Ring of Basilius is a great item to have in the laning stages and its benefits extend into the midgame as well. It has a great buildup since you can start with a Ring of Protection and purchase the Sobi from the side shop. You get an aura that gives nice mana regen to you and nearby teammates as well as an armor aura too. The item is very cheap and helps tremendously in pushing.
I specifically want to discuss the ability to toggle the aura on and off and how to properly abuse this. A lot of times I see players make this item early in the game and turn off the aura only to completely forget that they have it and leave it off the whole game.
Holding this item gives your hero huge influence and should never be neglected. The ability to control creep equilibrium is extremely strong. A lot of the following ideas seem like common sense but many players aren’t conscious about these intricacies.
Soloing against 2-3 opponents:
You generally want to turn the aura off so the creepwave will reach your tower and you can cs more safely.
If they decide to deny creeps really hard so the lane doesn’t move, you can turn the aura on and stay in a safe position near your creeps. This causes the wave to push into their tower which kills your creeps quickly. This brings back the equilibrium closer to your side.
If their heroes are more pushing oriented, you have to gauge their pushing abilities. Sometimes you can get away with leaving aura off until they reach the tower and then turn it on and use your aoe spells to help clear the creeps. If it’s some early aggressive mass summon push you probably want to leave your aura on at all times.
Often, you will encounter the enemy pulling creeps. I usually turn on the aura at this point and try to chip away at the tower as much as I can. If you want to put in the effort, you can toggle Bas on and off randomly. This makes it extremely difficult for the enemy hero to last hit under the tower.
NOTE: These things may not be possible if you’re up against a trilane.
Assuming the pull camp wasn’t stacked, the creeps will likely double up and start heading to your tower. I typically have my aura on to try and make the wave smaller before it arrives. This gives the enemy less creeps to tank the tower which means two good things: They have less time to attack the tower, and if they decide to dive you, they might not have enough creep support to take the tower hits.
Solo vs Solo:
You generally want to turn the aura off so the creepwave will reach your tower and you can cs more safely.
Again, if they are outlaning you and controlling the creeps with mass denies, you can turn on aura so the wave runs into their tower and bounces back.
If you think you can get a kill by diving their tower, be sure to turn your armor aura on so creeps can tank tower.
Although Bas isn’t too common for solo mids, you can turn it on a bit before rune spawns so the wave pushes and you can go grab it.
Dual or Trilaning vs Solo:
Pretty simple guidelines. If you aren’t planning on a fast push, keep aura off so you can cs and threaten kills. Aura on if you are pushing or decide to dive them at their tower.
Dual/Trilane vs Dual/Trilane:
See: “Soloing against 2-3 opponents” and “Dual or Trilaning vs Solo”.
The same rules will apply.
This pretty much covers all laning scenarios. Bas use in the mid and lategame stages is fairly straightforward.
-Turn it on if your team is pushing.
-If there’s not much going on, keep the aura off so creeps stay near you.
-If you’re farming and the enemy team gathers for a push, assess whether you need to tp immediately to defend or not. If your team can handle it without you, turn on the aura and push hard. It puts pressure on the opposing team and forces them to make a decision. They can either continue their push, in which case you can take their tower. Or they can defend and you can run away when 5 heroes suddenly go missing from lane.
If they send one hero to deal with you, that’s okay too since your team can probably fight 4v4 and you can tp in to help also.
Proper Basilius usage can grant you a huge advantage and a lot of players have it idly sitting in their inventory. Of course, these things apply to Ring of Aquila as well. It may take a bit of effort and thinking at first to abuse the aura but after a while it becomes automatic and is a great asset to your gameplay.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Why You Suck At Support
30 minutes into the game and you’re a 0-7 CM with nothing but boots, a magic wand, and a tp. A team fight breaks out and you go in to nova and frostbite but you die instantly as you get caught in all the AOE flying around.
While waiting to respawn, you realize you’re a walking feed machine and debate whether you should just sit in the fountain for the rest of the game rather than give the enemy team free gold and exp.
And worse, you have no idea how you ended up in this situation.
This is a very common scenario among players that are new to the support role. Even experienced support players may find themselves in this situation from time to time.
It is largely a result of something I like to call the “Autopilot Support”.
What is the Autopilot Support?
Basically it’s when you are playing a support and blindly follow a set of guidelines without taking the context of what’s happening in the game into account.
These are the main guidelines that lead most support players to their doom:
1. Buy chick and wards. Upgrade the courier as well.
2. Let your carry have all the cs while you harass the opponents and deny.
3. Roam around the map and gank.
4. It’s better for you to die instead of someone else.
The list is exactly what a support should be doing which is why it’s hard to avoid falling into the trap. You get a false sense that you are being useful while in reality it’s not the case.
Although the guidelines sum up the support role pretty well, doing these things excessively without thinking can actually be harmful.
These are the common mistakes that support players make which slowly add up and lead you into the feeder CM situation:
Buying both chick AND wards at the start of the game
Either get one or the other. Stat items and regen are far more important. If possible, split the duty with another support. Don’t try and be the hero support that takes on all the burden because it will only hinder your development.
Upgrading the chick to crow when the game starts
Most of the time, courier use isn’t in very high demand for the first 3 minutes or so. Better to get wards or more stats/regen. Once people start burning through their starting regen is when you want to upgrade the courier.
Trying too hard to harass in lane
I often come across supports who try to harass at the wrong times or in the wrong position and pay for it. They draw creep agro on them as they trade hits with the enemy and come out with a losing exchange. Once they use up their regen they’re pretty much useless as they have no gold and need to play passively.
Or they stick around trying to harass as your creepwave is dying and get killed because they left themselves exposed.
Mindless roaming
A lot of times supports spend way too much time wandering the map looking for gank opportunities that never come. As a result, they end up underleveled and underfarmed.
Watch how the lanes are going and learn to recognize when enemy heroes will become exposed so you can get there on time. If you don’t see any opportunities developing, stay in your lane and soak up exp or pull.
Neglecting farm
If nothing is happening in the game, go get some farm. It’s not uncommon to come across a creepwave that your carry won’t be able to reach quickly. Take advantage of this and get every cs you can.
The jungle is a great source of income and the majority of supports have spells that let them kill neutrals with ease.
Supports DO need some gold in order to function properly. They need to get boots, bulk up with hp, and continue to buy wards/tps. Going through a whole game with only 3cs means you’re probably doing something wrong.
Trying too hard to place wards
Newer supports feel the incredible urge to keep wards up at all times and will force themselves to try and set them up. They then proceed to get easily picked off as they roam into enemy territory to try and place a ward.
Always keep in mind where enemy heroes are and if it’s safe to ward a certain area. Sometimes you may have to opt for a less than optimal placement because it’s just too dangerous to put it where you want.
Too many wards
Recognize when you are buying too many obs and sentries instead of getting items for yourself. This is how you end up with no items late into the game. It’s okay to delay warding/dewarding a bit to farm a bracer or 2. Try and split warding duties with another support if possible.
If you find yourself doing several of these things, you are probably a victim of autopilot support syndrome. No worries though as several people, myself included, have encountered this problem.
The next time you are supporting, be aware of these mistakes and make an effort to avoid them. You will find yourself dying a lot less and being a bigger asset to your team.
While waiting to respawn, you realize you’re a walking feed machine and debate whether you should just sit in the fountain for the rest of the game rather than give the enemy team free gold and exp.
And worse, you have no idea how you ended up in this situation.
This is a very common scenario among players that are new to the support role. Even experienced support players may find themselves in this situation from time to time.
It is largely a result of something I like to call the “Autopilot Support”.
What is the Autopilot Support?
Basically it’s when you are playing a support and blindly follow a set of guidelines without taking the context of what’s happening in the game into account.
These are the main guidelines that lead most support players to their doom:
1. Buy chick and wards. Upgrade the courier as well.
2. Let your carry have all the cs while you harass the opponents and deny.
3. Roam around the map and gank.
4. It’s better for you to die instead of someone else.
The list is exactly what a support should be doing which is why it’s hard to avoid falling into the trap. You get a false sense that you are being useful while in reality it’s not the case.
Although the guidelines sum up the support role pretty well, doing these things excessively without thinking can actually be harmful.
These are the common mistakes that support players make which slowly add up and lead you into the feeder CM situation:
Buying both chick AND wards at the start of the game
Either get one or the other. Stat items and regen are far more important. If possible, split the duty with another support. Don’t try and be the hero support that takes on all the burden because it will only hinder your development.
Upgrading the chick to crow when the game starts
Most of the time, courier use isn’t in very high demand for the first 3 minutes or so. Better to get wards or more stats/regen. Once people start burning through their starting regen is when you want to upgrade the courier.
Trying too hard to harass in lane
I often come across supports who try to harass at the wrong times or in the wrong position and pay for it. They draw creep agro on them as they trade hits with the enemy and come out with a losing exchange. Once they use up their regen they’re pretty much useless as they have no gold and need to play passively.
Or they stick around trying to harass as your creepwave is dying and get killed because they left themselves exposed.
Mindless roaming
A lot of times supports spend way too much time wandering the map looking for gank opportunities that never come. As a result, they end up underleveled and underfarmed.
Watch how the lanes are going and learn to recognize when enemy heroes will become exposed so you can get there on time. If you don’t see any opportunities developing, stay in your lane and soak up exp or pull.
Neglecting farm
If nothing is happening in the game, go get some farm. It’s not uncommon to come across a creepwave that your carry won’t be able to reach quickly. Take advantage of this and get every cs you can.
The jungle is a great source of income and the majority of supports have spells that let them kill neutrals with ease.
Supports DO need some gold in order to function properly. They need to get boots, bulk up with hp, and continue to buy wards/tps. Going through a whole game with only 3cs means you’re probably doing something wrong.
Trying too hard to place wards
Newer supports feel the incredible urge to keep wards up at all times and will force themselves to try and set them up. They then proceed to get easily picked off as they roam into enemy territory to try and place a ward.
Always keep in mind where enemy heroes are and if it’s safe to ward a certain area. Sometimes you may have to opt for a less than optimal placement because it’s just too dangerous to put it where you want.
Too many wards
Recognize when you are buying too many obs and sentries instead of getting items for yourself. This is how you end up with no items late into the game. It’s okay to delay warding/dewarding a bit to farm a bracer or 2. Try and split warding duties with another support if possible.
If you find yourself doing several of these things, you are probably a victim of autopilot support syndrome. No worries though as several people, myself included, have encountered this problem.
The next time you are supporting, be aware of these mistakes and make an effort to avoid them. You will find yourself dying a lot less and being a bigger asset to your team.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Things I Learned From 4 Years of DotA
Just some ideas that have helped me tremendously in becoming a better
player. Hope some of you guys can take something away from this.
Never make decisions based on emotion. It happens a lot more often than most people are aware of and these are usually the choices that set you back.
Don’t be greedy. Good opponents will punish you for it. Some players insist on neglecting cheap stat items in favor of rushing a big item. This alone can cost you the game.
Think when you buy items. Don’t get an item just because “it’s good on this hero”. You should be able to explain what the item does to help your or your team’s current position in the game.
Most heroes have "cookie cutter" builds but at times it may be optimal to deviate from these builds. It is important to be able to recognize these situations.
If you have any doubts of whether the outcome of an engagement will be beneficial for you, don’t engage.
Dota is a lot more than getting kills and pushing towers. Simply saying “lets gank” and “lets push” is usually a sure way to lose games.
If your team has an advantage, you don’t always need to take raxes. I’ve seen many teams mount a huge advantage only to give the game to their opponents by trying to rush the base.
People often don’t realize that taking slowly taking space and choking your enemy off from resources is an effective way of winning the game.
Making mistakes is fine as long as you LEARN from them.
Being patient and calm will go a long way.
Doing what YOU want to do will lose games. So many people make statements like “I’m going to do this in this game” and try to force it to happen even when the game doesn’t call for it. Do what the GAME tells you to do.
Impose your will on the game and make the enemies respond to you. Don’t play passively and only take action after the enemy does. Always have a plan.
Always be doing something that helps to give your team an advantage. This is better than doing something to not give your opponent an advantage.
Positioning is one of the most important concepts to understand if you want to succeed.
Always play with a mindset of winning. If you know your opponents are stronger, don’t set your goal on “being able to take 10 kills from them.” Play to win and you will improve much faster.
Take every chance you can get to play stronger opponents. They can teach you things that you would never get to experience against lower level players.
You are not always right. Be able to accept criticism and analyze it objectively. Many dota player have trouble with this. Sometimes its actually you who is the bad one, not your teammates.
Figure out points where you could have done better in a lost game rather than blaming your teammates for the loss. If you always blame your teammates and think you are doing everything right, you will never get better.
Never make decisions based on emotion. It happens a lot more often than most people are aware of and these are usually the choices that set you back.
Don’t be greedy. Good opponents will punish you for it. Some players insist on neglecting cheap stat items in favor of rushing a big item. This alone can cost you the game.
Think when you buy items. Don’t get an item just because “it’s good on this hero”. You should be able to explain what the item does to help your or your team’s current position in the game.
Most heroes have "cookie cutter" builds but at times it may be optimal to deviate from these builds. It is important to be able to recognize these situations.
If you have any doubts of whether the outcome of an engagement will be beneficial for you, don’t engage.
Dota is a lot more than getting kills and pushing towers. Simply saying “lets gank” and “lets push” is usually a sure way to lose games.
If your team has an advantage, you don’t always need to take raxes. I’ve seen many teams mount a huge advantage only to give the game to their opponents by trying to rush the base.
People often don’t realize that taking slowly taking space and choking your enemy off from resources is an effective way of winning the game.
Making mistakes is fine as long as you LEARN from them.
Being patient and calm will go a long way.
Doing what YOU want to do will lose games. So many people make statements like “I’m going to do this in this game” and try to force it to happen even when the game doesn’t call for it. Do what the GAME tells you to do.
Impose your will on the game and make the enemies respond to you. Don’t play passively and only take action after the enemy does. Always have a plan.
Always be doing something that helps to give your team an advantage. This is better than doing something to not give your opponent an advantage.
Positioning is one of the most important concepts to understand if you want to succeed.
Always play with a mindset of winning. If you know your opponents are stronger, don’t set your goal on “being able to take 10 kills from them.” Play to win and you will improve much faster.
Take every chance you can get to play stronger opponents. They can teach you things that you would never get to experience against lower level players.
You are not always right. Be able to accept criticism and analyze it objectively. Many dota player have trouble with this. Sometimes its actually you who is the bad one, not your teammates.
Figure out points where you could have done better in a lost game rather than blaming your teammates for the loss. If you always blame your teammates and think you are doing everything right, you will never get better.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Tranquil Boots: Underrated?
Tranquil Boots
+80 Movement
+3 HP Regeneration
+3 Armor
Rejuvenate (active)
Can be disassembled
If you take 4 or more instances of damage (greater than 20) in the past 10 seconds, the item temporarily breaks and becomes basic boots (until the last 10 seconds don't have 4 instances).
Rejuvenate
Restores 170 HP over 10 seconds, non-combat only. Can only be cast on self.
Cooldown: 40
Manacost: 25
With the update of version 6.74, Tranquil Boots became possible to disassemble. This simple change makes the boots a very attractive choice on several heroes as it now fits seamlessly into many item builds. In Dota 2, Tranquils are even more attractive since you don't have to return to base to disassemble an item.However, many players consider this item trash and often overlook it on non-support heroes.
To see the benefits of Tranquils, consider the following scenario which happens quite frequently:
You get sent to the sidelane with a hero like Potm, Morph, WR, etc. that doesn't naturally get an item which provides a good source of regen.
After trading a couple hits/nukes and your consumables are used, you have to back off and shuttle some potions.
Often in earlygame, I find the courier in use pretty much non-stop so chances are there could be a large period of time where you have to tower hug while your opponents get free farm.
Tranquil Boots solve this problem for several heros at little to no cost!!!
The regen from Tranquils actually exceeds that of a Ring of Health, one of the best laning items, and you get this regen for "free" if you were planning on using the Ring of Protection and Ring of Regen for other items (which a lot of sidelane heros do). Not to mention the armor bonus and +MS help a lot in taking harass and maneuvering around your opponents.
After breaking the boots, the RoP becomes a Bas/Aquila.
RoR can be used in Vlads, Mek, and Hood.
Some heros may not use one of the items but it's not a big deal since at most you will sell the RoR essentially paying 175g for RoH levels of regen. A great investment imo.
Another interesting use is getting it on solo mid heros like Silencer or OD who don't have a good source of regen. It gives good MS that can be abused to get cs and harass. They can later be broken to form Mek too if you're a fan of getting this item on these heroes.
I've been experimenting with getting Tranquil Boots+Vit Booster to replace completing Vanguard on certain heros like Kunkka or Spec. You get better regen to last you through the laning phase and the booster can be upgraded to Heart in the later stages of the game. Some of the damage block is lost but stout/pms somewhat make up for that and should normally be gotten on these heros.
However, these boots drop off in effectiveness past the laning stages where people start moving around the map more so its best to break the boots and make a different one.
If you haven't been incorporating Tranquils into your item build, I highly suggest testing it out as it fits nicely into several item builds.
REPLAYS:
Dota 2 Match ID: 11480426
I solo with Ursa against an aggressive WR in bot lane on Radiant side. The WR harasses me every chance she gets and pressures me hard. An early PMS helps me a lot but once I get Tranquil Boots, she cannot keep me off the creeps anymore and I easily get cs.
I later break the boots and make Vlads while being thankful for the free regen that helped me survive the lane.
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