Guide To Competitive DOTA

Guide to the Basics of Competitive DotA
-by LA-

Hello everyone, I'm still in the process of writing this guide but I might as well open it to the public already for comments and suggestions! This guide is all about the "professional" approach to playing DotA. I am no Pro but I want to share whatever knowledge I have to the whole community. Thanks!

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I. The Competitive Mindset: To Win as a Team

What is the difference between playing DotA for fun and playing the game competitively? The answer lies in the objectives of the player. “Having fun” playing is very vague; its meaning varies among different people. But playing competitively has only one objective and that is to win the game, and win it with a team and as a team. DotA is not about who gets these godlike streaks, or who, on the other hand, repeatedly dies every clash. It’s not about you or me, it’s about our team. It doesn’t matter what items you get, and what you weren’t able to; it doesn’t matter how many times your courier got killed. Only the outcome matters—did your team win or not?

For a team to have real teamwork is no cakewalk. Real teamwork begins in your mind. You have to play for the right reason, that is, do your part in a team for it to win. When playing the game, your mind should be free of any hang-up, you should focus, and really work for the team, and at the same time let the team work for you. Remember that DotA, like almost all other games, are simply role-playing activities. When you join one, you have to let go of who you are in real life, and just concentrate on it, especially if you truly want to win.

Competitive DotA just boils down in doing anything and everything for your team to win. Everybody has their role to play. The game begins during the drafting/picking phase (in an extended league mode game). Here, a team already has to make decisions. But the whole point of this phase is to answer the question “what heroes should we use to get that win?” (or “what heroes should we ban?”) At this phase, heroes picked are assigned to different players, and usually, the “best ” of the team gets to use that hero.

Once the everybody has a hero, it’s about time that each player should internalize his role. The player should know what his hero is for, and what his hero does best for the team and proceed to do just this during the game.

DotA is a balanced game but this doesn’t mean the heroes are equal. This is the very reason why DotA is not a 1v1 game, but rather a 5v5. Heroes have different strengths and weaknesses, but in a good team, all these would be balanced, complemented by the other heroes in that team. DotA is really all about roles, and to be a good team player, you just have to stick to what your hero does best.

While playing DotA competitively is not exactly about having fun, winning a game as a team can surely be fun, but more importantly, fulfilling.

II. Different Game Scenarios

1. Public Games

This is the lowest form of all DotA games. Retards and bigots are everywhere making it so hard to have any teamwork. It’s just so frustrating when you’re stuck in a team where no one wants to share his or her courier, where everyone insists in soloing mid, etc. While a good player can of course lead his “pub” team to victory, it would still be hard if the enemies are just more coordinated than your teammates. What can you do if you’re stuck with people who keep dying? Well, you can quit that game and go look for friends to play with. Because playing alone in public games gets very close to being a waste of time.

2. Pub-bashing

While this type of game is not so productive either, as it’s extremely easy to win, it can really be fun. Bring your team of five and own pubbies. Yes, maybe fun at first, but it does get boring when people start to leave. However, this setting is not so bad if your team just wants to test some strategies or hero arrangements. And maybe it could be more challenging if you impose upon yourselves a 8-1 ratio of team kills.

3. High Level Public Games (HL)

Much better than public games per se because at least almost everyone here are decent players. So even if the heroes are too random, the overall level of play will still be good. But just like the public games, this isn’t so productive because teamwork still won’t be exercised here. In the end, it’s still every man for himself. But at least, there’s a higher chance for your team to have some teamwork.

4. In-house Games (IH)

This is perhaps the most controversial game settings ever. IH games refer to those where all players are familiar with each other. It’s still a public game in the sense that you don’t have to be with your team. What makes this controversial? A lot of players and analysts have claimed that the level of play in IH games is fairly low, too or at least below what’s expected from such good players. The issue here is that IH players do not tend to take the game so seriously because they’re avoiding having to prove themselves. So it becomes a silent agreement among the players—nobody “does his best” so we can all have fun. But of course, there are exceptions in every game so usually someone shines in an IH game, while the others are just LOL.

5. Clan War / Scrimmage

This is the ideal game. Teamwork is present in both sides. Thus, a good game is ensured. The better team wins—not the team with the better players, but the better team.

6. Tournament Setting

Basically the same as CW/Scrim but here, there’s more pressure on the players as there’s more at stake. There simply has little room for error because a loss may be synonymous to elimination.

III. Individual Skills

Before we proceed to the ins and outs of DotA being a team game, the individual skills a good DotA player must possess will be discussed in this section.

1. Micromanagement

This pertains to how many actions you can do during a given period of time. (This, of course, do not refer to how good you are at spamming clicks and hero call commands.) This is very mechanical and just takes a practice to master. To be really good in micromanagement, a player has to be able to successfully and consistently perform everything listed here.

Last-hitting – how well you can money shot and deny. This is very important! No money, no honey.

Harassing – how well you can take potshots at an enemy, and how time these said potshots to disrupt the enemy’s farming.

Moving, blocking/positioning – how well you can block creeps, block heroes, and position yourself to your advantage. This also covers staying out of range of enemy spells while leeching XP or waiting for backup. This also covers dancing around for you to be unpredictable (and perhaps for you to evade skills like Meat Hook and Elune’s Arrow). This also covers chasing and fleeing, clicking fast to make sure your hero takes the shortest (and maybe safest – fogging, juking) possible route.

Controlling multiple units – how well you can use summons, how well you can pull your hero back while your summons block enemies and such.

Hotkeys – your knowledge of spell and item hotkeys. Hotkeys are very important. But more emphasis is Examples: T for TP scroll, S for Tango, C for Circlet of Nobility, B for Bottle

Queuing – how well you can queue actions (usually using the courier). This can be applied also in maneuvering around ambush spots. While you can just follow your hero's path by clicking as you go, sometimes you have to look at another area in the map too so you might as well queue your hero's path. This is also useful for executing combos like Earthshaker/Enigma/Pitlord Blink Combo. This is also effective if you want to assassinate someone and pull back right at once. For example you are QoP with Dagon. You can queue Blink-Wave-Dagon-Scream to make sure you won't get disabled in between this.

Overall speed and accuracy of clicks – how adept you are in targeting things. An example would be how precise you are in using a scroll of teleport on a tower. Also how fast you are in forming or purchasing recipe items, how quick you are in transferring items from courier to yourself or vice versa. Your reaction time also matters here. For example you’re ganking a Nerubian Weaver. How fast you are in executing whatever disable you have is important because if you’re a split-second too slow, that stupid spider’s gone.

2. Map Awareness

This means how well a player can perceive what's happening in the entire map (not only in his area). Unlike micromanagement, this is not easily acquired through "practice" but more on "experience." What's the difference? Well, map awareness is not something you practice but something you develop after playing a lot of games against different kinds of players, and catching on to the their different playing style.

Map awareness is very vital in good teamwork. Examples of how this comes into play are as follows:

Status of Heroes in the Map (Early Game/Laning Phase)
This is the most common application of map awareness.

- Knowing which enemies are missing
- Knowing which enemies can be killed with a successful gank
- Knowing which allies are in trouble (especially important if your carry/solo hero is being shut down)

Actions done:

- Take extra care (retreating to tower) if key gank heroes are missing
- Set up a play to be able to kill these enemy heroes which are vulnerable
- Assist your allies in time (say, use a TP scroll or rush to help him in his lane)

Example:

Top Lane Lina Inverse is Missing. Shadow Fiend in mid is alerted at once because a combo of Lina + whatever the mid enemy hero can dish out can ensure SF's fall. SF then retreats behind tower for awhile, while the rest of his teammates take appropriate action (say kill the hero Lina had left in Top) or counter gank enemy hero in mid.

Status of Towers in the Map

1. Knowing which enemy tower can be pushed
2. Knowing which of your towers are under siege

Actions done:

1. Organize a push or any strategic action that will take down the enemy tower
2. Prepare to defend your allied tower; time the usage of TP scrolls to ensure that the incoming push will be stopped, and if the tower has to fall, make sure it is denied

Example:

Bottom Tower of Sentinel is down to 300 HP. Scourge Spectre is farming that direction. His team can organize a strong push in mid to lure the enemies to mid to defend while Spectre takes bottom tower all by herself. Timing is important of course. The push has to begin before Spectre reaches the bottom tower because the enemy might defend bottom tower once they see Spectre drawing very near it.

Status of Other Things in the Map

1. Knowing the status of runes
2. Knowing the status of enemy Jungle Heroes and neutral creeps
3. Knowing if the enemy had placed wards and if possible, knowing the location

Actions done:

1. Surveillance tools are utilized: Wards, Summons, and perhaps a Roamer
2. Woods can be warded so if the Jungling hero is down to red, he can be ganked. Also wards can be used to stop creeps from spawning in key neutral camps to shut down the would-be Jungling Hero
3a. Take note of the inventory of enemy heroes at the start. Spot the chicken buyer. This usually is the one with very few items (tangoes and branches only). If there's another hero that has few items, then this hero probably bought wards (and have planted them already)
3b. Next step would be to figure out where the wards were placed. This info is critical. If you know the riverways are warded, trying to gank through that route is not advisable.

Example:

Your team has a Jungle Centaur. If you spot enemy Leshrac with few items coming out from your woods, it's best that Centaur go to a lane already because you can expect that the woods are warded already, thus no neutrals for Brad. However, your team can also be well-prepared by buying sentry wards at the start to counter the enemy wards. But still, Centaur will lose the first neutral creep set because a good anti-jungle warder will plant the ward/s right before the 2:00 mark.

Having the rune spots warded is good, too, of course, so your team can take advantage of them. This is all about strategy.
Knowing that a Regen rune is available at the top can encourage your Mid QoP to spam her spells on enemy Silencer to shut down his farming. If Silencer pulls back to base or tower hugs, this is good. Every bit of cash denied him matters.

Inventory of Enemy Heroes

1. Knowing if a hero has a bottle with rune, and if so, what rune
2. Knowing the utility items an enemy has (Dagger of Escape, BKB, Boots of Travel, Scrolls of TP, Sentry Wards)
3. Knowing what items enemy has (especially Dagon, Radiance, Guinsoo's SoV)
4. Knowing which items an enemy hero is forming

These little details mean a lot when you attempt to gank such heroes. If they have means of survival, your team may have to assess the situation more first before carrying out a gank. For the third item above, it's very important to be aware of these things because these items can really spell a lot of difference in a gank or in a clash.

Examples:

1. If you happened to spot Tiny getting a Haste rune and placing it into his bottle, it's best to stay back. In fact, even tower hugging might not help because of the extra hits he can land with his 522 MS.

2. You see SF farming alone. He has BKB, Blink and BOT. If you don't have enough gankers to hold him still, it's best to leave him alone and just push on.

3. NA getting Dagon is a big "event." Beware!

4. You see Warlock with Headdress and Buckler. Mekansm is just a few creep kills away. It's best to kill him at this stage to delay that stupid healing item of his.

Status of Heroes in the Map (Middle to Late Game/Ganking Phase/Clashes)

1. Knowing the likely positions of heroes before a gank/clash. Being aware of where hidden enemies or reinforcements might be coming from.
2. Knowing the HP/Mana of enemies as the gank/clash progresses. Being aware of which enemies can escape, which enemies to take down, and which ones to ignore at the start.
3. Knowing the enemies' full capability (what items they have, what runes/buffs they might acquire, what escape mechanisms they have).
4. Special Case: Knowing Roshan's status (by warding the area; being aware can often turn the tide of the battle when you sucessfully jack an enemy team going for Aegis, or at least steal the Aegis with your flying courier)

3. Judgment + Mathcraft

These two "skills", again, are developed or acquired through experience. But they actually come hand-in-hand as Mathcraft in DotA is also about judgment. These two skills aid a player in doing the right thing to do at the optimal moment, and avoid making mistakes that cost him not only his hero's life, but the rest of his teammates' as well.

Judgment is basically the player's decision-making power in games.

This answers questions like: Should I push another wave to finish farming for my Shadow Fiend's Boots of Travel (or should I play it safe?); Should I teleport to the battefield and grab a couple of kills with my Headshot/Assassinate (or should I continue farming up for my Eaglehorn?); Should I cast Moonlight Shadow now and lead my team forward to catch the would-be ambushers in surprise? (or should I just wait for them to strike?)

Having good judgment will certainly increase your life expectancy in a game. But this does not mean being too cautious. Good judgment means moderation in everything. It's knowing when to be careful and when to be aggressive. It's all about doing the right thing at any given opportunity.

Experience truly helps a lot. It's about learning from past mistakes. A common error committed by players is what we often call "greed" -- relentlessly chasing a nearly dead hero but getting instead getting killed in the process. The lack of judgment that occurs here is usually in the overestimation of one's hero's ability to chase or on the other hand, failure to see the dangers that lurk ahead. Oftentimes, this overestimation is fueled by the presence of movement speed augmenting skills like Mirana's Leap. Having such skill boosts the player's confidence, and disregard takes over.

Good judgment is really just achieved from experience but thinking deeply about DotA helps, too. Pondering about one's own mistakes may just help the errors sink in one's mind and thus make him wiser in his next game.

Mathcraft is actually an extension of judgment but deals with anything that involves some kind of computation. This is applied in so many ways in a game.

1. Numbers - Probably the most obvious application. This involves the knowldege of spell damages, how damage reduction is factored in, and so on. At first, it's good to be familiar with the effective damages spells do but later on, it's really all about experience. For example, if in one game you were able to kill a Level 8 Razor using Zeus (combo = arc lightning + bolt + arc lightning + wrath + arc lightning), you probably will repeat the same process when you encounter a hero like him in another game.

300 --> 225 damage (Scream of Pain, Starfall)
280 --> 210 damage (Dragon Slave)
400 --> 300 damage (Meat Hook)
250 --> ~187 damage (Storm Bolt)
360 --> 270 damage (Elune's Arrow)
350 --> ~262 damage (Lightning Bolt although this is more powerful if there's Static Field)

If enemy has Hood of Defiance, damage is almost reduced to half.

What's the use of knowing these figures when everything can be intuitive? Well, if you are planning to engage someone, it's best to be aware of how much HP he really has (the HP bar can be so deceiving) and try to play with the numbers in your head. It's always best to round them down to multiples of 50 so you can easily see if engaging the enemy won't be a waste of time.

As the game progresses, this application of mathcraft becomes more complex because spell damage becomes relatively weaker. Phyiscal attacks now come into play and this is just a lot more complex because you have to factor in attack speed, effective HP, and armor, too. Here, it really just takes experience to be able to discern if the outcome of engaging someone will be in your team's favor.

2. Spatial Reasoning - Math is not all about adding or subtracting. DotA has its geometry, too. A lot of spells/skills require mathematical judgment to pull off effectively. Again, this is mastered through continuous and conscious practice. These are the skills that involve mathematical concepts such as distance, area, and in the case of Elune's arrow, even speed.

Examples of which are:

Split Earth / Light Strike Array
Shadow Raze
Elune's Arrow
Wild Axes
Blink, Blink + AoE spell (Hoof Stomp, Echo Slam, Epicenter...)

This item also involves the player's ability to estimate distances and draw "safe zones" on his screen. This is very important when you're pitted against a ganking party with a Vengeful Spirit in it. Experience will tell you if you're in her Swap range or not. Experience will paint in your memory the approximate casting range of projectile/long ranged stuns like Storm Bolt and Primal Roar and disables like Viper Strike, and thus keep you out of their range when you're already playing.

3. Timing - At first glance, this can be treated as an extension of Spatial Reasoning but this actually involves a whole lot more. Having proper timing is not only applicable in executing spells or last-hitting as that is simply mechanical (micromanagement). The timing to be discussed here integrates the other skills mentioned above (including those in the micromanagement part).

Awareness + Timing gives you knowledge on the movement of creep waves along the map. When you're chasing someone, it's very frustrating when all of a sudden you're being hounded by incoming creeps. But if you had the chance to look at the minimap and see where your creep wave is, you would have known where the enemy's is (and you would have avoided it). For those who do not know, the creep wave of Sentinel is always just a reflection of the creep way of the Scourge. Draw a diagonal that passes through the river and you'll see that the creeps are always just opposite each other with respect to this diagonal.
While this is not really new knowledge, a lot of players fail to apply this when they're already playing the game.

Spatial Reasoning + Timing are required for you to pull neutral creeps (to lure your regular creeps to them) successfully. Whether you're jungling or just trying to get extra XP while in a lane, pulling creeps can be a big help.

Awareness + Timing are also essential to hoard runes. Good rune control is not all about checking rune spots when the even minute mark is almost up. Rune control is not simply being able to grab the runes for your team but also to waste whatever benefit the enemies gets from them if they're the ones who get to them first.

4. Mechanics

These cover extensive knowledge in the mechanics of DotA but the important part is being able to apply all these knowledge in game.

The Map
- knowledge of the juke spots, hiding places and shortcut routes
- knowing how to make Fog of War work for you (or your team)
- mastery on how to cross impassable terrain by blink or skills like Burrow Stirke or Time Walk
- knowledge of ward spots

Spells and Skills and Items
- knowledge of how every skill works, durations, casting ranges, casting animations and other effects
- knowing or being aware of how much items cost and weigh the benefits they have for the team or for your hero

IV. Heroes - Who they are and what they do.



At
the moment, there are 89 heroes in DotA (oh, did I miss Invoker?). But
these heroes basically do the same thing, the end product is the same,
and that is to push the enemy and take down their ancient. Many heroes
are similar in some aspects, and these similiarities help us group them
together. Remember that what we want is for our team to win and to win,
we have to get a good mix of heroes that help each other, or more
specifically, complement each other. That is why it's very important to
know what each hero is for, and what it can do.



NOTE: Of course there are just so
many ways to classify the heroes. There are just too many ways to group
heroes. My groupings below, however, were designed to keep things
simple and generalized.



Some abbreviations used:

AoE = Area of Effect

ST = Single Target

MT - Multi Target

DoT - Damage over time



GROUP A - Soloers, semi-carry, the well-rounded heroes



- good lane control (orbs, nukes), quite easy to farm (orbs, attack animation, multi-target spells)

- semi-carriy for the team, develop into powerful heroes come late game once properly equipped

- very versatile from start to finish, a good
balance of everything, but this also means that there are always heroes
better than them in everything they can do (better carry heroes, better
tankers (lol they're not even tanks), better gankers and so on).



Their role is to farm early and then assist in
team fights as often as possible. Take note how versatile they are.
They just can fill any immediate role in the team and quickly switch to
another role in the next minute. For example, Viper and Mirana are
often used as roamers or warders/de-warders. Akasha can do the same.
While Nevermore is primarily a carry hero in the end, he's also too
vulnerable and can be outclassed by a more solid carry hero. This is
why he has to be ganking a lot (apart from farming) early on to ensure
that the enemy team wouldn't get too strong (or stronger than how
strong he can be.)



1. Viper/Netherdrake (support + gank)

2. Akasha/Queen of Pain (semi-carry + gank)

3. Mirana/Priestess of the Moon (semi-carry + gank)

4. Notrrom/Silencer (carry)

5. Nevermore/Shadow Fiend (carry)



GROUP B - Ranged DPS Heroes



- decent lane control: can farm well with proper
micro but they are less effective in shutting down the enemy they're
against with

- carry the team once equipped with good items.
once this is so, they're next to being unmatched with their high normal
damage output



Their role is to keep on farming until they hit
tier-4 items which is usually the game-breaking moment for the team.
It's also good for them to join in mass team fights occassionally to be
able to "steal" some kills. Heroes like Gorgon, Morphling and Luna can
assist in ganking too because of their gank-oriented skills like Purge,
Waveform and Lucent Beam/Eclipse. The likes of Razor and Sniper on the
other hand should just stay back until everyone's dying and that's when
they zap or shoot everything down for the kill.



Also included below are the heroes' capabilities
to participate in ganks. When heroes are equipped with nukes and
disables like Chain Lightning, Eclipse, Purge, Sanity's Eclipse, that
means they're more viable for competitive games.



1. Razor/Lightning Revenant (has moderate ganking power)

2. Morphling/Morphling (has high ganking power)

3. Luna Moonfang/Moon Rider (has high ganking power)

4. Kardel Sharpeye/Dwarven Sniper (has low ganking power)

5. Jah'rakal/Troll Warlord (has low ganking power)

6. Anub'seran/Nerubian Weaver (has moderate ganking power)

7. Harbinger/Obsidian Destroyer (has high ganking power)

8. Syllabear/Lone Druid (has low ganking power but a strong pusher)

9. Traxex/Drow Ranger (has moderate ganking power)

10. Medusa/Gorgon (has moderate ganking power)

11. Raijin Thunderkeg/Storm Spirit (has moderate ganking power)



GROUP C - Melee DPS Heroes



- bad lane control mainly because they're melee.
Some can last hit well but they just are too vulnerable to strong
nukers like Zeus, Tinker, and dual lanes like Lina-Sven and so on.

- carry the team once equipped with good items.
once this is so, they're next to being unmatched with their high normal
damage output. In fact, these guys are usually better than the ranged
ones when it comes to the very bitter end.



Their role is also to keep farming for good items
but being melee, they usually have to be aided by a support hero or
have to resort to survival strategies to get past early game when
everyone's just too trigger-happy with nukes and disables.



Included below are the heroes' viability in clashes.



1. Terrorblade/Soulkeeper (high DPS plus confusion from illusions. Sunder +1 life to your team, -1 from your enemy)

2. Darkterror/Faceless Void (time stop plus the slow and bash say it all)

3. Mercurial/Spectre (global skill, slow and the confusion these cause own)

4. Mortred/Phantom Assassin (cannot do much, she's more useful in taking down enemies one by one)

5. Black Arachnia/Broodmother (cannot do much when focused with spells and such, she's better off pushing)

6. Magina/Antimage (can be a hard counter certain spellcaster-dependent lineups and heroes like Leoric)

7. Yurnero/Juggernaut (very high DPS combined with Fury and Slahs plus healing ward, Bladefury aided with a slow owns early game)

8. Strygwyr/Bloodseeker (cannot do much, very individualistic hero, has no real team-oriented spell. Rupture just lacks a lot)



GROUP D - Tanks



- decent lane control because of their hardiness.
Most can last hit well because of good base damage and also because
they can "risk" doing so. Tanks can usually farm well at the start
because they just are too hard to take down even with a strong
nuker/disabler lane combo. However, they usually can't take down heroes
on their own, too; they have to have some support from a
slower/disabler.

- draw fire away from the team come mid to late
game. Their ability to last in combats give them the opportunity to
dish out a lot of damage (even just by being there with Radiance).
Tanks can somewhat "carry" the team to victory not because of their
damage output, but simply by being too tough to kill and thus can
sustain a push to knock all structures down and possibly straight to
the ancient.



Their relative DPS, Tanking, and Ganking power are listed as well.



1. Bradwarden/Centaur Warchief (DPS - moderate, Tank - insane, Gank - AoE stun, nuke)

2. Sven/Rogue Knight (DPS - high, Tank - moderate, Gank - stun)

3. Rigwarl/Bristleback (DPS - high, Tank - insane, Gank - slow, AoE physical damage)

4. Knight Davion/Dragon Knight (DPS - moderate, Tank - high, Gank - AoE nuke, long stun)

5. Nessaj/Chaos Knight (DPS - insane, Tank - moderate, Gank - moderate to long stun, extreme mobility)

6. Lucifer/Doom Bringer (DPS - low, Tank - moderate, Gank - nuke w/ mini stun, high damaged silencing DoT spell)

7. King Leoric/Skeleton King (DPS - insane, Tank - high, Gank - stun but even if he's a good ganker but he's better of farming)

8. Leviathan/Tidehunter (DPS - high, Tank - high, Gank - slow-nuke, AoE stun, AoE attacks)

9. Mogul Khan/Axe (DPS - low, Tank - moderate, Gank - long AoE disable, DoT spell, instant-kill ultimate)



As you can see, all of them are good gankers as
well because of some stun or disable they have. But notably, Skeleton
King is singled out among them because he's the best "carry" hero among
them and would be better of farming somewhere than actively joining in
ganks. Nessaj is an insane DPS-er too late game but his ganking
capabilities are just too good to pass up (fast MS, Blink, stun),
unlike Leoric who only has a single target stun.



GROUP E - Core Support Heroes



- they're not necessarily good lane controllers by
themselves but what's important with them is how they can support a
not-so-good lane controller and be able to babysit the same through
hard lanes. While Warlock, for example, can solo to rush Infernal and
items like Necronomicon, Mekansm or Euls/Guinsoo, he's a key hero to
aid would-be carry heroes in the team.

- their various healing and supportive spells are
crucial during mass ganks and clashes. These heroes are included in the
lineup primarily because of these.

- late game, they may be the ones that die first
but if they've done their job well from early on, their team would have
an incredible super hero to carry the team. Or, the enemy would be
badly pushed and are just waiting for the gloomy ending.

- some of these guys are potential warders, too. Necronomicon also fits the Int heroes here, because of their summons.



Sub-role information are also indicated.



1. Demnok Lannik/Warlock (a great solo hero, an insane pusher, a terrific babysitter)

2. Chen/Holy Knight (jungle hero, a good pusher)

3. Purist Thunderwrath/Omniknight (his arsenal of spells is just crazy. but he needs a good lineup that will also fit all these)

4. Abaddon/Lord of Avernus (can be a good DPS-tank, as well)

5. Dazzle/Shadow Priest (his buff is
too subtle but very powerful, a good babysitter too especially for
melee heroes that would benefit from his slow ... then heal)

6. Ezalor/Keeper of the Light (a good
lane hero who can let someone spam his spells like there's no tomorrow.
Mana leak is a good counter, too. also a strong pusher)

GROUP F - Gank and Gank-Support Heroes

- they are good lane controllers especially if they come in pairs.

- are not highly item dependent. Usually, they just need HP/Mana and some survival item like Dagger to last in clashes and ganks

- they'll be doing the same thing from start to
finish - gank, and help the team in getting hero kills. They became
gankers because of the stuns, disables, and nukes they have.

- while they get weaker as the game progresses, the
stuns/disables are still vital because these are needed by the team's
DPS hero to get his shots in.

Details of the gank/support skills they have are provided. These will


1. Shendelzare Silkwood/Vengeful Spirit - short ST stun with high damage, isolating spell, has 2 auras (active and passive)

2. Lina Inverse/Slayer - short AoE stun with moderate damage, AoE nuke with moderate damage, insane ST nuke

3. Zeus/Lord of Olympia - MT nuke that eats away HP fast late game, very high damaged nuke, high damaged global ultimate

4. Boush/Tinker - 2 high damaged nukes that can be rearmed, push spell

5. Tiny/Stone Giant - moderate AoE stun with moderate damage, insane AoE isolating spell

6. Aggron Stonebreaker/Ogre Magi - short ST stun, AoE slow with DoT damage, multicast, IAS/IMS buff

7. Rhasta/Shadow Shaman - 2 insane disables, moderate MT nuke, good ultimate although quite situational

8. Leshrac the Malicious/Tormented Soul - MT nuke, moderate AoE stun with moderate damage, 2 massive AoE spells

9. Kel'thuzad/Lich - AoE Slow Nuke, Armor Buff, MT High damaged, slowing ultimate

10. Krobelus/Death Prophet - Massive AoE Spell, Silence, pushing ultimate

11. Lion/Demon Witch - Moderate MT Stun, Insane disable (Hex), Insane ST nuke

12. Pugna/Oblivion - Massive AoE Nuke, Versatile Buff/Debuff, Anti-caster ward, High damged DoT ultimate

13. Rotund'jere/Necrolyte - AoE Heal/Nuke, damage reducing aura, very powerful ultimate that can be a nuke and a disable too

14. Crixalis/Sand King - MT stun, stealth skill, insane AoE ultimate

15. Vol'jin/Witch Doctor - MT stun, damage augmenting skill, mass AoE heal, ultimate with very high damage output

16. Ish'kafel/Dark Seer - Speed buff, AoE dislocating spell with low damage, skill with high AoE damage potential, ultimate for pushing

17. Puck/Faerie Dragon - 2 moderate AoE nukes (+escape, +silence), survival skill, AoE stun, isolating ultimate

18. Atropos/Bane Elemental - isolating disable, ST nuke, damage reducing debuff, channeling ultimate with insane damage output

19. Rexxar/Beastmaster - AoE nuke (physical damage), scout summon for map control, disabling summon, long duration stun + AoE slow

20. Jakiro/Twin Head Dragon - AoE Nuke
with slow, AoE position lock skill, AoE ultimate that has high damage
output if enemies are caught under it for the whole duration. However,
this spell can actually also restrict the movement of enemies and thus
be a subtle disable, too.

21. Furion/Prophet - Long
disable/isolator, global MT nuke, survival skill, pushing skill. He's
quite different from the rest here because of his semi-carry to carry
potential too (provided he gets DPS items coupled with Guinsoo, for
example)


S P E C I A L G R O U P S



GROUP D-1/F-1 - Gank-DPS-Tank Heroes


This group contains heroes that can come from both
the Tank and Gank group. They are unique because of their above-average
ganking power combined with their insane physical damage potential.
Although they are not as good as tanks as the one from the main Tank
group, with the proper items, they can turn into formidable meat
shields in the battle. Howver, their being verstatile is also the
reason why they're not picked often because heroes who can specialize
more than they do are chosen in place of them. Sad, eh?


1. Mangix/Pandaren Brewmaster - AoE slow/nuke, slow-miss spell, ultimate that offers various disabling spells

2. Slardar/Slithereen Guard - AoE stun+slow, IMS skill, passive stun, armor reducing debuff that gives vision of target, too

3. Ulfsaar/Ursa Warrior - AoE slow, insane IAS skill, passive that increases damage output, ultimate that increases damage output

4. Balanar/Night Stalker - ST high damaged nuke + long duration slow, silence. ultimate that makes him less dependent on the time of day.


GROUP G - Assassins


This is the special group for those sneaky heroes
who can exterminate their foes in a matter of seconds, especially when
the victims are caught unaware of their insidious presence.


Indicated are the other role/s they can take
during non-hunting moments (so readers can refer to their corresponding
in-lane properties and general roles in the team)


1. Pudge/Butcher (Gank/Tank) - gank, assassin: isolator, damaging slow, disable

2. Anub'arak/Nerubian Assassin (Gank) - gank assassin: stun, manaburn (excellent counter against many heroes), insane backstab.

3. Gondar/Bounty Hunter (Melee DPS) - semi-DPS assassin: nuke, backstab, IMS/IAS, vison giving buff/debuff

4. Clinkz/Bone Fletcher (Ranged DPS) - DPS assassin: best Windwalk in terms of stealth

5. Rikimaru/Stealth Assassin (Gank/Melee DPS) - semi-DPS assassin: AoE slow+silence, mobility,

6. Lanaya/Templar Assassin (Gank/Ranged DPS) - DPS assassin: insane AoE slow by traps


GROUP H - Massive AoE Initiators


This is the special group for those
"strong-willed" heroes who jump in the middle of everything in the
clash to maximize the damage output or the effect of their AoE spells.
Usually, Dagger of Escape is needed to pull this off quite well.

Indicated are the other role/s they can take
during non-clash moments (so readers can refer to their corresponding
in-lane properties and general roles in the team)

1. Rylai Crestfall/Crystal Maiden (Gank)

2. Raigor Stonehoof/Earthshaker (Gank)

3. Rooftrellen/Treant Protector (Support/Tank)

4. Darchrow/Enigma (Gank)

5. Magnus/Magnataur (Gank)

6. Lesale Deathbringer/Venomancer (Gank, Roam)

7. Azgalor/Pitlord (Gank)


GROUP I - "Wildcards"

Heroes here are those who may have a hard time finding a spot in a team
with the current metagame. They, too, have their own roles but in my
belief, these are the heroes that just fail in something, making them
not-so-good choices for competitive games. But of course, really good
DotA players are innovative, and can utilize these heroes for some
unique lineup or strategy of theirs.


1. Aiushta/Enchantress

She excellent lane control because of her orb and
healing skill. She's got a good disable too (a long slow). But apart
from these, she doesn't have any real late game potential. Because she
is hard to kill, especially by DPS-ers, enemies tend to focus fire on
her teammates, making her useless too because her damage output is not
that great as Impetus only works well in a lane or when chasing.

2. Slithice/Naga Siren (Image Melee DPS)

She's a strong late game hero, and a good ganker
too, with Ensnare. Her ultimate can be a big help, too. But the problem
with her is that she relies so much on her illusions to actually make a
difference. Competitive games are never without mass AoE casters so her
illusions just go poof right away. This is the main reason why she's
considered a wildcard pick.


3. Azwraith/Phantom Lancer (Image Melee DPS)

Yet another "image" Hero but the Phantom Lancer has
a stealth factor, making him a pseudo-assassin. But one thing about him
is that even if he has a disable, he just moves to slow to really
capitalize on this. Thus, he usually needs some teammates to get those
kills. This is where he really fails. Azwraith's mediocrity in being a
stealth hero gives him no place (yet) in competitive games. His stealth
is so easy to counter, and his being image-based, too (with the usual
picks and the usual AoE skills).

Note on the Image Heroes:

If we compare these two heroes with Terrorblade,
we can easily understand why Terrorblade is the better choice in the
competitive metagame. Not only because his images are stronger (much,
much stronger especially when metamorphosed) but also because they are
easier to control and regulate. Naga Siren's illusions are summoned all
at the same time so a well timed AoE spell can rip them all apart.
Juxtapose, on the other hand, is too unpredictable and requires the
Lancer to land some hits first.


4. Squee and Spleen/Goblin Techies (Push/Anti-push)


During the old days, when Euls still had an imba
cooldown, Techies was a favorite pick in league mode games because he
fits right into the Sentinel's "push" strategy. But now, it's just so
hard to use him. He has an element of stealth, too, in the form of his
mines. But this can be easily countered by rushing Necronomicon 3.
While Techies can still be a good defender and pusher (in a way), he
just can't do much against the common picks in the current metagame.


5. Razzil Darkbrew/Alchemist (Melee DPS/Tank)


This hero primarily relies on his farming ability
(Goblin Greed) to get the items he needs to compensate his very poor
Stats growth. He's a good gank hero because of his channeling long
duration stun but elsewhere, he's too risky to have in al lineup
because you don't know if he's really a tank (meaning high HP and good
survival) or a DPS hero. His failure as a tank is because of his low
armor caused by his very low agility gain. His failure as a good DPS
hero is because he relies too much on his ultimate to actually do well
in combat (like Troll but Troll has way better Agility gain than him).
Before, Alchemist had regular Stat growth which gave him more chance to
own as either a tank or as melee DPS hero (this even caused him to be
banned in some leagues and tourneys along with Bristleback) but now,
he's still good being a lane controller, but his role come mid and late
game is still dubious. Let's wait for some pro to show how it's done!


6. Huskar/Sacred Warrior (Ranged DPS/Tank)


Huskar is one of the new heroes which are banned
in most Western tourneys. However, his being a wildcard is because of
his uncertainty if he's a tank or a DPS hero. (To be an effective DPS,
he has to be below half life) What's more is that he's really just a
good hero for 1on1 because mass disables can own him pretty badly
(well-timed disables that is, hit him when he's below half life
already. Necrolyte anyone?). Being easy to counter, this is why he's
rejected even in Asian tourneys like the recently concluded ADC Season
1.


7. Dirge/Undying (Pusher?)


Yes, that is my question. Is he a pusher? If not,
what is he? Dirge is a potential jungle hero but with the current
stable league version, 6.48b, his zombies just give too much bounty
(and EXP). His being a wildcard is caused again by his identity crisis.
What is he? He's a Int-based hero but all he does is summon. His
nuke/heal has an insanely long cooldown so it's not spammable. He has
good strength growth but is too mediocre compared to the tanks. He's
not a good ganker as well even if Plague is AoE. So again, what is he?
Until no one gets to answer this question, he remains one of those
heroes that's best avoided if you don't want to lose an important
match.


8. Barathrum/Spiritbreaker (Gank-Assassin, Melee DPS, Tank)


This hero is one of those wildcards that's a
"surprise pick." Why? Because he's not really mediocre in anything.
With good AS-boosting items, he can take care of heroes like QoP and
PotM in one charge. Well, so what's wrong with this hero? Frankly, I
don't know. He even can solo mid with his good last hit (care of
Empowrering haste, with practice, that is). He's a good hero all
throughout (although a well-timed Cyclone or Hex can own his Charge).
But I'm keeping him here merely because of the fact that he has not had
enough exposure in competitive DotA lately... or ever. But he's really
one good hero !!! Take my word for it !!


9. Naix/Lifestealer (Melee DPS)


The 6.48b is yet another late game hero who can
permabash/disable an enemy. He's too vulnerable early game so he may
need a support. But the main reason why he's not used in competitive
games is because he lacks the skills to be a team player. While he can
be supported till he farms imba late game items to own the team
single-handedly, it's usually not the case because a good team can gank
him (even if he has a spell immunity ultimate) like there's no tomorrow.


10. Banehallow/Lycanthrope


Okay, this guy is another of those suffering from
an identity crisis. He just suffers from lack of decent strength
growth, lacks any disable and pretty much relies on himself (and his
pets) to pseudo-permabash or slow an enemy. So what the heck is he?
Certainly, not a team player, just yet. While he can be a good jungler,
what good would this do? Wherelse do we classify him? A tank? A Melee
DPS? Well, the reason why he's rejected is because there are BETTER
tanks than him, and certainly BETTER Melee-DPS heroes than him.


11. Meepo/Geomancer

Woot, the epitome of micromanagement. But it's
quite obvious where he fails. Can he actually survive against a lineup
that has QioP, Lina, Sand King, Rexxar, Leshrac, and whatnot? If you're
a pro Meepo, yes (kudos to my good friend Prince! who can escape ganks
quite with ease via poof), but if not, what would his use be then?
Well, is he a Melee-DPS hero? Yes he is if he's with his three
brothers. They can easily take lone heroes. But the big problem is
really getting to that point when Meepo is overpowered. He just feeds,
too much (Nerubian Assassin, GG). Pubs are his empire, but up to now (I
think), only MYM|Maelk have used him in a serious game (and won, of
course. Enemies had Lina and Sandking).


12. Visage/Necro'lic

I classified this hero under Ranged DPS before
but I changed my mind. It's the issue of mediocrity again. This
critter's really versatile because of his capacity to push and chase
enemy heroes (push + gank) but again, there are superior gankers than
him so that leaves pushing. When properly equipped with items like
Midas, Guinsoo and HP items and Damage items, he can own in a clash
(also because of his deflecting aura) but there are really much better
heroes than him. Visage just falls into the middle of everything.
Versatile but not too versatile unlike PotM, QoP and Viper. Good, but
not better than Razor and friends. A tanker, too with the right items.
But oh god, he's too item-dependent! Face it. At the moment, he can
only be viable in a push lineup that can somewhat last till midgame and
even lategame (but hey, this is good!)

V. Lineups, Banning and Picking



I. LINEUPS



It all depends on how and when you want to win the
game. In my opinion, there are just three general ways to win the game
(with respect to when and how).



1. Push Lineup - you want to win the game
before the 30:00 mark and this you do by eradicating all the enemy's
defense structures as fast as you could. This is perhaps the fastest
win ever conceived, but also the riskiest. Why risky? Because your
projected game time is only up to that thirty-minute "deadline" you
have. To win that game that fast (against a decent team, that is), you
have to have specific picks that would work together. But these picks,
being specialized in the sense that only such combination "can" take
down the enemy base below 30 minutes, usually lack in mid to late game
prowess. That's why it's so risky because one or two mistakes can mean
a bitter end for the team. This lineup usually is composed of at least
3 AoE casters and at least 1 healer.



Read more in:

Virtus.NS's article about Push Strategies



2. Gank Lineup - your goal is to gang the
hell out of the enemy team, crippling them severely to the point that
they'll just forfeit because of the insane disparity between your kills
and theirs. A gank lineup is usually centered in one semi-carry hero
accompanied by 4 strong gankers (one or two with more supportive
roles). Their gameplan is to shut down the potential carry/semi-carry
heroes in the enemy team by ganking them constantly, and by achieving
total map control leaving the enemy team with hardly any room to farm
or move to.



3. Standard/Cookie-cutter Lineup - this is
far from the extreme lineups above which aim to settle the game quite
early on: Push lineups aim to destroy structures asap while Gank
lineups take the win by hero kills. Cookie-cutter lineups are lineups
with "insurance" and thus is the safest way to play the game. This
means your lineup has basically enough resilience early game (unless
confronted with an extreme lineup), decent clash power mid game and
powerful late game prowess courtesy of your late-game DPS hero. This lineup is the most balanced or well-rounded--having at least 1 carry, at least 1 support and at least 2 able gankers.



4. Hybrid Lineups



There are alos hybrids of these three lineup types:



Many of the commonly-used lineup fuses (2) and
(3) wherein instead of using a solid carry hero (like Void, Spectre,
Terrorblade), a semi-carry-capable hero/es is/are picked (Mirana,
Akasha, Sven, Nessaj). And herein, the playing style is therefore a mix
of aggressive ganks while the potential carriers farm every now and
then (usually they teleport to a tower being pushed by a mass of creeps
then rush to the battlefield again afterwards)



(1) and (3) could also go together if DPS heroes that are strong pushers as well are in the lineup--Syllabear and Terrorblade. [Replay included: SK def MYM (HTGN)].
This arrangement would at least give the team some form of late-game
security unlike the "pure" push lineups which really have go do or die
before the 30-minute mark.



(1) and (2), when combined trades some of the "push" power for "hero-kill power". [Replay included: MYM def Virtus.Pro (PD 8 Final)]. Instead of going for heroes that all have tower-take-down abilities like in the match between MYM and GL [Replay included: MYM def GL (GGNA)]
where they used 5 intelligence heroes that have a mix of healing
spells, summons (including Rhasta's Wards), the hybrid lineup welcomes
common gank picks like Tiny and Twin Head Dragon.



II. BANNING



The current game mode used in Competitive DotA is
-apxl where each team bans up to 3 heroes first before proceeding to
the 1-2-2-2-2-1 picking phase. This mode was introduced to diversify
the strategies used by teams. Because heroes can now be banned, some
lineups conceived before the game will be "destroyed" because of the
absence of 1 or 2 key heroes to make that lineup work.



What to ban:



- heroes that will directly counter your desired lineup

- heroes which the "weaknesses" of your lineup

- heroes that will pose as big problems to your strategy

- good solo heroes that can possibly shutdown your solo/semi-carry/carry hero

- heroes which when removed may make the enemy think you're going for a certain strategy which you really are not

- and if you can't think of anything else (lol), heroes that annoy you



Note that heroes which are usually banned are
heroes that can be "extreme" in some way. Their being extreme is what
makes them counter some strategies or be the heroes centered in a
strategy. Some common bans are:



Nerubian Assassin - extreme in being an assassin (mana burn also shuts down most gankers)

Bristleback - extreme in being a tank (zzz)

Beastmaster - extreme in being a ganker, a roamer, who can achieve total map control so easily

Priestess of the Moon - extreme in being versatile



Some Examples:



1) If you wish to implement a fast push lineup,
it would be best to ban anti-push heroes which your opponents would
likely get. The important word here is LIKELY. If you're against a team
who you haven't played with yet, it's all guesswork. It's always good
to be on the upper-hand so before playing a CW, it's best if you study
the previous picks of your would-be opponent.



Warlock is a strong pusher so he can be a good
add to your lineup but if the enemy gets him, the game can turn out
really bad for you. So know who gets the first pick. If it's your team,
and if you want Warlock, then get him right away. (Warlock won't give
away your push strategy unlike if you get Pugna right away--they may
already have an inkling). But if they have the 1st pick, it may be wise
to ban him.



2) If your lineup in mind is a strong gank line
up, it would be best to ban insane tanks like Centaur and Leoric who
after the "ganking period" has expired will just become too overpowered
to take down with a mere combination of stuns and spells. But don't
spend your three bans on all the tanks because this would just give
away your desire to get rid of such heroes. And remember, there are
always more heroes to choose from.



When you are planning a good gank lineup, it's
okay to have heroes like QoP in their lineup (which is a good thing,
actually). But now, the success of your gank heroes depend a lot on the
lanes because usually the key initiators and follow-up gankers are
those that would go in dual-lanes. So it would be good to ban heroes
which they would have a hard time to kill in lane. A solo Bristleback
rushing Hood is one.



3) Lineups that may require you to have some
peace in the woods (like a Jungle Luna or Terrorblade) would probably
need Beastmaster to be banned because of his good map control. With two
gankers up mid and him with another one in the lane beside your jungle,
Terrorblade might just be shut down.



4) One specific "counter-ban" is Silencer, which
is banned usually in an AoE-clash-oriented lineup. It's usually an
indication that Sand King will be picked. A strong gank lineup with a
silencer is also a big threat against "escape-artist heroes e.g. Mirana
and Akasha" so you can watch out for this, too.



In summary, the banning phase is very important
because where the game is headed is usually seen here already. The best
captains know a lot of tricks in banning like reverse psychology to
mislead their opponents: this is what separates the best from the
"just-good" teams which simply ban heroes "who they hate." Most people
think bans don't seem to really mean much since the pool of heroes is
just too big but they're wrong. The banning phase is your first contact
point with your opponent. The banning phase is where you get to know
your enemy, get to know how they think--because this translates to
knowing how they'll play.



III. Picking



With a set strategy in mind, you are now to pick
the heroes that will implement this strategy. In XL games, you either
pick first or pick second but get two heroes with your first draft. The
alternate system of picking allows teams to counter-pick or ruin the
lineup of the opponent by picking the hero they intend to pick.



The most importannt concept to keep in mind when
picking is the role of each player in the team. A team can be
well-balanced or extreme, depending on the strategy desired. But
usually, a balanced lineup is preferred to be able to withstand any
opposition early on to late game.



Usually picked first are the "key" heroes, the
most versatile ones, those which do not really counter anything, but
are hard to counter themselves. These are the likes of Mirana,
Bristleback and Queen of Pain. Shadow Fiend is usually picked first,
too, even though he's quite easy to "counter" (shut down early game).
The reason behind this is because he is the "lead hero" of the lineup.
The rest are like the supporting cast. SF's presence is felt from early
game to late game while the rest of the game.

More on Roles



As discussed above, there are many possible roles
but in the current metagame there usually has to be a semi-carry, who
will be a ganker, too, accompanied by 2-3 more gankers/support-gankers.
The last man can either be another ganker to make that lineup a real
strong gank lineup, or a late-gamer to have late game insurance.



A sample pick would be:

1. Shadow Fiend (semi-carry)

4-5. Sand King/Leshrac (ganker, support-ganker)

8-9. Tiny/PotM (gankers)



Here, the strategy is mainly about ganking early
game while SF farms a bit to get his essential items. Then when SF is
ready for team clashes, it's Mirana's turn to farm fast for late-game
items. Late-game, 2 semi-carries would be a force to reckon with. Early
game, the lineup is also very powerful because of the 4 stuns, and a
hell lot of nukes.



Another sample pick would be:



2-3. QoP/Magnus

6-7. Puck/Dazzle

10. Leoric



This time, our team got 2nd pick. Let's say
they're the opponents of the lineup we first cited above. Their
strategy also focuses on spell power but notice that they don't have
that much stuns. Instead, they planned to invest in Leoric's
late-gaming power. Here, the team has an option to jungle Magnus as QoP
and Puck can both solo, with both heroes playing defensively. The high
nuking power was probably taken to easily shut down SF early on. Puck's
silence is useful to counter Sand King and Lesh. Dazzle was taken to
support Leoric and for the buff.



Now comes the importance of LANING.

Experienced players know how important this is, and how important counter-laning, too, is.

This time, the roles in the team is given a new
context. Instead of what they do for the team, we now focus on how
they're laned.



The SOLO HERO is usually someone who can control a lane well, and needs to level up and farm fast, thus without competition.

The LANE HEROES can either be dual gankers (stunners, nukers) or a late-gamer and a supporting hero.



In the first lineup, SF would probably go mid.

After seeing the enemy's lineup, they may assume
that Leoric and Dazzle would go to the Easy Lane (near the tower). Can
SK and Lesh match these two? Maybe not because Dazzle's heal can
devastate SK whenever he burrow strikes. So putting Tiny and PotM in
their hard lane to match the easy lane would be a good choice.



Where would SK and Lesh go? To the enemy's hard
lane, that is, if they think Magnus and Puck would go together (which
is also viable because of the powerful ulti combos they have). Lesh and
Sandking vs Puck and Magnus would be cool. The latter with no stuns,
but with more efficient nukes.



So the middle lane would feature a battle between Akasha and Nevermore, a classic!



===



So Laning is all about putting your heroes where
they would be advantaged, and putting heroes that complement each other
together.



Dual Stunner/Nuker Lane

It's a no brainer to put two stunners together.
One is often ranged, the other melee. Sand King is a favorite pick
because of his ability to stun both lane enemies at the same time. A
good partner for him would be Lina or Lesh who can easily follow up the
stun.



Dual Hard Nuker Lane

Another common pair in a lane would be two
hardcore nukers like Zeus and Puck. These two may not have potent
disables but before anybody can disable them, they'd be hurting a lot!



Melee w/ Support Lane

Another common lane--a late gamer assisted by a
healer like Warlock or Dazzle. Usual late-gamers assigned here are
Void, Spectre, Leoric and Terrorblade. Some innovations by pro players
include Dazzle with TB which involves the slow+wave strategy (with 2
TBs hitting the enemies, the Wave deals a lot of damage). Dazzle is
also nicely paired with Centaur.



Casual Lane

I don't really know how to call this arrangement
but this is where a ganker is paired up with someone who can
potentially solo. They're not really that aggressive. The ganker is
just there to thwart any aggression the one may receive. But still,
these two can be a good team. Example would be Magnus and PotM, or PotM
and Tiny, or Necrolyte and Magnus.



Solo Tank Lane

A lane where a tank who will potentially own late game will farm, farm, farm. Usually Bristleback or Centaur.



Solo Semi-carry lane

The usual crowd - QoP, SF, Viper, Silencer,
Mirana. They solo because they need cash fast, and the levels too.
Other candidates cane be Necrolyte, Puck and so on.



Counter Solo Lane

This is when a particular hero is put in a lane
to counter another one. This is hard to place, actually, because this
may be yet just another solo lane. But for example, a good Zeus when
placed Mid can wreck Nevermore's life. Same story if Puck is placed to
counter SF. Or at least give him a hard time early game.



Jungle

This is the "4th lane." A hero heads to the
forest to level up on neutral creeps with the aid of creep pulling and
creep stacking. This allows 2 solo heroes in the team instead of just
one. Some heroes are better junglers than others. Centaur, for example,
has Return enabling him to damage many neuts at once. The same with
Rexxar's Axes, and Magnus's Wave. Luna is also jungled nowadays because
of the bouncing glaive of hers. Terrorblade is another late gamer that
jungles, thanks to illusions who can tank for him.



VI. More on Laning and other Early-game Concerns



Having discussed laning in the above section, we
proceed to deeper info on the properties of some heroes and how to
optimize their laning. Starting with gank heroes, try to imagine the
manner certain hero combos kill enemies. For example, compare these two
pairs:



a) Leshrac + Sand King

b) Tiny + Jakiro



The first pair involves an initiating stun from
Sand King followed by Lesh's stun then nuke. While usually, this
coupled with a few normal attacks is enough to kill an enemy, it's not
always the case when the combo they're facing has a stun too that will
interrupt the sequence. Thus this pair is usually seen chasing further
on to actually finish the kill (2nd Burrow Strike or 2nd Lightning
Storm).



On the other hand, the second pair is not the
chasing type of killers mainly because the cooldown of the spells are
too long and therefore would involve risky towerdiving to execute the
2nd time in an attempt to kill. However, they're more powerful and more
instantaneous than those spells in the first pair. Tiny's Ava-Toss
combo can knock enemies down in one go very early on. The slow from
Dual Breath allows Tiny to land one brain-busting blow too.



So what does this difference have to do with laning?



Pair A requires more room for chasing so it's
more effective when they are positioned far away from the enemy's
tower. Pair B on the other hand do not really benefit much from the
distance and in fact would be much better off forcing enemies to tower
hug so enemies would find it hard to farm as the tower competes with
them for creep kills.



A Bristleback soloing a side lane is also better
off in the easy lane because of the situation that may arise wherein he
will chase someone to death with his spikes.



However, it may not really make much difference
once the creeps start going ping-pong between the side towers. Sooner
or later, the easy lane becomes the "hard" lane and vice versa. But
it's still best to take note of these little tidbits to optimize the
lineup youre team has.



Animal Courier and Wards



Who buys this? The answer would be the hero who
doesn't need much items at the start, the hero who would spend more
time harassing and ganking, rather than farming up for late game items,
and probably the hero who later on will just rely on hero skills and
good combat maneuvering to do things for the team. The answer would be
the least item-dependent in the team, and also the one who will be
supporting the rest of his team later on.



Good candidates would be a Lane Warlock (Courier
+ Tangoes/Branches), Lane Leshrac/Lina (Courier + Branch + Clarity +
Tango), Jakiro, Dazzle and the like.



Usually these are the ranged gankers or ranged
supporters. So why not melee? Because melee heroes are usually
disadvantaged at the start because of their lack of range, meaning they
can't counter-harass ranged enemies who harass them. Thus, they may
need more items to stay effective (extra tangoes, branches, circlets,
gauntlets).



In the event that Observer Wards are needed
initially (say, to counter a Jungle Centaur, or to keep the Middle Lane
Farmer safe), usually another ganker/support gets a set of wards and
plant it on rune spots or in forest spots or in ambush lookout spots in
the middle. But it's rare for the one who buys courier to buy wards too
because 225+200 will leave nothing in his pocket. But in these rare
occasions, it's usually a Roamer who does so.



What is a roamer? Well, we're all familiar with a
Jungling hero--one who spends most of the day in the woods slashing
neuts. But a roamer is one who patrols the river, hordes runes, ganks
here and there, and if he fails, he usually ends up severely level
gapped. But that's not the point, his allies become stronger and they
benefit much from the offensive support the roamer gives when he
assists in their lane. Popular roamers are Vengeful Spirit, Venomancer
and Chaos Knight (at the start).



Back on the courier, who makes it flying? Anyone
can make it flying for the team. 200 gold is quite easy to get if you
last hit well. Just grab 4 creep kills early on and that's enough
(factor in the natural gold growth). But sometimes, the first blooder
is elected to make the courier flying also because if it's a ganker, he
usually has enough gold already to buy bottle. Just never never let SF
make the courier flying. One silly joke, that is. He needs every gold
he can get to rush his "needed" items.



Odd/Even Heroes



Early game, most gankers rely on 2 skills in killing heroes. For example, Lina Inverse has Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array.

Consider the mechanics of these spells -- how the spells improve as they increase in level and how the mana cast increases.

This would determine if the hero is an ODD hero
or an EVEN hero. What do these mean? Odd and Even pertains to the hero
level when the hero is most efficient to engage an enemy in lane.



For Lina, Level 1 Dragon Slave and LSA would
amount to almost 200 mana to execute and the damage is minimal. It's
usually much better to engage when LSA or DS is already at Level 2. The
mana cost may up a bit but the damage output is significantly higher,
and would be enough to kill or severely damage an enemy when coupled
with your friend's spell/s.



Thus, Lina is an ODD hero.



Tiny, on the other hand has skills that have
constant manacost (120 for both, which is quite steep at Hero Levels
1-4, although later on, it's quite cheap). 240 mana is too much for him
but these two spells are really powerful when executed timely.
Therefore, it's always much better if the two skills are already
significantly strong before performing the combo.



This makes Tiny an EVEN hero.



This hero scheme stops, however, at Level 5 or 6
for most cases because by then, the skills are already powerful and the
efficiency is not the top priority anymore (thanks to Bottle, and maybe
other regen items).



But before that, it's usually more effective if
you and your ally launches an attempt to kill depending on the kind of
hero you have. Thus, it's easier for EVEN heroes to go together and ODD
to be partners.



Now, some may be thinking.. Lina and Tiny
themselves can be good partners! Yup, this is true. You simply have to
know how to manage the experience gained by each to make Lina
odd-leveled and Tiny even-leveled at the time when you will perform the
attack. This can be done by one of them (preferably Lina) relentlessly
harassing or pulling creeps. These two activiites will change the EXP
distribution among the two.



All heroes can be ODD or EVEN (or sometimes
either/neither), even supporting ones and late-gamers. This scheme is
mainly just to describe their nature early game. This is important
because this determines when it's best to use skills to stay on top of
the enemy. Casting spells carelessly will leave you with no mana later
on. It's just frustrating when you spam spells at enemies and they just
regenerate the lost HP.



Here are a few examples.



Heroes who only have one spell is usually ODD:



Sven (you only focus on the level of the Storm Bolt and it's highest when you're odd-leveled)

Warlock (you only focus on Shadow Word)

Vengeful Spirit (you only focus on Magic Missile)

Venomancer (you only focus on Shadow Strike)

Magnus (you only focus on Shockwave)

Sand King (Burrowstrike + stats/Sandstorm)

Priestess of the Moon (Starfall + Arrow makes her
Even? Not really, because you have to get one level of Leap which
shifts her to Odd)



Now here are heroes who are EVEN:



Dazzle (Wave + Touch)

Tinker (Missile + Laser)

Puck (if you go Orb + Rift instead of Orb + Phase Shift)



And here are others who are neither/either:



Viper (His orb isn't costly so he can use it whenever)

Lesh (He's versatile because of his big mana pool early game)

Jakiro (He can be odd because he just needs DB to damage but having an extra 0.5 second of Ice Path is good, too)

Zeus (His nukes hurt at any level)