@asmo917 said:
I've really enjoyed Brad's coverage of DOTA 2 - his talking about it and this week's regular streaming. I've tried playing a few bot matches and am TERRIBLE. Some of my problem I know is mechanical, and I just need to keep playing and practicing to get better. I'm also a little intimidated by the depth of the game and the things I don't know and haven't been able to find answers for. I'm going to post some questions here in hopes of finding answers or links to good resources and hoping others with the same kinds of questions follow suit.
I think most of these questions deal with how to get into the game and handle the learning curve, i.e. how do new players pick up some of the knowledge that is second nature to more experienced players?
What I (think I) Know
Feeding is bad. Try not to get killed. I understand the concept of laning, or staying in one of the three lanes, mostly behind creeps, accumulating XP and getting last hits to accumulate gold. I know your towers are your friend and you shouldn't take on enemy towers without creep and player backup. I know your item build/loadout is important, and I know there's a courier to bring you items. I know there are roles like Carry, Support, Jungler. Heroes are delimited not only by type, but by their main attribute.
What I Know I Don't Know
How do you effectively play a role other than Carry? How do you know when to do something other than laning without hurting the team? What is there even to do besides laning that helps your team? How do I know what items to buy or types of items to buy without just following a guide? How do I avoid making terrible purchases and hurting the team while learning how to play a hero? Do I need to do anything special to keep from getting the courier killed? Do I just click on it and order it to me or try to make sure I'm in a safe space first? What about TPs? Can I use them to get anywhere? How do I know what lane to take with my chosen hero? When leveling, I assume I should get my Ult as soon as possible, but how do I know if a skill is preferable to an attribute increase?
Thanks to the community - hope to see some of you in game as soon as I figure out how to not embarrass myself in a bot match.
- How do you effectively play a role other than Carry?
In the flat definition of carry--it's a hero that begins weak and grows to be strong to carry the team. As you listed about, Carry, Support are roles. Jungler is not a role. Other roles are (principally) ganker (e.g. bounty hunter, night stalker: heroes who have mechanisms that allow them to effectively kill heroes, especially early/middle game.), and initiator, which sometimes overlaps with "teamfigher" (e.g. enigma, treant, are teamfights+initators, wisp is more just teamfight).
How you play these roles is moving the focus less away from JUST your hero and what YOU'RE doing, and expanding your focus to encompass the entire map, and the whole team... and what you can do to help them. Sure, a hex on a lina might be a great thing to have--the extra mana regen+stats+stun is amazing. but, does it mean that you should focus on farming the 5k gold required to afford it instead of buying wards the entire game? no. Often being support or teamfight means stickign with your team and backing them up when you need to. This is a huge question, so ask more question if you need more detail.
- How do you know when to do something other than laning without hurting the team?
If you team is looking to push or take towers, you should probably be there with them. Grouping up is important. If another lane needs a gank, you can actually hurt your team MORE by sitting in lane farming (depending on the situation). It's really a matter of thinking "what is the best use of my time right now," and then doing that.
- What is there even to do besides laning that helps your team?
Laning helps you, not your team. Pushing towers, warding, ganking, scouting are equally as important parts of the game depending on the hero you're playing.
- How do I know what items to buy or types of items to buy without just following a guide?
Practice, essentially. Paying attention to what items will synergize with what the hero already has. This is one of the deepest parts of the game. Because new builds are always being discovered, metagame constantly shifts. Guides are a good place to start.
- How do I avoid making terrible purchases and hurting the team while learning how to play a hero?
Follow a guide and ask. People will rarely get upset if you're asking for a bit of help. Also, let your team know that you're new with the hero. It MIGHT infuse them with some patience, or maybe they'll even give you some pointers on how to play that hero better.
- Do I need to do anything special to keep from getting the courier killed?
If you're going into battle, the courier shouldn't be following you. Use only the commands on the courier until you've got better micromanagement. Bind your courier to one key and your hero to the other (say, 1 and 2)
- What about TPs? Can I use them to get anywhere?
You can use Teleport scrolls to teleport to any friendly building. Each successive TP to a friendly building increases the cast time for a teleport, so keep that in mind if everyone is trying to teleport to save a tower with 200 hp. ALWAYS CARRY A TP. They offer amazing mobility, and can save your life or a tower. 135g is nothing.
- When leveling, I assume I should get my Ult as soon as possible, but how do I know if a skill is preferable to an attribute increase?
Not always, Guides and playing the game will help you to know when to take your Ult. GENERALLY, you'll always take your ult. But, for example on Night stalker, it's best not to take your ult immediately because he's weak/long CD at level one, and night rolls around the time that you hit level 6. At that moment, the points are better spent into leveling up fear or, more importantly, your night-time passive buff.
Skills are almost always preferable to stat increases--very few exceptions. Knowing which skills to take is sort of like item builds, but much less deep. Generally, you'll immediately want to put one point into an excape mech skill (stun, blink, hold, speed increase, etc) when you start off, and then take the most beneficial skill for you at that time. By way of example, some heroes of lifesteal or crit auras. These are all fine and dandy, but things like crit really show their strength in the later game when you have significant damage to back it up. Something that will deal more damage or be otherwise beneficial to you might be a better thing to take in the meantime.
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