Dota anyone?

[Poison_Fish]

Heh, and funny enough here in the U.S. the biggest internet cafe I can think of only has 40 computers, with a reliance on a very strong internet connection. Most people playing DotA there are together but playing on B.net, rather then through LAN.

Yeah, I'm rather happy for the Lycan nerf. He was extremely popular as a carry with only 2 counters, (Huskar and Naix) and only one of them being actually effective late game (Naix). Granted, Naix can just tare Lycan apart if he's built correctly (And needs less items to do it).

Naix happens to be my favorite counter pick to strength heroes, as you can see. Though in less serious games, I have fun easily killing people at level 1 as Huskar with a few burning spears.

[Zavia/GenX]

yea, internet cafes are not needed when you can have really fast connections.

My country recently released 4mb, tho i believe most didnt take it due to the cost.

Anyway, care to give your huskar build? I don't seem to own with him. :S

[Poison_Fish]

"Huskar build" What is this... "Huskar Build" you speak of? :-P

Anyway, the three things you need to keep in mind with Huskar:
1. He can do insane damage early on in the span of a few seconds
2. His heal is based entirely on stats, not just on flat health
3. While he's not the best strength counterpick, his ult can knock of a huge amount of health from any high health carry, + it is an amazing slow.

Now, I've been playing Dota for awhile. I'm certainly not the best, but I'm decent. So I play what I term suicide Huskar(Since I pick him in pub or non-serious games anyway).

What that means is you buy lance and berserkers blood up until level 9. The heal is pretty pitiful anyway at that level. But after getting the other two abilities, get the heal. It's pretty useful to throw on someone and good if you have it on when you use your ult on say.. a Centaur who has all his abilities up.

Early game items. Tango's, Tango's, and more tango's. I usually get 9 tango's with him, or 6, and a ring of regen if I'm going to end up making a hood of defiance (Depends on how much magic damage they have). If I'm not going the ring root, I'll buy a circlet or other parts for a Bracer.

Once you get the money, get: strength treads, and a bunch of bracers. Then I usually just start building to a heart. Anything that makes your health go higher and higher through stats is useful. Granted, games usually end before I get my heart, so I am normally walking around with 4 bracers, strength threads, and a scroll of town portal. Always, always carry a scroll. Unless your Furion or Pit Lord. And even in pitlords case it can be a good idea.

game play. Harass, non-stop. Those Javelins will do a lot of Damage over a few short seconds if you stack them on someone. If your good with orb walking, Huskar is wonderful. As long as you keep an eye on your health and your enemies don't have a hard stun, or do more damage then you, or run away faster, you can usually kill them. My personal favorite, fighting typical Drow players. They'll start the frost arrow orb harassing, and just end up getting hit with 4 times the damage. The reason I bought a lot of early game regen? I am extremely aggressive playing this Huskar build. Hence, the term suicide Huskar. Since I'm throwing a lot of javelins, and expecting to take a lot of damage while I hit people, I'm getting enough regen to stick into the lane. Often when I do have to go back I'll end up getting more tango's. My average eating of tango's is usually around 12 by the time I hit level 6. Depends on how good the players I'm fighting are.

[Knolan]

No armlet? Probably the best core item for huskar.

I liked the last version a lot, panda is my favorite tanker/support hero and the buffs on him are very welcome.

[EndlessWrath]

funny that huskar was mentioned.... I played 2 games today where huskar owned... and another one where he was necessary in taking out the 15/1/7 Ax ...

with 4k hp, huskar took out 1/2 early... then I strode in as pit to fight him off. We definitely needed more disablers in that game , it makes me sad that we had to fight off such a guy cause of a 0/17 puck and a 0/9 cent.

but I really don't care too much, the game is a game... I'm just never gonna pick Pit lord ever again. I smote creeps...that was about it.

[toasty]

funny that huskar was mentioned.... I played 2 games today where huskar owned... and another one where he was necessary in taking out the 15/1/7 Ax ...

with 4k hp, huskar took out 1/2 early... then I strode in as pit to fight him off. We definitely needed more disablers in that game , it makes me sad that we had to fight off such a guy cause of a 0/17 puck and a 0/9 cent.

but I really don't care too much, the game is a game... I'm just never gonna pick Pit lord ever again. I smote creeps...that was about it.

Pit Lord... I play him against AIs since he pwns AIs. Pit lord is a pusher... and is very good at running about everyone and holding the lanes while the rest of the team pushes up mid. Other than that... yes... very good at killing creeps. My Pit Lord build: battlefury, boots of travel... whatever other random stuff you want. It is a good build, IMO. Made up my a better player who is a friend of mine.


Huskar... is interesting... my friend once told me that if you get Huskar 2 hearts he becomes Imba... but I haven't had the courage to try it yet... since I don't know Huskar THAT well. A guide on DotA-Allstars said to get 3 bracers... but to be honest, I've never really seen the point of Brancers and the like when treads now gives you +10 to any desired stat (and can change at your desire) and gives you speed and all. Sure, Treads are expsenive... but I get them or Boots in all my builds.

Yea, well, my area has 3 colleges, a few high schools and what not all within 10-15 minutes of the area. Its considered a "student" area, where your primary business will come from students, followed by businesspeople, and finally residents.

Business people actually walk into your cafe? :D Only a few "old" people come in to ours... lol. Three colleges and multiple high schools... wow... that explains it.

[Artemician]

Pit Lord... I play him against AIs since he pwns AIs. Pit lord is a pusher... and is very good at running about everyone and holding the lanes while the rest of the team pushes up mid. Other than that... yes... very good at killing creeps. My Pit Lord build: battlefury, boots of travel... whatever other random stuff you want. It is a good build, IMO. Made up my a better player who is a friend of mine.

Pit Lord is usually played as a turtle/support/semitank. Fury is a bad item for him. Cookie cutter builds are Arcane/Guinsoo/BoT/Shiva (switch order depending on game flow). If you *really* want to be a semi-carry, you get Radiance. He can farm it quickly enough, and it is superior to Fury on a hero with a weak attack like Pit.

Huskar... is interesting... my friend once told me that if you get Huskar 2 hearts he becomes Imba... but I haven't had the courage to try it yet... since I don't know Huskar THAT well. A guide on DotA-Allstars said to get 3 bracers... but to be honest, I've never really seen the point of Brancers and the like when treads now gives you +10 to any desired stat (and can change at your desire) and gives you speed and all. Sure, Treads are expsenive... but I get them or Boots in all my builds.

Bracers are used *in addition* to Threads, or on heroes where threads aren't usually gotten on. You need the stats. And they're really value for money, and come in easy buildable parts. In higher level games, it becomes progressively harder and harder to rice, and cheap items like bracer are very important.

Every single hero can buy a bracer. That's just how good it is.

[Poison_Fish]

No armlet? Probably the best core item for huskar.

I liked the last version a lot, panda is my favorite tanker/support hero and the buffs on him are very welcome.

Armlet, while good, is an Item I don't build on Huskar. There is too long of a cool down on his heal to make the switching on and off of armlet effective.

The three characters I've found armlet effective on: Naix. Oh my god, you should always get an armlet on Naix. He can gain the lost health back rapidly and his damage sores.

Skeleton King. As he also has a passive(Though you shouldn't get it early on and Armlet is an early game item) way to gain his health back effectively. Also, a stun + a few armlet powered hits is very effective.

Lycan. Hit ult, hit armlet, gank. Later on it becomes useful as well once you build a satanic. But basically for those seconds your running in there to gank someone, your damage also goes up.

For Huskar, I just go straight strength. Armlet isn't bad on him, mind you all, but I've found myself a pretty easy target as Huskar with the amount I turn on/turn off Armlet.

a 0/17 puck

That makes me sad. Puck is one of the best killers in the game. Also my current favorite character.

In terms of pit lord, he's basically a less rage-worthy Techies. Which is to say, he delays the game as much as possible for your team to get it's carry farmed. In his case though he has more health, and farming up a sheep stick on him is a great idea.

Also, Artemician has covered what I was going to say about Bracers. They are life savers for their cost. Certain characters badly need them to be successful(Puck, I'm looking at you).

[toasty]

[QUOTE=Artemician;5322436]Pit Lord is usually played as a turtle/support/semitank. Fury is a bad item for him. Cookie cutter builds are Arcane/Guinsoo/BoT/Shiva (switch order depending on game flow). If you *really* want to be a semi-carry, you get Radiance. He can farm it quickly enough, and it is superior to Fury on a hero with a weak attack like Pit.
[quote]

Well... I never said I was the expert on Pit Lord. :D The build I use is made for playing against AI in AI mods and I have to say it does the job well enough. You can pretty much be assured to always have mana and farming is very easy.

Bracers are used *in addition* to Threads, or on heroes where threads aren't usually gotten on. You need the stats. And they're really value for money, and come in easy buildable parts. In higher level games, it becomes progressively harder and harder to rice, and cheap items like bracer are very important.

Higher Level as in skill level? That might explain it, no one in my city (let alone cafe I suspect) has the chance against pros. :D

[Arang]

The only hero I really get BFury on (that I play, at least) is Magnus. More or less gives you everything you want: health regen (everyone needs that), mana regen (Shockwave spam= lol harass), and the damage and cleave for fighting and farmfarmfarm.

Once you have BFury and your dagger, though, what to get? I got MKB that game, but what about AC? Heart/Satanic? BDK?

[Poison_Fish]

The only hero I really get BFury on (that I play, at least) is Magnus. More or less gives you everything you want: health regen (everyone needs that), mana regen (Shockwave spam= lol harass), and the damage and cleave for fighting and farmfarmfarm.

Once you have BFury and your dagger, though, what to get? I got MKB that game, but what about AC? Heart/Satanic? BDK?

BF, while not bad, isn't the best choice on Mags. Mags can go full carry or side carry. What works well on him (besides treads and bracers) is AC, heart/satanic, BKB, and instead of going Bfury for early mana regen, start building up to a Vlads. A basi:ring is a much cheaper alternative to a pers.

But you have the right idea. Always, always get your blink dagger. It's usually my first item after bracers and part of a vlads(ring of regen + basi-ring early on is useful).

[EndlessWrath]

Pit Lord is usually played as a turtle/support/semitank. Fury is a bad item for him. Cookie cutter builds are Arcane/Guinsoo/BoT/Shiva (switch order depending on game flow). If you *really* want to be a semi-carry, you get Radiance. He can farm it quickly enough, and it is superior to Fury on a hero with a weak attack like Pit.

While I agree with the separate build...i politely disagree on the battlefury opinion.

Although I am no expert with pit, i find his spells to be rather costly and not easy to spam, so major regen is necessary. And why stop and perseverence? i get to perse, than up to battlefury after vlads and treads.

then if i got time heart or something else. it really depends on the rest of the game. But Lifesteal + cleave + regen. Only thing left is tank. He's not a hero killer, he's excellent at killing creeps and support. So thats how i play him. push/tank, let the DPS and the nukers deal the big damage.

[Artemician]

Well... I never said I was the expert on Pit Lord. :D The build I use is made for playing against AI in AI mods and I have to say it does the job well enough. You can pretty much be assured to always have mana and farming is very easy.

Usually Pit will go one Voidstone alone (to make into Guinsoo later), or alternatively, to support allies, Arcane Ring. There's no reason to build Perseverance really.

While I agree with the separate build...i politely disagree on the battlefury opinion.

Although I am no expert with pit, i find his spells to be rather costly and not easy to spam, so major regen is necessary. And why stop and perseverence? i get to perse, than up to battlefury after vlads and treads.

then if i got time heart or something else. it really depends on the rest of the game. But Lifesteal + cleave + regen. Only thing left is tank. He's not a hero killer, he's excellent at killing creeps and support. So thats how i play him. push/tank, let the DPS and the nukers deal the big damage.

If you say you're playing him as a push/tank, why are you going DPS items? Battlefury is a dps item. It makes Pit into a semi-carry. That's one way of playing him, with its own merits and faults. I happen not to like playing Pit this way. But - I feel that if you want to play him as a semicarry anyway, you get Radiance.

[Poison_Fish]

While I agree with the separate build...i politely disagree on the battlefury opinion.

Although I am no expert with pit, i find his spells to be rather costly and not easy to spam, so major regen is necessary. And why stop and perseverence? i get to perse, than up to battlefury after vlads and treads.

then if i got time heart or something else. it really depends on the rest of the game. But Lifesteal + cleave + regen. Only thing left is tank. He's not a hero killer, he's excellent at killing creeps and support. So thats how i play him. push/tank, let the DPS and the nukers deal the big damage.

If your going tank/support. Vlads, while ok, is still better on the carry or a much better DPS role itself. Pit lord, while a beefy hero, is a lot like Ogre Magi. They are both still casters. Besides, A guniso or Shiva's(Or together) will benefit him far more as well as give him practically infinite mana, along with an AoE Nuke slow + a disable.

Frankly, if you want to make a tank, get someone they have a reason to target first, rather then someone who's done all his spells and that's it. Pitlord suffers from what I call the "Tiny Syndrome". Basically, he comes in and does all his spells, and that's it. Unlike Tiny, however, he doesn't hit that hard in comparison.

But if you have a sheep and a shiva's, you are actually setting yourself up to be a tank, since they now have a greater reason to take you down. Along with disabling the enemy.

Edit: And as it's been said, a Raid will give them another main reason to target you rather then the others. Along with doing passive AoE damage. At the very least, your doing something more while your spells are on cool down.

[EndlessWrath]

Has anyone had the chance to find a good proudmore build yet?

I can only find other build... Bracer or 2 -> Treads -> Vlads -> SnY -> heart possibly... etc.

[mathieumg]

This is probably far from the best build around, but I usually do (not necessarily in order) :

Bracer, Boots, Satanic, BFury, Heart, Threads

[mathieumg]

I've lost my last 12 games with bad scores and I've lost any hope of being ever "good" again. I even got owned in a "noobs only -apem" game...

Looks like DotA is over for me, unfortunately, I liked that game.

[toasty]

I've lost my last 12 games with bad scores and I've lost any hope of being ever "good" again. I even got owned in a "noobs only -apem" game...

Looks like DotA is over for me, unfortunately, I liked that game.

My general words of advice are these: pick a hero (or group of heroes) that you enjoy playing and get some builds for them from more experienced players, that will help. Master a few heroes, don't bother to try every single hero at the beginning of the game, there are over 100 now (I think). I myself haven't played every hero, but I know what most of them can do and how they play to a degree.

Second: LAST HIT! I will never understand why people don't do this, especially at levels 1-6 it is vital that you last hit. It gives you more experience and more XP. This means you can be a higher level and have better gear than your opponents, a good thing.

In the same Vein: DENY! Denying is hard, and it takes practice and it doesn't seem to do much, but seriously, denying 2-3 creeps from each wave at levels 1-6 will mean a lot in the long run. Denying as often as possible, it will help.

Also, remember DotA has a very high learning curve. If you suck at first... well, you're kinda supposed to. sorry, but its kinda true...

Of course, this suckage can be fixed by picking Skeleton King... or other "simple" heroes. :D

[Poison_Fish]

Also, "newbs" only games are rarely just that. You'll find more "newbs' in pro games I'd say.

[Player_Zero]

Just installed Warcraft 3 again. Is there any sort of gitp gaming schedule up and about?

[Winterwind]

Just installed Warcraft 3 again. Is there any sort of gitp gaming schedule up and about?

The DotA group here meets on Wednesdays, in the channel hunt, not sure about the time (unless they changed their schedule).

The group dedicated to all other custom games besides DotA meets on Fridays at 4 PM EST in the channel GitP.

The group dedicated to melee meets on Sundays at 4 PM EST in the channel GitP.

This is the thread for the DotA group, the thread for the other two groups is here.

[Player_Zero]

Wah ha ha! My triumphant return to the game ended in a stunning victory. Played as the bloodseeker. Slit up some dudes. Top of the leaderboard, naturellement.

...Yes... EST... Ah. GMT -5.... Making it at 9PM. I think I could swing that.

I'm EternalDeity for future note, the man who will become the pirate king.

[Artemician]

Wah ha ha! My triumphant return to the game ended in a stunning victory. Played as the bloodseeker. Slit up some dudes. Top of the leaderboard, naturellement.

...Yes... EST... Ah. GMT -5.... Making it at 9PM. I think I could swing that.

I'm EternalDeity for future note, the man who will become the pirate king.

You have much to learn, young padawan.

Starting from knowing the fact that the Bloodseeker is a weaksauce hero.

[Player_Zero]

You have much to learn, young padawan.

Starting from knowing the fact that the Bloodseeker is a weaksauce hero.

Then I suppose I must be uber-awesome then.

[Cynan Machae]

The DotA group here meets on Wednesdays, in the channel hunt, not sure about the time (unless they changed their schedule).

The group dedicated to all other custom games besides DotA meets on Fridays at 4 PM EST in the channel GitP.

The group dedicated to melee meets on Sundays at 4 PM EST in the channel GitP.

This is the thread for the DotA group, the thread for the other two groups is here.

Actually we just started meeting in GitP again anyway. Star_moon was the one wanting to meet in hunt, but I haven't seen him in a month.

[Player_Zero]

Actually we just started meeting in GitP again anyway. Star_moon was the one wanting to meet in hunt, but I haven't seen him in a month.

So, GitP at about 9PM on Wednesdays?

...Come to think of it, are there multiple American servers for Warcraft? I can't recall and loading it up would be such a hassle.

[Winterwind]

There are - Azeroth (USEast) and Lordaeron (USWest).

The GitP groups all meet on Azeroth.

[mathieumg]

My general words of advice are these: pick a hero (or group of heroes) that you enjoy playing and get some builds for them from more experienced players, that will help. Master a few heroes, don't bother to try every single hero at the beginning of the game, there are over 100 now (I think). I myself haven't played every hero, but I know what most of them can do and how they play to a degree.

Second: LAST HIT! I will never understand why people don't do this, especially at levels 1-6 it is vital that you last hit. It gives you more experience and more XP. This means you can be a higher level and have better gear than your opponents, a good thing.

In the same Vein: DENY! Denying is hard, and it takes practice and it doesn't seem to do much, but seriously, denying 2-3 creeps from each wave at levels 1-6 will mean a lot in the long run. Denying as often as possible, it will help.

Also, remember DotA has a very high learning curve. If you suck at first... well, you're kinda supposed to. sorry, but its kinda true...

Of course, this suckage can be fixed by picking Skeleton King... or other "simple" heroes. :D

I tell you man, I'm not a new player, I've been playing for nearly 3 years. In this losing streak there were many games where I had good creep stats and even some games where I started 5-0 on hero kills to end up with 5-9. It seems the game won't let me win, I even tried to play with the heroes I'm usually the best with but to no avail.

[Arang]

... yeah. I got better, honestly!


Before this I had Treads and BoT. Good times.

[Poison_Fish]

You know what Tinker is missing there? Shiva's Guard, Linkens, Sheep Stick. Then you actually are unstoppable.

Also, Mathiew, I wouldn't say it's necessarily you. Remember, Dota is a team game. Your loosing streak can be attributed to more then just yourself.

And heck, even when my team goes pub stomping, we actually have been beaten by pubs. Granted, that's because we aren't bothering to listen to each other and we are picking silly heroes (Go team Image! Oh.. they have Earth Shaker ;_:).