my current builds

How to tell the difference in mmr and in skill level?


people who buy positioning items - higher skill

people who dont - lower skill


ez katka

so smuggles, i always buy Blink Dagger on Lion.

me is high skill confirmed? :3

There are still some exceptions.
Nice "very high skill" Bounty Hunter with Blink Dagger Force Staff and no damage items. Nice "very high skill" Nyx Assassin with Blink Dagger Force Staff and Drum of Endurance. Literally zero game impact : can't solo kill anything, no teamfight presence, and even sucks at initiating ganks compared to a Batrider or something.
I'd have the "low skill" BH with Desolator, Butterfly and stuff, or the "low skill" Nyx with Dagon/ Ethereal Blade anyday.

Mobility is like an addiction, sure it gets your adrenaline up but you'll forget the main thing, that your hero does nothing.

Personally I tend to absolutely despise Blink Dagger + Force Staff builds except on some extremely specific heroes ( Batrider mainly, but a few others like shaker or Lion).
On Magnus I think Blade Mail is better than forcestaff in every way. Mag is supposed to be a frontline tank and he already has a native escape skill so for me forcestaff is just a ***** item. Blademail gives some well needed armor, some decent damage, and the same INT for refresher : far more cost-efficient IMO.
On Tide/Centaur/Clock...force is good situationally but I'd still rather not get it honestly. Besides again I like blademail bettter, they're supposed to be front line heroes. I'd only go force over BM if facing mass BKBs.

ok sure thats exactly what i said ... yup i can re read it now and i can actually see that .. your right how stupid of me ... thats 100% down to a T what i said ... your so accurate ... its frankly amazing.



magnus front line hero .... ahuh ... ok ...yup ...totally ... 100%

force staff = ***** item .... ahuh ...ok ... yup ... totally ... 100%

Do I detect a hint of completely random PJSalt in answer to something that wasn't even directed at you?

I was just expressing my annoyance at seeing initiators focusing on buying escape items that essentially only gives them a way out to cover their poor initiations (that's literally all forcestaff does on a hero like Magnus, Centaur or Treant typically) instead of building survivability and initiating correctly in the first place. Truth is, unless you're playing extremely specific heroes like Batrider, Sandking, Wyvern or a few others, forcestaff does nothing to help you initiate.

Especially when I play carry I find that extremely annoying to see my initiators anywhere else than at the center of the fight, because that's kind of their job. The whole point of an initiator is to go in, use all his skills, and then tank the damge to take the focus off the main damage dealer. Forcestaff just saves your own ***, but that's almost useless because dying once you used your skills isn't a big deal. Getting focused with a blademail has far more game impact IMO.

And yes, Magnus is a front line hero. he's supposed to blink in, RP skewer and then right-click. His place is at the center of the teamfight and he often gets focused a lot that's why I think blademail is his item over forcestaff, because not only is the active better for him but the stats are better as well.

At least on Tide you could argue that going blademail makes him useless against BKBs, but on Magnus...BKBs aren't his problem anyways.

If you disagree with me please at least use arguments. This kind of sarcastic PJSalt just sounds...neither convincing nor especially smart.

What if a player is so good he reads the game and doesn't need much additional mobility?

...you've never seen EG.Fear play Nyx have you? 8{(

Play Video

Not much different from the Support Build he used to play, but still plenty effective. You're not supposed to play a Support Killer who does nothing but pick of Crystal Maiden each fight. You're meant to jump in, lockdown the biggest threat with [Impale]], disrupt the rest of the Team with Spiked Carapace and provide a good Initiation for the rest of your Team.

Yes you have 0 Killing power, but so does Tidehunter. Does that make him useless with just a Blink Dagger and Force Staff?

Nyx MUST have a blink no discussion. It let's you position for a stun and youe become even more elusive.

wasnt directed at me yet you used my quote ... okay then.



the fact that you consider them an "escape" item is frankly scary or that they dont help you initiate... little bit more scary.

lets run down just a few things forcestaff does that is NOT an escape on ONE of the heroes mentioned.

MAGNUS

1. use forcestaff during RP to increase range and impact.
2. use forcestaff then charge then blink to RP from over 3000 units away
3. use forcestaff to initiate when blink on cd
4. use forcestaff to chase and skewer
5. use forcestaff to initiate and skewer back into team
6. use forcestaff to RP when blink on cd
7. use forcestaff to cover impassable terrain
8. use forcestaff ... i can go on but i think you get the point.

now lets look at cent.

oh wait can you double dutch your double edge by using forcestaff? i think you can .. therefore increasing the range of the double edge ... which if i remember correctly is an "offensive" skill.



ok then lets look at it in a more professional light.

recently in a pro game between i think VP and someone else a Cent blinked in got a three man stomp then FORCESTAFF himself DEEPER into the enemy so he could zone out the sniper. balls deep huh.

in DAC a tide intiated then ravaged then FORCESTAFFED himself onto a cliff where he then REFRESHED and ravaged aagin getting an extra 2 heroes in the ravage...

in the dota cinema tourney i saw a magnus "dendi to be exact" rp 2 then forcestaff forwards while rping again and get 5

in a recent pro game i saw a tide frocestaff into 5 for a ravage when his blink was put on cooldown by a spectre ult. he single handidly saved the fight all from ...and i quote ... "***** item"



now im njot saying i dont go blademail in him but i do go forcestaff.
because
A: it is aamzing with his ult being able to increase its effectiveness
b. you now can traverse some serious ground.
c. manaaaaa

magnus is not a front line hero

bristle back? yes

magnus ? no

magnus is a situational initiator and a counter initiator thats it.

yea he sometimes goes in first but he isnt supposed to TANK damage he is supposed to forcibly re-position the enemy team into an better position for your team. he isnt really that tanky, strngth gain isnt that great and he dies quickly to burst. he gets focused a lot.

he IS a counter initiator more so, he comes in 5 seconds after the fight started and plants his fat hooves and changes the course of a fight. like enigma ...with out the hooves.




"Sarcasm is how the intelligent convey their utmost disappointment, in what can only be described as sycophantic idiocy , to the less intelligent"

Stepehn Fry

"sarcasm, my dear, is at the loins of any strong argument, making inane arguments more so and the stupid ones seem positively idiotic"

winston churchill

"why can i not be sarcastic? i am only trying to point out that you are wrong and i am right in the politest possible way. It is, in fact, absolutely gentlemanly of me if i do say so. if for some reason you take offense to my innocuous display of superiority then i do apologize for your lack of cultural acumen but alas i can only hope to help further your education in the superfluous and magnificent art of sarcasm."

Lord Nelson

I have to disagree with this statement;

The item does not only give them a way out when they iniate poorly; It increases the effect range of your initiation. It gives you more utility when your big teamfight item is down (Saving heroes, securing kills with gap closing, repoitioning in the middle of a teamfight). It mixes your mana pool (More than Blademail, which is important on heroes like Magnus and Tidehunter). As well as being an additional mobility item for your entire team. (And the enemy team if you feel like being cheeky)

Whereas Blademail gives you a few seconds where other people won't attack you; Great, but you've already blown your combo before that point so you are not really a priority target anymore, which really defeats the point of being a front-liner. (Well and punish burst damage if you are quick on your fingers, but it still adds much much less potential impact than a Force Staff does).

Your statement about it covering mistakes in iniatations is true on occasion (More so in lower level). But in higher level play, it adds so much potential to your hero that it's simply the most efficient item you can build half the time.