lets-try-dota

[lets-try-dota]

Damn, save some for the rest of us

[lets-try-dota]

Centaur Warrunner

I was intrigued by Centaur, because I’m sort of drawn to the characters with the largest health pools. While he’s not exactly my type of hero, he’s definitely got utility.

Imposing.

Difficulty: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Relaxed

The Centaur has some pretty simple spells with pretty clear intent. His long cast animations can throw a player for a loop, especially with such close-range skills that are easy to run from or stun him out of. His trickiest ability is his risky W (Double Edge), which deals heavy damage to both an enemy and Centaur himself. There are some pretty interesting economics behind that spell, but it’s really the scariest thing he’s got in his arsenal for the player.

Durability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Sturdy

Centaur has the largest base health pool in the game by a margin of 300 at level 25. Since his moveset encourages him to build Strength both for increased durability and for higher damage out of his Strength-based E (Return) and R (Stampede), that health pool is likely to soar into the 4000s range by the end of the game. Combined with the fact that his E punishes enemies for attacking him, he can basically effectively place himself in the center of battle. However, his lack of an escape mechanism (thanks to the fact that his escape ability is likely your method of getting into a teamfight) leads to some very compromising situations, and a sloppy Centaur (e.g. me) will die early and often.

Damage Output: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Tough

It doesn’t seem like it, but Centaur is pretty reliant on his spells to deal out damage. They do scale well with Strength gain, but they don’t quite reach full potential thanks to their serial nature. Toward the late game, he can switch over to mainly physical damage, but then his issue becomes attack speed; his is pretty slow, which bars him from becoming a true carry. Honestly, thinking about it now, he may do well with Sange and Yasha; I didn’t even think to get it on him, since it’s such a niche item usually. Move speed, attack speed, and bonus strength/damage are all things he can do well with.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Semi-Carry

Centaur is kind of hard to scale into the late game, but it can definitely be done. He scales absurdly with Strength boosts; if only there were an item he could get that would give, say, something insane like +40 strength, and also make him regenerate 7% of his health each second! Surely, if such an item existed, VALVe would put it in their default guide, at least as a situational item...

However, a dependency on spells and the ability to initiate teamfights also makes Centaur a good support, stunning and softening up the enemies so his team can come in and finish the job. Unfortunately, bot matches make effective initiating difficult, because bots will just do whatever they want and come into a teamfight one-by-one, letting themselves get shredded.

Sustainability: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Burst

His abilities have fairly short cooldowns, but Centaur’s biggest issue is mana. His mana issues are huge, and they are constant, to the point that I sold the guide’s suggested Tranquil Boots to buy Arcane Boots at the 30 minute mark. Yes, I was still having mana trouble toward the latter half of the game. It’s really a big issue with him; his only saving grace is that he can cast his W as much as he wants, since its damage can’t kill him. However, that can be an issue if he uses too much of his own health; no matter how bottomless his health pool seems, he’s still not invincible.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Dull

His abilities move pretty slowly and they don’t seem to have a huge impact. However, I have reason to blame some of my issues enjoying him with VALVe’s terrible item guide for him. Pipe of Insight over Heart of Tarrasque? No situational Satanic? Tranquil Boots on a hero who needs everything except durability? What is up with this guide? Who made it? Luckily, I was keen enough to pick up a Heart for myself, and the difference it made was really spectacular. Creeps basically die in a radius around him, thanks to his E, and the Heart’s health regen lets him retain full health for the entirety of a counterpush, even if he doesn’t attack at all.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Close

It’s tough being a tank/initiator when your team is seemingly indifferent to the fight going on. Razor spent the whole game farming and only came out to push at about 50 minutes, which is when he finally became secure in his power, I guess. In the meantime, as you can tell, I was being a complete nitwit, basically meat-shielding my allies and dying in their stead while they failed to take down the Chaos Knight - Shadow Fiend dream team.

It is really tough to overstate how massively a Heart of Tarrasque and Blademail helped Centaur out. Why VALVe didn’t include the former in the guide is completely baffling. 1300 bonus health, 300 bonus HP Regen, 30 bonus E damage and 120 bonus R damage is the kind of buff you’d ask to see removed from the game due to its sheer power; I’d go so far to say that Centaur synergizes with Heart of Tarrasque better than pretty much any other hero. The only one to come close is Pudge.

However, I can understand focusing on Centaur’s many weaknesses. I feel like Arcane Boots and Yasha would pretty much solve them, though. It makes me want to make my own item guide for him.

[lets-try-dota]

Broodmother

Next in our lineup is our first female hero, and what an icon she is! Raising 4-40 kids and still looking gorgeous. What a woman.

The last time I played her, her face was much more... spider.

Difficulty: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Moderate

My tried-and-true method of clustering all my microed units together worked pretty well for Broodmother, but I ran into some issues related to locomotion. I think her collision size is much too large for a hero who is going to have as many clustered units as she does. Heroes like Phantom Lancer and Naga Siren have collision size 1/3 of the normal size; why shouldn’t Broodmother get the same? Other than the obvious micromanagement issues, I found that she is very dependent on her team, which can lead to issues if your team does what my team did this game.

Durability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Rounded

She’s physically frail, and her short attack range makes her an easy target, but Broodmother has a lot up her pedipalps. Her W (Spin Web) gives her high mobility and invisibility, allowing her to easily escape threats; her E (Incapacitating Bite) makes all of her attacks blind her enemies, giving them a chance to miss attacks; and her R (Insatiable Hunger) gives her absurd damage and lifesteal, letting her return to full health in only a couple attacks. With that, her biggest struggle is getting her teeth into an enemy, because too many Spiderlings can form a barricade between her and her enemies.

Damage Output: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Modest

Broodmother doesn’t have a lot of natural damage output, but her abilities help with this greatly. Her Q (Spawn Spiderlings) is a nuke that, well, spawns Spiderlings if it happens to kill a unit. Her Spiderlings themselves deal pretty decent ancillary damage, and they can spawn Spiderites with each attack, effectively multiplying her army. To add to this, her R gives her a pretty nasty bonus in attack damage (up to 140, more than doubling her base damage), which makes it even more pertinent that she manages her children and doesn’t let them get in her way.

Support Viability: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Carry

The biggest non-carry role Broodmother takes is pushing. In the early laning stages, she is officially behind if she hasn’t taken down her lane’s tier 1 tower by the 15-minute mark, because she’s one of the few heroes who can easily take one down pretty much immediately. A well-fed Brood can steamroll a game within 30 minutes, but - guess what - that kind of pushing power inevitably turns her into a carry. Her biggest supportive asset to teamfights would be her E’s slow and blind, or maybe her Spiderlings’ meat shield. There are many better options.

Sustainability:  ◆◆◆◆◆ - Relentless

With a short cooldown, a high spawn rate, and long duration, there is almost no point in the game where Broodmother will ever not have Spiderlings, and her Spiderlings and a few choice items are pretty much the only thing she needs to be effective.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Fun

Broodmother has a solid, synergistic set of skills. The extreme movespeed and unrestricted movement from her W is great, and it keeps her units from getting cluttered, but when the majority of her turf is webbed up, it stops being moments of breakneck speed and starts being moments of horrible slowness. It’s fun, however, to push from one end of a lane to another and grow an enormous empire of spiders on the way; as Broodmother, that encompasses most of her gameplay.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Close

Looking at these stats, it seems impossible to tell how this match could have gone belly-up for us. It’s simple, really; the Medium difficulty bots run on incomplete AI. What does that mean?

It means that Axe and Luna Roshed (of their own volition), but their programming seems to have stopped at a dead end there. They stood AFK in his pit for probably 10 minutes, turning the game into a 3v5. As you can see by the cheese, this is the second time the Radiant have killed Roshan; the first time, I picked up the Aegis and the game proceeded as normal. I suppose that bots are not programmed to pick up the Aegis or the Cheese, and so they wait for the human players to do something. Unfortunately, all my energy was spent counterpushing, so I didn’t have a lot of time to pick up items I wouldn’t be able to use.

I got all of Broodmother’s core items very early thanks to a productive mid lane, so I started experimenting. My final build included Bloodthorn, Vladmir’s Offering, and Desolator, three items not recommended by the guide but powerful nonetheless. I felt proud of myself for thinking up some synergistic items for her.

As you can see, though, Broodmother is pretty effective. Simple addition tells you that I had a palp in every single kill the Radiant made. This is thanks to her global presence given by her webs, and her excess of controlled units - just imagine the damage she could do if she divvied her Spiderlings up!

[lets-try-dota]

Bristleback

Bristleback seems to go against every preconception i had about DotA. In a game that largely struck me as methodical and measured, he can just kind of go nuts. It’s fantastic; IceFrog is a genius.

Difficulty: ◆◇◇◇◇ - Easy

As with most heroes with two or more passive abilities, there’s not a lot of nuance about Bristleback’s spells. In fact, he almost invites the player to play him how most people would play their first hero; without any regard for spell cooldowns or mana costs. You can just crush the Q and W keys and alternate clicking left and right and you’ll make some pretty nice waves.

Durability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Rounded

With a decent health pool and high armor, Bristleback has pretty good innate durability. However, he lacks reliable escape and tanking abilities, which keeps him from the upper rungs of this category. He does have his E (Bristleback), which makes him much more sturdy from behind, but that feels like a pretty odd ability to me, and it’s not going to help you if you’re galloping in on the front lines. His R (Warpath) gives him extremely high movespeed if he’s been casting spells (and oh, does he ever); that can help him escape, but it doesn’t help if there’s a Sniper perched and ready to Assassinate you.

Damage Output: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Strong

Looking at his skills, one wouldn’t expect Bristleback to do a lot of damage. His only damaging spell is his W (Quill Spray), and its base damage isn’t very high, but he hides a trick up his sleeve; stacks. Oh, yes, his abilities are meant to be used over and over; every time a unit gets hit with his W, it does more damage than it did previously. That physical damage combined with his Q (Viscous Nasal Goo), which slows and lowers armor (and, yes, stacks), creates a pretty powerful hero already. Just to top him off, though, with the bonus attack speed from his R, he can finish you with his auto-attack.

Support Viability: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Carry

I just don’t see supporting working in Bristleback’s favor. He can slow enemies and lower their armor for his allies to finish them off, but other than that, he’s not got much support utility. Instead, he’s got abilities that, despite being spells, scale well into the late game and make him powerful at all stages.

Sustainability: ◆◆◆◆◆ - Relentless

It’s hard to find another hero who can put on quite as much pressure for such a long period of time. His longest cooldown is 3 seconds, and his highest mana cost is 35. Really, the moment he gets any sort of mana regen he’s set for life, essentially a bottomless pit of snot and quills - and the stacking nature of his abilities, combined with the attack and move speed of his R, means that he actually gets more effective and puts out more damage per second the longer the fight goes!

Enjoyability: ◆◆◆◆◆ - Exciting

There’s a certain joy to button mashing. His playstyles make battles rampant and hectic, and the sort of syncopation of his abilities’ cooldowns lets the player get into a comfortable rhythm to spam down heroes. It’s a really fun time, in ways that I can’t really put into words without repeating myself.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◆◆ - Very Well

I went into the off-lane for this game, but I bet I could have gone mid. Bristleback’s Q is an excellent harass, especially when you stack it; in the early game, once you’re down 3 armor or more, you probably want to bolt.

Something that stood out to me was how well Bristleback can survive a chase. This is no doubt due to his E, but I was able to lead Shadow Fiend, Necrophos, and Juggernaut around for full minutes until my team got together and backed me up. I learned in the late game that, even though turning around to cast feels wrong, his Q is excellent for getting out of 1v1 chases alive, because casting it speeds him up as well.

As you can see, I got pretty huge in this game. I didn’t even realize how well I was doing until I saw the results screen; something about his abilities makes me go into a haze. I played this match on my laptop in the living room, and I was asked what I was doing “so intently.” I didn’t even realize how focused I was until that focus was broken.

Bristleback’s gameplay is very button-mashy, but it avoids the pratfall that other button mashing games have - namely, causing me to zone out and mash buttons and not think about my actions. Everything he does is very intentional and laser focused.

If you’d asked me what he was like before I played him, I definitely wouldn’t have said that. Like many of DotA’s heroes, he defies expectations in an engaging and exciting way.

[lets-try-dota]

Brewmaster

As worried as I was for this game, it went way better than I expected. Somehow, Brewmaster’s micro is just not very demanding - or maybe I’m just getting better.

What a jolly dude.

Difficulty: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Tricky

Brewmaster’s spells are not super complex. His main three spells are pretty basic stuff (though his passive has a neat little mechanic that makes the player pick their battles); what really sets him apart is his R (Primal Split). Splitting into three discrete pandas with 2.5 discrete movesets is pretty powerful, but it’s also very demanding of the player. This is exacerbated, because they’re not told what each of Brewmaster’s units do until he’s split and has 20 seconds to make things work. Thank goodness for the DotA 2 Wiki, which I smartly visited before trying him out (though that didn’t prevent me from forgetting his moveset each time the opportunity rose).

Durability: ◆◆◆◆◆ - Tank

If there’s anything noteworthy about Brewmaster, it’s that his health bar is basically bottomless. He’s already got pretty absurd amounts of health, but if he finds himself in a tight spot, he can use his R and spawn three different heroes who all have full health bars. Since his Earth fragment has up to 3000 health and full spell immunity, it’s almost certain that it’ll survive until the end of the duration. When his R ends, he takes the place of the Earth fragment, and he’ll be back to full health! Just to seal the deal, his E (Drunken Brawler) allows him to passively avoid attacks, and his W (Drunken Haze) makes enemies miss their attacks! A Brewmaster on top of his abilities is almost impossible to kill.

Damage Output: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Modest

While he is considered a ganker, Brewmaster needs a significant level advantage to be a solo threat. His Q (Thunder Clap) works as an AoE nuke, but that’s overshadowed by its ability to slow both movement and attack speed. In addition, his E gives him a chance to land a pretty meaty crit, but his lack of attack speed keeps him from being a serious threat in this department.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Semi-Carry

Brewmaster can - and often will - be built as a carry, but that requires him to solo a lane and sponge up good farm early. Since I, ignorant to his durability, decided to take the safe lane, I didn’t get that sweet level advantage. Luckily, if he makes a good carry, he makes an even better support. Between initiating, pushing, and disabling, he’s able to embrace almost any role.

Sustainability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Periodic

His ult has a long cooldown, but that doesn’t mean he’s useless in the interim. His Q and W both have short cooldowns, letting him pursue enemies ruthlessly as long as he can keep away from the bottom of his mana pool. Unfortunately, with fairly expensive spells and low intelligence, Brewmaster is a bit restricted until he gets good mana regen.

With his ult, however, there’s no stopping. With short cooldowns and low mana costs, it’s essentially a 20-second burst of hell under the right controls.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Fun

I would have surely given a lower rating here if I didn’t understand my own limitations. If I had tried to give his pandas different commands and worked all three at the same time, I would surely have fried and been left unhappy. Thankfully, Brewmaster’s R works fine as a giant cluster of units, and while I can’t give discrete units discrete commands, I can certainly tab through each one and use each ability. I’ve got just enough skill to say that I didn’t squander his abilities, though I wasn’t even close to professional level.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Well

As you can see in the image at the beginning of this review, I used another community guide to help figure out Brewmaster’s skills and what to buy; thanks again, Torte de Lina! Funnily enough, the core guide for Brewmaster says in big letters “MID,” and yet I didn’t realize that Brew is one of the lauded Solo Mid Heroes.

Luckily, Chaos Knight went in my lieu, and, again, he completely stomped the game. I’m becoming more and more convinced he’s too powerful, considering his kills seemed for the most part pretty effortless.

Brewmaster plays support very efficiently, which is a surprise considering how sturdy of a support he really is. It doesn’t take much for his assists to rack up, especially considering how long-range and spammable his W is.

All three of my deaths can be attributed to Bloodseeker, whom I consistently forgot how to deal with. All three deaths were preventable; I ran out of health with my R off cooldown, or with 13 charges stored in my Magic Wand. Brewmaster demands a cool head to think about the situation, which is another surprise considering he’s just some goof who stumbles into battle. There’s more to him than meets the eye, that’s for sure.

[lets-try-dota]

Bounty Hunter

Funny thing, this one. Bounty Hunter is a hero comprised of four skills that seem almost useless, but somehow work splendidly in-game.

So, like... what IS he?

Difficulty: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Relaxed

While he’s seemingly just your average assassin hero, there’s a bit more to Bounty Hunter than one may suspect. His W (Jinada) is not your typical passive critical hit; it procs certainly after a cooldown, creating a rhythm to the Hunter’s strikes. In addition, his R (Track) is a pretty weird ability, and it’s almost impossible to understand how it can be an ultimate ability without using it a few times in game.

Durability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Sturdy

Bounty Hunter is one of those heroes that people hate to fight. His health is quite low, so you’d think he’d be an easy gank, but his high armor and his E (Shadow Walk) have something to say about that. It’s never fun to play against a hero who can become invisible, especially on a 15-second cooldown. With his sheer ability to escape harm, his durability rises significantly.

Damage Output: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Modest

I was surprised to see just how little damage Bounty Hunter actually does. With his W and his E adding damage to his attacks and his Q (Shuriken Toss) offering a short-range nuke, he sounds like he’d be a powerhouse, but it’s actually hard to amass any sort of DPS until his skills are fully leveled. His E’s bonus damage is separate from his attack damage, meaning it’s not amplified by anything else, and the long cooldown of his W does unfortunately mean that he doesn’t get much of a bonus out of it.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Semi-Carry

Bounty Hunter is only dangerous as a carry if he’s allowed to spiral out of control with farm - something in fact hard to prevent when his R gives so much bonus gold and has such a low cooldown. He’s easily outcarried by pretty much any other carry option, to the point that, if he’s not the hardest carry on his team, he’ll probably end up looking like a support anyway.

Sustainability: ◆◆◆◆◆ - Relentless

This boy hasn’t got a single cooldown over 15 seconds long. He does suffer from mana issues in the laning phase of the game, but those problems are solved in the time it takes him to farm Arcane Boots (hint: that’s not very long). Once he’s got ample mana, the only thing holding Bounty Hunter back is his own fragility. Luckily, his main contribution in early game teamfights is casting R on the front lines and casting Q on runaways, so he shouldn’t be using much mana once he gets out of the harass mindset.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Okay

I had an all right time. As the reader probably knows by now, I’m quite fond of spellcasting, of which Bounty Hunter does little. However, there’s something to say for the way that he sort of pulls the strings in teamfights, with his R acting as a pointer for which heroes to focus down. While an early-game Bounty Hunter won’t be much help himself, he can make the teamfights more rewarding for his team and gain himself the gold he needs to really become a powerhouse.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Well

Sniper is so powerful as a bot, for some reason. I wonder if I’ll snowball so effortlessly when I play him. Our laning experience sucked a bit, but the teamfighting transition saw me and my team swimming in gold like Scrooges McDuck. I had my core items on lockdown by the 30 minute mark, which is just insane.

Bounty Hunter is a power pick. He’s a hero you pick as a way of looking the enemy dead in the eyes and telling them that you intend to end this match, and end it quickly. Not only does he himself farm like a maniac, but his allies also gain absurd amounts of gold from his R, letting otherwise weak and needy carries reach their full potential before the other team is ready for the late game. He’s a pubstomp character, essentially.

My main issues with him are just that I don’t find much utility for his other spells. It’s completely doubtless by now that his Q can make or break a kill, and his R can change the course of a game, but I’m not sold on his other two spells. They seem implemented with the intention of making a ganker, or a 1v1 carry, but with the more supportive role he tends to fall into when he’s being outcarried, Bounty Hunter won’t find much use for them.

Then again, it’s really saying something that I’m willing to accept a hero as fully useful and playable on the merit of a single spell. But Bounty Hunter’s R is not to be understated. He can and will change the course of a game with it. And it’s ridiculously spammable, meaning he can do so with relative ease.

[lets-try-dota]

Me: I love strategy/tactical RPGs!

Me, playing such a video game: My strategy is to be physically stronger than my enemy. My tactic is to hit them really really hard.

[lets-try-dota]

Bloodseeker

After my stretch of less aggressive heroes, Bloodseeker was a total joy. It’s fun to play a carry who can actually, like, do things other than farm the whole game.

“I thought his voice would be much more extra than it is.” -- my friend, upon hearing his voice.

Difficulty: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Relaxed

Bloodseeker hasn’t got much nuance to his spells. His only spell with multiple utilities is his Q (Bloodrage), which amplifies damage in both directions for a unit. This can be used to buff Bloodseeker or an ally, or to make an enemy more vulnerable. The rest of his abilities are fairly simple, but his W (Blood Rite) has a really long delay and a very obvious visual cue. It can be a tricky spell to land, but the threat of it can be enough to control where your enemies go.

Durability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Sturdy

His strength is really high for an agility carry, and his high armor certainly doesn’t hurt. He doesn’t have much in the way of escape ability, however, and his Q does put him at increased risk of damage. Even then, his Q does let him regenerate a substantial amount of health if he kills an enemy, making him overall a very sturdy hero if he’s able to keep his damage output high.

Damage Output: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Strong

And he is! With such a high agility gain, his damage output is naturally high, but his abilities offer substantial gains in this field. While his W can be difficult to land, his R (Rupture) can force an enemy to pick their poison: would you rather stand in the range and get nuked and silenced, or move out of the range and take damage for every step you take? Also, there’s a cruel hooligan with blades strapped to his arms taking a whack at you every half-second.

In addition to all that, his E (Thirst) gives him bonus attack damage for every hero on the map who is missing more than 25% of their health. This stacks with the percentage-based bonus damage of his Q, making him an attack damage powerhouse, able to intimidate at all points of the game.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Semi-Carry

As powerful as Bloodseeker is, he’s not out of options if he gets off to a slow start. With a damage-boosting Q that can be cast on allies or enemies, an AoE nuke + silence that can initiate teamfights, and an R that can keep a wanted enemy from fleeing, he almost seems built to be a support. It’s really his E that pushes him over the edge into carry territory.

Sustainability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Continuous

What really brings Bloodseeker down, as with most strength and agility heroes, is mana costs. His spells can drain him quickly, as they have easily-abused cooldowns and relatively high costs. His saving grace here is that his Q is free to cast and has a low cooldown, meaning he’s a constant threat in the late game, even if he’s out of mana.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Fun

It’s kind of thrilling to take a Q-boosted Bloodseeker into battle and see who comes out alive. There’s a sense of pride behind landing his W, and it’s just silly to watch him move at speeds of 600 or higher with his E. Not to mention it’s funny to put his R on an enemy and then hit them with Force Staff (i.e. force them to move 600 units)! There’s a lot to like about him and the way he plays.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Close

I anticipated playing a support role and backing up Sven or Phantom Assassin in the late game, but to my surprise, the two laned together, stole each other’s farm, and were shut down by a more well-rounded Dire lane. For a while, we were lost as a team. At the midpoint of the game, I was sure it was a loss, as they had almost twice as many points as we did.

And then I got Sange & Yasha. And Maelstrom. Mjollnir. Black King Bar.

Once I was built like a carry, I played like a carry. Singlehandedly starting and ending teamfights was a thrill, and Mjollnir combined with Sven’s cleave gave us potent pushing power. Once I was seen as a threat, my R started really paying dividends, because I was powerful enough to make them run. I hear that this is a big reason why people don’t like playing against Bloodseeker, and, to be honest, it was a bit cruel. But hey - we had a deficit to make up.

I was a bit spoiled in this game, because bots don’t know how to get out of the way of his W. I’d imagine that a real game would have not seen so many strong initiates or successful last-ditch nukes. In addition, bots are prone to lots and lots of fighting, and being a presence in teamfights pretty much prevented the need for farming in the jungle. I gathered enough gold to buy a luxury Dagon after finishing my core items. I used it once before the game ended.

Bloodseeker is a very classic, fun hero. His gameplay is both maniacal and methodical, but it’s not hard to balance; in fact, it comes so naturally that the player might not notice they’re doing it.

[lets-try-dota]

Beastmaster

Beastmaster vexed me when I started playing him. He seemed almost incomplete; like he was missing something crucial to make him playable. Luckily, that something crucial is present in the game as an item, and I found my stride almost immediately once I got that.

*loud, incessant snorting*

Difficulty: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Tricky

As I said in the overview, it can be tough for Beastmaster to find his niche, and I’d figure that a good Beastmaster would adapt to the needs of the game. His key ability (which I neglected) is split into two spells, his W (Call of the Wild: Hawk) and his E (Call of the Wild: Boar). With his W, he can scout areas with unrestricted vision; with his E, he can get some minor damage on enemies and slow them down. The big scary part of this is that it requires micromanagement, and I think he’s supposed to use them to jungle more effectively? I never figured out how to use W, because I never used it.

Durability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Rounded

While he looks pretty beefy and sturdy, Beastmaster is on the far low end of the spectrum for Strength heroes. His decent health pool and high armor are all he has to his name, with no innate heals, buffs, or escapes. As a melee hero with up to eight other units to tend to, this makes him kind of an easy target if his player (read: me) is struggling to maintain everything.

Damage Output: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Modest

Damage is, apparently, not Beastmaster’s thing. While he does have two nukes - his Q (Wild Axes) and his R (Primal Roar) - they seem to be more geared toward other uses. Q deals decent damage to enemies in its path, but it does a better job at carving away large swaths of trees for his allies. R deals a lot of damage and stuns for a long time, but it’s clearly meant as a way to initiate / disturb teamfights. Other than that, he has almost no damage output to his name, even when he’s backed by four boars and two demons.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Support

I almost put five diamonds in this, because I was pretty much unable to do any sort of hard aggressive work at any point in the game. However, as an aggressive support, Beastmaster does have the theoretical potential to carry a team; I’m just not sure how. As aggressive as his abilities are, they just aren’t good enough to make DPS viable. His D (Inner Beast) fits this narrative, as it’s a supportive aura that gives teammates and controlled units more attack speed.

Sustainability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Continuous

While his R has a long cooldown, the rest of his abilities have long enough effects or short enough cooldowns that there’s rarely a point when Beastmaster has nothing left up his sleeve. His animal summons last a very long time, to the point that he can re-summon them and spawn another one. Combined with their very low mana costs, this assures that, if nothing else, he can always have an animal. However, his other spells have very high mana costs, and the Beastmaster’s low mana pool makes them a hassle to manage.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Dull

Beastmaster’s initiating and pushing prowess could be exciting to some, but his abilities feel like chores to me (yes, I’ll move the bird; yes, I’ll clear the trees). With a high-level Necronomicon and the talent that gives him two boars per summon, his lane-clearing ability becomes exciting, but at that point you’d better hope you’re all pointed in the same direction, because the moment you turn around it’s jostle city. I could have (and maybe should have) built Phase Boots, but I did Tranquils instead.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◆◆ - Very Well

No thanks to me, we ramped up absurd kills with absurd speed, averaging almost two every minute. After a lackluster laning experience, we went about our business defending and teamfighting. It turns out that Beastmaster’s R is a very good initiate, and by some magic our arrays of single-target skills managed to consistently shred the other team. We teamwiped twice.

Once I farmed a Necronomicon, we began pushing. A Beastmaster with four boars and a Level 3 Necronomicon makes for a lane-clearing powerhouse. I was content to hang back in teamfights and let loose my Q and my R when I could. I found Beastmaster’s supportive niche embarrassingly late into the game, and, the moment it clicked with me, the assists began to pile on.

In the middle of the game, after a few unsuccessful attempts to gank, I began to search for excuses for a K/D ratio less than one. Looking back on the game and how I played it, the reasoning is simple; I came in expecting an early game powerhouse, but was served a lane support. I played a support character like a ganker and paid the price. That’s not the game’s fault, really, that’s mine.

Maybe I should play these heroes more than once if I’ve never tried them before. I did pretty poorly with Beastmaster the first time around, but I bet I’d do much better the second time around, now that I know what he is. Maybe I’ll find more joy in his skills, too.

[lets-try-dota]

Batrider

Batrider seems to be the hero that everyone forgets. He’s well-rounded, and he works solidly in all stages of the game, which, despite making him a good hero, doesn’t give people lots to talk about.

That’s a fruit bat, apparently.

Difficulty: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Moderate

I will say, he’s definitely harder than he looks. His spells’ names and portraits were somewhat misleading to me, and even their descriptions seemed to evade mentioning crucial details about them. For instance, his W (Flamebreak) does no burst damage - only damage over time. I held a lot of misconceptions about his R (Flaming Lasso), which led to me greatly overestimating his capability. I initially thought it burned and did damage per second (it does no damage), and, before playing him, I thought I could lasso an enemy at range (you have to be right over them). These misjudgements killed me early on.

Durability: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Squishy

Batrider has very good health for an intelligence hero, but that’s all he’s got in his corner for survivability. He has a tepid escape in his E (Firefly), but that only serves him if he uses it to pass over cliffs. This is a bit of an issue, because Batrider’s spells are most potent when he gets up close and personal. It gives playing him a sort of thrill as the player tries to balance risk versus reward on the spot.

Damage Output: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Tough

There is no point in the game when Batrider is not a threat. In the early game, he’s a strong harasser and ganker, thanks to his Q (Sticky Napalm), which slows enemies in an area, weakens them to his attacks, and stacks fully with itself. With a couple stacks of that and his E, which lets him leave a trail of fire everywhere he goes, he can shut down any overzealous melee hero in the early game. His R in tandem with his Q and his E produces a lot of damage at any level, but, as with most heroes of his type, he faces a damage falloff in the late game. His is a bit less severe, but you can still feel it.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Support

Batrider’s terrorizing spells work really well in a support role, actually. His W and his R can displace enemies, disrupting their formation; his Q provides a pretty notable slow; his E does great area damage per second, especially in conjunction with his Q. The fact that his spells are almost entirely area spells is great, too, because that gives him lots more versatility. He acts not only as a support, but also as a pusher and a defender, his E able to topple waves of creeps.

Sustainability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Periodic

Other than his Q, Batrider’s spells have pretty noticeable cooldowns and high mana costs. However, his spells also last quite a long time, meaning that, when his mana pool gets big enough that he’s never low, he can deal pretty consistent damage, with his cooldowns running out by the time he’s traversed the map for his next duty.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Fun

Batrider’s a bit of a paradox, really. His spells, as concepts, are very reckless. His voice lines sound like a crazy cowboy. However, I found his gameplay to be almost methodical, and, after a somewhat irresponsible early game, I ended up planning most of my moves in advance. No matter, though, because his unique spells make almost any situation fun.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Close

We had a pretty momentous start, putting up five kills in as many minutes, and I severely outlaned Chaos Knight. When organized, the Dire proved tough, but never untouchable; we managed to knock them out of our base three times before the final push. We managed to push in their tier 3 middle tower over the course of the game, but by that point, we had given up all three of ours, stacking the game in the Dire’s favor.

However, there’s something to say about the defensive capabilities of our team. Between the five of us, we were able to split-defend all three lanes and even send them back around the bend. That did nothing but prolong the game for us, but it did let us catch up on levels (for what little that did).

Our biggest issue this time was a lack of late-game capacity, as well as just letting the enemy get too farmed. Dragon Knight was obviously overfed, but these stats don’t convey how much of a nightmare Chaos Knight and Warlock were. I think that Chaos Knight is imbalanced; I couldn’t find any way to deal with his ultimate, and his bottomless health pool, insultingly long stun, and teleportation abilities made him seemingly invincible. This is the second game in a row where he’s gotten like this, and I’m beginning to wonder if it’s a balance issue.

This match, I decided to do away with VALVe’s item guide and use a highly-rated guide from what appeared to be a high-ranking DotA player; thanks, Torte de Lini! The guide was pretty foreign to me. It included quirks like Boots of Speed as a starting item, no early game items at all, and both Force Staff and Blink Dagger as core items. I personally would have added a healing/damage item to this guide, such as Urn of Shadows. However, I have to commend it, as it’s very thorough - it even recommends a specific skill build, and has long explanations detailing why each item was selected and how each ability should be used!

I kind of get why Batrider isn’t brought up a lot. He’s fun, but not too fun; he’s powerful, but not too powerful; he’s squishy, but not too squishy. In DotA’s world of heroes who are all overpowered in some respect, he’s a bit modest, but not in any way that takes away from his enjoyability.

[lets-try-dota]

Bane

Bane Elemental was another hero I was reluctant to try, but after a few minutes playing him, I was sold. I’m such a sucker for his type - that is to say, gankers with an emphasis on spells. However, Bane is a somewhat situational hero, and in the game I played, he could do nothing but feed.

I’m not sure his distended low-violence gut is more or less disturbing.

Difficulty: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Relaxed

Bane’s playstyle is very simple, considering that VALVe decided he needed 2 diamonds. The only ability of his that I don’t find perfectly straightforward is his E (Nightmare), a strange disable that can be used on allies due to the fact that its effects transfer to whomever attacks the afflicted unit. I was able to use it to make escapes and finish off ganks, but I couldn’t figure out what the purpose of its contagiousness was, aside from maybe a dumb attempt at versatility.

Durability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Rounded

Somehow, Bane manages to be a pretty sturdy Intelligence spellcaster. Part of this is definitely due to his all-around high stats (all of his stats are equivalent, in fact), and it’s only bolstered by abilities that weaken enemies. His Q (Enfeeble) lowers enemy attack damage quite a bit in later levels; it holds the potential to bring a hero’s attack damage to 0 in some cases. In addition, his W (Brain Sap) instantly drains health from an enemy and gives it to Bane, giving him great burst healing if he’s willing to turn around and sit out almost a second of cast time.

Damage Output: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Tough

There’s a reason that Bane is themed around nightmares, and that reason is his early-game spells. Between his W and his E, he’s got a fairly intimidating lineup already, especially since his E lasts long enough that he can cast his W both before and after it. His biggest asset, however, is his R (Fiend’s Grip). It’s a channeled ability that disables an enemy and deals intense damage per second, and it brings his ganking ability among the best. Sadly, Bane has no area presence at all, and with nothing to bolster his own attacks, he falls into obscurity very quickly when the enemy team stops laning or jungling.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Support

Unlike most aggressive supports, Bane doesn’t hold much viability as a carry. The reason for this, as stated above, is a lack of area presence. With no way to control crowds, Bane is forced to sit back and take a supportive role. Thankfully, his spells work well for this, as he has three potent disables, a strong nuke with a low cooldown, and ways to protect units and drain mana. His main problem then is picking a target, because, again, he’s got nothing on crowds.

Sustainability: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Burst

Bane’s abilities have decently short cooldowns (other than his R), but that’s not the issue. The issue he will constantly face throughout the game is mana, because his mana pool is fairly small for an intelligence hero, and his spells are very expensive. That’s just as well, though, because his spells are very powerful, and if Bane goes from full to empty, it’s likely that he left a few deaths in his wake.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Okay

I really enjoyed playing Bane in the early game. He’s the first hero I’ve taken mid for this series, and it worked out well, as his W can harass a hero out of lane easily. I ganked with ease, racking up 6 kills in the first 15 minutes. Unfortunately, I would be stopped there, because Bane’s falloff is sudden and severe. The latter half of my match was much less fun, because I never felt like I was able to get leverage in teamfights, even with the backing of my carries.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Badly

We took an early and spectacular lead in kills, building up to something like 22-14 at 15:00. However, the moment the Dire began congregating and pushing, the tables turned severely. The secret? We had no pushing or crowd control on our team, save for poor Earthshaker, perpetually 3 levels behind. Against a team with, among other things, an array of stuns/nukes that target all enemies in a radius around them, an AoE stun, and the ability to multiply, our composition was hopeless.

We sat out through two teamwipes, both of which lasted for more than ten seconds. The push from our tier-2 middle tower to our ancient was one long, terrific effort, and our scattered respawns could not even dent the Dire machine. It was really something, because we had nearly wiped their team not ten minutes earlier, and I was envisioning another “stomp.”

With a more crowd-oriented team build, I could imagine Bane doing pretty well. My usual way of handling single-target spells is to see whose health is going down the slowest and hit them with it. I found myself essentially countered by Chaos Knight, because his ability to split into three made it impossible for me to use my Q on the biggest source of attack damage, as that’d only stifle one of him. I wouldn’t be willing to blow three very expensive spells (one of which freezes me in place and keeps me from acting) on a single hero without guaranteeing a kill, especially when the rest of his team is focusing me down.

Bane’s a situational hero, and I found myself in a bad situation. His set of skills is extremely powerful in certain scenarios, but, depending on the game, he may never get a chance to utilize them. He’s not a hero you want to first-pick and lock in, is what I’m saying.

[lets-try-dota]

Axe

To be honest, I was excited for Axe. I saw him as a chance to try jungling, and, while that didn’t go well, I still had a blast playing one of the most mindlessly aggressive heroes in the game.

THERE IS NO TEAM IN AXE

Difficulty: ◆◇◇◇◇ - Easy

Axe is a simple hero, but that’s not a bad thing. His straightforward, one-track gameplay is simple, yet rewarding. It’s not hard to be effective with him. However, the fact that he has limited options for gameplay can be a double-edged sword, because a savvy opponent will know what to expect from any given Axe and counter him effectively.

Durability: ◆◆◆◆◆ - Tank

He’s all about this, really! His health pool and armor are both decently high for a hero of his type, but where Axe really shines is in his abilities. His E (Counter Helix) is a passive ability that punishes enemies in a radius all around him for attacking him. To synergize with this, his Q (Berserker’s Call) forces enemies in a small radius around him to attack him, inviting them into his E radius. His Q also gives him a whomping 40 bonus armor for its duration, but, if that’s not enough, you can get Blade Mail and reflect all the enemies’ damage back on themselves instead.

Damage Output: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Tough

Most of his damage comes from his auto-attack, but his abilities shouldn’t be underestimated. We’ve already gone over the synergy between his Q and his E, but his W (Battle Hunger) is a long-lasting damage-over-time ability that can have harsh effects on weaker units. His R (Culling Blade) is a run-of-the-mill nuke, but it can kill an enemy instantly if their health is below a threshold, ignoring any possible immunities to kill them as dead as possible. It’s not too powerful, in truth, but god is it satisfying. As mentioned earlier, though, his modest damage output can be massively augmented by Blade Mail, an item he appears to be built around.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Semi-Carry

Axe is technically a supportive role (specifically, a Durable and an Initiator), but I have a couple qualms with this assignment. His initiation move is supposed to be his Q, but I feel its radius is too small to really disrupt a team, not to mention that that’s likely to kill him before he gets Blade Mail. To me, Axe seems more like a ganker until he’s farmed Blade Mail off heroes, at which point he becomes a horrifying tank. Any carry who tries to use Axe as a support will have to deal with Axe’s R stealing kills.

Sustainability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Periodic

The one thing that Axe really struggles with is mana. Managing his costly Q and R with his tight mana pool can be a bit tough, and the spammability of his W can lead to similar issues. His R has a long cooldown under normal circumstances, but if it successfully kills an enemy, it refreshes immediately. That turns a would-be burst hero into a truly ridiculous culling force, as long as he can maintain the mana necessary to cast it again.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Fun

Axe’s character in the game is absolutely absurd. He’s the pinnacle of ridiculous hypermasculinity, and his bravado and energy are infectious. His war-hungry screaming can get the player hyped up to go whole hog on enemies, and the fact that he can survive just about anything in the early game definitely encourages this. His synergy with Blade Mail feels almost dirty, but the tiny radius of his Q makes any kills from that combination still feel fair.

In the same vein, his R is insanely satisfying, and the noise of it all seems to unlock a bloodlust. Chaining his R to take out multiple members of a team is one of the most empowering feelings I’ve had so far, and one particular teamfight left me shaking. I think this owes itself to VALVe’s excellent game design team, who designed the effect (and the hero) beautifully. It really encourages the sort of maniacal violence it takes to play Axe, and I dig that.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◆◆ - Very Well

I’d call this one a stomp. Axe got off to a very bad start, because I leveled my E and tried to jungle from level 1 (thanks, Pyrion Flax). However, I quickly took a hint and made the switch over to roamer, and after a few gank assists I was back on track. Sniper took mid with minimal opposition from Zeus; the fact that Sniper seems so capable of killing heroes in the early game makes me very curious.

I had a bit of trouble negotiating Axe’s R, since I kind of had to eyeball enemies’ health and see if I could figure out when to strike. I know that the Blink Dagger in the recommended guide is meant for initiation, but I found it very useful for chasing down enemies. In fact, with Blink, I was able to keep enemies slowed down enough between my W and my Q that most of my ganks from then on were successful.

Axe’s default guide recommends the Heart of Tarrasque, but I never needed it. Really, Axe doesn’t need any items other than Tangoes, a pair of shoes, Blink Dagger, and Blade Mail to be effective. He’s simple, but his gameplay is meant to be hazy and aggressive; I feel like any more nuance in his abilities would have become distracting. He’s simple, he’s over-the-top, and I love him.

[lets-try-dota]

Arc Warden

I was a bit scared of this hero, thanks to its micromanagement requirement, but I actually didn’t find too much trouble with it. It’s apparently quite forgiving; even though I played it like an imbecile, I still managed to put out some pretty good power.

So hard to get a good screenshot of this thing. It moves a lot.

Difficulty: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Tricky

The ideal Arc Warden is not one who lives in the moment. His spells all indicate that he’s meant to played methodically, with a high wandering and zoning presence in the early game. If that’s the case, then VALVe really messed up on its item build, because its early game items don’t even include a pair of boots (I got Phase Boots, but I feel like I’d have been better off with Boots of Travel).

Its R (Tempest Double) requires a lot more micromanagement than dragging a box over the units and right clicking, because its clone gets its spells and even its items. That alone should tell you that Arc Warden is no joke, and probably not a popular pub choice. However, even past that, its E (Spark Wraith) requires quite a bit of foresight on Zet’s part thanks to its long delay and stationary nature.

Durability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Rounded

I was actually surprised by how well Arc Warden survives just about anything. It has notable strength gain, resulting in the largest natural health pool for any Agility hero. Its armor is below average, but high health is not the only trick up its sleeve. Its W (Magnetic Field) gives it and all its allies 100% evasion from outside sources, keeping ranged enemies from hanging back and using their range to their advantage. However, the small radius and short duration of the spell make it a bit lackluster as a survival ability (keep in mind, though, that it can effectively cast it twice, making a larger overall area or longer duration).

Damage Output: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Tough

A single Arc Warden would never survive in the wild. Its ultimate is an extremely powerful asset that makes nearly every item a worthwhile venture, if it can manage to farm them. I followed the item guide pretty closely (with the exception of some boots), but I’d love to experiment with the items it can use in conjunction with its ultimate. Its other abilities have decent damage output as well, with a damage-over-time Q (Flux) that fully stacks when cast multiple times and some circumstantially terrifying area DPS in its E.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Semi-Carry

While Arc Warden is regarded as a carry, it’s obvious that it has the ability to fall back into a support role if it sees fit. I probably could have done this instead of farming all game, but, again, I was following the item guide, which made him out to be some kind of inflexible hard carry. With a W that helps sustain his allies, an E that can help control enemy movement, and the ability to cast all of these abilities at twice the normal rate, it’s difficult to see why VALVe didn’t even attempt to acknowledge its support capability. It’s such a viable support, the only reason I’ve called it a semi-carry is that it’s also a very viable carry.

Sustainability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Continuous

Oh, man. Arc Warden is all over the place with its cooldowns, but the average wait time appears to hover around 20 seconds, and its R can temporarily lower that to 10 by staggering its spells instead of piling them on. Most notably, its E has a 4 second cooldown; however, its delayed, area-based nature makes it more likely that all casts will be felt all at once, often long after the actual cast time.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Okay

I was tempted to call it fun, but I’m worried that I’ve become a bit jaded by the actively unenjoyable experience I had last night. I can’t really vouch for how fun its playstyle is, because I played it very basically and very aggressively, because that’s what I feel is fun anyway. My micromanagement skills aren’t too great, but I still felt pretty powerful tabbing between Warden and double and spamming its spells. I got almost every recommended item (thanks to Hand of Midas and, later, some late-game ganks), but was reluctant to buy Manta Style, because I was afraid that would throw a wrench in my ability to effectively double up items and abilities.

I love defensive spells like E in theory, but in practice I lack seemingly all the skill required to make them work. I don’t think I ever cast E and ended up damaging a hero; my Wraiths all ended up either perishing or jumping on creeps. That’s okay, though, because I was doing them wrong from the beginning (trying to make them attack enemies as they were running away from me).

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Close

This was a match with no winners. We were behind on kills for the entire game, and we almost never won teamfights, but our saving grace was pushing power. We faced a suspiciously empty lane for the first ten minutes, while kills racked up on both sides thanks to the early game presence of Witch Doctor, Lich, Tiny, and Bloodseeker. I didn’t do a lot of fighting until about 25 minutes, because I was under the impression that Arc Warden was another hard carry.

It took me upsetting a 2v1 to realize that Warden can actually rely quite well on its spells, but by that point there wasn’t much longer in the game when spellcasting would be a viable source of damage. I did use E to defend against pushes and potential ganks, but none of my castings did any good, and it took a bit for me to get used to the size of my W.

I tried once again to split-farm in the jungle by casting my R and chowing down on two different camps at once, but I found that, if my units weren’t all on the same screen and following similar orders, I would lose track of them almost instantly. It’s not the individual movement and casting that gives me trouble; it’s camera maintenance. I may go into my settings to see if I can’t fix that.

As my first serious attempt at a three-diamond hero, Arc Warden was much more forgiving than I thought it would be. The game seemed content to let me crowd my controlled units on one target like a big dumb baby, and, with the help of Mjollnir, my pushing power nearly singlehandedly ended the game. I didn’t get the chance to overextend the game to ramp up kills, but I’m content with that. I broke both tier 4 towers and their ancient in a single push - I’d be stupid to complain about that.

[lets-try-dota]

Anti-Mage

Anti-Mage has a reputation among DotA players for being the “anti-fun” hero, and, after playing him tonight, I’ve realized that he and his playstyle hit at something that makes me somewhat uncomfortable to think about.

I had fun once and it was awful.

Difficulty: ◆◇◇◇◇ - Easy

There’s no nuance or challenge to Anti-Mage’s gameplay. He has two active spells, and one of them is just a blink. There is difficulty when you play Anti-Mage, but it’s not anything internal; it’s just that he’s delectably killable without a full salvo of highly expensive items. This sort of difficulty is valid, and arguably more fair than heroes whose abilities complicate gameplay, but it takes away the parts of DotA that are so exciting and interesting to me.

Durability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Rounded

Even though I just called him delectably killable, Anti-Mage is not a hero you can just nuke into oblivion. Dude’s got, like, no health, and he’s melee, but what makes him powerful is how he nullifies damage instead of tanking lots. Anti-Mage has really high armor at all points of the game, thanks to an absurdly high agility stat, and his E (Spell Shield) passively gives him up to 62.5% total magic resistance.

In addition, Anti-Mage is extremely mobile. His W (Blink) lets him instantly teleport away from attackers, letting him escape from otherwise fatal scenarios. It’s a killer combination, really. The player still should be conscientious (because, god, you have to think about something, right?), because his health pool really is very low; one of the lowest in the game without items augmenting it.

Damage Output: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Strong

This is Anti-Mage’s bread and butter, and indeed the bread and butter of every hard carry. He relies almost solely on his attack damage to keep him alive and keep progressing through the game, and the game is more than happy to let him do this. With a far-below-average attack period and hugely scaling attack damage and speed, Anti-Mage seems to deal more in raw numbers than many other heroes combined.

This is only augmented by the two abilities we haven’t yet discussed; his Q (Mana Break) allows him to passively tear away at the enemy’s mana pool while he attacks them, and also deals damage based on the mana he broke away. That in itself is kind of a cruel move, but it’s compounded and exponentiated by his R (Mana Void), which deals damage to enemies based on the amount of mana they’re missing. With obvious, downright sadistic synergy, Anti-Mage can sound pretty scary when he’s just words on a page.

Support Viability: ◆◇◇◇◇ - Hard Carry

Not only is Anti-Mage unsuited for supporting, he’s actually seemingly unable to be anything but a hard carry. His lack of active abilities is by itself a huge handicap in this field, but the nature of his abilities ensures that, in early-game teamfights, there’s nothing he can do until the fight is almost over. The most he can do is creep in and use R on whatever spellcaster just cast a 250-mana ultimate, and then blink away before he’s ripped to shreds.

But Anti-Mage’s support deficiency extends beyond just lacking spells. In fact, there’s pretty much nothing Anti-Mage can do until he’s fully farmed. He just watches from the jungle as his enemies push down Mid, and it’s all he can do to hope that when he emerges with Abyssal Blade, Manta Style, Battle Fury, and Vladmir’s Offering, he’ll be enough to turn the tides.

Sustainability: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Burst

I might as well have put a big old middle finger in this category, because, if you’ve been paying attention, you know that Anti-Mage turns his nose up at plebeian practices like using spells to turn the tides of battle. All you need to know is that W costs peanuts and has a 5 second cooldown at level 4, but R is hugely expensive and takes almost a minute to recharge. I call it “burst” sustainability because he can’t do anything until about 40 minutes into the game.

Enjoyability: ◆◇◇◇◇ - Boring

Not only is Anti-Mage boring, but I felt actively more negative when I played as him. I felt selfish farming in the jungle while my teammates defended towers. I felt cowardly, unable to do anything due to my underdeveloped skillset. I felt insecure as my team’s Bloodseeker began outpacing me: if he carries this team harder than I did then I’ll have just burdened the whole team. I also felt insecure about my power because I was unsure when I would be ready to go out and take on the enemy.

None of those heavy feelings were vindicated by the power I felt in the last few minutes, because even then, the power was effortless. I could just walk up to an enemy and attack them until they died. It was a sort of unnatural ease that, combined with the previous half-hour of farming, made the game stop feeling like a game. It felt very bad.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◆◇ Well

It went well, but it constantly felt like it wasn’t going well. We were severely outpaced in early-game pushing, and our tier 2 mid tower was down within 20 minutes. I felt Anti-Mage’s early-game weakness very early on, watching helplessly as Witch Doctor was focused down and ganked in front of me. I laned for 15 minutes, far longer than I usually do. After a few unsuccessful attempts to influence teamfights and gank, I decided to farm the boring old traditional way, going into the jungle and killing indigenous tribes in the name of profit.

After my couple encounters with heroes trying to gank and earn gold, I rarely saw anyone. That sort of added to the negativity of playing Anti-Mage, really - I wasn’t able to see and help my team, or chase down and kill enemies. It almost felt like I was in a cage until I hit level 20.

There are people who regularly play Anti-Mage, but I’m not sure why. My best guess is that they’re the type who’s okay putting themselves before others, placing burdens on other people to further their own goals. The type to play video games not for fun, but for a sense of accomplishment, perhaps because they don’t get that otherwise. The type to feel insecure about themselves and their worth to others.

Playing Anti-Mage was not only difficult to enjoy, but actually upsetting. I still can’t shake the feeling of guilt it gave me. There are, like, 30 other heroes who play like him. I’m going to have to play heroes like him for a long time if I wanna finish this blog.

[lets-try-dota]

Ancient Apparition

Plagued by irrepressible boredom, I’ve taken to my second DotA 2 hero today. Lucky for me, this one was one of the heroes I tried to main back when I first started in 2013. I had a long hiatus before coming back, but he’s only gotten fresher in my eyes.

In the Low Violence version of this game, he has lips.

Difficulty: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Relaxed

For a hero who gets hyped up for how tricky he is, I found Ancient Apparition to be pretty comfortable and low-maintenance. His spells do have weird effects, but I found myself efficiently racking up kills and assists regardless. I think that people find difficulty in him through the fact that he’s oddly reliant on his auto-attack for an Intelligence support, which is not a problem for me.

However, that isn’t to say that there aren’t tricky aspects to him. While I was very comfortable playing him, I had a bit of an issue being effective with his R (Ice Blast). While I could use its global nature to aid teamfights while pushing another lane, I also used it to try and finish off low-health heroes, with very little success. I imagine a more skilled Ancient Apparition would instill panic in any low-health unit.

Durability: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Squishy

Ancient Apparition has pretty pathetic health, but his armor in the late game is nothing to sneeze at. However, I rarely found myself in a position where I had to be conscious of my health, because Kaldr has insane casting range and is phenomenal at staying out of enemies’ range. In addition, as an aggressive support, his item build is geared toward healing and regeneration to balance him out. Because I was so proficient at killing with him, I never had to worry about too few charges for Urn of Shadows - an item which heals most of his health pool thanks to how small his health pool really is.

Damage Output: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Tough

This may come as a surprise from a hero whose first role is “support,” but my Ancient Apparition managed to be a moderate threat in all stages of the game. His Q (Cold Feet) and his R deal very respectable damage over time, but his true power lies in his two AoE spells. His W (Ice Vortex) makes enemies slower and more susceptible to magic damage, which already synergizes with the magic damage from his Q and R. His E (Chilling Touch) makes him and his allies deal bonus magic damage on each auto-attack. With the amount of magic damage Ancient Apparition can unload in a short amount of time, including with basic auto-attacks, his W makes him formidable.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Semi-Carry

Another surprise here, perhaps. I find that pretty much any support with powerful spells they can reliably cast in the early game is actually a semi-carry due to the momentum they can get from killing other heroes. Ancient Apparition seems designed to be a tough ganker who transitions gracefully into a teamfighting support, but I’m fully convinced that, with proper item building and a good start to the game, he can be built into a carry.

Sustainability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Continuous

Ancient Apparition is pretty mana-dependent, which, like with many other heroes of his style, presents issues in the early game. His cooldowns seem borderline unreasonably low for the power of his spells, but it’s balanced by their high mana costs. These mana issues persisted into the mid-game, and were so prevalent that I decided to drop the guide’s suggested Tranquil Boots and buy Arcane Boots instead with my excess gold. That actually alleviated my woes quite a bit, and once my mana pool outpaced my health pool (yes, really), I stopped having issues altogether.

Something I’ve noticed while looking back through his profile after the fact is that I had been critically underusing his W. Thing has a 4-second cooldown. He can just spam it everywhere. I gotta look more carefully at that stuff.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Fun

I’m going to let you in on a secret: I love semi-carries. They’re definitely the most fun to play, thanks to the fact that their power comes from thoughtful use of spells and not right-clicking. Ancient Apparition is no exception. He is reliant on his auto-attack, but most semi-carries become that way anyway. The fact that his attack is incorporated innately into his method of ganking means that he actually scales more smoothly than most other semi-carries. I’d even present the argument that he builds better as a semi than as a support, but that won’t go very far, because most semi-carries are supports anyway.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Well

Awh yeah. Who’s that over there, leading the game in K/D ratio? That’s right, Ancient Apparition. While it wasn’t a stomp, this game was pretty clear from the get-go which side would win. We had a fairly even laning experience, and Sniper goes well with Kaldr for solid ganking power in all stages of the game.

I would go so far as to say that I was on top of it this match. I didn’t make any glaring mistakes, and, for some reason, item management came very naturally. I was able to use Urn of Shadows without forgetting about it constantly, which definitely helped us stay up while pushing down the Dire base. The only real issue was that I wasn’t fully abusing his W, but even though he wasn’t operating at full potential, Kaldr sure made a name for himself here.

Ancient Apparition is a good, solid hero. It’s easy to see why Icefrog has never changed any of his moves; he’s smartly designed, with synergistic and engaging abilities that make his kills feel earned. He’s able to contribute directly in battles, with his own damage, for the entire game, and that makes him one satisfying hero to play.

[lets-try-dota]

Alchemist

It took a bit of coaxing to get myself to play DotA today, because I was feeling a bit sick. Luckily, I was able to cheer myself up by playing everyone’s favorite capitalist allegory, Alchemist. He’s (they’re?) another very versatile hero, and indeed, I found myself serving both as a carry and as a support.

Work that crop top, babe! You’re doing fantastic.

Difficulty: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Moderate

I found myself a bit surprised by the trouble Alchemist gave me. His playstyle is far more deliberate than the nature of his abilities would suggest. By far my biggest challenge was getting good with his W (Unstable Concoction). I was constantly misjudging enemies’ movement, getting inconveniently stunned, or just plain forgetting how the ability worked; as a result, I constantly looked like a total goober, having to sit out the humiliating 4-second self-stun. It’s not an overly frustrating mechanic, though, and I can easily see myself getting used to it and using it more effectively.

Durability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Sturdy

It took me a while to get over my preconceptions of how powerful Alchemist should be. Looking at his design and his stats, it stands to reason that he should be pretty hard to kill at all stages of the game, but what I failed to account for was armor. I’d always glossed over armor in the past, but Alchemist’s low armor throughout the game is a pretty big stumbling block.

I found Alchemist almost a bit underpowered as a result, but, of course, the reason for that is that his R (Chemical Rage) is a powerful steroid ability, giving him boosts in health regen, mana regen, movement speed, and attack speed. This ultimate makes him much harder to kill, which pushes his durability up considerably, especially considering how long it lasts and how short its cooldown is. I had assumed his ultimate was something that you saved for drastic moments, but, based on how it’s built and how Alchemist plays, I can only assume that it’s something you can pretty much use as often as it cools down.

Damage Output: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Tough

Alchemist is not very powerful regularly. His main source of damage without his R is his W, which, as I detailed earlier, was a bit of a struggle for me. He does, however, have damage amplification and light damage over time with his Q (Acid Spray); the armor reduction from that synergizes well with his R, because he attacks fast. Even with his R, though, all that terrifying physical damage is confined to melee range.

It takes a few synergistic items to get Alchemist to a point where he’s a respectable auto-attack carry. However, his E (Greevil’s Greed) has that covered, because it basically gives him free gold, allowing him to farm very quickly. If I hadn’t had as much trouble in the beginning lanes, perhaps I would have been a more efficient carry, but I ended up farming pretty frenetically to try and catch up with my team, even with his gold bonus.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Semi-Carry

One would think that any hero with an ability made specifically to give him more gold is a cut-and-dry carry, but Alchemist defies that notion. Indeed, if Alchemist doesn’t get a head start, he’ll instead fluidly vacillate between support and carry, and his abilities let him do this. His Q takes off up to 7 armor, which lets your physical-damage-dependent allied carries shred through enemies in no time, and his W is a (kind of) reliable AoE stun.

Even his E has a support element, which is encouraged by what happens when Alchemist grabs an Aghanim’s Scepter; instead of using it to amplify his own ability, he melts it down and gives it to an ally. This means that he can farm a powerful item for his teammates. Not only that, but the melted-down Scepter doesn’t take up an item slot, letting his teammate get all the benefits of the Scepter but not have to worry about as much inventory clutter. This ability is game-changing, because if anyone can farm a Scepter quickly, it’s Alchemist.

Sustainability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Continuous

I was surprised by how little trouble I had with casting spells. Alchemist, a Strength-type spellcaster, would be expected to have major trouble with his mana pool, but after the first ten minutes of the game, I rarely even found myself below half mana. This could have something to do with my aforementioned hesitance to spam my R, but his R grants pretty considerable mana regeneration, so it doesn’t seem like it’d make much of a difference how much I used it. His cooldowns are a bit on the long side for his normal abilities, but their effects last a long time, making the net down-time pretty minimal between casts.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Dull

I wouldn’t say “dull” so much as “frustrating.” He feels very clunky and slow to play, and his late attacks mean that I wasn’t able to utilize my E in pushes until I got Radiance and killed creeps by standing near them. Again, this probably has to do with how I played him. If I abused his ultimate and let him be the powerhouse Icefrog wants him to be, I could definitely see myself having a lot more fun with him. As it stands, though, I feel like I could have maybe done a bit better.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Close

It was a bit of a panic match. We were being severely outpaced in the early game (which is where I amassed most of my deaths), and our team seemed to have a lot of trouble making decisions. Our struggles were punctuated by a 30:00 teamfight that killed all five of us, after which we fell back to the jungle and did a lot of farming. This match marked my first use of micromanagement in this series, as I did end up buying a Manta Style. All I can say is that I hope I get better before I play Meepo.

A lot of the troubles I had in this match were already detailed above, including confusion about Alchemist’s basic abilities. After some reflection, I can most easily conclude that I was probably playing him incorrectly, and I’d be interested in taking another shot with him. I had similar confusion regarding my items, most glaringly Armlet of Mordiggian (which I kept forgetting to turn off). Manta Style also caused me problems, because I tried to split up my illusions and use them to farm, and ended up just standing next to creeps as they whaled on me.

All in all, I didn’t have a very good gameplay experience as Alchemist, but I think that’s my fault more than it is any flaw in his design. The game cheered me up, regardless; there’s a sort of whimsy about these two characters and their designs that’s just fun to look at and listen to.

[lets-try-dota]

Abaddon

I said I was going to do the heroes alphabetically, which of course means I start with a hero the Wiki lauds as one of the most versatile in the game. I’ve played Abaddon a couple times before, and each game I played him differently, but in today’s game (my first against Normal bots), I found myself pigeonholed into supporting.

In DotA 2′s nuance-free layout, Abaddon is as easy as your average auto-carry, which demonstrates a critical weakness in DotA’s analysis.

Difficulty: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Relaxed

The average player is not gonna struggle with Abaddon, but he at least requires a brain to be effective. His Q (Mist Coil) is by far his most complex ability, giving him the power to harass in lane, heal an ally, and even deny himself. It costs both mana and health, making it a risky use in the early game. Similarly, he has a passive ability (Curse of Avernus) which allows his auto-attacks to take on a supportive role, slowing enemies and giving allies bonus speed. This gives escaping with him a unique tradeoff aspect, because he can greatly increase the difference between his speed and his attacker’s, but in order to do that he must turn around and get within melee range. 

Durability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Sturdy

Abaddon starts out fairly meaty, but his player must constantly be wary of his health, especially if laning is aggressive and he needs to use Q to scare away enemies or heal an ally. For this reason, he has a lot of healing consumables in his starting guide. However, the guide quickly weans off of these, because his Strength gain, his W (Aphotic Shield), and his R (Borrowed Time) give him immense natural durability, especially if his enemies aren’t privy to how R works (any damage he takes heals him instead).

Damage Output: ◆◆◇◇◇ - Modest

While an overleveled Abaddon can carve through waves of enemies with the damage from W, he falls curiously short when facing opponents who are approximately his level. His damage is focused mainly behind his spells, which are clearly more intended to be healing or shielding abilities.

Support Viability: ◆◆◆◆◇ - Support

The game may say he’s a carry, and, yes, a farmed Abaddon with a proper item build can carry a team, but make no mistake; this is a support hero. His goal is to distract enemies and make them blow their big spells on him, then pop his ult so he survives long enough to cast his low-cooldown supporting spells on his allies. The only thing he’s missing is a guaranteed disable, but I almost prefer having him be open-ended over pigeonholing him into a supportive role.

Sustainability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Periodic

As a spellcasting hero, Abaddon makes it tempting to attempt to gank or even solo lane. However, his stunted starting mana pool combined with very spammable spells makes it easy for him to run out of mana and be caught with his pants down. Without mana, he’s bound to melee range - a state unbecoming of a low-mobility ganker. The programmed item guide does a pretty poor job at acknowledging this, meaning Icefrog and/or Valve’s programmers had different ideas for the Lord of Avernus. I found myself dilly-dallying on buying Vladmir’s Offering (a very powerful item on Abaddon) by spending my excess gold on Enchanted Mangoes or Clarities.

I can understand the reasoning behind choosing Tranquil Boots as his boots of choice (he benefits from the health regeneration, which offsets the health cost of Mist Coil), but with the health regen offered by Borrowed Time, I rarely found myself in a situation where I was thinking “man, more health regen would be really good” - especially considering Tranquil Boots don’t do you any good when you’re in battle! I’d personally recommend Arcane Boots to amend some of his mana issues, but by the time he’s got the money to get them, he may not need the mana anymore - it all depends on how you play him.

Enjoyability: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Okay

As far as full supports go, Abaddon brings a lot to the table, and it’s a fun, unique skill set to take on. His spells indicate high utility on both offensive and defensive ends, meaning that the player can find ways to be useful and have fun no matter what his team’s composition is. You don’t quite feel the sort of power rush you get from tearing down enemies at any point in the game, but as long as you’re present and contributing in teamfights, you’ll see your assists rack up.

How the Match Went: ◆◆◆◇◇ - Close

You wouldn’t be able to tell by the score, but the timestamp may tell you that we faced some pretty hefty adversity in our game. Our early game was marked by a very aggressive bottom lane and, for a while, an empty top lane. I laned bottom, and, being the spell-happy support I am, I consistently found myself having to deny myself. I did so three times, but at least my highly defensive lane kept Kunkka from snowballing. Sven wasn’t quite so lucky in mid against Drow Ranger, and Wraith King must have been surprised to find that he was being allowed to push with impunity.

Throughout the game, I had a pretty critical lack of awareness regarding my team and my items; specifically, I would find myself stranded after a push, and only after my death would I remember that I had enough Magic Wand charges to fill up half of my health bar. Abaddon’s spells themselves give enough support that I would constantly forget that I had items when I ran out of mana.

Abaddon has a feel to him that’s a bit dissonant with how he plays best. His generous cooldown rates give him an everlasting presence in teamfights, and his R combines with these to make it hard to remember that most other heroes can’t survive so long and apply such constant pressure under focused fire. It’s hard to tell whether the blame is on my own mind or on Abaddon’s gameplay design, but I always found that my teammates would leave unannounced while I attempted to kill enemies, and I’d be abandoned to a 1-on-4 mess and forced to try and deny myself.

Overall, he’s a pretty good hero. His gameplay is very interesting, and, like so many other heroes in DotA, he makes me want to be better.