Hi all, I finally have a bit of down time so can return with a short article for DOTAfire :).

In what may be a series (if people find it useful) I'm going to be talking about some of the "basic" DOTA skills that are often overlooked, or only understood on an unconscious level.

These are "mechanical" and "instinctive" skills that you rely on to execute plays. For example, accurately clicking the right parts of the screen, hitting your combos, dodging incoming projectiles, body blocking, and many others.

These skills need to be learnt, and internalised to become fast and reliable enough to survive in a fast paced game of DOTA. Simply put, you need to be able to just think about what you want to do, and your hands to do the rest - not about what keys you're pressing.

The first part is going to be around positional skills. They're very hard to describe in text, and the game is so situational that it's not something you can understand through a few easy points. There are so many dif…
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So, your team decided to pick an AFK jungler and you have only 1 support...there's a good reason almost every pro team always runs 2 supports...here's what you give up:

A trilane for your carry

This may or may not be an issue, depending how many heroes the opposition puts against your safe lane, and how good they are at looking after themselves. If you're running a hard carry like Spectre, especially against another dual lane, don't expect them to be getting epic farm though.

Mid Tangos

One support is unlikely to be able to get more than 1 set for regen, and will likely have to do without a Healing Salve. If they've got a relatively easy lane, they might be able to afford to give you 1 Tango. You might have to buy some yourself.

Detection and TPs to mid / offlane

A biggee. Each hero gets 625 starting gold, and 100 per minute income without last hits, assists or jungle creeps. That means our sole support likely has about 1700 gold in the first ten minutes without assists,…
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Hey guys,

Another quick video guide, this time for a 3v3 lane that developed unexpectedly in a recent ranked game. The sides were a bit unorthodox due to some slightly odd picks, but here we go:

Wraith King
Shadow Shaman
Jakiro

Vs

Slardar
Nyx Assassin
Tidehunter

Both teams have plenty of early stuns and nukes, but the Dire team has two ranged heroes which should help if the lane becomes drawn out. Take a look at the video - there are various mistakes and misplays in there, but it's only by looking back that you sometimes take these into account. It's obviously a way off pro level 3v3 lanes, big skill difference, and also that the players involved don't know each other or have proper comms.
Play Video (possibly still processing as of 14:04gmt)
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A few of you seemed to like the last little video, so I've banged up another one on Youtube from a game I played earlier. This is a demo of what I consider a "sub-optimal" lane, and how to deal with that.

Basically, one guy randomed a SK early on, and I offered to swap. He said ok, and I asked him what he wanted "random" he said...and I got an SD. We agreed not to swap as his SD was even worse! Luckily, this turned out ok for the lanes they picked, but meant that I ended up dual laning with Faceless Void... a lane with almost zero kill potential until level 6...so how do we deal with that?
Play Video …
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Hey guys,

I played an interesting game early on with some good examples of early Sand King support play, with various bits and pieces I wanted to talk about. It takes you through the first 8 minutes of that game with a bit of stunningly good voice over work to explain some of the decisions and actions taken.

(note, this could be total lies)

Hope it's helpful! Play Video

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