Becoming an Elite Pub

Getting good at Dota 2 is a process that goes on infinitely. Once you reach 4K rating, you will want 4.1K, then 4.2K and so on and so forth. But in order to win games and increase rating you actually have to improve as a player, not just win more games than you lose. This means taking something away from every game whether it's a loss or a win as well as learning new tips and tricks that separate you as a player. This post is going to be a compilation of little things you can do that can separate you from the average public scum.


How to get good

1.Tread Switching
For those of you that are unaware of what this term means, it means effectively changing the attribute on your power treads depending on the situation to maximize the efficiency of the item. Anyone that has ever played with me knows I am a huge advocate for tread switching and I will always say that effective tread switching is the BIGGEST change you can make to your game that will separate you from pubs. When done effectively this makes power treads pretty much +10 to all stats at all time.
Tread switching is a concept of percentages, Str treads give you bonus 190+ HP and Int treads give you bonus 130+ mana. when switching treads it doesn't just add that flat bonus, the percentage stays the same. So if you are 50% HP on int treads you will stay 50% HP when swapping to Str.
Basic rules to tread switching.....

Always cast on Intelligence boots
When you switch your boots to int boots it adds 130 mana to your max mana pool. Say you are a Sven with a 300 mana pool on strength treads and a 430 mana pool on int treads. If you cast stun(140) on strength this drops your mana pool to 160, leaving you with 53% of your mana pool. However if you switch to int boots and cast stun(140) this drops your mana pool to 290 or 67% of your mana pool. If you then switch back to strength it maintains that 67% which leaves you with 201 mana.

Long story short.....
Casting stun on Strength Treads=160 mana remaining
Casting stun on int treads=201 mana remaining

This is an extreme example because sven has a low mana pool and high mana costs. But no matter what the situation, this will add up and give you way more mana over time and is well worth it. Even on low mana cost spells it is worth it, for example changing boots while casting spines on bristle takes it from costing 35 mana each cast, to 20 mana each cast.

Always take damage on Strength boots
I feel like I don't need another nerdy example here because it works the same way as casting on intelligence boots. Strength treads gives you +190 effective HP.

When regenerating HP(Tango/Health Potion/Heal skill) do so on Agi/Int boots
When on these types you don't have the +190 Hp from str treads so the heals/regen will heal you for a higher % of your HP.

When regenerating Mana(Clarity/arcane boots/Kotl Chakra)do so on Str/Agi boots
Same thing as HP, lower total mana pool when not on int so more effective mana is gained.

From these last two points can we deduce what attribute your boots should be on when using a bottle?
Agility of course! Sipping bottle grants both mana AND health regen and agi boots give neither of these buffs so you get the best of both worlds.

When attacking have your treads on your main attribute
Your main attribute will give you +10 damage, even more important on agility heroes because agility grants +10 damage to you AND +10 attack speed.
Note: be wary doing this in teamfights and switch back to strength when you are taking damage.

These may all seem pretty minuscule but if you do these things 200+ times in a game it really adds up and makes an insane difference.



2. Utilize your hotkeys

I have a lot to say about hotkey utilization so I guess I will start with laying down my hotkey set-up for you .

Skills: Standard QWER for normals. 4/5 for two extra skill slots.
Items: Mousebutton1/F/G/1/2/3
Hold position: Mousebutton2
Courier: ~
Select Hero: C
Control Groups: Z/X/V
Select All Units: D
Quickbuy: 7
Level-up skills: Space+skill button(QWER)
Voice Chat:T
Fortification: I

I think that's all that I have that isn't the standard default hotkey settings.

One of the most important things with hotkeys is to make sure all 6 item slots are in reachable positions. Do what works for you but you should never have to click on an item or stretch your finger too far on the keyboard to TP out of a bad spot quickly.

Hold Position: 
I saw this is a necessity in HoN but it's even more so in Dota 2 due to turn rates. Using hold position in lane to help last hit can make a huge difference instead of just mindlessly clicking your hero in circles in lane because APM =MLGSKILLZGG. I don't mean just standing completely still in lane, just pressing hold position right before you swing for the last hit so you don't have to factor in turn rate when you last hit.

Courier: 
gaining effectiveness with courier is a huge must especially if you are a mid player. You can set your courier hotkeys by going into menu----controls----abilities---courier and UNCHECKING the box that says "Mirror bindings from hero panel" this allows you to use QWER as courier hotkeys as well as your hero. I have the hotkeys bound the same they are in HoN. Q=Speed Burst W=Secret Shop  E=Deliver items R=Return to base.

Control Groups: 
If you bind units to a control group it carries over from game to game for the hero that you play. For example once I bind Spirit Bear to X, I don't have to rebind it every time I play Lone Druid. Controls groups are obviously 100% necessary when playing micro heroes but there are little things you can do with control groups that you wouldn't necessarily think about. You can bind gadgets like Veno/Shadow Shaman/Witch Doctor wards to hotkeys as well! I bet you didn't even know you could actively target who WD ward attacks did ya? For veno wards it's kind of buggy but it usually works out. If you throw out two wards and double click one this does the "Select All" command then set that to a hotkey, that hotkey will always select all wards that you have even if it's more than the 2 you hot-keyed.  Another little thing I have begun to do with hotkeys is whenever I pick up an illusion rune I bind those illusions to X(Unless I have that bound already for the hero, then I go to Z/V). So say I pickup an illusion rune with Lion and bind the illusions to X, now every time I get illusions with Lion in this game and future games I already have them bound to a hotkey! Wow such micro, many illusion. You can also bind Tusk Sigil/Juggernaut ward and pretty much any controllable unit/gadget in the game. Just simply tab microing is for noobs.

Quickbuy:
In addition to efficient/quick courier use, utilizing quickbuy is incredible and makes it so you should never really lose gold before you buy an item. You can put items in your quickbuy by shift clicking them in the store, pressing the quickbuy button simply purchases the item that is in your quickbuy without having to open the shop. Make a habit of always throwing your next item into quickbuy. Going mid and planning on bottle? Put that shit in quick buy before creeps spawn and now you only have to press three buttons(select courier--quickbuy--deliver items) to get your bottle and you don't even have to open the shop.
Level Up Skills: 
This is something that I see alot of people don't have bound to a hotkey and it's a bummer because this is super useful. You shouldn't ever have to take your attention off of your lane to level up a skill. Also if you level up in the middle of a teamfight there is no reason why you should have to wait for the fight to be over to level your skill, that skill point could be the difference between a kill and someone getting away. Another super easy habit to get into that pays big dividends.



3. Watch Your Mini-map

I know this seems like common sense but I mean REALLY watch it. Ask yourself how often do you check your min-map? If your answer is any less frequent than every 3 seconds then you need to work on it. I don't mean study the thing but you should glance at it every 3 seconds to survey for enemy heroes/people missing from lanes. There should never be a time where someone walks past a ward and you don't spot them. 

4. Abusing Creep Aggro

This is the biggest thing that separates a mid player from a pub who likes to play mid heroes. 

Creeps will aggro anyone trying to attack allied hero in a 500 radius. That means if you attack a hero while 501 units away from the nearest creep, the creep will not attack you.

This means a couple things.

1. If you are trying to harass the enemy in lane, don't A-click them unless you are in range of getting an attack off. If you A-click and don't get an attack, you just pull the creeps on to you, take some damage and push the lane without anything gained.

2. This however, can be abused to give yourself a lane advantage.

Say for example you are mid, you got outblocked and the creep wave is at the base of the enemy's hill. Do you just sit there and let him have that advantage? You sure as shit better not! Simply move within 500 units of the creep wave, A-Click the enemy and run back towards your tower. This will draw the creeps to run towards you moving them off of the hill. Do this a couple times until you have optimal lane position at the base of your hill.

This can be seen here 

Another interesting note is that creeps will aggro to you when you A-click a hero even if you aren't in range of the hero. Say the creep wave is at the enemy's hill and he is in the fog so you can't A-click him. You can get within 500 range of the creeps and A-Click a hero in another lane and it will STILL draw aggro!

This is just the beginning of this list and I will probably think of more as I play so I may do a part 2 to this in the future. But for now I will call it a day because nobody loves super duper long posts. I know these all seem really small and tedious but they really do make a difference. Remember, no single snowflake feels responsible for an avalanche. Happy pubbing, go win games!

Out-pick Idiots – How to Score Free Wins

Written by Christopher "KingTomato" Thomas

So you like mobas? That’s pretty cool I guess… You’re undoubtedly one of those kids who spends many hours a week playing DOTA/HON/LOL (hopefully not smite) depending on what’s cool. You play; you have fun; and you are sitting around 50% wins. Anything wrong with this picture? ABSOLUTELY. Having fun with 50% wins? If you can’t win more often than a coin flip comes up heads, you better sit down, pull out your notebook, and start writing little son. “But Tomato,” you might say, “I have fun whether I win or not.” And you know, that may be the case, but there is not one person in the world who can argue that you have less fun when you win more. Winning is fun, and I’m here to teach you how to do it. Throughout this article, I will explain strategies for All Random, All Pick/Single Draft, Random Draft, Captains Mode, and Captains Draft in terms of drafting and team composition. The focus will be on Dota 2, but the information in this post is true regardless of what moba you play.

“Who is this Tomato and why does he get to tell me how to play Dota?” you might ask. I suppose I do owe you faithful readers a little background. I am a long time moba player with history in HON/LOL/DOTA. I have played under the aliases KingTomato, Glamorous Pink, and recently just Tomato, so any J4K members should be fairly familiar with me. I am currently 4800 rating in Dota 2, and I don’t feel like I’m at my peak yet. I’m an experienced drafter, and I draft almost every chance I get. My dota buff is not too impressive, but I did share this account with a brand new player in its beginnings. I play a mean shadow fiend. I’m better than you, so get over it (unless I’m not in which case I’m sorry).

So why is team composition and drafting skill important? The team that plays better should always win right? WRONG. Rule #1 of non-professional games: the team with the better composition wins 75% of the time. It’s true. When playing the filthiest of pub games or the
“pro-est” of match making, the skill difference between the teams is simply not enough to determine the outcome of the game. I would say that only a few out of every 100 games I play are decided by clearly more skilled players. This trend is so true that an experienced player (including myself) can tell the outcome of a game just from the picks with about the same accuracy (75%). This is why drafting and team composition are so important.

Well what is team composition? I will refer you to a previous article “Knowing your hero roles” along with a future team composition focused post for this information. Don’t play 1 position Crystal Maiden, and don’t play 5 position Luna. It’s pretty simple. So without further delay, let’s jump into some strategies.

Game Modes

All Random

I hate all random. In a game where the players with the better team win 75% of the time, why anyone would play a mode that decides who has the better team for you is beyond me. If you playin’ all random I feel bad for you son, I got 830 games but AR aint one. I suppose it can be rather hilarious when one team is all str-melee, but in terms of strategy there is not much. I do, however, want to stress repicking. Repicking is the only control you have over your team in all random games. Repicking should not be utilized just because you don’t know how to play a hero or don’t want to. Get good, kid. Try to decide if the hero is misplaced on your team before you repick. All random is also a great time to learn some of the more difficult heroes in the game.

All Pick/Single Draft

I hate all pick and single draft. Coordinating which idiot plays what hero when everyone wants to play their favorite and still picking a good team is a prayer for pub heaven. Combine that with the fact that you can wait until the two minute rune spawns to pick your counter pick as well as the inclusion of the broken heroes and you have a recipe for the scummiest game type around. If being scum doesn’t bother you, either insta-pick a god tier hero (Earth spirit, Legion commander) or wait until the other team has completely chosen their line-up and counter-pick. Never pick an easily countered hero when multiple opponents have not chosen yet. This is the fastest way to be countered and useless. Don’t be the reason why your team loses before the game starts.

Random Draft

I only hate one thing about random draft: that there is no prep time before the first person has 20 seconds to pick. They are often afk, slow, or stupid because this person randoms 60% of the time. Then with all of the time in the world, the opposing team grabs the two strongest heroes in the pool and the game is over. Other than that it is a pretty fun and fair game type that doesn’t take forever to start playing (like CM and CD). The most important remark I want to make is that you can swap in random draft. Therefore, if supports are scarce, don’t be an idiot pub and first pick one of the 8 good mid heroes on the board. Try to prioritize what is lacking in the hero pool so you don’t get stuck with Centaur Spiritbreaker supporting a PA.

Captains Mode

If you love competitive dota and maybe someday want to hit the scene, captains mode is the game type for you. Every tournament and serious competition is played captains mode. First off, in any captains game type, the newly released heroes are not pickable. If you are tired of getting wiped off the map by good earth spirit players or legion commander, captains games are for you. The picking stage is complicated so I will try my best to summarize with a flow chart. 

A good strategy is to pick a core and a support in the first round. Off-lane heroes work well as first core picks because most are difficult to fully counter (i.e. Timbersaw, clockwork, bristleback). Picking two supports first round should be avoided except in rare cases because the other team will have the luxury of banning the best cores for your team with their remaining three bans while you are stuck banning cores and supports. Picking two cores will leave you in a similar and possibly worse situation because the god-tier supports are rarer than a pub who asks for Crystal Maiden. Mid heroes should generally be left for last pick because they are easily countered and losing your mid lane can put your team way behind. The exception to this rule are heroes like invoker and viper that are very difficult or even impossible to counter.

Captains Draft

I LOVE CAPTAINS DRAFT. It is without a doubt the best game type in Dota 2. It involves all of the skill of captains mode with more at stake. You can out-pick the other harder in CD than any other mode. This means free wins. As before it is important to prioritize what’s lacking in the pool; in fact, in captains draft it is VITAL and will determine which team is better in most cases. Allow me to explain with the diagram below.

  

Advanced tactics for first and second pick

I’d like to give two different picking strategies. When you have first pick in captains mode or draft, it is best to ban out as many strong heroes as possible. For example, let’s say there are five top tier picks that almost guarantee wins in pug games (which is fairly accurate at any point in the meta). If all four bans are top tier heroes, first pick casually takes the last one and builds a strong team with the first pick advantage. This is ideal for a first pick and this idea can be extended to as many “first pick first ban heroes” are in the pool. As a second pick, you’ve read this post and taken notes so you are equipped to deal with strategies like this, so you pull something sneaky. Instead of using both of your bans on top tiers you casually slip one or two annoying A tier heroes into your bans (viper, OD, clock, etc). Now look what happens, two of the five top tiers are banned and three remain in the pool. First pick is almost forced to take one, and second pick gets the other two. Second pick can also counter with this strategy if first pick doesn’t ban a top tier.

Strategies in captains draft that differ from captains mode

Unlike in captains mode, captains draft enjoys four consecutive double picking rounds. This makes it much easier to nab strong combos like kotl/PL, lifestealer/(Puck, storm, or clock), without counter bans or “steal-picks” by the other team.

I hope this guide is useful. Stay tuned for more maps that lead out of the pub sewers and into the limelight.

Itemization-Why you aren't good, how to get good.

Time to gather 'round the campfire little pubs for another lesson from DirtyPumpkin. Today's discussion will be all about item purchasing and how to effectively choose the right items from game to game. Most of you that have played with me have probably asked me for item suggestions 80% of games we play and furthermore, most of you know this gets kind of annoying for me to have to build five peoples items for them every game. Every time somebody asks me for item suggestions I just go through a simple thought process in my head to determine the best item for the situation at hand. Most games there is a "Best/Ideal" item on your hero but sometimes there will be choices to be made at your discretion. It's pretty simple stuff and it's time for you to learn to think for yourself when it comes to item choices and furthermore to learn from your mistakes if an item choice goes wrong. Don't blindly follow the guide in front of your face, make sure you think through every item you buy and make sure it is the right item for that given game!


Must Have Items

Before we get into any specific heroes or roles let's lay down the law of items that every team must have, every game. They are listed from most important to least important, keep in mind even the "least important" items on this list should still ideally be picked up every game.

1.Mekansm
This is literally the most important item in the game and it is inexcusable to end a game without a Mek on your team. When activated it heals everyone around you for 250 HP and grants a +2 armor buff. Think about that for a second. In every team fight if you hit all your teammates, you are instantly granting your team +1250 effective HP in a fight and that isn't taking into account the armor buff. Mekansm also grants a passive health regen aura, and gives +5 armor to the carrier of the item. Mekansm is usually picked up by the 4 position, but sometimes you may have a natural mek carrier in your core positions(1/2/3). If you are looking to do a push strat you may want to buy mek on one of your farming cores to get it up ASAP for those big manly pushes. Some cores that come to mind that are very good natural mek carriers are......
Pugna/Viper/Razor/Bristleback/Dark Seer/Necrophos/Elder Titan/OD. These are heroes that will often take priority of buying the mek over the 4 position support simply because the item is really good on them.
When you think of ideal mek carriers you think of heroes that are going to be right in the middle of the fight every time and are more likely to hit all 5 heroes with the mek for maximum effectiveness.  Viper/Razor are often thought to be hard right click carries and some may find it confusing why you would want to get mek on them. The fact of the matter is, they aren't hard carries. Neither of those heroes will even come close to out carrying a luna/gyrocopter/AM or any other tier 1 carry. They have natural abilities that give them attack steroids, but both of these heroes benefit the longer they are able to be in a fight so building straight hard carry isn't optimal. (Sidenote-Mekansm applies a debuff to a hero when it heals them that makes them not able to be healed by mek again for the length of the cooldown, do not stack multiple meks on teams)


2. Medallion of Courage
I believe Medallion to be one of the most cost effective items in the game, it gives you so much for only a mere 1075 gold. Medallion lowers the armor of a target and yourself by 6 for 7 seconds which conveniently is the same time of the cooldown. The cool thing is the item gives you +6 armor so the debuff it applies to you just reverts your armor to what it was without the medallion. Because the duration/cooldown are the same this means you can literally ALWAYS have -6 armor on the target you are focusing. In addition to it's great use in team fights for physically bursting heroes down, an early medallion turns any team into an early Roshan team. Considering the item is 1075 gold, and killing Roshan gives your team over 1000 gold when you kill it, the item pays for itself after one Roshan. Just as with mekansm, this is usually an item picked up by supports but it can situationally be bought by a core. It is best on heroes that have huge physical burst or already have a built-in -armor spell. The best example for the brokenness of this item is on a support alchemist considering his Q is -6 armor at max level and his huge burst damage stun is physical damage, that's -12 armor. Throw spray and try to use medallion while stun is in mid air to maximize efficiency.

3. Assault Cuirass 
-Armor is the name of the game. The more -armor your team has, the faster you can take rosh, and the sooner you can break the base and get that first rax. AC aura grants 3 things.
1. +5 armor to all teammates/towers.
2. +20 Attack Speed to all teammates.
3. -5 Armor to all enemies/towers in area.
From those numbers alone you can think of the ridiculous advantage a team would have if they hold an AC and the other team does not. If you are thinking of going for a base break, make sure you have that AC up!

4. Drum of Endurance
Drum is seen as one of the most cost effective items in the game as it gives +9 to all attributes as well as +5% movement speed/+5 attack speed auras. Drum also grants 4 charges which when used, give an additional +10% movement speed to get you out of those sticky situations. Initially +5% movement speed doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but it adds up and can be the difference in a team fight.



As you can see most of these must have items involve auras. Because auras do not stack with each other, these are not items that you want to have multiples of on a team.





Specific Hero/Role Item Choices

Now that we have gone over the basic items that every single team needs to have regardless of team composition, let's look at specifics to your roles.

Assessing your hero

1. Know your Hero
Before you buy items you should know your hero very well. What are your hero's strengths? Weaknesses?
Look to cover your weaknesses with your item pick-ups. Ex. Crystal Maiden's biggest weaknesses are low movement speed(280 base, lowest in game) and lack of mobility. Common pick-ups on CM would include Tranquil boots(cheap boots/Highest movespeed buff) and force staff to help with mobility and positioning.

2. Know your Team
Take a look back at those items at the top of the post. Are you the front runner for any of those items? What does your team need the most that isn't on that list?

3. Know your Opponents
What are the weaknesses of your opponents and what items would help you capitalize on those weaknesses?

Support/Utility Items

First order of business when it comes to supports and items. Remember in my previous post I talked about the 4 and 5 position supports, every single game your team should have TWO people that are supporting. Often I will see one support get courier and the other get wards, however this isn't optimal. There are 4 support items that need to be bought at the beginning of the game and they are......

Courier:150g

Observer Wards:150g

Sentry Wards:200g

Smoke of Deceit:100g

Now if you look at that and divide it properly, that's 300 gold to spend for each support. One gets Courier AND wards, and the other gets Sentries AND smoke. This leaves you with enough gold to get one set of tangos, one HP pot and one mana pot. This should be your go-to starting items on any support ever, stop buying iron branches and leaving your team sentry/smokeless.

Why sentries and smokes out of the fountain? A smoke is great if you need to make a lane rotation not only because of the bonus movement speed but also because it generally results in a free first blood, especially when you are playing against lower tier players that won't even think a smoke gank at level 1 is a possibility. Sentries are a necessity out of the fountain in any game because you know the other team has only TWO wards, this means if you counter even one of them you know they are practically vision-less. Countering is easy when you know who on their team has the wards and what lane they are in. Even if you don't see them ward, by process of elimination it's fairly easy to find out where their ward is from the start. If you manage to counter their rune ward at minute one you give your team a HUGE advantage immediately. 

Moving forward to mid/late game item choices. I already talked about the MUST HAVE items for every game so analyze your team and decide if you are going to carry any of those. After those items are bought your future items are 100% going to vary every game, so here is a list of good support items and in what situations they are best. 

Urn of Shadows

Urn is a great item to pick up in a very active/kill-heavy game. It gains a charge anytime an enemy hero dies within 1400 range of you and the charges can either be used as a 

400 HP heal over time on an ally, or a 150 HP damage over time on an enemy. It's great for recovering your team after a won team fight so you can safely push if you are at low HP! Keep in mind only one urn will gain charges so don't have multiple on your team. 

Force Staff

If you are ever questioning what item you should get, force staff is always a great choice. It grants mobility and an escape to heroes that wouldn't otherwise have that, and it can be used both offensively and defensively! Incredible item on every hero in the game. 

Ghost Scepter

One of the most forgotten items in lower games which I find silly, considering in alot of lower games you see a ton of right-click carry pickers. Ghost scepter makes you invulnerable to physical damage for 5 seconds, which is generally enough to make the hard carry switch targets leaving you to either escape or continue fighting. Either way, you don't die.

Necronomicon
Up there with force staff as one of those "always a good item no matter what" items. Necro has tons of utility including the 3rd level granting true sight, it brings great pushing power, a mana burn that can break linkens, a unit that does 700 TRUE DAMAGE to anyone that kills it, and much, much more! Although it is great in any game, it is BEST with push strats, and against teams with lots of AOE damage. If you throw out these little pubs in the middle of the fight, someone is bound to kill them with AOE skills and unknowingly take 700 true damage. This could turn a fight. Also good against heroes that rely on a blink dagger because the minions attacks will put blink dagger on cooldown, if micro'd properly you can sick the minions on the initiator, burning their mana and not allowing them to use their blink dagger. When you don't like your teammates, make your own with Necrobook.


Vladimirs Offering
Another one of those pesky auras but not quite good enough to make it into the "Must have" tier of items. This is because it is a situational pick-up. The aura grants armor which is great but it also grants a damage aura, and a 16% lifesteal aura to MELEE units. So if you have a melee carry on your team that needs lifesteal but can't quite afford to give up an item slot to a relatively weak 2K item, this isn't a bad pick-up.


Pipe of Insight
Great item to pick up against a team with plenty of burst AOE damage, or a team that relies heavily on big ults to win fights. Not necessarily ideal on supports because the cost and the initiator will generally get more out of the additional tankiness.


Eul's Scepter
Make any pub feel like they are smack in the middle of Hurricane Katrina with this fabulous item! Great for that extra survivability boost. Works kind of like a ghost scepter in that it will generally force whoever is fighting you to change targets and it gives + 10 Intelligence
+ 150% Mana Regeneration
+ 40 Movement Speed Better on more mana intensive supports that benefit from the regen/move speed. Leshrac is a solid example of a good Eul's carrier. Unlike in HoN, you cannot Eul's teammates however you can still Eul's yourself!



Carry Items

As we all know I think good support is the most difficult/important role in the game so that's why I put so much into those items. That being said, carry item choices are still very important but are generally easier choices to make. 

Your carry builds won't fluctuate as much as support builds from game-to-game but you should still know when to make adjustments. It's not uncommon to see carries pool gold for a long time before buying a big item. This is so they can see what the enemy carry is building so they know what to get to counter their build. For example if you see the enemy building a butterfly you should definitely invest in a Monkey King Bar for the true strike through evasion. 

Black King Bar is generally a core on every carry but some games it may not be the optimal choice. Say the enemy has several lockdown skills that go through magic immunity(Bane/Beastmaster ulti's) but do not have a plethora of actual magic damage and lockdown. Then you may be better off building linkens sphere/Manta Style instead of the standard BKB. 

Let's Talk Linkens

Linken's Sphere

Linken's can be a great situational item on a core but it should never be a go-to automatic buy on any certain heroes. The natural pub mentality is that if the other team has TONS of single target stuns to get a Linkens to block them all right? Wrong. The more single target spells the other team has, the less effective Linkens becomes. In reality you are only burning one of those skills in a fight and if tons are at the oppositions disposal then you aren't doing yourself any favors by blocking one. Linkens is great when the other team has MINIMAL single target skills and the ones they do have are very strong skills that won't be desirable to waste. Also keep in mind that late-game Linkens will block Sheep/Orchid. So if the other team only has 1-3 single targets but they have a natural sheepstick carrier, it can still be a great pick-up! Always think through your choices. 

Conclusion

I may do a more in-depth carry item analysis in the future if there is interest but I really wanted this post to be more support-focused. I think this is the area where J4K as a whole struggles with the most and I wanted to pound some stuff into your heads that you will never forget! Remember, if your team loses and your team has no Mekansm, the game is your fault because you knew better idiot. Good luck, have fun, and as always....Happy Pubbing!!! 

Knowing Your Hero Roles

Hero roles are a very important part of every game from the international championships down to the lowliest of pub games. It is especially important to grasp the concept of hero roles from game to game if you are frequently queuing with friends. 

You may have heard people refer to a hero by a number 1-5 position in the past. This is simply a matter farm priority with the 1 position being the highest priority farmer. In a typical game your positions should look like this.

1. Safe lane farmer/Hard carry

2. Solo Mid

3. Offlane Farmer

4. Secondary Support

5. Primary Support

Even if you have 5 melee strength carries you and your teammates should have the same mutual understanding of who is in what role so there is no unnecessary fighting for farm. There are situations where your tri-lane carry wouldn't necessarily be your 1 position carry, but it's a good general assumption.

A good reason to acknowledge going into the game who will be playing what roles is so you can have a better grasp of what item builds you will be going. Furthermore you should know that a hero can play different roles depending on your team, and should be played/built differently depending on what position you fall into on your team. For example if you have a Natures Prophet in the jungle, but you also have an offlaner/mid/carry+support lane you will be playing a 4 position NP. Your item build on a 4 position NP would have to be different than the standard 3 position NP because there isn't as much farm available for you as there is three heroes that have higher farm priority than you. Maybe you would go for a less greedy build like midas into force staff or necronomicon instead of a greedy shadowblade/deso build. 

Differences in supports

It can sometimes be difficult to differentiate between who should be primary and secondary support, and what exactly that entails, so here ya go.

Primary Support: 

Last on the totem pole as far as farm dependency.

Buys majority of wards, requests help from secondary support if necessary.

Doesn't really think about buying big items unless all supportive duties are taken care of!

Secondary Support: 

Builds towards bigger support items such as mek/force staff.

Helps with sentries/smoke/dust 

The support out of the two that puts more use to items

Certain support heroes are better suited for one or the other. A good example of this is Visage. Visage thrives in the Secondary Support position because he gains alot from having medallion/mek/aghanims scepter so he is much better off getting what farm he can. Furthermore Visage tends to pick up lots of kills in fights with soul assumption so that makes for early mek/medallion.

Know your role within your team and pick your items accordingly! 

Aghanims Scepter,When is it Viable?

Aghanims Scepter is one of the most appealing items in the game at first glance. It makes your best ability even better and it gives you great stats so of course you should buy it every time it's an option right?! Wrong. Aghanims Scepter can be a great item but it is also an item I see misused more than any other item in the game. In this post I will go through every hero in the game, and talk about when to/not to buy this item.

Aghs on Supports: A pretty safe assumption when playing a support is that Aghs is just not the best item for your situation. There will almost always be more cost-efficient items such as mekansm/force staff/euls etc. and most Aghs support upgrades just aren't that good. However, there will always be the exceptions.

I will break the heroes down into three categories. 1.Asking to Lose 2. Usually better options than Aghs. 3. Solid Pick-up. 4. Absolutely must have every game.

I. Asking to Lose



1. Huskar: We all know ten second cooldown on Huskar slam-dunks can have it's advantages but there is no situation where it is optimal,  you are much better off getting bkb/armlet/damage/tanky items in general than investing in a scepter.

2. Axe: It used to be the go-to build for Axe because just like Huskar, getting a triple dunk in fights is so much fun with 6 second cooldown ulti. However with the recent change to Axe ult(No cooldown on ult if decapitate is successful) the only reason to get an Aghs is if you are failing your ults and need a safety net. If that's the case then maybe you should consider a new hero.

3. Doom: When you read the upgrade for Doom it sounds incredibly appealing and OP. The problem is that doom already lasts pretty much the duration of an average team fight and if you go for Aghs instead of tanking up you don't live long enough for the upgrade to be useful and come into play. The only exception could be ultra late game as a situational last item but even then I would argue there are better choices.

4. Undying: This hero is my baby, and his scepter upgrade is so underwhelming, it isn't his ult that makes him a great hero but rather his tombstone and durability. Wasting money on scepter is a shame when you are 10x more effective with blade mail/necrobook/mekansm or pretty much any item ever.

5. Luna: Luna is the arguably the hardest carry in the game so needless to say wasting an item slot on more beams is rather silly. The ult isn't the centerpiece of this hero, the right click is. Build HoD/BKB/manta.

6. Gyrocopter: Same story as Luna, Gyro is a very good farming hard-carry with a nice teamfight ultimate. Getting global range on the ultimate seems rather silly considering you shouldn't be missing big teamfights, and the skill itself doesn't possess the damage to snipe down kills from across the map.

7. Puck: Puck is the master of utility and elusiveness. This is arguably the worst scepter upgrade in the game as it just add's range on the ultimate and coil break damage. Puck already needs blink/sheep/euls/dagon and better items, this fairy shouldn't mess around with scepter.

8.  Outworld Devourer: Alongside Puck this is see as the worst upgrade in the game. It adds damage to your slam dunk but you would literally add MORE damage to it with simply an Mystic Staff(2700g) compared to the 4200g price of an Aghanims. Makes sense right?

II. Usually Better Options

1. Earthshaker: Essentially adds more damage, I haven't done the math but I think a Veil of Discord would add as much if not more damage to his ulti, as well as damage from his other skills and your teammates nukes. In addition to this, Earthshaker is a very good Shivas Guard carrier as well so just go for that :)

2. Omniknight: Pretty cool idea in theory but just like with Gyrocopter, upgrading your ulti to global isn't that big of a deal considering you should be right in the middle of every teamfight as an omniknight. 4.2K is better spent on a mek+force staff.

3. Pudge: Scepter on Pudge can be an ok situational pick-up but only when facing a line-up that has minimal stuns. If they have minimal chance to stun you in teamfights, getting off a full duration ult can change a fight. However if stuns are numerous on the opposing team, you are better off building into a heart.

4. Sand King: The Aghs adds ALOT of damage and on top of a veil makes SK a desolating machine. Wouldn't suggest on support Sand King.

4. Night Stalker: Again his is situational, has potential to be very powerful if used in combination with a gem, but if you don't abuse the clear vision you are better off going Armlet/BKB.

5. Abbadon: 4200 gold for 2 seconds of ultimate is simply not worth it. Unless you are going the PPP(Patented Pumpkin Pub build) Radiance--->Aghs>Refresher.

6.  Crystal Maiden: This is one I see alot that is just not very good. Yea it adds alot of damage, but if you are a lowly CM and you aren't sitting on a bkb, getting off a full duration ulti is unrealistic. Feelin like a pimp loaded with ca$h? Buy your team a sheepstick or Eul's.

7.  Windranger: Dps windrunner is already kind of out there as far as a build goes, and having an aghs isn't useful unless you are already sitting on 3+damage items. Going hyper-late game WR and need to top off your set? Then and only then shall you buy scepter.

8.  Lina: +300 Damage is cool and all but for the same price of aghs you can get a Dagon 2 which is +500 damage. Not saying that is the optimal build but it's just a comparision of cost-efficiency.

9. Natures Prophet: Natures Prophet players only build Aghs when they are spamming ult off cooldown to farm/push lanes but this is the pubby way of playing the hero. Pushing out lanes by spamming ult hurts your team and gives your teammates nowhere to farm, you should be split pushing lanes with your creeps and thus building Necro/Shadowblade. Aghs Refresher is only acceptable in "YOU CAN'T RUN FROM HEAVEN STRAT" With Zeus/Spectre/Invoker. :D

10. Jakiro: Same story as every other support, more damage isn't worth it.

11. Silencer

12: Ogre Magi: I hate to put him in this tier because it is hella fun to have two stuns on seperate cooldowns. But the 400 manacost is just too much to ask for a support ogre. Farming Ogre? get yourself a shiny Aghanims bud.

13. Skywrath Mage: This is one where the idea seems ridiculous, no cooldown on a 1200 damage ulti?!?!?!?!? Just like with many other heroes though, Skywrath doesn't have the mana support for this to be effective, even with 1-2 items before Aghs. At level 16 his ult costs a whopping 800 mana, try casting that multiple times and see how fast you become useless.

14. Bane: Situationally useful just like CM/Pudge if they have minimal cancels go for it #YOLO

15. Lich: Adds damage and range, but casting Lich ulti from great range is a bad idea anyway since it just gives them more time to split. Pick up a Veil if you want more damage!

16. Lion: Bad on support Lion, situational on solo mid Lion. Regardless my mid Lion build consists of Blink/Force/Necronomicon/Dagon.

17. Witch Doctor: Same rule as other channeling ulti's on supports. However this one does WORK if you get it off, great combo with BKB.

18. Enigma: Cool concept but bkb/refresher is always going to be better. Maybe as a final item in an ultra-late game.

19. Queen of Pain: Cooldown reduction is nice but if you go aghs you are forcing yourself into a not-so-useful late game QoP. Sheep gives far more potential on the hero!

20. Dazzle: Is range upgrade really necessary for that ult? Duration buff is strong but Dazzle is too good with other utility items.

21. Leshrac: Support Lesh=No mana pool to justify Aghs.

22. Dark Seer: Situationally good when against HEAVY right click teams. Other than that it's mediocre.

23. Ancient Apparition: Good on solo mid AA because if you get it early it's absurd, but alas support AA can never afford such luxury.

24. Spirit Breaker: AOE ulti sounds cool on paper but it isn't as large as you would think.
III. Solid Pick-Up

1. Beastmaster: The extra range is pretty absurd, if you have a blink/aghs your effective range for ulti becomes ridiculous. Lower cooldown also means you are always a threat to execute pickoffs.

2. Clockwerk: Hooks for days! 12 sec cooldown isn't really fair, the only reason this isn't in God-tier is because there are a plethora of items that are incredible on clock so it isn't a must-have every game. Still damn good though.

3. Brewmaster: Not as strong as the old Aghs, and if you suffer with your micro a bit it really isn't worth it. but having double stomp/haze is really good utility. Not as strong late-game as he used to be though.

.

5. Juggernaut: Unlike his counterpart in Heroes of Newerth, Juggernaut really isn't the best late-game carry that people may make him out to be. Due to healing ward he really shines in the mid-game, right about the time you pick up an aghs scepter you can crush the game and take all tier 2 towers while forcing fights that you can win/

6. Vengeful Spirit: If you ever have the money to pick up a "big" item on vengeful it should almost always be the scepter! 10 second cooldown on ulti makes it so you can play ultra aggressive. Remember not to invest in big items as a support until your team has a mek/medallion!

7. Venomancer: Veno upgrade actually adds metric fucktons of damage but it is costly for a wee support veno. However if you find yourself rolling in the dollars after core support items are up, it' not the worst item in the world.

8. Zeus: The Thunder God is all about that straight damage, Aghs is good on him but I wouldn't suggest it as a first item, get a force staff or some sort of utility first.

9. Shadow Shaman: SOO MANY WARDS!

10. Enchantress:  A must have if you are a farming enchantress, if you are spending alot of time supporting this might not be your best option.

11. Chen: 30 Second cooldown on ulti means pretty much infinite push, good item to follow up mek/force staff if you have the $$.

12. Rubick: Situational if the other team has easy to steal+good Aghs ults that makes it a necessity. Also the 5 second cooldown+longer range makes you a pretty good ghetto Invoker.

13. Necrophos: Another situational pick-up that is really really good late game. However it should only be picked up as a third or fourth item because the buyback factor isn't as large until the late game.


IV. Absolute Must Have

1. Tiny: Tiny is played differently in Dota 2 than his counterpart in HoN. In HoN you would go mid and get a blink dagger asap and wipe kids off the map. In Dota there is a better option. Chunking kids in the head with a giant tree and hitting harder than a couple semis put together. Buy this shit.

2. Razor: Aghs on Razor is one of the best items in the game for breaking base. Razor shouldn't be built like a right click carry but rather a durable semi-carry. Standard Razor build is Mek--Aghs--BKB. Refresher aghs for two ults at once wins games.

3. Viper: Same story as Razor. Don't build this guy as a hard right clicker for the love of God. go 1-4-4 skill build, and get Mek-Aghs-BKB every single game, no exceptions. Viper aghs is arguably the best in the game.

4. Disruptor: Who doesn't like an AOE doom? Aghs should always be the first "big item" you build on disruptor, shit's cash.

5. Warlock: Double Golem is pretty unstoppable, if you manage to get a refresher for four golems you pretty much win the game.

6. Pugna: No CD on ult, no contest. Bong rips for days boys, bong rips for days.

7. Invoker: a must for any non-pubby Invoker that can handle using spells on a two second cooldown.

8. Visage: 3 birds. Nuff said.\

9. Meepo: Pre-Scepter Meepo is incredibly weak since the recent 6.79 changes, and having an extra Meepo can't hurt right?



Conclusion

My biggest beef with Aghanims as an item is that no matter what hero you have, if it is available to buy it is a suggested item. This is silly considering how some of these upgrades are just mediocre at best. Remember, if you are a support hero, before you buy an Aghs make sure your team has a Mek/Medallion and at least one force staff! Happy dunking pubs.