In preparation for my Dota 2 match, I was fortunate to get a coaching session with N9.blackshatan. He said that the normal procedure is to go over a replay together, and then he would coach me while I played a game, but I think the games I watched to watch might have been too old and were discarded by the replay server or something, as we weren't able to download any of my old games. Instead, we played a few 1v1 mid games, while he gave me some pointers for the laning stage.
The start was fine, and I managed to "get the bounty rune" (it doesn't spawn in 1v1 mid games) and block the creep wave so that we met mostly in the middle. The first point he raised with me is that if the lane was 1v1, and I wasn't struggling too much to get last hits, I shouldn't waste mana on raze to get last hits. However, there are some exceptions. If I am going to raze, and I will be able to hit the other player in addition to hitting the creeps, then it's good. Or, if the enemy ranged creep is at risk of being denied, it can be worth it.
He told me that ranged creeps are worth more gold and exp than melee creeps (42-48 compared to 34-38 gold and 90 compared to 40 exp). I had no idea! Wow, I feel so dumb. I always thought it was worth denying them because they kill creeps faster and tend to push the lane.
The first thing we worked on was drawing creep aggro to try and get a better farming position. Right-clicking on an enemy hero causes enemy creeps within 400 (?) range to aggro onto you. Even if the enemy hero is out of range, or even in another lane! It's something you can do to pull the creeps towards you even if you're unopposed in lane. The creeps will drop aggro in about a second though, so if you want to pull them quite far towards you, you need to aggro, walk back, aggro, walk back, etc.
So this position is quite bad for me, not just because I can't see him up the hill, but because he is uphill, if I ever wanted to manfight him, I'd lose simply because of the added 25% uphill miss chance. This also means that he is able to take pot shots at me with very little to lose.
At 2 minutes in, look at the difference in our two heroes:
He is nearly full HP / mana, and though you can't see it from the image, he is level 4 and has 20 souls obtained. I am on about a third HP and half mana, level 3, and only have 3 souls. Even though the lane is pushed in my favour, I can't afford to get in close right now, because I'm so low, and so he can freely farm right in front of me. The huge difference in our situations is mainly because of his superior positioning and what it has allowed him to do. (Well, not the low mana part, that is entirely my fault. But with shrines not activating until 5 minutes in, it's not a good start for me.) The game is pretty much over for me at this point, and he said that this is the strategy he usually uses if he has to play a game against low matchmaking rank (MMR) players - edge out your opponent in your lane so you can get strong, then go and dominate another lane and snowball out of control.
He said I should really be shipping myself a set of tangoes after picking up a bounty rune. Not a salve, because the efficiency of a salve is only when I'm really low, and ideally, I shouldn't get to that stage, whereas I can heal up small chunks of damage with tangoes. It also means I can eat a happy tree without having to run back to the treeline and lose out on creep kills. In a real game though (without bots), I'd normally be pooled two tangoes, and in that case, I'd get a salve.
I asked if it was ever worth not getting Necromastery at level 1, and he said no. Even in the rare case where getting raze first would net you first blood, he said you have to consider what it's going to do once you get back to lane, as you'll get back to lane with no mana, no ability to get extra damage via souls.
I also asked what I should do if my three opponents just all sit in mid lane together. He replied that I should use this creep aggro thing to try and draw the creeps towards my tower and farm them as best I can. Eventually, they should lose out on EXP, since they'll be sharing it. If they are really aggressive, I can always double raze any waves that I can, and then retreat into the jungle.
We spoke about which items to get at the start. He said Wraith Band, Iron Branch and Faerie Fire all work well. When it comes to boots vs bottle first, he said that in general, go bottle, but if I am against a hero that I can kill early if I have the speed advantage, then go for boots first. In this game, he went boots first, and after harrassing me a bit with razes, he was able to chase me down because of his speed advantage, and even though I ran around, past the shrine and back to my tower, I still ended up dying as his creeps had pushed up to the tower and he was able to slowly catch up to me.
If I'm full mana, I should try to get off an opportunistic raze - either to pick off a ranged creep, or harass the enemy hero. It's good to get chip damage on the tower if the lane is pushed, and if the enemy hero ever leaves the lane, try to push the tower (if it's safe).
He also mentioned keeping an eye on the creep difference. It's something Pharmacist does well, and I never remember to do.
In the above screenshot, he has 6 creeps to my 4. Which means if we try to fight each other right now, with all other things being equal (level, HP, damage, etc.), he will win because more of his creeps will attack me than my creeps attack him.
With regards to my mindset, he said I play like I'm really scared - probably because I am.
At this moment here, he turns around to raze the ranged creep (because it's not safe for him to last hit it otherwise), but what I should have been doing was standing at the top of the stairs and going for the deny, rather than being behind my creeps. There is no way he can 1v1 me right now, as I have the uphill advantage, and an entire wave of creeps to back me up, so I shouldn't be so far away. If I didn't want to go for the deny, at least I'd be better placed to get a few hits off on him while he razes the creeps.
Misc tips
- if the lane is pushed up to their tower, you can try and get some hits onto the enemy hero, as they'll often be too focused on trying to last hit under the tower that they won't be in the best position to avoid attacks, and also tend to lose track of what the enemy hero is doing. Same applies to denying - if the enemy hero looks like they're focused on trying to get a deny off, you can usually get a couple of hits in.
- try to maximise bottle usage to heal both health and mana, if possible. So don't be afraid to take some hits which you can heal up with bottle later.
- as soon as the enemy player leaves the lane, double raze the wave and push the tower hard.
- if both of the creep waves are full, or nearly full HP, try to aggro them towards you, or try and get some hits off on the other hero. Don't just stand around doing nothing.
- don't be too concerned if the wave pushes into the enemy tower. It's harder for your opponent to last hit under the tower, and the tower will cause the wave equilibrium to come back in your direction soon.You can use this opportunity to hit the enemy hero, or start chipping away at the tower.
- always check your opponent's items - it's important to know when they have boots and you don't, or vice versa, as it can mean a kill or a death with the speed difference.
After a few 1v1 games, I played an all pick game with him in the coach slot, and then we went over the replay. I will cover that in tomorrow's post.
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