DotA 2 - Valve's up and coming hat simulator

[Penguinizer]

sad day, man. I wonder if valve is just trying to get a SANDVICH/GENTLEMEN/CAKE IS A LIE type of meme going just for the viral marketing.

If I remember right, it's a reference to a shoddy placeholder model they had. They had the voice actors say it mainly as a joke.

[Cynan Machae]

I know there are some special responses for buying bad items for the hero (Blink Dagger on Antimage for example) but they're usually mocking the player for getting one.

I just bought a Blinker dagger on Qop and she said "Blink Dagger, that was quite unnecessary". Anyway Force staff + blink dagger is my nw item build on Qop

[Meta]

I just bought a Blinker dagger on Qop and she said "Blink Dagger, that was quite unnecessary". Anyway Force staff + blink dagger is my nw item build on Qop

I hope I random against you in MM.

The whole team came together, Keld! I admit my ults were our best team fighting mechanism and I think I was pretty on, but if any of us were herp derpin off in lane it wouldn't have mattered. You had a rough time, but it happens, and we got the W. 2 Rax comebacks are definitely rare, and that was a pretty cool one.

[tribble]

So, I notice that the dragonspawn camp is the only ancient camp that isnt spell immune. Could clinkz ult the overseer for a cool 32 damage at level six?

[Inhuman Bot]

If I remember right, it's a reference to a shoddy placeholder model they had. They had the voice actors say it mainly as a joke.

Yes.

[tribble]

That really is a crummy wizard.

[Keld Denar]

Zomgogglez, Tidehunter is hillarious. Blink + Ult is distilled win in a bottle. I just had like, 24 assists in a single game. 4 kills, but 24 freakin assists! RAWR!

[Penguinizer]

What should I be building on Enchantress if I'm laning? I start with 2 gauntlets, 2 branches, 2 clarities and a tango. Start with 1 level in W for slows and then focus E until you can get ult.

As for the build, magic Wand, 2x Bracer, Urn of Shadows, Forcestaff, Agh's with Powertreads in there somewhere. Is that ok?

[Maeglin_Dubh]

Zomgogglez, Tidehunter is hillarious. Blink + Ult is distilled win in a bottle. I just had like, 24 assists in a single game. 4 kills, but 24 freakin assists! RAWR!

Played him in my first game ever.

I.

Rocked.

Face.


All the faces. I don't even know what I built or what it did. I think it all made me stronger and had cool auras, that was the impression I had at the time.

Laned with some other fishy guy, fed him kills with my Q, and lategame fed my entire team kills with my ult. This guy is too fun.

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[Pie Guy]

So I just got into the beta. I played (and lost) my first game with Windrunner. Is there anywhere good for new players to learn the finer points of the game?

[tribble]

So I just got into the beta. I played (and lost) my first game with Windrunner. Is there anywhere good for new players to learn the finer points of the game?

Champions other than windrunner. She's really good but really hard.

Zeus is a good hero for new players, cause you can get assists off of every kill on the map ever. Lich is the hurpadurp support, and he won't desert you in usefulness once you play against good players. Lion is good for beginners due to mana drain, lots of hard CC, and his ultimate.

[Pie Guy]

Also: Items. What should I buy in general, and how can I tell who is supposed to do what?

[tribble]

Also: Items. What should I buy in general, and how can I tell who is supposed to do what?

That shield is good on everyone. Tangoes are good consumables. You don't have to spend your starting money on them, but you should try to keep a teleport scroll on you at all times. Power treads are a very good and versatile item, and can be swapped around to give you mana or hp regen on the fly, with some attack speed available too. A magic stick/wand can be a tremendous sustain tool if you can expect a lot of spells to be spammed at or near you. Black King Bar is almost never a bad purchase. (obviously you don't want it on omniknight or lifestealer or anyone else with magic immunity.) A bottle is usually a smart investment, and the team needs at least the one. Hood of defiance is useful. Check if your hero's ultimate is improved by aghanim's scepter! The difference is always a dramatic one.

Who does what depends more on the induvidual hero than on the primary attribute. There's no way to learn who does what other than by playing/researching the wiki, unfortunately, but STRENGTH heroes tend to be tanky frontliners who are difficult to kill, AGILITY heroes tend to do a lot of damage in the late game with their basic attacks alone, and INTELLIGENCE heroes tend to have higher mana pools and better mana regeneration, allowing them to cast spells more often. What's more, INTELLIGENCE heroes tend to have some of the best spells in the game.

[Maeglin_Dubh]

Bots are scary. Way scarier than League bots.

What are some good starter characters?

[Cynan Machae]

Lich is probably the better char to start with, as you get a lot of mana and can spam your nukes (which is very different from LoL where in dota you mana is much more limited) and you can get a pretty nice team fight ult. Skeleton king, while a carry, as only 1 active skill and an ult that will help you stay alive. I would probably also recommen Lion, Venomancer and Dazzle, while they can be not as simple, they skills aren't that hard to use correctly and their roles are quite straightforward.

[Inhuman Bot]

Lich is probably the better char to start with, as you get a lot of mana and can spam your nukes (which is very different from LoL where in dota you mana is much more limited) and you can get a pretty nice team fight ult. Skeleton king, while a carry, as only 1 active skill and an ult that will help you stay alive. I would probably also recommen Lion, Venomancer and Dazzle, while they can be not as simple, they skills aren't that hard to use correctly and their roles are quite straightforward.

Keep in mind he started with Clinkz.

As far as I'm concerned, Skeleton King would be a pretty bad choice for a new player, as newer players will very possibly not only have trouble remembering that his ult does cost mana, but knowing when to use the assorted pile of activated items that Skeleton King will usually cart around. (Armlet, Force Staff, BKB, Soul Ring, Boots, Halberd, teleport scrolls)

I just bought a Blinker dagger on Qop and she said "Blink Dagger, that was quite unnecessary". Anyway Force staff + blink dagger is my nw item build on Qop

I'm aware that Diffusion blade and lothar's are suboptimal on AM but I didn't think you'd actually do this.

[Cynan Machae]

This would be valid for pretty much any hero, you don't really HAVE to go for these items. Assault, Deso and heart on SK are quite fine especially at lower levels. Tho I have to say that Armlet is an incontournable on SK

[Pie Guy]

I probably should have mentioned that I have played LoL for at least 2 years now, so I already have a handle on things like last hitting and using skills. When I was in lane with Windrunner, I went something like 4-2 until I started dying because I had no idea of how to build or what other characters' skills were.

[Bayar]

This would be valid for pretty much any hero, you don't really HAVE to go for these items. Assault, Deso and heart on SK are quite fine especially at lower levels. Tho I have to say that Armlet is an incontournable on SK

God, that guide makes me laaugh every time. Especially the Armlet part.

[Penguinizer]

I probably should have mentioned that I have played LoL for at least 2 years now, so I already have a handle on things like last hitting and using skills. When I was in lane with Windrunner, I went something like 4-2 until I started dying because I had no idea of how to build or what other characters' skills were.

Windrunner is kinda hard to build since you need to decide your build for the lategame near the start. Your main builds will be:

Support:
Courier, 2x branch, tango, 2x clarity start into 1x Bracer, Magic Wand, Ring of Basilius, Mekansm, Eul's/Scythe of Vyse

Carry:
2x Mantle, 2x Branch, tango, 2x clarity start. 2x mantle upgrade, Magic Wand, Ring of Basilius, Forcestaff, Desolator, Linken's Sphere, Daedalus.

Semicarry:
Same as carry except you build stuff like Scythe of Vise after Desolator.

[Maeglin_Dubh]

Ok, I have absolutely no idea how to use couriers. They didn't feature at all in my first PVP ever, where I wrecked as Tidehunter, but the bots always buy them (and because bots always beat me) I think they must be some sort of donkey-shaped luck charm.

[Penguinizer]

It's mainly so people don't have to go back to get items. Meaning they don't really lose xp while still having the advantages of having said items.

[MeatShield#236]

Couriers are a way of getting items from the shop to you. You can buy items while you're not at the base (in fact it's a very good idea to do so with the whole 'gold loss on death' thing.) Those items go in your stash. If you want the courier to bring said items to you. Click on the courier then press E, D, and F; in that order.

E moves items from your stash to the courier
D sends the courier to you
F activates a speed boost for the courier (Note: only flying couriers have the speed boost)

I'm not too familiar with the proper conduct regarding couriers in PVP, so I leave that to those who know.

By the way, I'm Meatshield#236. You may see me sulking around the chat. I'm always up for a game or two.

[tribble]

I'm not too familiar with the proper conduct regarding couriers in PVP, so I leave that to those who know..

All I really know about them is that the support is supposed to buy them and you're not supposed to get it killed argh why is my team so bad surrender asap @#$%ing noob kunkka kill yourself uninstall aaaah

My god mirana calm dow-

^%$ you you @#$^ ing @#$% @#%^ &%$# goat #$%^ feeder piece of-

I haven't even died-

@#$% you uninstall never play again you @#$%ing piece of @#$^...

[Bayar]

Well, it is almost like giving a free tower to the enemy now. At least you can no longer give the enemy a free bottle that was on the courier.

[Neftren]

So, I tried Morphling the other day with Cynan and got facerolled somewhat, but I'll just put out some of my comments and see if you guys have any suggestions as to which characters might be a good match. Some people have advised me to stick to one or two characters for now, so I'm just looking to discover new people that I'll enjoy playing on a regular basis. Anyways...

So, Morphling has a really awesome Q with the beautiful animations and is awesome as both a gap closer and an escape mechanism. I especially liked how I could use it to go through large swaths of terrain. I also really liked Morphling's combination stun/knockback. It was fun to use when I managed to get it off properly. On the other hand, I really didn't like having to manage the morphing between strength and agility, and I feel like I never really used his ultimate in combat either. Maybe I'm just not good enough at managing multiple units yet, but it just didn't seem like it was fun to use in combat.

I've also tried Drow Ranger, which I thought was fun, but rather boring (only two skills) and Juggernaut (couldn't get close enough to omnislash). I don't have a favoring for agility characters or anything. I'm open to other characters too. I'm mostly interested in having skills to press, while being able to dish out some damage and have some CC.

[Keld Denar]

Try Riki. Riki is so easy. You have everything you want. Backstab is pretty much a right click to win ability. Cloud is a huge AoE silence, slow, and evasion granter. Blink Strike is your no skill shot...just click it, click a foe, and rape their face. His ulti is passive, but its one of the best in the game against most teams. I can't count the number of times I've picked Riki and gone the whole game without the other team getting a gem or wards or even dust. Those games you pretty much just win. Just get agi, attack speed, and more agi. Diffusal Blade is really popular since blinking on someone, purging them, and the clouding them all while backstabbing is pretty much game over for any non blinking hero.

[tribble]

Just get agi, attack speed, and more agi.

Please please please buy a black king bar and activate it anytime you go against more than one person. You're elusive, but even a downright awful player can still land a lucky stun if you don't drop the smoke bomb on them.

[Inhuman Bot]

Please please please buy a black king bar and activate it anytime you go against more than one person. You're elusive, but even a downright awful player can still land a lucky stun if you don't drop the smoke bomb on them.

Shadow Blade is good enough because with your innate stealth you will never be caught un-invis and with mask of madness you will have lifesteal to sustain. furthermore

[Bayar]

Shadow Blade is good enough because with your innate stealth you will never be caught un-invis and with mask of madness you will have lifesteal to sustain. furthermore

Obligatory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQBBVWP7wRk

Don't get Shadow Blade on Riki. BKB is infinitely better. Shadow Blade has the exact same counters as your ultimate. Also, Mask of Madness is a terrible item that only works if you are a Faceless Void who can 5man cronosphere or you are playing against complete idiots.