Blog Posts from "DotA!"

DotA Focus: Wards and Vision 2/2

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:35:35 -0500

Warding

There are two type of wards in-game:

A) Observer Wards

200g
Limited stock, shop can hold maximum of 2
Stock has a 6 minute cooldown
Lasts for 6 minutes
Two charges per purchase. When planted, it grants large radius of vision.

B) Sentry wards

200g
Unlimited stock
Lasts for 3 minutes
Two charges per purchase
When planted, gives players ability to detect invisible units around the ward

Let me begin by saying that there are two types of warding: offensive warding, and defensive warding. Now, no one really officially labeled this but it's just how I refer to it.

happens the most when a team has lost the map control. The main goal of defensive warding is to prevent ganks from happening. They mainly focus on having vision to paths where a ganks may come from.

Here's an example of a defensive ward if you are scourge. With this location, you can see the bottom rune spawn, and see what kind of dangers are coming from that path.

Wards locations are very simple once you know them. Really, one team's offensive location is the other team's defensive location. Like this one.

Here are the mid ramp ward location I talked about in the first part of this entry.

Remember!!
The definition of the warding types are not dictated by the location, but rather the purpose it serves.

(In all honesty, I labeled it for sake of labeling. You don't need to know these terms I use. But just understand how it all applies and why it's important.)

You can go on finding about your own unique allocation of wards for offensive or defensive purposes. Few things to consider when warding:

DotA is a 3D RTS game, meaning high grounds can give you better field of vision.
If you plant wards near neutral creep camps, they will not spawn until ward is expired or killed.

Counter-warding

When you notice that the enemy team is warding. You can start countering their wards. Buy sentry wards and simply plant where the ward may be(or if you already know, more power to you). You could even buy necronomicon(a.k.a â€œbookâ€) if your hero is fitting enough. Book 3 will provide a summoned unit that has sentry vision.

Of course, you don't have to counter-ward. But be reasonable why. If you believe you can outplay the enemy, that's fine. You can evaluate your enemy on your own terms and decide what to do.

You can also use the fact that they're warding to your advantage. You know that they're warding, and that gives a sense of security to enemy because they see you. And you can play around with that idea. You show them only what you want to show, and use fog of war to gank succesfully. Achieving this can frustrate the opponent team even more, making them play worse.

We are all human, guys. So use that human nature to your advantage.
It's part of what makes DotA a great game.

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Man, it's such a ***** writing this on open document then transferring it here. It doesn't save any of spacing at all. I have to manually space them out again. Maybe I should just start writing and drafting all these here.

As always, all and any comments are welcome.

P.S - eff you kyle for saying this game is dead. YOU ARE DEAD!!

DotA Focus: Wards and Vision 1/2

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:44:04 -0500

This will be a two-part blog. The whole thing is actually finished.

I wanted to make it a one blog, but found it to be way too long. Not necessarily a bad thing, but who wants to read a wall of text? So, I'll be breaking it up in two parts.

I would say this is one of more in-depth analysis of the game.
It's not that it's not easy to figure out..but lot of things that are just taken for granted.

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Trivia: Abaddon(LoA) can be killed while his ultimate is active, who can do this?
Answer: Axe's ult can kill Abaddon if he's in range of needed HP to be executed!

already. Let me further expand on the last point.

Many players underestimate what Priestess of the Moon's ultimate can do in big fights. When heroes shift in and out of invisibility, there is a huge confusion and the opponent team cannot focus. You may nod and agree reading this but not really entirely realize how important it is. When was the last time you saw people buy wards or dust to counter this? Maybe after they have been thoroughly raped two-three times by this. It's then they realize, â€œ****, this invisibility is really effecting the outcome of the fightâ€.

It's simple, but it's that important. Players are very hesitant of spending 180-200g to buy an item that can really be handy when fighting. Don't be ignorant. Acknowledge the problem and tackle it. The, â€œI am a good player, and I can deal with invisibility through little tricks of tradeâ€ does not work. Good players will bring everything they can out of invisibility. The idea of I can see you, but you can't see me is very powerful.

If there's one thing you can take away from this, guys, do not fight if you have no vision.

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As always, thanks for reading and share any comments you have.

DotA Focus: Runes

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:47:49 -0500

I am back.

I thank you for those who have patiently been waiting. And sorry for my lack of consistency. I've originally wanted to blog every day, or every two days. I realized fast how unrealistic that was for me. I will blog as much as possible but I've also realized that motivation is a key to writing blogs. On that note, as much as I dislike lot of bloggers on Gameriot, I can definitely applaud for their tenacity. Some people blog two, three times a day. That is simply amazing in my eyes even though quality of the blog may not deliver.

My promise remains the same, I will continue to deliver a quality blog about DotA. Ultimately, I want people to enjoy what they're reading and relate to the article and get involved. Perhaps to try something they were not previously aware of, or just add to what the blog is about.

Lastly, I want to thank Craptor for inspiring me to start blogging again. His passionate blogging in L4D on daily basis made me jealous!

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Trivia: Who are the two heroes that have orb effects that have no cooldown at level 1?
Anwer: Drow Ranger and Huskar

Runes

Rune first spawns when the game clocks trikes 0. From then on, it spawns every 2minutes of the game clock(2, 4, 6, 8 and so on). It has 50% chance to spawn at either top, or bottom.

There are 5 types of runes:
A) Regeneration
B) Double Damage
C) Haste
D) Invisibility
E) Illusion

All runes can be strategically used, and they're all good (although, I'm not a big fan of illusion as it has the least use). Runes can have a huge impact in game. If there's a person on your team who knows how to effectively pimp runes, and if he has the right hero. He can make the game a true hell for the enemy.

Usually, the person who is pimping the runes have bottle, which can be used to capture runes. It also refills the bottle, so it fuels the player with HP and MP in need. This avoids going back to fountain. Again, emphasis on efficiency. If you can stay in lane, farming and avoid going back to fountain as much as possible.

In competitive games, every 2min is really intense. And there are situations when you can't block the enemy from getting that rune. It's a terrible feeling. Especially when you have no vision there. You don't even know what he took, but you know he has it! Now the whole team then has to play defensively, because we don't know what's to be expected.

Remember! Runes can dictate the flow of the game!

There are few strategic ways of securing rune. One way is to leaving the lane at roughly 52sec mark. Let that be 1:52, 3:52, or 11:52, if you are near the river, and if you leave about 8~9sec before. You will get to rune spot with average 300ms by the time clock hits that 2min mark.

You can also push the lane over the river area against the enemy and go for the rune. Most of the time, enemy will not ignore the swarm of wave coming on to his part of the river. That's a lot of experience and gold he has to miss if he goes for the rune! Lot of Shadow Fiend players do this, at the 2min mark, they push the lane by nuking then go for the rune.

Another reason why this is effective is because you want to be discrete about your actions. If you just blatantly leave why the creeps have vision on you. Regardless of fog, your actions will be read. For obvious reasons, that's not in your interest. You don't want people to know where you are.

There are locations in the map that you can stand to see where the rune is without moving a lot. Top rune spawn can be easily scouted through middle as shown here.

That's the one of most convenient location to check for rune. Obviously, if it's not there. Its spawn would be at bottom. Other crucial area of vision will be discussed in latter entry. Note that having a hero that has target-stun is also an advantage. If Tiny and Sven are both going for the rune, chances are, Sven is getting it. Rune on a target-stun hero is usually the deadliest in early games as well.

One of main theme of my blog is that nothing is absolute! If there's a person who's pimping rune, you can also use that to your advantage.

For example:
Zeus versus Priest of the Moon. PotM has ward set up at top rune spawn. It's a 1v1 at mid, Zeus checked the rune at top through river,sees no rune. PotM already knows this. Zeus wants to make his move discrete, so goes on disappearing in the fog of his ramp. He makes his move towards the bottom rune. Acknowledging what had taken place, PotM moves towards bottom through her side of ramp. PotM launches an arrow to where Zeus might be then moves to rune spawn. Zeus gets hit by arrow near rune spawn, PotM leaps and takes the rune, then kills Zeus.

Very possible guys, it happens!! The very given example is actually a true story.
Next blog will be about wards and visions.

Trivia: Abaddon(LoA) can be killed while his ultimate is active, who can do this?

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I understand that lot of these will be things you already know. But I have a bit of agenda here I want to cover and build up this blog. So take it with a grain of salt if you already know. And feel free to add whatever you wish.

My entries a bit short, but really, you can only write so much about runes, haha.

p.s - Jahquese, you can go to hell with your damn proof-reading!
p.p.s - I am trying to build a Toronto-based DotA team. PM me if interested.

DotA Focus: Ganking

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:48:51 -0500

Trivia: Who is the fastest hero by default in DotA without use of any spells or skills and items?

Answer: Chaos Knight with the default movement speed of 325.

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So we got started on with the noting of importance of economy in DotA.
We've also touched a (really)little on laning.Â We are still on the subject of economy management in DotA.Â But now we are talking about ganks.

Classic example of a successful gank.

I will!!Â The subject of runes also bring up wards.Â I think I can tie the two in one blog.Â Only problem I have is uploading images though.Â I still can't seem to do it.Â I will also get to the archetypes of heroes since the subject of ganking got brought up.

Trivia: Who are the two heroes that have orb effects that have no cooldown at level 1?

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All your comments and thoughts are welcome.
Please comment!!Â I enjoy the interaction with our readers.

P.S - Sorry about the ad on the image, for some reason Gameriot won't allow me to upload images directly to the board.Â Still trying to learn this tool.

DotA Focus: Economy

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:55:58 -0500

In the last blog I was somewhat able to gauge the level of players by reading the comments.Â It was interesting to see such a diverse crowd.Â Many seemed just as good or better than me, and many seem like casual -em players.Â It truly is my hope that I can write for all of you.

It's always hard to start anything.Â They say starting is half the job.Â
I don't know if this will be the right topic to start on.Â But I'm going to do it to set the tone for the coming topics.Â It's a very broad topic, this economy thing.Â So I'll try to write the best I can.Â Read it lightly.

DotA is war.Â And wars need money.Â Is it any mystery that the strongest forces in the world are richest nations?Â Money is a crucial factor to victory in any war.Â
Doubtless to say, money is a part of DotA.

This is the core idea behind managing economy in DotA:
â€œTo have much gold as possible while keeping enemy deprived of gold.â€
That is it. Â But that's an extreme view.Â You can never really completely deprive enemy of gold.Â But you do your best to make it happen.Â
More or less, laning is the main source of your income in any DotA game.
(Unless you are jungling or roaming, which I will cover later)

Let's talk about efficiency in making money.

Auto-attack vs. Last hit Last hitting is now a well-known play that is expected from intermediate level of players.Â While many disagree, last hitting is important for these reasons:

A) It keeps your creep wave static By not auto-attacking, you keep the lane static. Â This is good. If you push your wave over the river, you have high chance of getting ganked. You want to keep the lane static, so you are protected by your tower, and farming well.Â You also want your lane to be on your side of the river to create a chance of gank.

B) It gives gold, and denies enemy of gold and exp Gold can only be gained through last hitting the creep. You can hit the creep for 99% of its HP, but if you don't get the killing blow, it's a wasted effort. Last hits can also deny the enemy of gold, and good chunk of XP.

In conclusion, by last hitting, you have better control of the lane and therefore you can be where you want to be.Â It should be noted for you challenge lovers that last hitting is a technique one can endlessly polish.Â No matter how good the enemy is at last hitting, you can be better than them by a single frame.Â Mastering last hitting is a no easy task.Â Each hero has a different animation for attacks, so I suggest picking 2~3 hero that you like, and master it.Â I will discuss about hero specifics later.Â

In most games, the person who has the most creep kills is the beast in the game.Â Usually anyway.Â There are some odd games where one may not have the best creep kill, maybe 2nd or 3rd, but does a killing job at ganking and stays lead in economy and level.Â Which leads me into next topic; ganking.

Trivia: Who is the fastest hero by default in DotA without use of any spells or skills and items?

p.s - for some reason, I can't insert images.

Finally, a blog about DotA!

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:23:00 -0500

DotA is an immensely popular UMS game within warcraft 3.Â It's actually way more popular than the actual ladder play of wc3 from what I can tell.Â The game has playerbase from all over the world.Â There are competitive teams that play in global scale from every corners of the world.

The game is easy enough that any beginner can play for fun, and deep enough for a competitive play.Â There are different leagues set up for different level of players, tournaments.. man, it's great.Â It's everywhere.
Â
This blog will discuss everything about the game.
Hero focus, and replay analysis, various startegy.. warding..
Anything that comes in to mind about DotA, I will write it.
(Or if you have anything that you want me to write about, I'll write it!)
I welcome any constructive discussion of the game, criticism and so on.

There is one thing I would like you consider when reading this blog.
There is no absolute best way of playing, these are mostly general tips and strategies mainly for -em players to make the transition to normal games.Â So when I say something that you may not agree, I am mostly speaking the general concept or idea of the topic.Â And if you don't agree? Go ahead and comment on what you think.

DotA is much more complex than what I can write in page long blogs, and if I were to write down all the variables.Â It would be too much.

Just read it lightly, and enjoy!