The DotA 2 Alliance

[Sam]

With this years "The International" coming to a close, I figured it was about time we got a DotA 2 club going.

What is DotA 2?
In short, DotA 2 is a remake by Valve of the extremely popular Warcraft 3 custom map: "Defense of the Ancients" or "DotA" for short. It is of the increasingly popular MOBA genre where two teams of 5 players are pitted against each other. For a team to win they must destroy the opposing teams main structure: the Ancient. To say the least, this isn't as easy as it sounds.

Where do I start?
If you've never heard of DotA 2 and clicked this thread for reasons unknown: Check out the Wikipedia page and then head over to the DotA 2 website.

If you're new to DotA 2: Welcome, you suck. Once you suck a little less, here's all the information you'll need to get started and improve your playing.

What is this thread for?
Hopefully this thread will become a welcoming place to discuss any DotA 2 related strategies, techniques, builds and team compositions regardless of skill level, time played or amount of wins. Also, any DotA 2 related news or content (such as articles, guides, tutorials and videos) can be discussed here. More advanced players, I'd hope you would guide newer players and answer any questions that might pop up - we all know it's a hard game to get to grips with.

Definitely didn't rip some links from vg

So, to all DotA 2 players, fans, commentators and anybody else: Welcome!

[MSGhero]

At 8/12/13 01:04 AM, Sam wrote: So, to all DotA 2 players, fans, commentators and anybody else: Welcome!

Let us brave the terrors of matchmaking together.

Sam is EU, I'm US btw.

Few more days till I'm back at uni with my glorious 17 ping on us east. Ironically, I'm closer to the west server now and my ping on west is higher here than at uni.

[Sam]

At 8/12/13 01:40 AM, MSGhero wrote:

Sam is EU, I'm US btw.

Just had a match on US East and it was absolutely fine, so count me in for any US East or EU matchmaking.

[Gobblemeister]

I like Dota

I am a 2pro4u Brood player but I generally play support when I am not maxing my micro skills

[Natick]

my best characters so far are sniper, razor, witch doctor and lich

yes i have been sticking to the limited pool for quite some time now and i'm shit at melee characters

steam id is Monthly Volatile [$] if anyone is interested

[Sam]

At 8/17/13 01:34 PM, Natick wrote: my best characters so far are sniper, razor, witch doctor and lich

yes i have been sticking to the limited pool for quite some time now and i'm shit at melee characters

It's not a bad set of heroes to be working on. I've never been much for sticking to a handful of characters in any game I've played. All random was one of my favourite game modes for a while and it let me pick up a lot of heroes.

At 8/17/13 06:28 AM, Gobblemeister wrote: I like Dota

I am a 2pro4u Brood player but I generally play support when I am not maxing my micro skills

Get on that Meepo.

[Gobblemeister]

At 8/17/13 01:34 PM, Natick wrote: my best characters so far are sniper, razor, witch doctor and lich

yes i have been sticking to the limited pool for quite some time now and i'm shit at melee characters

I don't mind melee characters, as I mentioned before I really like Brood, but I hate playing mid with one because I always end up getting harassed to shit by a ranged character. Hell I hate playing mid in General, give me top lane errday.

[Natick]

At 8/18/13 07:39 AM, Sam wrote: It's not a bad set of heroes to be working on. I've never been much for sticking to a handful of characters in any game I've played. All random was one of my favourite game modes for a while and it let me pick up a lot of heroes.

At 8/18/13 06:52 PM, Gobblemeister wrote: I don't mind melee characters, as I mentioned before I really like Brood, but I hate playing mid with one because I always end up getting harassed to shit by a ranged character. Hell I hate playing mid in General, give me top lane errday.

only three melee characters that seem to fare better in my hands during the laning and farming phases are those with a stun, sneak or dashing ability like sand king, juggernaut or bounty hunter. i've been seeing a lot of people pick dragon knight lately and i have to say that he doesn't really start wrecking the opposing team until he gets his ultimate up to at least lvl 2.

having hard time getting the hang of windrunner and an even worse time with drow ranger which i think might have to do with her hard-hard carrying and half of her abilities are passive. unwritten rule of thumb seems to be that the team with viper with gain a nice hefty advantage in the mid to late phases and i haven't lost a match with him or sniper yet. also, i can't recall surviving very long in the middle lane either, bot for dire has been working out much better on my end

jumping into the all hero games this week since i've done all of the limited hero pool and as somebody who still feels like a newcomer, i hope valve puts in more updates in the tutorial soon. i played all the bot matches to completion and it does a good job at teaching the bare basics with builds, abilities, farming and tower pushing but it feels as if there could be room for much more, like informing the different roles the heroes play, different strategies used for carries, supports, initiators and nukers, 1-2 combos, HOW TO DENY CREEPS AND TOWERS, etc. i have been constantly looking through the community hub guides and builds, including purge's and dotacinema's which are very helpful and all but i still feel like for a game that is well aware of it's massive learning curve, it could do much better for the game itself to let the noobs know the finer details that otherwise fly over their heads when they jump into real matches.

all this being said, i have had only two matches so far where the team i was playing on got bitter with each other and it wasn't like any of the early game horror stories you hear of people being yelled at while their k/d/a is 1/20/6 that were going on during the beta.

[Gobblemeister]

At 8/18/13 11:33 PM, Natick wrote: HOW TO DENY CREEPS AND TOWERS, etc.

Yeah the game doesn't really go out of its way to teach you how to do this, it doesn't really do a lot to teach you how the hotkeys work at all really. I still can't figure out an optimal setup for my hotkeys so I end up not using them at all most of the time and I know I need to start using buttons more.

[Sam]

At 8/19/13 03:48 AM, Gobblemeister wrote:

At 8/18/13 11:33 PM, Natick wrote: HOW TO DENY CREEPS AND TOWERS, etc.

Yeah the game doesn't really go out of its way to teach you how to do this, it doesn't really do a lot to teach you how the hotkeys work at all really. I still can't figure out an optimal setup for my hotkeys so I end up not using them at all most of the time and I know I need to start using buttons more.

It's definitely an area Valve need to improve upon. This is my current key arrangement, aside from the mouse buttons, it's fairly common:

QWER for primary skills, D and F for secondary.

Inventory:
Space for first
First side mouse button for second
Second side mouse button for third
Z, X, C for the remaining

F1 for hero selection
F2 for courier selection
F3 for shop

1 through 9 for control groups

[BananaBreadMuffin]

hey guys i like dota but i'm unbelivably shit at it

but i do enjoy playing nevertheless

(on eu west)

[MSGhero]

At 8/19/13 03:48 AM, Gobblemeister wrote:

At 8/18/13 11:33 PM, Natick wrote: HOW TO DENY CREEPS AND TOWERS, etc.

Yeah the game doesn't really go out of its way to teach you how to do this, it doesn't really do a lot to teach you how the hotkeys work at all really. I still can't figure out an optimal setup for my hotkeys so I end up not using them at all most of the time and I know I need to start using buttons more.

They're working on it, like a last hitting challenge or something. Go into a practice lobby and pick shadow fiend mid, that'll teach you how to last hit.

Hotkeys will take time, I don't even know if mine are very good. But I'm used to them by now:
QWERDF skills
123tgb items
f2 courier, f3 retrieve items
f1, 456789 control groups
v level up skill

Some items I only put on a certain button, like b for blink (habit from sc2 stalkers) or 3 for BoTs

[Spretznaz]

Why do I have like 10 Dota2 keys in my steam library? I don't even have the game...

[Natick]

At 8/20/13 03:29 PM, Spretznaz wrote: Why do I have like 10 Dota2 keys in my steam library? I don't even have the game...

please sir

[Natick]

wait, did you mean to say treasure keys or beta keys

[Spretznaz]

At 8/21/13 06:03 PM, Natick wrote: wait, did you mean to say treasure keys or beta keys

beta keys I think

[Art3misZer0]

I love playing Queen of pain and enchantress.

I made a newgrounds guild if anyone is interested. Add me to your friends and I'll shoot you an invite
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Liquid_Fire

[Sam]

At 8/21/13 06:13 PM, Archonic wrote:

At 8/21/13 06:03 PM, Natick wrote: wait, did you mean to say treasure keys or beta keys

beta keys I think

Do they still work? A friend told me you have to buy the game now cause it's out of beta.

[Art3misZer0]

At 8/22/13 12:05 PM, Sam wrote:

At 8/21/13 06:13 PM, Archonic wrote:

At 8/21/13 06:03 PM, Natick wrote: wait, did you mean to say treasure keys or beta keys

beta keys I think

Do they still work? A friend told me you have to buy the game now cause it's out of beta.

Pretty sure all beta keys are gone. Valve gave you an item which got a special quality/name depending on how many people you invited.
And you don't have to buy the game, it's completely out of beta and completely free now. However, valve are letting people get into the game in waves so their servers doesn't get overloaded.

[MSGhero]

Sometimes there's an asshat on my team, and I don't want us to win but we do. Then I feel really bad for the other team :(

then they give me commends mwahaha

[koopahermit]

What? You have no idea how much this hurts.

[Sam]

At 8/31/13 02:51 AM, koopahermit wrote: What? You have no idea how much this hurts.

QUICK, everyone hide!

Implying anyone is even here

[MSGhero]

Gonna try some scrims tonight with other people at uni who play dota2. Hopefully it goes better than my pubs of late have been.

I got called lightofheaven when playing windrunner, successful game

[Gobblemeister]

Rise from the grave

I've been trying to Meepo but TAB + W isn't working and I don't know why and I can't get a real answer from anyone

I got my control groups and everything but i don't switch through meepos when i tab so i can't even get my practice

If anyone knows what i might be doing wrong help pls

[Gobblemeister]

At 11/11/13 08:35 PM, Gobblemeister wrote: Rise from the grave

I've been trying to Meepo but TAB + W isn't working and I don't know why and I can't get a real answer from anyone

I got my control groups and everything but i don't switch through meepos when i tab so i can't even get my practice

If anyone knows what i might be doing wrong help pls

I figured it out

I didn't notice I had to actually make TAB the key for Control Group tabbing

In other news I am retarded

[GingerBaron]

I have played the game since beta but only a few games at a time. My personal favourite character is windrunner for her utility.

However I am awful at looking at my keyboard when playing cause my brains forgets where my hand is...
Also I've been thinking about getting a mouse with buttons on the side, can anybody recommend said mice?

[Sam]

At 11/11/13 09:01 PM, Gobblemeister wrote: In other news I am retarded

You're a brave man for practicing Meepo. I feel I'm OK with him, but whenever it comes to it I get outcarried by the enemy carry in late game.

At 11/12/13 10:40 AM, GingerBaron wrote: I have played the game since beta but only a few games at a time. My personal favourite character is windrunner for her utility.

Windrunner is a lot of fun if she's on your team.

However I am awful at looking at my keyboard when playing cause my brains forgets where my hand is...

Don't play the first DotA or switch to legacy keys then then, all the hero hot keys are different.

Also I've been thinking about getting a mouse with buttons on the side, can anybody recommend said mice?

I've got a Zowie AM. I'm not usually one for buying gear that's branded as "gaming gear", but I realised you can't really get away from it with mice. It's been pretty reliable so far, the shape fits my hand nicely and the buttons come in useful, although they are a little awkward to reach if you don't claw grip your mice.

I've heard a lot of people recommend the Logitech G400, I don't know how relevant that is anymore though.

[ChiiFace]

OO la la! Dota 2!
I play support like a baws! Back when warlock was IMBA and nobody realised, i'd rape the hell out of peeps.
Do have to hate when you gots a complete arse on your team who rages at you all like "FFF SHADWO SHAMN PLZ RPORT NO ULTEH B;LOOP" But then types "EZ" in all-chat once we win.
Anywhos, anyone wanna play with meeee!? Add my steam account 'shayla bot' or 'Chillichill' or PM me on NG!
And we shalt brave the pub match... TOGETHER! Hazar!

[ChiiFace]

At 11/12/13 10:40 AM, GingerBaron wrote: I have played the game since beta but only a few games at a time. My personal favourite character is windrunner for her utility.

However I am awful at looking at my keyboard when playing cause my brains forgets where my hand is...
Also I've been thinking about getting a mouse with buttons on the side, can anybody recommend said mice?

My husband allways plays with a Razor brand mouse. Some of them are designed for gaming. Me? Well i have a £10 Tesco's own, and it suits me just fine!

[Gobblemeister]

New heroes tomorrow

They're in the test client now though if you want to try them

I really like Earth Spirit, the boulders are really neat and let me make the 'pro playz' that make me erect

Ember Spirit seems pretty retarded strong with how hard he will be to kill compounded with the fact that he's an agility hero