6.86 Drafting Thread

Now I've been playing dota for about 2 years and one concept I've yet to really grasp is drafting. Sure, I've sat in drafts during inhouses, but mostly I sat back and let people like Sando, Wulfstan and even Xyrus do the drafting. But now that I've been watching some CM games, the drafting process has begun to capture my interest.

So, I figured this thread could be used to talk about how to draft in the 6.86 meta. What lineups are best right now? Who is first ban material? Who do you pick first? Let's talk drafting and hope I learn something about it!

Ayy lmao.

On topic: "Meta" tab on Dotabuff -> sort by most picked in 5k+ bracket and you get your heroes.

http://www.datdota.com/stats.php?p=draft

Alternatively, use this ^

If you're aiming to Draft in Captain's Mode, you're looking to 5-stacks, so analysing Competetive Picks will be better imo.

You can look at an individual Hero, let's say Invoker:-

http://www.datdota.com/hero.php?q=Invoker&p=matches

...and then open up some recent matches in which he was picked, then click on the "Draft" tab:-

http://www.datdota.com/match.php?q=2096395904&p=draft
http://www.datdota.com/match.php?q=2095244332&p=draft
http://www.datdota.com/match.php?q=2095238951&p=draft
http://www.datdota.com/match.php?q=2094893308&p=draft
http://www.datdota.com/match.php?q=2094553066&p=draft

As you can see, he's a regular 1st pick, being lasted Picked in the 1st game only.

If you look at the Bans that the Invoker picking side made in the 4 games where he was 1st picked, you get:-










So, in these 4 games, I see Invoker getting 1st Picked after Banning strong competition in Lane for him. Death Prophet can Slow and Silence him, setting him up to get Ganked by other heroes rotating onto him, and Chen / Earth Spirit / Spirit Breaker are quite capable of that. I don't see the Lone Druid Ban as being related to Invoker though.

Unfortunately, I don't know of a better way to sort through all these results, just go through analyzing individual Heroes and I'm sure you'll see some pretty interesting interactions between the Bans and Picks that can lead you to develop your own Drafting technique. <}3

...but whatever, what would I know about Drafting? -_-

nothing? pogchamp 4HEad

rofl honestly though ZYRUUUU has great points. mostly drafting is about synergy and ability to adapt or counter.

a good draft cant be too focused on one hero or too many. you cant be all single target you cant have all AOE wombo. it cant be too greedy or not greedy enough. a good drafter also knows the enemy and his players weaknesses and drafts accordingly. you cant be too weak in your lanes or mid game or late.

my way to draft is to have pocket synergy. small 2-3 man combos with pre 6 skills that can kill or win either a hero or team fights. fissure into coldfeet into gyro. rubick lift into skewer. then add ontop post 6 combos or abilities that either have mobility or control. now add on top a over all draft to that. is it teamfight/push/2 core? pick/objective/rotate?

good tip that mutumbaman told me is

draft comfortably with heroes you know and slowly learn from the drafts against you.

You mean THIS matumbaman?

Is that Janitsu?

god isnt he pretty

Even I have not completely understood it but i will try to tell you all I know
1st ban is meta top hero acc skill bracket or see tthe heroes that the opp team play before draft begins.
2nd ban its mostly instinct this one they banned a huskar they are going for someone with magic damage say zues
1st pick normally a support post 5 maybe
2nd pick this normally reveals your strategy if not done correctly so normally it can be the offlaner
3rd ban acc to the first 2 picks of opp team ban two of them or if some hero that hard counters your hero.
4th ban same as above
3rd pick mid laner
4th pick 2nd support to counter the other teams carry
5th ban same as 3rd and 4th ban
5th pick carry