Dota

Dota 2 still has a lot of interesting mechanics. But before, some characters had incredibly awesome abilities that either tore up publics and matches in pro-dot, or, with a hard fix, became incredibly weak and immediately threw the hero out of the meta. Today we will remember some of them.

This text is part of the bloggers day, which is held on Sports.ru on September 27th.

In this collection there will be no abilities that have changed only the name, icon or some parameter. Here we will only look at special spells that are no longer in Dota 2. If you missed the last part with the heroes-siloviks, I suggest you read it.

From the Sports.ru editors: we have launched an open blog where anyone can make their own Dota guide! We will also periodically add our own guides, which will become more relevant than ever after the release of patch 7.23. The first guide, on Void, is already here. Play until it’s fixed!

The guide is designed for players from 1 to 4 thousand ratings, who played this hero little or did not play it at all.

Faceless Void is the first candidate for a nerf in patch 7.23. If you haven’t tried this hero yet, it’s time to read the guide and raise yourself a hundred or two ratings, because Void is too good right now.

Hardest hit by the transfer of TI from Sweden.

In October, 18 of the best teams in the world will clash at The International 2021 in Bucharest. Each roster earned a place in the Dota main tournament by blood and sweat, but everyone had their own path to success. Sports.ru continues the «Backtrack» section, where Roman Galeev will tell you about each team and its path from TI9 to TI10.

Backtrack: PSG. LGD. We sank to the bottom and returned as a Dota boss

Backtrack: Quincy Crew. America’s new kings with a better win streak than Secret

Backtrack: Team Secret. Puppei dominated for a year and reimagined the online draft but failed both majors

In the fourth issue of the rubric — Alliance, who survived everything that can be experienced in Dota in two years.

We’ll have to start our story with a mistake that is definitely one of the top 5 mistakes in the history of The International.

At this moment on the Russian broadcast, it was Fng who had to look for the reasons that prompted him to take a bunch of Gyro-Void. Unlike the English-language stream, Goblak and Fng immediately noticed that Alliance did not use a ban, but no one could even imagine that Insania in bo1 would not have time to press the ban button and Gyro would take it instead of a ban.

«INSaNiA immediately said, ‘Guys, if we lose, it’s only my fault.’ But no one agreed with him — we decided that since we fight together, we lose together, ”said Loda after the tournament.

TI ended, and the transfer window began, where the main drama unfolded again near the Alliance tag. The five with Koikwa, Mike and Inseinia moved to Liquid as a full roster.

To understand how painful the departure of the cast was for Loda, you need to be familiar with his philosophy. Jonathan Berg believes in the power of teamwork and believes in «playing» for the long haul (not surprising for a former team player whose roster set the record for the most matches played in a single roster). “I invite many players to link their careers with us — not just play with me, but build a future together. I’m looking for those who understand that this will take more than one year. Those who not only believe in their cause, in the future of the team and in loyalty to it even in difficult moments — but also want to represent Alliance fans and respect the history of this team.

At one point in the existence of this roster, Loda and Bulldog (they each own 32% of the club’s shares) spent money on the existence of the Dota roster from their own pockets.

As you already understood, it is simply impossible to talk about Alliance without constantly quoting Loda, because Berg is the core, heart and brains of the team. And of course, after TI9, he was only asked about how he feels after taking the whole squad out from under his nose.

“The line-up change didn’t go very smoothly because we had already agreed with the former roster to work together for another year. I already had a structured plan ready for three years, which would lead us to victory at The International.

It was very hard when the old roster left. This was a real disappointment. The annoyance is that we stopped halfway, and I hate unfinished business. Now we will never know what we would have achieved under other circumstances. Yes, we might not have become champions of Int, but I would still like to see the end of this story.

Insania was full of gratitude to Kelly and Jonathan, and vaguely gave the reason for leaving: “We planned to stay in the organization, but, while discussing options, we came to the understanding that we need to open a new chapter in our lives. This is necessary for further growth. We have always focused on growing as a team.»

Perhaps the key part of the statement is “grow as a team”. Alliance will sign a new roster:

And Loda will comment on the signing like this: “We decided to sign this mix, among other things, because I previously negotiated with Nikobaby for six months. I really wanted to see him in the team, but last year this did not happen. I continued to follow him. Everything worked out this season.» Perhaps the parties did not agree because Boxi and Insania did not want to part with their friend from HoN Micke.

1. The team went to the tournament in Chengdu through the lower bracket.

2. At the Major itself, Liquid and Alliance clashed in the lower bracket at the “battle for top 6” stage. Liquid turned out to be stronger and won 2-0, but Alliance also had reasons to rejoice. The Swedes were one of only two teams that were able to take a card from the champions of the TNC tournament.

In the second major, the teams switched places: now Alliance had to make their way through the lower bracket to Leipzig, but at the major they beat Liquid (also 2-0) and burst into the top 4! The Swedish club took the first place among mortals — even before the start of the major, it was clear that the top 3 is most likely for Secret, Vici Gaming and Evil Geniuses.

Frankly, almost no one remembers that in 2020, before the pandemic, qualifications for the third major were held and even a minor was played. We are sure that Alliance is the one who tries to forget about this most carefully. Immediately after the top 4 major, the team plays the qualifiers in Europe and takes 7th place — they had to play with OG Seed for a place in the qualifiers for the minor. Alliance ended up below NiP with Dahak, Universe and Ppd in the roster.

In general, the Swedes entered the COVID-19 Dota with serious problems with the roster.

Abilities

Dash to the target location and restore the health lost in the last 2 seconds.

1. During this ability, Faceless Void is invulnerable.

2. Does not allow you to avoid the projectile.

3. Since this is a healing effect, Ice Blast prevents recovery.

4. Cannot cancel Sunder, False Promise, Soul Ring and Armlet of Mordiggian.

Time Dilation

Places a temporary field on nearby enemies, stopping their ability cooldowns for 6/8/10/12 seconds. Victims move and attack 14% slower per ability hit.

1. Affects invisible units and units in the fog of war, but not invulnerable or hidden units.

2. Does not affect the cooldown of abilities that have charges.

3. Multiple uses of Time Dilation do not stack, but refresh the duration.

Time Lock

An attack can stop time for an enemy creature, causing it to take another hit.

1. Cannot be combined with Skull Basher and Abyssal Blade.

2. Damage is dealt by a separate source and counts as spell damage. It does not add to the main damage. That is, he is affected by lifesteal and increased spell damage, but not lifesteal, critical or cleave.

3. The second attack is an instant attack that also activates attack modifiers. That is, she can also activate her own ability.

(So many towers, of course, will not fall out, but you can count on 2-3).

Chronosphere

Creates a sphere that stops the action of space and time. Everything freezes inside it, except for the owner of the sphere and the creatures under his control, which move in it with increased speed. Invisibility is revealed within the sphere.

Aghanim’s Scepter reduces Chronosphere cooldown to 60 seconds.

1. Chronosphere affects all units that are not under the control of Faceless Void, including buildings, wards, and allies.

2. Does not affect couriers, hidden units, and invulnerable (units affected by Omnislash, Slieght of Fist, etc.) heroes. All other invulnerable units are affected by the ability.

3. Instantly destroys Homing Missiles and bugs from The Swarm.

4. The Void cannot be slowed down in the Chronosphere.

5. Void can move around in Rubik’s Chronosphere.

Dranken Haze

One of the most infuriating skills in the game was removed in the same patch. It would seem that it’s okay if the enemy offlaner throws a skill at you that slows down attacks and the chance to miss. It was only in recent patches that Brewmaster was able to throw him almost on CD (8/7/6/5 second cooldown at 4.5 duration), which turned the laning into a silent horror. The new skill removed at least misses, and thanks for that.

Frozen Sigil

Not the most interesting, but rather curious possibility of Tuskar. Until recently (patch 7.20) the hero could summon a small object like the Juggernaut ward. Only he did not restore health, but slowed down the movement and attacks of opponents, which helped well in team fights. Two years ago, Sigul was replaced with a Tag Team with similar bonuses, only you no longer have to control the ward.

Phantom Lancer

Not everyone will remember, but once Lancer was a character with invisibility. Until September 2014, one of his abilities allowed the hero to go into invisibility, and instead of the PL itself, a copy appeared in this place. I had to carry Dust with me, because even Sentry Ward was not always effective — Doppelwalk also increased movement speed. Only in patch 6.82 did the skill replace the Doppelganger, which can also confuse the opponent, but leaves the character himself visible.

Craggy Exterior

This character had many interesting abilities, but today we will talk about the passive that protected Tiny from physical attacks. A good bonus to this was the chance of a stun for attacking opponents — at the last level, two seconds of stun with a probability of 25%. Sounds good, but the new Tree Grab, introduced in patch 7.07, is also liked by many.

Some gameplay tips

1. Void — a contact hero in the lane. Don’t be afraid to trade with an offlaner if you feel like you can’t die. It’s even better if the opponent doesn’t have a damage over time that is hard to nullify through Time Walk.

2. Use Chrono on cooldown. Seriously, don’t marinate the dome at the tenth minute. See an offlaner that you can pick up with your sups? Don’t feel sorry for Chrono! Monet eliminated Virtus.pro from TI9 with such Chronospheres:

3. Don’t be afraid to enter a fight not from the Chronosphere. It’s normal for you to use the dome in the middle of a fight. Don’t think that Void is only strong for the four seconds of the dome: fight like a lion and soak in, may Satanic, BKB and Time Walk keep you safe.

4. Moreover, Time Walk can be used to lure out spells. Watch how Ana from OG fearlessly jumps into the enemy base: it seems that the dome is imminent, and Arteezy presses BKB on reaction. Great move! It would be if Ana immediately spent her ult; instead, he calmly walked away, waited it out and attacked with a second pace:

Itembuild

The first artifacts of all Voids are the same:

Emphasis on attack speed, fast farming, lightning effect that can also be triggered by additional Time Lock attacks, and BKB, which is very, very difficult to pick up Void.

By late, the purchase may look like this:

Of course, some items are interchangeable:

Night Stalker

Balanar’s ultimate was a little different for two more years. If now Dark Ascension gives bonuses to the hero himself, then earlier NS rather interfered with enemies, significantly reducing the visibility of heroes, creeps, and even wards. After level 16, it lasted 40 seconds at 80 cd — part of the game had to operate in near darkness. NS himself could get unlimited vision with the help of Aghanim.

Intelligence

According to statistics, Chen is one of the most unpicked heroes in Dota. But he also had an ability that doters remember to this day.

When using Test of Faith on an enemy, Chen dealt him a random amount of pure damage in the range from 200 to 400 at the last level of pumping. And in case of application on an ally, he treated him for 100-200 health.

The ability cannot be cast on a magic immune enemy, but it can be cast on an ally under the effect of Black King Bar.

Prior to patch 7.20, Dazzle had a completely different ultimate. Previously, he cast a spell on the selected area and reduced / increased the armor of enemies / allies.

With the talent on Weave Dazzle changed the armor by 42 points, which was a very strong spell, because. the ability passed through magic immunity. With a 40 second cooldown, Weave lasted 24 seconds, allowing it to be cast multiple times.

Prior to Sinister Gaze, which is now the third ability, Lich had an ability called Sacrifice.

By applying it to an allied creature (not a hero), Lich could sacrifice it, restoring mana up to 100% of the unit’s current health. It could be either a creep from the lane or a tamed one, for example, with Enchant.

Keeper of the Light – Spirit Form

Another ability that Dota lost with the release of patch 7.20. When the Spirit Form was activated, the hero could cast Illuminate with a separate spirit, and also received new Recall and Blinding Light abilities.

Over time, Blinding Light became a separate ability, and Recall completely migrated to Chen under a different name with patch 7.22.

This article comes to an end. Which remote abilities do you remember the most? Share your opinion in the comments to the post!

Six Enforcer Abilities We Will Miss

Which Dota hero has the most Immortal items?

Invoker

Let’s finish with the top material by the number of removed abilities. Once upon a time, each combination of Quas, Wex and Exort created a unique spell — 27 in total, many of which were incredibly imbalanced. For example, weakened ultimates Lich and Winter Wyvern, blink or True Sight. Because of this, the character was even removed from the game. You can read more about this in our article on Invoker.

When to pick and counters

Share your Void secrets and rate this guide in the comments!

Skillbuild

Most often your skill build looks like this:

But there are two important clarifications:

Now about talents. Many in public take +15 damage on the tenth: don’t do it like that. The stats and the pro scene show that the health talent is much stronger. On the fifteenth, we take + damage to Time Lock, no options. Levels 20 and 25 have both good talents, but I recommend taking Time Walk radius and 25% Backtrack. The backtrack allows you to avoid any damage, even Lina’s ult.

LVL? Death

In the old Dota there were enough thrash abilities that added fun to the game. This ability of Doom lived longer than others and disappeared only five years ago. LVL ability? Death allowed to deal additional damage equal to 20% of total health if the enemy’s level was a multiple of a certain number (for example, 3 — opponents of level 3, 6, 9, and so on were affected). Many considered this a reference to RPG games that have such mechanics. But in practice, it was quite difficult to correctly use such a skill in Dota 2, and five years ago it was replaced with Infernal Blade.

Substitutions, more substitutions and playing for candy wrappers

The first transfer of 2020 to Alliance did not affect the players — the team has a new manager, Maria Gunina. But after half a month, 33 and Fata suddenly left the team for the audience.

The risk of such a reshuffle is fully justified, because in such a situation, leaving everything as it is is also a risk. It is difficult for a general audience to understand such a decision, because they would be happy to just go to TI and leave the top 12, they think this is already an incredible achievement. But the winners think differently: they are willing to sacrifice a potential top 12 to get to the top 1.”

NS that week on one of the broadcasts shared an insider: “Information was received that 33 is a wild toxic, and this is the problem. This is just some kind of rumor, but I am ready to believe in it, because this grief from the mind is famous. The player really shows that he fumbles a lot, understands a lot. He probably has an opinion on practically every moment. And he constantly, apparently, argues with everyone about everything in a row, and this infuriates many.

Be that as it may, finding a replacement for 33 from a game point of view is an extremely difficult task, if only because the second 33 does not exist. Neta Shapira is not playing an offlaner, Neta Shapira is playing Neta Shapira. Therefore, whoever was called in his place, the player would have received a considerable portion of criticism. In addition, Alliance took S4, who played frankly poorly at TI9 — someone even accused Loda of taking the player to the team not on the basis of sports, but out of friendship.

Support was not immediately found — at first Xibbe from OG Seed was tested, but with him the team took top 8 at ESL One Online (lost to Vikin.gg), and he was quickly abandoned.

Perhaps, on a tip from Masha Gunina, perhaps himself, he drew attention to the ruins of Gambit Esports, which could not survive the drama with Gpk and negotiations with VP behind the management’s back. While Skutin was sitting without game practice, the team without him did not show even 20% of their own strength — everyone was on tilt, especially Fng. It was Artem who needed Alliance, but Loda was true to his word and was in no hurry.

At first, Artem was a stand-in at three tournaments, where Alliance took top-6, top-3 (!) and again top-6. Gambit then loaned Barshak until September — the best achievement so far was the second (first among mortals) place at ESL One Birmingham, where the Swedish organization was honored to lose to Secret in the final. Then there was OGA Pit with another top 2 (but Secret did not play there) — however, the team did not treat the top 2 as something very significant. Here is what Maria Gunina said right after the final in an interview with Sports.ru:

“Maybe I’ve already made this comparison somewhere, but all these endless online tournaments seem to be fake. Here you can play poker for money, or you can play for candy wrappers. And when you sit at home after DPC lans and play such a tournament, there is a feeling that you are playing for candy wrappers.”

And finally, only in September Artem signed a contract with the team!

“Fng is easy enough to work with. He is not emotional when working with teammates, you can tell him anything you want, and he will listen. He also brings a lot of important opinions to every game we play, and has an out-of-the-box way of thinking. I love having a guy on the team who can really look at the game a little differently. Because you can miss a lot if you focus on the captaincy and the draft,” S4 rejoiced after signing Artem. Yes, and Fng was inspired by new teammates: “Niko is just a top person in general, in fact. In fact, this is purely our boy. This is Kolya. Let’s call him Kolya on the stream. Kolyanych is purely our boy.”

The most eloquent thing about Alliance’s level in covid Dota is the fact that the organization did not receive a direct invite to the first European DPC division — they had to prove their strength in the decider tournament.

Omniknight

How a 10-second Black King Bar with an 18-second cooldown lasted in Dota 2 before patch 7.20 is hard to understand. Repel was an alternative to this item, and with the chosen talent, it gave an almost permanent BKB to his carry. Even numerous fixes could not cover such an imbecile skill, and only two years ago it was reworked into Heavenly Grace, which gives other useful bonuses.

Agility

Bloodseeker – Blood Bath

This passive ability was removed from the game with the release of patch 6.82. The mechanics of this skill is very similar to the current Thirst, but not completely.

Blood Bath allowed you to partially restore Bloodseeker’s health, but only if an enemy creature died within a radius of 325 units. And it didn’t even need to be beaten.

Bloodseeker healed even when denying an allied creep or hero. However, health regeneration did not work on illusions. The Blood Bath ability was removed from the game on September 15, 2014.

4 chips that will make your opponents pour

Drow Ranger – Precision Aura

And Drow Ranger lost this ability relatively recently — on November 26, 2019. Passively, the ability gave bonuses to ranged allies (first damage (before patch 7.20), and later attack speed).

The ability could also be activated. And then the above bonuses were given to ranged creeps for 30 seconds.

With the release of patch 7.23, Drow Ranger received the Multishot ability, with which it exists in the game to this day.

Faceless Void – Backtrack

On December 16, 2015, Facelees Void underwent a spell change. The passive ability Backtrack has been replaced with the current Time Dilation. Let’s take a look at how it worked.

At the fourth level of pumping, the ability gave a 25% chance to negate any damage. Therefore Monkey King Bar was not a counter item. With this ability, you can dodge both normal attacks from the hand and unit-targeting abilities (for example, Finger of Death or Laguna Blade).

Of course, now there is a talent at level 25 that gives 20% to universal evasion. But, as they say, «before it was better.»

The most versatile Dota heroes

Curse of the Silent

If Arcana Curse increases the duration of the effect every time you use a spell, then this skill worked the opposite way — the enemy needed to use some kind of skill in order not to take a lot of damage and stop losing mana. Prior to 6.86, Silencer was great in lane against heroes with high CD or expensive spells, causing them to lose magical potential for no reason.

The gods are in the League, and in the Major, those guys who die first in horror

The DPC format implies that for a month and a half the team must keep themselves in shape and not make mistakes in games with outsiders. It suddenly turned out that only Secret and Alliance can cope with this task. The Swedes lost only to direct competitors for the top 3 — Secret and Nigma, while they simply finished with OG, Liquid, and the outsiders of the group.

“Alliance is a good team,” Puppey said of them. “They have structured drafts and I don’t think they experiment with them much. Their picks are different from the free drafts of Nygma, from whom you sometimes don’t know what to expect. Of course, such a free approach can be a weak point for both Nygma and Secret, because I also sometimes approach drafts in this way. For me, Alliance is a good team that knows how to control the map. She plays by clear rules, very disciplined.”

About the top 8 of the Major in Singapore was expected from the team, especially since of all the participants with a direct invite to the group stage, only two teams flew without substitutions — Alliance and Thunder Predator.

Thunder Predator will create a tournament sensation and win groups, while Alliance will not win a single series and will be eliminated in thirteenth place — even Neon with replacements and Team Aster lost.

«I’m sorry to all the fans. Everyone was great at this tournament. Never before have I felt such support, although our results have been terrible. I am devastated by this defeat and need time to recover, but I am extremely grateful to all of you.» Usually the captain of the team comes out with such words, but then Loda himself decided to take the floor.

At the start of the second league, s4 will say: “Last league, we showed our best Dota at the bootcamp. So we’re back and we’ll try to do the same. Maybe this time we will even beat Secret and take the top 1.” They laughed at Gustav in the comments, but in vain! Alliance really won the second DPC league with the newly minted Ppd coach, only this time it was not without scandal.

Ppd and help from Discord. If this sentence doesn’t tell you anything, you’ve missed the main European Dota controversy in 2021. In short: the organizer of the league, DreamLeague, removed the rule that forbids the team coach from sitting in Discord during the game. Whether because of surprise before such a strong change, or because of laziness, no one except Alliance paid attention to this. Only noticed when OG’s N0tial started a twitter war:

“The coach was never allowed to help the team during the match. Zero respect for cheaters. The same as people who use macros and claim it’s «not against the rules». We asked about the possibility of having the help of a coach during the game in a conversation with Valve, they answered “No”.

In the replays, Johan was quickly explained that this was not cheating, but a banal reading of the rules, but Notale was unstoppable:

“Also, I don’t blame Alliance for following the ESL rules, although I think they could do otherwise and discuss it with other teams, as we usually do. But why do such things even appear XD This is IMPORTANT news. Better communication is needed.

I can honestly say that Secret, Nigma and Liquid are honest and decent teams. We know the rules and the game, respect and value them. There are still many teams that need clarity and accountability.”

Anyway, the coaching rule was dropped almost immediately, and Alliance made it to the playoffs of Animajor and guaranteed a place at TI10. And, alas, they left the tournament without a single victory — in the upper bracket they lost without a fight to LGD, but in the lower bracket — a defeat from Spirit, which was clearly not in the team’s plans. Ppd was said goodbye after the tournament, and S4 said: «We don’t need a coach — we already have a lot of callers.»

But in the CIS, they don’t believe in Alliance at all. N S sees s4 retire (“s4 – sorry, but this is already the last century. You don’t expect anything from this player anymore”), and Alwayswannafly openly declares: “I would advise Alliance to disband the Dota roster and sit afk until spring at least . Or take some CIS squad.”

To better understand the mood of the team before The International, I asked a few questions to the team manager Maria Gunina.

– Is Loda directly involved in the training process or is he completely focused on the management? How often does he communicate with the players about the game?

– First of all, Loda is the CEO. And he interacts with the team from this position. But in general, his role is difficult to fit into the «coach» or «manager» mold.

— s4 once said that there are a lot of callers in the team now. Who exactly is responsible for calls and drafts in the game?

— Apparently, these were echoes of the events of the last Major. Now everything has settled down. The captain and drafter are still s4, together with Handsken they are the thought center of the team.

— Didn’t two failures at the Majors knock down the team’s mood before the main tournament? How ambitious are the players and what are their goals for TI10?

— The soldier who does not dream of being a general is bad. But the player who goes to Int without dreaming of winning it is even worse😎🤙🏻

— Why didn’t Alliance manage to show the same strong Dota in two majors as in two DPC leagues?

— Who would definitely answer this question for us! Of course, we have hypotheses, and the guys voiced them in their interviews. But it’s impossible to know if they’re true until we get a positive result. So see you on the dance floor. I mean, at The International.

Alliance at TI is that rare case when no one believes in a European team at the main tournament of the year. Perhaps you will believe in the path of Loda?

Four reports: Support Alchemist without a coin. Simple and effective!

The new headquarters of NAVI is like a fantasy. Very light and stylish

Faceless Void

A crazy ability that allowed Void to avoid any damage with a pretty serious 25% chance — not only physical attacks, but also spells like Lina’s ultimate. M KB and other methods did not help either, since the effect was considered not as evasion, but as damage negation (the Oracle’s ult works approximately the same way). Only in December 2015, the imb skill was replaced with Time Dilation.

Tips for using abilities

1. Time Walk can be used while standing still. I often saw a situation in public when Void in a 1v1 fight wants to restore health, and jumps back half the screen instead of pressing Time Walk on himself. So the hero will restore health, but will not lose position.

2. Disable quickcast for Chronosphere. If you are reading the guide, most likely you don’t have many games on this hero and you are not ready to determine the range of the ultimate by eye. With a quick cast, you will not be able to aim and throw out a flashy dome.

3. Time Dilation has a huge radius — 775, so it’s not necessary to go close to use it.

Talents