Notes/Tips for whatever hero you play!

[G-Blunted]

Well, I just played with Phantom Assassin. Very tempting to go shadow strike, but I just went Blinkstrike+Dodge and stats and pwned hard mid game/late game! Got boots and straght to stygen desolator for bonus damage to go with critstrike ultimate. I don't know, seemed like an exceptional combo to me. Ended up with Desolater+MKB soloing like 3 heros at a time + creeps. I've only tried it this once but it was cool and fun.

What items/skillz u get with your heros?

[Raven.Icon]

Best advice u can get is learn how to farm. Farming seems so basic but its what really seperates the avg player from a good player. Farming- better items.

2nd advice, usually u should go for attack damage items asap, since this really helps u get a huge boost on gold due to faster farming.

3rd advice- a good offense can beat a good defense or allaround item build. also good offense also allows faster farming, eventually allowing offense to not only be slightly better, but to be alot greater then defense. Also assasination is easier to carry out and more effective then one perosn have good defense items. Since good attack helps teams, but good defense items, only helps u.

4th advice- learn good item builds, counter items builds, and also how to play ur hero properly which also includes knowing how to play ur hero in different styles, such as battle luna vs mage luna builds, etc.

5th advice- learn the map, there is alot of hiding areas to pounce from, places to put wards to protect u, oppportunity to jack when enemy hero creeping neutrals, u can also pick up good spell on river as well and this also lets u no when the jack is comming ur way, instad of just knowing intuitionally that its comming but not exactly when or where and who. Alot of good paths that helps shorten distance.

6th- watch the mini-map, this is what helps u get kills, prevent u from dying, and being part of the team.

7th- Bot's>power threads in team games, in pub, u can get powerthreads for your enjoyment in early hero kills,etc, but a BOt will win u the game more often. From a individual prespective, BOT's help alot in fast farming, but also provide escape due to movement speed and also teleporting out back. I usally tp into a lane thats been pushed by enemey, make mad gold from the huge creep waves, then tp back out when my cooldown is down. This is really frustrating to enemy team, especially when they get there as u tp out or u already tp out and they were in the process of trying to gank you, which also= frustration and wasted time in trying to gank u.

[TosH_BrEaKeR]

im sorry im teh ulimate noob at dota wat is farm/farming?

another thing how do u get wood? for items like preservance?

AND YES IM SERIOUS.. ITS CALLED BEING A NOOB WE WERE ALL ONCE NOOBS SO PLZ NO FLAMING

[AvengerxZ]

im sorry im teh ulimate noob at dota wat is farm/farming?

another thing how do u get wood? for items like preservance?

AND YES IM SERIOUS.. ITS CALLED BEING A NOOB WE WERE ALL ONCE NOOBS SO PLZ NO FLAMINGAny item that requires wood auto creates when you have all the needed parts. For instance, the perserverance requires 1 wood for the recipe so when you buy a ring of health and void stone it will automatically form into perserverenace instead of requiring additional gold for the item. Farming is the process of making money off of neutral creeps or the enemy teams periodic spawns. The best way to go about this is timing your attacks so you get the last hit and thust gaining the gold. I'm actually in the process of writing something for some of the members of this site that are around your skill level, be patient ^^.

[KoGs]

Doesn't styg mess up your ultimate or something? This is what some guy said to another guy when I was playing.

[AvengerxZ]

Doesn't mess up anything except for other orb effects and lunas attack. All it does is give her the ladder animation your hero gets when you carry orb of corruption which makes her 'visible'. That doesn't really matter, though.

[CaptaiN-HooK]

Ended up with Desolater+MKB soloing like 3 heros at a time + creeps.

Well, if you really soloed three heroes + creeps at the same time, you've been feeded or you're just an exeptional farmer :)
You were feeded weren't you? :D

[p2L-IntrepiD]

I like going early battle fury with most melle heroes like bristleback and phantom assasin. It gives u a good damage boost, good early game regen with preservance, as well as being able to farm better and faster in mid game. Also i think its important to have about 2 levels of shadow strike early as it slows. With heroes such as faceless void and phantom assasin u need to mix up your three early skills for most effectiveness.

[MaryKateIsHot]

my favourtite thing now is to get nearly any agility hero and get 3 of those +3 everything and + 6 agility items (sorry forgot what they're called) i find it really helps because u own early game with htem and they are easy to get becasue they'er so cheap

[gasolin]

3 of those +3 everything and + 6 agility items (sorry forgot what they're called)
i think it is called Wraith Band.

[vahgar]

Shadow Hunter- Rhasta


I prefer going 1 skill and stats till level 9 as it helps mana conservation esp for Strg and Agi heros and in some cases Int heros.

Early Game:

Flask x 2 and Mana pots x 2
Boots ---> Treads
Ring+Sobi---> Basillus for dual aura- briallance and devotion

and corr skills get that ornage net skill (dragon hawks ensare one) and corr stats to lvl 6. Choose wards(ultimate), go to enemy hero place wards behind him and then immedeatly use the net skill. So x 2 dmg he is dead. A neat trick is u can kinda control the wards, double click on them and right click the enemy hero, they will attack him only and not waste time on creeps. Dead hero for sure.

Mid/late game:

Max out net and start forked lightning, get perseverance+mystic staff for Aganims Sceptre which improves ultimate to 12 from 8 wards..so nice boost there. Keep warding[low cooldown about 60 secs] behind hero and net him..this works great even against strgh heros. For best results place wards around the hero for sure kill. Get lothars edge to windwalk when low hp when he does the ultimate. Get Boots of travel to chase down heros who live ur hero skill spell as treads are not fast enuff. If u have more cash get Hyperstone/Aegis. Try it out!

[oLp]

With the Phantom Assassin, you should probably go BS/SS instead of Blur/BS. SS is a very good slowing skill and it does a lot of damage. Unless you're planning on chasing enemies through towers (which you shouldn't) or you have no regen (which you shouldn't), blur isn't too useful. Usually, I get level 2 shadowstrike to keep the mana cost low and get the 20/3 dmg/s then I max out blink strike and blur, respectively. Once I get into mid game, I'll finish maxing out shadowstrike, because I'll have enough mana by then.

[NEoob]

Manta Style is a must for SA. 3 of them little bastards is more than most can handle. Plus it is the best counter for the hated gem.

[G-Blunted]

Actually with phantom assassin i like to get Blur and BlinkStrike and once those are maxed get stats and never really get shadow strike. Blur is actually pretty good because at level 4 you get really hard to see, and you can actually get a few hits in before he even knows you're standing right next to him. Also you can actually be hard to click on sometimes if you blinkstrike next to melee hero with lots of creeps around him :p

[AvengerxZ]

You should always, pleas let me stress that some more, always get at least one point in shadow strike early game. It is not used as a nuke for the PA, it is merely a slow that makes her able to kill early game. Without a slow she has to rely on only getting hits from blink strike and before they run away from you. Just get one point early and you'll net more kills, trust me.

[IC.Shadow]

Yeah, not going at least one point into SS is foolish, because it allows you to get kills on fleeing heroes that have very low hitpoints. It also slows movement speed down enough to get in one or two extra free hits. I always went SS/Blur/SS/Blur/SS/Coup dé Gras/SS/Blur/Blur/Blink Strike/CdG to level 11. SS is just too good for hero kills. And PA was one of my best heroes, and I rarely ever died with her in any game, so it definitely works well.

[Lee-volution]

Pathing and moving is something I feel is extremely important and is overlooked by the average player. The most basic thing is using hill and fog of war advantage, or keeping from the same spot. I can get into detail about it, but in short, keep in mind of how you move and put yourself in your opponents perspective.

[aRKaNg3l]

Hiding in the bushes is an important skill to discover. If someone calls a hero missing just hide in the trees at the top or bottom of the map. This has saved me many times.

[MajinAj]

Shadow Hunter- Rhasta


I prefer going 1 skill and stats till level 9 as it helps mana conservation esp for Strg and Agi heros and in some cases Int heros.

Early Game:

Flask x 2 and Mana pots x 2
Boots ---> Treads
Ring+Sobi---> Basillus for dual aura- briallance and devotion

and corr skills get that ornage net skill (dragon hawks ensare one) and corr stats to lvl 6. Choose wards(ultimate), go to enemy hero place wards behind him and then immedeatly use the net skill. So x 2 dmg he is dead. A neat trick is u can kinda control the wards, double click on them and right click the enemy hero, they will attack him only and not waste time on creeps. Dead hero for sure.

Mid/late game:

Max out net and start forked lightning, get perseverance+mystic staff for Aganims Sceptre which improves ultimate to 12 from 8 wards..so nice boost there. Keep warding[low cooldown about 60 secs] behind hero and net him..this works great even against strgh heros. For best results place wards around the hero for sure kill. Get lothars edge to windwalk when low hp when he does the ultimate. Get Boots of travel to chase down heros who live ur hero skill spell as treads are not fast enuff. If u have more cash get Hyperstone/Aegis. Try it out!



I prefer this skill set is to start with lightning, net. Max those with serpents.

Once you hit lvl 6 is when you start getting gutsy and watch for low hp heroes. Prey on agil heroes especially since your 300dmg lightning takes a chunk out of crime. Rack up hero kills.

Go... 2 wraith bands, treads, aghanims, guinsoos/refresher, guinsoos/refresher, replace a wraith band with radience, then replace a wraith band with desolator. I forget what this gets you, but it turns you into a tank with seemlingly limitless mana, very decent and high hp for a int hero and the ability to drop 24 73 dmg wards when it is necessary. Also with 2 hexes, at 3 and 4 seconds, you can lightning, hit, hit, 4 sec hex, net, 3 sec hex, hit hit lightning.. etc. You may eventually want to replace treads with boots of travel so you can track down people. Your damage is over +180 at the least and with stygian desolator.. your dmg does more of its real #. Now you're a ranged tyrant that can dish it out. You can farm like a beast cause of your 300dmg fork lightning etc. When you need to get away you just hex...

The refresher/guinsoo is up to you in importance. I say you really need both but depending on your effectiveness and skill; having another hex or set of 12 serpents just needs to be your decision. I only AP with Rhasta. I call him Rhastafarian!

Oh and if anyone sees a dude with a black, red, or green spoof named RawR~... that is me hosting xD

[AvengerxZ]

Why in God's name would you ever want to get wraith bands on Rhasta? If anything you should go bracers or null talismans due to his spell combo costing a large sum of mana and his health being so low. My Rhasta build usually goes as follows.

Skill Build

Shackles
Fork Lightning
Shackles
Fork Lightning
Fork Lightning
Shackles
Fork Lightning
Shackles
Hex
Serpent Wards
Serpent Wards
Hex
Hex
Hex
Stats
Serpent Wards


If I am soloing I will get wards at level six instead of ten and eleven. I find maxing shackles and fork early game when laned with a partner is a sure way to net you a kill when you don't really need wards. My item build varies from game to game. I generally get a few of the following items.

Item Selection

Eul's Scepter of Divinity - Introducing the ultimate in ward surround technology! This item's usefulnesss and impact on Rhasta's play-style is very obvious. This gives some very much needed
Dagger of Escape - Dagger doesn't seem like the best investment for Rhasta but it can be used to counter alot of his disadvantages. Rhasta is one of the slowest heroes in the game with a move speed of 275, this seriously limits any chance he has of chasing most heroes unless shackles and hex are cooled down. He also does not have much of an escape mechanism if he is being attacked by multiple heroes. Dagger counters both of these problems quite nicely by giving you the option to persue your enemy with blink and get in extra disables or flee the fight and fight another day.
Necronomicon - Being an intelligence hero, Rhasta does not have much in the health department. While there are multiple routes you can go, if you choose, to correct this problem necronomicon gives you a lot of other benefits on top of increased health and mana. The two summons are incredibly deadly with the combined disable of shackles and hex as well as giving you an extra nuke with mana burn.
Aghanim's Scepter - The other item that will be your main means of survival by adding a huge chunk of health and mana onto your fragile ass. Of course I can't leave out the fact that it makes your ultimate just that much more useful.

[G-Blunted]

Ya I agree with shackles+forked first....forked can really help you farm which is most important early game. And I like the sound of lothar's too. Because Shackles+Wards is basically a free kill early->mid game, and lothar's would help you pull that off pretty much every time.

Also don't forget wards can really help take down towers and/or farm! :)

[G-Blunted]

Ok so dual null talismans on Dragon Knight is thanks early game!!! I don't know exactly how many extra bolts it gave me, but it gave me enough for some nice kills early!!

[G-Blunted]

Crystals -> Buriz is thanks for Neurubian SPinner...goes well with his Double Attack thingy (orb) and doesn't interfere with orb...then maybe Butterfly and MKB....no need for Perserverance I find...Ring of Health as always tho is thx to start...

[CephalicCarnage]

would an sa with a couple radiances be very annoying? invisible just run around and deal damage to ppl

[IC.Shadow]

would an sa with a couple radiances be very annoying? invisible just run around and deal damage to ppl
No, because then they know you are near them.

Radiance is the single worst item in the game to get for Clinkz or SA because, unless your opponents are idiots and don't know how to use Wards, using Radiance on a hero that is invisible will simply make them put down a Ward, nuke and stun you, and you'll most likely wind up dead. It totally defeats the purpose of sneak attacks. There are much better items for them. Radiance is really only good on the Lightning Revenant.

[AvengerxZ]

No, because then they know you are near them.

Radiance is the single worst item in the game to get for Clinkz or SA because, unless your opponents are idiots and don't know how to use Wards, using Radiance on a hero that is invisible will simply make them put down a Ward, nuke and stun you, and you'll most likely wind up dead. It totally defeats the purpose of sneak attacks. There are much better items for them. Radiance is really only good on the Lightning Revenant and Medusa.Fixed.

[p2L-IntrepiD]

No, because then they know you are near them.

Radiance is the single worst item in the game to get for Clinkz or SA because, unless your opponents are idiots and don't know how to use Wards, using Radiance on a hero that is invisible will simply make them put down a Ward, nuke and stun you, and you'll most likely wind up dead. It totally defeats the purpose of sneak attacks. There are much better items for them. Radiance is really only good on the Lightning Revenant, Medusa, and Pudge .

Double Fix.

[N!Jr]

Agreed, Wraith bands r pratically useless compared to nulls n bracers especially if u placed it on Rhasta

[mister[xy]]

Wards really own, i would always get them as soon as possible. if u get ganged or sth. like that wards can kill like 2 other heros. But they are not only hero killers. If u place them near a tower, the tower will go down very fast, and you will get the gold for it for 80%. I go aganims first, the soulbooster is very important for more mana and more HP, and with aganims your serpent wards are just godlike.