quick question for all the boffins out there!

Ok so the question is:

Why is it that in most "Advised" Builds for a lot of heroes (both user made builds and the In game builds) are Drastically different to the Builds Pro's Use?

for example Slark!

a lot of item builds say to go for a Yasha into S&Y then a basher. yet i see Pros not even building a yasha and going Linkens/Shadow blade.

Gyro! a lot of builds say to go helm into bkb into manta yet i see the majority of pro's building Ethereal blade and Blink.

is there a reason everyone advises something and nearly every one builds a hero that way yet Pro's dont?

Pros are building acording to the need. I have to yet see a Ethereal Blade Gyrocopter, but I've seen blink a couple of times on him.

People that build Sange and Yasha on Slark have no idea what the game is about, it's only a waste of gold. Shadow Blade is where it's at. Only Yasha is decent, and Skull Basher allows you to get an Abyssal Blade later.

I personally, enjoy Diffusal Blade a lot on Slark because when combined with Essence Shift, you gain 39 extra damage (hypotheticaly) really quick into the game (about 15 mins in), and the purge is really useful.

The different reason might be the whole team strategy. While in pubs you can't really rely on your team, pro's can, and they can build items that are the most useful for the team, not only for yourself, and combined with other items and heroes, it will be the best choice.

There is also a perfect (at least should be) communication in a team, so even if your main initiator cannot afford Blink Dagger with even decent timing, someone else who is quite capable will do it. It leads to various, elastic builds that are sometimes succesful.

Buying Ethereal Blade on Gyrocopter in pub games is very risky, because it's not worth it to use that with Gyrocopters skills only. But combined with a nuker or generally entire team (communication), can make wonders. And that hero will probably farm that item faster than anyone in his team.

I can't really answer that question as I watch pro's and think there builds are quiet logical and good.
I mean I've seen a couple but not many builds for Lifestealer where you grab an Orb of Venom early game. Honestly, I think it is a great pick-up on him and don't see why people don't get it. 16% slow on all of your right-clicks can mean the difference between winning a lane or letting the offlaner get away with their life.

There's a few things at work here:

1) Pub players making bad item choices sometimes

2) Pro players play on very fine margins and at a very high level

3) Pro players can assume near perfect co-operation from their team

My rule of thumb is "don't just do it cos the pro's do" - there may be very specific reasons they've gone a particular hero/build, and if you don't understand those reasons and match the circumstances, you'll struggle to replicate their success.

Eblade gyrocopter? I have never seen that in a pro game, the professional build is: sometimes dominator, BKB, MKB.

Pro's sometimes go S&Y on slark, but shadow blade is picked up more, even though blink is getting more popular then shadow blade.

The biggest factor is probably the valve builds, which are horrible.

Eblade gyro, i do that. If i face like a void, just w8 till he is about to jump then cast it, damn sucker just wasted his chrono.

FOr slark SnY is a BIG nono, i usually get a casual yasha then either diffusal or skadi then bkb manta .

Actually SnY is a good mid game item on Slark. Especially if you plan on breaking them down later to make manta and halberd. I prefer Halberd over butterfly most games mostly due to how much Butterfly costs. Also its active isn't that bad against certain heroes either.

One reason why Shadowblade is better on Slark in pubs; is due to most pubs lacking in teamwork and communications. Also most teams don't use dust or sentries.

Slark: Yasha isn't built much because drum is better as a dead-end item, and Slark doesn't benefit from yasha upgrades. They buy shadowblade because it's amazing on Slark, blink is gaining popularity though. Linkens is very uncommon.

Gyro: Pros almost never build eblade or blink. In approximately 2000 competitive games with gyro there were a total of 19 Eblade pickups (~1%). Blink only picked up 7 times. For reference there were also 11 Aghs pickups in that span.

datdota.com is your friend if you want to make statements regarding pro item builds.

Simply, pub players stick to item builds that are effective for their skill level ( Shadow Blade on Sniper anyone?) and don't go for team-oriented builds (like the Mekansm on Viper) because they don't trust their own teammates. For instance, a couple "wrong" builds:


Slark: it's usually Shadow Blade or Blink Dagger into Eye of Skadi, rarely Black King Bar.
PS: I personally don't like going Basher on him because he already has that Pounce disable and, especially with an SnY or Skadi, you even have a super slow! Why would you need a third (or even fourth) way of slowing down your enemies? It's only good versus BKBed carries you can't stop without one, and of course you have to upgrade it into an Abyssal Blade as soon as possible to make it worth the price.

Gyrocopter: Phase Boots plus Drum of Endurance and/or Helm of the Dominator into Black King Bar and Monkey King Bar in this order, rarely Butterfly instead of the MKB. Satanic is the most common extension.

Luna: Power Treads and Helm of the Dominator into Black King Bar and Manta Style; Satanic and Butterfly, in any order, come next. To all pub players reading this, stop buying that useless Shadow Blade and, most of all, rush that BKB! A Luna without BKB is just free food.

Batrider: Boots of Speed/ Tranquil Boots, Blink Dagger and Force Staff, both are core.

Invoker QE: Boots of Speed and Hand of Midas into straight Necronomicon 3 most of the time, a Ring of Basilius is also taken before the Midas by a lot of players. If you don't need to push, then the Scythe of Vyse is the best "big" item. Competitive players don't pick up an Agh's, usually.

Mirana: Phase Boots, Ring of Aquila, Drum of Endurance, Mjollnir: stop building her as a glass cannon, get a Drum already!


I see so many players using these Heroes badly, I can't understand why people hate BKB on Luna or stack Bracers on Batrider... I don't mind having an Invoker with an Agh's as long as he can play the Hero, but I hate those who go full Exort without Forge Spirits and build straight Boots into Eul.