Dota 2 Magazine

APRIL EDITION

DOTA

2

First Issue

Special Feature:

+ Game of the Week

N ew D evel o p m en ts

Weaver Swarm

Unusual Offlaners

I MMERSE I NTO THE ANCIENT LORE

CREATED BY: FATBABYDOTA

Contents Letter from Editor ............................................................. 6 Game of the Week ........................................................... 8 Game 1 ................................................................ 14 Game 2................................................................ 8 Starladder................................................................................... 29 D2l Western Challenge.............................................. 30

Lich Offlane ............................................................................ 33 Tidehunter Offlane............................................................ 40 New Developments......................................................... 48 Ancient Apparition ............................ 50 Centaur Warrunner ........................... 52 Most Overused Phrase ................................................. 54 The Vault .................................................................................. 56 Dota Lore ................................................................................. 60

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 magazine I 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 will enjoy.

Nevertheless, this is my first work of this kind. I would heavily appreciate any feedback you might have. Also, if you like the magazine, 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 like to see in the next magazine.

Thanks, I hope you enjoy it!

-Fat Baby Dota

fatbabydota@gmail.com fatbabydota@twitter

Bone7

Aui_2000 pieliedie SingSing

EE

Bans

Bulldog

Akke

Loda

S4

EGM

Game 1

Drafting: Cloud 9 begins the banning phase by casting out the Naga Siren, while Alliance chooses to ban the Lycanthrope. These heroes have been picked enormously in the current meta-game, Naga with her potential to farm the entire map and Lycan with his early tower pushing aggression. We see some respect bans from Cloud 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 for SingSing - who has been dominating with TA in D2l. Both teams show similar line-ups with mids that can lead engagements with their supports; to provide a cushion for their carries. However, Cloud 9's team is very susceptible to a pushing 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 notable candidates. Another difference is that Alliance has Sand King that can take advantage of the jungle, uncontested because of the Batrider pick.

Synopsis: Nothing is out of the ordinary in the beginning of the game, with no prior engagements before the laning phase. The laning phase was extremely difficult for both Admiral Bulldog on the solo offlane Nyx Assassin and Bone7 on the solo offlane Batrider position. We see Aui_2000 and Piedielie get first blood off of Admiral Bulldog after a misplay with his use of Spiked Carapace. Only moments later we see Bone7 dying to S4 after Bone7 attempts to 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 laning advantage against Mirana. In the meantime EE leads the cs score over Loda and decides to go Phase Boots and Aquila, while Loda opts to get a Hand of Midas at 5:50.

The game was a pull and tug at 10 minutes until Alliance starts to rotate their supports 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 Bone7 completed his Blink Dagger, they seiged the tower. However, a huge team fight occurs with Bone7 initiating on EGM''s SandKing. The fight was favourable for C9, team wiping Alliance and getting a courier kill. The fight gave C9 a dominating lead.

Game 1

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

After the fight, Cloud 9 secures a dominating lead - in spite of Loda's insane amount of farm. The engagements throughout the game is never in Alliances favour, 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. Whenever Loda dies in team-fights the rest of Alliance falls or retreats. It wasn't long before another team whipe at 30 minutes does Alliance call GG and C9 secures a win over Alliance.

Items:

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

Also, EE on the Spectre opted to get a Vanguard after his Phase Boots and Ring of Aquila. Judging by the strong lead C9 had and the potential early game 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 up an 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 the normal route in getting Helm of the Dominator, but decided to rush his Black 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 great amount of coordination from C9; to basically engage with the knowledge that EE would be buying back and re-engaging with Haunt. This fight took Alliance by surprise and the outcome also allowed C9 to pick up an uncontested Roshan. Also, notice how the C9 team is able to split the fight up into separate engagements. You have Bone 7 disabling S4, while SingSing is taking out EGM, and EE is zoning Bulldog and Akke from helping S4. With the level and item advantage, C9 was able to accomplish this strategy without worrying about targeting one hero at a time.

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

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EE

Bone7

Aui_2000 SingSing pieliedie

Bans

S4

Akke

EGM

Bulldog

Loda

Game 2

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 shutting down Loda in team-fights. Again we see Naga Siren and Ember Spirit being banned 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 Crystal Maiden for Aui_2000, than proceeding to ban Luna; as of respect for Loda and his insane farming performance last game. Cloud 9 picks up Templar Assassin for SingSing, which is threatening because of how well he plays the hero. Alliances chooses to pick Nature's Prophet for Bulldog, one of his signature heroes. Cloud 9 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 their picks with a Phantom Assassin for Loda, a hero that we don't see often in professional games, but nonetheless exciting. An important note is that both teams have extremely powerful pushing line-ups, with Alliance having a more sustained 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 block the both the large and medium camps of Chen, however a nice placed treant was able to watch C9 ward causing Chen to purchase some quick Sentry Wards to deward the camps; only managing to deward one. The offlane for Alliance with Bulldog is going in C9's favour, with the huge lvl 1 damage of Ether Shock and the harassment from Lycan's wolves. Meanwhile, Bone7 on the Puck is excelling in his lane as neither EGM or Loda can contest Bone7's harassment and overall lane presence. However, Bone7 is quick to overextend his boundaries as he misuses his Illusionary Orb and with Chen's help Alliance almost kills Puck, a auto attack from Chen almost finishes off Bone7, however he quickly uses his Illusionary Orb to disjoint the attack. At the same time SingSing manages to get first-blood on S4 mid.

Alliance shows extreme early aggression on C9's top Tier 1 tower, with 4 heroes, including Bulldog, pushing the tower. However, a quick teleport by piediepie pushes back the wave with his Ether Shock. Only moments later, Bulldog returns bottom lane to get back stabbed behind his Tier 1 tower by C9, with the tower also taking a dive. EE on the Lycan manages to get a 5 minute Vladimir’s Offering and a Medallion of Courage at 5:50. C9 is still relentless with Bone 7 ganking mid with SingSing to get, yet, another kill on S4. S4 comes back to lane and heads into the Radiant jungle to get caught and die, 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, Alliance manages to stand their ground and take Roshan with Aegis going to Loda.

Meanwhile, EE heads to push Alliances top Tier 2 tower and gets caught without his ult, S4 quickly teleports and manages a clutch Cold Snap to stop Lycan's teleport and gain a valuable kill. At 13 minutes, we see Alliance managing 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 buys Aghanim's Scepter at 18 minutes and EE picks up a Necronomicon lvl 3 at 19 minutes.

However, Alliance manages to secure another Roshan at 20 minutes, with C9 engaging afterwards with SingSing , Bone 7, and piedielie all dying.

Meanwhile, EE took out Alliances top Tier 2 tower, showing the strength of Lycan's split push; also the gold advantage allows C9 to fight 4v5 without much devastation. During these engagements Bulldog manages to recooperate with a Hand of Midas to obtain a Necronomicon lvl 3 at 20 minutes. However, minutes later Bone7 picks up a Scythe of Vyse at 25 minutes and EE purchases an Assault Cuirass at 27. The gold lead of C9 is starting to take into affect and the pressure is ever stronger against Alliance.

Nevertheless, another large engagement happens outside Alliance's middle base entrance, where S4 quickly dies to SingSing's meld and immedietly buysback. In the meantime Loda, with his newly acquired BKB, takes C9 head on with SingSing and piedielie dying. During the engagement EE was able to take out Alliance's top melee barracks, to only fall to Loda. However, over aggression 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 both SingSing and EE engage onto 3 idle centuars; thinking they weren't being microed. To their surprise they got chain stunned by the 3 centuars, buying enough 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 and piedielie. It's a complete teamwhipe for C9 and Alliance showing promise to take this game back, now leading 22-21.

Game 2

However, a crucial fight at the Roshan pit at 41 minutes was the deciding factor in the game. Alliance engages on C9's Roshan attempt and manages to kill of EE and SingSing, however they quickly buy back and attempt to reengage. Alliance's ultimates are on cooldown with many low health, but decide to fight anyway. One by one Alliance falls, the most crucial deaths being Loda (without buyback) and S4 who bought back and died. In the meantime Roshan is killed by C9 and they proceed to take out Alliance's mid and bottom Barracks. In a desperate attempt, Alliance pushes C9's mid, but it'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 occurred simultaneously. It starts off with Alliance being able to capitalize on a 10 minute Roshan. This Roshan was huge, because they have not gotten a single tower the whole game and the extra income is so necessary for them to try to fight against the wealthy C9 team. They had to stand their ground and managed to take out Aui_2000 and force Bone7 to waste his Dream Coil. In the meantime EE is pushing mid and piedielie used his Serpent Wards top. It was a perfect opportunity and Alliance was able to secure the Roshan.

Afterwards they went to take out C9's middle Tier 1 tower. These pivotal moments allowed Alliance to purchase their first items, after their poor laning performance left them with little to not gold in comparison to C9. Also, EE on the Lycan was caught out at the Alliance Tier 2 top tower and was discovered 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. These occurrences happened in quick succession after each other and put Alliance in the game.

Items:

Game 2

Perhaps the most unusual item pick up this game was the Maelstrom by Loda on the Phantom Assassin. You would usually see a Phantom Assassin rush a Helm 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 relatively quickly in the lane and throughout their jungle. Also, the damage from the Maelstrom orb was a factor in team-fights. Perhaps we will see more Maelstrom on Phantom Assassins in our pub matches.

Nevertheless, the item progression from EE was insane. He was able to get a Vladimir's Offering at 5 minutes and Amulet of Courage 50 seconds later. He managed 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 18 minute Aghanim Scepter on the Shadow Shaman. The early game went so well with C9 that they were able to snowball and take out all the outer towers of Alliance very quickly. Its tough to come back from such a big difference in gold, however Alliance displayed a good showcase; especially Bulldog who managed to have the highest net-worth in the game.

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Discussion

Dota 2 League, Western Challenge

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Lich 1 : Do Not Die 2: Force Carry Out of Lane

This Ice Aint Nice!

"At level 6 you have kill potential"

"TO CAST BOTH CHAIN FROST AND FROST BLAST YOU WILL NEED FULL MANA"

TideHun

The Leviath

The Com

nter

han

mplete Offlane Guide

Starting Guide

ABILITY DISCUSSION

Anchor Smash To Get Guap!

Glorious Starting Items!

Pick Me!

WRAP UP

K K N

K

U

A

AA

AA

NEW DEVELOPMENTS:

Ancient Apparition

Centaur W Bradwarden, Centaur Warrunner was the 11th most picked hero in March, and he's making more appearances in early April. Predominantly played as a solo offlaner, Centaur Warrunner is proving to be a popular pick. It's a bit strange having this hero run a solo offlane, however hes a nuisance in lane with his Double Edge and Return abilities. The Return ability makes it hard for supports, especially solo supports, to zone him out. While his Double Edge can whittle down a carry, especially if Centuar manages to get Tranquil Boots. However, because of those reasons and his sustain, he makes a decent offlaner for the laning phase.

Nevertheless, one must not forget about his ultimate Stampede.

It's a great ability that can be use, both offensively and defensively. He is also a great initiator when he can pick up a Blink Dagger. I believe we are seeing Magnus being outsourced in favor of Centaur. In regards to initiation, he somewhat fills the role of a Magnus. It may be a lesser role, however instead of relying on a big teamfight, since the long cooldown of Reverse Polarity, you can sustained engagements with Centaur blink and stomp; Magnus also being similar to Tidehunter in that respect.

I see Centaur Warrunner being picked up more often.

It's nice to see him have a place in the current metagame. He shines with ganking parties and creating space during the mid-game.

Would definitely pick him in a game which requires a longgame strategy. He's also decent at stoping pushes with his Double Edge, which has a low cooldown of 8 seconds.

Howver, one laner he would have immense issues with is Naix. He also wouldn't fair well against a defensive trilane, with the support we just talked about, Ancient Apparition.

He's very suceptible to ganks, not having a valid escape until level 6; even if you count Stampede as an escape.

Especially, if the enemy team has an Earthshaker, because without a path to escape, Centaur is a sitting duck.

Nevertheless, expect more of Bradwarden, the Centuar Warrunner.

Warrunner

THE A U LT

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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

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.

E

xperience 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 2. 12 duration, 20 damage 3. 16 duration, 25 damage 4. 20 duration, 30 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

Skitter Scatter

!

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 they will 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 onesided 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.

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