Dota^2 April Edition

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Game of the WeekN ew D e ve l o pm e n t s

Weaver Swarm

Unusual Offlaners

Special Feature:

APRIL EDITION

+ IMMERSE INTO

THE ANCIENT

LORE

CREATED BY:

FATBABYDOTA

C o n t e n t s

Letter from Editor .............................................................

Game of the Week ...........................................................

Game 1 ................................................................

Game 2................................................................

Starladder...................................................................................

D2l Western Challenge..............................................

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C o n t e n t sLich Offlane ............................................................................

Tidehunter Offlane............................................................

New Developments.........................................................

Ancient Apparition ............................

Centaur Warrunner ...........................

Most Overused Phrase .................................................

The Vault ..................................................................................

Dota Lore .................................................................................

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Letter From The Editor

It is with great honor to present you, The Dota2 Magazine.

This is a wonderful occasion. With the advent of the magazineI mark it the beginning of a wonderful creation. I plan on

releasing a magazine bi-monthly; maybe even weekly!Regardless, this magazine is for all players of the Dota 2

community. Even if you are a pro, it is hoped that you willenjoy.

Nevertheless, this is my first work of this kind. I would heavilyappreciate any feedback you might have. Also, if you like themagazine, spread it to your friends or post it on your social

media sites; any exposure would be awesome.Below is my contact information. Again, I’m open to any

feedback you might have, inquiries, or content you would liketo see in the next magazine.

Thanks, I hope you enjoy it!

-Fat Baby Dota

[email protected]@twitter

Lich Offlane ............................................................................

Tidehunter Offlane............................................................

New Developments.........................................................

Ancient Apparition ............................

Centaur Warrunner ...........................

Most Overused Phrase .................................................

The Vault ..................................................................................

Dota Lore .................................................................................

S4 EGMBulldog LodaAkke

Bone7 EEpieliedieAui_2000 SingSing

Bans

Game 1

EGM

EE

Drafting:Cloud 9 begins the banning phase by casting out the Naga Siren, while Alliancechooses to ban the Lycanthrope. These heroes have been picked enormously inthe current meta-game, Naga with her potential to farm the entire map andLycan with his early tower pushing aggression. We see some respect bans fromCloud 9, specifically the Centuar (Admiral Bulldog), Puck (S4), and Chen (Akke).Similarly Alliance chooses to respect ban the Invoker (SingSing) and Morphling(EE).

It's an exciting line up for Cloud 9, especially the Templar Assassin pick forSingSing - who has been dominating with TA in D2l. Both teams show similarline-ups with mids that can lead engagements with their supports; to provide acushion for their carries. However, Cloud 9's team is very susceptible to apushing line-up, which is why they opted to ban out the Chen. However,Alliance has a little amount of push, only Venomancer and Luna being notablecandidates. Another difference is that Alliance has Sand King that can takeadvantage of the jungle, uncontested because of the Batrider pick.

Synopsis:

Nothing is out of the ordinary in the beginning of the game, with no priorengagements before the laning phase. The laning phase was extremelydifficult for both Admiral Bulldog on the solo offlane Nyx Assassin andBone7 on the solo offlane Batrider position. We see Aui_2000 and Piedielie getfirst blood off of Admiral Bulldog after a misplay with his use of SpikedCarapace. Only moments later we see Bone7 dying to S4 after Bone7 attemptsto steal a Hard Camp stack.

The midlane was S4 on the Mirana against SingSing on the Templar Assassin.S4 played a solid lane, able to stay at the same creep score as SingSing mid;which is an accomplishment considering Templar Assassin has a laningadvantage against Mirana. In the meantime EE leads the cs score over Lodaand decides to go Phase Boots and Aquila, while Loda opts to get a Hand ofMidas at 5:50.

The game was a pull and tug at 10 minutes until Alliance starts to rotate theirsupports with S4 leading in key ganks. The score is 6-4, favouring Alliance,until Alliance starts to push C9's bottom Tier 1. Without knowing that Bone7completed his Blink Dagger, they seiged the tower. However, a huge teamfight occurs with Bone7 initiating on EGM''s SandKing. The fight wasfavourable for C9, team wiping Alliance and getting a courier kill. The fightgave C9 a dominating lead.

Game 1

In hopes of regaining control of the game, Alliance groups up at the middlelane and under Mirana's Moonlight Shadow, heads into C9's jungle and findsEE. After Alliance quickly kill the lonesome EE, C9 heads towards the deathsite to engage on Alliance. EE quickly buybacks and uses Haunt. Suddenly,Alliance is caught in a bad position with their abilities on cool down. Afterthe EE buyback, Alliance finds themselves with 3 men down and C9 heads toRoshan and EE picks up the Aegis.

After the fight, Cloud 9 secures a dominating lead - in spite of Loda's insaneamount of farm. The engagements throughout the game is never in Alliancesfavour, since Loda is the only person able to stand his ground in team fights -with the rest of Alliance being under leveled and under farmed. WheneverLoda dies in team-fights the rest of Alliance falls or retreats. It wasn't longbefore another team whipe at 30 minutes does Alliance call GG and C9secures a win over Alliance.

Items:

This game has some strange item choices. The most notable came from EGMon the Sand King who, after completing Arcane Boots, opted to rush aMekansm. The primary reason was because Venomancer was in the hardsupport position and there was no other viable Mekansm carries; especiallysince Admiral Bulldog had a tough early game. By rushing a Mekansm SandKing was unable to get his Blink Dagger until 30 minutes, while he completedhis Mekansm around 25 minutes. I suppose Alliance wanted to push earlyagainst C9, considering how much of a head start C9 had during the laningphase.

Also, EE on the Spectre opted to get a Vanguard after his Phase Boots andRing of Aquila. Judging by the strong lead C9 had and the potential earlygame aggression from Alliance's line-up, EE opted to push back his Radiance(which he built at 25 minutes) for some tankiness. As for Loda, he picked upan early Hand of Midas and picked up a Morbid Mask soon after. However,after the engagement at C9's bottom Tier 1 tower, he decided not to go thenormal route in getting Helm of the Dominator, but decided to rush hisBlack King Bar.

Game 1

play of the game:

I consider the second big engagement, after Alliance ganked EE in the woods,to be the engagement that sealed Alliances loss. The play involved a greatamount of coordination from C9; to basically engage with the knowledge thatEE would be buying back and re-engaging with Haunt. This fight tookAlliance by surprise and the outcome also allowed C9 to pick up anuncontested Roshan. Also, notice how the C9 team is able to split the fight upinto separate engagements. You have Bone 7 disabling S4, while SingSing istaking out EGM, and EE is zoning Bulldog and Akke from helping S4. Withthe level and item advantage, C9 was able to accomplish this strategy withoutworrying about targeting one hero at a time.

Concluding: Game 1 is definitely a worthwhile match to watch. In this gameyou can understand the importance of how crucial it is for the offlane role toplay cautious rather than risk dying to the enemy's carries; especially carrieslike Luna and Spectre. The Safe Lane carries had a superb amount of farmthat placed C9 and Alliance on an even playing field. However, Alliance was abig careless with being caught out of position, especially the first largeengagement. This game also showed the power of Spectre and his Hauntability to catch opponents off guard.

S4 EGM Bulldog LodaAkke

Bone7EE pieliedieAui_2000 SingSing

Bans

Game 2

Loda

pieliedie

Drafting:The draft begins with Cloud 9 banning out AA. Alliance quickly bans Batrider,and for good reason after the performance Bone 7 gave last game in shuttingdown Loda in team-fights. Again we see Naga Siren and Ember Spirit beingbanned this game, popular heroes in the current meta. Alliance picks up Chen,Akke's signature hero, and Dazzle for EGM. Cloud 9 opts to grab CrystalMaiden for Aui_2000, than proceeding to ban Luna; as of respect for Loda andhis insane farming performance last game. Cloud 9 picks up Templar Assassin forSingSing, which is threatening because of how well he plays the hero. Allianceschooses to pick Nature's Prophet for Bulldog, one of his signature heroes. Cloud9 opts to ban Pugna, in fear of being pushed to death in the early game.Nevertheless, Cloud 9 picks up the increasingly popular Shadow Shaman,making Cloud 9's pushing line up extremely powerful. Alliance finishes theirpicks with a Phantom Assassin for Loda, a hero that we don't see often inprofessional games, but nonetheless exciting. An important note is that bothteams have extremely powerful pushing line-ups, with Alliance having a moresustained pushing and Cloud9 having a quick and deadly approach.

Synopsis:At of the start of the match C9 heads directly into Alliance's jungle to blockthe both the large and medium camps of Chen, however a nice placed treantwas able to watch C9 ward causing Chen to purchase some quick SentryWards to deward the camps; only managing to deward one. The offlane forAlliance with Bulldog is going in C9's favour, with the huge lvl 1 damage ofEther Shock and the harassment from Lycan's wolves. Meanwhile, Bone7 onthe Puck is excelling in his lane as neither EGM or Loda can contest Bone7'sharassment and overall lane presence. However, Bone7 is quick to overextendhis boundaries as he misuses his Illusionary Orb and with Chen's helpAlliance almost kills Puck, a auto attack from Chen almost finishes off Bone7,however he quickly uses his Illusionary Orb to disjoint the attack. At thesame time SingSing manages to get first-blood on S4 mid.

Alliance shows extreme early aggression on C9's top Tier 1 tower, with 4heroes, including Bulldog, pushing the tower. However, a quick teleport bypiediepie pushes back the wave with his Ether Shock. Only moments later,Bulldog returns bottom lane to get back stabbed behind his Tier 1 tower byC9, with the tower also taking a dive. EE on the Lycan manages to get a 5minute Vladimir’s Offering and a Medallion of Courage at 5:50. C9 is stillrelentless with Bone 7 ganking mid with SingSing to get, yet, another kill onS4. S4 comes back to lane and heads into the Radiant jungle to get caught anddie, again. The score is 5-0, C9 leading with a 6k gold advantage at 7 minutes.

Game 2

However, momentum shifts at 10 minutes, when Alliance, in desperation,tries for a Roshan attempt. Although C9 scouts out their attempt, Alliancemanages to stand their ground and take Roshan with Aegis going to Loda.Meanwhile, EE heads to push Alliances top Tier 2 tower and gets caughtwithout his ult, S4 quickly teleports and manages a clutch Cold Snap to stopLycan's teleport and gain a valuable kill. At 13 minutes, we see Alliancemanaging to hold the game with the score 11-8. Loda picks up a Maelstrom,while SingSing manages to get a Desolater at 17 Min, pieliedie buysAghanim's Scepter at 18 minutes and EE picks up a Necronomicon lvl 3 at 19minutes.

However, Alliance manages to secure another Roshan at 20 minutes, with C9engaging afterwards with SingSing , Bone 7, and piedielie all dying.Meanwhile, EE took out Alliances top Tier 2 tower, showing the strength ofLycan's split push; also the gold advantage allows C9 to fight 4v5 withoutmuch devastation. During these engagements Bulldog manages to re-cooperate with a Hand of Midas to obtain a Necronomicon lvl 3 at 20minutes. However, minutes later Bone7 picks up a Scythe of Vyse at 25minutes and EE purchases an Assault Cuirass at 27. The gold lead of C9 isstarting to take into affect and the pressure is ever stronger against Alliance.

Nevertheless, another large engagement happens outside Alliance's middlebase entrance, where S4 quickly dies to SingSing's meld and immedietlybuysback. In the meantime Loda, with his newly acquired BKB, takes C9 headon with SingSing and piedielie dying. During the engagement EE was able totake out Alliance's top melee barracks, to only fall to Loda. However, overaggression has placed Loda out of position, allowing Bone7 to finish him off;however he dies later on. The score is now 19-16 with C9 leading.

At 30 minutes another engagement happens in Alliances jungle, where bothSingSing and EE engage onto 3 idle centuars; thinking they weren't beingmicroed. To their surprise they got chain stunned by the 3 centuars, buyingenough time for Alliance to quickly kill SingSing and bring EE under 40%health. Loda dies in the engagement but mangaes to buyback to kill EE andpiedielie. It's a complete teamwhipe for C9 and Alliance showing promise totake this game back, now leading 22-21.

Game 2

However, a crucial fight at the Roshan pit at 41 minutes was the decidingfactor in the game. Alliance engages on C9's Roshan attempt and manages tokill of EE and SingSing, however they quickly buy back and attempt to re-engage. Alliance's ultimates are on cooldown with many low health, butdecide to fight anyway. One by one Alliance falls, the most crucial deathsbeing Loda (without buyback) and S4 who bought back and died. In themeantime Roshan is killed by C9 and they proceed to take out Alliance's midand bottom Barracks. In a desperate attempt, Alliance pushes C9's mid, butit's too much. Alliance falls and the Good Game is called.

PLay of the game:

The play of the game is actually two engagements that occurredsimultaneously. It starts off with Alliance being able to capitalize on a 10minute Roshan. This Roshan was huge, because they have not gotten a singletower the whole game and the extra income is so necessary for them to try tofight against the wealthy C9 team. They had to stand their ground andmanaged to take out Aui_2000 and force Bone7 to waste his Dream Coil. Inthe meantime EE is pushing mid and piedielie used his Serpent Wards top. Itwas a perfect opportunity and Alliance was able to secure the Roshan.Afterwards they went to take out C9's middle Tier 1 tower. These pivotalmoments allowed Alliance to purchase their first items, after their poor laningperformance left them with little to not gold in comparison to C9. Also, EEon the Lycan was caught out at the Alliance Tier 2 top tower and wasdiscovered by Loda. EE was about to teleport away, however S4 was there,thanks to a quick teleport, and able to ColdSnap and kill of Lycan. Theseoccurrences happened in quick succession after each other and put Alliance inthe game.

Game 2

Items:

Perhaps the most unusual item pick up this game was the Maelstrom by Lodaon the Phantom Assassin. You would usually see a Phantom Assassin rush aHelm of the Dominator and go into a Basher. However, not Loda. Although,to our surprise it wasn't a bad item choice. It allowed Loda to farm relativelyquickly in the lane and throughout their jungle. Also, the damage from theMaelstrom orb was a factor in team-fights. Perhaps we will see moreMaelstrom on Phantom Assassins in our pub matches.

Nevertheless, the item progression from EE was insane. He was able to get aVladimir's Offering at 5 minutes and Amulet of Courage 50 seconds later. Hemanaged a 19 minute Necronomicon 3 and an Assault Cuirass at 27 minutes.This is on top of the Scythe of Vyse at 25 minutes for Bone7 and the 18minute Aghanim Scepter on the Shadow Shaman. The early game went sowell with C9 that they were able to snowball and take out all the outer towersof Alliance very quickly. Its tough to come back from such a big difference ingold, however Alliance displayed a good showcase; especially Bulldog whomanaged to have the highest net-worth in the game.

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AncientApparition

Centaur WarrunnerBradwarden,

Centaur Warrunner was the11th most picked hero inMarch, and he's makingmore appearances in earlyApril. Predominantly playedas a solo offlaner, CentaurWarrunner is proving to be apopular pick. It's a bitstrange having this hero runa solo offlane, however hes anuisance in lane with hisDouble Edge and Returnabilities. The Return abilitymakes it hard for supports,especially solo supports, tozone him out. While hisDouble Edge can whittledown a carry, especially ifCentuar manages to getTranquil Boots. However,because of those reasons andhis sustain, he makes a decentofflaner for the laning phase.

Nevertheless, one must notforget about his ultimateStampede.

It's a great ability that can beuse, both offensively anddefensively. He is also a greatinitiator when he can pick upa Blink Dagger. I believe weare seeing Magnus beingoutsourced in favor ofCentaur. In regards toinitiation, he somewhat fillsthe role of a Magnus. It maybe a lesser role, howeverinstead of relying on a bigteamfight, since the longcooldown of ReversePolarity, you can sustainedengagements with Centaurblink and stomp; Magnusalso being similar toTidehunter in that respect.

I see Centaur Warrunnerbeing picked up more often.It's nice to see him have aplace in the current meta-game. He shines withganking parties and creatingspace during the mid-game.

Would definitely pick him ina game which requires a long-game strategy. He's alsodecent at stoping pushes withhis Double Edge, which has alow cooldown of 8 seconds.

Howver, one laner he wouldhave immense issues with isNaix. He also wouldn't fairwell against a defensivetrilane, with the support wejust talked about, AncientApparition. He's verysuceptible to ganks, nothaving a valid escape untillevel 6; even if you countStampede as an escape.Especially, if the enemy teamhas an Earthshaker, becausewithout a path to escape,Centaur is a sitting duck.

Nevertheless, expect more ofBradwarden, the CentuarWarrunner.

Centaur Warrunner

Weaver The Swarm

This Weekend's Edition of THE VAULT, we will

discuss Weaver's the Swarm ability and reasons

why you should be maxing this before any other

ability

T H E

VAULT

Experience and pro games show that Weaver’s

Swarm is heavily underused, often we see one

early point in the Swarm ability and not leveling

it up until a later point. Used as a method of

scouting or a desperate plea to have those little

buggers last hit an enemy hero –which at level

one will only do 75 damage- this often saddens

me.

The only reason I wouldn’t skill The Swarm

ability is if I am playing as the position 1 weaver,

the main carry role. The reason is because you

will want to be farming your items for the late

game and Geminate Attack is better suited to

overall farming capabilities. However, if you

aren’t in the 1 position than you should be

leveling up The Swarm.

IN DETAIL

The Swarm: Weaver launches a swarm of 12

beetles that latch on any enemy unit in their

path, attacking, and reducing armor until the

unit is killed. It has a 3000 range and the every

level amplifies the Beetle Duration and Attack

Damage.

1. 8 duration, 15 damage




The beetles will attack every 1.35 seconds, so at

level one you can expect to have 6 armor

reduction, while at level 4 it will be 14 armor

reduction. It takes

The Beetles will latch onto opponents in a 300 radius of a swarming beetle animation. You can

expect to have, at most, three beetles latch on to opponents if they are in a straight line.

IThe beetles will attack every 1.35 seconds, so at

level one you can expect to have 6 armor

reduction, while at level 4 it will be 14 armor

reduction. It takes 4 attacks from heroes or

towers to get the beetle off, or 8 attacks by

creeps.

If you take armor reduction into account, -1

armor amplifies your damage by 5.7%, -2 armor

by 10.7% -5 armor amplifies by 23.1%, and if you

manage -14 armor, it will amplify damage by

45.7%. Assuming your damage with Weaver at

level 7 is 80 damage, with negative 2 armor

reduction u will deal 90 damage. With -14 armor

you will do 116 damage instead of 80. Also

consider that the damage from the Beetles will

do an overall 420 damage in its full duration (not

counting the armor reduction). Couple this with

your Shukuchi and Geminate, it’s a ton of

damage. This also adds a psychological effect on

the opponent, whether to hit Weaver or the

beetle. This is one of the only abilities that places

such pressure on an opponent, which is a

lose/lose situation in both cases; worse if they

chooses to flee. This is the reason why Swarm is

such a great skill. It puts your opponents in a

stressful situation, because the longer he has the

beetle on him, the more damage theywill take.

Meanwhile, you are already attacking them,

which forces them to run away or take the

damage. However, this won’t happen if you

have a level 1 swarm, since the duration is

only 8 seconds, which is negligible. You want

your opponent to run away, Weaver is all

about the chase. Also if you find yourself in

the 2 position, grab an Urn of Shadows. An

Urn of Shadows ensures that you can always

chase and dive with ease, without worrying

about heading back to your fountain. This is

the Weaver I know and love to play, I wish

people stop playing the boring and one-

sided Weaver with the max Geminate

Attack. It’s so predictable and completely

useless unless you are going to just farm;

which there are better heroes with a similar

caliber of escapes and survival; think of

Morphling or Slark.

I hope this episode of The Vault, will change

your minds when playing Weaver. Maxing

The Swam is a great ability that is not used in

the current meta-game. It’s amazing, think of

the ability as a Mini Dazzle ultimate with a

little Beetle attacking the foe every 1.35

seconds. It should be used, it should be

maxed, and Weaver should be played as a

ganker rather than a ricer.

!Skitter

Scatter

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