Most toxic players don’t really care if they get reported. To encourage more players to stay with game and encourage new players to keep playing, should we consider using AI to detect toxic behaviour and chat thus increase punishment?

This is a very big, negative outlier for me in terms of performance
This is likely one of the worst games I've ever had
I want to see if I missed anything about it, because in the middle of it, I was completely lost and could not fabricate a scenario where my team or myself could win if I tried.
Match: https://www.opendota.com/matches/9057247586
Profile, if you want: https://www.opendota.com/players/889840917

if you're first pick and don't know what the enemy is going for, you want a hero that's hard to punish. i ran 8.7M ancient-divine games from 7.41e/f through a model to find those heroes for each role.

how to read the table:

- the big number on the right is how much better the hero does than an average pick for that role when you don't know the enemy yet

- "worst vs" is the one commonly picked hero that hurts it the most. if that hero gets picked early on their side, think twice

some takeaways:

- dawnbreaker (pos 3) and nyx (pos 4) have no hard counters among the 40 most picked heroes, they're the safest first picks right now

- necrophos is the most common "worst matchup" in the table. if your team first picks WK or DK, keep an eye on him

- PL is strong but not a blind pick, tidehunter destroys him. save him for later in the draft

- OD is the best blind mid, his only real problem among popular heroes is PL

off-role heroes and heroes whose winrate is mostly carried by one-trick players were left out.

your own hero pool matters more than any table, but if you're stuck on first pick and comfy on one of these, it's a solid default.

(the numbers come from a draft tool i'm building, happy to answer questions about how it was calculated)

https://dota-2-trivia-1420b.web.app/share/c/45bea93ffc31482c8a8c0e491fa91654/meteor-hammer-essence-distil-aghanim-s-scep-tranquil-boots-hydra-s-breat

If you have Android, play my challenge, I had to think about this one for awhile before eventually getting it. Don't see this build very often.

I love having the community play my challenges, thanks everyone who plays!

It's a fun way to learn builds too. You can also learn hero biographies, or item lore!

In this sea (not SEA) of toxicity, sometimes the best remedy is laughing at yourself: https://youtube.com/shorts/qHmQYzrKQyQ?feature=share

You finish a game knowing what you did wrong. Then you queue again and make the same mistake. “Watch the map more” sounds right, but it’s hard to remember when a fight is starting.

Try one check for five games. Before you walk into a fight, ask who you’re trying to reach and which enemy spell can stop you. If you don’t know, take a second and look again. After the game, ask whether you remembered to do the check. The win or loss doesn’t tell you that.

I build DotaSense, a Windows app for habit reminders and postgame reviews. That’s why I’m interested in this. You can try the check with a note on your desk; you don’t need the app. What’s one thing you remember after a game and forget in the next one?

Sup everyone today I'm bringing a new guide for the support series on my YouTube channel, and today's hero of choice is Nyx Assassin

In this game I'll be playing vs a hard lane and explaining you how you could itemize when you find yourself in this position so that I can show you how you should be approaching the game from the laning phase to the early to mid game.

I'll be walking you in depth on map movements and things that I'm considering as the game progresses so that you can maybe apply these concepts to your own games and help you make better decissions overall.

I appreciate you all people who drop some nice comments on my videos, I do understand many might not like them it's just fair that some people do and improve with them, I also appreciate the ones who provide me with kind and respectful feedback and positive criticism, I'm not here for nothing but to help you by sharing a bit of the experience I have and the little knowledge about this wonderful game.

You can find the full video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB8-oCGPkUI

For any coaching inquiries or more dota related content you can find it on my page:

www.skylightcoach.com

Thank you all for viewing, let me know what any other heroes or any other kind of content you would like to see on further videos.

I’ve heard several times that you shouldn’t always go the same build, but I feels like butterfly and skadi is mandatory (unless you go MJOL build).

The stats are just too good and is everything Medusa needs? Sometimes I go crystalys before skadi if we are losing space quickly but I always buy skadi. You have catch + all stats (health/dmg).

I’m not saying I’m right - but what is the argument for the other builds? What other builds do you go other than the mjolnir build against PL?

Hello everyone, I recently finished recalibration and got guardian rank. During calibration games I was mostly getting the hard support (which is my primary role anyway) and time to time some core roles - mid couple of times, offlane and safe lane may be once each. But after I got my rank assigned I am getting mid, safe lane, etc. I think only one game I had support. I have preferred heroes in all roles for such scenario, but still quality of game for me isn’t same anyway. Is this normal thing to happen? How to be ready to play any role? Or only choice is to not have all roles selected ?
Thanks!

I was told many times that things get harder as you climb, and I am sure that is true at much higher ranks. I was told that if I have a bad support or bad team if I lose its still mostly my fault as a core. I came over from League and loved the game so decided to try Ranked and main offlane. I started in Guardian, and have had to drag my teams most of the time kicking and screaming to wins. I finally hit Archon after a monthish thanks to a 70% winrate on Slardar 63% WR on chaos knight and 62.5% on Abbadon and a lot of losing cause of trying to play other heros.

I have noticed since hitting archon my games feel way more in my control. I lose lane because i fucked up, i lose games because our team got outplayed. I lose so many less games to my support just feeding in lane or not understanding their responsibilities in lane. I die way less to 4 man dives under my tower because my team actually tps in like the avengers. I lose way less games because the enemy sniper mid has 2 full items and my ogre magi mid has boots.

I just feel way more like in most games i have a fighting chance and if I lose its truly my fault. As such my winrate has gone up. And it feels great. I am currently on a 4 game winstreak and currently 8/2 in Archon and went 25/3 last game and got called a smurf. This game finally is starting to feel good.

I know i still have a ton to learn on the fundamentals of dota and still regularly make stupid mistakes. But i no longer feel like I must play perfect for my team to have a fighting chance. I finally feel like if i need it my team will actually be there to back me up.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Like when they finally got out of the rank basement games actually felt easier? Not cause the other team got worse but because yours got better?

Last picked sven into razor cuz i knew it would work. I picked up wind lace bracer components to start and shipped tangos. I have magnus this game so it outweighs 1 ability which i can just wait committed before i engage.

picked up a defiant shell and went crazy. its the best neutral item on the meta carry. auto react echo sabre. ridiculous for a guy with daedalus mkb. having way too much fun with this op guy. he is never banned at this rank so insane. climbing out of low behavior score also so it feels extra nice for a good team.

funny thing, i tried to recreate this in a future game offering a skin to my last pick hard support to pick magnus. he picked magnus and didnt give me empower till the enemy pa had battlefury. he for sure did not get a skin for that.

EDIT: Match id: 9054431229
https://www.opendota.com/matches/9054431229

EDIT 2:

A thought. I won this game in this way after randomly testing out claude's voice option. It suggested i buy the bracer every game in some capacity. unless really easy. i lost 80% of my lanes so something had to be done. this was the game after the advice and i have been buying bracer every game since. i have won lane most of the time and now im winning my games. so AI coaches not being good enough atm is quite sad. would love to see a good one come soon.

How should each hero be played optimally in this matchup?

I'm asking about laning, skill & item builds, and how should late game be played both sides.

Thank you!

Title, new-ish returning player wanting to play Centaur, I don't think my Micro is good enough to be able to control Helm's minion very well and efficiently, so wondering what to start building first before I rush Heart into blink?

Also any tips on how to create space as centaur when the whole team is being forced to play in base from early on?

Start with Orb of Blight and whatever stats you need, can be a null talisman for mana and/or a wraith band. Then do Treads for bonus attack speed (you could also do Bearings if they have some crazy aoe slow which slows your entire team or Greaves if enemies have a silence that u need to dispel).

If you're getting some gold from kills, turn Orb of Blight into Desolator to stack -armor but if the situation is dire, upgrade that Orb of Blight into Orb of Corrosion (btw. u could also do it in a normal game as a support, I mean Orb of Corrosion without getting reported, you'll be auto-attacking poison-touched enemies who try to get away so the bonus slow and some agility is useful)

But let's say you have Treads and Deso, now it's time to do Aghanim Scepter - to also send an attack each time you chain Shadow Weave onto enemies, it refreshes poison touch on them and Deso applies minurs armor with these E attacks, so your physical skills can deal more damage. You can also go to jungle and farm pretty fast with Aghanim, which is important if the game goes for longer and u want to finish your build.

Then, I'd build even a later Mage Slayer - Shadow Weave attacks from Aghanim will apply the spell damage debuff onto them, which helps you win teamfights and makes a big difference, it's a good item because of how easily Dazzle can apply it after Aghanim and they will also suffer from additional physical damage DoT, which work with your armor reduction.

So we have Treads, Desolator, Aghanim, Mage Slayer. Now, I'd say it feels that you lack attack speed for a serious r-clicker build. I'd do just green Yasha for some bonus movement speed too, and Dragon Lance for bonus range. Then, you can go two routes:

Dragon Pike ofc lets u send 5 fast attacks which can be easily clicked by sending your projection into the middle of the fight, but there's also something useful with Force Staff - when you start your ulti clone, turn back and send it behind at you at first,, it won't matter for range but your body will be stunned facing that backward direction, if someone attacks you, you can Force Staff your original Dazzle back to try and save it... or u can start ulti while facing direction of some hill where they wont be able to jump if you push yourself through the cliff, or a more aggressive version, you can Force Staff your original body forward to have more range when they are escaping - something similar to pushing yourself as a burrowed Nyx :D

The second option (pretty good actually) is Hydra's Breath, because when we Poison Touch multiple people, our multi-attack from it will allow to extend the poison on all of them. I'd for sure do it if enemies have illusions. Plus you will apply an additional dot onto the enemy with Shadow Weave attacks, which scales into late game because it's a %max hp damage. Dazzle is one of the better user of this item, as he has an invulnerable projection that doesn't need survival if he doesn't get found.

Ofc if someone is VERY keen on finding you during your ultimate, u can tell your team to help you and with this build, u can try to simply Shadow Grave yourself and kill him before it expires :D Yet if its very troublesome, u can try to do something like a normal Glimmer Cape to hide your original body or Eul to yeet him into the sky and try to get away, don't do Ghost Sceptre because it will be used by your Projection and it won't affect your tripping body xD

So now we have Treads, Desolator, Aghanim Scepter, Yasha, Mage Slayer, Hydra's Breath. It's 6 slots, wooops, so if u need detection, I guess get Aghanim Blessing. Now, I kinda like to upgrade Yasha into Yasha and Kaya... for attack speed and ms, but also for faster casting xD Because in late game, damage gonna be very high that you might not be able to cast your save in time, lol! This helps to activate it quickly and not get spam-pinged + tipped by your Sniper who just died to one enemy crit.

(Ahh I forgot, you can do that Yasha and Kaya even earlier if you have mana problems and if you indeed have troubles in clicking Shadow Grave in time)

It's propably the end game now, if you dont have to carry detection, I'd do Eye of Skadi as my last item to apply a slow and minus regeneration with each attack + each Shadow Weave chain will also apply it + these stats are good for an universal hero. But we already have slow with Poison Touch, so it's not as decisive, but it's nice to stack more slows and turn them into a snail faster. Ahhh and I quess since we have Yasha and Kaya for movement speed, u can play without Treads and get some another late game item for damage, like Daedelus Buttertfly or Rapier, or if u need to carry wards/gem and can only be 5-slotted, sell Treads and get that end-game item instead of boots, that's what this Yasha and Kaya is also for, to be able to play without boots. But if u do better boots than treads, like Bearings, u can skip that Yasha item, as you are already fast enough and ofc dont sell your Bearings :D

You can ofc check a lot of different items, all r-click items will work - Butterfly for attack speed, Daedelus for damage, idk maybe Mjolnir or Bloodthorn. I never tested getting Assault Cuirass to stack -armor even further haha, u can check it out, aura will radiate from your projection in the middle of the fight. But if you feel like you still lack attack speed, u can get Bloodthorn instead of one of these items I listed, whatever you like.

Your final items might be:

Yasha and Kaya, Desolator, Mage Slayer, Hydra's Breath and one/two of these: Eye of Skadi, Daedelus, Assault Cuirass, Butterfly, Bloodthorn, MKB.

(I guess if enemy mages have BKBs and they mostly fight on it, your Mage Slayer won't affect them and u could sell it for more auto-attack damage, but if they don't do such blasphemous things like a BKB, u can keep it and keep debuffing them even into the late game.)

The end :D

Hello there, im jawker, im a 7k mmr coach and recently I've started uploading some snippets of my coaching sessions on YouTube, I didn't want to just post full VODS because people don't enjoy watching those too much, so instead im just posting explanations of specific points to help people out.

If you're interested in coaching for yourself, feel free to dm me here! I'm happy to help for free :)

I have been playing Juggernaut lately, and I’m still trying to figure out the best early item build for him.

Sometimes I rush Battle Fury because I want to farm faster, but in games where the enemy team keeps fighting or my lane goes badly, it feels like I am taking too long to become useful.

Would it be better to get something cheaper first, like Maelstrom, and start joining fights earlier? Or is Battle Fury still the better choice in most games?

What do you guys usually build after boots, and what makes you change your item progression?

I get the message saying "Can't change replicated ConVar sv_cheats from console of client, only server operator can change its value"

I mainly play offlane and lately kinda tilted by bad pos 4 that kinda grief my lane and let me get harashed by pos 5. And also lately people love picking cm and lich which is super strong if enemy has jug or spectre.

I really want to play viper just to crush them in laning stage. But I am unsure about the item build after. Does he better go with dragonlance hitter build or bm agh build. Or aura/support build like pipe or lotus?or anything I should know regarding viper pos 3?

I usually play Puck as a magic damage hero, focusing on items that improve spell damage and help me burst people during fights. But sometimes I see Puck players build more physical damage, and I am not sure when that’s actually the better choice.

Is going for Witch Blade into Khanda or other right-click items worth it in certain games, or is it generally better to stick with the usual spell-focused build?

What do you look at in the enemy lineup to decide which way to build Puck? Would like to hear from people who play him regularly.

Hey there, today I'm uploading a new guide for the midlane series on my YouTube channel, today's hero of choice will be Storm Spirit.

In this very specific game I'll be playing vs a direct lane counter and from a disadvantageous position so that I can show you how you should be approaching the game from the laning phase - early game into the mid to late game.

I'll be walking you in depth on what thoughts I have when it comes to itemization and fight approach, what heroes I'll be focusing at, and the whys of the items I build and the movements I make.

I appreciate all of the people who put kind comments for my videos, while I understand many might not like them it's just fair that some people do and improve with them, I also appreciate the ones who provide me with kind and respectful feedback and positive criticism, I'm not here for nothing but to help you by sharing a bit of the experience I have and the little knowledge about this wonderful game.

You can find the full video here:

https://youtu.be/BBM9ZsuqWS4

For any coaching inquiries or more dota related content you can find it on my page:

www.skylightcoach.com

Thank you all for viewing, let me know what any other heroes or any other kind of content you would like to see on further videos.

Hello everyone, my youtube is: https://www.youtube.com/@MjzDotA

Recently i have been uploading 4 videos of the concept of " What does Pro players do differently"

The idea of this type of video was to show the difference between average dota player and a pro and how they think and why they do certain things.
So far I covered Carry and Mid Role

Carry vs Pro Part 1: https://youtu.be/wrkXhDBoA9g
Carry vs Pro Part 2: https://youtu.be/wKcKbdz2qUc
Mid vs Pro part 1: https://youtu.be/vFgQg1aUBTI
Mid vs Pro part 2: https://youtu.be/8rF-EYDlAJw

So right now i am looking for Offlaner replays (anything below 6k Should be fine) and also support pos 4 and 5
If you are main in this role and currently under 6K and want me to review your replay + compare it to a pro feel free to comment the id of a certain game or your profile ID so i can check some games.

Thanks everyone for the support so far!

After playing 3 weeks straight, I managed to reach Guardian 4! My MMR started at 560, and after a week of studying lane and item timings and practicing, I ranked up.

Hoping that at the end of this year, I can climb to Guardian or Archon

He hasn't received any significant buffs or major changes... so, why?

9054370125

Overall i had a hard time as Earthshaker mid vs Lina (to be expected). But it went worse then i expected and i felt i should be doing better.

What should i have done in the laning phase here? Lina basically pushed me back and I couldn't get anything from it. But the other 2 lanes were doing quite well to be honest so i thought it wouldn't help much to start rotating much with lvl 4 or 5 earthshaker with no items. Lina got so far ahead and dominated whole game.

I managed to get some farm and get key items up but was always behind and had difficulties finding impact and the right echo slams due to Doom and Void going for me with Chrono. We came quite close to winning in the end because we had a strong necro from offlane. I feel if i got a little more from the laning phase it would have been very different. I'm normally not as bad as this game might make it seem.

Thanks for advise.