* Official Dota 2 Thread *

uncle_rufus · 23 Dec 2013 at 13:21

Haha had my first proper online match this morning, played as Sven... got shouted at pretty hard!

To be fair though when we started I said in chat "hey guys bit of a noob here, let me know if there's anything specific you want me to do or buy or whatever"

Got no reply whatsoever... I noticed nobody went to the top lane (playing as Dire) and I remember reading that's the "easy" lane for Dire I think, so I went up there on my own - asked the team first and got no reply yet again

5 minutes or so later, I hadn't been killed so far and was just trying to farm up a bit, then 2 of their heroes started pushing my lane quite hard and I was struggling to hold them back. So I asked in chat if someone could come help and no-one responded or came. Got killed a couple of times...

Then all of a sudden some guy on our team in chat is like "FFS Rufus you haven't upgraded this or that!!!" or "omfg you haven't even bought XYZ!!" which seemed a bit rich after I gave them notice that I might not know exactly what I was doing

Luckily some other butthurt guy on our team got annoyed and left, leading to a clear 4 vs 5 destroying that took the focus off of me somewhat - though I did still finish something like 0-12-3 - oh dear!

Murray · 23 Dec 2013 at 13:31

Master_X said:
I still have most of my items slots set to 2,3,4 so might need to change the binding around but what Greenja and you have said Murray does make sense and probably what i need to try, im not that great with the micro heroes especially Visage but would like to at least try and get good at one.

Yeah, I changed my hotkeys a while back, took me a while to get used to them all but I feel its easier to play now I'm used to it.

Nerusy · 23 Dec 2013 at 13:40

uncle_rufus said:
Haha had my first proper online match this morning, played as Sven... got shouted at pretty hard!

To be fair though when we started I said in chat "hey guys bit of a noob here, let me know if there's anything specific you want me to do or buy or whatever"

Got no reply whatsoever... I noticed nobody went to the top lane (playing as Dire) and I remember reading that's the "easy" lane for Dire I think, so I went up there on my own - asked the team first and got no reply yet again

5 minutes or so later, I hadn't been killed so far and was just trying to farm up a bit, then 2 of their heroes started pushing my lane quite hard and I was struggling to hold them back. So I asked in chat if someone could come help and no-one responded or came. Got killed a couple of times...

Then all of a sudden some guy on our team in chat is like "FFS Rufus you haven't upgraded this or that!!!" or "omfg you haven't even bought XYZ!!" which seemed a bit rich after I gave them notice that I might not know exactly what I was doing

Luckily some other butthurt guy on our team got annoyed and left, leading to a clear 4 vs 5 destroying that took the focus off of me somewhat - though I did still finish something like 0-12-3 - oh dear!

You can just watch a replay of a hero in high skill bracket to give you rough idea of how to play what skill to choose, when and what to buy. Starting dota2 is horrible either way, people that are pretty terrible and have no idea how to play think they're godly so there's no way to please them.

I still occasionally get flamed on as support with stats like 0-3-15 for being useless as they do not realise wards, detection, curier, rotation are part of the game.

uncle_rufus · 23 Dec 2013 at 13:46

Nerusy said:
You can just watch a replay of a hero in high skill bracket to give you rough idea of how to play what skill to choose, when and what to buy. Starting dota2 is horrible either way, people that are pretty terrible and have no idea how to play think they're godly so there's no way to please them.

I still occasionally get flamed on as support with stats like 0-3-15 for being useless as they do not realise wards, detection, curier, rotation are part of the game.

Any recommendations of a replay or youtube video I could watch that is a particularly good (basic) example?

I did notice that I got the highest number of last hits out of anyone, which was nice... but it didn't seem to do me much good!

Nerusy · 23 Dec 2013 at 13:57

uncle_rufus said:
Any recommendations of a replay or youtube video I could watch that is a particularly good (basic) example?

I did notice that I got the highest number of last hits out of anyone, which was nice... but it didn't seem to do me much good!

In dota2 there's "watch" tab with all recent game, you can choose very high skill bracket and it will show all available recent games for replay and hence you can watch them. You can also choose it by hero and very high skill bracket.

I myself just played all random when I started was a long road. Improvement came from these rare times when a good player was paired up with us nablets. In highsight watching the replays I mentioned or pro games could give a lot of basic information as to how to play the game well. Problem is even if you will play well I doubt people in lower skill bracket will be able to recognise you as such and will flame you either way, that's dota I suppose

I do not know any youtube videos per se but I know one channel called beyound the summit, they upload pro games with commentary.

Master_X · 23 Dec 2013 at 14:01

uncle_rufus said:
Any recommendations of a replay or youtube video I could watch that is a particularly good (basic) example?

I did notice that I got the highest number of last hits out of anyone, which was nice... but it didn't seem to do me much good!

I watch Purge:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PurgeGamers

He is always very good for video replay commentary on all heroes. He also has a Learn About Dota section which explains the basics and will help out a lot. The more you play the more you will see heroes you will want to try, the best thing to do is play with bots first before you try out in game so you at least understand their abilities.

Outline · 23 Dec 2013 at 14:01

uncle_rufus said:
Any recommendations of a replay or youtube video I could watch that is a particularly good (basic) example?

I did notice that I got the highest number of last hits out of anyone, which was nice... but it didn't seem to do me much good!

There are some split and strong opinions on him, but I'd definitely recommend you watch at least a few of Purge Gaming's videos. He explains things like you're five, has a decent understand of the game, and uploads regular videos of a variety of heroes playing different roles.

No1newts · 23 Dec 2013 at 15:16

Master_X said:
I watch Purge:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PurgeGamers

He is always very good for video replay commentary on all heroes. He also has a Learn About Dota section which explains the basics and will help out a lot. The more you play the more you will see heroes you will want to try, the best thing to do is play with bots first before you try out in game so you at least understand their abilities.

+1 for that bot suggestion.

If you don't mind some flaming though I would just suggest playing limited heroes for a while. Experiment and it will give you a better understanding of how to play and counter other heroes.

In around 160 games in and still miss a lot of the subtleties, struggle with some heroes and not the best at itemising by a long shot but like I said if you can ignore the morons just jump on and get stuck in and learn as you go.

uncle_rufus · 23 Dec 2013 at 16:34

Good tips, thanks all... I did already watch some of Purge's videos and found them helpful so I'll keep going. I think a mixture of tutorials, bot matches, and braving online games will probably be the best bet for me. I can handle the flaming, and just try not to rise to it myself - childish nonsense

ColdAsIce · 23 Dec 2013 at 16:51

I still enjoy the odd Purge video because he does explain things very well imo. However, a lot of his uploads you will see him getting completely free farm when playing a carry. Don't know about you guys but I never see this happen for games I play in!

sniffy · 23 Dec 2013 at 17:03

When are they going to stop Russians queueing in European servers? It's a team game and when I can't communicate with my team then it naturally isn't going to end well. Seriously, what is wrong with Russian dota players?

Murray · 23 Dec 2013 at 17:15

ColdAsIce said:
I still enjoy the odd Purge video because he does explain things very well imo. However, a lot of his uploads you will see him getting completely free farm when playing a carry. Don't know about you guys but I never see this happen for games I play in!

Happens a fair bit the higher the games go. Mainly because the offlaner can't do much and has to roam the map. If you are in a 3v1 lane you should always be getting 100% free farm. Even 2v1 you should mostly be getting it as well.

sniffy said:
When are they going to stop Russians queueing in European servers? It's a team game and when I can't communicate with my team then it naturally isn't going to end well. Seriously, what is wrong with Russian dota players?

Probably never considering they have no reason not to queue on European servers.

Snax · 23 Dec 2013 at 19:06

I have come to the conclusion that the team which has anti mage will always lose.

I always see him get his battlefury and I never see him win, whether on my team or the opposition team. Even if he gets a crap load of items he just seems so weak.

What is he used for?

Oh, it is always Russians playing him ineffectively.

No1newts · 23 Dec 2013 at 19:10

He's not great (IMO) but use him right in a team fight especially his ult and you can take people out quite fast.

Tobes · 23 Dec 2013 at 19:41

He is the 2nd to last of the heroes with the lowest win rate. IO coming in last. I like IO but in pubs I don't think it works.

rufus I would suggest you use Hero/Item builds if it hasn't already been suggested. I told a LoL friend about this and they thought it made the game easer but I really think it's a must for new players. I still use them and will continue to do so. I experiment with other items on the side just to have a play but the starting items and core items I always follow.

Murray · 23 Dec 2013 at 20:13

My anti-mage win-rate is 50% and I just find him a lot of fun to play tbh. Once you get battlefury you can be such a pita split pushing lanes and farming everything on the map.

Guides are okay but at some point you have to realise that majority of them are ****ing awful and recommend terrible items.

I believe the bounty one recommends battlefury, the brewmaster one doesn't recommend blink, furion one recommends aghs, etc

It really is worrying and you have to realise that the same items every game isn't always a good idea, for example if you are furion and usually go shadowblade then you have to realise when you have a team with someone like potm/bounty then its a terrible idea to buy it. I think this is probably one of the hardest things to get used to, adjusting your skill/item builds each game depending on who you are against even just in the laning stage, if you are against Lich for example you want more regen just because of how bloody spammy his Q is.

Tobes · 23 Dec 2013 at 20:22

Without guides I think it's a lot to take in all at once. Plus you're only going to then get shouted at for not having the right items. Before guides I went at it like I was playing a RPG and getting items to upgrade my low stats. Which isn't bad but then you forget you need to put some points in what the hero is actually good at. Then you have the items which add abilities etc.

Plus it's not like there is one guide per hero. There are loads and it's not hard to browse the Steam Community for one and read the comments. Normally you have to choose what item you are going to aim for still anyway and the situational items section is really handy especially when the creator puts in comments.

Murray · 23 Dec 2013 at 20:32

I'm not saying they are TERRIBLE for just starting out but majority of them have bad items as "core". I used them for like my first 200 games while I was still learning the game.

I still have to shout at bounty hunters every game because a guide said that battlefury was a core item. It hurts.

Most of the top rated guides are the worst ones and they don't take into account who you are playing against or anything like that. AM guides usually suggest you start quelling blade, stout shield and one set of tangos. I mean really?

I've seen some okay guides, I think purge's timbersaw guide is pretty good where he just lists basically every item you can buy on that hero in the situational section which is what I've done for my own guides with heroes that I play regularly.

For example this is my Furion build, it basically just has every item I'd buy on the hero listed with my main items I build more often being "core". If I was actually making the guide I'd of course put a description of when you would want to get each item for newer playsres.

No1newts · 23 Dec 2013 at 20:34

Just had a fantastic game as KOTL. Was playing with a team of three and was working closely with the Pudge player. He ended up 25/2

I ended up 7/3 and was his wingman for large parts dropping him mana and bailing out occasionally. Fun game and restored my faith somewhat

uncle_rufus · 23 Dec 2013 at 21:56

Thanks guys, as far as the suggested builds and stuff goes I've been sort of following those but not necessarily to the letter... I'll sometimes just try to go with something that feels like it's upgrading the stat that my character appears to benefit from... Give it time - played 1 lost 1 so far XD

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