Dota anyone?

[Poison_Fish]

Pretty much with the ship, expect it to go past someone. The main thing with the boat is the bonus move speed and being drunk anyway, the stun and damage do help, but yeah. Really, just be sure to launch it into any team fight, your bound to hit someone.

That reminds me, I haven't played pirate in a LONG time.

[EndlessWrath]

Pretty much with the ship, expect it to go past someone. The main thing with the boat is the bonus move speed and being drunk anyway, the stun and damage do help, but yeah. Really, just be sure to launch it into any team fight, your bound to hit someone.

That reminds me, I haven't played pirate in a LONG time.

True to my word, I have randomed none of these people that I've asked about in the past few days. I did play an awesome Necrolyte and an even more awesome Treant game today. but those were followed by two terribad games with prophet and a bad game with DK. We won each....but still it was terribad. I actually farmed most of my necrolyte items too, and I had my gg items with treant and had lots of money left over.
Necrolyte: Mek, Guinsoo, Phase, Scepter. I would hae gotten more, but We downed the throne with me having 6k gold left. I was very happy. I like necrolyte a lot, but I play him more as support than anything else. Spam heal and stuff bot. I think it worked out nicely.

Furion: I learned he needs more than deso and phase XD

DK: This game bothered me a lot =/. It got to a point of who could backdoor the best. With their omniknight being very pro, and our DK not being so...pro. We failed on that one...mostly because We ran out of Buy back money, and omni/bh never did. I liked getting tanky items on DK. I know he can either be worlds best tank, or worlds best dps. I don't know how to build the dps, so I built the tank. Lots of armor and hp boosters. Vanguard, Phase, Heart, Satanic, curiass, Battlefury. (intended build, battlefury was asked so i could cleave out the images from PL and push faster.) I found out though, that Lion and Magnataur can hold the throne by themselves, while PL,Omni, and BH throne it. Too much disables. We would have one, we had mega creeps. But omni bd-ed the last rax (he started the mad bd that lasted ten minutes)

Treant I always get tanky stuff except for Refresher...Double ult is just too nice to pass up. We kinda wrecked that game too, Both me and Enigma had double ults... which reminds me....

------
...Best ____ team? like. Best AOE team? or Best disable team?

Best disable team IMO is:
Treant
Enigma
Rhasta/Lion
Tide
Earthshaker.

I know thats probably overkill. But too many disables, I don't think people can beat that team if it works properly. Unless of course, global silence and BKB were used.

I'd love to hear about good combo teams, awesome combos or your favorite team line up!

Combo: saw a few awesome ones with tiny/techies/pudge. Pudge drags baddie over techies mines, tiny throws techies into group, techies suicides. I thought it was pretty neat

-Wrath

[Poison_Fish]

I have a lot to say in response, but I'm too sick to think of anything except an old favorite team combo we used to have(IE, not as effective now because of nerfs to tinker and naix, and weavers babies being changed, though I like the new ones).

Weaver, Zeus, Tinker, Naix, and Invoker. Team global so to speak. Everyone does work on getting port treads, play cautious early game. Naix, back in the day when weavers babies were invisible, could jump into a watcher and pop out on someone, along with a tinker or anyone else who would port to the watcher. An amazing 5 man gank squad, with two of us who can throw around map ults. Lot's of movement tech and hard to predict.

Unfortunately, it's a team predicated that most of us will farm up boots of travel fast.

[EndlessWrath]

I have a lot to say in response, but I'm too sick to think of anything except an old favorite team combo we used to have(IE, not as effective now because of nerfs to tinker and naix, and weavers babies being changed, though I like the new ones).

Weaver, Zeus, Tinker, Naix, and Invoker. Team global so to speak. Everyone does work on getting port treads, play cautious early game. Naix, back in the day when weavers babies were invisible, could jump into a watcher and pop out on someone, along with a tinker or anyone else who would port to the watcher. An amazing 5 man gank squad, with two of us who can throw around map ults. Lot's of movement tech and hard to predict.

Unfortunately, it's a team predicated that most of us will farm up boots of travel fast.

I hope you feel better poison_fish! who else will I talk dota too?

I found I liked making a heal team once. Omni, Chen, Necrolyte, Visage, and Undying. It was really ridiculous. Omni chased everyone down, and we kept him alive. I think our team had 3 deaths total. and the other team had 15+
-Wrath

[Poison_Fish]

I hope you feel better poison_fish! who else will I talk dota too?

I found I liked making a heal team once. Omni, Chen, Necrolyte, Visage, and Undying. It was really ridiculous. Omni chased everyone down, and we kept him alive. I think our team had 3 deaths total. and the other team had 15+
-Wrath

While it's good to have chen in there to give necro and visage the solo(They both can use it, and chen with army of creeps is awesome if you know someone who can micro well), don't ignore the healing prowess of Abbadon. That man keeps teams alive through more crap then people realize.

Also, Shadow priest <3. Though he doesn't really belong on a healing team per say, as he functions better when guarding/helping a hardcore carry.

[EndlessWrath]

While it's good to have chen in there to give necro and visage the solo(They both can use it, and chen with army of creeps is awesome if you know someone who can micro well), don't ignore the healing prowess of Abbadon. That man keeps teams alive through more crap then people realize.

Also, Shadow priest <3. Though he doesn't really belong on a healing team per say, as he functions better when guarding/helping a hardcore carry.

GAH! >.< My original make up for the heal team was Necrolyte, abaddon, chen, omni, and shadowpriest. I forgot about the other two due to how late it was, so i just added in visage and undying. Although that was the back up team ^.^
-Wrath

[Myrmex]

You guys ever play a game of all Dazzles? It's rough.

[Poison_Fish]

You guys ever play a game of all Dazzles? It's rough.

Reminds me of an all snipers game I played. Once everyone hit level 6, no one dared to poke their nose out. There was much buying of wards to gang snipe each other.

[thegurullamen]

Reminds me of an all snipers game I played. Once everyone hit level 6, no one dared to poke their nose out. There was much buying of wards to gang snipe each other.

Rougher is all Dirge back when he was first introduced. Wait til level three, spawn two zombies apiece and push for the first tower in all lanes. Wait til five, then do it again with three zombies apiece. Should get you to the base. If the team tries to gank, the other two lanes push even harder and maybe get a rax. Heals (via meks or abilities) kept everyone in lane. The game was over in fifteen minutes at level eight or so.

Never play all lancer versus all lancer. Just...just no.

[EndlessWrath]

I've never seen an all dazzle game, but I've seen an all Techies game. it was the best game ever. Little old me sits with a gem, heart, radiance, guinsoo, treads (when good),HoD, and orchids. I shot up all the mines quickly and tanked suicide. took us an hour to play. the horror..the horror.

we did an all pudge game and an all leoric game. No one really died in leoric, and everyone died a hundred times with pudge.

[shadowxknight]

6.64 is out...

I gotta say I liked 6.63b better, simply because the buffed phase boots makes things more fun.

[EndlessWrath]

6.64 is out...

I gotta say I liked 6.63b better, simply because the buffed phase boots makes things more fun.

Phase boots were causing problems. And nobody was getting treads because ultimately they were useless. I made the mistake one time....such a bad game.

There was also the crit fail that was going on. Now Phase will do ridiculous bonus damage, and Treads will keep ias

Also. I haven't been able to download >.< but i am happy with the change.

Also: I'm loving new scepter being affordable and being useful for more non-ints than just int exclusive. Got it on Pudge, Panda, and Abaddon already. Was very happy (wasn't first item, but certainly on the list)

-Wrath.

[mathieumg]

Has anybody watched the F4F finals between MYM and Fnatic? I have to say that game 3 presented one of the nicest comebacks I'v ever seen, it was really a thriller and I enjoyed every second of watching it :D

[Legoshrimp]

I have been playing weaver a lot recent. the hero I am seeming to do best with of late. So I have come here to ask strategies of you wise playgrounders. What I have been doing for my skills is

orb/invis/orb/invis/orb/ult/orb/invis/invis/summon/ult/summon/summon/summon,

and for items I am getting crit/treads early then buriza and normally game is over by then. Probably the thing I use least is his summons do you guys have any advice for how to use them effectively? Any input will be appreciated.

-LegoShrimp

[Shnezz]

I love Rooftrellen (Spelling?). The ability to plant trees that give vision for the whole game? The ability to root everything nearby for 5 seconds, doing damage, while invisible? Yes Please!

[mathieumg]

Probably the thing I use least is his summons do you guys have any advice for how to use them effectively? Any input will be appreciated.

-LegoShrimp

Hey Lego!

You should get summons way earlier, they are (amongst other things) very good to scout (incoming ganks, runes, etc.)

[toasty]

So I played 3 games yesterday... first game I play An'ubarak, whom I must say really isn't my favorite hero. Its maybe the one melee agility hero I can play decently (I still have this problem when play non-str heroes of running into the middle of battles and getting killed) but I dunno... I just don't like him that much. I got phase, dagon and was building linkin's (no clue why... just sounded like a good item) when we won. I forget exactly what the team was, me, rhasta, and two others. It was an SD game.

The the second game was CM. We've started playing CM and I like it a lot. SD is also pretty good actually, but CM is better, IMO. Anyways my team was Dazzle (my bro plays a very good Intel support hero. He claims that he messed up his build in this game and kept dying so he didn't do very well, but he wasn't horrid), Omni ("Don't run! I have Mana! I have HP! I have everything you could dream of!"), Razor and then me as Crystal Maiden. Razor was pretty good, him and me bought Travel and TPed around the map defending.

Anyways, it was a hard fought game, but we won in the end because we had a better team, I guess. I really do love Crystal, she's probably my favorite Intel in the game. Between her stun and her slow, she's awesome.

Final game was a "for fun" AP game. Basically what happened is I was waiting for some other people to pick when the other three players in my team picked intel heroes (Lich, Death Prophet, and Dark Seer) but I picked my favorite hero: Abaddon.

Anyways, we played against 3 strength and one intel hero (intel hero was Tinker, who I played against solo in mid lane. It was hard, but I managed to do decent and farm well without actually dying. I only had to go to base once).

In the end we totally owned them. I think we won in like 50 minutes, which is amazing considering I thought we were pretty screwed. Somehow we managed to play really well and push very good early game (First thirty minutes we had destroyed 4 towers to their 1) and then we went and got mega creeps. In the last moment i wanted to run into the well and see if borrowed time would block the well, but the tree got killed before I could.

Oh, my build for avernus? Yes, well early game I buy basilius, branches and maybe a sapphire water if needed. I get basilius because I want to spam my shield as much as possible (Against tinker i used it for farming: I'd shield a creep, the creep would get hit and then I'd get gold). Then I buy perseverance and boot of speed. Depending on how the game goes I might build perseverance then get the boots or I might mix it up. After that I get phase and then build scepter. If I had gold and time after that (which, actually I usually don't) then I'll buy something like Heart, battlefury, or satanic. (Actually, I haven't tried it, but I want to see what happens if you get satanic for Death Knight... I think it could be interesting).

And I really do have to say that Scepter is an awesome item for Avernus. The upgrade to the ulti, honestly, really is like the 2nd best thing about it. The +20 to all stats is brilliant for someone who needs mana to spam spells, agility to get Frostmourne killing, and strength for damage, its good fun.

[Inhuman Bot]

So, just wondering... Has anyone here played the Dark Seer? Because I appear to be the only one to choose him, ever.

[Mephisto]

Dark Seer is an awesomely fun hero, but I hate that they disabled Ion Shell stacking in 6.64. Also, making Wall of Replica work on enemies only makes it even more situational, to the point where the only time it's really useful is if half or more of their team is pushing a lane.

[toasty]

So, just wondering... Has anyone here played the Dark Seer? Because I appear to be the only one to choose him, ever.

One of my friends played him yesterday. I've never played him, but he seems... decent. They nerfed him, yes, but I mean, we won that game, so either our opponents played horribly (which is possible. ) or we played really good. Now said player was one of the "best" in my group of DotA friends, but still... he did okay. I think he ended up being the secondary tank actually (see above post, I was the only strength hero).

[Shnezz]

I played several AP "fun" games the other day, and I think I may have finally found my groove for ranged agility heros.

I went 16-5-4 as the Dwarven Sniper, not amazing, but it's better than my usual 1-1 kill/death ratio. Grabbed the spidersilk boots, circlet of nobility, and an ironwood branch, and had middle lane solo vs tiny. He got greedy early, and just took him down with the dmg+microstun and increased range abilities.

Anyway, does anyone use the Shrapnel AoE dmg/slow ability? With a max of like -30% move and it takes a moment to fire, I find it taken even after I max the +ability scores.

[Inhuman Bot]

I played several AP "fun" games the other day, and I think I may have finally found my groove for ranged agility heros.

I went 16-5-4 as the Dwarven Sniper, not amazing, but it's better than my usual 1-1 kill/death ratio. Grabbed the spidersilk boots, circlet of nobility, and an ironwood branch, and had middle lane solo vs tiny. He got greedy early, and just took him down with the dmg+microstun and increased range abilities.

Anyway, does anyone use the Shrapnel AoE dmg/slow ability? With a max of like -30% move and it takes a moment to fire, I find it taken even after I max the +ability scores.

Usually? Not really. I go for the range increase and bash first, but I sometimes take it instead of bash.

I've also decided that Razor is my favorite agility hero. I just played a game and ended at 18/0/5, and I am far from being an amazing DotA player.

[mathieumg]

Shnezz: The Shrapnel skill is a very good one to take due to the AoE nature of its slow/damage; it can really make a difference in team fights. It is much better than "Scatter shot" from the old Sniper :p

[Oslecamo]

I've also decided that Razor is my favorite agility hero. I just played a game and ended at 18/0/5, and I am far from being an amazing DotA player.

The new Razor looks pretty wicked, but I SILL haven't got a chance to try it out in a team game...

[Arcanoi]

Shnezz: The Shrapnel skill is a very good one to take due to the AoE nature of its slow/damage; it can really make a difference in team fights. It is much better than "Scatter shot" from the old Sniper :p

I remember when the sniper was new and that skill did 700 damage a pop! But the new skill is REALLY good. If you can get your IAS up enough, combine with the mini-stun, and Skadi later, you can kill someone before they can get through the shrapnel.

As it is, the Sniper is probably the easiest non-carry agility hero in the game. But he's also one of the most fun.

[Inhuman Bot]

The new Razor looks pretty wicked, but I SILL haven't got a chance to try it out in a team game...

He's great, but also ridiculously squishy. At level 25, with a heart and Vanguard, I had about 1.9k HP.

[Poison_Fish]

Shnezz: The Shrapnel skill is a very good one to take due to the AoE nature of its slow/damage; it can really make a difference in team fights. It is much better than "Scatter shot" from the old Sniper :p

So, here is the thing. Always, always, always max Shrapnel. It's such a good skill.

Keep in mind, as Sniper, other then snipe, you have no other active abilities. Shrapnel is something you can use to save yourself from ganks, as it slows. Also keep in mind that your going to do more damage to someone while they are in your shrapnel and your base attacking them, then maxing out your range first. In addition, it helps with farming and damages towers. So it allows you to push even better. Besides, from levels 1-5, what else are you going to do with your mana?

[Poison_Fish]

Just as a friendly reminder, 6.65 is out.

Here is the changelog

Nightcrawler is a bit insane, though can still be gibed by focus fire.

[Zavia/GenX]

If i may add my opinion:

So, here is the thing. Always, always, always max Shrapnel. It's such a good skill.

Shrapnel does a specific type of damage that is more damaging to creeps, and less to heros, and even less to buildings. Can't recall, but basically, its very strong on the creeps.

Also, good snipers dont get Shrapnel till mid game. Why? Cos of the close to attack animation, your denies and last hits should make up for it. If it isnt, practice. Its about THE only hero who has the best last hit ability. Next closest is razor.

So why Shrapnel at mid or later? Cos its when theres lots of units, and you just want to go in, grab all the gold, then go away quickly, or you want to neutral and speed things along.

[Poison_Fish]

If i may add my opinion:


Shrapnel does a specific type of damage that is more damaging to creeps, and less to heros, and even less to buildings. Can't recall, but basically, its very strong on the creeps.

Also, good snipers dont get Shrapnel till mid game. Why? Cos of the close to attack animation, your denies and last hits should make up for it. If it isnt, practice. Its about THE only hero who has the best last hit ability. Next closest is razor.

So why Shrapnel at mid or later? Cos its when theres lots of units, and you just want to go in, grab all the gold, then go away quickly, or you want to neutral and speed things along.

Sorry to sound condescending, but no. Your assumption there assumes Sniper is not a brittle, easy to walk over character, especially if he's soloing(which he is a good choice for a solo, If you build him right). Take Aim and Headshot marginally improve your damage, meanwhile Shrapnel allows you to push, farm, avoid ganks, gank much more effectively, and most importantly, it provides you lane control. A 30% AoE slow + a lane partner or two along with your decent damage is good enough for ganking.

Also, Razor's animation actually isn't that amazing. If you want a good animation, check out warlock. There is a lag time between Razor's lightning and actually receiving damage.

Shrapnel is magical type damage, so heroes natural magic resistance kicks in. It also takes really less then a second to shoot out shrapnel. Any benefit you'd get from take aim or head shot is minimal compared to Shrapnel. That's not to say you don't take levels in them early game. One level in head shot is a must. But really, headshot for when your aggressive, take aim for when your defensive.

But when fighting an enemy, you rely upon your base attacks. It may seem logical to improve them at the start through passives, but honestly, you'll do way more damage, control the lane better, and farm better, if you drop down a shrapnel. Them being slowed by 20% allows at least 2-3 more base attacks then you could get out if you had just the other abilities. This ultimately leads to more control of a lane, which leads to more farming. This is why I get a bottle on sniper and rune whore as well/sometimes drop in a shrapnel to gank the lanes I pick up runes in. I can end up getting a fair amount of money this way and help with control in all 3 lanes.