Analyzing Game State — Laning Stage
There are many patch and hero-specific skills to develop in Dota, and they are crucial to a player’s success in the game. However, there is one skill that is possibly the most important of them all: being able to analyze the state of the game and make educated decisions. This is an infinitely wide topic and we can not possibly provide all the answers, but in this series we will try our best to help you develop a framework with which you can develop it further.
Lane Selection
The laning stage begins with starting items and lane selection. We will start with the latter, since it will frequently dictate the former.
Being flexible in your laning is very important. Regardless of what patch the game is played in, it is always possible to gain a non-trivial advantage in the early game that can translate to a much more comfortable mid game. For that reason, you need to understand what roles the heroes are most likely to be played in and what they are trying to achieve in the first 10 minutes of the game.
In most professional games, you frequently see four players going toward the enemy territory to contest the runes, while the carry is standing safely either behind their safelane Tier One Tower or around the Tier Two Tower in mid. The reason for this is that if there is a favorable or at least less unfavorable lane match-up that they can find, finding it is a priority, but the opponent is doing the same exact thing.
The moment the carry is seen in lane, the opponent knows where to put their pressure lane, if they have one, or where their carry can lane safely. In the highest level of professional Dota, teams are really good at not giving away any information, and they usually end up in “normal” lanes. But it isn’t because there is a gentlemen's agreement of sorts between the teams; it is a consequence of neither team making the mistake of showing their lanes.
When there is a mistake and the lanes are shown, better teams always adapt by rotating their heroes. You should do that in pubs as well. Knowing lane match-ups is very important, but it is quite patch-specific, so you will have to analyze on the fly most of the time. The general idea behind it is quite simple, however.
If your carry can pressure the enemy carry or break even in lane, while being in an unfavorable match-up against the enemy offlaner, it is a good idea to swap lanes. If your offlaner is really good at dealing with the enemy carry and your position five support provides sustain, “normal” lanes are beneficial. The same can be said if your carry has a decent match-up against the enemy offlaner.
It might look like a very complex system of frequently self-contradicting conditions, and it is: Dota is a very complex game with very few easy and straightforward answers. But with experience, you can at least gauge the advantages and disadvantages of different lane placements and weigh them to find the more optimal solution. At the very least, you should try to avoid completely failed lanes, where the enemy hero hard-counters one of your cores.
Item Selection
Once the lanes are selected and the game begins, there are three broadly described outcomes: your lane is either pressuring, being pressured or is neutral. Once again, with experience, you will be able to predict which type of lane you find yourself in. The important part is being ready for it.
Not punishing enemy mistakes is as much of a mistake: if you are in a pressure lane that has an advantage over the enemy lane, not making the most out of a situation is potentially game-losing. For example, if you are splitting farm and playing Ursa against Spectre in lane as a neutral lane, you are, in fact, losing the game, even if you have an absolutely perfect last hit score and even some denies.
Applying Pressure
The three biggest starting items to go for, to increase your prowess in dominating the lane, are Orb of Venom, Blight Stone, and Wind Lace.
The first one is self-explanatory: you slow the enemy, you create a kill condition. It is at its best when the lane is already very favorable for you, and you simply need a little bit of extra help to completely crush it. Naturally, it is only worth it on melee heroes, and there are some hero-specific exceptions, where you want it in a more passive lane, for example when you are playing Anti-Mage in his “aggressive defense” style of burning mana to preserve your own life.
Blight Stone is usually purchased by ranged heroes who typically can’t outright kill the enemy, but who have access to extra physical damage or are fine trading constantly. It is also pretty strong against heroes with low armor in lane. Heroes like Dazzle and Nature’s Prophet can get a lot of value from this item but, depending on the match-up, it can be purchased on many different heroes. For example, it is a pretty interesting option for mids against Tiny, who has zero starting armor. Similarly, it can be purchased on some supports against Phoenix or Skywrath Mage.
Wind Lace is probably the least popular and the least specific option. It is at its best on melee heroes, obviously, and can be utilized effectively in situations where you have an advantage, but it is not as pronounced. Typically purchased by supports, it can allow them to close the gap and use their spells, while being relatively safe. On cores, it is only worth it as a starting item if neither Blight Stone nor Orb of Venom fit well.
Being Pressured
Tons of regeneration is the best thing to have in a lane where you are being pressured. Some professional teams are even experimenting with double Ring of Regen for their carry in lane, especially against heroes like Venomancer.
The most important part of such lanes as a core is surviving and sustaining yourself. With the way the heroes are balanced in Dota, lane dominators typically struggle in the later stages of the game, unless they have kills and the associated gold and experience advantage. As long as you are in lane, soaking XP and getting at least some last hits, their game plan is not completely realized.
Moreover, most popular cores can typically start jungling relatively early on, so if you can survive, getting level five or six in a timely manner, your job is well done. If your draft is not completely countered, chances are the enemy carry is going to be in a similar position, and that keeps the game playable.
Neutral Lanes
These lanes are the hardest to play and require the most skill. When pressuring, you know what you have to do at all times. When being pressured, you know that you need to play extra-safe and simply survive. In neutral lanes, every little thing matters twice as much.
Those lanes usually appear when there are no clear kill conditions from either side, so small trades and constant back-and-forth are common. There are several options of how to behave in lanes like this. The Orb of Venom is probably too aggressive and risky, but Blight Stone can be a good idea: it makes trades more favorable for you.
Similarly, Ring of Protection can be a life-saver. It tips the balance in terms of trades in your favor and amplifies the effectiveness of your regeneration. When dealing with magic damage, Infused Raindrops are your best friend — the item is criminally underused in pubs, while being the most effective consumable in the game in certain scenarios.
Wind Lace is also an option and while it might lack the direct impact of the previous items discussed, it builds into the currently popular and very cost-efficient Drum of Endurance. Also, we strongly recommend forgetting about an early Bracer, at least in the current patch, since Wraith Band or Null Talisman are just straight up better in 90% of scenarios, even on Strength heroes.
Closing Thoughts
Understanding how to analyze your lanes and act accordingly is a very important skill for any pub player. Naturally, you won’t necessarily always get teammates eager to swap lanes or sacrifice their own comfort for the benefit of the team, but you would be surprised how many players even in decently high level matches simply don’t think about it.
Communicate in a polite manner to test the water: while Dota players might not be the most welcoming, if the victory is on the line, most of them will listen to a well-argued point.
first!
First :D
Great article about the starting draft!
why is Huskar on the cover ? He is dogshit now and shouldnt be picked even as last pick.
Insert joke about my team never doing this here.
why the hell is wraith band better than bracer- even on strength hero - can you pls tell us exactly how much of a difference in DPS does wraith band or null talisman gives you on a typical level 5 strength hero? how can you write such non-sense? reply pls. fucking wraith band gives +6AS besides +all stats. THAT'S FUCKING LAUGHABLE. 6 attack speed doesn't do fucking anything, it's literally most stupid item in the fucking game at the moment.
P.S. i just realized it+s +5AS and +1.5 armor. even worse. that 1.5 armor gives u maybe extra 25 hp on 1000 hp, which is fucking laughable again, and it makes no difference if u wasted your money on wraith band or bracer. not that it matters anyway, null/wraith/bracer became such fucking meme items, getting changed in every fucking patch by 0.0001 stats.
Wraith bands are cost-effective small items, which enhance trading. They are no memes, otherwise pros wouldn't still buy them.
That might have been an exaggeration, but Wraith Band is a better jungle/lane sustain item in many cases. The difference in DPS usually favors Wraith Band, since +5 AS is not laughable when you hit on attack cooldown, e.g. hitting creeps in the jungle. Same reasoning most pros go for Gloves of Haste early on: the attack speed should not be underestimated when it comes to farming efficiency.
Armor-wise, you probably really underestimate its effectiveness. Early points in armor are very, very, very important for sustain:
https://www.dotabuff.com/blog/2018-11-30-understanding-720-armor-changes
Doesn't make much of a difference in the jungle, unless you have self-sustain to make use of extra armor, but can be very crucial in fights. Especially on heroes with low base armor/low agi growth. There is a reason most pro players almost always go 2xWraith Band on Agi cores, but rarely go for Bracers on Str cores. One of the reasons is that the item doesn't really do much right now.
Null Talisman is actually very good, by the way: the extra mana regen and stats are pretty awesome in the later laning stage, while spell amp, while it might not look like a lot on paper, does make a bit of a difference.
Edit: tested in demo. Sven Lvl 5 with 2xWraith Band + Boots has roughly 62 DPS, while Sven with 2xBracer has 60 DPS. Honestly, the difference is trivial, so get what suits you better.
^^ why are you justifying yourself to an archon noobshit . Let him think he knows better than the pros.
If you're going to jungle on this patch though, you're (if not automatically losing) completely forfeiting half the map to your enemy so call me a shitter but doing anything but core items currently just falls into delaying core items to activate as SOON as you can with your pick. Wraith bands or Null Talisman honestly seem like a waste of an item unless you're playing a strong pos 4 or 5. Tempo control heroes that burst you out are in meta, Doom, Clockwerk, Void Spirit, Rubick, Batrider. All picks that activate fairly fast on the game and prowl on any pick that doesn't has magic resistance or hp.
Sven with 2x Bracer probably performs better the moment he pops his ult nonetheless, and receives less damage from burst heros. If you're going bracers or Wraith bands on him though, you're probably gonna lose that lane (though the whole sven gimmick currently seems to be stacking move speed and status resistance and just tanking shit up)
Это работает от 6к и то не всегда. Что же говорить про пабы лоу ммр, где в каждой игре сапорт - это пудж консплеющий деревья до 20 минуты, потому что у него жетоны кончились. А керри собирается по гайду, игнорируя бкб. Напишите, пожалуйста статью о целях разных позициях и оных достижения их. Будет актуально всегда. Спасибо.