Dota 2

Help a brother out with some links.

EDIT: Nevermind found it.

EDIT EDIT: Yeesh, that is either reeeally crude humor or enough ego to fill a blimp.

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Ok, EG needs some blimps.

edited 6th Mar '15 8:46:57 AM by FatBastard

I think a big part of the thing is that ppd resents having to do qualifiers. He seems to think of them as a waste of time, 'cause EG tends to win them (he's said that this just hurts other NA teams 'cause that means they ultimately don't get to participate), and he responds very poorly to things that he thinks waste time. For example, there was that game in the XMG Captain's Draft 2.0 where the enemy team had no chance of making a comeback and proceeded to screw around, something that was extremely entertaining until ppd decided to be a killjoy.

edited 6th Mar '15 12:03:21 PM by Pannic

I remember when I played Sand King and he said a line, I said, "Hey! That sounded exactly like Juggernaut!" Juggernaut was not in that match. I later learned they're both played by David Scully. I guess with 110 Heroes, you can't get quite get the vocal range you want.

Valve is, quite well known, for milking their voice actors.

What are you guys' thoughts on Alchemist going Heart straight after Midas and Treads?

That sounds like a useless Alchemist. What's that supposed to accomplish? Heart's usually a terrible item to go for early unless you snowballed big time, and even then there's a ton of items that gold could've been spent on. Late game though, yeah he needs heart.

So, basically no real situation where that will be viable? Was just wondering about it after listening to the caster during EG vs Pain. Well, he was surprised when the alchemist went Assault Cuirass after Midas and Treads, saying that Alchemists should focus more on raw HP (and items that proc on attack) since he can get nuked down through his Chemical Rage's regen, which I guess he has a point there.

So I looked through the items Alchemists usually get that boost HP: Armlet, Halberd, Heart. Halberd is more a support Alchemist item, and Armlet cuts away from his HP regen (kind of beating the purpose). Which is why I was wondering if an early Heart is viable on Alchemist; maybe he could act like a damage sponge early, absorbing enemy nukes and then quickly regen-ing the HP back (Of course, they'd mostly just ignore him in that case since he doesn't have any damage).

EDIT: My carry Alchemist build is Midas->Phase->Assault->Heart->BKB/Mjollnir/Basher (but the past few times I've played him, I was support).

edited 7th Mar '15 2:09:20 AM by FatBastard

I'd say it depends on the situation. I guess Heart gives Alch 40 extra damage, although that really isn't much. Although there can be some situations where getting an early heart is the right call.

The beauty of DOTA is that everything has a place somewhere and sometime. Yes, even Battlefury Bounty Hunter. While you should never get it 99% of the time, there will be some freak circumstances where that is actually a good pickup.

That being said, what are your thoughts on getting Skadi in place of Heart? You lose 335 health and the out-of-battle passive regen, but I feel the in-battle benefits of Skadi should trump that. Though I've never seen it being picked in competitive, so I guess I'm missing something.

As a general rule, Skadi is almost always seen as the superior item. Heart is usually picked up when you really want the sustain or really benefit from health over EHP.

I managed to get past Broodmother on the All-Hero Challenge and today I finished Ember Spirit, after four attempts. I think I got the hang of him, but he's a very binary Hero: either he dies to anything without accomplishing much, or he gets fed and wins teamfights by himself. Of course, you could say the same thing for guys like Void or Alchemist.

I constantly ran out of mana as ES, so I held onto that Bottle longer than I probably should have. I wonder if I should go for Arcane Boots next time, rather than Phase Boots?

Ember can make clutch plays with his Remnant by using the bonus movement speed from activation of Phase Boots, and he needs the bonus damage, so I would argue against it (besides you really shouldn't go Arcane boots on a right-click based carry). Usually people in competitive offset the Mana issue by going Bottle->Phase->Drums. This is usually enough for early game fights, after which you set a Remnant down, TP to base, and then come back to the lane with full HP and mana. Farm your Battlefury like this and then you're pretty much set in the mana department.

So it's just bad timing that Alchemist's popularity went down before Skadi's popularity skyrocketed, and we would have seen Skadi Alchemist?

edited 9th Mar '15 8:28:25 AM by FatBastard

Thanks. ES is one of those Heroes where I use everything at once, then wait for the cooldowns and my mana regen. At least Sleight of Fist is plenty spammable, but it was most embarrassing when I would accidentally use Searing Chains before Sleight of Fist, completely wasting 110 mana.

I had a terrible start, dying three times against a Pudge who pretty much won Mid-lane, but I managed to get 19/10/23 in an hour-long period. I got to max level when the match was only 2/3 done. It always feels great when you seem to get the hang of a tricky Hero.

I need to work on that too, though I doubt I'll ever use Ember in pubs anyway; there's too many buttons to press and I'll end up fumbling in tense situations. But the hero is really fun if you play him right.

Yeah, it's hard to farm near pudge until you have higher levels in Flame Guard.

edited 9th Mar '15 11:22:34 AM by FatBastard

I'd say Skadi can be a good pickup. Heck, it even might be better than Heart, but I'd say it depends on the enemy team. If their damage is mostly physical, Skadi is by far the superior tank option. On the other hand, Heart gives more raw HP against magic and pure nukes. Skadi gives Alch stats, which is great since Alchemist has terrible stat gains. It gives him just above 3 and 1/2 armor. And it gives Alch some extra cc in case of kiting.

The old Phantom Lancer was an exception to this since Heart was far better for his illusions. Skadi was great, but it's a UAM which conflicted with Diffusal Blade. Of course, now that Diffusal Blade isn't an orb anymore, and PL is a manfighter now, Skadi is the superior pickup on him.

Some discussion on Skadi vs Heart.

As a general rule, the myriad of small benefits Skadi gives you is better than the raw HP and out-of-combat regen on Heart.

This on Steam?

Dota 2 is indeed on Steam. It's also Free-to-Play.

Ooooh. Is there in-app purchases like League?

You can buy cosmetics, but all the heroes come standard.

:O

-deletes League-

Screw that Leaver Buster BS.

Ah, another recruit for the war of the Ancients.

You also sometimes receive cosmetic items at the end of games, and definitely receive one when you increase your player level. So you might get lucky and end up with some cool stuff without spending a dollar.

edited 10th Mar '15 8:08:43 AM by FatBastard

I'll warn you. This game is hard. It's frustrating. It's confusing. Far better you treat this as a new game rather than something similar to League, because otherwise you will be tripped up over "similarities" you think are there when they're not.

But it's a rewarding game. It's a beautiful game. Once you get to even some understanding of the nuances, it draws you in, and draws you in hard. If you're willing to try to get at least passable, Dota 2 is a wonderful game.

We've posted first-timer links and guides several times in this thread, if you're willing to do some digging.

Well, you get hats for your first ten levels upon level-up. Past that it's just random drops.