There seems to be a whole set of players who fall into the category of "habitual junglers" - you've probably seen them from time to time, the guys who insta-pick a hero like Nature's Prophet or Legion Commander and call it - you can mentally see them queuing up the Hand of Midas before the other team has even picked.

Now, these players will sometimes win the game convincingly for you, or sometimes cause you to lose it before it's hardly begun. Why? They're a habitual jungler, they've probably started playing this way because they can't handle having to actually lane against someone, and believe that jungling means they can avoid the early game entirely. They have one playstyle for all game situations - jungle.

If they're left alone and the rest of your team does a decent job of holding their ground, you'll probably win. The jungler will announce their supremacy and "commend me". Any game they lose, it's their team's fault - they didn't hold their towers long enough, got ganke…
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When it comes to farming items, Maelstrom is frequently forgotten by many players and not even considered by others. Lets have a look at when and why this underrated item can be used:

Hand of Midas - 1900 gold (500/1400). The cheapest farming item, it's 800 gold less than a Maelstrom, and offers an XP boost every few minutes. It provides +30 attack speed but overall is a very weak fighting item, providing no stats or damage.

Maelstrom - 2700 gold (500/1600/600). More expensive than a HoM, but significantly less than a BF, it provides +24 damage and +25 attack speed, as well as it's unique lightning proc. During 25% of your attacks a chain lightning will proc, causing 120 damage to up to 4 nearby enemy units. Upgradable to Mjollnir.

Battle Fury - 4350 gold (1400, 1200, 875, 875). 1650 gold more than a Maelstrom doesn't seem that much, but at this stage in the game, time equals money in a fairly serious way. The sooner you get your farming item, the sooner your gold boo…
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The recent buff to Broodmother has seen a whole swarm of former players scuttling out of the woodwork. The thing is that the buff mostly just improves her mobility and chances of surviving ganks - a lot of what she already has is the same - as is often the case with "buffs" the effects are psychological as much as anything.

With some decent broods finally strutting their stuff, it's a good time to look at how to do well in lane against her. Many pubbers have probably never seen a good Brood in action and have merely laughed at the antics of randomers trying to play her.

+ Invisibility, pass uncrossable terrain and high movement speed in web
+ Great extra health regeneration in web
+ Can block or farm jungle camps with spiderlings

- Poor base damage
- No stun
- Mana dependent

The main thing to bear in mind is how dangerous Spawn Spiderlings and spiderlings themselves can be if you haven't got the tools to deal with them. They may not do much damage individually, but a big mass …
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It's often difficult to tell fact from rumour when it comes to how various parts of the DOTA2 service work.

However, I've noticed a drop in the quality of the matchmaking that's taken place in the past few weeks. I've looked back at my last 20-25 games and there has been a definite drop in the number of high quality/close games. It seems like one side or the other totally spanks the other early-mid game and it's not even close.

Scores like 51-8, 29-7, and 61-10 seem to have become the norm instead the exception - and whichever side of this score line you're on - it's no fun. Slaughtering the opposition is fun for a bit, but it soon becomes too easy and the game is over as a contest very quickly. Likewise, having your team disintegrate around you as the other lanes crumble is no fun either.

It could just be me, but the overall quality of the other players seems to have dropped too - for example this game. Not sure the scoreboard reflects well just how bad some of the players wer…
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I fancied shaking things up a bit recently and chose to immediately random my hero most games, instead of waiting to see what gets picked and then grabbing a desperately needed hard support :).

This has been fun as I've got to play a bunch of heroes that I wouldn't normally get near, playing a lot more solo mid, and doing a lot more carrying. These are all things I've done a lot of in the past, but I'd got into the habit of playing support almost every game as it seemed to need doing.

The funny thing is it's shown up for me just how bad a lot of the support play in the "very high" (yeah right!) bracket is. Really simple things not done, totally ignored or "that's somebody else's job". This week's worst offender was a Crystal Maiden who bought an Animal Courier and then not a single utility item all game, not even Dust of Appearance with a Bounty Hunter on the other team. Constantly stole kills and farm, here are her final items:

Power Treads
Shadow Blade
Black King Bar
G…
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