InTheDarkness's guide to All Random Deathmatch

Introduction

Hey guys. I'm here to share some thoughts about an incoming mode called All Random Deathmatch. It is still unreleased officially, but playable. Some of us know of it from DotA, some never heard of it. Fun coming out of it can be only compared to the one of Ability Draft. I've played a decent amount of games there, with a good winrate, so I've decided to give people some advice, because after the release I've seen a lot of people doing it the wrong way. Also I've compiled some good information from a lot of forums to fix some of my misjudgements as well. Guide will be pretty short, since there's not too much to say.

What is ARDM and how to enable it in the client.

Here comes a bit for those who never heard of this mode. Regular 5vs5 match, 10 random heroes. You have 40 points for each team, every time player dies, it respawns with a new random hero for the cost of 1 point with the same level and items. When the team is out of points, people can't respawn, and game lasts till Ancient dies, or till the last man standing.

How to enable this mode?
1. Start searching a game
2. Open console(-console in game .exe file parameters)
3. dota_match_game_modes 1048576
4. Stop searching. Your mode is now called "All Random Deathmatch". Start searching a new mode.

Ok, now we got it working, and let's jump right into learning on how to become the MVP in that marvellously funny mode.

Basic tactics of this mode.

The most effective advice will always be close to "be aggressive, that's it". When someone is afkfarming some lane, others are fighting 5vs4, e.g. losing team respawn points. There's no coming back from them closing down to zero, so you have to fight with every hero you get at any possible moment. No matter what hero you've got at the drafting, you should know that it WILL BE taken away, no matter how hard you try to stay alive, so item/skillbuilds usually used for AP should be rejected. Overall, killing is a priority over farming and pushing. You should build a hero not in perspective of the future fights, but exactly like it would be most effective RIGHT NOW.

Example:
You've received Huskar. AP: you'd probably get Burning Spears at level 1, then max your passive. That is not what you need in this mode. Passive becomes effective when you can be pretty sustainable with low hp - not in the start of earlygame for sure. Maxing Burning Spears first gives you immeasureable amount of harassment, and its effectiveness fades away as the game progresses. Exactly what you need at levels 1-5.

Don't forget to look at what heroes enemies got after respawn - it may save your life once or twice. Invisibility pubstompers like Riki are very dangerous because you don't always have dust - you buy it only when it's needed, and that reaction on invis hero in the enemy team should be fast, before he started to kill.

Another great tactic that works in coordinated team comes down to this: if enemies got weak heroes, don't kill them. Drop their health to a minimum, let them go to base, heal, push their towers in a meantime. When, after 20 minutes of meaningless trying to defend their towers with 5 supports, they die and get better heroes, most of the time it is too late already.

Itembuild: versatility is the most OP thing in ARDM.

• Even if you got Faceless Void first, there's no guarantee that you will get another hardcarry when you die - so, any hard farming items( Battle Fury, Maelstorm, Hand of Midas) should be rejected almost all the time. As well as pure damage items - they won't work well on something like Crystal Maiden you might get.
  
• Blink Dagger. From experience I've got I can say that it is the most OP item in this mode. It has great synergy with almost any hero in the pool, so it should be almost all the time be first. After brown boots.
  
• Choice of boots is personal, but for me it is a tie between Phase Boots and Arcane Boots. Why? Because Phase Boots are universal for almost any situation, and any team needs at least one pair of Arcane Boots. Power Treads are little more situational, but can work great too. Boots of Travel and Tranquil Boots are rejected since BoT is mostly for pushers only, and Tranquils are simply bad as they don't work for anything but roaming support.
  
• You might be surprised, but the next very strong item is Orchid Malevolence. Well, we can use it as a silence. Other than that, why?
  1. You're a hardcarry like Phantom Assassin or Sven or insert here hero name. It gives you mana regen you sort of lack, and, most importantly, still gives you damage and attackspeed you need. Not so much as other items, but still works out pretty good.
  
  2. You're semicarry with good teamfight potential( Windranger, Brewmaster, other heroes). As midgame comes in, you should have a lot of teamfights and mana sustainability is a great thing provided by Orchid Malevolence. Damage and ASPD are great bonuses as well.
  
  3. You're a support like Rubick. Even with him you can still be useful with that active and skill spamming with mana regen boost.
  
  As you can see, this item is somewhat effective on every single hero you can remember. Other items can be effective on carries only, or supports only, or initiators only, etc. This one is different.
  
• Black King Bar. Like the previous item, this one is also effective on every single hero Dota can provide. Really. There's not a lot to say about it though.
  
• Dagon. Rejected by most of the people in AP, this item comes to shine in this mode. Thing is, when you kill, that diminishes one point. Killing squishy supports with a single click is effective, especially, if it's not the only one in the team.
  
• Any stats-heavy items like Eye of Skadi - they benefit any hero a lot.
  
• Another popular item build is involving aura stacking. Drum of Endurance, Vladmir's Offering, Mekansm, Assault Cuirass can be pretty situational, but a great benefit to the whole team. Getting at least one aura item on a character is good.

Items that should be avoided:

• Hand of Midas - you don't farm in this mode. At all.
• Radiance - not so effective on a ranged hero, have to be beefy to use it to full potential, farming with it is not required.
• Lifesteal( Vladmir's Offering excluded) - carry-specific, useless on other heroes. Especially Mask of Madness - looking at Shadow Shaman activating it makes your eyes literally bleeding.
• Specific counters to certain heroes - with coordination, you can focus down any hero, and you don't need that Monkey King Bar for Phantom Assassin that will die and receive Lion instead.

Overall, any pure damage items, like I said before, are rejected. The more versatile build you've got, the better.

That game is still in beta, and ...

.. there are some bugs you should be aware of.

• When you disconnect before you die, then reconnect after you respawned, you'll get 2 heroes instead of one, with muted items on one of them. Probably will be fixed soon.
• Don't put your items into Spirit Bear - you'll lose them after death.
• Killing Vengeful Spirit will give you that negative Vengeance Aura which will last until you die, not until enemy hero respawn.
• ...

.. there are some heroes you won't have in this mode: Invoker, for example. Google full list if you want.

.. don't be too judgy about it. It will get better once it is released officially.

Thanks for reading, goodbye! And, of course, you can look at my Invoker's guide if you have any desire for it. Much appreciated, InTheDarkness.