Ok, I'll be the first to say it...TECHIES SUCK

What's up with the Techies hate? Am I the only one who actually think that they're a fun hero?

To be honest the only thing I'm worried about isn't having Techies in the enemy team, it's having Techies in my team! I'm willing to bet anything that Techies is going to be the new Wisp or Earthspirit and he's going to sit in rock bottom of 30-35% winrates. One thing for sure, Techies going mid = GG we fckin lost.

goblin techies' lane presence is pretty much zero...they're just there to sap experience. Yes, they can get early kills with land mines but I think it's pretty easy to avoid : if all you do is walk on the path used by the creeps, there's really no risk. A lane support can just sentry the pull camp to make sure it's not mined and then stack-pull normally. Techies suck in lane! As long as you're in your lane, if don't do obvious stupid stuff like going to the secret shop without sentrying it, you're fine and your carry is freefarming. It's when you start roaming that the problem starts...and that's exactly why I love the hero! Techies is one of the best (and most fun) counters to early roaming. That's why I'm happy that they're finally here, becasue boom, screw those Mirana pickers.
So yeah, a *lane* support has nothing to fear from Techies, only *roaming* supports do. If all you do is support your lane then you can just zone him out and deny every single one of his creeps, and have your carry freefarm.

Right now all that's happening is that one guy picks Techies, and all the enemy team is mad that they can't pick him so they counterpick Techies, with LD, TA, Furion, Huskar, Abaddon, WK, Zeus, etc. I saw a team with 3 gems. There's just so much Techies hate that they can't do anything. One thing for sure, we're going to see a lot more support Zeus from now on :)

I really can't understand that one can hate Techies because they like playing support. The reason I love Techies is *exactly* because I like playing support : supports place invisible wards on ganking paths so that they can prevent their team from getting ganked. Techies place invisible *mines* on ganking paths so they can BLOW UP THE GANKERS! Techies is really the fun version of a support :)

Sando, why you heff 2 b mad? Only game. Anyway, the main idea with them is picking the right support for the job. Skywrath Mage is insanely good against them.

Fun for the person playing them maybe, fun for those specific heroes who find them easy to deal with (TA anyone?), not fun being randomly blown up if you're unlucky enough to walk in slightly the wrong place. Not fun being a solo support who has to buy even more sentries than normal and will probably be the target of said random insta-kill explosions or suicide squad.

Sorry, but I think the game should be more about skill than luck. If I get hooked by a decent Pudge, fair enough, somebody placing a few mines somewhere 10 minutes ago in the hope I'll walk on to them? Meh, I want to play DOTA, not minesweeper.

I was so annoyed within about 10 minutes of starting that game that I basically had no desire to continue. It didn't seem to involve any skill, and I didn't really feel like I'd made any kind of serious mistake that got me killed - the burst is just ridiculous. Which other hero can one-shot somebody from full health at level 1? And then get another ability that can one-shot at level 2? It's like giving Lion Finger of Death at the start.

It's not OP, but it's pure anti-fun, totally killed my enjoyment of the game. And the point of playing is to have fun? I'm a support, I don't mind dying either because I made a mistake, sacrificed myself or just got plain outplayed, I'm used to it. If I'm on low health wandering about, that's my bad. Randomly blowing up from full health with no enemy heroes nearby? No Thanks, it just seems like a cheap trick, a gimmick like Fumbles said.

Are they not in Captain's mode then? If so, maybe I can still play while this blows over in AP thanks to their awful win rate :)

Made a jungle legion commander rage quit cause I loaded up with clarities and a tp and mined up her jungle.


Also team wiped the whole enemy team with five remote mines as they went for a deathball on our mid. (LC rage quitted right after)

Techie safe support is legit.

If some1's going to woods with LC then he just deserves to lose badly, not really good argument :>

Techies are gonna be a good counter to roaming supports. He is nowhere near core but will be great against split push and deathball pushs.

First Techies game

Ok. I...Have a confession

I picked techies, and had fun. I also won the game, so that's a thing that happened.

Basically, (and I hate to be this guy) I had to instapick, or get instapicked. So of course, silencer was picked by radiant.

Also, 6 out of those 8 deaths were suicides, and the 2 deaths were done by silencer (actually quite effective in making sure techies doesn't blow up, I must say.)

Funniest part of the game, I was on low health, suicide was on cooldown, and I baited all 3 of my chasers past their ancients, where I had been heavily mining, and got a triple kill. I stopped to laugh so much at their confusion, when suddenly silencer walked up and killed me :P.

---

Another little anecdote, I was facing a team today, where an enemy instalocked Techies, but then repacked at 0:05 seconds to make sure game had no techies in it. Ended up getting one of my better Pudge ratios:
This.

I mean, I understand that he's fun to play and stuff. I had a blast (pun intended) playing him in bot matches, but I just really don't think I'll be picking him in ranked play... ever.

Pros of Techies:
Great against deathball push. If you can place remotes in the fog and time the blast just right, you can get a one key rampage (cheap, but effective)
Best base defender in the game. While your team pushes or goes for rosh you can just sit back and boobytrap your whole base to prepare for a counterpush.
Stasis Mines are actually pretty legit. They're the best way to turn a Roshan attempt around, in my opinion.
You get a lot of kills..?

Cons of Techies:
Absolutely, without a doubt the worst laner in the game. Probably the worst early game in general too. You don't have enough mobility or movespeed to do what you need to do, and you have no real way of fighting back if two heroes decide to attack you.
Made useless with gem and sentries. It takes a lot of time and mana to get your mines placed, and it's absurdly easy to just walk around popping them with Windranger or someone.
They never stop being easy to kill. They have to build mana, mana, and more mana, and can't afford to get much survivability except maybe a Force Staff. They just have to be away from the fighting for the whole game, which means they're useless unless your team dominated early on.
Basically a single-player hero. He doesn't synergize especially well with anyone except maybe Enigma or Magnus, but even then you still have to kill yourself to do anything good.

Like I said, he's fun to play. But he is punished harder than any other hero, I think, by an enemy team who makes an effort to counter you.

Every game I played yesterday versus them, I just picked SD and got a gem after boots. Techies stay level 1 until their kills start flowing in because they AFK mine around the map. I would roam, ward, and if I saw mines (or had to go uphill during night) I would disrupt myself and walk the illusions into the mines. They will be insanely underleveled, and a non factor for the majority of the game. I feel techies are pretty weak, honestly.

Seems like you don't play against smart people. Techies should stay in lane after plopping a batch of bombs.