Hurray the next hero of the week is here.
This time it is going to be Admiral Proudmoore.
The Captain of a ship and an Admiral in the navy, Daelin Proudmoore (AP) is a powerhouse in team fights. His huge AoE spells Torrent and Ghost Ship wreck havok in enemy lines, and Tidebringer offers yet another huge AoE cleave attack that ignores armoud (and stacks with Battle Fury :O). In the lane, Tidebringer is a major nuisance and can be used in a variety of ways. Further, X marks the Spot allows for initiation on ganks that could never fail due to the X --> Torrent combo. In addition to Ghost Ship's stun, it also offers a buff on allied units that gives them extra movespeed and take less damage from enemies, a huge asset to your team. Not only is AP powerful in team fights, he is also a capable ganker as well as a plausible carry.
A lot of players can use AP with proficiency, but one of the more famous is hyhy, who played an X - Torrent build early against a Beastmaster solo mid instead of Tidebringer, giving up lane control for ganking power later on.
Gameplay Notes:
1. Torrent Specifics
Torrent is AP's main spell, dealing 300 dmg in a pretty good AoE. Firstly, it has long cast range (like 1200), so abuse that. Secondly, it has a 2s delay, so account for that when chasing fleeing heroes. Note though, that AP's casting animation is fairly obvious, so it is always possible for enemy heroes to juke your Torrent. To counter this you may Torrent from the fog, hope your opponent fails or use X first.
Other than Torrent's slow, it has an extra 0.53s of disable (the air time while they slowly float down). Further, Torrent deals 150 damage first when the geyser of water rises up, and the other 150 damage is taken over time as they float down.
Torrent's primary uses are as a disable on heroes, as a nuke on creeps, an initiation in team fights and to chain into Ghost Ship.
2. Tidebringer
This is the main reason why AP is very powerful. A 100% cleave in a huge AoE? Yes please. +60 damage every 4 seconds? Yes please. Tidebringer makes AP very flexible in the lane. Firstly, the AoE cleave ignores armour and has huge AoE, allowing you to harass heroes at the same time while last hitting creeps. Next, it allows you to last hit creeps that are out of your reach by hitting a creep in between and killing your target with the splash damage. Third, your bonus damage is not removed when you deny with Tidebringer. Imagine denying with +60 damage. Brilliant :D
Certain pointers to note though, if you attack a building while Tidebringer is charged, you deal the extra 60 dmg to the building, using up your charge, but do not cleave onto targets behind the building. Normal rules to Cleave apply. The AoE is a circle of the specified AoE in frount of you.
In team fights, this makes AP very powerful. Hitting one hero allows him to hit all heroes behind. This allows AP to be a late game carry based on this skill alone. The idea is that AP's dps does not depend on attack speed. By simply racking up on damage, AP can just attack once every 4 seconds, but hit all heroes with a 400+dmg hit each time. That's pretty strong.
3. X marks the Spot
One of the best gank initiation skills in the game, even better than Magic Missile (since the X has no travel time). Range goes as far as 1200 when maxed. However note that this skill lasts for up to 4 seconds, and Torrent comes out in 2s. Therefore it is possible to simply learn 2 levels of X marks the Spot for easier X --> T initiation. Note though, that leveling X marks the Spot further increases the casting range, which is very useful for ganks to happen. Of course, you would need better timing as well.
4. Ghost Ship
The Ship only stuns at the place where it crashes, which is about 800 distance to 1200 distance away from where AP cast the ship. This spell is pretty easy, just throw it out immediately after a max range Torrent, and it will hit the enemy just as they land from the Torrent.
Captain's Rum is a great buff to your team, so use this spell in teamfights ALWAYS, even if you know you're not going to hit anything. The buff is still helpful.
5. As a Carry
Farming is your job, so you can use Torrent as a farming spell. But note that after the int nerf on AP, he can no longer spam out Torrents like he used to be able to. As a carry, you would want to go for items like Battle Fury and Buriza do-Kyanon for extra damage on your Tidebringer hits. If you wish, Assault Cuirass is an option to boost attack speed, but as mentioned earlier AP functions well as a carry even without any attack speed at all.
6. As a Ganker
Roam around the map, help allies with your long range Torrent and X initiation. Lothar's Edge and Phase Boots are good items to get, including Urn of Shadows. 125 dmg from Lothar's Edge is useful in team fights, and extra movespeed aids in maintaining map control.
7. Be a GOD: 1shot the entire team (just for fun)
This is very possible, just stack Battle Fury and get 1 Buriza do-Kyanon. Do your combo, and run up and hit a creep. If you're lucky and get a crit, you would crit like 1.2k, which combined with your 240% cleave, goes to around 2.9k (not reduced by armour), which would kill most heroes outright.
8. Force Staff (just for fun)
Random around with the most fun item in the game!
Thats it for this time :D
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Epic Moment in Bridge Club
Hello today I went to bridge club with Benjamin (my rho), Kai Cong (my p) and Fangxu (my lho).
Epic moment time!
The contract is 3NT by FX.
Kai Cong leads the 4 of Clubs.
Benjamin puts down his club suit, which is KQ93, and FX plays 3
I play the J.
FX wins the A.
Me: Kai Cong, I played J.
KC: What is that supposed to mean?
Me: It means I have the J and I dont have the 10. I might also have the Q but its with Benjy.
Peter: Ok so ur 10 is dead, since FX has a marked finesse.
KC: ......
FX: Ok lets go. *Plays the 3 of Clubs.
KC: Since my 10 is dead anyway I might as well play it now right?
Peter: If you want, it doesn't really matter.
Me: No you should play low in case declarer blur. (lol)
KC: Ok. *Plays the 2 of Clubs
Epic moment:
Me: Ok FX what do you play from the dummy?
FX: Kai Cong has 10 right... *pause* so I should play K!
......
Epic moment time!
The contract is 3NT by FX.
Kai Cong leads the 4 of Clubs.
Benjamin puts down his club suit, which is KQ93, and FX plays 3
I play the J.
FX wins the A.
Me: Kai Cong, I played J.
KC: What is that supposed to mean?
Me: It means I have the J and I dont have the 10. I might also have the Q but its with Benjy.
Peter: Ok so ur 10 is dead, since FX has a marked finesse.
KC: ......
FX: Ok lets go. *Plays the 3 of Clubs.
KC: Since my 10 is dead anyway I might as well play it now right?
Peter: If you want, it doesn't really matter.
Me: No you should play low in case declarer blur. (lol)
KC: Ok. *Plays the 2 of Clubs
Epic moment:
Me: Ok FX what do you play from the dummy?
FX: Kai Cong has 10 right... *pause* so I should play K!
......
Monday, January 17, 2011
School has started!
Hello =)
School has started again so blah. No more epic slacking : < (still have not-so-epic slacking though)
The first day of school was incredibly lame. We had random lectures including a totally useless Project Work lecture which almost completely did not involve Project Work (...) and random math lectures.
Tomorrow is going to be even more lame. We have Math, Computing lecture, 1.5hrs break followed 2hrs of Bio lecture. WTF.
Meh. =(
School has started again so blah. No more epic slacking : < (still have not-so-epic slacking though)
The first day of school was incredibly lame. We had random lectures including a totally useless Project Work lecture which almost completely did not involve Project Work (...) and random math lectures.
Tomorrow is going to be even more lame. We have Math, Computing lecture, 1.5hrs break followed 2hrs of Bio lecture. WTF.
Meh. =(
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Hero of the Week 3
Hurray for the next Hero of the Week =DDDDD.
This week's hero is Crystal Maiden (not dedicated to Fan Yi lol)
A master of ice magic, she is certainly an asset to any team. The main reason why Crystal Maiden (CM) is picked however is for her Brilliance Aura, which grants all allied units on the map +2 mp/s regeneration, which greatly helps mana dependant heroes such as Shadow Fiend, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Shadow Shaman, Undying, Clockwerk Goblin and other whatnot. After Crystal Nova is added, CM gets another buff, gaining a mass AoE slow with 900 cast range, which may be kept at lvl 1 for low mana cost, as the slow does not scale significantly even after the nerf. Frostbite is a reliable disable, has interruption properties, but not a stun, and with its 800 cast range. Finally Freezing Field is a strong team-engagement spell, dealing alot of damage and forcing the enemy to turn their attention away from more important heroes on your team. In conclusion, CM is one of the best supports in DotA at the moment; with both baby-sitting and heavy ganking potential, as well as excellent support for teammates off the lane with her aura, and very good part of a trilane.
Notable players include PusHer <-- lol, almost all support players can play CM, but PusHer's CM is so famous for Sange. :P
Gameplay Notes:
1. Poking in the Lane
One of CM's really powerful aspects is her attack animation. While her frontswing is long, she does have a pretty large aquisition range and 0 attack backswing, which allows her to poke enemies in lane pretty safely. This can be done with good micro to avoid drawing creep aggro as much as possible.
2. Crystal Nova
It's just that good. The slow of Crystal Nova is the Frost Attack slow, which means the % multiplier doesn't change by level, only the duration increases with level. But at level1, you do get a Frost Attack slow at low mana cost, the same large AoE, the same large cast range, for 3.5 seconds. Now that is really really good. The AoE is so large that you can easily hit multiple heroes in team engagements, and it is long enough to allow teammates to back off from unfavourable engagements, and to engage on a far away enemy. Also, this skill grants uphill vision, so can be used to kill wards on high ground, checking roshan and revealing fog. Crystal Nova should almost always be added at level1, since its just that great. There's no real need to max this skill though.
3. Brilliance Aura
It's even better. This is the main reason why CM is even picked, so why are you not leveling this :X Max this out ASAP, but i prefer to get 1Nova2Bite3-5Aura, the reason is that before lvl 3, there is not that much mana-intensive action, and hence a skill point could be better spent on the much needed secondary disable.
4. Frostbite
It has interruption properties. Somehow people dont remember this, but if someone's TPing you can cancel it with Frostbite. However if you Frostbite and they TP inside the ice, you cant do anything about it. Pretty screwed up :S
5. Freezing Field usage
Freezing Field is another underrated ultimate, and here I will introduce 2 ways to use this under-par spell. The first and most obvious is in team clashes. Freezing Field is pretty graphics intensive, so it will make the battle more chaotic, which is usually good for your side. Further it applies a constant 10% movespeed slow in its AoE, giving your team a slight edge, in addition to the obvious damage it deals. The problem with Freezing Field's damage however is that it is somewhat inconsistent. But the threat of major damage would cause the opponent to direct some, if not all attention to you, drawing fire off more important teammates. We call this 拯救世界 (Y).
The second and slightly less obvious is that you can use this skill to farm. Yes you did not see that wrongly. You can Freezing Field a huge wave of creeps and collect the $$. Do note though, that you should be actually saving this huge wave of creeps for your team's carry, so only do this when your carry is dead or you actually need the $$. You can also stack an nc camp alot of times and clear it with 1 Freezing Field, but the effort might not be worth it.
6. Be a support.
A supporter that doesn't play like a support is ... what do you think?
Anyway, be a support. Buy wards, courier, Urn, Basilius, Meka, Force Staff, other whatnot support items that your teammates have no slots for. Also, you should sacrifice yourself to save your other teammates lives, especially gankers and your carry. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for a support to play like a support.
No one likes a CM that tries to be a carry. Well, aside from Fan Yi that is.
7. Item Choices
That's completely up to you, but I would recommend going for Urn and then Force Staff, while not forgetting wards. Observer Wards is probably the most important item to get, and after that you can slowly build up magic wand, StrTreads, Urn of Shadows and Force Staff.
So thats it for this time, Crystal Maiden is a pretty boring and "ordinary" hero to play, maybe I'll pick a more interesting hero next time :X
nightZ~
This week's hero is Crystal Maiden (not dedicated to Fan Yi lol)
A master of ice magic, she is certainly an asset to any team. The main reason why Crystal Maiden (CM) is picked however is for her Brilliance Aura, which grants all allied units on the map +2 mp/s regeneration, which greatly helps mana dependant heroes such as Shadow Fiend, Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Shadow Shaman, Undying, Clockwerk Goblin and other whatnot. After Crystal Nova is added, CM gets another buff, gaining a mass AoE slow with 900 cast range, which may be kept at lvl 1 for low mana cost, as the slow does not scale significantly even after the nerf. Frostbite is a reliable disable, has interruption properties, but not a stun, and with its 800 cast range. Finally Freezing Field is a strong team-engagement spell, dealing alot of damage and forcing the enemy to turn their attention away from more important heroes on your team. In conclusion, CM is one of the best supports in DotA at the moment; with both baby-sitting and heavy ganking potential, as well as excellent support for teammates off the lane with her aura, and very good part of a trilane.
Notable players include PusHer <-- lol, almost all support players can play CM, but PusHer's CM is so famous for Sange. :P
Gameplay Notes:
1. Poking in the Lane
One of CM's really powerful aspects is her attack animation. While her frontswing is long, she does have a pretty large aquisition range and 0 attack backswing, which allows her to poke enemies in lane pretty safely. This can be done with good micro to avoid drawing creep aggro as much as possible.
2. Crystal Nova
It's just that good. The slow of Crystal Nova is the Frost Attack slow, which means the % multiplier doesn't change by level, only the duration increases with level. But at level1, you do get a Frost Attack slow at low mana cost, the same large AoE, the same large cast range, for 3.5 seconds. Now that is really really good. The AoE is so large that you can easily hit multiple heroes in team engagements, and it is long enough to allow teammates to back off from unfavourable engagements, and to engage on a far away enemy. Also, this skill grants uphill vision, so can be used to kill wards on high ground, checking roshan and revealing fog. Crystal Nova should almost always be added at level1, since its just that great. There's no real need to max this skill though.
3. Brilliance Aura
It's even better. This is the main reason why CM is even picked, so why are you not leveling this :X Max this out ASAP, but i prefer to get 1Nova2Bite3-5Aura, the reason is that before lvl 3, there is not that much mana-intensive action, and hence a skill point could be better spent on the much needed secondary disable.
4. Frostbite
It has interruption properties. Somehow people dont remember this, but if someone's TPing you can cancel it with Frostbite. However if you Frostbite and they TP inside the ice, you cant do anything about it. Pretty screwed up :S
5. Freezing Field usage
Freezing Field is another underrated ultimate, and here I will introduce 2 ways to use this under-par spell. The first and most obvious is in team clashes. Freezing Field is pretty graphics intensive, so it will make the battle more chaotic, which is usually good for your side. Further it applies a constant 10% movespeed slow in its AoE, giving your team a slight edge, in addition to the obvious damage it deals. The problem with Freezing Field's damage however is that it is somewhat inconsistent. But the threat of major damage would cause the opponent to direct some, if not all attention to you, drawing fire off more important teammates. We call this 拯救世界 (Y).
The second and slightly less obvious is that you can use this skill to farm. Yes you did not see that wrongly. You can Freezing Field a huge wave of creeps and collect the $$. Do note though, that you should be actually saving this huge wave of creeps for your team's carry, so only do this when your carry is dead or you actually need the $$. You can also stack an nc camp alot of times and clear it with 1 Freezing Field, but the effort might not be worth it.
6. Be a support.
A supporter that doesn't play like a support is ... what do you think?
Anyway, be a support. Buy wards, courier, Urn, Basilius, Meka, Force Staff, other whatnot support items that your teammates have no slots for. Also, you should sacrifice yourself to save your other teammates lives, especially gankers and your carry. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for a support to play like a support.
No one likes a CM that tries to be a carry. Well, aside from Fan Yi that is.
7. Item Choices
That's completely up to you, but I would recommend going for Urn and then Force Staff, while not forgetting wards. Observer Wards is probably the most important item to get, and after that you can slowly build up magic wand, StrTreads, Urn of Shadows and Force Staff.
So thats it for this time, Crystal Maiden is a pretty boring and "ordinary" hero to play, maybe I'll pick a more interesting hero next time :X
nightZ~
Thursday, January 6, 2011
StarCraft II Cheese
Hello =)
We first introduce the concept of "cheese".
Cheese is essentially any strategy that is unorthodox, yet is surprisingly effective. Examples of cheese in StarCraft II are Zerg's 6pool rush, Protoss' cannon rushes, and Terran's thoritary rush <-- lol
I recently got an idea for a cheese when I watched a video, where the caster mentioned that you can build a spine crawler on your opponent's creep in Z v Z. The normal response to that, withotu spawning pool is to pull 3 drones off the line to attack the spine crawler while its constructing.
Now the main idea in my build is a 6-pool, but supported with spine crawlers. Further, it is possible to transition out of this cheese into a more economic build.
Notes: tested only on Steppes of War, requires Zerg vs Zerg.
5drone with starting resources
wait till 200 minerals
6spawning pool, dropping back to 5
5drone
6drone
spawning pool finishes, has 250 minerals
7zergling x3
pull 2 drones off the line and head towards the enemy base
have 200 minerals by the time your spine crawlers reach enemy base, zerglings spawn, rally to enemy base
build 2 spine crawlers on the edge of enemy creep, preferably apart, dropping back to 8
(opponent should respond by pulling drones off, reducing his economic lead)
have 100 minerals while your spine crawlers are getting pounded away (lol) by drones
8zergling x2
cancel your spine crawlers and immediately rebuild them when your zerglings arrive
use zerglings to protect spine crawler until complete
continue to micro 10 zerglings and 2 spine crawlers, and start making overlords and expand
transition to mutalisks and banelings or roaches if your opponent somehow survives (hidden expansions)
This is a pretty cool build. You can quickly get 10 zerglings in his base, which will be more than enough to repel his drones and potential queen or zerglings until your spine crawlers complete. Once they complete, your opponent's base is assured to fall, unless he has gone for a similarly early spawning pool (maybe a 10pool).
There is a chance, that if you're not scouting correctly, your opponent may have ran away to some hidden expansion on the map. This is not a major issue however, since you are now in a commanding economic lead (lol) and can find his expansion.
Also, there is a chance that your opponent may have some zerglings and run them into your base in a counterattack with some drones too. A base race will results, which you may lose (because he has more buildings). You can pull your zerglings back to defend, leaving your spine crawlers to poke their buildings to death. Alternatively get a queen.
What makes this cheese so strong (in theory) is that your opponent is forced to pull at least 6 drones off the line to deal with your spine crawlers, by which time he is unlikely to have more than 10 drones mining. Further, this cheese is virtually unscoutable, as overlord never moves so fast across the map. Drones can see your cheese coming if they scout you with a drone, but i doubt the reaction time is that fast.
Thats it, happy cheesing :D
We first introduce the concept of "cheese".
Cheese is essentially any strategy that is unorthodox, yet is surprisingly effective. Examples of cheese in StarCraft II are Zerg's 6pool rush, Protoss' cannon rushes, and Terran's thoritary rush <-- lol
I recently got an idea for a cheese when I watched a video, where the caster mentioned that you can build a spine crawler on your opponent's creep in Z v Z. The normal response to that, withotu spawning pool is to pull 3 drones off the line to attack the spine crawler while its constructing.
Now the main idea in my build is a 6-pool, but supported with spine crawlers. Further, it is possible to transition out of this cheese into a more economic build.
Notes: tested only on Steppes of War, requires Zerg vs Zerg.
5drone with starting resources
wait till 200 minerals
6spawning pool, dropping back to 5
5drone
6drone
spawning pool finishes, has 250 minerals
7zergling x3
pull 2 drones off the line and head towards the enemy base
have 200 minerals by the time your spine crawlers reach enemy base, zerglings spawn, rally to enemy base
build 2 spine crawlers on the edge of enemy creep, preferably apart, dropping back to 8
(opponent should respond by pulling drones off, reducing his economic lead)
have 100 minerals while your spine crawlers are getting pounded away (lol) by drones
8zergling x2
cancel your spine crawlers and immediately rebuild them when your zerglings arrive
use zerglings to protect spine crawler until complete
continue to micro 10 zerglings and 2 spine crawlers, and start making overlords and expand
transition to mutalisks and banelings or roaches if your opponent somehow survives (hidden expansions)
This is a pretty cool build. You can quickly get 10 zerglings in his base, which will be more than enough to repel his drones and potential queen or zerglings until your spine crawlers complete. Once they complete, your opponent's base is assured to fall, unless he has gone for a similarly early spawning pool (maybe a 10pool).
There is a chance, that if you're not scouting correctly, your opponent may have ran away to some hidden expansion on the map. This is not a major issue however, since you are now in a commanding economic lead (lol) and can find his expansion.
Also, there is a chance that your opponent may have some zerglings and run them into your base in a counterattack with some drones too. A base race will results, which you may lose (because he has more buildings). You can pull your zerglings back to defend, leaving your spine crawlers to poke their buildings to death. Alternatively get a queen.
What makes this cheese so strong (in theory) is that your opponent is forced to pull at least 6 drones off the line to deal with your spine crawlers, by which time he is unlikely to have more than 10 drones mining. Further, this cheese is virtually unscoutable, as overlord never moves so fast across the map. Drones can see your cheese coming if they scout you with a drone, but i doubt the reaction time is that fast.
Thats it, happy cheesing :D
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Hero of the Week 2
Ok this has been a long time, so I shall have 2 heroes for this week.
Our first one is Queen of Pain =D
I'll try to make hero of the weeks more helpful, with several notes on important aspects of the hero in question, as well as suggestions for play, so it could help readers with their gameplay more.
Queen of Pain is an extremely versatile hero, who can gank, farm and push with great potency. In the hands of a master, she is indeed a powerhouse. Being one of the only 2 heroes with the Blink spell, she has great mobility in the battlefield, especially with its 1.2k range. Scream of Pain is her main bread and butter spell, nuking heroes and farming creep waves with ease. Shadow Strike offers a way to slow a target or disable blink dagger, and lasting 15s with a 15s cd, you know not many people are going to escape from that. Finally, Sonic Wave is a powerful but underrated AoE nuke that deals massive damage in team battles when positioned correctly. Furthermore, it clears the entire creep wave, making it ideal as an opening move if comboed with other skills such as Eclipse. With Aghanim's Scepter, the cooldown of Sonic Wave is reduced to 40, allowing u to clear creep waves with it without much cost, adding a great boost to QoP's farming ability as well as allowing u to push and defend with greater potency.
Notable players of QoP include Vigoss and hyhy.
Gameplay Notes:
1. Blink animation
QoP blink is often called the "inferior" blink when compared with that of Anti-Mage, with longer cd, only 50 more range and most importantly, the annoying casting animation. Indeed, QoP's blink animation is one aspect which players have to get used to, and must be mastered should one wish to dodge projectiles or incoming spells with it.
2. Sonic Wave placement
Sonic Wave is an AoE spell, and hence should be used as such. In team fights, this should come first before your other spells (ideally). The reason for this is Sonic Wave's effectiveness increases the more heroes you hit (obviously), and its easier to do so when the enemy is unaware of your appearance (usually at the start of the fight). Further, when the fight initiates, it becomes rather chaotic and difficult to place a good Sonic Wave. Finally, Sonic Wave should not be used to ks. The damage it deals is only significant if it hits a crowd, not that much if you use it as a buffed Dragon Slave. So use this early, dont wait until the enemies spread out or save it for a ksing nuke.
3. Frailty
QoP is frail, thats a fact. Hence it would be unwise to overextent yourself, especially by blinking into enemies without teammate support. Aggresive play is important to QoP, but its important to exercise discretion; it has been said many a time that courage is one thing, blindly charging into battle is another.
4. Balance farming and ganking
As mentioned in the intro paragraph, QoP has both ganking and farming potential. Depending on your position in your team, you may be tilted towards one end of the balance. However it is important to spend time on both. If you are farm-oriented, keep your mind on farming, but don't forget to spend some time ganking, acquiring map control and participating in team battles. Don't forget that Sonic Wave is a huge asset to your team. Also, it is important not to over-farm. While QoP has dpsing potential, it can only be done when you're loaded with items and levels above the opposing team.
If you are gank-oriented, it is important to spend most of your time roaming the map, abusing map control and supporting teammates. Even here, you should spend some time farming. QoP generally needs at least one huge intelligence item to function, whether its a Guinsoo, Linken or Orchid. QoP is heavily reliant on mana, so don't forget to farm out your intelligence item.
It is important to emphasize, once again on over-farming with QoP. Frankly speaking, QoP doesn't require all that many items; a Linken, a Guinsoo and an Aghanim and you're set. On the dps side, an Orchid, a MKB and a Desolator and you're set again. Do note that QoP is inferior to alot of stronger carries out there, so be wary of this fact.
I would recommend going for a more gank oriented playstyle, as I believe this suits QoP.
5. Scream of Pain notes
Scream of Pain is a Fan of Knives, so it will chase its target, but does not hit targets in the fog of war. The reason why this is relevant to QoP play is that QoP relies on the staple blink --> Scream combo for much of the game, but note that blink has a delay before it uncovers the fog of war around you. If you scream too fast, it will miss. Delay your scream by a bit if you're blinking into fog.
Also note that it is not advised to blink into the fog unless u have teammate support, or if you are very confident. (refer to note on frailty)
6. Be aggressive
QoP needs to be aggressive. Despite you're frailty, it is important to play QoP aggressively. QoP's power lies in unpredictability, high mobility in ganks, chasing power with Shadow Strike and Blink, and massive AoE with Sonic Wave. Unless you are aggressive in your play, you will be unable to deal the psychological damage that is highly beneficial to your side. If you have map advantage, especially ward advantage, an aggressive QoP with guinsoo is more than just potent ganker; she is also a constant threat to the opponent, and hence is a psychological barrier as well. This indirectly limits their farm, and with effective counter warding, offers you free Roshans and tower pushes.
It is important to note that in DotA, psychological damage is as important as hero kills. Even if your gank fails and you dont kill anyone, the threat of an incoming gank felt by the opponents is already a satisfying reward.
So thats it, hopefully this helps your play with QoP. =D
Our first one is Queen of Pain =D
I'll try to make hero of the weeks more helpful, with several notes on important aspects of the hero in question, as well as suggestions for play, so it could help readers with their gameplay more.
Queen of Pain is an extremely versatile hero, who can gank, farm and push with great potency. In the hands of a master, she is indeed a powerhouse. Being one of the only 2 heroes with the Blink spell, she has great mobility in the battlefield, especially with its 1.2k range. Scream of Pain is her main bread and butter spell, nuking heroes and farming creep waves with ease. Shadow Strike offers a way to slow a target or disable blink dagger, and lasting 15s with a 15s cd, you know not many people are going to escape from that. Finally, Sonic Wave is a powerful but underrated AoE nuke that deals massive damage in team battles when positioned correctly. Furthermore, it clears the entire creep wave, making it ideal as an opening move if comboed with other skills such as Eclipse. With Aghanim's Scepter, the cooldown of Sonic Wave is reduced to 40, allowing u to clear creep waves with it without much cost, adding a great boost to QoP's farming ability as well as allowing u to push and defend with greater potency.
Notable players of QoP include Vigoss and hyhy.
Gameplay Notes:
1. Blink animation
QoP blink is often called the "inferior" blink when compared with that of Anti-Mage, with longer cd, only 50 more range and most importantly, the annoying casting animation. Indeed, QoP's blink animation is one aspect which players have to get used to, and must be mastered should one wish to dodge projectiles or incoming spells with it.
2. Sonic Wave placement
Sonic Wave is an AoE spell, and hence should be used as such. In team fights, this should come first before your other spells (ideally). The reason for this is Sonic Wave's effectiveness increases the more heroes you hit (obviously), and its easier to do so when the enemy is unaware of your appearance (usually at the start of the fight). Further, when the fight initiates, it becomes rather chaotic and difficult to place a good Sonic Wave. Finally, Sonic Wave should not be used to ks. The damage it deals is only significant if it hits a crowd, not that much if you use it as a buffed Dragon Slave. So use this early, dont wait until the enemies spread out or save it for a ksing nuke.
3. Frailty
QoP is frail, thats a fact. Hence it would be unwise to overextent yourself, especially by blinking into enemies without teammate support. Aggresive play is important to QoP, but its important to exercise discretion; it has been said many a time that courage is one thing, blindly charging into battle is another.
4. Balance farming and ganking
As mentioned in the intro paragraph, QoP has both ganking and farming potential. Depending on your position in your team, you may be tilted towards one end of the balance. However it is important to spend time on both. If you are farm-oriented, keep your mind on farming, but don't forget to spend some time ganking, acquiring map control and participating in team battles. Don't forget that Sonic Wave is a huge asset to your team. Also, it is important not to over-farm. While QoP has dpsing potential, it can only be done when you're loaded with items and levels above the opposing team.
If you are gank-oriented, it is important to spend most of your time roaming the map, abusing map control and supporting teammates. Even here, you should spend some time farming. QoP generally needs at least one huge intelligence item to function, whether its a Guinsoo, Linken or Orchid. QoP is heavily reliant on mana, so don't forget to farm out your intelligence item.
It is important to emphasize, once again on over-farming with QoP. Frankly speaking, QoP doesn't require all that many items; a Linken, a Guinsoo and an Aghanim and you're set. On the dps side, an Orchid, a MKB and a Desolator and you're set again. Do note that QoP is inferior to alot of stronger carries out there, so be wary of this fact.
I would recommend going for a more gank oriented playstyle, as I believe this suits QoP.
5. Scream of Pain notes
Scream of Pain is a Fan of Knives, so it will chase its target, but does not hit targets in the fog of war. The reason why this is relevant to QoP play is that QoP relies on the staple blink --> Scream combo for much of the game, but note that blink has a delay before it uncovers the fog of war around you. If you scream too fast, it will miss. Delay your scream by a bit if you're blinking into fog.
Also note that it is not advised to blink into the fog unless u have teammate support, or if you are very confident. (refer to note on frailty)
6. Be aggressive
QoP needs to be aggressive. Despite you're frailty, it is important to play QoP aggressively. QoP's power lies in unpredictability, high mobility in ganks, chasing power with Shadow Strike and Blink, and massive AoE with Sonic Wave. Unless you are aggressive in your play, you will be unable to deal the psychological damage that is highly beneficial to your side. If you have map advantage, especially ward advantage, an aggressive QoP with guinsoo is more than just potent ganker; she is also a constant threat to the opponent, and hence is a psychological barrier as well. This indirectly limits their farm, and with effective counter warding, offers you free Roshans and tower pushes.
It is important to note that in DotA, psychological damage is as important as hero kills. Even if your gank fails and you dont kill anyone, the threat of an incoming gank felt by the opponents is already a satisfying reward.
So thats it, hopefully this helps your play with QoP. =D
I'm back! \o/
Hurray I am back from China! =DDDDD
I'll slowly patch up what I've missed these few days, so wait up =P
Thats all for now <-- Lol
I'll slowly patch up what I've missed these few days, so wait up =P
Thats all for now <-- Lol
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