Friday, October 12, 2012

List of Common Noob Mistakes and Misconceptions

Consumeables

A lot of new player skip consumables because you only get one use out of them. These are some of the best items in the game. In fact, Wards and Gem are the only items that have a cooldown between purchases. So, let's take a look at some of these items.
  • Observer Wards
    • Get 2 for 150g
    • Provide a huge sight radius which helps:
      • Prevent Ganks
      • Set up ganks (e.g. find a jungling hero that is low on HP)
      • Get Runes
      • Better understand what the enemy is doing
      • See up a cliff (e.g. put it on the other side in mid so you don't get hooked by Pudge)
    • Wards can block creep spawns (this is commonly done at the creep pull so the safe lane cannot bring your creeps closer to their tower)
    • You need these in excess if you're up against a heavy gank team (e.g. for pubs, if they have a Pudge or someone who will just go around secretly ganking)
  • Scrolls of Teleportation
    • Costs 135g, but gives you a ton of use
    • Great for narrow escapes (juke into the trees and teleport out)
    • Great for counter ganking/pushing (TP to another lane to help your allies!)
    • Allow you to return quickly to lane (seriously, you can make up the lost gold with ~3 last hits, and you lose A LOT LESS XP)
    • You should try to keep 1-2 on you after about 4-5 minutes into the game
  • Tangos
    • Heal you minor amounts
    • Great for staying topped off on HP
    • Eat through trees, which is useful for juking
    • Are not dispelled when attacked
    • This is meant to keep you in lane longer
      • Staying in lane longer means you get more XP (a lot of new players get underleveled and don't understand how it happened) 
  • Salve
    • Great for a quick heal right after the enemy attempted to kill you
    • You can put this on your ally
    • You can juke into the trees, heal up with a salve, then come out and own someone who thought they were definitely going to kill you
    • Again, like Tangos, this is meant to keep you in lane longer
  • Clarity Potion
    • It's good to have 1-2 of these in lane so you can play aggressively
      • Most people are afraid to use their spells because they'll run out of mana
      • Guess what, if you have a Clarity Potion, that's no longer an issue
      • You can scare the opponent by using spells, then they'll not want to get close enough to last hit anymore
    • Takes a while to finish restoring your mana, but it's well worth it
  • Dust
    • Reveals invisible heroes
    • Turn the tides on any invisibility hero that thinks they'll get away by just going invis
    • You essentially counter an entire ability for a cheap gold cost
    • NOTE: dust does not prevent invisible heroes from setting up on you, that's what Gem is for. Dust is to finish someone off after they've initiated, or when you initiate on them.
  • Smoke
    • Very cheap, gives your team invisibility until you get close to an enemy
    • Great for secretly crossing through a ward spot to go ganking
    • Great for secretly getting into the Roshan Pit (a lot of Ursas do this so the enemy doesn't see them go in with Observer Wards)
    • Many players get this at the start of the game to make for an easy first blood
  • Sentry Wards
    • Reveals invisible heroes, but it can't move
    • Want to use this when you'll be in one place (e.g. pushing) or when your opponent will be (e.g. counter-pushing, against a Broodmother, etc.)
    • Good for counter-warding (killing Observer Wards so the enemy has to play blind)

 

Main Attribute / Role

 

Many new players think heroes have set roles based on their main attribute:
  • AGI = carry
  • INT = support
  • STR = tank

===THIS IS WRONG===


Many heroes have different types because of balance reasons. Examples:
  • If Tiny were INT, he'd be able to spam his spells too easily, so instead he's STR 
  • Same goes for Venomancer, if he were INT, he'd have such an easy time because the same items that give him INT, also buff his base attack damage
Basically, by switching the main attribute, it changes what players buy on the hero. In certain cases, it would be too imbalanced to let the same items that give heroes things they need (e.g. mana), also give them attack damage.


A hero's role is determined by their abilities

 

  • A carry will usually have skills that allow them to scale into late game, or an ability to farm well
    • Nature's Prophet can farm very easily. So even though his abilities don't scale well, he can carry because he has more money than anyone else
    • Lifestealer deals a percentage of a hero's life as damage. This scales into late game because he'll do immense amounts of damage as heroes gain more HP
    • Phantom Assassin has Critical Strikes which let her hit very hard. As she gets more damage, she deals even higher crits, so it's an ability that scales into late game
    • Anti-Mage doesn't necessarily scale, but he's very difficult to kill due to his blink and natural magic armor. He also has a very fast attack speed to start with, making it easier to farm once he gets an item like Battlefury
  • A support usually has disables, slows, heals, etc. Their abilities are good on their own, so they require very little farm to be effective (i.e. not scaling, but seriously, a stun is good at any point in the game)
    • Crystal Maiden has an aura that supports the team by giving them mana regen. She has a skill that disables (Ice), and one that slows move & attack speed
    •  Dazzle has a heal (that also damage enemies), Shallow Grave allows a hero to stay alive even when they should have died, his ult buffs the team and debuffs the opponent, plus he has a slow (that has a mini-stun too)
  • Tanks...
    • Don't really exist. Unlike a MMO where you can literally have someone force the NPCs to attack them (i.e. aggro), you cannot do that in DotA
      • Good players will avoid attacking "Tanks" because it will take too long to kill them and instead focus on squishy supports that are an annoyance (with stuns), or the DPS
    • Instead, you have "Tanky" heroes
    • You also don't need any "Tanky" heroes to be effective. Most of the time, more stuns or versatile heroes works out better
    • That said, the closest you'll get to a tank are heroes that do too much damage to be ignored, but also have a lot of HP (e.g. Axe, Necrolyte, Tiny, Skeleton King)
Some heroes have multiple or blurred roles:
  • Vengeful Spirit - she has a great disable/stun, an ability that lowers armor, and an aura that increase damage. Usually, she is played as a Support. However, she can Carry due to her aura making her scale well.
  • Leshrac - in most pub games he's played as a Bloodstone Carry (i.e. carrying because he has the regen to keep spamming his spells and being hard to kill due to the bonus HP and Regen). However, in a lot of pro games, he's played as Support or Roaming Support because he has a disable, and is able to push towers and lanes.
  • Mirana - she has a kit that can do a lot of things: a nuke/farming ability, a long ranged skill-shot stun, an escape/chase mechanism, and an ult that gives the entire team invis (used for escapes or setting up a gank/fight). Therefore, she is viewed as something of a utility/semi-carry.

 

Armor

 

Armor is a tricky thing. You have Armor Points, which translate into damage reduction percentages. When plotted out, the graph looks like:




Armor
Damage Reduction (- %)
Armor
Damage Amplification (+ %)
1
5.7
-1
6.0
2
10.7
-2
11.6
3
15.3
-3
16.9
4
19.4
-4
21.9
5
23.1
-5
26.6
6
26.5
-6
31.0
7
29.6
-7
35.2
8
32.4
-8
39.0
9
35.1
-9
42.7
10
37.5
-10
46.1
11
39.8
-11
49.4
12
41.9
-12
52.4
13
43.8
-13
55.3
14
45.7
-14
57.9
15
47.4
-15
60.5
16
49.0
-16
62.8
17
50.5
-17
65.1
18
51.9
-18
67.2
19
53.3
-19
69.1
20
54.5
-20
71.0
21
55.8
-21
71.0
22
56.9
-22
71.0
23
58.0
-23
71.0
24
59.0
-24
71.0
25
60.0
-25
71.0

































However, each point of armor provides the same benefit.

Here's an example:

For 3 instances where the target has 1000 HP (assuming no regen) and you deal 50 damage:
  • 0 Armor = 0% Reduction = 1000 HP / 50 DMG = 20 hits to kill them
  • 5 Armor = 23.1% Reduction = 1000 HP / 50(1-0.231) DMG = ~26 hits to kill them
  • 10 Armor = 37.5% Reduction = 1000 HP / 50(1-0.375) DMG = 32 his to kill them
For 3 instances where the target has 1000 HP (assuming no regen) and you deal 100 damage:
  • 0 Armor = 0% Reduction = 1000 HP / 100 DMG = 10 hits to kill them
  • 5 Armor = 23.1% Reduction = 1000 HP / 100(1-0.231) DMG = ~13 hits to kill them
  • 10 Armor = 37.5% Reduction = 1000 HP / 100(1-0.375) DMG = 16 his to kill them

The number of hits to kill increases LINEARLY with each point of armor.

 

Bottle/Boots First

 

Both of these are bad options for first items. Neither gives you stats. Bottle is easy to dispell and if you don't get the rune, you're going to end up bottlecrowing, which is inefficient.

Boots give you speed, but don't give you more HP or damage, so you won't be able to farm well. Some people think it's a good first item on Juggernaut, but if you're decent with his spin, his natural move speed (305, which is above average), should be enough.

 

Lifesteal

 

Noobs love lifesteal. And the love to get it early. This is usually not the route to go. There are a few instances where it's useful, but on the whole, it's better to get survival items or farming items.

Let's say you rush Vlads on Anti-Mage. So, you get +2 HP/sec, +0.8 mana/sec, 15% Damage Increase, 17% Lifesteal.

Early in the game, you have roughly 700-800 HP, which isn't that much. You hit for maybe 60 damage. Some quick math shows: you now do 69 damage (due to 15% damage bonus), and per hit, you lifesteal 11.73 (69 * 0.17). And remember, you have to actually be hitting your enemy for the lifesteal to work.

It's decent, but not really enough to justify the purchase. If you started building toward Battlefury, you'd have more regen, +10 damage (from Perseverance), and once you have Battlefury, you can farm a lot faster (due to massive bonus damage and cleave).

Alternatively, say you're Slardar, you could've been building Armlet, which gives you good regen, good armor, and a quick burst of HP/Damage for fights. It's a much better route than lifesteal.

Not only that, but an item like Vlads can be picked up by a Support hero and be just as effective.

On a final note, most Lifesteal items scale way better in the late game, whereas raw damage items (like Battlefury) are great for early game. So don't avoid Lifesteal, just don't get it first.

 

Mask of Madness (MoM) 

 

People find this as an attractive item because it's fairly cheap, gives lifesteal, and a massive attack speed boost.

What they don't realize is:
  • Attack speed is useless without damage
  • You take an extra 30% damage - one stun and you're pretty much done for (so get a BKB)
It's basically a high risk-high reward item. If you have great positioning, it's going to be good times. However, get slightly out of position, and you're screwed.

 

Early Roshan Heroes

 

The exception to the rule is heroes like Ursa and Lycan who can kill Roshan very early if they get a lifesteal item (namely Vladamir's Offering).

 

Shadow Blade

 

Many people pick this up as just an escape. Doing so is a waste of one of its uses. Your first hit out of invisibility does bonus damage. Looking at that, a large component of the item is using it offensively.
  • Kunkka - this works with Tidebringer. You splash that bonus damage on all enemy units if your Tidebringer is off cooldown
  • Shadow Fiend - You can channel your ult in part before you're revealed, making it easy to set up awesome ults (though, most of the time it's better to get a blink dagger)
  • Witch Doctor - you can channel your ult, then go invis (it won't break the channel), making you much less likely to be stopped (though, most of the time a BKB would be more effective)
Likewise, you can use it to cross the river without being detected by Observer Wards. You can gank the jungle, sneak up on players, use it to get perfect positioning before scaring an enemy off, etc..

Being able to escape with it is just a side-benefit, not the main one.

Also note
  • this expensive item can be countered quite easily with a purchase of cheap Dust
  • if you already have an invisible hero on your team, you make it much more beneficial for the opponent to pick up a Gem, Dust, or Sentry Wards because now they can screw over two heroes with one item

 

Illusions 

 

Just take a look at this

 

Jungling

 

Just because a hero can jungle, doesn't mean they should.

Lifestealer and Lone Druid are commonly thrown into the jungle. They can do it, but not quickly. You waste their amazing lane presence by putting them in the Jungle as well.

A good jungler:
  • Can farm camps quickly
  • Stay reasonably high on HP (otherwise it's easy to gank and kill them)
Here are some good options for heroes in the jungle:
  • Chen - he has creeps, and those creeps give him lane presence
  • Enchantress - same as Chen basically
  • Enigma - can farm camps quickly with his minions, hit level 6 quickly, and be useful for his ult
  • Nature's Prophet - has minions that can help him farm the jungle, his teleport and sprout spells give him lane presence
  • Lycan - he has wolves, an ability that makes him and his minions more powerful, and he rips through camps quickly
Situational Junglers:
  • Lone Druid - he is exceptionally good at soloing the hard lane because you essentially get 2 heroes, but only one that is taking XP. However, he can jungle decently well. Sometimes (mostly in pub games), it might be more beneficial for the team if you jungle
  • Dark Seer - another example of a hero that is exceptional at soloing the hard lane. However, if your lineup is bad for it, Dark Seer can also run as a jungler due to Ion Shell. This spell combines nicely with Smoke of Deceit, letting you kill creeps without being attacked.
  • Lifestealer - while his lifesteal allows him to jungle, it doesn't allow him to clear camps quickly. So for a long period, he'll be lagging behind in levels and gold. In lane, Lifestealer is a beast. Combined with another hero that can slow or stun, he can shred through anyone pretty quick.
  • Doombringer - due to changes in his Devour spell,  he can jungle decently well. However, I don't think he does it fast enough for it to be beneficial. Instead, putting him in lane gives him more of an early presence (especially with LVL? Death).
  • Ursa - he has an ability that stacks damage on targets, which allows him to kill big creeps earlier than many other heroes. Another of his skills makes him attack faster, so he quickly kills said big creeps. However, he can also be very effective in lane with a hero that can stun (e.g. Crystal Maiden, Shadow Shaman)
Other Junglers:
  • Axe - he can jungle due to his spin. However, he needs to be hit a lot to make sure it triggers. Therefore, Axe or an ally should be stacking camps to help him get gold faster.
  • Tidehunter - it's not optimal, but Anchor Smash does AoE damage and reduces attack damage by 40%, making him able to jungle. However, he'd need someone like KotL or Crystal Maiden to help with his mana regen.
  • Storm Spirit - in very odd scenarios, SS can jungle with Static Remnant. By stacking camps and then using Smoke, he can spam Static Remnant on camps to kill them without being harmed.
  • Broodmother - using her Spiderites, she can jungle decently well, especially with a Soul Ring. However, she also has a massive lane presence and can push towers super fast.
  • Magnus - he can jungle decently well due to Empower. However, he also is a very good lane partner, so it should be carefully considered whether or not you want to try to jungle with him. 

 

Laning & Pulling

 

Getting Creep Kills

 

What you want to do here is last hit the creep. This gives you the gold, but it also means you're not pushing the lane.

Pushing the lane is generally a bad thing because it puts you further from your safe zone (i.e. the tower or your side of the map). The only time you want to push the lane is when you plan on destroying the enemy tower.

Likewise, you want to deny creeps because it means your own creeps will die out faster, pulling the lane closer to your tower. Denying creeps also reduces the amount of experience your opponent receives from their death and they lose the opportunity to get that gold.

 

Pulling & Stacking

 

Pulling is a technique used to get your creeps closer to your tower. It helps you control the lane and where the creeps collide. However, you don't always want to pull. You want to pull when the creeps are far from your tower. If you pull when they are close, then you might accidentally lose your tower in the process.

Stacking is something else you want to do. If you stack, then pull, you'll kill an entire wave of your creeps. This is beneficial because that means your opponents didn't get any of that experience (meaning you'll outlevel them), and they couldn't get any of the gold because the neutral camp last hit all your creeps.


Middle Lane

 

This is a special case of laning because you have to play differently. You want to make sure your opponent cannot get runes. To do this, you want to push your lane up just before rune spawn (around 1:50, for instance). Doing this forces your opponent to choose between getting last hits/gold, and XP, or getting the rune (and filling their bottle).

 

Suicide Lane (Solo Hard Lane)

 

This is another special case. Not all heroes are created equal for this lane (See this post). You main goal in this lane is to survive. Leeching some XP and getting an odd creep kill here and there is good, but just make sure you're not being too risky. The idea is usually to win the easy lane, then they eventually push towers down (getting your lane opponents to leave the lane), or they come to gank your lane.

 

Sange & Yasha

 

Noobs love to build this item. At a glance, it gives a lot of good bonuses:
  • Attack Speed
  • Move Speed
  • Chance to slow the enemy
  • Agility
  • Strength
It also has a nice and easy build up, it's a "big" item, and does not require the secret shop.

The problem with it is that it's the jack of all trades, master of none. Good players want to emphasize the strengths of their hero or build items that will work for the match. A jack of all trades item doesn't provide much. Additionally, the slow is not reliable.


Hero Specific

 

  • Against Pudge - always keep a creep between you and him. Then he cannot hook you. If you can't do that, use fog of war or move erradically.
  • Naga Siren - her ult can be used as an escape. But, it also is great for setting up a team fight.
  • Bounty Hunter - building a Battlefury isn't the best route. His ult gives you a ton of gold if you get a kill, so you want to be ganking constantly to get all that sweet farm.
  • Jakiro - his Liquid Fire is a great pushing spell. So use it for that, don't get it early and accidentally push the lane. Also, sometimes it's better to skip his ult until you have your Fire & Frost, plus your Ice spells maxed out (i.e. post level 8). His ult is a huge mana investment and is hard to land so that it keeps enemies in it for a long time. Therefore, his other spells are sometimes to level over his ult.
  • Tinker - while he has great nuking potential with Laser and Missiles, March of the Machines is an excellent pushing/counter-pushing spell. Spam it about 10 seconds before rune spawn and the enemy will be forced to choose between farm/XP or getting the rune. Also, his ult resets the cooldown on his items. This makes Boots of Travel a great option (ult and use them any time you want)
  • Lion/Lina - your ult should be used to open fights, not to finish off a hero. Opening with your ult gets the maximum damage potential out of the spell. It also makes one enemy very weak, so that the battle quickly turns into a 4v5
  • Zeus - your ult should not be used for killstealing. Also, take a look at this post to get the most out of your spell combo. Also note, your Lightning Bolt will reveal invisible heroes for a short time in the nearby area.
  • Puck - you can cast Illusionary Orb, then use Phase Shift and move to your Orb while Phase Shifted. This makes for a safe and easy escape.
  • Spirit Breaker & Huskar - people love to rambo with these heroes. Go in at smart times, don't just jump in on everything. You need team support, you're not a 1 man army.
  • Sand King - Only get Caustic Finale in a lane where you're against only melee heroes, an invisible hero, or you're solo. This passive ability pushes the lane, but it also damages a large AoE which affects heroes. It's only good situationally to skill early.
  • Tiny - units affected by both Avalanche and Toss take 2x damage. So you theoretically want to toss, then immediately Avalanche.
  • Against Bloodseeker - always carry a Teleport scroll. You take damage while moving, but not while teleporting. Most of the time, Bloodseeker cannot finish you off with auto attacks. He also has no way to disrupt your teleport.
  • Riki - always get at least one level of Smoke early. This helps you and your teammates out by providing a silence.
  • Against Leshrac - Diabolic Edict continues after he dies. So don't just stand there taking the damage.
  • Keeper of the Light - do not spam your Illuminate spell. You get gold, yes, but you push the lane and you starve your lanemate
  • Storm Spirit - you usually want to max out your Electric Vortex spell first. You are largely a ganker and this is the spell that helps you do it. Static Remnant is best used for getting last hits, pushing the lane before rune spawn, and triggering your Overload spell.
  • Razor - never underestimate Static Link. This drains attack damage from your opponent and gives it to you. In fact, Razor mostly just needs survivability items due to this skill. Your auto attacks become monstrous when you've fully sapped the enemy carry. The optimal build is usually maximizing Plasma Field and Static Link.
  • Bane - first off, if Bane is on your team do not attack people he slept. Make sure you communicate who you are going to sleep so your teammates don't attack them. Also, sleep can be used to set up a gank (gives your teammates time to get there before you start ulting).
  • Lich - you don't need to max out your Sacrifice spell, only 2 levels is really necessary. This gives you enough mana to spam with, while allowing you to pick up some levels of your Armor spell.
  • Dazzle & Omniknight - your heals do damage. Dazzle deals Physical damage, so it goes right through spell protection like Juggernaut's Blade Fury. Omniknight's heal does Pure Damage, which ignores all armor (i.e. it does exactly as much damage as it says).
  • Against Undying, Pugna, and Juggernaut - kill their drops first (Tombstone, Netherward, Healing Ward). It will make the teamfight a lot easier.
  • Broodmother, Warlock, Chen, and any other Minion Hero - your minions give XP and gold when killed. Make sure you don't feed them to the enemy. That's a lot of bonus that you shouldn't be giving up.
  • Enigma - ideally, you want to use Midnight Pulse before Blackhole. It deals a percent of a Hero's HP per second. You can deal a ton of damage this way.
  • Warlock - GET FATAL BONDS. This spell makes any affected unit take some bonus damage any time any of the affected units are hit. This can deal a ton of damage if you get the enemy team fight the spell. It's usually best to skip over his channeling slow until later in the game.
  • Lion - most pro players do not get his Mana Drain at all or until late game. His other spells are incredibly useful. Mana Drain is generally used to pop Linken's Sphere because of its cheap cost and low cooldown.
  • Ancient Apparition - player widely consider his spell that turns your damage into magic damage underpowered. It's best to max out his first two spells along with his ult. Sometimes, skipping chilling touch entirely.
  • Slardar - You generally want to max out his stun and haste first. Getting one level of his haste is useless because you take bonus damage and you're not getting the full effect of the level 4 haste's speed. Usually, you can skip his mini stun because it is a chance based spell that scales with attack speed.
  • Shadow Demon - usually you want to skip over Poison. Disruption is a great offensive spell, as well as defensive. Soul Catcher is amazingly easy to hit when you Disrupt an enemy and it boosts your damage output immensely.
  • Against Faceless Void -  Monkey King Bar does not counter Backtrack. It does not count as a form of evasion. Therefore, True Strike (MKB's passive) has no effect.

 

Item Specific

 

  • Ring of Basilius - unless you're pushing the lane on purpose, don't leave the aura on for creeps. It always affects you allies, but you can limit it for creeps.
  • Power Treads - you can do a lot with these by switching the main stat. Switch to Agility to heal HP or MP to higher amounts with your consumables. If you need mana to cast one extra spell, switch to INT. If you need a little extra HP, switch to STR.
  • Manta Style - dispells most negative debuffs on activation
  • Diffusal Blade - you can use it on yourself to get rid of negative spell effects (e.g. Dust, Slardar's ult, etc.), this is why it's recommended on a lot of invisible heroes. Also, you can combo the slow with spells like Riki's Smoke Cloud to keep enemies there longer.
  • Helm of the Dominator - the reason this is recommended on many heroes is because you get to control a creep. Most players use this creep to stack the ancients (e.g. with Luna, you can mow them down later with your bouncing auto attacks)

 

 Farming Items (Hand of Midas, Battlefury, and Radiance)

 

These are all great items when used well. Each has a general time range of when it's effective to pick it up.

  • Midas: usually want to get it in at least 14 minutes. Otherwise, forget it, it won't be beneficial enough.
  • Battlefury: Ideally want to get it in less than 20 minutes. At most, 25 minutes. After that, it's better to go for something else.
  • Radiance: The earlier the better, but the cutoff time is usually around 30 minutes.
The idea with the times is that they won't benefit you enough with their addition to your farm if you get them too late. At some point, you might as well give up and build something that will help your teamfight presence, or otherwise.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Hero Guide: Juggernaut

Juggernaut is one of my favorite mid-game carries. He's effective early game, farms pretty easily, and has a fairly versatile skill set.

Hero

Traits

  • Above average move speed (305)
  • His Stats don't stand out in any particular way
  • Decent Base Attack Speed (BAT) of 1.6
  • Some natural survivability due to spells

Skills 

  • (Q) Blade Fury
    • Traits
      • 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 Magic Damage per Second
        • Total damage = 400 / 500 / 600 / 700 
        • But remember, heroes have a natural 25% Magic Resistance
      • Lasts 5 seconds
      • Radius of 250
      • 100 Mana Cost
      • 30 / 28 / 26 / 24 second Cooldown
      • Grants Juggernaut Magic Immunity for the Duration
    • Notes
      • Able to use items while spinning
      • Does not affect Mechanical Units (i.e. Catapult/Siege)
      • If unit is unaffected by Blade Fury, Juggernaut can auto-attack them while spinning
      • Your base mana pool is only 182, so you'll have to regen a bit before spinning again
    • Uses
      • Most commonly used for getting First Blood by pairing Juggernaut with a hero that can stun/slow like Venomancer, Crystal Maiden, Dazzle, etc.
      • You can use Blade Fury and use a TP Scroll to get out of most bad situations
      • Late game, this is mostly used for Magic Immunity because you can DPS more with your auto attacks
      • This cannot necessarily be seen as a "replacement" for getting Black King Bar (BKB), because you cannot auto attack while using Blade Fury
  • (W) Healing Ward
    • Traits
      • Heals 2% / 3% / 4% / 5% of Max HP per Second
      • Lasts 25 Seconds
      • Radius of 500 (cast range of 350)
      • Movespeed of 300
      • Costs 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 Mana
      • 60 Second Cooldown
    • Notes
      • Only heals non-mechanical units
      • Can only be affected by 1 ward at a time
      • Has 1 HP and can be killed
      • Pugna's Decrepify works on it 
      • Persists after Juggernaut dies
    • Uses 
      • Great for pushing because it helps your creeps tank towers
      • Extremely effective in team fights if you can position it well
      • Can help your team live after you die
      • Scouting dangerous areas
      • Healing up between pushes, fights, or while farming
  • Blade Dance
    • Traits
      • 15% / 20% / 25% / 35% chance to deal 2x damage
      • Passive Skill
    • Notes
      • Can trigger during Omnislash (given a high enough attack speed)
      • Is an "On-Attack" modifier (not Unique Attack Modifier)
      • Level 3 -> 4 has a 10% increase (as opposed to 5% at other levels)
    • Uses
      • Many people build a Battlefury and Blade Dance synergizes with that by splashing the critical strike.
      • Farming / increasing effective DPS
  • (R) Omnislash
    • Traits
      • 175-250 Physical Damage per Slash
      • 3 / 6 / 9 Slashes (maximum)
        • Aghanim's Upgrade: 6 / 9 / 12
      • 450 Range with a 425 Jump Radius
      • Costs 200 / 275 / 300 Mana
      • Has a 130 / 120 / 110 Cooldown
        • Aghanim's Upgrade: 110 / 100 / 90
    • Notes
      • First slash mini-stuns the target
      • 0.4 second interval between slashes
      • Juggernaut can attack during slashes (with high attack speed), which will also trigger on-attack modifiers (e.g. his crit), and place debuffs (e.g. Skadi, Desolator, etc.)
      • The slashes themselves are not evade-able
      • You can use items during omnislash
      • Provides a buff making Juggernaut invulnerable after the first slash
      • Gains 200 Flying Vision for the Duration
      • Can end prematurely if the only target nearby becomes Physical Damage Immune, Force Staffs Away, goes invisible (and no detection) etc.
      • Non-Player-Owned creeps (and neutrals, but not Ancients) die in one slash
    • Uses
      • Survivability
      • Right before/after a Naga Siren Ult (can't be slept if you're immune, likewise, cannot be Wombo Combo'd if you're immune)
      • Killing targets that are separated (e.g. 1-2 targets running through your jungle, but not close to any creeps)
      • Staying in a fight at low health
      • Stopping a channeling spell with the mini-stun on the first slash

Build

Items

Starting

  • Route 1
    • Tangos
    • Salve
    • 2 x Clarity
    • 3 x Iron Branch
  • Route 2
    • Tangos
    • Salve
    • 2 x Slippers of Agility
    • Clarity Potions or Iron Branches
  • Route 3
    • Quelling Blade
    • Stout Shield
    • Tangos / Salve
  • Noob Route 
    • Boots
    • Tangos / Salve
Route 1 gives you items that will allow you to Spin a few times in lane (clarities), build a Magic Wand, skip the Poor Man's Shield and go straight into a Core Item.

Route 2 helps you last hit better using your Slippers of Agility and build them into a Poor Man's Shield for survivability.

Route 3 is for heavy harassment where you'll need to block incoming damage and use the Quelling Blade to ensure you get last hits.

The Noob Route gives you no stats, little regen, but will almost always guarantee a First Blood if paired with the right lane mate. However, given Juggernaut's early speed advantage, if you can click well, you shouldn't need boots to stay on your target. Plus, at level 1, spin effectively does 300 Damage (due to 25% Hero Magic Resistance).

Early Game

  • Route 1
    • Ring of Health (for early Bfury)
    • Boots of Speed
  • Route 2 
    • Boots of Speed
    • Poor Man's Shield
  • Route 3 (bad farm)
    • Phase Boots / Power Treads
    • Magic Wand
    • (Poor Man's Shield)
    • (Soul Ring)
Route 1 is for getting an early Battlefury. You really only need Boots of Speed early game because it's not insanely difficult to pull off your spin. Getting a fast Battlefury (i.e. < 20 minutes, definitely < 25 mins, otherwise it's not worth it) allows you to farm up fast, help push lanes, or fend off pushes.

Route 2 is a bit more conservative. Poor Man's Shield helps deflect some damage. From there, you can go straight for your Battlefury.

Route 3 is if you're having a rough time farming. You'll need to focus on smaller items and slowly build up. If you're facing this situation, you're most likely not going to want to get a Battlefury because you won't be able to get it early enough for it to be useful (i.e. before 25 minutes or so).

Core

  • Most Games
    • Battlefury - early game farming, good regen and DPS for the price
    • Phase Boots - Helps with farming (moving between camps quickly), chasing/spinning
    • Magic Wand - Always good
    • Manta Style - Survivability, pushing, and farming (use your illusions to farm the small camp of creeps)

Situational

  • Aghanim's Scepter - you only want this in very select scenarios
    • They have a Naga Siren: this will allow you more jumps so if you get it off before Naga ult, you won't be affected longer, or using it right after Naga Ult to get out of a Wombo Combo
    • You're almost never fighting around creeps
  • Desolator - works during your Omnislash, helps push towers, farm faster, and increases DPS
  • BKB - Your Blade Fury isn't that great during a late game battle. So you might need Magic Immunity that allows you to auto attack
  • Vladamir's Offering - Mid/Late Game item for staying alive during fights and pushing
  • Butterfly - Carry item that allows you to evade attacks (note: you'll still be a target, but have more effective HP)
  • Assault Curiass - Pushing, DPS, and teamfight
  • Soul Ring - if you're not going for Battlefury, this can be a decent pick up so you have the regen to kill stacks of creeps using your Spin
  • Other
    • Heaven's Halbard / Abyssal Blade - when outclassed by a harder carry in late game
    • Orchid - attack speed and mana regen, with a silence that can be helpful in some games
    • Heart - survivability
    • Satanic - survivability
    • MKB - against Riki (who can use smoke) or a hero with high evasion
    • Boots of Travel - good for late game so you can help push/backdoor, or just free up a slot from TPs

Build

There are two general builds:
  • Build 1
    • Spin
    • Stats
    • Spin
    • Stats
    • Spin
    • Ult
  • Build 2
    • Spin
    • Crit
    • Spin
    • Crit
    • Spin
    • Ult
Early game, Spin is your DPS and source of kills, an escape, etc. It should be maxed first (unless you have some very situational strategy like an all in push harnessing the Healing Ward).

In Build 1, you're allowing yourself to have more Mana, which gives you the option of Ulting, then Spinning.

In Build 2, you're kind of saying "Meh, screw it", and going for maximizing your damage early.

Playstyle

You're an aggressive mid-game carry. You want to play offensively early game because that's when your spin is most effective. The Spin is the one thing Juggernaut has over other carries: an early source of DPS.

Ideally, you want to be paired with a Support that can Slow or Stun. Some of the best are: Crystal Maiden (plus, her aura is great for you), Venomancer (Venomous Gail owns), Dazzle (has a slow and heal that allows for even more aggressive play), Ancient Apparition/Pugna (have slows that also increase Magic Damage taken).

Tips:
  • Get a firm grasp on when to "man-up" and go into a fight with low HP by using your Ult or Spin
  • Stack Neutral Creeps and spin on them to farm your Battlefury earlier
  • Start Spinning before using Phase Boots (doing it the other way around dispells the Phase Boots buff because you casted)
  • Healing Ward is excellent during team fights, pushes, and farming. It heals your team incredibly fast, lasts 25 seconds, and is mobile
  • Once you're level 6, you can farm the jungle or hunt the opposing jungle safely because of your Ult. It's very hard to contest the jungle against a Juggernaut (similar to Luna)
  • Don't ult with creeps around. I mean, you kill them in 1 hit, but you also waste an Omnislash
  • Omnislash is versatile. 
    • You can use it at the start of a fight to scatter your enemy and pick them off
    • You can wait until you're low HP and use it because then you dish out your auto attack damage but also have a better chance to escape because the enemy loses track of you while you're ulting
    • You can bait a lot of heroes to fight you when you're low HP, but have the Mana to Ult
  • You can use items while you're Spinning & Ulting
  • Late game, you'll generally be outclassed by harder carries, so end the game earlier if you're the sole carry of the team
  • Always carry TPs. You can easily stop a gank or help a gank because of your high impact early/mid game (due to your spells)

Overview of Metagame Strategies

 Meta Strategies


From what I've gathered, it's broken into 3 general categories of strategies:

  1. Push - try to knock down towers super fast (reducing mobility via TPs and safety in lane), win before the enemy has a chance to get farm and use your tower gold to overpower them with items.
  2. Turtle - farm up a hard carry, slow the other team's push, and avoid being ganked. Then win using calculated team fights and pushes.
  3. Gank - ganking overextended pushers, then using the level advantage to overpower them and win.
In their pure form, they are supposed to be sort of rock-paper-scissors where:

Push > Turtle > Gank > Push

Because:
  • If you Turtle and play safe, then it's hard for the other team to Gank. If your opponent cannot Gank, they cannot gain a gold/level advantage.
  • If you Push, the enemy cannot take the time to Turtle and farm up their carry. If they cannot farm up their carry, they cannot win fights or the game.
  • If you Gank, the enemy cannot Push because gankers can usually burst down pushers (especially overextended ones) very easily. If you cannot Push, then you cannot end the game early.

However, realistically, teams do not use a pure strategy. They hybridize and innovate.

Line Ups

Within these three main strategies, there are different lineups and strategies:
NOTES:
  • May need to see my post on the "Chinese Number System" for references to position #1-5.
  • Going with annotation of: safe lane - mid lane - hard lane
    • e.g. 3-1-1 = Trilane = 3 in safe lane, 1 at mid, 1 in hard lane (a.k.a. suicide lane)
  • Trilane (3-1-1)
    • Notes/Generalizations
      •  Generally have a #2 mid, #3 hard lane (a.k.a. suicide lane), a #1 farming, a #4 and #5 stacking/pulling, as well as harassing/denying.
      • Hard Lane/Suicide Lane is there to get whatever XP and Creep Kills they can, but most importantly not die
      • When done properly, your Trilane should have multiple levels advantage on your Carry (~3 against a suicide laner)
      • If the Trilane fails, then you need to recover by optimizing the Carry's farm/XP
    • Offensive  
      • Focus: Getting Kills, Denying Creeps
    • Defensive 
      • Focus: is on getting your carry farm, stacking creep camps, and once the carry has established their farm, one or both supports begin to roam.
    • Jungle (Jungle-2-1-1)
      •  #1 focuses on farming, #5 supports via harass/deny (sometimes stacking/pulling), and #4 in the jungle
      • Maximizes XP and gold
      • #4 comes around to gank and push
  • 4 Protecting 1 
    • Notes/Generalizations
      • In some cases, this refers to literally protecting one hero in battles (that was more of an old meta where Silencer was the counter to the mass AoE meta)
      • Currently, can be employed with almost any other line up because it's more of a mid-game strategy
    • Types
      • Offensive
        • Four heroes put pressure on the other team via pushing
        • Carry farms alone (usually someone like Anti-Mage, Lycan, or Morphling all of which can escape pretty easily if ganked)
      • Defensive
        •  Four heroes make sure their carry is not ganked
        • Carry farms alone - any hero that tries to contest his farm is ganked by allies
  • Dual Mid (2-2-1)
    • Notes/Generalizations
      • The Carry dual laning mid should have some form of survivability (e.g. Anti-Mage can blink, Morphling has Waveform, Brewmaster has evasion)
      • Can have a Dual Safe Lane or a (Jungle-1-2-1)
      • My understanding is that the general Focus is: 
        • to dominate the mid lane and have control of it because mid lane creeps will reach the enemy base faster than any other lane (because it's short)
        • shut down the opponent there (e.g. a Templar Assassin, Morphling, or someone that will snowball out of control if they get any advantage)
        • combat an opposing Dual Mid
      • I don't see a point in doing this if you risk letting their Carry farm
    • Types
      • Offensive
        • Focus: Killing, shutting down a mid that can snowball out of control, denying them farm
      • Defensive
        • Focus: Farming safely, rune control
        • At some point, the support can go roaming (generally once the mid is established)

 Drafting Strategies

This is just based on observation, but from what I can tell:
  • First Set of Bans (2)
    • Heroes the opponent likes to run
    • Heroes that are difficult to play against / you dislike playing against
    • Heroes that will hinder your ideal lineup (without giving too much away)
      • e.g. if you were going to run Riki, you might want to ban Slardar, but if you ban him too early, the other team might realize you want to run an invis hero and ban them out
  • First Set of Picks (3)
    • High utility heroes
    • High "tier" heroes
  • Second Set of Bans (3)
    •  Heroes that the enemy team still needs (e.g. get rid of popular carries if they haven't selected one yet)
    • Heroes that will hurt your line up
    • Heroes that will help their line up
  • Second Set of Picks (2)
    •  Anything you still need
    • Counter Picks
    • Surprise Picks
Other Notes:
  •  Some picks will force your opponent to lean towards certain picks
    • E.g. grabbing Naga Siren may prompt a Juggernaut, Enigma, etc. pick (someone that can quickly recover after Siren Song ends)
    • In low level games, picking an invisible hero early might prompt a Slardar pick (but in higher tier games, the support will just pick up Sentry Wards, Dust, and eventually a Gem)
  • Most Teams tend towards balanced/adaptable teams
    • Picking something specialized can work against you if it fails because then you have a hard time recovering using a team that's doing something other than what it's meant for
  • Most Teams run some variation of the 3-1-1
    • This synergizes well with the Number System
      • i.e. Carry (#1) + Support (#5) + Second Support/Jungler/Roamer (#4), a Mid (#2), and a solo hard/off lane (#3)
    • Variations can be having 3 in the offensive (hard) lane, two in the lane + one in the jungle, etc.
    • Having 3 in a lane and pulling it off well is very hard to counter

Special Lineups

  • Global
    •  Picking a lot of heroes with global presence. For instance: Invoker (Sun Strike), Wisp, Spectre, Spirit Breaker, Nature's Prophet, etc.
  • Wombo Combo
    • Picking heroes that have huge teamfight potential when there is good communication and timing (e.g. Enigma + Lich + Faceless Void + Earthshaker -- get their ults off in sequence and it's almost a guaranteed wipe)
  • Na'ix (Lifestealer) Dropping
    • Picking a lineup centered around using Lifestealer's ult to deliver him to fights (e.g. Lifestealer inside Nature's Prophet/Spirit Breaker/Wisp/Beastmaster's Hawk)
  • Minions
    • Broodmother + Undying (for mega nukes using Spiderites & Tombstone). Grabbing Omniknight's Guardian Angel to ensure they live in fights/pushes
  • Mega Buffing
    • Picking heroes that buff your carry to make them effective much earlier. For instance, Ogre Magi's Bloodlust, Lich's Ice Armor, Wisp's Tether + Overcharge, Omni's Magic Immunity, etc.
  • Magic Armor Reduction Trilane
    • Have Juggernaut with Pugna and Ancient Apparition so his spin does extra magic damage, or something along similar lines.
  • Mass Lockdown
    • Picking heroes that are able to lockdown enemies (e.g. Shadow Shaman, Tree, Batrider, Bane), then have a carry that can rip through them quickly while stuck in one place (e.g. Ursa, Shadow Fiend).
    • Note: with a lineup involving Shadow Shaman, Batrider, and Bane, you can effectively take 4-5 heroes out of the fight with disables.
  • Aura Stacking
    • Picking heroes that all have aura's to maximize teamfight potential.
    • Example: Beastmaster's attack speed aura, Vengeful Spirit's Base Damage Aura, Crystal Maiden's Mana Regen aura, etc.
  • (Level 1 Roshan)
    • Picking a lineup that can kill Roshan at level 1. This usually involves heroes with minions, someone that can reduce Rosh's armor, and a hero like Ursa that can stack damage on him.
    • You need to smoke into the pit usually
    • Very risky because most competent teams will acknowledge it when you have a lineup capable of level 1 Roshing
  • (All-In)
    • Putting 4-5 heroes in a lane and pushing towers very quickly in order to get a very early Rax (Barracks)
    • Extremely risky because if countered, you might have just given them several kills for only a tower or two. If it fails, you'll have to pick up the pieces because odds are, attempting to go all mid again will not work.

EDIT:

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Mechanics: Illusions


There seems to be a lot of confusion around Illusions. I'd like to do a Discussion / Q&A to clear a lot of that up.


Basic Idea

  • Illusions are meant to confuse the enemy, deal extra damage, etc.
  • They have offensive and defensive/evasive uses
  • They are imperfect (usually take more damage, deal less damage)

General Information

Illusions benefit from:

  • Evasion
  • Movement Speed bonuses
  • Attributes (INT, AGI, and STR)
  • Health and Mana
  • Radiance's Burn Damage (does not stack though)
  • Bonus Damage to Creeps from Quelling Blade

Illusions DO NOT benefit from:

  • Raw Damage, Armor, or Attack Speed Bonuses (e.g. Items that say +50 Damage, +5 Armor, +15 Attack Speed, etc...)
  • Magic Resistance from Items

Miscellaneous:

  • If the hero levels up, the Illusions' level DO NOT chang
  • Illusions have no regeneration. This is one way to check for the real hero

Common Misconceptions

NOTE: This is the CORRECT information for things people commonly say otherwise
  • Illusions DO NOT benefit from any form of HP/MP regen, including Lifesteal
  • Just because the Illusion plays the animation does not mean the effect is applied (remember, Illusions are used to confuse enemies. If an animation didn't play, it would be pretty obvious which one was real)
  • ONLY Melee Illusions can benefit from Feedback (AKA Mana Burn)
  • Riki's Illusions do not do bonus damage from Backstab (even if it appears as though they are)
  • Illusions CANNOT Bash
  • Illusions CANNOT Cleave (AKA Splash Damage)
  • Illusions DO NOT benefit from Damage Block (i.e. Vanguard, Poor Man's Shield)
  • Illusions CANNOT use most Unique Attack Modifiers (e.g. Lifesteal, Desolator, Eye of Skadi, etc..) though the animation will play
  • Illusions CANNOT use Greater/Lesser Maim (e.g. Sange, Heaven's Halberd, etc..)
  • Illusions can Crit, but they will deal less damage than the number that shows above their head (i.e. most Illusions deal reduced damage, but to hide the original, it will appear as though they Crit for the amount the original would have)

Niche Information/Little Known Facts

  • Illusions benefit from True Sight (reveals invisible units), this means they reveal around themselves if the original had True Sight (i.e. like a Gem that doesn't drop when the holder is killed)
  • Axe's Illusions inherit Counter-Helix
  • Illusions inherit Magic Resistance from Abilities (but, as mentioned above, not from Items)
  • Invoker's Illusions DO NOT display orbs (i.e. Quas, Wex, Exort
  • If Templar Assassin's Psi Blades spill from an Illusion to another unit, the other unit will take amplified damage correlating to the bonus damage the Illusion takes (e.g. TA hits an Illusion for 100 damage, Illusion takes 300% amplified damge, Psi Blades spill for stupid damage)
  • Luna's Illusions inherit Moon Glaive
  • Manta Style provides an invisible Attack Speed Aura that Illusions benefit from (only applies to Hero + their Illusions)
  • Spectre's Illusions benefit from Desolate
  • Phantom Lancer's Illusions will play the Spirit Lance animation when the hero uses it

Auras

  • Illusions will grant allies the auras that the original possesses
  • Illusions will generally NOT benefit from the aura (EXCEPT for Attack Speed or Move Speed)

Bonus Damage to Illusions

Bonus Damage to Illusions:

  • Outworld Destroyer's Arcane Orb
  • Brewmaster's Storm Panda's Dispel

Instantly Destroy Illusions:

  • Purge
  • Hex
  • Mana Drain (after 0.25 seconds) 
  • Disruptor's Glimpse 
  • Pugna's Ultimate

Special Illusions

  • Morphling's Ultimate - Morph can swap places with it, appears as the color of the copied player
    Darkseer's Ultimate - Appear Blue to Enemies

References:
DotA 2 Wiki Referencial Data
Play DotA Mechanic Page

Comparison: Radiant vs. Dire Side Advantages

The Pro Match Stats are out there, and we can see that the win-rate is about 50-50 (some say Dire has a slight advantage). What I want to take a look at is the Advantages of each side.

Radiant

  • Mid Lane can pull creeps
  • Potential Psychological Benefits
    • Some maintain that it's more natural to view the map from Radiant side
      • Move Left to Right
      • Progress from Bottom to Top
    • You are the "good guys"
  • Safe Lane has a ward spot that can watch the rune and prevent ganks
  • Able to get to Ancients faster from the Mid lane (and/or stack them)
  • Dire's Hard Lane feels more "cut off" 
  • Some say the Radiant Jungle is "safer"

Dire

  • Hard Lane can stack ancients more easily
  • Roshan's Pit is more accessible
  • "Magic Bush" ward can block 2 of Radiant's spawns 
  • Easier to pull creeps in the safe lane
  • Able to pull a second set of creeps in the safe lane by cutting down a tree (left-most neutral spawn)
  • Radiant Jungle is more "open" and easy to ward
  • Dire Jungle has a better flow to it (Radiant Jungle has 2 camps that are cut off)
  • Hero colors can be more difficult to see on mini-map (due to all being darker colors)
  • Less likely to misclick the mini-map and retreat in the wrong direction
  • Dire might have a slight advantage due to perspective (Radiant is drawn "closer to the screen" making them easier to click on)

That's what I can come up with now, but I'll add in anything else I think of and take suggestions.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The "Chinese Number System"

Last Updated: October 8, 2012

Due to big events like The International, some of the Chinese DotA scene has come to light. With that, so has the "Eastern Meta". One of the big pieces to this alternate meta is the number system. Essentially, it boils down to:

(Most Farm Priority)
  1. Hard Carry
  2. Solo Mid Lane (or Semi-Carry/Ganker)
  3. Solo Side Lane (or Ganker/Initiator)
  4. Ganker/Jungler (or Secondary Support/Utility)
  5. Pure Support
(Least Farm Priority)

Farm, in this context, refers to both Gold and Experience. As I understand it, if someone else with a higher number comes to your lane, you're supposed to yield to them. So, a #2 would find a lane other than where the #1 is to farm.

Also, from my understanding, a #5 will pretty much have jack all game because they're buying all the team items (wards, dust, smoke, etc.). Looking back on The International 2 games, it looked like most #5s had boots, Magic Wand, and sometimes Force Staff or Urn of Shadows.

Some popular hero choices in each role are (as of The International 2):
  • Position 1
    • Anti-Mage
    • Morphling
    • Faceless Void
    • Naga Siren
    • Lycan
    • Juggernaut (usually as a special case/counter)
  • Position 2
    • Queen of Pain
    • Rubick
    • Invoker
    • Tinker
    • Brewmaster
    • Night Stalker
    • Templar Assassin
    • Bat Rider (used to be more popular)
  • Position 3
    • Broodmother
    • Tidehunter (can also be Position 4)
    • Windrunner
    • Beastmaster
    • Dark Seer
    • Sand King (can also be Position 4)
    • Lone Druid
    • Bounty Hunter
  • Position 4
    • Leshrac
    • Enigma
    • Enchantress
    • Chen
    • Keeper of the Light
    • Nature's Prophet (can be other roles too - usually 2 or 3)
    • Chaos Knight (usually in Trilane)
  • Position 5
    • Venomancer (can also be Position 4)
    • Crystal Maiden
    • Shadow Shaman
    • Shadow Demon
    • Lion
    • Lich
    • Dazzle
    • Jakiro (can also be a #4
    • Lina (can also be Position 4)
Each of these roles also has a general game plan, which will change based on line up (e.g. a #4 will function differently in a trilane than in the jungle). Here are my generalizations:

  • Position 1
    • Often paired with #5 (and sometimes with #4 in addition when tri-laning)
    • Takes the last hits and kills in lane
    • Always in XP range for maximizing level advantage
    • In a pro game, GPM will be around 500 if they won, around 300-400 if they lose (given about equal skill teams)
  • Position 2
    • Often takes solo mid
    • Even in a bad situation, should always have high amounts of denies
    • Often will Gank or Initiate, but sometimes can heavy Push
    • Generally build items to initiate and survive (e.g. Blink Dagger, sometimes BKB/Linken's, Shiva's, or Guinsoo/Sheep)
  • Position 3
    • Often takes solo hard lane (and occasionally jungle)
    • Avoid death, get some farm (safely)
    • Heroes like Beastmaster can stack ancients to catch up farm
    • Heroes like Broodmother will strategically push when it is safe
    • If it is a 1v1 scenario (e.g. Tidehunter vs. Broodmother), then the goal is to farm initiation items while harassing (and in the case of Broodmother, killing her Spiderites)
  • Position 4
    • Often a roaming ganker (or jungle ganker)
    • In a trilane, they help harass and deny, set up kills, and eventually gank other lanes
    • In jungle, they farm neutrals, then help gank the safe lane and push towers
    • Often, #4 will build team-oriented support items like
      • Drum of Endurance
      • Mekanism
      • Pipe
      • (Vladarmir's Offering - rarely)
      • Force Staff
      • Eul's Scepter
  • Position 5 
    • Hard support, usually found paired with the #1 role
    • Buys Courier/Wards, and team consumables (e.g. Dust, Smoke)
    • Stack and Pull creep camps for money
      • Important to stack before pulling so that an entire wave of creeps is denied to enemy (they lose all that potential gold and XP to a neutral camp)
      • Helps to control the lane (keep creeps where you want them)
      • This also will give the carry more XP (because you're out of lane creep XP range)
    • Harass enemies and deny creeps in lane
      • Be careful to avoid creep aggro and to use fog effectively so you don't take damage
      • In a tri-lane, denying creeps in huge. Against a solo, you want your carry to have 3+ levels on them
    • Set up kills
      • Most #5's have skillsets that include slows, stuns, or immobilizes
    • Help carry last hit under tower
      • With good communication and timing, you can hit the creep, then the carry so that the tower does not take the creep kill

Note: Team Liquid did a nice write up too on their Liquidpedia for DOTA2.