Dota 2 Thread: REBORN SOURCE 2 HYPETRAIN NOBRAKES

[Natirasha]

Level means nothing. Like, nothing at all. Especially with Compendium Bonus right now, I gain like a level every other game.

I concur with that sentiment, Katsuki. After the first 2000 games, it all sorts to blend together.

[Natirasha]

Level means nothing. Like, nothing at all. Especially with Compendium Bonus right now, I gain like a level every other game.

I concur with that sentiment, Katsuki. After the first 2000 games, it all sorts to blend together.

I'm still closer to 1000 than 2000.

You'll get there, this game has the tendency to suck the soul out of people.

[Natirasha]

I apparently lied, I only have to 1600 games played...much less than it feels like.

My steam account is the same name as here, but I use the name Hooker Punch out there. Really, the only reason I use the name Natirasha here is because I'm an egotistical bastard and wanted to keep my reputation from five years ago since I've returned. I'm in the high tier matchmaking, usually, but go up to very high or down to normal depending on who I queue with--i stopped solo queuing a while back when I was binging on dota and it was starting to interfere with real life.

[Natirasha]

I gotta say, I've been pretty bored with pro dota recently, but holy shit these alienware finals are seriously entertaining.

[Natirasha]

If you actually believe in that, I have some words to tell you. Last year, when Na'Vi was in their pre-TI2 slump, I had it on good record from some of the US pros that they were just in a slump and the "they're just not showing their strats" was kinda bullshit. Teams wax and wane, LGD was running hot up til now. Losing to Na'Vi on LAN is nothing to be sad about, they always do this. In a vacuum, I'd still say LGD is the top team in the world--Na'Vi being 2 then Alliance being 3.

[Natirasha]

>Smurfers

[Natirasha]

My main accy MMR is too high... Need smurf to play with newer players.

"I'm just too good!"

[Natirasha]

My steam account is under the same name as here, but if you search me up, you'll have to go by my other name, Hooker Punch.

[Natirasha]

Lord of Avernus ain't too bad. He's a solid b-tier hero.

Funny anecdote, I was in a game against the EG 4-stack last week(fear was gone for some reason) and picked Barathrum. They called me a Bara Picker. Hero's OP.

[Natirasha]

I can probably play one if it starts within the next 2 hours or so.

[Natirasha]

Sorry I bailed last night. Been kinda out of it since I got home from Quakecon.

[Natirasha]

I don't. I'm still believing in my boys LGD.int, even if I shouldn't. They need to go back to their Luna Deathball strats.

In all honesty, I have been unimpressed with pretty much every team except Na'Vi. Even Alliance feel off despite winning like every game.

EDIT: Forgot DK--they're playing sick this year.

[Natirasha]

It gives evasion and a disarm. Ghost scepters all around more useful because Halberd gets dispelled by BKB, but it has its uses.

[Natirasha]

Here's my basic build for semi carries(of which potm is one). Boots>bracer>drum>phases>Yasha. Obviously this changes depending on the game and hero, but if you're a farming hero who's not pure farm(am sylla void etc) this build can pretty much never go wrong. PotM doesn't really need Aquilla, drums will give her more overall survivability while also helping damage and making her mana pool larger.

In general, Drum is just the best overall item in the game.

Space Cow is op still, no surprise. I'm waiting for the pro scene to start using him more. He's like a naga siren that can actually carry if needed.

[Natirasha]

Space Cow is op still, no surprise. I'm waiting for the pro scene to start using him more. He's like a naga siren that can actually carry if needed.

pls stop
the only thing the two heroes have in common is their attack range and BAT ._.

Okay, I was using hyperbole a bit. He's not OP, but he is damn good and underutilized in upper-level play(other heroes with that distinction include Necrolyte, Tuskarr, and Death Prophet).

So, what does Spirit Breaker have? From level one, he has nearly 700 HP and 5 armor. This guy just ain't taking harass from no one short of an Outworld Destroyer. He also has a strong disable that doubles as a gap closer(I forget right now if it goes through BKB at level one). In short, he's a fucking fantastic level one hero.

Without farm priority, he has an amazing aura and three skills that go through BKB. In a chasig llng situation, he wins all chases--only someone like Weaver can really successfully escape. This is why I bring up the comparison to Naga Siren--both are primarily melee supports who have strong lockdown potential that ignore magic immunity and can carry in a pinch.

He does need some amount of build-around-me, he loves someone with some global presence(hello Prophet) as well as someone who could use some setup for abilities(Gyro, Naix, Alch, Lina, Leshrac, etc). Due to his melee nature and lack of AoE, he is not good against Luna-style death ball lineups(actually great against split push though).

As for the 'countered by smart play' arguments, I would like to bring up another hero that people argued was countered similarly, Wisp. We can see how that turned out. While obviously this is a flawed comparison(Bara is a bit more telegraphed), they're global ability to punish overextension is similar.

Ultimately, I think Bara's place in the meta game is that of an aggressive trilane carry(position 3 variant), though. He wants some farm--enough to get a BKB or drums or something(MoM is most likely wrong in non-pub play), but he can be solid in the 4 position as well. The fact that he fights favorably with both Naix and Gyrocopter(and Alch to a leaser extent) are huge factors in his favor right now.

[Natirasha]

SB offers months.g in ateam fight with no farm though.

Um, you know, besides powerful global initiation and multiple disables that go through bkb. Hell, Bounty Hunter adds less to a teamfight than Bara. I mean, he's no Magnus, but who is?

I still cannot believe the 'you just need map awareness/fight as five' excuse. If there is one lesson to take away from the past year of competitive dota, its that that excuse is complete and utter bullshit.

There was a time when Wisp was considered a weak hero. Luna was called pub trash for literally years in wc3 dota, then--with no buffs at all--she skyrocketed to one of the top carries at TI2. When Magnus came out, he was ignored for three months. Then he went on to become the most important hero for the next year.

In short, don't dismiss a hero as pubtrash.

[Natirasha]

Why would you ban any of s4's heroes? He's the weakest link on the team(note I'm not calling him bad). I do agree with NP/Chen as the first bans vs alliance. No use banning vs Bulldog because they'll just pick up his hero in the first phase and you can't ban all three. I actually like banning siren in the first phase too. So force him to go into the heavy farmer role.

I think Luna death ball strats are the way to go vs alliance, but what Navi's team needed was a proactive initiator instead of a reactive one(Pudge would have worked, DK is a safer variant, even Tuskarr would have been solid).

[Natirasha]

I suspected that if Na'Vi didn't win this year that they'd start to break up. The Puppey/Dendi/Kuroky trio will probably stay together(friendship ties), but Funn1k has always seemed to mesh weird with the rest of Na'Vi and Xbox will be Xbox.

EDIT: It's 80% a joke, though.

[Natirasha]

So, rumor time! I mentioned before I have some [limited] contacts into both Valve(I used to be a big TF2 server owner) and the pro scene, so I typically can keep my ear to the ground and hear some interesting things.

Anyways, rumor is that Tuskarr is getting a buff to Snowball next patch(I couldn't get what the buff was though) and will be one of the top 4-positions next patch.

[Natirasha]

Isn't that more of an Icefrog thing than a valve thing?

And what do you mean "top 4-positions"?

While icefrog does have ultimate say in balance patches, he has people in Valve and outside the company who work with him on the beta team. Its a mix--i know some famous pubstars like Meepwn are on it, as well as a mix of icefrog's personal friends and pro players. I know Puppey was on the beta team at one point, I'm fairly certain Fear is/was, I know Maelk did at one point(his stream was the one that spoiled the 6.75 Batrider buffs, iirc). My suspicion is that Brax is one(he made some suspiciously specific statements about Alchemist before the current patch was released on his stream, but it might have been one of the LGD.cn players that fed him the info). I have my suspicions on other pro players, but the whole thing is hush-hush. Following the dota2 subreddit is actually really useful--there is a solid network of about six beta testers on there that have the tendency to slip up. I actually have a theory one of them is ice frog, but that's conspiracy territory.

Tldr: I got my ways(streams, posts, friends of friends). Other heroes I would keep an eye on are Vengeful Spirit and Disruptor. In the carries, Sniper is one to invest in(actually god tier right now, but no one will give him time of day).

[Natirasha]

Disruptor buff should not be a damage buff, it should be towards his aoe or duration of his ult--it's his weakest skill.

Sniper is a good mid in today's bottle-crow no-aggression world, since you actually can't stop him from farming in the lane(Take Aim). You have to play him like an SF. You can also run him the traditional way of a protected carry. His *best* lane is a sidelane solo v solo though. Someone like Dark Seer or Bounty Hunter is good, Naix or Gyro is best case(Full disclosure: Sniper is one of my favorite & best heroes, so I do probably overestimate him--just a little though).

Shrapnel is a really sick spell and people skip it unnecessarily. All three skills have their uses though, and Sniper is one of the most adaptable heroes when it comes to leveling up. The only 'core' item on him is Phases, imo, since he is the most positioning dependent hero in the game and utilizes the bonus damage well. Otherwise, deciding whether you need the tank from Drums, a Shadow Blade, rush a Rapier, grab a Mjollnir or Skadi is so completely situational. There is even a place for the Arcane/Orchid build.

Sniper is good vs most of the top carries right now--I would go as far to say that Sniper is Naix's worst matchup, Alchemist is weak to the hero too, and Gyro is food. Weaver is a bad matchup though.

I can go into more detail if anyone is interested, like I said--this hero is my bread & butter.

[Natirasha]

Eh, its not too bad vs Batrider. Its hardest at level 2. To be successful versus the bat, you need to have a stick and max take aim asap. I mean, you're not going to win the lane--but who really can win vs Bat, there are like three heroes who can. Puck's easier because her lane control comes in the form of a large, fairly slow orb. I tend to put more into headshot vs puck to maximize my harass damage, 2 points in take aim suffice. Obviously, the changes based on other heroes as well.

You don't get a bottle on sniper mid, I typically go the old invoker build of tango+branch+blade, but different matchups need different builds. The only constant is phase boots, honestly--i cannot stress how important they are.

[Natirasha]

I mean, yeah, ganking sniper is pretty easy--my second item is usually a drum, it let's you get enough HP to survive most characters level seven combos. He's a hero that, by default, relies on map awareness and positioning. He's not particularly good in soloq.

[Natirasha]

Same thing can be said about Shadow Fiend, Outworld Destroyer, Razor or any number of mid-carries...

[Natirasha]

Just a quick shout-out. So, my account was hijacked. There's something going on with dotalounge I guess? If you get anything from the Hooker Punch account, IGNORE IT

[Natirasha]

I'm using one of my old tf2 idling accounts at the moment. Am waiting for steam support to help me get my old account back though.

[Natirasha]

Necro was my first real hero. He has one and a half abilities, it isn't a big deal if he falls behind, and he teaches cs mechanics better than anyone but SF.

[Natirasha]

My favorite play I ever saw was a luna running in circles around a lina trying to use LSA. Neither of them could stop or the other would kill them. Very funny.

[Natirasha]

I didn't like DotA-style games and stuff. Like, my friend bought me a HoN account during the beta and I never used it.

However, it was kind of funny. I was in the second wave of beta invites after TI1(~October 2011). I have no idea why, but they gave me--total noob dude a beta pass. My friend played "pro" HoN so he got in through that way. He ended up browbeating me into playing. And I actually liked it. The next two months I kinda skipped class and played dota upwards of 15 hours a day. Soon, I was on my friend's level.

[Natirasha]

Oh, I got my account back btw! It took two weeks, but finally.

[Natirasha]

You can get lifesteal on Mirana if you're going for a harder carry build and you don't have another orb taking precedence. I don't think she does particularly well as the primary carry though, she's much more suited to the Phase/Drum style of carrying than the lifesteal-style of carrying, so I'd rather go Desoloator than HotD/Satanic.

[Natirasha]

Scepter is fine on Lina for range & damage. You gotta rush it fast though and hex is usually better yeah. There are situations where I would get it on Lina, though Iit's bad on Lion though.

[Natirasha]

I mean no items are "bad" in the sense that all of them help you but there are better things to do with your gold as Lina 100% of the time.

I disagree. Aghanims is clearly a situational item on Lina. I would only buy it if I was playing a two or maaaybe three position Lina. But it does have a place, Shamrock. A ~15-20 minute Aghs gives Lina ridiculous burst power and can just completely shut down the game. It's like buying a Dagon--you get it because you are ahead and these items help you stay ahead.

[Natirasha]

Brood can be anything from a 1 to 3. In a solo, it's either a 2 or 3 though depending on the lane(easy, mid 2 hard 3).

[Natirasha]

It's rare but it happens. I remember old mouz(the SingSing-Bamboe one) ran Brood easy lane+Leshrac support occasionally.

[Natirasha]

I hate playing on pro streams. I get really self-concious.

[Natirasha]

Nah, sometimes I'm on the pro's team. I always feel like a burden cuz they play with 3 others on Skype and I can't hear them. The worst is that 1-3 are always taken by the streamer+friends so I have to play like AA or something.

[Natirasha]

I mean, I know how to support, but I dont particularly enjoy it most of them time. Too much not buying items and not last hitting. Once you get to the VH tier matchmaking, its pretty easy in that everyone understands the games and what you're doing so its not like the trench where I just pick Furion/Bear/Naix and jungle for 30 minutes as 'support'.

I'm actually on a massive 100 game slump right now, though. DotA's getting stale, I need Valve to not be useless jackoffs like they were to TF2.

[Natirasha]

The entirety of matchmaking isn't ranked...

[Natirasha]

You're pretty much right on the money, JDodge.

There are four tiers of matchmaking. Normal, High, Very High, Low Priority. You're win/loss does effect your MMR, but it's not visible to anyone--and only you can see your w/l record, which is a change from games like HoN. Queue times are about the same outside of Low Priority and Very High though.

[Natirasha]

Actually, you have to change the setting to allow Dotabuff to see them--it's turned off by default.

[Natirasha]

Next time you guys play hit me up via steam--I pay attention to it more.

[Natirasha]

I'm fine flaming randoms on my team privately amonst my friends, but our role is once you take it public, you're a shitbag.

[Natirasha]

AA9, I'm going to give you a run down on how to play Death Prophet, my favorite hero.

ALWAYS MAX CRYPT SWARM FIRST. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS. It's literally one of the highest dps spells in the game with Witchcraft's cd reduction. You one-shot ranged creeps with it until the 14th minute or so. Failure to max that skill is failure to play the hero.
Skill Witchcraft secondary. Getting one point in Silence early is acceptable if you're going to be going for early teamfights/pushing or if you're lane opponent is spell heavy(Skywrath, Puck, Pudge).
Bloodstone rush usually sucks. You got a ~30 minutes mek last night after bloodstone. If you're a mek hero, you usually want to pick it up first.
My item builds are usually either
Phase->Drum->Euls->luxuries(for mobility+chasing, makes you an unkillable god)
Arcanes->Mekanism->Pipe->Luxuries(for teamfighting+supporting)
Other builds are viable in niche scenarios, but most games fall into one of those pools.

[Natirasha]

Buy Bottle. Use crow. The ghost increase is inconsequential. Crypt Swarm does good damage in a huge AoE is the thing. It's actually her best spell--not her ult.

[Natirasha]

He's incredibly easy to counter... Never be out of position, buy wards, 5-manning, etc.

I am reminded of the words they spoke of old Lycan.

"Just ward his jungle"

[Natirasha]

Don't listen to ArcAngel, you can silence casters with it fine. Obviously don't rage their Antimage, though. It also has a purge on cast, so you can purge some buffs/debuffs with the spell.

[Natirasha]

Not smart.

[Natirasha]

cm mid? hey i have an idea

Used to be a thing before her aura got nerfed.

[Natirasha]

Nightstalker is an awful hero and I hate Icefrog for making him better.

[Natirasha]

Like, I've always been sorta critical of Icefrog--i think he had 6.74 in a really good place and every update since has just a little bit worse than the last. These are just...ugh. I feel like Icefrog doesnt know what to do at this point. I hate things like removing the counterplay involved in Smoke of Deceit--these things add very little to the game and seem to under mind the emphasis of this patch, which is a return to farming and defensive landing.

Which leads me to why the fuck does IF want to go back towards a 4p1 style of gameplay? I don't get it, the last three years of patches have all been to push the game towards aggressiveness. Why backtrack on all that progress, even if I disagree with it.

[Natirasha]

It emphasizes the laneing stage, which naturally leads to 4p1 gameplay imo.

[Natirasha]

6.74 meta was TI2 meta. Some people didn't like the Siren v Morph v Bear meta. I loved it though. Going further back, I fucking loved the 6.72 push meta(Rhasta! Was a top tier pick) but that was just a wee bit unsustainable in the long term.

My point is that these changes do nothing but emphasize trilane gameplay. i mean, the whole pulling and exp changes were distinctly to make offlaners be a thing again. The buffs to heroes like NS or Bloodseeker who actively punish not staying together means that trilanes are likely to be emphasized even more due to the relative safety they provide to both to both the supports and the carry.

The statement regarding smoke is that its another one of those stealth-nerfs to aggressive gameplay because its easier to get punished for overextention. Not to mention it removes an element of gameplay in regards to the counterplay of warding. Change is just dumb.

Just, expect a lot more 4p1. And push strats are officially dead. I'm suspecting to see a rise in hard late game carries like AM/Void again. Maybe we'll even see sniper.

[Natirasha]

Weird thing is, Evasion stacked multiplicatively before, so I don't actually know what Icefrog changed.

Anyways, trilanes are fine. You can still chain camps to pull. Or you just eat the xp loss-it's not a big deal. Also, Lich is a trilane god again now.

[Natirasha]

Evasion never stacked due to WC3 engine.

? I coulda swore that in DotA2 at least you could stack evasion, but it stacked multiplicatively so it wasn't usually efficient.

[Natirasha]

Him, okay. I'm willing to be wrong.

[Natirasha]

6.79 is a retarded and very sad patch for carries.

However, it's much more fun for supports and off so.

I hate the mass-midas-and-necrobook meta.

[Natirasha]

So, I decided to go into the times and get a Midas first item as every hero.

...It's going surprisingly well.

[Natirasha]

Disagree, Molla.

It completely depends on the lane. Sidelane support should max Glimpse, but midlane Disruptor should max out the beefcake massive damage nuke--gives such sick lane control, what with disabling bottle and everything.

And yeah, Aghs is core on him now.

[Natirasha]

Bloodstone's one of the weakest items in the game, ArcAngel. Soul Booster alone is more than enough on the heroes who like those items.

[Natirasha]

What kanye said: Shredder is literally the only hero who it's core on, although I've heard Bloodstone Techies is sick as well.

I like Aghs on AA, but I know it's likely not amazing.

[Natirasha]

Do you get it after Aghs or before on Techies?

[Natirasha]

Full disclosure: I played competitive TF2 for nigh on three years before moving to DotA.

Valve is actually the shittiest developer when it comes to community building, they're schizophrenic, uncooperative liars. The writing was there on the walls on the updates since, well, Silencer+Bara were added. At this point, I'm kinda over them, but the people who complain about people complaining to Valve are idiots.

[Natirasha]

tbqh i think that everyon1 involved w. dota in the first place are idiots actually ?valve us the complainers the complaint complainers everyone. you got 2 be dumb as hell to play dota or have nething at all 2 do w. it.

Preach it, brotha.

[Natirasha]

lets reminisce to the days when bloodstone charges gave hp regen and it actually was The Best Item.

unkillable death pulse spewing bloodstone/hood/heart necrolyte is still my favorite broken dota build of all time.

I've heard that patch was pretty insane, with every match coming down to DP vs Necro.

[Natirasha]

Also DP is really good now.

She's always been on the shortlist of heroes who are *almost* there. I'm on from now until bedtime, btw.

[Natirasha]

Diretide was kinda shitty.

[Natirasha]

Frostivus was worse.

[Natirasha]

I'm actually available tonight.

[Natirasha]

/in

[Natirasha]

I expect Kat/Kanye finals with that bracket.

[Natirasha]

I doubt I can beat you, nati

Ive played dota twice in the last month.

[Natirasha]

It's HAPPENING

http://www.dota2.com/threespirits

[Natirasha]

I won't even play a minute of Diretide.

[Natirasha]

I have my Timebreaker. I am content.

[Natirasha]

One of the rarest items i think? I know that like half of my steam net worth is in it and my Gentle Mann's Service Medal.

[Natirasha]

I can't wait til monday to play them. I know Xin is actually insane from what I remember of his WC3 release, what with having Omnislash as a normal skill and all.

[Natirasha]

Never said it was.

Earth Spirit is confusing but interesting. I really wanna play Xin though.

[Natirasha]

/in but I can't play til Sunday evening.

[Natirasha]

Fairly certain I'm going to quit Dota. I can't win. Like, I've lost so many games the past week or two and all its doing is wasting my time. I'm gonna play in the inhouse league I'm in but then I'll hopefully quit cause I'm tired of this shit.

When I went on my legendary 100 game loss streak, I just stepped back and played other games for a while. Come back in a month, you'll be refreshed.

[Natirasha]

how do you lose 100 games in a row

It wasn't 100 in a row, but I'd go like ten games losing then win one or two then lose another ten. I think I was just burnt out.

[Natirasha]

how do you lose 100 games in a row

he was stacking with sneyking.

To be fair for everything sneyking stack I end up with Purge/Lumi/Blitz twice.

[Natirasha]

Sneyking is a pro player who used to play with Dignitas. Katsuki and I ended up getting matchmade with him and his two friends last week(a 'stack').

Purge+Lumi+Blitz are all casters with BTS. I end up getting matchmade with their stack of players a lot.

[Natirasha]

Ill admit he carried us that game though.

[Natirasha]

I'm a fan of Pers stack--Bloodstone+Linkens+Battlefury.

[Natirasha]

But dat cleave!

[Natirasha]

6 bashers

Need bloodstone with enough charge to leave out your ult first.

[Natirasha]

Someone should get online now to teach me how to Lone Druid

Ya did it ns. I'll show you after my vla is over.

[Natirasha]

Oh my. Rhasta in CM? That's a blast from the past.

[Natirasha]

I miss the old days of position 2 Rhasta. Some of Dendi and Singsing's best work was on the hero.

[Natirasha]

I have had so little motivation for dota since 6.79...what do.

[Natirasha]

I don't like Necrobook. Or the direction dota is taking.

[Natirasha]

JUst say No To Grevviling.

[Natirasha]

my ppoor boner king. gone 4ever.

[Natirasha]

Played my first dota game in over a month tonight.

Legion Commander is sick.

[Natirasha]

Since I stopped worrying about my rank, my dota life's been so much better. Also, I pretty much only play ability draft now.

Although I tried Phoenix tonight and he might be my favorite support now.

[Natirasha]

I use alt+qweasd for items, 1 is hero 2 is illusions 3 is all, t is courier

Wand always in alt-q, boots always in alt-w, bkb always in alt-s.

[Natirasha]

What do you use for attacking and stopping?

s and a?

[Natirasha]

Yeah apparently alt+ is how they bind items in HoN and the guy who taught me to play dota migrated from there.

[Natirasha]

I miss ixmike.

[Natirasha]

Should I sell my Elder Timebreaker? I'm thinking about it.

[Natirasha]

I played two games of dota tonight!

It was alright. I need my desktop again.

[Natirasha]

Do you think they'll change Wukong's name in dota2 so it doesn't step on HoN or LoL's toes(yes I know he's from Chinese Myth)?