Earthshaker is weird one really. On paper he has possibly the best initiation and AoE stuns in the game. But if you don't get the right start or your team don't have enough burst damage then you just run around feeling useless while trying to farm up a blinkdagger for 25 minutes.
But when it all works you feel like a fucking force of nature, slamming down fissures and echo slams, putting fear in the opposition.
I just played the most horrible game as Earthshaker ever. I don't think I'll try him again soon.
That happened because the power of the Chaos Dunk does not run through your veins. To unleash the power of B-Ball this must be playing constantly as you play:
Personally, Warlock's design seems weak to me. He doesn't have a single ability with a cooldown less than twenty seconds. That's pretty extreme; he has probably the worst cooldown timers in the game over an entire skill set. There's a huge burden to lay out your abilities at just the right time: Warlock cannot easily adapt to changing battlefield conditions, nor an escalating battle. He's forced to auto-attack/channel most of his time.
To make matters worse, Shadow Word (the only spell people tend to favor) seems like a weak spell on paper: 20 second cooldown, takes it's effect over 9 seconds. I can't really think of any advantage to dealing damage over time in DotA. The potency of regeneration items in DotA actually makes DoT's weaker. There are plenty of sources of cheap health regeneration in DotA. Comparing it to other heals, it's a bit longer range (maybe?) but in terms of healing output Dazzle, Omniknight and Enchantress trash him pretty solidly on cooldowns, burst healing and sustained healing. I'm... not really sure where Shadow Word's advantage lies. I'd say flexibility, but most healers deal damage with their heals while healing as well. He seems limited by comparison.
Such comparisons are inherently silly; a hero is the sum of his parts. Bonds is pretty baller. Upheaval can be pretty broken. Offering is great early on. I think Shadow Word could be thrown a bone. It's not a very interesting ability at all, and it's a pretty weak ability as well. Plus, any hero can be made much more interesting and active through good items.
One thing I do like about DotA is that these oddball heroes do exist. I might hate playing them and how they favor stats over an actual interesting skill but I appreciate that they exist and offer something to the meta-game.
He's got a popularity of sorts, too! I watched a set of games where two pro teams tried to build the worst compositions for each other and Warlock was popular there!
Word has a purpose. It lets your carry stay in lane forever. If you don't want it for that then you never have to use it and don't even need to put points into it.
The rest of his stuff is fine. The cooldowns are alright, Maybe upheaval could be less, but that's not something he needs to spam anyway. Fatal bonds lasts for 25 seconds anyway so its cooldown is also fine. His ult is situational and really the thing he needs to vary his build around. And also a big reason why he simply can't be picked in a lot of competitive games. What is he going to do when OD can kill the golem in 2 shots no matter what?
But it lets him adapt at least. I was playing him a couple days ago and was getting some easy farm. Part way through my starting items I noticed VS was building straight for diffusal, anticipating my early aghs. So I just switched to sheepstick plus more support items and was careful about when I dropped the ult and things worked out just fine.
can someone give a quick tutorial on the best way to use summoned familliar type things ie Warlocks Golem, Lych's wolves, illusion rune illusions, etc
i am curious to try some of the heroes that summon or control creeps, but not really sure the best way to control them
had a couple really good games last night. played a good windrunner, got first blood, and tormented the lane opponents and made them rage quit. of course they then had 4 leavers so that game kind of was a wash.
then randomed Mirana and went like 1 4 14 or something like that. she is kind of slow to start but can really turn into a decent force later on
For everything but the illusion runes just bind the units the first time you summon them. Since you get illusion runes less consistently I just drag to select for them.
also, to address the main complaint, they basically want to make sure they get everything ported from dota as close to 1:1 as possible, and they bring in the tweaks in terms of mechanics and shit
now, keep in mind icefrog is still head honcho, so i doubt things will be drastic
but maybe he has cool ideas for warlock that could never be done in wc3 because it would be too hard or too impossible? i don't know
i'm like a million days late but man i liked that play with the kunkka and shadow fiend and stuff
i guess with shadow fiend walking by in the bottom left it made it seem like it was all his play but i thought it was just a cool display of teamwork! and nice editing seeing the fight from each point of view (SF, kunkka, then puck)
the puck ult on top of it all is what made me go "aww SHIT"
The game finally ended when I bought boots of travel and went in and killed the Slardar that was defending and finished off the ancient. The last half hour of the game consisted of a whole lot of nothing.
They could make Warlock a billion times more interesting. Three of his moves are giant AOEs that you would be hard pressed to flub.
And even after playing a game where I had Aghs Refresher at like the 28 min mark and dropped that shat all over the enemy team it was really unsatisfying.
They aren't even magic immune so the enemy witch doctor chain stunned the whole line of them with a cask like some sort of three stooges deal. The burning doesn't stack so its the equivalent of summoning a slow radiance bear anyways.
They should rework the demon as a persistent summon or something. It's just weird that they have no stated plans to not just stand pat at so many things. Especially for the characters who aren't even marquee classics.
They could make Warlock a billion times more interesting. Three of his moves are giant AOEs that you would be hard pressed to flub.
And even after playing a game where I had Aghs Refresher at like the 28 min mark and dropped that shat all over the enemy team it was really unsatisfying.
They aren't even magic immune so the enemy witch doctor chain stunned the whole line of them with a cask like some sort of three stooges deal. The burning doesn't stack so its the equivalent of summoning a slow radiance bear anyways.
They should rework the demon as a persistent summon or something. It's just weird that they have no stated plans to not just stand pat at so many things. Especially for the characters who aren't even marquee classics.
Are you Fatal Bonding first? Because you can fuck team sup pretty badly with the combo. Not sure how you can't be satisfied by it.
Just sounds to me like you dont like the hero. Which is fine. Not everyone likes every hero.
The burning doesn't stack so its the equivalent of summoning a slow radiance bear anyways.
This is factually incorrect in wc3 dota. The entry for Warlock explicitly says that the immolation of multiple Infernals stacks.
I'm of the school of thought that there's nothing wrong with having a few heroes that seem kind of easy to use or kind of dull. One of Warlock's strengths is that he has great flexibility in what he does because his abilities are so general and have such broad effects, as well as having solid base stats and a decent attack animation. Shadow Word isn't quite as amazing as it used to be, but it's still an excellent tool for babysitting a carry with. Fatal Bonds is a deadly support damage booster. I tend to have little success with Upheaval in pub games because our team lacks heroes and coordination that can take advantage of it, but I can also see how the fact that it takes a few seconds to have a strong slowing effect, is channeling, deals no damage, and does not other debuff can seem kind of weak.
Team fight starts > Fatal Bonds > Ult > Slow right after ult.
Giant aoe stun gives you a chance to start channeling your slow, which keeps them all (assuming you have good positioning) stuck next to your giant burning demon while bonds is still on them, plus your team is (hopefully) attacking.
Some people find heroes like Warlock, Skeleton King and Drow to be fun.
Not every hero needs to have skill shots and spell spam and other 'exciting' mechanics like that. Sometimes it's just fun to subjugate people with your autoattacks.
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Dac VinS-s-screw you! I only listen to DOUBLE MUSIC!Registered Userregular
Serious question, is Phantom Lancer supposed to be very scary? I've heard a ton of horror stories about him but after playing against him once and watching a few games I really don't see what's so special that everybody got worked up for. He's a special kind of annoying, I can give him that.
He's an obnoxious late game carry who is pretty good at breaking pubs. He doesn't do so hot when people exploit his poor early game / actually gank him with dust, or have strong team compositions with heroes that counter him.
He's another pubstar hero.
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
Probably the scary thing about him is that his Illusions all get Diffusal Blade mana burn. So, that can be annoying.
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Dac VinS-s-screw you! I only listen to DOUBLE MUSIC!Registered Userregular
Probably the scary thing about him is that his Illusions all get Diffusal Blade mana burn. So, that can be annoying.
A great part of why I don't really find him scary are his illusions actually - when people said general AoE countered him they weren't kidding, you just fart in his general direction and they all disappear. They're really weak and don't really last that long when you get down to it.
Who knows, maybe I've just faced and seen bad lancers.
the horror stories are usually when people have no aoe (ie lots of carries) and the game goes late (he outcarries them)
so
bad pubs, basically
he can be fun though if you have a really good start and get a super quick radiance though
but that's rare enough that eh
he's alright
especially with how push heavy shit is right now. carries ain't that cool anymore (although i have a newfound love for void, too survivable early game makes me love him as a carry)
Well a lot of PL players are just bad to begin with (you'll recognize them because they've got vanguard and vlads instead of rad/diffusal and hot). Kind of comes with the territory. You'll be scared of him when he's pushing all your lanes with mass illusion spam like a ridiculous combination of Lycan and Furion. By the time you even get there he's been gone for 5 minutes, but all his rad diffusal illusions are still taking out creep waves for free.
His other thing is that he has one of the best single target nukes in the game, but often doesn't have the mana to spam it. He can be a real pain in the ass mid game if he gets mana boots or something else stupid.
In other news Razer is finally sponsoring wodota 2, so we're about to get that. It's not Lebron (think he's still on hiatus?) but it's official wodota top 10s with the right music and everything.
If they just showed cool clips without all the dumb bullshit before after and in the middle it would be great.
Honestly I only found a small number of them entertaining. For whatever reason people think showing carries and semi carries getting a bunch of kills against supports late game is crazy. The only 3 that stand out to me is the Dark Seer trap, the Sand King trap and the Windrunner Shackle. Which is like 45 seconds tops, the other 11 minutes I could have done without, including the music.
I've seen this twice now. I think some people don't understand what the report and mute functions do. Someone in a game said, basically, "hey x player, I muted and reported you so how am I still in the same game as you?" This isn't xbl.
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But when it all works you feel like a fucking force of nature, slamming down fissures and echo slams, putting fear in the opposition.
That happened because the power of the Chaos Dunk does not run through your veins. To unleash the power of B-Ball this must be playing constantly as you play:
Go forth and dunk, my son.
Sometimes I Stream Games: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/italax-plays-video-games
To make matters worse, Shadow Word (the only spell people tend to favor) seems like a weak spell on paper: 20 second cooldown, takes it's effect over 9 seconds. I can't really think of any advantage to dealing damage over time in DotA. The potency of regeneration items in DotA actually makes DoT's weaker. There are plenty of sources of cheap health regeneration in DotA. Comparing it to other heals, it's a bit longer range (maybe?) but in terms of healing output Dazzle, Omniknight and Enchantress trash him pretty solidly on cooldowns, burst healing and sustained healing. I'm... not really sure where Shadow Word's advantage lies. I'd say flexibility, but most healers deal damage with their heals while healing as well. He seems limited by comparison.
Such comparisons are inherently silly; a hero is the sum of his parts. Bonds is pretty baller. Upheaval can be pretty broken. Offering is great early on. I think Shadow Word could be thrown a bone. It's not a very interesting ability at all, and it's a pretty weak ability as well. Plus, any hero can be made much more interesting and active through good items.
One thing I do like about DotA is that these oddball heroes do exist. I might hate playing them and how they favor stats over an actual interesting skill but I appreciate that they exist and offer something to the meta-game.
He's got a popularity of sorts, too! I watched a set of games where two pro teams tried to build the worst compositions for each other and Warlock was popular there!
It's like you've let yourself down in the worst possible way
Sometimes I Stream Games: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/italax-plays-video-games
The rest of his stuff is fine. The cooldowns are alright, Maybe upheaval could be less, but that's not something he needs to spam anyway. Fatal bonds lasts for 25 seconds anyway so its cooldown is also fine. His ult is situational and really the thing he needs to vary his build around. And also a big reason why he simply can't be picked in a lot of competitive games. What is he going to do when OD can kill the golem in 2 shots no matter what?
But it lets him adapt at least. I was playing him a couple days ago and was getting some easy farm. Part way through my starting items I noticed VS was building straight for diffusal, anticipating my early aghs. So I just switched to sheepstick plus more support items and was careful about when I dropped the ult and things worked out just fine.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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i am curious to try some of the heroes that summon or control creeps, but not really sure the best way to control them
had a couple really good games last night. played a good windrunner, got first blood, and tormented the lane opponents and made them rage quit. of course they then had 4 leavers so that game kind of was a wash.
then randomed Mirana and went like 1 4 14 or something like that. she is kind of slow to start but can really turn into a decent force later on
i need to figure out how to bind units i guess
now, keep in mind icefrog is still head honcho, so i doubt things will be drastic
but maybe he has cool ideas for warlock that could never be done in wc3 because it would be too hard or too impossible? i don't know
i guess with shadow fiend walking by in the bottom left it made it seem like it was all his play but i thought it was just a cool display of teamwork! and nice editing seeing the fight from each point of view (SF, kunkka, then puck)
the puck ult on top of it all is what made me go "aww SHIT"
i see enough missed boats that a big hit like that is pretty nice
the capitalizing on it is icing
The game finally ended when I bought boots of travel and went in and killed the Slardar that was defending and finished off the ancient. The last half hour of the game consisted of a whole lot of nothing.
And even after playing a game where I had Aghs Refresher at like the 28 min mark and dropped that shat all over the enemy team it was really unsatisfying.
They aren't even magic immune so the enemy witch doctor chain stunned the whole line of them with a cask like some sort of three stooges deal. The burning doesn't stack so its the equivalent of summoning a slow radiance bear anyways.
They should rework the demon as a persistent summon or something. It's just weird that they have no stated plans to not just stand pat at so many things. Especially for the characters who aren't even marquee classics.
I should try enabling it. I press alt all the time to see the faces and I don't really pay attention to the arrows.
Are you Fatal Bonding first? Because you can fuck team sup pretty badly with the combo. Not sure how you can't be satisfied by it.
Just sounds to me like you dont like the hero. Which is fine. Not everyone likes every hero.
This is factually incorrect in wc3 dota. The entry for Warlock explicitly says that the immolation of multiple Infernals stacks.
I'm of the school of thought that there's nothing wrong with having a few heroes that seem kind of easy to use or kind of dull. One of Warlock's strengths is that he has great flexibility in what he does because his abilities are so general and have such broad effects, as well as having solid base stats and a decent attack animation. Shadow Word isn't quite as amazing as it used to be, but it's still an excellent tool for babysitting a carry with. Fatal Bonds is a deadly support damage booster. I tend to have little success with Upheaval in pub games because our team lacks heroes and coordination that can take advantage of it, but I can also see how the fact that it takes a few seconds to have a strong slowing effect, is channeling, deals no damage, and does not other debuff can seem kind of weak.
Giant aoe stun gives you a chance to start channeling your slow, which keeps them all (assuming you have good positioning) stuck next to your giant burning demon while bonds is still on them, plus your team is (hopefully) attacking.
Good times.
Not every hero needs to have skill shots and spell spam and other 'exciting' mechanics like that. Sometimes it's just fun to subjugate people with your autoattacks.
He's another pubstar hero.
A great part of why I don't really find him scary are his illusions actually - when people said general AoE countered him they weren't kidding, you just fart in his general direction and they all disappear. They're really weak and don't really last that long when you get down to it.
Who knows, maybe I've just faced and seen bad lancers.
the horror stories are usually when people have no aoe (ie lots of carries) and the game goes late (he outcarries them)
so
bad pubs, basically
he can be fun though if you have a really good start and get a super quick radiance though
but that's rare enough that eh
he's alright
especially with how push heavy shit is right now. carries ain't that cool anymore (although i have a newfound love for void, too survivable early game makes me love him as a carry)
His other thing is that he has one of the best single target nukes in the game, but often doesn't have the mana to spam it. He can be a real pain in the ass mid game if he gets mana boots or something else stupid.
In other news Razer is finally sponsoring wodota 2, so we're about to get that. It's not Lebron (think he's still on hiatus?) but it's official wodota top 10s with the right music and everything.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
MAP AWARENESS
OVER A MILLION PLAYERS
DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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yes
here's hoping they can still find cool plays and shit
so excited
to BE ELECTRIC
also you should all watch this video and pay attention to 6:23 to see what i want to be
i want to be that windrunner
i want her to be me
Wow...that was.....I am entertained.
I've also got an explanation for my cm play:
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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Honestly I only found a small number of them entertaining. For whatever reason people think showing carries and semi carries getting a bunch of kills against supports late game is crazy. The only 3 that stand out to me is the Dark Seer trap, the Sand King trap and the Windrunner Shackle. Which is like 45 seconds tops, the other 11 minutes I could have done without, including the music.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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That would be the correct response.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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The report button, well that doesn't do anything.