Building a Hero Pool

Hi Anteater,

You already had tons of good advices here, but if I were you, I'd give Bane a go. It is actually mana dependent, yes. But Soul Ring combo with his life steal solves this.

1. If the character is an aggressive non-carry, then I'll need an escape.
-> Nightmare can hold 1 guy in place. Not an escape but kind of.

2. The ability to play mental games on an enemy.
-> Bane is a ranged, so you can go close and fake some move. And then his HP steal is threatening, not speaking about Fiend's Grip...

3. Some creative license. I enjoy playing Templar Assassin at mid because of how she is able to link up her attacks in more than one way.
-> Yes, definetely. Wether you want to upgrade Enfeeble or not creates variations, you can strike straight with Fiend's Grip or not. You "kinda" threaten in teamfights (Nightmare one plus Fiend's another)

4. If nothing else holds true, I just want the hero to make me smile from time to time.
Look at your Nighmare bouncing on allies and enemies. (though one should anounce his targer, it's not mandatory hu?)

Now Bane is fading away as the game goes longer, this is the main problem. Because he's one-target focused.

Although maybe give a shot to Faceless Void? You can play it as an offlane or mid if you don't want to carry

1. Escape ok
2. Mindgames? Just reach lvl6 and show up here and there... and look at them scatter :)
3. Fun, yeah. Don't know, I'm not that good with him. Try it you'll see
4. Bad Chronosphere gets you flamed. Now it's up to you if you find it funny.

I personally am a HUGE fan of Slark. He has an escape, a purge, and you can afford to make a couple mistakes because he has so much health regen from Shadow Dance.

If your into harder carries, then I would recommend Morphling. He is difficult, true, but the knowledge of stats you will gain from using him is invaluable. He also has an escape in Waveform, and watching your opponents go into a gank, then see them realize you have to same health you did at the start thanks to morph strength is entertaining.

Support wise, I am a big fan of Dazzle. Once you learn how to judge Shallow Grave, you will be very fun to play with.

Just remember, There are many heros out there, a good way to learn which ones you like is to hit the "spin to random hero" button when in the hero selection stage of a game against bots.

Bane is always a treat to play with. He combines well with Skywrath Mage and a few other nukers. I like being able to NOT put Rod of Atos on cooldown in fights until I absolutely must do so.

Bane also buys time for Tinker to Rearm during the fight and unload a second laser. I think you're onto something there. I'll playtest it this week and get back to you.

Bane combines stupidly well with heroes who need setup - e.g. Pudge or Mirana - makes it very easy for them to land their big skillshots. Also, don't underestimate the power of a starting point in Enfeeble - you can really mess a carry with sustained use if they have low base damage.

Also "learner" heroes like Lich can be very, very effective. Skills like Chain Frost are not easy to land well all the time, but can do massive damage. E.g. Dotabuff link

Ok, it was a bit of a stomp, but I did the most damage on the team; from the offlane and only using utility items. Not perfect by any means, but using a hero effectively is often more important than fancy plays.

Tried a few heroes over the last week. Some small notes and questions:

1. Is it just me, or does Magnus make for a much better initiator than Tidehunter? Everything that Magnus does ties in well with either another ability in his arsenal, or some big ultimate that you see a lot of in pubs ( Mystic Flare, for instance). If you can effectively use items then he is an asset to so many different lineups. Teammates don't seem to hesitate during Reverse Polarity like they do during a Ravage.

2. Pugna is a good hero for me until about 20' in - and if you're behind then you're screwed. His spells aren't any good if you're playing catch-up. He's not like Rubick in that respect. He absolutely locks down a winning position, however. Good hero IF your lane's carry isn't a potato.

3. Chen feels easier than Enchantress. He does a better job of remaining relevant as a defensive support later in the game.

4. I don't do a good job at playing from a level AND gold disadvantage. I feel like I fade out of the game after 25' as a hard support.

5. Windranger and Mirana are really good heroes in the respect that if you win it's you - and if you lose it's also you. They aren't fussy heroes and can fill a nice array of roles.

6. I'm slowly becoming more efficient in terms of last hits. I still have a ways to go - but I'm not getting outfarmed by the enemy carry when I need to hard carry.

7. My awareness is acceptable, but my positioning relative to the knowledge received is just plain wrong.

8. Sometimes the best thing you can do is to extend a fight to the point where the enemy does something that offers you an escape or a kill.

9. I ran into two matches the other day where my teammates actively WANTED Techies to be played. Went 1-1. It all comes down to how smart the supports are on the other team.

10. Sometimes it really matters whether or not your teammates know what your hero offers. Playing an unusual pick normally ends in at least one teammate not playing in a way to allow you to line up an ability. Taking a hero under 90th in popularity can sometimes hurt you (especially in my low-level games).

11. Viper is actually not as easy as he first appears. You MUST come on-line by the midgame or it's somewhat of a wasted pick.

12. Super late-game carries are a gamble in that you have to have a team build around them. Furthermore, if your 4-for-1 strategy gets busted in the 30th min by a team with three cores then you have lost the game.

1. The thing about Magnus is that he has his role as Tidehunter. Magnus is better at counterinitiation like Enigma because the enemies have to be close by close while Tidehunter can just blink and Ravage. Both do need Blink Dagger or Force Staff to use their ultimates properly. To farm these theres the big difference between them. Magnus is played mid usually (can also offlane due Skewer and Shockwave) while Tidehunter is the perfect offlaner who cant be pushed away from exp range or even creepwave if the enemy safelane is more passive oriented and meleeish. Additionally he can stack and farm ancient quite easy beginning with lvl around 8.

2. Thats the nature of Pugna. He wants to win early / early-midgame and push very hard or otherwise he is screwed. He isnt the kind of comeback hero more like a snowballer.

3. Chen and Enchantress are more push oriented like Pugna (Enchantress>Chen in terms of early push). I also feel like Chen is easier as Ench not in terms of microing but accordding to the game impact after the 20 minute mark.

4. Its never easy to comeback if you are way behind and especially if your lineup is inferior to the enemies in lategame. Place defensive wards and try to get every safe goldincome for your or secure it for the cores. If you think you CAN possible win a fight if it wents well try to smokegank them (even the kill of one or 2 heroes can do much. You got good exp and gold when youre waaay behind and even more important you can get some of the mapcontrol back and setup wards more offensive for another smokegank or even get rosh if they cant contest it and you have the proper lineup to do this in short time)

6. Yeah lasthit ability will come with time and anther very good point is to try to have as less "dead" time as possible. I mean if youre quit low or you cant farm on lane use your jungle on the way back fountain for example. Do never walk just around to get somewhere in 30 secs. Use your time efficiently.

12. Yeah for super lategame carries you do rely on your team very much. But if you want to play some superlate crushers try Spectre and Faceless Void. Both wins superlategame usually and both can be played quite sucessfull midgame. In case of Void your Chronosphere pared with Mealstrom or Mask of Madness is very strong. And Spectre is also good midgame with the right items midgame. You can go Urn and Drums. You get a lot of hp due it and you can farm all the time vcause you can join teamfights with your ulti.

anyway it is great that you are tracking your progress and are asking so much advice. if you want me or anyone else to give advice or someone to look at your games just send them a PM or something.

Think the other guys have covered most of the points - as a regular hard support player, I can tell you, falling off 25 minutes isn't a problem - that's what your hero does. If you do your job considerately for your team, you'll often be behind on farm on levels - that should mean that your team is benefiting from those extra farm and levels that you gave up.

What many players don't realise is that there's only so much to go around - so if you can be somewhat effective with less, played well it means that somebody else has more. Good supports secure kills and farm for their team mates. Good supports get their team mates out of trouble (you don't get any score on the board for that, but it's still massively important). Good supports don't feed the opposition and are in the right position to tilt the balance in a clutch situation.

Support is the most team orientated position in the game, you're often the one doing the dirty work so the others can succeed. The problem in lower ranked games is that your team might not appreciate or just waste your efforts.

I'd like to add some recent thoughts:

1. I tried Bane against bots just to give it a test run. Useful, but I don't like playing it as much as I like combining with one.

2. Nothing makes me happier sometimes than taking a strong pusher ( Leshrac, Venomancer) and absolutely blowing up the carry in my lane. Sometimes you don't win as a result since the OTHER lane went south, but I just want to practice winning my lane for now and then developing into a player that can dominate the game.

3. I really hate hard supporting, but if I have too I'd rather play Vengeful Spirit over almost anyone else. She allows me the ability to turn into a core if the game drags on and our carries aren't quite enough. I can also just do my job and semi-initiate from time to time if our carry is relatively good. What I really suck at is reading what type of safe-lane we are running. Certain situational carries require special treatment early to come online - and I just don't know enough about this.

4. The beauty of a simple hero (or one that mentally computes in your head) is that you stop worrying about how to land the perfect ability and instead worry about thinking ahead of the opponent. There are only a few heroes that allow me to do this.

5. My biggest issue with playing an initiator is that I'm never able to get a good laning situation that will allow me to obtain my key item ( Blink Dagger) in time for the teamfight stage. Sometimes my laning partner is another hero that needs farm throughout, and it creates a very bad dilemma. I will bake cookies for the player that says "oh you're X hero - I'll let you build a fast blink before I jump in and take last hits".

6. I really ought to try Kunkka. He's one of the few initiators that aren't in urgent need of a fast blink. I also really liked using his ult as Rubick.

7. I'll also try Tidehunter again. Had an awful first game, but that's because my approach was entirely incorrect. I never gave him an honest first game to begin with.

8. I've had some "fun" with most of the micro heroes, but the results have been... ...very mixed. I have serious issues with conversion-based micro heroes in which you have to keep an encyclopedia of knowledge regarding different creeps (and the action abilities that you must time as if they were your hero). The problem with most micro heroes is that even when I win I think "I could have done more with a different hero.". The only exceptions so far have been Enigma and Brewmaster - who are part-time micro heroes that both have much bigger aspects to their play.

9. Is Lone Druid so far out of the meta that he's not feasible? I've seen Fear play him and cope just fine. Tried him in a bot match and liked him quite a bit.

10. I'm starting to notice that the game gets deeper every single day. Learning one thing shows you that there are 2-3 other concepts connected to it that now must be learned. This game feels like Tetris - you're never going to be perfect, so you strive to be the best possible considering the circumstances.

Trusted hero list, as of now (all others have been downgraded to "considering", since every day I'm learning more): Sven, Vengeful Spirit, Windranger, Bristleback

...there are others (such as Tinker) that will probably join this list, but I cannot say that I am SO comfortable with them that I could pick them in a pinch.

What is happening while I go through this is that my standards for what I consider "okay" increase over time. The question I ask myself when I consider a hero now is this: "If I could play a simple-as-dirt hero (like Sven) in this exact role, would I be a bigger asset to the team?". If the answer is anything but "no", then can I really consider it as something worth putting in a pool?

http://www.dotabuff.com/players/46981084

I'm 166 games in with a record of 84-82. I am very close to level 13, but I am going to wait 1 (maybe 2-3) more levels as there are a few more things I want to try out before I play the calibration games.

Thoughts/Questions/Reflections:

1. Is Armlet of Mordiggian a good item for Medusa if she's getting pressed from early nukes? I played a game (that didn't get scored since someone temporarily abandoned before 1st blood), and I felt that I was too easy to zone out a couple of times. A casual Point Booster seems like a smarter idea considering that it can build to better things, but that armlet could be alternative...

2. What can I do to help my carry in games such as these: http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1344047081 - I was doing OK as Lina at mid (the PA was the other midder and we went level in the laning phase), but the PA then went places that my hero simply can't and I failed to coach up our carry into doing the right things to win the game. When ranked happens, it will be important for me to find ways to steal a few of these types of games. I think one of my big issues is that I went after their soft supports instead of directing more hate to the person that's going to tear apart the whole game.

3. It's amazing how players that are normally brainless become decent decision-makers if you keep wards on CD, ping areas of concern, and provide a kind voice. Most of the "really bad" players actually need a little encouragement because they really do want to win and play well.

4. The good news about Single Draft is it prevents you from being too hero-reliant. The bad news is that you never really build up a go-to hero (or two) like you can if you play All Pick and just spam. I avoid All Pick since it's become too stale and I don't like seeing the same heroes over and over again. I might play some more CM soon since that mode also allows you ban the Trolls/Snipers out of the game.

5. Most of my deaths are because I stick into fights BEFORE calculating if the fight will actually work.

6. Does Dark Seer receive playtime as a non-traditional support? Surge allows him to ward somewhat aggressively without wasting too much precious time, and Vacuum + Ion Shell would make laning a nightmare for a opposing dual lane (which is what I'm seeing a lot of lately). My first game with him was god-awful (our PA snowballed so my performance didn't hurt us too badly), but he's very different (in a good way) and worth giving a few more games to.

7. I actually have made better choices with Chen than I have with a lot of simpler heroes since he FORCES you plan everything and read the whole map. My mind goes into "oh-****-I-need-to-build-a-tactical-plan" mode - and I was able to avoid a number of dumb deaths because of it. Nature's Prophet and Techies also send me into this mode as well since both of those heroes also require that you are one step ahead (or you're history).

8. Storm Spirit is a weird hero in that you can get smashed in the early laning phase and yet still recover at an unbelievable rate.

Current hero pool:

Support: Vengeful Spirit, Silencer
Offlane: Bristleback, Clockwerk, Windranger
Carry: Gyrocopter, Sven

Considering: Lina, Rubick, Tinker, Dark Seer, Slark, Templar Assassin