can just stick with a STOLEN PUNCH. Rubik's just a great hero to mess around with others.

edited 21st Feb '13 11:15:12 AM by hass

Never said it was a bad thing.

I don't like it perso because I get tunnel vision and have poor multi-tasking in general.

Oh hey, there's an actual thread for this game.

Having played both DOTA 2 and Lo L, I have to say that I like DOTA 2 much more; the gameplay is much more multi-layered and complex. (on a side note, I think that DOTA 2's character designs and voice acting are much better than Lo L's, but that's just opinion.)

My 3 best heroes are probably Lone Druid (my personal best hero), Phantom Lancer, and Nature's Prophet, although I also like playing Brewmaster, Enchantress, Broodmother, and Ogre Magi. I've recently started practicing with Timbersaw, as well.

edited 4th Mar '13 7:29:18 AM by Locoman

Timbersaw strikes as a load of wasted potential. I get his gimmick but when it's late game you really don't have much trees to work with anymore so you're just a low damage output tank at that point. I guess it's probably best to stack up armor like a Shiva's Guard or something.

How exactly do you manage Lone Druid's bear? It seems the items recommended by the game are incredibly crappy for him and I'm not sure how much micromanagement is involved.

There's really not too much micromanagement involved, since your two units always have to stay close together to be effective. Generally, you use your Bear to harass until you proc an Entangle, after which point you use War Cry and go in for the kill.

I usually run a dual Skullbasher set for Sylla rather than the normal Radiance build suggested by the guide.

Timbersaw is pretty situational, but in the late game he's usually a harassment/support hero with Shiva's and Chakram slowing enemy movment while cutting his foe's stats.

edited 5th Mar '13 12:58:08 PM by Locoman

The biggest problem with Timbersaw is that you are rather useless in base fights, due to the lack of trees, but everywhere else it's fine. You need to get used to the hero, but then he is quite playable. Due to your e skill, I prefer going for HP first, but in general you should built the hero tanky after bloodstone.

Of course, one of the main reasons I like Timbersaw is because of his hilarious quotes and personality. There's nothing more fun than ripping a forest to shreds, cackling insanely, while playing a song like this in the background.

All my favorite heroes are bugs. Specifically Nyx, Sand King, and Venomancer. Weaver would be cool if Shukuchi actually did some damage.

EDIT: Also, apparently Legion Commander is now a chick. No word on whether or not she'll still be as racist as the old one.

edited 6th Mar '13 4:54:51 PM by Kev-O

You could do a whole team of arthropods: Venomancer, Nyx, Sand King, Broodmother, and Weaver.

Hopefully, Legion Commander isn't going to be some Lo L-style fanservicey hero like their version of Broodmother...

edited 6th Mar '13 7:28:14 PM by Locoman

Judging from her textures, she's fully armored and looks like a crusader.

EDIT: Also, 35 bucks for a new Lina skin? Valve, I could buy a fucking game for that price.

edited 7th Mar '13 4:32:13 PM by Kev-O

Okay, so I tried this game out for the first time. I did the tutorial, I watched a how to play video, so I get the gist of how things are supposed to go, but I don't feel like I get the game really. I haven't played a MOBA before (Except for a few minutes of League of Legends) so I don't really know what I'm doing. Did a round with bots to get a feel, and I just stumbled everywhere. I went with Ursa as my first time hero.

edited 8th Mar '13 4:08:13 AM by Marioguy128

http://www.purgegamers.com/welcome-to-dota-you-suck#.UToE5le4wgQ

Read this and watch his You Tube channel, buddy. Purge is a pretty decent player, although not great, but his real value is being able to explain things in a very clear way. This'll teach you the basics in a very easy way.

EDIT: Also, in general I would avoid playing carries until you get the basics. My recommended newbie hero is Lich, as he has no mana problems at all and doesn't have any complicated spell mechanics.

edited 8th Mar '13 7:38:52 AM by Kev-O

Also also, the tutorial right now is hilariously incomplete and kinda boring. It does hammer the point of last hitting well though.

Also also also, bot matches are incompletely different from anything you might actually play. Bots are perfect last hitting machines, with perfect skill, ganking, and coordination. You pretty much won't run into anyone like that for a while unless you're in a 5 man stack.

That Lina skin isn't actually a skin. It's just a "hat". It changes her hair and hands a bit, but also gives her a new portrait, new map icon, new art, and new looks and sound effects for Dragon Slave and her passive (you can see them all here). Still not worth 35$, but the ridiculously over the top fanfare if you manage to get it dropped in the game is amusing.

And from that post I linked, it looks like Abadon, Bristleback, and Legion Commander have had work started on them, while Skywrath Mage is getting closer to being finished. Though I have no idea what the heck Bristleback/bog is supposed to look like now, because it's not a pig like he used to be. Also Abadon rides a bird now?

EDIT: Damn does Gecko Rubik look terrible.

EDIT EDIT: Oh hey it's already dropp- MY EYES AGH◊

edited 8th Mar '13 8:44:10 AM by hass

All I know is that if someone picks Riki, I'm picking Bristle just to piss them off.

EDIT: That lucky son-of-a-bitch. Meanwhile all I have are 2 rares and a horde of uncommons and commons.

edited 8th Mar '13 8:51:01 AM by Kev-O

Ursa's a carry (in that he's expected to make the most kills in the mid-to-late game and "carry" the team to victory) and carries generally aren't good for new players.

I'd advise playing a support hero. Lich is fantastic for newbies; you don't have to worry about mana at all, you can buff your team and make huge contributions to teamfights with a fantastic nuke and a really fun ultimate, and, most importantly, he says "POOTIS".

edited 8th Mar '13 1:13:43 PM by Locoman

POOTDEESPENSERHERE

Well, technically it's "I'll POOTIS soul to use," but who's keeping track?

Yeah, I had to look that up myself.

Hopefully we can get this thread going. You figure the most played game on Steam would have a pretty decent thread here, but nope.

So, do you guys think Skywrath will show up next Thursday? Should be fun to have a 600 damage nuke at level 6. It would be a barrel of laughs to use it on a Drow or Sniper in mid lane.

Anything that stomps Drow Ranger is alright with me.

On a side note, has anyone actually managed to win with Alchemist? I've been trying to play with him for so long, and every time I seem to lose.

Same here. The thing with Alchemist is that once you get that gold train going, you're going to pretty much go off the rails, but getting those last hits is an absolute pain before level 6. I'd suggest starting with a Quelling Blade just to make it a bit easier until you get your Ult, at which point you should spam it non stop at every single opportunity. And remember to pick up a Stout Shield at the side shop if you get harassed too much.

As for his stun, don't do it in the open. That's pretty much the signal for everyone else to either stun you first or run away like hell. There's no point in keeping it after 2 seconds only are left, so get ready to select your target or 3 or even earlier if it means securing a kill. Coordinate with your teammates as well, so that they know you're going in for a kill. Don't use it for harass, no matter how tempting that is.

People usually max out E then Q first, but don't underestimate the acid's use in teamfights. That armor debuff can be the tipping point to get a kill.

Attack speed and extra damage synergize well with your ult, so focusing on STR items for survivability and damage isn't a bad idea. And once you can constantly your R, taking down towers will be pretty easy too.