Does anyone actually..

I agree that having Elder Titan in your team is useful, but being team dependent? Try building him for right click and he can solo pretty much anything anytime, even carry. Doesn't really work all the time, but it's loads of fun! I'd even say that he's one of my niche heroes now.

What else? Hmm... does Phoenix count? I haven't played dota much lately but Phoenix has always been an underplayed hero, yet there I was, playing an aghs core Phoenix for a niche pick's fun.

Other than that I'd say a support transition Silencer. Seriously, people just underestimate curse of the silence lately, opting for the slahser and G /illidan build, but anyone who has fought Silencer support knows how it's such a ***** to be against him in lane.

I love Razor, Dragon Knight, Bloodseeker and Phantom Assassin if playing as a carry and Witch Doctor, Warlock and Dazzle when playing in the support role.

I have some kind of inner refusenik that means I generally avoid playing meta heroes at all. I hate that the pro's pick em so the world and his wife must too. There's so many good heroes in DOTA, you don't just need to keep picking the same few.

The other thing is...so many of these things are cyclical - heroes come and go in the meta, ones who are ignored and "totally useless" in one patch suddenly become "massively OP" due to a small change leading into the next one. They were never as good or bad as people make out. If you know how to play em and counter em already, you have a big advantage when the "meta-sheep" turn up.

Dazzle has barely changed and gone from being considered "unpickable" to being almost 100% pick/ban material.

The likes of Outworld Devourer and Elder Titan were considered massively OP not that long ago in the pro scene. I'd agree they do need some little buffs now...but they're hardly unplayable or useless.

Have to admit I've gone off Oracle a lot. I always played him as a support, but for some reason his new ult (even though it's kinda better in some ways) doesn't really do it for me anymore, and I frequently found his laning stage was too level dependent and a bit "meh", and his team fight later on is kinda "meh" too. Still love that skillset though.

On Jakiro I play him as a genuine hard support, so no Eul's, no blink...you don't really need them, he's got a huge range. He's a hero who needs allies to keep enemies in Macropyre anyway. Thing is, he's a support with fantastic harass, great stats, good team fight and a good assister. About the only downside is his lack of "instant" nukes and that he's a bit level dependent to get his stun up to something decent.

Also love playing Sand King - he's such a great roamer/semi-jungler if you can get even a little co-operation from your team. Yes he drops off later on, but his midgame can keep your team (and rax) alive and kicking until they hit their windows. Main problem is greedy team mates who keep expecting you to fund every support item when you're trying to get your blink.

I randomed Elder Titan and Omniknight few days ago. Can I get a cookie? :)



EDIT: I just also reached my 500th Jakiro game! WOOO!

http://www.dotabuff.com/players/113928409

I find this offensive, and I consider it a personal challenge to be achieved with Crystal Maiden =O

Now seriously: Nice! Someone give this man a cookie!

Oh man thats a really good topic.

I think that most players enjoy watch competitive scene and meta-heroes and stuff, and let me tell you that here in Brazil people seems to pay attention with a blurry vision about it. "OMG meepo is soo broken, shouldn't exist in dota whatsoever". But the thing is that w33 make the hero broken in their eyes, so they try to make the same footsteps, until they feed and stop doing it. This is a noob habit, I know.

But aside this, always when things go bad I reccur to 3 names:

- Necrophos
- Batrider
- Sand King

Dude... I love these heroes. The first two I play some berzerk unstoppable kinda style, and sand king is just super deft...


BTW: No disrespect about others guidemakers, but I made the most badass build for Necro. Just imba.

What is your necro build ?
I am from brasil too and a necro spammer since
I do Power Treads, Blade Mail, Blink Dagger and then aghs
after it come to things like Rod of Athos, Shivas Guard, Octarine Core, refresher and guinso stick

It's the Glimmer Cape/ Solar Crest/ Lotus Orb patch that made him OP I think.

Before, hard supports with no item scaling like him just had no way to spend their gold on useful items. Dazzle is a hero who farms very fast but had no use for gold...until 6.84 made up a ton of items for utlity heroes.

And now he can just stack defensive ultility items...items which are not especially balanced in the first place :)

Also, 550 attack range is actually a big buff, his harass in lane is extremely strong with his clean attack animation.




He's received nothing but *massive* buffs since the time when he was introduced into dota 2...what more can you ask for?

850 cast range on his Q. 1000 cast range on his ult. How is that even balanced? Same thing as dazzle or wyvern, he can sit way back out of harm's way and spam his stuff.

Being mad at your carry for walking away with False Promise on instead of manfighting is one thing...but the hero himself can be insane.

Yes, he's level dependent, but he's really Io, he's a symbiotic support that snowballs with his carry. IMO like wisp he's best played in a dual safe lane or dual lane mid with a snowbally carry (e.g Gyro, PA...) and go for early kills. Of course if you trilane with an Anti-Mage you're going to have a horrible and boring time XD



It depends on your lineup! If you have a pushing-oriented lineup you don't need items, you can just 5-man push with Liquid Fire. But in the typical pub game for me he's more of a babysitter in lane and he needs to stack camps and farm a fast euls so he can be the team's initiator.
Blink/Euls Ice Path was really the reason why he was so strong in competitive back when he was spammed, he was even played as a core just for that.

But again maybe I'm just the greediest support player ever (which I am) and you can just sit in the trees out of vision and try to catch people in Ice path without items. The thing is, if you straight up cast it, you're just going to get juked, it's so easy to walk on the side when you see the animation.

Agree it's a number of things that have lead to the change, I think he just fits the meta as much as anything, and that those items have helped him. He was pretty nifty with an Urn and a Medallion before that patch, he just lacked really good options later on.

What I was saying was that the hero, his playstyle and his abilities have not really changed much since a while ago when he was "unpickable". That what's changed has been the meta and the "fashion" of what people play. So therefore, they shouldn't judge other heroes to be "useless" or "unpickable" just because they're not popular at the moment.

Players shouldn't be afraid to try out less favoured heroes, playstyles, item builds etc. Many have a real rigidity, almost a dogma about "you must pick X hero and build them this way". Yes there are builds that don't make much sense on some heroes - but most allow multiple different ways which can work depending on the situation.

Someone was digging at me the other day for my Veil of Discord mid Huskar (we had a harder carry and a weak midgame, it was an easy choice) because "you haven't got Armlet & HotD, like that's the ONLY way you could possibly build him, and you're a complete moron if you think otherwise, because XXX pro player does it that way".

No doubt if YYY pro player used the Veil build every meta-sheep would be bleating about how you should never use the Armlet & HoTD one anymore.

I'm not accusing you of this btw :)



Yeah, I agree...he was just a lot more playable as a pub support in the old way, for me at least. Remember that while Purifying Flames is very spammable, you need levels to make it effective, and you've got to follow it up with Fortune's End in order to not heal them for more than the damage you did. FE is a terribly inefficient spell in terms of damage, even at level 4. The reduced damage also really hurt his ability to flash farm and get those few items he needs.

If you're in a dual lane, the setup doesn't tend to be useful enough to actually net you a kill unless your carry can kick substantial *** early. If you run a trilane, you'll be underlevelled in most cases to really get the benefit of Oracle. About the only time it really works is if you've got a roaming Mirana or something to take advantage of the setup.

Basically both Dazzle and Winter Wyvern have more utility, more teamfight, and are easier to play.



Playstyle difference I think here. I do play him as a babysitter, and tend to pick him up when my team has another initiator like a Magnus, Disruptor, Faceless Void or Dark Seer to handle that stuff. Jakiro's damage is pretty ****py unless you can keep enemies in Macropyre, and he struggles to do that on his own no matter how much equipment you give him.

He's great for both getting DOTs and Debuffs on people though, Liquid Fire and Dual Breath are really debilitating, even late game.