Analyzing Game State — Late Game

This is the final part of our series dedicated to constructing frameworks for decision-making at different stages of the game. Today we are going to concentrate on the Late Game. Not every game goes late and in most cases, the outcome of the match is decided much earlier. Because of this, many inexperienced players really struggle with making correct...

2d

Phoenix is still good

Phoenix has received several nerfs over the last few patches. It has had its base damage, strength and intelligence gain reduced and has received higher cooldowns on its Sun Ray and higher mana cost on its Fire Spirits. Overall, it seems like the hero has been significantly nerfed, but in reality, the hero is still one of the better supports in this...

5d

Analyzing Game State — Midgame

We are continuing our series on Analyzing Game State, arriving at the midgame, probably the most important period of the game. This is when your team composition usually has the means to start executing the plan for the game and this is when the vast majority of games are decided. So what do you keep an eye on and what sort of thing should you think...

2w

You Might be Playing Venomancer Wrong

Today, we would like to discuss yet another victim of players adhering to professional builds too much — Venomancer. The hero gained his initial popularity in SEA, but was soon adopted across the regions as one of the more specific offlaners. Recent nerfs do not seem to stop him, yet there are certain habits worth discussing and, perhaps, re-learning.

2w

Analyzing Game State — Early Game

Last week, we talked about things to consider during the initial laning placement. Today, we are moving forward with our series. Early game is certainly a very broad concept and it will vary from game to game. For the purposes of this article, we are going to discuss the timing between the first time the creeps meet and the end of the laning stage.

3w

Is Dark Seer Still Good?

Despite the recent nerfs, Dark Seer remains steadfast in his success in both professional and pub scenes. This highly versatile offlaner hero has been absent from the professional meta for a prolonged period, but is now making a comeback. Today, we are going to look into how and why exactly this hero is so good right now.

3w

Analyzing Game State — Laning Stage

There are many patch and hero-specific skills to develop in Dota, and they are crucial to a player’s success in the game. However, there is one skill that is possibly the most important of them all: being able to analyze the state of the game and make educated decisions. This is an infinitely wide topic and we can not possibly provide all the answers,...

4w

Clockwerk Position Five — New Meta?

Clockwerk is one of the meta-defining heroes in the current patch, at least in the professional scene, but his pub popularity is still pretty low in most skill brackets. Today, we would like to highlight the hero and maybe convince players to try him out, before he most likely gets nerfed.

4w

Dealing With Spectre

Spectre is easily the most consistent carry hero in the game right now, and it looks like a lot of players are struggling against her. This tanky, surprisingly high-damage core has a decent laning stage, extremely versatile mid-game, and almost unparalleled late-game potential. So how exactly do you deal with the hero?

Aug 2020

You Might Be Playing Zeus Wrong

The rise of agility-based carries often leads to a much higher emphasis on magic damage output in high-level games. Dealing with a hero with ridiculous amounts of armor can be problematic if your lineup is primarily physical damage, hence several heroes came back to the meta to fill in the gaps. One of those heroes is Zeus and while the hero might look...

Aug 2020