ViperStriker

Banned
Contributor
I randomed Viper and had a blast actually doing stuff that wasn't dying, only to find out later that Viper is considered the easiest of easy-mode @_@
Thing with Viper is that since his W and I are both passives, his only abilites you need to focus on are his Q and his Ulti, and since his Q you have to click on something to use it rather than just use it and do AoE damage or damage in an area, which is widely considered much easier. His Ulti is merely a click on something to use it as well, and it provides a massive slow, which then gives him the opening to use his Q in quick succession (Since at Level 3, his Q has no cool down making it "spammable") to do massive damage. With all that aside, since he can do massive damage with his Ulti and a Level 3 Q, Viper doesn't need much to get kills in lane early or teamfights later, he's pretty tanky with the right items like Heart, Vanguard, or a Manta Style.
 

Pat

Australian Skial God
Contributor
Is it a good idea as a new player (~100 games) to random heroes or should I just try and get good with some
 

ViperStriker

Banned
Contributor
Is it a good idea as a new player (~100 games) to random heroes or should I just try and get good with some
It's always good to have a small pool of heroes you're reliable with, mine is Viper, Lich, Spectre, Outworld Devourer, and to some extent, Witch Doctor and Earthshaker.

Bot games are great for randoming heroes to try out and see what their skills do in a safe environment without the stress of letting your team down if you don't do well.

Randoming every game is the best way to learn.
You do have to remember though, you have to be prepared to re-pick if you don't like what you randomed, which means starting off with 503 gold.
 

Faron

Australian Skial God
Contributor
It's always good to have a small pool of heroes you're reliable with, mine is Viper, Lich, Spectre, Outworld Devourer, and to some extent, Witch Doctor and Earthshaker.

Bot games are great for randoming heroes to try out and see what their skills do in a safe environment without the stress of letting your team down if you don't do well.


You do have to remember though, you have to be prepared to re-pick if you don't like what you randomed, which means starting off with 503 gold.
No you should play anything you random, unless it's like, chen.
 

Rvsz

Legendary Skial King
Contributor
Randoming every game is the best way to learn.
No. Read guides, play bot games or coop bot games, don't go into a game and random you ruin the fun for 4-9 other people and waste 45 minutes of their time because they can't leave.
 

Faron

Australian Skial God
Contributor
No. Read guides, play bot games or coop bot games, don't go into a game and random you ruin the fun for 4-9 other people and waste 45 minutes of their time because they can't leave.
*all the heroes and their ins-and-outs.
 

Wrathzilla

Somewhat Threatening Sniper
You should use the Skial TS more often, odds are there's always someone playing DotA and ready to queue up with friends. =)

Or just add me.. :P

I seriously have ~20 people on my friends list who are constantly wanting to play DOTA, and I love adding peeps to that list, so if you (or anyone) wants to play just add me.
 

Wrathzilla

Somewhat Threatening Sniper
Honestly you should not read guides.

Guides are a handicap to many players because they don't know what an item does or why you're buying it, they just know to "get it because the guide said so".

For example lets say my guide tells me to get a Black King Bar and I have no idea what it does, and I'm playing against a team with no magical damage.

That's just as noob as getting one because you felt like it.

The main thing you need to do starting off is to explore. Explore heros, explore items, explore team composition, lanes, jungles, rivers, ancients, etc.

Many people who have tried to learn DotA get it set in their minds that they can only play one hero because they only pick one hero and only practice one hero because many (sorry Rhi, I'm picking on you :p) of our teachers say "get good at one hero, then you can try others". Mod did this with Crystal Maiden and that was all he played, and he never wanted to play anything else, Rhi used to do this with WindRunner as well. You NEED to try other heros early and ESPECIALLY other roles. If you play a carry your first game, do a support next game. My first game I played Sniper and got wrecked, so I switched tactics and played Windrunner, and did a little better.

That is another thing too, you need to come to terms with the fact that you are probably going to lose (badly) unless you improve yourself. When I lose a game of DotA even now I look back at what went wrong and try to improve upon it (90% of the time we forgot wards, they're more important than you think).

Also, once you learn the basics (as in the extreme basics, like the button that says "shop" is where you buy things) you need to do online games. Bot games do serve a purpose, yes, but at the same time they are not ideal for learning. Bots cheat, and make mistakes that normal players would not make (even newbies) and doing only bot games kills your confidence.

Let's say you win a few bot games and go "I'm ready for online!" then get stomped... Would you really want to do another online game? A lot of our players are like this, because to play an online game is out of their comfort zone. A large part of learning to play (and be good) at DotA is getting comfortable with what your doing and whats going on, and if you're only comfortable when you play against the AI, that's being uncomfortable with more than half the game.

When I started playing DotA there was no bot mode, you could only play online, and many new players got wrecked, often. The reason why they added bots (originally) was so that new players would have an easier time learning the extreme basics and advanced players would be able to try out new builds or strategies against opponents that fight back, without the hassle of an actual DotA game.

Just explain to people that you're new and learning, if they're asses, ignore them (there is actually a mute button in the scoreboardish window). The best thing about online games is that it is the environment you're going to be playing in 90% of the time, and it will make you better by practicing in it.

tl;dr

You need to get comfortable with playing the game, not with a hero, not with a role, with the game, and once you are, and are able to adapt to the situation, then you'll succeed
 

Lord Scrambles

Face-Melting F2Per
Wrath pretty much hits the nail on the head here. I would like to add that you shouldn't use Bot-Games as a means to "get better" or "Try out builds." Bots don't perform like normal players do. You need real human experience. Once you understand the basics, the best thing you can do is go online and play some real matches.
 
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ViperStriker

Banned
Contributor
So who wants to have weekly 5v5s with maybe a group learning time before hand?
I'm perfectly fine with Skial 5v5 DotA games as long as they don't digress into everyone getting angry at each other and getting all upset and trash talking one another, that kind of behavior makes me not want to play with anyone from Skial and just solo-queue by myself.
 

Faron

Australian Skial God
Contributor
I'm perfectly fine with Skial 5v5 DotA games as long as they don't digress into everyone getting angry at each other and getting all upset and trash talking one another, that kind of behavior makes me not want to play with anyone from Skial and just solo-queue by myself.
That's headful.