Help Support Our Growing Community

DOTAFire is a community that lives to help every Dota 2 player take their game to the next level by having open access to all our tools and resources. Please consider supporting us by whitelisting us in your ad blocker!

Want to support DOTAFire with an ad-free experience? You can support us ad-free for less than $1 a month!

Go Ad-Free
Click to open network menu
MOBAFire RuneterraFire WildRiftFire CounterStats SmiteFire HeroesFire FarmFriends ForzaFire

Featured Site

Create Hero Build
Join or Log In
Heroes Guides Skills Members Items
X
Smitefire logo

Join the leading DOTA 2 community.
Create and share Hero Guides and Builds.

Create an MFN Account






Or

Picks/counterpicks question.

Please review our General Rules & Guidelines before posting or commenting anywhere on DOTAFire.

1 2 >>
Forum Reply
Forum » New Player Help » Picks/counterpicks question. 12 posts - page 1 of 2
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Flamesse » September 20, 2015 12:26pm | Report
Hello!

I'm sorry if this has already been discussed before. Anyway, I'm new to Dota, been playing it for a few weeks now. I'm playing with my friends who taught me basic stuff, mechanics, roles, items, etc. I've tried 17 heroes for now, you can see them here. My faves so far are Lina, Witch Doctor and Crystal Maiden. But what I don't get is picks and counterpicks. Like, I always ask my friends who I should pick and why, because I don't know who counters who. But I want to find it out myself so I can expand my hero pool.

So, my question - what's the best way to learn how to pick heroes and why? I tried reading a lot of guides on heroes but most of them were poorly written and I got even more confused :( Any kind of advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Flamesse



Posts: 2
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Dimonychan » September 20, 2015 12:43pm | Report
As obvious as it sounds, it all comes with experience. There are 100+ heroes in Dota 2 and you can't quite "learn" their interactions with each other by reading a guide or watching a video. You just play your hero and see they suck against particular heroes, then you start thinking why, and what other heroes there are who can do the same thing, etc. You play with and against more heroes, get the feel of their possibilities and weaknesses and judge from that.

I wouldn't mind with going into all this counterpicking stuff if I were you, at that stage of your learning experience it's best to find heroes you enjoy playing and just get games under your belt - get experienced with them, know their mechanics, and just for these particular heroes, learn about their counters and what heroes you counter. As you play more you face more situations and can think for yourself if a hero is any good in a given lineup.

Gl.

Manta Style Kunkka
OSFrogs in their natural habitat
Dimonychan

Awards Showcase
Show more awards

Remarkable (43)
Posts: 1595
View My Blog
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by UltraSuperHyper » September 20, 2015 12:48pm | Report
Hello flamesse and welcome to dotafire!

Personally, I learnt it by trial and error. Obviously, counter picking implies picking a hero which would exploit the weakness of the opposite hero.
For example, lina can be used as sort of a counter to heroes who naturally build bkbs because of her Aghanims scepter upgrade. Another example can be picking up heroes with silence to counter caster type heroes like lina.

The whole idea of which hero to pick when cannot be explicitly taught to you by anyone. It'll happen on its own. Atleast that's what I think anyways.

As for guides, there are plenty of well written guides here which'll definitely help you.

Good Luck and Have Fun!
UltraSuperHyper

Awards Showcase
Show more awards

Notable (12)
Posts: 955
Steam: UltraSuperHyper
View My Blog
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by apaz » September 20, 2015 1:46pm | Report
You'll learn that as you play, but basically, different types of heroes hate different types of things.

It's also worth mentioning that different items have different interactions with different heroes, for example Black King Bar stops basically all the damage and disable from Lion, Crystal Maiden, and Skywrath Mage.
 My newest guide:

Picking up Skywrath

apaz


Notable (17)
Posts: 356
Steam: apaz
View My Blog
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Flamesse » September 20, 2015 4:26pm | Report
Thanks for your replies, guys. If I asked the same thing on Russian Dota forums, I'd probably get tons of flame towards me. Just because I'm a newbie female player :D
Flamesse



Posts: 2
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Xyrus » September 20, 2015 4:40pm | Report
Dimonychan wrote:

As obvious as it sounds, it all comes with experience. There are 100+ heroes in Dota 2 and you can't quite "learn" their interactions with each other by reading a guide or watching a video. You just play your hero and see they suck against particular heroes, then you start thinking why, and what other heroes there are who can do the same thing, etc. You play with and against more heroes, get the feel of their possibilities and weaknesses and judge from that.

I wouldn't mind with going into all this counterpicking stuff if I were you, at that stage of your learning experience it's best to find heroes you enjoy playing and just get games under your belt - get experienced with them, know their mechanics, and just for these particular heroes, learn about their counters and what heroes you counter. As you play more you face more situations and can think for yourself if a hero is any good in a given lineup.

Gl.

The answer is pretty much this ^ .

Counters are mainly to do with a combination of Skills, timing windows and Items. For example,
apaz wrote:

It's also worth mentioning that different items have different interactions with different heroes, for example Black King Bar stops basically all the damage and disable from Lion, Crystal Maiden, and Skywrath Mage.

Hex is countered by BKB, but simply give Lion his Blink Dagger and you have the equivalent of a 1700 Range, instant cast, 4 second Disable. Hex transitions into one of the best abilities to prevent opponents from activating Black King Bar...but only once Lion has acquired his Blink Dagger. Thankfully, for Lion, Blink Dagger can be obtained by 25:00 in most games if you Farm decently (15 if you have a really good game and know how to Farm as a Support), so Black King Bar isn't usually an issue as only a few Mid-Game Carries will get it before 25:00...unless they're fed...then you got problems. 8{(

It's easy to provide individual examples like this, but deciding on an effective Hero in a 5 vs. 5 matchup takes a lot of game knowledge.
Xyrus
<Moderator>

Awards Showcase
Show more awards

Established (104)
Posts: 2429
Steam: Xyrus
View My Blog
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by UltraSuperHyper » September 20, 2015 7:52pm | Report
CHICHI! We got a grill gamer over here.
UltraSuperHyper

Awards Showcase
Show more awards

Notable (12)
Posts: 955
Steam: UltraSuperHyper
View My Blog
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by ChiChi » September 21, 2015 2:38am | Report
UltraSuperHyper wrote:

CHICHI! We got a grill gamer over here.


Wohoo! Thanks for calling :D

Hi Flamesse! I'm the resident girl here in Dota Fire, so I'm more than happy to welcome you!

If you want to add me here's my steam: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198135593301/

I can help you with anything you need, I've been helping some new players lately. Sorry if I can't answer to your post in more detail right now, but I will as soon as possible.

Cheers!
ChiChi

Credits to Janitsu!

Ammateurs coaching channel iei! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOBsWN_45WjrRXLAWUqeyaA
ChiChi
<Veteran>

Awards Showcase
Show more awards

Remarkable (47)
Posts: 1559
Steam: Chi-Chi
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Timminatorr » September 21, 2015 2:42am | Report
As some others said you probably shouldnt bother too much with counterpicks yet because here are so much heroes and interactions.

But there are some more basic interactions that you can figure out yourself. Like damage iver time against templar assassins refraction to break the shield quickly, or heavy slows against melee carries that rely on getting close.
Or silences against heroes that rely on spells to do damage or move around.

But most of it comes with experience ofcourse. Watching some professional games can also help, especially if there is a caster is good at analysing the game.
Dotafire Inhouse Scoreboard!
Working on a Night Stalker guide!

I made a Clockwerk guide. Check it out if you want.
http://www.dotafire.com/dota-2/guide/the-real-tony-stark-6733
Timminatorr
<Editor>

Awards Showcase
Show more awards

Memorable (57)
Posts: 2376
Permalink | Quote | PM | +Rep by Kyphoid returns » September 21, 2015 4:37am | Report
http://mobacounter.com/dota
Go here. look at every hero in the pool and see what counters what.

But first, familiarize with all heroes in the game. What they do, what position in the team they play at(#1 carry/core, #2 -3 core, #4-5 support). Then learn what their abilities do.


Once you are done there, you can go to the site I mentioned and have a go at why certain heroes are listed as counters. This will develop your mentality towards countering what where and when.

GLHF. Seems like you now have a lot of homework.
Go On, Feed Me.
Kyphoid returns


Remarkable (42)
Posts: 1064
View My Blog
1 2 >>
Forum Reply

Quick Reply

Please log in or sign up to post!

DOTAFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new hero, or fine tune your favorite DotA hero’s build and strategy.

Copyright © 2019 DOTAFire | All Rights Reserved