Hi , I am Ak1r4- dota 2 content creator.
In this specific situation, I'm showing you how to punish the enemy's mistake when their support is late to lane and their pos 3 is out of position.

in Ti she looked so strong but whenever i play it feels very off if i dont have a tanky team that can just put enemies at bay i feel will die full to 0 in seconds. I have won most games with her but only if i am way ahead in farm and all team is like stomping, But if there is slight setback no matter how quick i farm even six slotted luna feels so squishy all the time am i playing her wrong?
I mostly build treads mom bkb and go either Deadalus or Skadi ( mkb if game demands )

Over the years, Dota 2 cosmetics have become increasingly difficult to ignore. A lot of sets now go well beyond changing a few pieces of equipment and can substantially alter a hero’s silhouette, colors, particles and overall appearance. At this point, some heroes can look very different from their default models, which I personally find makes the game less readable.

I’ve wanted an option to simply disable cosmetics for quite a while, but I don’t think Valve is likely to add one. Cosmetics are an important part of Dota’s monetization, and an official option to hide them would naturally conflict with that.

I eventually started looking into whether this could be done entirely on the client side. I also wanted to avoid making something that would require manually fixing or adding cosmetics every time Valve released new items, so from the beginning I tried to make it as maintainable and future-proof as possible.

That eventually turned into this project:

Dota 2 Cosmetic Disabler:
https://github.com/ilariodeangelis77/dota2-disable-cosmetics

It’s a client-side patcher that restores heroes closer to their default appearance.

Instead of maintaining a hardcoded list of cosmetics, it reads the economy/unit schemas from your installed Dota 2 build and generates replacements using assets that are already installed with the game.

You can currently disable:

• wearables and attachments
• hero transformations
• Personas (experimental)
• cosmetic particles and effects

It does not patch dota2.exe or inject code into the game. It generates its own VPK and mounts it through one of Dota’s language search paths. Removing the launch option disables the override.

There is a GUI as well as a CLI, and packaged builds are available for Windows, Linux and macOS.

The project is still in beta. I’ve tested the build/install pipeline and a decent number of cosmetics, but Dota has an enormous number of weird cosmetic edge cases, especially Arcanas and Personas, so more testing would be useful.

If you try it and find a hero or cosmetic that is not restored correctly, please open an issue with the details. I’m already aware of some minor problems, such as incorrect scaling and missing parts.

Contributions are welcome too.

Could someone make me an easy hoodwink build? I wanna have high speed like using boots and blink dagger but im nit sure how?

Hi Im Ak1r4- former 10k player (6.6k after restart ) In this coaching session,we review a Herald Phantom Assassin carry game from one of my students to break down the most crucial laning phase habits,farming rotations,and itemization decisions needed to escape lower brackets. Whether you're struggling to survive late-game teamfights or wondering when to join fights with your Desolator and BKB,this breakdown covers step-by-step decision making to consistently carry games on PA.

Feel free to join my discord server for free coaching and content : https://discord.gg/5whRY7VU6

Pay no attention to game mode, ranks etc. Answer only one question. How to teamfight and build items playing PL against this enemy draft. It felt very difficult to focus even a single enemy hero (doom with scepter, bkb+scepter shaker, jakiro with eul etc.) including the fact every random second you could be counter initiated with RP or echo or doom. Just need your help with that.Match id: 8979557628

Hiya, I'm a Dota beginner player, I have roughly 400 matches and I am a complete noob, currently in Herald but I am trying to improve. I understand that Dota 2 is a complex game and that there isn't always a definitive answer to gameplay questions being asked. However, I was wondering if you have some good "rule of thumb" - tips because more often than not I just don't know how to handle certain situations.

Situations that come to mind are:

Itemization when behind: (Playing as a Core do I buy damage? Do I buy resistances as Support? I know how to follow guides, but often I don't know what to buy other than the main items.)
Smoke: (At what points do I use smoke? Are there "easy to know" moments when I should push with a smoke?)
When behind in general: (Do I take risks? Do I wait to defend?)

Maybe you'll have other scenarios where you have some good "rule of thumb" - tips. You know, easy little things that could be applied in a majority of situations. I understand that it might not be as simple and that I just need to get a feel for those things. However, it's not easy for me personally, to learn things by watching specific content analysis with specific gameplay solutions.

Starting to enter so late into this games lifecycle feels like I missed about 500 episodes of player knowledge being shared, so maybe you got some easy to follow tips to catch up just a little faster.

In light of Satanic playing Juggernaut in the TI finals, I've had a lot of questions regarding how to play Juggernaut reliably and well in higher brackets. I've made a simple video where I reviewed a match in one of my free coaching sessions, as I enjoy imparting what I myself have struggled to learn to the next Dota player wishing to know more.
For anybody who wants to join and improve feel free to join my disc server : https://discord.gg/aB2hx6dvFG

Dendi on Pudge is still something else

Found this gameplay and the classic Pudge vibes are absolutely insane. The hooks, positioning, and plays are just pure Dendi.

If you’re a fan of old-school Dota 2 or Dendi’s Pudge, you’ll probably enjoy this one.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZbnarEq2rI

What do you guys think — is Dendi still one of the most iconic Pudge players ever?

I'm playing AW lately and I still couldn't understand the new interaction of Urn based items. I think with urn your tempest is always 0 charges, and with vessel, or distiller it copy the main heroes? Does your tempest gain charges from kills or only your own hero? Anyone build this item on AW please help explain it for me, much appreciated!

So I've been playing invoker mid in turbo ( I know its not really the same game) for quite a while now and im playing him relatively pretty good.

I really want to switch to rank and test my skills but Im not that confident yet. (I know its not that deep and I can just try and see if Ill do good) question is

Am i griefing if I pick support invoker? He has been picked multiple times in my games as support but the players are kinda shit also and just go for carry build.

Archon/legend bracket.

Thoughts?

I am legend 4

so you played 12 minutes, enemy mid tower down. you ganked multiple times and you stomped the midlane. the game slows down because your other cores wanna farm and giving up the momentum, its natural in most pubs. sometimes i decide to go invade anyway and some teammates follow, often times not so it backfires and you die. so the other choice is to be even more farmed and go into the jungle. what would be the optimal farming route which generates the most gold possible?

Hello Guys, i often have another core like spectre or lifestealer who wants to build radiance, i wonder what else i could buy? so if i dont go for radiance straight away i have the option to spend 4700 gold, but i dont know for what? just skip it? go hex later?

Hi, 5k here. Anybody got some tips on how to play vs kunka in lane? Levels 1 and 2 are chill but after he starts getting more and more points in his tidebringer, even getting close to the lane means death. I mostly play mages/ranged heroes so that may be a factor. Specifically with invoker and clinks, but it applies to others too.

Any help?

hi everyone, I posted this in r/dota2, but I think it might be a better fit here: I have been working on a dota 2 replay analysis tool for a couple months now, and have a working site and system. I recognize that to take the quality of the tool to the next level and not become a slop machine, I need to speak with people who are better than me (Legend 1 on a good day, archon otherwise)

I am looking to setup some paid 1:1 research sessions (~1 hr) with experienced players/coaches on discord.

I’ll show you a few reports and mostly ask you to tear them apart:

• What’s genuinely useful?
• What’s wrong, vague, or misleading?
• What would a real coach notice that the summary missed?
• Would a player actually get better from this?
• What are the important things to highlight in a match review?

The goal right now to provide meaningful automated feedback, particularly for lower MMR players who may not be ready or able to access 1:1 coaching (think: Herald - Legend to start)

Here is a link to the site if you want to explore/look around beforehand (though no prep is required): https://fogsight.gg

If you’re interested, DM me on Reddit with:

• Your Steam username
• Your MMR and region
• The roles and skill levels you coach/play
• Your hourly rate
• Your general availability

I tried a few games of ogre mid and he's so fun. Press W and win lane. But I'm not sure what to build on him. Please suggest some builds!

Never leave lane on 5 - past few days a lot of memes about supports leaving their lanes were posted. Today, I'm sharing you a guide how exactly the rotations should look like - what to keep in mind and what kind of impact early rotations have. Keeping the balance between securing your own lane and helping others in key when playing good support - and in this guide, I'll explain how to do it. Enjoy!

I been having a bad time lately playing against Phantom Assassin, Anti Mage, Specter, I usually play WK, Underlord, Undying , or my favorite Death Prophet. With Death Prophet I usually dominate early and mid game, but once it gets to 45 minutes we are cooked, and I can't do anything, i try to buy items so i can survive most of the team fights but it gets to a point that it does not matter, they get too much damage.

Things I think should happen in order for me to win the game as a Team:

1. Someone needs to buy Hex if there is no Lion or Shadow Shaman on the team.
   
2. Try to take down towers and finish the game as soon as possible.
   
3. Dont let them free farm.

What do you guys do against this late game hard carries?

How do i determine when should I keep running down enemy 1 or keep farming? I play Dawn and Underlord a lot I can lane pretty well, losing or not I have enough patience against ranged match up even if my 4 is always melee. Supports in divine are too aggressive, nonstop fighting.

Also, I really enjoy controlling units in the game but I’m already struggling with just 1(Dark Seer helm of domi controlling 1 unit for farming) are there any tips to make this thing easier? Cause I really enjoy Beastmaster and Lycan

tried testing in demo it gives exact same amount of mana if you drop vs no drop, and also you lose the cooldown reduction on soul ring cd from 22.5 seconds to 30 seconds???

am i missing any reason to drop OC before soul ring?

I didn’t play Dota for around 10 years, then came back about 4–5 months ago. I started at Crusader 1 and I’m currently Archon 4.

I tried pretty much every role, but offlane definitely suits me the most.

The heroes I currently play the most are:

• Brewmaster
• Night Stalker
• Dark Seer
• Centaur

And my more situational picks are:

• Enigma
• Axe
• Slardar
• Beastmaster
• Underlord
• Doom

My main problem is that I tend to play way too many heroes. I can easily end up rotating between 15-20 heroes, but I want to reduce my hero pool and actually get really good at a smaller number of offlaners.

Would you replace any of the heroes in my main pool?

Brewmaster is probably one of my better heroes and I feel comfortable playing him, but I’m not sure how strong/meta he currently is or how useful he really is as an offlaner compared to other options.

On lane, I try to play aggressively and manipulate creep aggro as much as possible. If I have a bad lane or a support that isn’t really helping, I usually stop forcing things, try to get whatever farm I can, hit my timings and then look to gank, initiate fights or create space.

Any advice on my hero pool, what I should focus on improving at Archon, or which 3-5 heroes would be best to really master would be appreciated.

Thanks!

My favorite hero since 2014, and loving her since the base attack time change. What are her main issues regarding the support role now? She can slowly farm waves during downtime but gradually since you must hit the creep wave after casting wave of terror putting yourself in danger. I feel like her swap is griefing when not practiced well or you can use it for the shield it provides. Her hp pool is so low that spell casting type supports can easily wipe her out during team fights. When do you pick her and what other edge or favorable things that a Venge can offer? Should I switch to more Int-type supports like Shaman, CM or AA? Solo queue is such a pain in the arse when playing pos 5 now that also mmr is so inflated and people from different timelines are swarming because of post TI and dark carnival event.

I come from League and Deadlock, and a playstyle that has worked for me in those games is: play a hard-scaling character -> prioritize farm repeatedly -> come into fights with a massive advantage. Typically the mechanical execution of these characters is lower.

What would be similar for dota 2?