The DotA Thread! [Basic Strats and Hero/Item talk]

[Renzokuken]

Right now, i'm uber n00bz0r and all i do is get Power Treads (For Str or Agi hero) or Ring of Basilus (For Int hero), then i just work my way to a decent Lv4 Recipe. I'm starting to think that the 2nd/3rd level recipes might be worth a shot too. Any tips?

What do you guys do?

Edit:
Here are some main points for very beginners on how to improve your skills for DotA. Also you can press Control + F to find some key words to what you're looking for. Be warned though, as you have to do this for every page.

A few good posts to take a look at and read.
Post 2

Post 12

Post 14

Post 17

Post 30

Quick guide to a newb friendly hero, Bone Fletcher

Post 65

Ideal gold amount to carry at one time (Unless getting something big)

A small guide to a pusher type hero, Furion

Effect of the Transmute ability for Hand of Midas

Tips for using a more advanced hero, Pudge

Ideal accuracy for aiming a proper Meat Hook (Taken from a guide)

Agility hero starting, below those posts how to cloak burn enemies with Radiance >:

Those are just a few tips to getting a head start on a few of the newb friendly heroes, and how to improve your overall gameplay.

Happy browsing!
~Dream_Walker

[x42bn6]

Originally Posted by Renzokuken

Right now, i'm uber n00bz0r and all i do is get Power Treads (For Str or Agi hero) or Ring of Basilus (For Int hero), then i just work my way to a decent Lv4 Recipe. I'm starting to think that the 2nd/3rd level recipes might be worth a shot too. Any tips?

What do you guys do?

Items I know quite a bit about.

Don't get the Ring of Basilus unless you are destined to be creeping for some time. The Keeper of the Grove is probably the only one that uses it effectively.

Ring of Regeneration (then becoming Headdress of Regeneration with Ironwood Branch and recipe) is very good for most heroes, except Strength heroes (who don't really need the boost) and Wind Walking heroes (where it can reveal your position when you backstab).

Soul Booster, or any one of the boosters in the Secret Shop, is very good for Intelligence heroes or anything that can use Aghanim's Scepter. In either case, Soul Booster is good even though you can't use Aghanim's Scepter, as the boosts are very large.

Quarterstaff is a useful item as it is very flexible, and can be turned into a Butterfly.

Hand of Midas is murder against heroes if you have a Bone Fletcher, Moon Rider or Dwarven Sniper (or anything that is an agility hero or has a fast attack rate). And it only costs 1600+ gold, for a 25% boost in attack rate (The Transmute is just for decoration).

Don't buy Radiance. It is rubbish, unless you are a creeping hero (and you can't take out heroes effectively). Radiance's only good use is the ability to act as a Gem of True Sight that doesn't drop, as it can reveal hidden heroes. But otherwise, it sucks, and it awakens creeps that you might want to stay asleep when you are running on low health. If you want damage, get a Crystalys that can be made into a Burize-do-kyano, which is one of the strongest items in the game. A Crystalys is cheaper than Sacred Relic so you can buy something else with it.

Perseverance is good for any hero, and it stacks. The boost can be quite scary in the early stages of the game.

Don't focus on getting the 3000+ gold items as soon as possible. For value for money, all of them are pathetic, but you need them to make the recipes.

Yasha (spelling?) is also quite good for most cases.

Look at the Level 2 and 3 recipes carefully. While Level 4 items are the best, a hero with several Level 2 well-chosen recipes can whack the hell out of a hero with 2 Level 4 recipes.

As for strategy.....

Learn when to run. When you hit half life, make sure you can retreat easily. If you are below quarter life, you had better have a good reason to stay creeping.

Make sure you keep hitting and holding down the left alternate key to view all the health of the creeps around you. Then pick on the weakest enemy creep to 'kill steal'. Also, when you see the tower, keep an eye on the melee creeps so that you are not the closest hero to the tower when they die, otherwise you will be first on the tower's list.

More later.*

[Dream_Walker]

gimme hero, and i could give you a strat. unless something like naga, which isnt one of my favs...

[morbidgolem]

Here's a basic strat, remember this forever. Spam an enemy hero with all your spells before he does it to you.

W000000000T HAIL ME!!! FOR I AM KING OF NEWBIES!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dream_Walker]

.....no comment.......

that isnt even a real strategy...

[azn_dudex]

here a good strat
1. walk up 2 them
2. hit them
3. don't get hit
4. kill them
no but if ur a melee hero get cbasher, and most range r int so get int since it help mana regen and gives u more mana. i prefer the dagon since i like 2 give one hell of a nuke. have any of u guys seen wat a slayer with a dagon is like.

[Dream_Walker]

what a load of crap. its easier said than done since most enemies have micro. and have other skills ready. and only a fraction of the ranged heroes are int, so what about the ranged agi like drow, then what?

[Renzokuken]

Look, i've played SC for over 5 years and played WC3 for one year, i DO know how to micro and regardless of how good you guys think you are at DotA, microing can easily be done by anyone.

My favourite hero is the Frost Revenant, i don't know why, but i'm just really good with him. And the Nerubian Assassin.

Right now, i've changed my strat with Frosty and gotten Power Treads, Crystalys, then the Lv4 upgrade of Crystalys (That weird-named one). Hows that sound?

[Emperor Pan I]

You can't put strategy and DOTA in the same sentance.

[Ntrik_]

Originally Posted by Faunus

You can't put strategy and DOTA in the same sentance.

Frankly, they already did

just make Buriza if you're fighter, always.

[Dream_Walker]

...
buriz doesnt work on pa, and shes a fighter. mkb > buriz on her...but buriz would work on someone like rigwarl

[x42bn6]

A little more:

Always always always creep aggressively at the start. Steal kills as much as possible. Don't fall behind in the leveling.

Never follow a hero into a lane unless there are 4 or 5 players on that team (then you HAVE to share lanes). Experience gets divided amongst the two of you.

Never deliberately cause an ally to die. On the contrary, help them unless they backstab you or something. For example, casting an area of effect spell upon you.

Like I said, help your allies. Do not give them too much gold, as there are chances that you will not get it back. People who try to help you by chatting and giving you items would gladly like to be paid back.

Don't get items that have no use for your hero. This takes practice, but an Aghanim's Scepter for the Goblin Techie is possible, but absolutely stupid unless you are very impatient.

If a hero or two is causing major problems, get a bunch of your allies to 'gangbang' them from behind. If they complain, say that gangbangs are fun.

Which reminds me, make sure you help your allies (again! I cannot stress this more!) when they are in trouble.

Keep an eye on the mini-map. It's amazing how many people I've seen get backstabbed and I foresaw it. When you see a hero disappear off the map, try and figure out if it was because of damage or because he/she's travelling up the river to meet you. Oh, and make sure you ALWAYS keep track of the battle on all 3 lanes, especially if no enemy hero appears in your lane. This helps at detecting backstabs.

Know the map very well. There are two viable backstab points that I know - next to Roshan (below him), and in the trees in the lower lane.

When backstabbing, make sure you do it properly. A failed backstab can result in a wasted ultimate OR, even death. I've seen a stupid hero not notice the enemy Moon Rider had an Aghanim's Scepter and enough mana, and had only used Eclipse once. He tried to backstab it, and got killed in return. It turned out that the Moon Rider knew he was going to be backstabbed, so he repaid the favour.

Which reminds me, ALWAYS KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR OPPONENTS' INVENTORIES. It's very important. Stygian Desolator and Radiance have similar damage increments, but one (the former) is much more deadly. It helps to know.

If you are on the losing side, take a fully healed hero down the lane you see as the weakest and push straight into the base. This often forces the attacks to subside on your end. I've actually won doing this. The 5 heroes were all running around the last towers and our base, so I pushed all the way into the base, and took out the World Tree before they could take out the Frozen Throne. They weren't too happy.

Oh, Mask of Madness is a good item for most heroes, except where the effect could actually cause problems. These are integral bugs. For example, the Brood Mother's ability is stronger than the Mask of Madness and the Mask of Madness takes priority.

Refresher Orb and Aghanim's Scepter are vital for offensive heroes (like the Slayer and God of Olympia), because they essentially double your power. But you are mostly likely going to need a Soul Booster or two spare, because of the mana cost.

Don't waste your mana on your primary spells and leave none for your ultimate (unless the enemy heroes are too far away to cause problems or are dead).

Don't try and be a big-headed idiot and chase down an enemy hero into a base when it's weak unless you're sure you can kill it. It's OK to let the hero live for another day and kill it in another. Besides, weak heroes have to heal, so you are better off creeping again.

That said, don't be afraid to kill a hero (or several) if you are at full health and have enough health to survive the Firebush if there are weak hero(es) healing. I have used Epicenter on 3 heroes at once inside there, and my sacrifice was worth it (160 gold times 3 minus the healing cost).

Know when to run. This takes practice.

Don't use Pudge or the Lightning Revenant unless you are fine with no kills in the end. Pudge is good but has rubbish mana and attack rate, and is a very late game hero, while the Lightning Revenant has literally zero ways of killing an enemy hero (besides Chain Lightning -.-. That said, Pudge can be lethal with a good attack rate and a bunch of mana, and the Lightning Revenant, because it's so unoffensive, is fine as a support hero.

Stygian Desolator is better than the Cranium Basher unless you are the Bone Fletcher (I suggest both for him). This is because Stygian Desolator has a definite effect while Cranium Basher is weaker on damage and relies on chance. BUT a Bone Fletcher with insane attack rate can actually Bash a hero into oblivion.*

[Dream_Walker]

i totally disagree with everything you just said. RAZOR IS A ****ING KILLING MACHINE! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh your scaring me. pudge is a monster if you let him farm too much! stygian desolater better fits clinkz than cranium basher, unless you get an ally to melee glitch your basher. (drop it, have melee pick it up to become 15%, then directly give it to clinkz)
*sigh*

[x42bn6]

Originally Posted by Dream_Walker

i totally disagree with everything you just said. RAZOR IS A ****ING KILLING MACHINE! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh your scaring me. pudge is a monster if you let him farm too much! stygian desolater better fits clinkz than cranium basher, unless you get an ally to melee glitch your basher. (drop it, have melee pick it up to become 15%, then directly give it to clinkz)
*sigh*

The Lightning Revenant is not an intentional hero killer. Yes, he can kill heroes, but he has to be pretty good and lucky to do it, because you have to focus fire to kill it. Not saying he's good at doing it, though, but spells are always better than focus firing. What is he going to do against the Slayer? With no stunning/channel stopping spells and no highly offensive spells without recipes, it has to run. The Lightning Revenant is excellent against creeps, though.

Pudge? He's good if you can live with him. I swear, I loathe him at the start, but if you train him well, what can you ask of a hero that has over 5000 health, ridiculous damage and a Heart of Tarrasque? But usually, games don't last that long.

And, yes, I said Stygian Desolator is better except in a few cases.*

[Chris]

If you have played melee a lot, it will show you how to keep heroes alive and how to take advantage of other people and heroes. Dota is the same thing, except an rpg.

[Dream_Walker]

Originally Posted by x42bn6

The Lightning Revenant is not an intentional hero killer. Yes, he can kill heroes, but he has to be pretty good and lucky to do it, because you have to focus fire to kill it. Not saying he's good at doing it, though, but spells are always better than focus firing. What is he going to do against the Slayer? With no stunning/channel stopping spells and no highly offensive spells without recipes, it has to run. The Lightning Revenant is excellent against creeps, though.

Pudge? He's good if you can live with him. I swear, I loathe him at the start, but if you train him well, what can you ask of a hero that has over 5000 health, ridiculous damage and a Heart of Tarrasque? But usually, games don't last that long.

And, yes, I said Stygian Desolator is better except in a few cases.*

yes, i guess i can agree with you there that, razor is fodder against slayer, but the only time he might not be is if the slayer is trying to creep on low hp, and you finish her off with a couple hits/cl. he is good against creeps, but i never use his cl against them, and i do tend to rack up kills. i like pudge and hes very fun to play, because the hook is the funnest part about him. nothing like killing a running hero going up bottom lane and hooking her from the river;

[x42bn6]

Originally Posted by Dream_Walker

yes, i guess i can agree with you there that, razor is fodder against slayer, but the only time he might not be is if the slayer is trying to creep on low hp, and you finish her off with a couple hits/cl. he is good against creeps, but i never use his cl against them, and i do tend to rack up kills. i like pudge and hes very fun to play, because the hook is the funnest part about him. nothing like killing a running hero going up bottom lane and hooking her from the river;

Yeah, but anyone can kill steal with any hero. Nice thing about the Lightning Revenant is that he only has two spells that cost little mana. A single Soul Booster sets it for a long time.

Oh, I keep forgetting, Null Talisman! It's a very good item for any hero that chooses an active (a spell that has to be cast) spell that uses up mana. But I never choose Null Talismans, because they always end up being sold. They blow in the late game.*

[morbidgolem]

This guy is a noob how do you expect him to know what "kill stealing" or "dagons" are?
Or "creeping" or "micro"?
Does he even know where the secret shop is?
Stealing a kill means only hitting the creep when it is on very low health and you know you are going to kill it with that kill with that single hit.
Don't go near the enemy tower in early game because it's very strong early game.
When you wanna kill an enemy hero, what you do is you go into a lane from behind them and kill them then. There is no general strategy so it would help if you told us exactly with which hero you wanted help with in specific.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Faunus

You can't put strategy and DOTA in the same sentance.

Of course you cannot, there is a different strategy for everything, it changes as you face different opponents.

[Dream_Walker]

Lol. maelstorm > soul booster on razor. it gets you double kills, and the storm seeker is just annoying!
@ morbidgolem: who are you talking about? and its not that the towers are strong early game, its that your hero has no health early game, lol.