DOTAFire Blogs

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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So i presume that we are going to see a dual release here. (Both the ember and earth spirit)
Whenever they release the skill icons the hero is usually released within the week.

Ember Spirit
Earth Spirit

So let the radiance burn!!!
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Just a planning for my team, with the lineup/role/items/lanes/whatever.

Outworld Devourer

LINEUP:
2 tanky, 2 semi-tanky, and 1 squishy heroes.
2 STR and 3 INT heroes.
2 melee and 3 ranged heroes.
3 stuns, 2 slows, 1 disable, 2 heals, lots of nukes (and lots of pure damage nuke too).

Probably not a bad lineup.

COUNTERS:

Doom Bringer


Nyx burns INT heroes. Lifestealer shreds Alchemist. Razor saps OD. Doom, well, dooms INT. AM is annoying, but counterable. Pugna counters INT. Silencer too. Shadow Demon purges Warlock Golem. Omniknight repels magic (and pure) damage.

Probably more counters to my lineup, but i don't remember/not pro enough to notice. Help would be nice.

LANE:
2-1-2: well-balanced with the ward rotation. Probably need to counter trilane though.
3-1-1: Alchemist will suffer in lane, so probably not.
1-1-3: Timber can win solo lane if he's careful. Good too, because the supp…
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Hi Guys!

I just joined DotaFire but have been playing Dota 2 for a year.
I'm a Clockwerk fan and a good roamer in the game; I'm also an effective carry.
People often don't like playing Clockwerk because of his ultimate but I'm going to change that!
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As a possibility, we are already half-way to becoming more. Our skill is on the edge of great, and as such, so should our attitude be when we play the game. This however, is where we fall short.
Public match-making is a great tool to play with nine other, randomly selected players in a 5v5 skirmish to the death. This method gives diversity to games, as so many people are different, and use different strategies, some of which you can learn from.

But, the match-making system has a large flaw, and this flaw is of a great disagreement on many people's lips. The Dota community seems to think that the major flaw of this MM system we're using is that they get matched up with 'noobs', 'Russians', 'Brazillians', '*******s', etc. They want various different systems, including region locks, and a better MM system, etc. A way to weed out the 'bad' players, so that only good players are left.

Sadly, this is not the solution to our problem. The one major barrier is, and will always be, language.…
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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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So just had the most frustrating game ever.
Went for a semi-carry sd cause we already had a support. Guess what lost due to the noobs.
I had the highest k/d/a. But the noobs just wont push.

Game id 326903744
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ET is moving up my list of fav. heroes. I wish it was easier to find a match at low levels because the wait is usually too long for my tight schedule... #CollegeProblems
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So, finally after way too long time, part 2. Some more tactics, including those you can use as a team.

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Chain-Pulling

Chain-Pulling, or Double-Pulling involves the act of pulling a second creep camp into the same pulled lane creeps for a normal pull. This is pretty hard to do, as you have to cut down a tree to make the path the neutral creeps has to run short enough, and also have to time it so that when the second camp's neutral creeps reach the first camp where your creeps are fighting, that camp's creeps die, causing your creeps to follow the second camp's creeps to their camp, and thus, remaining off of the lane.
It's a bit hard to properly explain, so I'll link this handy video which shows how its done on the radiant side. The Dire side double pull is slightly harder, but the same principles apply.

Controlling the Creep- and Tower-Aggro

When in the solo lane mid, or any lane really, there's a few useful tricks to remember when last-hitting, denying and harassing. As you hopeful…
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I've watched a few videos of people super creep stacking in previous versions of Dota 2. But now that possibility is gone due to a bug fix update. But I've been thinking, maybe Valve should let the Creep Stacking become a cheat option for lobby games. You know, just for fun, besides, Dota 2 isn't only about competition right? Feel free to leave your opinions! :-)
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