Dota 2 Thread: REBORN SOURCE 2 HYPETRAIN NOBRAKES

[TheButtonmen]

LGD.int vs Liquid (Series 24 Stream D I believe) has been an exciting series to watch. It is glorious pub action featuring an average of a kill every 30 seconds and lanes like CM, Naga, Jugg.

Catch the VoD's later, you won't regret it.

[TheButtonmen]

I don't play Dota 2, I played back in the day's of TFT but I catch the odd series during events like the Invitationals and I'm active on TL who was featuring it.

[TheButtonmen]

Both my teams go 2-0, today was a good day.

TL vs LGD was a game worth catching the VoD's of when you get the chance, it went long and could have gone either way right up until the end with a lot of big flashy plays to keep it exciting.

[TheButtonmen]

Also I will now always cheer for whoever is facing Zenith, my only regret about not playing DotA now is that I have no items to bet against them.

[TheButtonmen]

Once valve has real servers again I'm debating trying to re-learn this terrible game by inflicting Doom / Silencer on yoloqueue randoms.

[TheButtonmen]

Cow seems niche as hell, he's good at what he does sure but easy to counter play/pick and requires his team to be largely drafted around him. Not exactly what I'd call OP as hell, he's not even as pubstomp as a hero like Ursa.

[TheButtonmen]

Stag Cow is basically just Naga without the early net initiation, mirror image map control and jungle presence, -armor or song wtfery. You can see why people could find them comparable!

[TheButtonmen]

Nice to see Navi win but that really was some stupid shit.

[TheButtonmen]

I'm not saying it wasn't skill / it was pure luck.

I'm saying it was pretty gay.

[TheButtonmen]

Suck it glorious comrades, gimmicks ain't got shit on the [A] team! Someone on TL summed it up nicely when discussing how drafting strategies before game 2 started by saying;

I'd imagine Alliance will pick the same heroes they always pick and Navi will do something creative.

Alliance did the same drafting strategy up they always do, Na'vi assembled a deathball push and took 6 towers by the 14 min mark and still failed to convert the gold, xp and map control into a win. Alliance played safe, clean rat dota for 25 mins and then the second they got ahead instantly and utterly curbstomped Na'vi.

It will be interesting to see how the final goes because it's becoming pretty clear that 4 / 1 chinese dota plan won't phase [A] and that they have the patience to wait out early game teams. Hopefully we see the winner of the Ro2 losers bracket winner bring something new to the field because it's looking like it might be a pretty clean cut finals at this rate.

[TheButtonmen]

Ban Chen, NP first against [A]?

You aren't going to be able to ban any of their players out but the NP / Chen bans really narrow the picks they can make but a first phase ban on puck / bat could also work to really shoehorn S4's picks? I know people are saying you need to ban LD to stop Bulldog but he looked awful mortal LD this past game and was successfully locked out before Na'vi rotated supports to pressure the other lanes. [A]kke and S4 have actually been the [A] MVP's so far imo and I think the bans should be entirely targeted at them rather then spread out across of [A].

[TheButtonmen]

EGM also gets a shoutout for having a functional R key.

[TheButtonmen]

Game 2, Navi had a team that couldn't push highground. How bulldog managed to get that 19min rad I don't know.

Stacked ancients on cooldown, he got mad jungle gold and xp while Na'vi ran their supports around the map 5 manning undefended towers.

I get that Navi didn't want to run up a ramp into Siren / KotL but with wisp and NP on their team they should have had the lanes continually shoving into the base even if only to tie up 1/2 of the opposing heroes into counter pushing. Navi not banning KotL vs an all-in 20 mins rax or bust push comp also was pretty bizarre.

[TheButtonmen]

Why would you ban any of s4's heroes? He's the weakest link on the team.

You misspelled [A]dmiralBulldog there.

I think Luna death ball strats are the way to go vs alliance, but what Navi's team needed was a proactive initiator instead of a reactive one(Pudge would have worked, DK is a safer variant, even Tuskarr would have been solid).

The issue is without the reactive initiation of a hero such as tidehunter you're no longer able to simply take every outer tower uncontested, having a hero who completely stops [A] from initating until they have a BKB or two lets you dictate tempo a lot more. Also if you were taking a more proactive hero I'd much rather see Clockwork before Pudge or DK simply because of the sheer range he can initiate at because [A] was completely sacking towers and was always a lane or two away from their team (which is well outside of Pudges initiation range).

[TheButtonmen]

Na'vi are
16 total wins, 8 total losses,
6 playoff wins, 5 playoff loses,
3 series wins, 1 series loss

Alliance
20 total wins, 1 total loss,
6 playoff wins, 1 playoff loss,
3 series wins, 0 series loses.

The lack of winner's bracket advantage is weird. Navi have to take without dropping a map Alliance to have a better head to head. They can't ever have a better overall record. Combined with how completely crushed Navi got in the winner's bracket finals, I can't really see a way Navi can win TI3 and look like the best team which isn't really a good feeling result for a tournament.

[TheButtonmen]

Seriously not even giving a games advantage is just completely fucked, this is the first tournament I've seen with this format and man does it rub me the wrong way.

[TheButtonmen]

Navi goes in to the finals with a ton of momentum, morale and warmed up, [A] goes in cold too.

This is the worst fucking format I've ever seen, I have no fucking idea what Valve was thinking.

[TheButtonmen]

That was one of the fucking dumbest games I have ever watched, both teams were trying their hardest to throw.

[TheButtonmen]

A went full retard but Na'vi went fuller retard we got to see what happens when the force of unstoppable stupidty meets an unlearning object.

[TheButtonmen]

That being said I feel scumchat grew closer together by comforting each other through such monumental terrible DotA.

Game 5 managed to bring both [A] and Na'vi fans together as one to commiserate about the travesty we were watching.

[TheButtonmen]

I don't know where the terrible wasn't?

I present to you TI3 Grand Finals G5: Scumchat edition;

Spoiler: Warning long

Stag.Lynn:

NAAAAAAAAAAVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Stag.Lynn:

HASDJLF

Stag.Lynn:

DNLDGLD;GXM;XDKF'

TathisFrog:

the xboct with the most!

ahallucinogenic:

what happened i walked away

ahallucinogenic:

to use the restroom

TehButtonmen:

tower dive went bad

ahallucinogenic:

jesus

TehButtonmen:

this is fucking retarded

ahallucinogenic:

that looked

TehButtonmen:

what the fuck

ahallucinogenic:

like the stupidest

TathisFrog:

wlp

TehButtonmen:

what the fuck

Stag.Lynn:

a dont have a good winrate when going retard

TehButtonmen:

They play A style all through and shitcan everyone

TehButtonmen:

then get to GF and promptly try to completely change it up

Stag.Lynn:

honestly, pot split is possible

TehButtonmen:

full fucking retard

TathisFrog:

for deny purposes does TA count as melee?

Stag.Lynn:

nope

TathisFrog:

so its like worst of both worlds

TehButtonmen:

I dont think wisp has enough gauntlets of strength he should get a 4th

TehButtonmen:

Also Rubick looks incredibly fun for reasons that have nothing to do with spell steal

ahallucinogenic:

yoink

TehButtonmen:

okay enough buybacks save that

TehButtonmen:

wait no

TehButtonmen:

no they dont

ahallucinogenic:

derr derr dee derrrrr

TehButtonmen:

ugh

TehButtonmen:

so they're showing the wrong stream this is actually a pug match

TehButtonmen:

exciting I guess at least

TathisFrog:

xboct is the 4 position this game

TehButtonmen:

Let's get retarded in here is the new theme song

TehButtonmen:

for this match

TehButtonmen:

blind puck dash in

TehButtonmen:

sure why not

TehButtonmen:

reloacte your team in too

TehButtonmen:

why the fuck not

Stag.Lynn:

NAAAAVIIIIIIIIIIII

TehButtonmen:

buy back and do it agian

TehButtonmen:

sure lets do that

ahallucinogenic:

and now

ahallucinogenic:

for a depiction of A's strategy for this game

ahallucinogenic:

http://i.imgur.com/7sXa3rL.jpg

TehButtonmen:

I am now suspecting that the whole point of the wisp was to get heroes to the feeding zone faster

TehButtonmen:

lets guess

TehButtonmen:

how that rosh attempt would have went

TehButtonmen:

but good news now its softened up for Navi

TehButtonmen:

good guys A

Stag.Lynn:

dendi was question marking through the beginning of that fight

TathisFrog:

AHAHAHAHA

TehButtonmen:

FIRST FEED WASN'T ENOUGH

TehButtonmen:

SEND IN THE SECOND WAVE

TehButtonmen:

WE REQUIRE MORE BUYBACKS

TathisFrog:

that wisp relocate

TehButtonmen:

A THIRD WAVE OF FEEDS

TehButtonmen:

Shanba The wisp is to get them to feeding zone faster

TehButtonmen:

It's genious

Stag.Lynn:

.

Stag.Lynn:

.

Stag.Lynn:

.

TehButtonmen:

....

TathisFrog:

welp

TehButtonmen:

Who fed everyone the stupid pills

Stag.Lynn:

split pot

Stag.Lynn:

the pot is spliiit

TehButtonmen:

You know stag

ahallucinogenic:

all aboard the dipshit express

TehButtonmen:

At first I thought you were joking

Stag.Lynn:

I was

Stag.Lynn:

I'm not anymore

TehButtonmen:

I mean

TehButtonmen:

I guess pubs are loving this game

TehButtonmen:

masterbating furiously to the kill score

TathisFrog:

the answer to black hole

TehButtonmen:

but this game hurts me deep inside

TathisFrog:

is PEEGEEGEE

TehButtonmen:

okay hhow many people will die in this attempt

TehButtonmen:

that TA has more gold then god

Stag.Lynn:

and the profit has more

TehButtonmen:

3k more then alch

ahallucinogenic:

GET IT

ahallucinogenic:

PROFIT

ahallucinogenic:

BECAUSE HE HAS MONEY

TehButtonmen:

thnx for the clarification

Stag.Lynn:

that's what people call him

Stag.Lynn:

nature's profit

TehButtonmen:

I am glad you guys are here for me while Im watching this

TathisFrog:

ck doesnt outcarry alch, right?

TehButtonmen:

soloing this game would be terrible

TehButtonmen:

he can because there is 4 of him

Stag.Lynn:

with equal items he does

ahallucinogenic:

its ok buttons

ahallucinogenic:

we're here for you

Stag.Lynn:

but there shouldnt be equal items

TehButtonmen:

and I assure you in this game

TathisFrog:

what about alch+ta

Stag.Lynn:

if dendi stopped retarding

TehButtonmen:

There will be a full duration conc on a clone

Stag.Lynn:

they would have this game in their pocket

TehButtonmen:

TA will shitstomp everything that ever lived

TehButtonmen:

Ta has like 3 BFuries strapped to each arm

Stag.Lynn:

why are they losing t2 to a puck

TehButtonmen:

because why the fuck not

TehButtonmen:

why is dendi alone

Stag.Lynn:

ok

Stag.Lynn:

loda used a bkb

TehButtonmen:

uh

TehButtonmen:

in his own base

Stag.Lynn:

??????????????????????????????????????????????????

TehButtonmen:

the tp

TehButtonmen:

THE TP

Stag.Lynn:

this game

Stag.Lynn:

everyone is having a fit of clown syndrome

TehButtonmen:

What happens when full retard meets fuller retard

ahallucinogenic:

not enough oxygen in the booths

ahallucinogenic:

brain damage has started occuring

TehButtonmen:

puck just used all his mana

blargerer:

Are both teams punting?

TehButtonmen:

my god yes

blargerer:

and this is a high level event?

TathisFrog:

its the finals

Stag.Lynn:

the biggest there is

TehButtonmen:

this is G5 of a Bo5

TathisFrog:

of the most important event

TehButtonmen:

and this series has been so fucking bad

TehButtonmen:

did they just

TehButtonmen:

5 man chase a puck

TathisFrog:

are navi just waiting for that aegis to end

TehButtonmen:

through the whole woods without using cc

Stag.Lynn:

it's far gone

Stag.Lynn:

the rat doto begins

TehButtonmen:

shanba I am looking forward to watching these teams roshan fight again

TehButtonmen:

the first fight basicially had yakkidy sax playing in the background

Stag.Lynn:

I can't feel hyped for this

Stag.Lynn:

navi pls

Stag.Lynn:

pls stop

TehButtonmen:

does navi hate wards

TehButtonmen:

is navi supports in bronze

TehButtonmen:

are they niddale supports

TehButtonmen:

why is puck there

TehButtonmen:

why are they chasing puck

TehButtonmen:

I swear to god if A wins this

TehButtonmen:

I will actually be so unfucking hype

Stag.Lynn:

they wont

Stag.Lynn:

I dont want to believe

Stag.Lynn:

just make the bad people go away

Stag.Lynn:

no more words only dreams

TehButtonmen:

Stag I assure you there will be no mocking

TehButtonmen:

Because nobody can be bragging about this game

TehButtonmen:

so it begins again

Stag.Lynn:

amen

Stag.Lynn:

AMEN

Stag.Lynn:

AMEN

TehButtonmen:

,,,,

TehButtonmen:

.....

TehButtonmen:

what did I just watch

Stag.Lynn:

teams constantly forget that a blink bat is a thing

TehButtonmen:

A just went and rat dota

TehButtonmen:

but left 1 person there at rosh to feed

TehButtonmen:

pls end this

TehButtonmen:

just doom push

TehButtonmen:

pls

ahallucinogenic:

http://31.media.tumblr.com/e0561d1c1b89 ... o1_400.gif

Stag.Lynn:

ok.

TehButtonmen:

puck just blinked into 4 of them

TehButtonmen:

and got away

TehButtonmen:

because

reasons

TathisFrog:

couldnt they race there

TehButtonmen:

no more tears

TehButtonmen:

only dreams

TathisFrog:

why did they go back

TathisFrog:

am I crazy?

TehButtonmen:

it's the world thats crazy

TehButtonmen:

they needed to chase the global teleport heroes

TehButtonmen:

on foot

Stag.Lynn:

wait

TehButtonmen:

what

Stag.Lynn:

??????????????????????????????????

Stag.Lynn:

????????????????????

TehButtonmen:

I uh

TehButtonmen:

I dunno

TehButtonmen:

Bulldog

TehButtonmen:

has spent 15 mins solo farming away from everyone

ahallucinogenic:

http://i.imgur.com/QFqhLAV.jpg

TehButtonmen:

now end this

TehButtonmen:

that courier

TehButtonmen:

why what

TehButtonmen:

IN A LAND BESET BY STUPIDTY AND FULL CLOWNFUCK

TehButtonmen:

ONE MAN STANDS ALONE

TehButtonmen:

ONE MAN ACTUALLY IS SOMEWHAT FUCKING COMPETENT

ahallucinogenic:

the mvp of this game

ahallucinogenic:

is trees

ahallucinogenic:

go trees

ahallucinogenic:

most intelligent units on the map

TehButtonmen:

.....

TehButtonmen:

EXPLAIN THIS TO ME

ahallucinogenic:

pls hold

ahallucinogenic:

finding suitable explanation

TehButtonmen:

as far as I an tell Navi just ran their courier into melee range

TehButtonmen:

of Bulldogs minion

ahallucinogenic:

http://i.imgur.com/OQPVCRd.gif

TehButtonmen:

how is dendi so fed yet so useless

ahallucinogenic:

DAMNIT COMMENTATORS

ahallucinogenic:

YOUR JUGULAR IS NOT IN YOUR KNEES

ahallucinogenic:

i liked the part

ahallucinogenic:

where dendi was soloing their team

ahallucinogenic:

then goes to solo rosh because ??

ahallucinogenic:

and they lose aegis

TehButtonmen:

NO MORE TEARS

TehButtonmen:

ONLY DREAMS

TathisFrog:

welp

TathisFrog:

that was a really dumb game

TathisFrog:

I feel stupid for having watched that

TehButtonmen:

here let me celebrate for my team winning

TehButtonmen:

yay

Stag.Lynn:

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

TehButtonmen:

Stag

TehButtonmen:

I am so sorry

TehButtonmen:

Dendi trying to TP next to apuck

xxxpickemgenius:

IQ DROPPED FOR EVERYONE

xxxpickemgenius:

HOORAY

xxxpickemgenius:

BRAIN CELLS

xxxpickemgenius:

NOT FUNCTIONING

TehButtonmen:

We are all dumber

ahallucinogenic:

http://i.imgur.com/aXF7U.gif

TehButtonmen:

for watching that game

xxxpickemgenius:

GOODNESS GRACIOUS

TathisFrog:

my brain aches

Stag.Lynn:

??????????????????????????????????????

Stag.Lynn:

??????????????????????????????????????

[TheButtonmen]

Yes yes it was.

And then they did it again 45 seconds later.

[TheButtonmen]

XBOCT is being pretty blunt, possible roster changes from Na'vi or dour eastern European humour?

Too bad that often your destiny depends on a couple of useless idiots... Thanks for your support, but na'vi doubtly will continue with this roster;(

For most players I'd say they were serious but former Soviet bloc humour and clinical depression are pretty hard to tell apart.

[TheButtonmen]

There wasn't two sets of TP's cancelled, your confusing this with a logical game of well played DotA.

The first set where Enigma, Alchy and TA were standing around the front of the Dire base while Bulldog / Loda split pushed top / bot in;
A) Dendi didn't even have a TP scroll because as far as I can tell he bought an accidental magic wand instead a TP scroll.
B) Alchy never even tried to TP, he instead tried to kill Puck (turns out Puck w/ blink is good at dodging melee heroes).

Feel free to check for yourself at 42:10 replay time.

[TheButtonmen]

Shout out to Alchy for self-stun procing himself too.

nvm

i learned to ult/shadowblade + spam S

Thirst gives true sight and bloodrage stops you from using either of those. :/

[TheButtonmen]

As for the pair of cancelled TP's at the end of the game, they knew Puck was there and A) Chose to TP to ancient instead of fountain triggering the cast time increase from 3 to 5 seconds and B) Both had BKB up and chose not to use it before TPing.

[TheButtonmen]

Okay that timing really really sucks for Dendi.

[TheButtonmen]

s4 never knew Dendy in there until the Coil.

He knew they were both there, orb gives vision.

Edit: It wasn't treant, it was Necro 3 minions on the courier kill.

[TheButtonmen]

Was @ Lincon, fair point about 2nd it had looked like he'd passed through vision.

[TheButtonmen]

I forgot how goddamn hilarious it is to be a snowballing Storm Spirit. Cross-lane dunks don't care about wards or positioning, just hit R and laugh as they sit there flailing in your W as you blow them up. My builds not optimal yet but right now it features 3x null talisman (to get early game strength), only putting 1 point in Q and putting the saved points into stats and just rushing towards Orchid.

My biggest gripes right now are A) shitty camera controls, B) the fucking minimap being on the left side when I'm radiant and C) the terrible servers. I've somewhat mitigated 1 by binding control group 1 to space so I can just double tap it to recent but the inability to have an enemy hero selected and still control your own hero is driving me bonkers. Is there any way to customize the UI to address B and is every game featuring multiple DC's standard or has TI3 just overloaded everything?

[TheButtonmen]

A) I'd love a combined self-center / self-select button and some way to have another hero selected and still control my own hero mainly.
B) Minimap being on the left side means it is different when minimap moving between Radient / Dire, where as on the right it's equal for both teams.
C) A great deal of random DC's, the latency is fine.

[TheButtonmen]

The story of the last three TBM was thinking about playing DotA 2.

1) Maybe I should play some DotA
2) Wait in queue for 10 mins
3) Quit

[TheButtonmen]

Jungle Centaur Warrunner continues his unexpected and improbably reign of terror. Ganks are generally horrific because he grants everyone in the lane maximum move speed, has massive burst and an aoe stun. His actual jungling starts of slow but becomes incredibly fast once double strike gets leveled.

This shouldn't be working but for some reason (I suspect it's because I'm a baddie playing other baddies) it's working hilariously well.

[TheButtonmen]

Huskar nerf is actually really noticeable and hurtful.

By level 11 you're looking at 15 less agility which costs you two armor and 15 base attack speed both of which are actually a severe hit to Huskar as suddenly he's that much easier to kill with physical damage and the 200+% AS steroid on Bezerkers blood means the 15 base attack speed lost is suddenly costing you aronnd 1500 gold worth of attack speed items.

[TheButtonmen]

He can still tank fairly well, he's just not at good at Ring into a team and shredding their most fed hero.

[TheButtonmen]

With the return of duo-lanes, lich sacrifice now giving allied heroes xp and frost armor now effecting ranged heroes fully I'm hoping to see more support Lich.

[TheButtonmen]

Figured I'd try a couple rounds of Diretide.



Tons of the Uncommon Recipe and yet not even a single set of common ingridents. :/ If anyone needs a copy of the uncommon recipe give me a shout.

[TheButtonmen]

so how does this crafting thing works anywayz?

Not quite sure but I have heard rumors you need to buy limited use items to get them to work? Apparently the cost-reward ratio isn't great either.

Why guess and make stuff up when you can just link patch notes explaining it? No buying required, can't speak on cost-reward because it's effectively just a re-roll of an item but it seems fine given the worthlessness of 95% of everything.

[TheButtonmen]

Alchemist

Night vision reduced from 1400 to 800
Unstable Concoction maximum shaking duration reduced from 7 to 5.5 (still reaches maximum strength in 5 seconds)
Unstable Concoction no longer continues to get stronger while it is in the air

Goodnight sweet prince.

[TheButtonmen]

Claimed Ward bitch or feed at the start of an allpick.

They made me mid.

[TheButtonmen]

Sadly crystal maiden int nerf is actually pretty noticable if you're familiar with the hero. She still has amazing click cc and aura so she's still a great learner champ.

I appear to have hit an elo where everyone always picks pudge (this might actually be every elo) but it's working out great with my new found love for Sandking.

[TheButtonmen]

I keep trying to play ward bitch sandking but my opponents all appear to be clownies who are unfamiliar with the song of my people and I end up snowballing to the point that I'm Blink Dagger, Veil of Discord Sandking walking around the map receiving free kills.

[TheButtonmen]

I feel there should be a rule where anyone who gets my courier killed should have to buy me two stacks of wards.

Also I have learned the Kunkka absolutely curb stomps Sandking.

[TheButtonmen]

Have you ever been X marks the spot'ed while channeling ult to blink into a fight, it is the saddest thing ever.

[TheButtonmen]

I just got back into this, I took many months off and I still just play like 1 game a day at incredibly odd hours, I'm super turbo-bad still.

[TheButtonmen]

Sort of, if you select something twice it focuses on it so I bound self-select to space bar so I can double tap it to recenter camera.

[TheButtonmen]

Is Luna a good carry to learn with when you're pretty godawful at this game, if not then who would you suggest when I'm forced to do things other then ward bitch?

[TheButtonmen]

First game as D.Prophet was not exactly my best showing.


We won solely off the fact that Slardars back was very very strong and no matter how badly I was doing I could still shove waves and melt towers.

[TheButtonmen]

The bracers were because I was going drums but then we got a lot of gold off a push that took 2 towers and racks so I bought an ultimate orb because I was thinking about going linkens (they had pudge / miriana and I was tired of random arrows / hooks).

[TheButtonmen]

Well it's a good thing we won before I finished it because that would have been an embarassing way to die.

[TheButtonmen]

Twice pudge hooked me while I was ulting and managed to commit suicide while ulting me.

It was not exactly a high skill game.

[TheButtonmen]

IMO with DP, don't worry too much about building trying to block stuff. Just tank up and you'll become unkillable if your ult is active (heart, shivas, sheep etc).

Is a build like this reasonable? It's not pure tank items but it let me have an impact on fights when my ult was down and helped out the rest of my team.

[TheButtonmen]

Build path for Bloodstone is much smoother then Sheepstick (imo).

[TheButtonmen]

I'm debating picking up an early medallion of courage next time because it really spikes my ults damage against soft targets and the stats are both useful to me.

[TheButtonmen]

Holy crap Visage / Drow / Lycan is dumbdumbdumb.

The birds murder everything.

[TheButtonmen]

Do any buffs or auras work on Death Prohpets ghosts?

Edit: Other then the obvious -armor ones.

[TheButtonmen]

If you want to run around and wreck everything you could play Death Prophet

Thanks for the suggestion, her learning curve isn't very steep lol. I've been largely just continually pushing with her and trying to take towers even if it ends up trading myself for the tower. I've found that as long as I get my full duration ult off dying isn't so bad because I don't need many items and I'm fairly useless without my ult anyways.

Thoughts on leaving silence at level 1 and putting points into stats boost after maxing Q,E,R? I've found that I really need stats just to help tank up and reduce my mana issues and level 1 silence still does the trick.

[TheButtonmen]

There is two very different ember spirits in pro play at the moment. Here's a very short but decent break down on why teams like C9 are rolling people on Ember and why other teams are completely being destroyed when they pick Ember.

[TheButtonmen]

Wraith King is surprisingly fun and strong with the new ult change but is there a reason to ever max his Q?

[TheButtonmen]

Do you really have the mana to use it often enough to really gain benefit from maxing it? If you want damage it seems that critical strike does a better job.

[TheButtonmen]

Huh didn't think of Soul Ring, that might work.

I was building standard boring stuff like Treads, Armlet, Drums with BKB or going towards AC if I was doing good.

[TheButtonmen]

Blink Dagger not needing mana is an amazing change that I hope they don't nerf.

[TheButtonmen]

I'm finding that Wraith king has this really weak period before the Armlet is done, I've been using treads but I'm wondering about trying Phase into Bracer into Armlet. Odd duck of a hero though, I'm not sure he's my cup of tea.

Edit: Somehow my attempt to try that build ended up with me having an S&Y and zero regrets, zoom zoom king running everything down. Hilarious but likely only worked my support put me massively ahead early.

[TheButtonmen]

Ancient Apparition buffs will continue until every game features at least two of them.

Nerf to Axes ability to lucksack.

Huskars spears now deal magic damage to him rather then HP removal, are no longer unique attack modifiers and I'm tempted to try maelstorm.

-4 Agi from Luna hurts as well because I'm terrible at bopping creeps.

[TheButtonmen]

I've tried a variety of heroes but I've come to the conclusion I only really have fun playing Dota as a strength supports. Sandking, Wraith King and Centaur Warrunner all get shoutouts. With the buff to anchor smash and zero mana blink dagger I'm going to start trying out support Tide because he seems quite fun.

[TheButtonmen]

Mixed feelings on Earthshaker.

I'm finding him to be an early game god, I can spend the first couple mins just walking around the map getting my lanes ahead but I continually find myself underleveled and poor entering the midgame. As a result I'm utterly useless and unlike Sandking / Tide I can't just head to the jungle to farm up gold / xp to catch back up. Until my team can start pushing towers I'm just a liability on any fights that break out, this generally leads to me dying right when I'd ideally be saving up for my blink.

I suspect a certain portion of this is my builds fault (start consumables / branches -> soul ring -> boots -> wand -> blink -> arcanes with consumables throughout) but I'm not really sure how to mix it around as the Soul ring feels mandatory and with the amount of roaming I'm doing the boots feel extremely good.

Should I be spending more time pulling rather then roaming / zoning to ensure I don't end up massively behind or is it just an unavoidable problem earthshakers face?

[TheButtonmen]

This whole win as 10 random champs challenge in the Compendium is reminding me how godawful I am at playing carries and how unfun I find them.

Gyro's auto-attack animation is my nemesis but it turns out you can play a passable support gyro at my level because we're all trash, next up is trying to make support Medusa work.

[TheButtonmen]

I got almost all carries and I'm losing many many games.

[TheButtonmen]

Managed to lose the game as 6 slotted Medusa, I think at this point ritual suicide might be the only way to restore my family honour.

[TheButtonmen]

How did they still have their rapier when they lost?!

[TheButtonmen]

I'd be in if there is room.

[TheButtonmen]

Re-rolled shit-tier champs like Medusa and Gyro, got real champs like Axe and Lion, fired up the yolo queue. Ended up on a team with Axe, Spirit Breaker, Troll, Specter so I picked Lion. Never before have I seen Dagon Spirit Breaker and Axe but goddamn did we create space for the specter, anytime we saw their carries trying to farm we'd charge / blink at them and just unload the everything. We ended up driving their Phantom Assassin and Silencer to rage quitting, I've missed real champions who can just buy wards and walk around the map shitting on lanes rather then being stuck in a lanes right clicking creeps sadly.

[TheButtonmen]

I'm in.

[TheButtonmen]

I'm likely out then because I'll be working 5pm to 10pm EST.

[TheButtonmen]

Feel free to do it without me, it's not a big deal.

TI4 Hud is ugly as hell.

[TheButtonmen]

I should be around.

[TheButtonmen]

Yeah I'm also similiarly out with the new timing sorry.

[TheButtonmen]

buttons you should give me rtz for free just because youre a great guy.

Nope, I trust in his ability to inspire my team with his motivational speeches.

[TheButtonmen]

C9 is back in fine form, 3:0ing right over Empire in the ESL finals. Some great team comps too, Jakiro, Treant, Darkseer, Witch Doctor and Ember in particular was amazing to watch.

[TheButtonmen]

Dota 2: Wishing there was still no techies

[TheButtonmen]

Jakiro is quite fun, his recommended skill paths are all complete dross though. Liquid fire and ice path are miles better then dual breath yet the majority of players max dual breath first, followed by ice path and then finally liquid fire.
Start Ice but max L.Fire first, Ice second and Dual breath remains a 1 point wonder at level 5.

[TheButtonmen]

All the immortals are for heroes I don't play unfortunately, I think I may just sell my two while they're still worth something and buy a couple of sets for heroes I do like. I may keep the Lion fish wand though simply because he's a hero I may eventually pick up one day and because it's hilarious.

[TheButtonmen]

New balance patch is up.

[TheButtonmen]

I now also have a Storm Spirit Immortal thingy, would anyone be interested in trading a Crystal Maiden or Death Prophet one for it?

[TheButtonmen]

C9 bringing back the Clockwork dunks.

[TheButtonmen]

who wants to shitpost about ti5 with me

[TheButtonmen]

This TI has so far been a great demonstration for why I love C9 so much.

[TheButtonmen]

My love for C9 has nothing to do with them being a winningest team, I just find them to be on average the team I have the most fun watching (if they win or if they lose).

[TheButtonmen]

Actionslacks omniknight voice pack actually made me lol.