Ambush Attack

Different Ways to Gank

(1) Sven chases the Lina, thinking that she is alone.

Casual Entrapment. A lot of ganks begin as a game of entrapment. You, as a lone hero, scout an area and find an enemy hero, which would most probably try and chase you down; it's human nature to feel superior against another who bids a hasty retreat with your presence. This works to your advantage.

You can set the trap prior to baiting the hero, or make your allies aware of the enemy following your tail. They can come to your assistance to help you dispose of the threat. If he chases you closer to your territory, it will be harder for him to have any support from his teammates, especially if he follows you blindly.

At some point during the game, this kind of gank become too obvious for the experienced player, and will realize that he is going too deep into enemy territory, and back off.

(2) Vengeful Spirit stuns Sven. This could end up in a 2v1 battle with Sven dead.

Scouting Jungle. There are some popular “jungling” heroes, which do not play on a lane, but rather kill the creeps in the forest. These heroes should be ganked if possible, since good junglers can make a good amount of money without disturbance from enemy heroes.

Usually, heroes who farm the jungle early game push their hitpoints as low as possible. Catching them at a bad time would spell an early death for such a player. Keep an eye on the lanes – if there’s one less hero, he’s probably killing creeps in the jungle. Use the command –ma (to see the enemy heroes’ level) and –afk (to make sure that the player is indeed playing and not idle). If the “missing” enemy hero is not afk and is gaining levels, then scouring the woods by yourself or with a teammate every so often is a good idea to disturb and kill a jungling hero.

Good Old Ambush. The traditional, most straight-up way to gank a hero is simply considered a heat of the moment opportunity, where one takes advantage of a given situation. Many times, heroes will venture too far out of their safe zones when they are unopposed by an enemy for some time. Moving through the forest to ambush the hero is standard for DotA games.

How to Avoid Ganks

The minimap is your friend.

The concept of avoiding ganks is easier said than done.

To ultimately avoid being a victim of ganks, the most important thing to keep in mind is map awareness. Checking the minimap every so often makes you more alert regarding enemy whereabouts. Early game, heroes tend to stay on one lane most of the time.

If one enemy hero leaves his lane, there are a couple of things that he could have done: He can either have gone back to the fountain to heal and buy some items, check runes, or ultimately, orchestrate a gank.

As part of a team, it’s somewhat your duty to call missing heroes. This means you should tell your allies that your lane’s enemy heroes are missing in action. You can do this by simply typing “missing (your lane)” or any variable of that such as “mis bottom” or “mia top”. This would greatly help your allies be more aware of their surroundings as well.

Another way to avoid ganks is investing in the purchase of Observer Wards. These items give you a line of sight on areas where heroes might attempt a gank (such as forest entry and exitways) so you can move away when you see incoming enemy heroes.

Effective Heroes for Ganking

Some heroes are best at lane control, some heroes are best at tanking; logically some heroes are best at ganks -- here comes a list of the more appropriated heroes for ganks, divided in several categories.

Nukers

This might be the most useful category for ganks -- all of these heroes have very powerful abilities that allow them to kill an isolated hero quickly.

(1) Tinker takes advantage of two enemy heroes that have been taking damage.

Lion (Demon Witch)

Probably the most deadly nuker in early game thanks to his powerful ultimate -- Finger of Death. Catching a hero unaware and using the stun and hex combo, plus the ultimate usually spells death for most heroes at low levels. Coupled with a teammate, it's deadly!

Lina (Slayer)

This hero is very similar to Lion. Indeed, just as Lion, Lina owns a deadly ultimate which deals 450 damage at level 1. Also, Lina has a stunning spell (Light Strike Array) and an area-of-effect spell (Dragon Slave). In a team, Lina and Lion combined make a lethal early-game combo.

Boush (Tinker)

(2) Double nukes leave the two heroes scrambling home. Tinker manages to kill Luna.

Tinker is the best nuker of DotA mainly due to his two powers -- Heat Seeking Missle and Laser, which deals more than 600 damage combined. Boush's ultimate is also very useful, it refreshes all of his powers and item cooldowns.

Kel'Thuzad (Lich)

Lich is a perfect hero to hunt and gang in woods since his ultimate is made to be casted when there are several units. Make sure to use your ultimate when there is at least TWO units nearby (including your target hero) since the nova needs to bounce between units. Casting it while there are too many units makes it less potent, as it might not hit your target hero more than once.

Akasha (Queen of Pain)

Here is one of the most dangerous heroes of DotA, at anytime of the game. Because of her blink ability, she can enter and leave the fight easily and cast her spells. She can surprise an enemy with Blink and catch them unaware, initiating the gank. She also has very powerful spells that allow her to deal a lot of damage to her enemies.

Hunters

These are all the heroes which are very good launching surprise attacks due to their skills which can make them invisible or can help them scouting.

Anub'arak (Nerubian Assassin)

Anub'arak is THE hero made to gank, give him a Dagon and he can get rid of anything. Thanks to his ultimate which allows him to become invisible and deal up to 525 damage at higher levels. He can also stun and mana burn his opponents. Attacking while invisible (ultimate) deals damage, combined with the mana burn and stun damage usually spells death of several low hp early game heroes.

(1) Invisible Nerubian Assassin scouts creeping spots.

Rexxar (Beastmaster)

The main point of playing Rexxar is using his pets. Indeed, he has a power which allows him to call two animals -- a Quill Beast, which can slow his targets, and a Hawk, which become invisible at level 4 and allows you to follow every move of one hero. Plus, his ultimate is kind of very powerful because of its cooldown and its stunning ability.

Rikimaru (Stealth Assassin)

This little guy owns an ultimate which makes him invisible permanently when he is not attacking. One of his spells -- Smoke Screen -- inhibits the casting of spells and cancels channeled spells in its area of effect. The biggest advantage of playing Rikimaru is that you can change lane or go to the woods very easily, since it's really hard for the enemies to know if you are gone or not.

Gondar (Bounty Hunter)

This hero is made to hunt. His ultimate -- Track -- allows him to move faster, to see the prey he casted his spell on and gives him a gold bonus if he manages to kill it. He also has a powerful nuke -- Shuriken Toss – which deals direct damage to the enemy. He can also become invisible and deal extra damage thanks to his critical strike ability.

Others

Luna (Moon Rider)

Luna is one of those heroes you cannot fight in a single duel. His ultimate casts until 16 Lucent Beams on every enemy units in the area and so deals a lot of damage. If you are all alone against Luna and he uses his ultimate, you will take all the Beams and probably die. Equipping Luna with Lothar's Edge is always smart -- you just need to find an isolated hero, make sure he is not circled by too many allied units and cast your ultimate for an instant kill!

Chen (Prophet)

Chen is the best "foresting" hero due to his ability to control creeps and give them extra life. You can control until 3 creeps and use their powers which are stuns, slows or net. He can also slow his enemies and deal them random damage. He has also the power of healing all his allied heroes wherever they are in the map.

Balanar (Night Stalker)

Balanar has two sides. By day, he is not very useful -- he does not move and attack very fast and his powers do not have special characteristics. However, by night, he becomes close to immortal. All of his powers are buffed and gain extra effects, like slow or silence, and he moves and attack very fast. That's why Balanar is made to be discreet by day, and gank everyone by night.

Gondar ( Bounty Hunter)

The Bounty Hunter is a melee ranged agility hero with an array of useful skills that help chasing, killing, and escaping the enemy. His early game revolves around surviving and harassing intelligence heroes and low HP heroes to give him that edge in level. His high agility (but relatively low strength and intelligence) leaves much to be desired, but nothing that can't be remedied by careful play and items.

Typically the Bounty Hunter starts to grow weaker as the game progresses as your HP pool is low, but with the right items Bounty Hunter can carry however there are always better options. At most Bounty Hunter fulfills the role of a Chaser.

Skills:

Shuriken Toss

The Bounty Hunter throws a shuriken at a target unit, dealing damage.

Level 1 - 100 damage. Mana - 90
Level 2 - 200 damage. Mana - 115
Level 3 - 250 damage. Mana - 135
Level 4 - 325 damage. Mana - 155

Your bread and butter nuke with a slight stun effect. It's great for interrupting channeling and following up to finish a stand-still target. It's got a brief cast time so it's not ideal for firing in-chase unless you're sure it'll K.O. Excellent for harassing.

Windwalk

Turns invisible for a period of time. Deals bonus backstab damage. Transition time decreases per level.

Level 1 - 30 backstab damage, lasts 15 seconds. Mana - 50
Level 2 - 60 backstab damage, lasts 20 seconds. Mana - 50
Level 3 - 90 backstab damage, lasts 25 seconds. Mana - 50
Level 4 - 120 backstab damage, lasts 30 seconds. Mana - 50

Great for harassing, escaping, and getting around the map without being seen. It's a very handy skill.

Jinada

Gives a % chance to evade attacks and 15% chance to deal extra damage.

Level 1 - 5% dodge, 1.25 critical multiplier.
Level 2 - 10% dodge, 1.5 critical multiplier.
Level 3 - 15% dodge, 1.75 critical multiplier.
Level 4 - 20% dodge, 2 critical multiplier.


A decent skill, considering it's a jack-of-all trades when it comes to Critical and Evasion. The evasion is useful, but not greatly so considering how fragile you are. Ideally, you want to avoid getting hit at all costs. The 15% chance to critical hit is extremely useful for you in the mid/end game.


Track

Tracks an enemy hero for 30 seconds or until it dies. You gain 20% movement speed increase. If you kill a hero, you pawn its head for extra money.


Level 1 - Any hero kill is worth 50 bonus gold, reduces target's armor by 1. Mana - 100
Level 2 - Any hero kill is worth 100 extra gold, reduces target's armor by 2. Mana - 75
Level 3 - Any hero kill is worth 150 extra gold, reduces target's armor by 4. Mana - 50

A useful skill for chasing and/or keeping tabs on your enemies. It's also handy for giving you a brief boost of speed to get places a little bit faster. The extra gold is icing on the cake.


Builds

Lvl 1: Shuriken
Lvl 2: Windwalk
Lvl 3: Shuriken
Lvl 4: Windwalk
Lvl 5: Shuriken
Lvl 6: Windwalk
Lvl 7: Shuriken
Lvl 8: Track
Lvl 9: Windwalk
Lvl 10: Jinada
Lvl 11: Track
Lvl 12: Jinada
Lvl 13: Jinada
Lvl 14: Jinada
Lvl 15: Stats
Lvl 16: Track
Lvl 17+: Stats

A standard build that is fairly universal. Track can be interchanged to be gotten at lvl 6 (pending your mana issues) or after you cap windwalk and shuriken. I, personally, prefer capping Shuriken first atleast. By this point in the game with proper harassment with WW and maybe a Shuri (..or two) you can manage chasing with Track until you can land your final Shuriken. If things are going great and you start to build a level gain over the opponent (mainly -em games) one might consider a few stats plugs before Jinada or Track (Lvl 11) since Bounty's early game is extremely mana intensive if you intend on harassing as well as you can.

Item Builds

There are many different kinds of builds for Bounty since he's kind of a jack-of-all trades. One can play him as a debuffer/chaser at end-game by getting Sheep Stick and/or Shiva's Guard. Or you can do a carry-esque build.

My typical build is..

1. Bottle
2. Null Talisman
3. Bracer
4. Boots
5. Sange & Yasha
6. Monkey King Bar

In anything but EM, Bottle is a no brainer. Mana regen (Basilus/Void Stone) are great alternatives if you're farming is excellent. Also useful to turn the Void into a Pers and eventually a Linken's Sphere which will help you fend against nukers which can make quick work of you- if you aren't careful.

Besides bottle the build is pretty standard. I prefer to keep Boots as the regular item. Treads are optional as you won't really need the small boost of run speed and the enemy won't typically let you wail on them. Travels are a good idea, however only after completing S/Y and MKB.

MKB and S/Y are interchangeable. It really depends on how bad you need the HP from S/Y and/or how bad you need the damage/interrupt from MKB. Typically if you're against 1-2 heavy nukers then S/Y is the best choice.

Gameplay Tips

- Don't worry if you don't go on a massacre early on. Be patient and farm and keep and eye out on low HP heroes
- Don't be afraid of packing extra regen. You've got very low HP and you can kill Intelligence heroes very quick (most of them, anyways) however they can also blow through you pretty easily as well.
- Never go out of Windwalk without the skill nearing it's cooldown. There's always exceptions. Use your best judgement.
- Don't be greedy! The bane of many early game harassers/hero killers is they get far too greedy. Tower diving and taking on full HP heroes equal level to you is silly.

Defense Of The Ancients

Defense of the Ancients (DotA) is a custom scenario for the real-time strategy video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, based on the "Aeon of Strife" map for StarCraft. The objective of the scenario is for each team to destroy the opponents' Ancients, heavily guarded structures at opposing corners of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes, and are assisted by allied heroes and AI-controlled fighters called "creeps". As in role-playing games, players level up their hero and use gold to buy equipment during the mission.^[2]

The scenario was developed with the "World Editor" of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and was updated upon the release of the expansion, The Frozen Throne. There have been many variations of the original concept; the most popular is DotA Allstars, which has been maintained by several authors during development. The current developer is known by his pseudonym as "IceFrog", and has been developing the game since 2005.

Since its release, Allstars has become a feature at several worldwide tournaments, including Blizzard Entertainment's BlizzCon and the Asian World Cyber Games, as well as the Cyberathlete Amateur and CyberEvolution leagues; Gamasutra declared that DotA was perhaps the most popular "free, non-supported game mod in the world".^[3]

Defense of the Ancients pits two teams of players against each other: the Sentinel and the Scourge. Players on the Sentinel team are based at the southwest corner of the map, and those on the Scourge team are based at the northeast corner. Each base is defended by towers and waves of units which guard the main paths leading to their base. In the center of each base is the "Ancient", a building that must be destroyed to win the game.^[4][5]

Each human player controls one Hero, a powerful unit with unique abilities. In Allstars, players on each side choose one of ninety-five heroes, each with different abilities and tactical advantages over other heroes.^[6] The scenario is highly team-oriented; it is difficult for one player to carry the team to victory alone.^[7] Nevertheless, some heroes, given enough time, can change the outcome single-handedly, while countering the opposing team's heroes. Defense of the Ancients allows up to ten players in a five versus five format and an additional two slots for referees or observers, often with an equal number of players on each side.

Because the gameplay revolves around strengthening individual heroes, it does not require one to focus on resource management and base-building, as in most traditional real-time strategy games. Killing computer-controlled or neutral units earns the player experience points; when enough experience is accumulated, the player gains a level. Leveling up improves the hero's toughness and the damage it can inflict, and allows players to upgrade their spells or skills. In addition to accumulating experience, players also manage a single resource: gold. The typical resource gathering of Warcraft III is replaced by a combat-oriented money system; in addition to a small periodic income, heroes earn gold by killing hostile units, base structures, and enemy heroes.^[8] This gives rise to a technique called last hitting, which is when the player attacks a hostile unit when "its hit points are low enough to kill it with one blow".^[9] Using gold, players buy items to strengthen their hero and gain abilities. Certain items can be combined with recipes to create more powerful items. Buying items that suit one's hero is an important tactical element of the scenario.^[10]

Allstars offers a variety of game modes, selected by the game host at the beginning of the match. The game modes dictate the difficulty of the scenario, as well as whether people can choose their hero or are assigned one randomly. Many game modes can be combined (for example, an easy difficulty level and a random hero pick), allowing more flexible options.^[11]

Development

Warcraft III is the third title in the Warcraft series of real-time strategy games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. As with Warcraft II, Blizzard included a free "world editor" in the game that allows players to create custom scenarios or "maps" for the game, which can be played online with other players through Battle.net.^[12] These custom scenarios can be simple terrain changes, which play like normal Warcraft games, or they can be entirely new game scenarios with custom objectives, units, items, and events, like Defense of the Ancients.^[12]

The first version of Defense of the Ancients was released in 2003 by a mapmaker under the alias Eul,^[13] who based the map on a previous StarCraft scenario known as "Aeon of Strife",^[11] After the release of Warcraft's expansion The Frozen Throne, which added new features to the World Editor, Eul did not update the scenario.^[14] Other mapmakers produced spinoffs that added new heroes, items, and features.^[13]

Among the DotA variants created in the wake of Eul's map included Allstars, developed by modder Steve Feak (under the alias Guinsoo); this version would become the most popular version of the map.^[15] Feak said when he began developing Allstars he had no idea how popular the game would eventually become; the emerging success of the gametype inspired him to design a new title around what he considered an emerging game genre.^[16] Feak added a recipe system for items so that player's equipment would scale as they grew more powerful, as well as a powerful boss character called Roshan (named after his bowling ball) who required an entire team to defeat.^[13]

Feak used a battle.net chat channel as a place for DotA players to congregate,^[13] but DotA Allstars had no official site for discussions and hosting. The leaders of the DotA Allstars clan, TDA, proposed that a dedicated web site be created to replace the various online alternatives that were infrequently updated or improperly maintained. TDA member Steve "Pendragon" Mescon created the former official community site, dota-allstars.com, on October 14, 2004.^[17]

Towards the end of his association with the map, Feak primarily worked on optimizing the map before handing over control to another developer after version 6.01. The new author, IceFrog, added new features, heroes, and fixes. Each release is accompanied with a changelog.^[18] IceFrog is notoriously reclusive, refusing to give interviews; the only evidence of IceFrog's authorship was the map maker's email account on the official website and the name branded on the game's loading screen.^[3] Icefrog now interacts with players through a personal blog where he answers common questions players have about him and about the game.^[19] He has also posted information about upcoming map releases, including previews of new heroes and items.^[20] In October 2009, Icefrog was hired by Valve Corporation, leading a team in a project that he has described as "great news for DotA fans".^[21]

Defense of the Ancients is maintained via official forums. Users can post ideas for new heroes or items, some of which are added to the map. Players have contributed icons and hero descriptions and created the artwork displayed while the map loads, and suggestions for changes to existing heroes or items are taken seriously; IceFrog once changed a new hero less than two weeks after the new version of the map was released.^[3] Versions of the scenario where enemy heroes are controlled by artificial intelligences have also been released. Mescon continues to maintain dota-allstars.com, which as of April 2009 has 1.5 million registered members and receives more than a million unique visitors each month. New team members have been added to roll out visual and system improvements to the site.^[17] IceFrog announced due to conflict of interest that he would be boycotting dota-allstars.com and starting his own web site while continuing game development.^[22]

Because Warcraft III custom games have none of the features designed to improve game quality (matchmaking players based on connection speed, etc.), various programs are used to maintain Defense of the Ancients. External tools ping player's locations, and games can be named to exclude geographic regions.^[3] Clans and committees such as TDA maintain their own official list of rules and regulations, and players can be kicked from matches by being placed on "banlists".^[3]

Reception and legacy

The top three finalists from the first World Cyber Games Defense of the Ancients championship

The popularity of Defense of the Ancients has increased over time. The scenario was featured by Computer Gaming World in a review of new maps and mods in Warcraft III,^[23] and was called "the ultimate RTS" by game journalist and developer Luke Smith.^[24] Allstars became an important tournament scenario, starting with its prominence at the debut of Blizzard's BlizzCon convention in 2005.^[25] Allstars was also featured in the Malaysia and Singapore World Cyber Games starting in 2005, and the World Cyber Games Asian Championships beginning with the 2006 season.^[26] Defense of the Ancients was included in the game lineup for the internationally recognized Cyberathlete Amateur League and CyberEvolution leagues.^[27] Additionally, the scenario appeared in Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) 2008;^[28][29] Oliver Paradis, ESWC's competition manager, noted that the high level of community support behind the scenario, as well as its worldwide appeal, were among the reasons it was chosen.^[30]

The scenario is popular in many parts of the world; in the Philippines and Thailand, it is played as much as the game Counter-Strike.^[31][32] It is also popular in Sweden and other Northern European countries, where the Defense of the Ancients-inspired song "Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA" by Swedish musician Basshunter reached the European 2006 charts at #116 and cracked the top ten Singles Charts in Sweden, Norway,^[33] and Finland.^[34] LAN tournaments are a major part of worldwide play,^[30] including tournaments in Sweden and Russia; however, due to a lack of LAN tournaments and championships in North America, several teams disbanded.^[31] Blizzard points to DotA as an example of what dedicated mapmakers can create using developer's tools.^[35]

In June 2008, Michael Walbridge, writing for Gamasutra, stated that DotA "is likely the most popular and most-discussed free, non-supported game mod in the world".^[3] In pointing to the strong community built around the game, Walbridge stated that DotA shows it is much easier for a community game to be maintained by the community, and this is one of the maps' greatest strengths. Defense of the Ancients has been credited as one of the influences for the 2009 Gas Powered Games title Demigod,^[36][37] with the video game publication GameSpy noting the game's premise revolved around aspiring gods "[playing] DotA in real life".^[38] Guinsoo went on to apply many of the mechanics and lessons he learned from Defense of the Ancients to the upcoming Riot Games title League of Legends: Clash of Fates.^[16] Other "DotA clones" include S2 Games' Heroes of Newerth.^[39][40]

Dota Tactics

DotA Tactics There's a wide variety of tactics for playing DotA, and there's no way anyone can describe all of them (though DotA's homepage try very hard to do that, and the forum got tons of information, and many different tactics). In this guide guide we will just scratch the surface of the tactics in DotA, with some (important) information for newbies, as well as a the average players. Denying Creeps Denying creeps is essential in the beginning. At level 1 in easymode, you need about 3 or 4 creeps to gain a new level. Denying an opponent a creep will give you the upperhand. You don't just reduce the amount of experience your opponents get, you also deny them the chance of recieving gold from the creeps. To deny a creep, you must deal the killing blow to your own creeps (you can only attack your own creeps when they have lesss than 50% of their maximum hp). Towers Most DotA players may know this, or have experienced it, but here is some pointers about attacking towers anyway. If your creeps are attacking the opponents creeps, and none of you creeps attack the tower, the tower will make you it's first priority if you start hitting it. If your creeps are attacking the tower, it is safe for you to attack it without worrying about it hitting you. An exception to the statement above is if you have lower hp than the creeps, as the towers seem to focus on units with low hp first The tower will also start attack you, if you start hitting an enemy hero, in the vicinity of a tower. An exception to this, is if that hero already is taking damage from your teams creeps. Always be careful around towers, it's unwise to let them knock your face in when it is not needed. Powerups Powerups are a great boost, for several reasons. They may give you time to escape, give you a bigger chance of killing an oponent, or even if it's just giving you the chance of staying longer in combat. Most players, if not all, know that when they are chased by enemy players, taking a detour to a spot where a powerup may be, can save their lives. To read up on powerups, and what different kinds there are, check out the Powerups on our DotA review page. Speed is essential Now, people who have not played DotA at all, or just a few times might think: "500 gold for boots of speed!? Hell no! They wont help me survive or do more damage". Well, maybe there's no player in the world who thinks so, but the point is that, without speed, you will be an easy target for other heroes, and you won't be able to kill other heroes often. Though, to some heroes, speed is not as important as to others. This is because many heroes in the game got "blink" abilities, that teleport you a certain distance, and can indeed be used both to chase other heroes, and for the grand escape. The lesson I wish to teach is that, always keep track of how fast your hero is, otherwise those other items you have gotten won't do you any good.

AnuB'arak

1. What's the first thing that goes through your head about Anub'Arak?

Whisper: Annoying. The hero is very annoying. His mana burn makes it very frustrating to lane against him. Also, you always have to watch your back or he'll backstab you with Vendetta. He forces the other team to alter their play.

Loda: Gang-er.

zenition: Excellent ganker, lethal but fragile.

2. How different is playing Anub'Arak in competitive and friendly games?

Whisper: In friendly games people tend to purchase less observer and sentry wards. This allows NA to run amok uninhibited, and kill any people wandering off alone. In competitive play, his effect can be limited through smart playing, map awareness, and good ward vision.

Loda: Well, when it comes to NA it's a lot easier to dominate friendly games than competitive games. In friendly games people are much worse at getting wards and sentries etc., but when it comes to competitive games he can often be made useless if you just plant enough sentries.

zenition: Although Nerubian Assassin plays the same role (ganker) in both types of games, the usage of the hero is very different. In competitive games, NA is a very difficult hero to play, because the opposing team will focus alot on countering him, using sentry wards, necrobook etc.

3. What are Anub'Ark's strengths and weaknesses?

NA uses his annoying but effective Mana Burn.

Whisper: His strengths include his high instant damage output and effectiveness in lane. He's often able to kill most heroes by himself in the early stages of the game after he obtains Vendetta. He's weak against good ward vision. If the opponents can stay alive and farm some hit points up, then he won't be nearly as effective. Also, he's not the greatest in 5v5 team fights, especially because enemies tend to carry sentries into those.

Loda: His strengths are that he can nullify one hero totally in a battle with vendetta, impale, manaburn + dagon (if u have it). He's a really good lane-partner and can often control a lane with just the help of his manaburn. His weaknesses are that without any farm he's pretty much useless. He needs fast levels early on and if he's nerfed a lot in the beginning it can often be fatal for the whole game.

zenition: As I mentioned before, the strength of NA is his amazing burst-damage output, he is one of the few hero's in the game that can kill another hero almost instantly, and with a dagon(1-5) he stays useful throughtout the entire game. His strength is however also his weakness, as any team will, because of how dangerous he is, try to counter him with warding and truesight, leaving NA almost useless.

4. What makes Anub'Arak stand out/different from other heroes?

Whisper: It's probably the most annoying hero in the game.

Loda: Hm partly cause of the things I said before. He's a melee lane-controler and one of the best gangers, a bit like Lina, Lion, etc. I don't think there is any other melee hero that can control a lane, it's always the ranged one doing this imo.

zenition: Well, unlike most other heroes, NA can use almost any item, basically all he needs is boots of speed and a bottle. He can become an even deadlier killer with a dagon, a great support hero with an Eul's, or used as a counter to for example warlock and omniknight, with a diffusal blade.

5. What are the "must buy" items for Anub'Arak and why?

A strong lane with NA and Lina.

Whisper: Dagon to further increase his instant damage output, necrobook does the same in a different way

Loda: I think a must buy item for NA is mostly Dagon, but only if you can get it fast enough. Atleast before 30 min or so! After that point I think the possibility for NA to own is a lot lower.
Necrobook is a possible item vs some lineups like Skeleton King, tree and so on, vs heroes that relies much on their manapool but haven't got so much to begin with

zenition: As I mentioned before, the strength of NA is his amazing burst-damage output, he is one of the few hero's in the game that can kill another hero almost instantly, and with a dagon(1-5) he stays useful throughtout the entire game.

6. What's the basic strategy and gameplay for Anub'Arak?

Whisper: The strategy for NA is to annoy the other team as much as possible. You can do this by mana burning them in lane and then leaving the lane to gank once you hit level 6 you can pick good points to try and pick people off but make sure to get some farming in, because if you fall behind in levels and items you'll quickly become completely useless

Loda: The basic strategy of NA is to early on either play on a defensive lane where you help one hero to farm etc by manaburning the opponents. He can also be placed in a really offensive lane like NA + Lina or something like that. After some earlygame ganging etc he should put some time into farming a dagon imo. Many players keeps ganging and just ends up with no items at all, you need to know when farming is the right choice to be stronger later on. When you got a dagon you should try roaming around getting solo gang kills and just keep on doing that the whole game. NA is very good together with Zeus and Furion imo.

zenition: The basic strategy would be to kill as many heroes as possible. In essence, this is what Nerubian was designed for, and what he does best.

7. Do you have any tips for a newb Anub'Arak player? Such as when you should stun and when you should not, or when you should use your ultimate?

NA uses Vendetta followed with Impale.

Whisper: NA's ultimate makes a very distinct noise. Make sure to use it out of "hearing" range, and make sure you actually HIT the enemy before casting impale, and then mana burn.

Loda: hm I don't really know, some classic tips are that you should use Vendetta when u tp to a tower. Press tp on the tower and then hold shift and press v, this makes you arrive invisible to the tower and gives you an easier way to not get detected by the enemy hearing you go invis or something like that you always have to practice so you can execute all skills fast enough! If the enemy has time to react it's possible that he will survive! Be fast with Vendetta then impale manaburn + dagon, don't leave any chance of surviving

zenition: My best tip for a new NA player would probably be, not to forget to kill creeps. It's easy to forget when you're playing a hero with this much killing material, to forget that money for a potential dagon, and levelling is just as important as killing, when playing Nerubian Assassin. If you get Dagon + level 11 quite fast, NA will be able to kill most Agility/Intelligence heroes solo.

Starting Items

In the past, my de facto purchase in the beginning of the game was a Ring of Regeneration. After the introduction of Tangos, I've found people who paired them with Branches to boost their early game. While there are still some who prefer purchasing Boots of Speed as their initial item.

Early game items don't make or break the game, but it helps shape the direction you'll go. The main point is to hold your lane well, be able to regenerate without having to return to the fountain to soak up as much experience as possible.

This article was written pre-v6.50, but the adjustments have been made alongside the changes of the new patch. If you find any subtle inconsistencies, please pardon the writer and leave a note for a correction.

Also, this isn't aimed at competitive play, rather to help newcomers decided where to spend their starting money when they play their public games.

Health Regeneration Items

If you ever have to choose which items to be right at the get go, take these. Health regeneration is very important early game, extending your survivability, allowing you to keep in your lane as long as possible without having to return to the base to heal.

So why is NOT returning to the base important? In the early parts of the game, the main focus is to stay in the battlefield as long as possible. Leaving your lane to return to the fountain removes a significant amount of time away from the combat zone, denying you the opportunity to earn gold (by killing creeps) and gain experience.

Ancient Tango of Essification

Created by cannibals that went vegan. Allows the bearer to consume two trees, restoring 175 hit points over 25 seconds.
2 charges.

This item can earn the distinction of being the most purchased item in the game after it was added into the game. The item is cheap, contains two charges, and allows the user to regenerate a good amount of hitpoints. The best thing about the item is that it’s undispellable, so even if you get hit by enemy fire, you continue regaining hitpoints.

Why Buy?
Why not? This item is cheap (90 gold), contains two charges and lets you regain hitpoints. You can buy 3 Tangos and hold a lane and farm well, saving up for your eventual items. Almost ALL heroes can benefit from this item, even those who have healing spells – you’ll run out of mana eventually.

Ring of Regeneration

This ring is considered a good luck charm among the Gnomes, as it provides additional 2 hp per second regeneration.

Ring of Regeneration is one of my favorite starting items, although it’s popularity has waned with the addition of Ancient Tangos of Essification into the game. This item aids heroes by adding a 2hp per second regeneration rate.

Why Buy?
With the introduction of Tangos, Ring of Regeneration became less popular. But DotA introduced higher-tier items that use the RoR to make it a more reasonable purchase. Buy a RoR if you are against mass spellcasters to create a Hood of Defiance, or planning to make Mekansm (with Headdress of Rejuvenation).

This item can be made into:

Headdress of Rejuvenation

This item gives a +2hp regeneration aura per second for nearby allied units on top of a +2 to all attributes of the bearer.

Hood of Defiance

This item gives a +8hp regeneration per second to the bearer, along with a 30% magic resistance. Good item to go against a team comprising of mainly spellcasters (Lina, Lion, Lich, etc.) due to its ability to block the damage of spells.

Ring of Health

A shiny ring found beneath a fat halfling's corpse. Provides 5 hit points per second regeneration.

This item regenerates hitpoints double compared to the Ring of Regeneration but costs a bit more (two RoRs = 750) than wielding two of the latter. If you are playing Random heroes, you should be able to get this item quickly.

If you plan to take this item, you'll have to be careful about not dying early game to get enough money to buy this item as soon as possible. It’s also not a bad idea to purchase a Tango as a security blanket, instead of holding out completely for a RoH.

Why Buy?
This isn’t an item you can buy immediately, especially if you decide to pick a hero. You can buy a pair or two of Tangos (recommended), and then quickly pooling your money for this item. This item is a component of a lot of popular items, making it a worthy early investment.

This item can be made into:

Hood of Defiance

This item gives a +8hp regeneration per second to the bearer, along with a 30% magic resistance. Good item to go against a team comprising of mainly spellcasters (Lina, Lion, Lich, etc.) due to its ability to block the damage of spells.

Vanguard

This item gives the bearer +5hp regeneration per second, along with a 65% chance to block 35 damage. A good item for tanking heroes to carry to extend their time in battle by deflecting damage.

Perseverance

This is the ultimate regeneration item, giving 100% mana and +5 hp regeneration for the bearer by combining Ring of Health and a Void Stone. A very versatile item that can be made to future, higher tier items.

Flask of Sapphire Water

A canteen full of the purest, bluest water. Heals 400 HP over 10 Seconds on a friendly unit. 1 Charge. Dispels on attack.

The Flask is a good item to regenerate a lot of HP in a short amount of time. However, they lost their popularity after the introduction of Tangos, as Tangos are undispellable.

Personally, I sometimes buy this item when I have some extra money and anticipate a lot of heavy nukers. His way, I’d be less afraid of being finished off by an unexpected nuke coming my way behind the tower.

Why buy?
This isn’t really the most cost-effective item --- consider it more of a security blanket. This item heals a significant amount of HP in a short amount of time, useful during instances when you fear an ultimate from Zeus, or a gank that can take you down in one hit. If you can keep yourself with decent hitpoints while laning, you can just get purely Tangos instead.

Mana Regeneration Items

Mana regeneration's role in lane control is more offensive than defensive. These items allow you to regain used mana from your hero. Spellcasting heroes such as Zeus or Lina requires a lot of mana to be effective, so they usually start with some items that allow them to regenerate mana to hold their lane and push enemy heroes back.

Sobi Mask

A common mask used by Mages and Warlocks for various rituals. Increases the mana regeneration of bearers by 50%.

Sobi Mask is a good item to buy at the get-go if you’re a spellcaster, especially if you plan to use this item in future recipes. You can also make a Ring of Basilius at the get go for the regeneration aura.

Why Buy?
This allows you to spam more spells if you want to keep the pressure on your opponents. Buy this is you are planning to make any items that need a Sobi Mask, but if not, stick to consumables instead or other +intel items.

This item can be made into:

Ring of Basilius

Ring of Basilius 0.65 Brilliance Aura and +3 armor Devotion Aura. A good beginning item for a spellcaster and can be disassembled to use the Sobi Mask and Ring of Protection into other recipes. This item is a component of Vladimir's Offering.

Oblivion Staff

This item gives the bearer 10% attack speed, 75% mana regeneration, +6 intelligence and +15 damage. Oblivion staff is a component of Refresher Orb and Orchid Malevolence.

Clarity Potion

A live wisp is captured in each bottle. Regenerates 100 Mana over 30 Seconds when used. Dispels on attacks.

As is said in the official description, this item regenerates a hero’s mana. That’s an estimated 3.3 mana points in 1 second. The new patch makes this undispellable, similar to Tangos. You will continue to regenerate Mana despite being hit by the enemy.

Why Buy?
Buy a couple of these if you don’t have a need for a Sobi Mask or Ring of Basilius at the beginning but require a bit of help in the mana department. It makes little sense to buy this after your first trip back to the fountain to shop.

Void Stone

A stone of seemingly endless inner power. Grants +100% mana regeneration.

Void Stone stands as the most expensive initial item. This item is hard to advocate since it doesn’t help you in being able to heal yourself unless you have a regeneration skill such as the Warlock.

It’s probably feasible to get a couple of Tangos and then save up for a Void Stone if you want to spam spells. Make sure you take the top lane for Sentinel or the Bottom lane for Scourge.

Why Buy?
Void Stone gives you good early mana regeneration if you need to spam spells. On top of that, it’s a component of one of the most used items – Perseverance.

This item can be made into:

Eul's Scepter of Divinity

This item gives the bearer the ability to cast Cyclone. In the new version, it has unlimited charges compared to the old version that only had 6. It also gives +20 movement speed, making the wearer move faster.

Perseverance

This is the ultimate regeneration item, giving 100% mana and +5hp regeneration for the bearer by combining Ring of Health and a Void Stone. A very versatile item that can be made to future, higher tier items such as Battlefury and Linken's Sphere.

Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse

The new version reworked Guinsoo's -- the new recipe requires Ultimate Orb, Void Stone and Mystic Staff. This item turns enemy heroes to sheep for a

Health and Mana Regeneration Items

Empty Bottle

An empty bottle that has survived through the ages. It can store healing water for up to 3 uses, each healing 200 hitpoints and 100 mana over 3 seconds. Alternatively it can be used to capture magical runes for 2 minutes.

Not really empty as you buy it, since it contains 3 charges when purchased.

When your Bottle is empty, capturing a rune and using it refills your bottle with 2 charges. This is useful when trying to gank heroes, giving you various potential powerups such as Haste or Double Damage when taking down the enemy.

Why Buy?
A Bottle is close to indispensable to most heroes such as Bounty Hunter, Lina and Priestess of the Moon. This complements their ability to gank enemy lines. While it’s an expensive investment right at the beginning, it can compensate its cost by mid-game with the healing and rune captures.

Other Starting Items

Gauntlet of Strength, Slippers of Agility, Mantle of Intelligence

+3 to Strength, Agility or Intelligence

These are the main components of the most popular early game attribute-boosting items: Bracer, Wraith Band and Null Talisman. Additionally, Gauntlet of Strength is also a component of Cranium Basher.

Why Buy?
If you plan to make a Bracer, Wraith Band of Null Talisman, then you can start with these items. However, if you feel you can survive without having to buy yourself these items and go straight for mid to high-tier items, feel free to do so. These combinations do not combine to any bigger item, and will be generally useless late game.

Circlet of Nobility

An elegant circlet designed for human princesses. Increases all stats by 2.

Why Buy?
There's only ONE (or three) reasons to buy a Circlet... if you plan to make Bracer, Wraith Band or Null Talisman. You can start with a couple of these to boost your early game stats, while saving enough money to complete the item recipe.

Branch of Ironwood

Wearing one of these ensures a Good Game. Increases all stats by 1.

Why Buy?
This item is a great early game stat booster. Buying it costs 57g, but selling it back makes its initial cost only 27g. If you don't plan to buy anything else early on and just want a bit of attribute boosting, its good to buy some branches along with some Tangos.

Boots of Speed

Generic sneakers, increases movement speed by 50.

Boots of Speed is a MUST buy item, although not necessarily right at the beginning. There's little sense to buying a Boots of Speed at the get go since it doesn't help you stay in lane for as long as possible.

However, if you're planning to gank heroes early on without returning to the base and/or plan to purchase a Bottle at the secret shop, then an early Boots of Speed might be a possible decent first purchase. Or, you just got nothing else to buy... then Boots of Speed is a fail-safe purchase.

Why Buy?
You snooze, you lose. You don't want to be the hero who's always last to come in and last to come out. More movement speed is always a plus!

Belt of Giant Strength, Boots of Agility, Robe of the Magi

These items give +6 to a particular attribute, but is purchased more to create higher tier items.

This item is made into Sange and Necronomicon.

This item is a component of Yasha and Maelstrom.

This item is made into Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Oblivion Staff & Diffusal Blade.

Additionally, any of these three items is a component of Power Treads.

Why buy?
After the Power Treads remake, purchasing any of these three makes it more appealing if you plan to get Treads early in the game.

Also, if you are planning to make Sange for example, you can purchase the Belt of Giant Strength along with a couple of Tangos to keep your lane. The extra HP boost and HP regeneration (especially if you're a Strength hero) helps you be more resilient in battle.

If you're planning to make Maelstrom of Yasha first, it wouldn't hurt to take the Boots of Agility either, as it gives you more damage early game.

Membuat Buku Tamu...

MémbûaT Bûkû Tamû

Memasang sebuah buku tamu (shoutbox/guestbook) pada sebuah blog adalah hal yang cukup lumayan penting,karena buku tamu ini merupakan salah satu sarana untuk berinteraksi antara yang mpunya blog dengan para pengunjung blog. Dengan di pajangnya buku tamu di dalam blog, maka para pengunjung dapat mengungkapkan isi hatinya tentang blog yang anda buat, yang pasti isi dari sebuah buku tamu ini sangatlah bervariasi bisa merupakan pujian, pertanyaan, sekedar iseng, atau ada juga merupakan kritikan terhadap isi blog anda, dan justru dengan adanya variasi itulah membuat blog kita jadi hidup lebih hidu (kaya iklan aja).

Ok, terlalu lama intermezonya ya, sekarang kita kembali (ke lap...top) ke topikbahasan. Bagaimana caranya mendapatkan sebuah buku tamu. Untuk mendapatkannya sangat mudah, anda tinggal mencarinya pada mesin pencari semisal google ataupun yahoo, silahkan ketikan kata free shoutbox atau free guestbook pada search engine masing-masing situs, maka dalam beberapa detik saja akan muncul berpuluh-puluh situs penyedia buku tamu tadi, anda tinggal klik lalu coba lihat-lihat. Tapi untuk menghemat waktu pencarian anda, maka di sini saya akan langsung memberikan alamat situs penyedia buku tamu yang servernya lumayan bagus dan jarang sekali mengalami down yakni http://www.shoutmix.com. Untuk caranya silahkan anda ikuti langkah-langkah berikut ini :

1. Seperti biasa anda harus daftar terlebih dahulu dengan cara mengklik tulisan Get One noe, free>>, ataupun dengan mengklik tulisan Sign Up, silahkan anda tulis data-data anda pada form yang telah di sediakan.
2. Jika sudah tedaftar, dan di terima jadi anggota shoutmix, silahkan anda login dengan id anda
3. Pada kolom yang berjudul Style, klik menu appearance.
4. Silahkan klik menu pulldown di samping tulisan Load From Preset untuk mengatur tampilan buku tamu anda, silahkan pilih yang sesuai dengan keinginan anda. Jika sudah selesai klik Save Setting.
5. Untuk mendapatkan kode HTML dari shoutbox anda, silahkan klik Use Shoutbox yang berada di bawah menu Quick Start
6. Klik tulisan Place Shoutbox on web page. Isi lebar dan tinggi shoutbox yang di inginkan
7. Copy seluruh kode HTML yang ada pada text area yang berada di bawah tulisan Generated Codes, lalu simpan di program Notepad anda
8. Klik Log out yang berada di atas layar anda untuk keluar dari halaman shoutmix anda. Silahkan close situs tersebut.
9. Selesai

Untuk menempatkan kode HTML shoutbox tadi pada blog anda, silahkan ikuti langkah-langkah berikut ini. Untuk blogger dengan template klasik :

1. Log in terlebih dahulu ke blogger.com dengan id anda
2. Klik menu Template
3. Klik Edit HTML
4. Paste kode HTML shoutbox anda yang telah di copy pada notepad tadi di tempat yang anda inginkan
5. Untuk jelasnya saya ambil contoh dengan shoubox milik saya, untuk menempatkannya tinggal klik Edit pada browser lalu pilih Find (on this page).. trus tuliskan kata buku tamu lalu klik find, maka kita akan langsung di bawa ke tulisan tersebut. Jika sudah ketemu tulisan tadi silahkan paste kode HTML shoutbox nya.
6. Klik tombol Preview untuk melihat perubahan yang kita buat.
7. Jika sudah cocok dengan perubahan tadi, klik Save Template Changes
8. Selesai

Sedikit Clue, agar shoutbox anda sesuai dengan ukuran lebar sidebar , anda bisa merubah ukuran lebar ataupun tinggi dari shoutbox , caranya anda tinggal merubah angka Width (untuk lebar) dan Height (untuk tinggi) dari dalam kode HTML shoutbox tersebut. Untuk Blogger baru :

1. Silahkan Login dengan id anda
2. Klik menu Layout
3. Klik Page Element
4. Klik Add a Page Element
5. Klik tombol Add to Blog yang berada di bawah tulisan HTML/JavaScript
6. Tuliskan judul shoutbox anda pada form title. Contoh : Buku tamu ku, atau my guestbook atau apa saja yang anda suka
7. Copy paste kode HTML shoutbox anda di dalam form Content
8. Klik tombol Save Changes
9. Drag & Drop element yang telah anda buat tadi di tempat yang di sukai
10. Tekan tombol Save
11. Selesai

Selamat mencoba ! Sebagai tambahan, guestbook yang sering dipakai para blogger lainnya :

1. http://oggix.com

Untuk langkah-langkahnya hampir sama dengan langkah diatas.

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