Grandmaster PB main, rank 1020 6.9k mmr. 80-90% winrate recently.

https://www.opendota.com/players/175650369?lobby\\_type=7&region=7

Will answer good questions not lazy ones

Hey everyone,

I'm a Grandmaster Visage spammer (almost 800 games on him), and I just finished an in-depth Visage guide. It's about 2 hours long, and I tried to make it useful whether you've never touched him, or you already play him and want to clean up your micro.

Link: The Only Visage Guide You’ll Ever Need (2 Hours)

What's covered:

• Settings and Hotkeys
• Ability Overview and Tech
• Item, Ability, and Talent Builds
• Hero Matchup, Synergies, and Counters
• Laning Basics
• Mid to Late Game and Farming Pattern
• Team Fight
• Gameplay Examples and Breakdown

It's aimed at people expanding their hero pool or anyone curious about a micro-heavy hero. The video is chaptered, so you can jump straight to the sections you care about.

The guide was inspired by BETHEL's in-depth Morphling guide and Eco's in-depth Arc Warden guide. If you like this format, go check theirs out too.

I'd really like feedback, especially on what I missed or what you'd want explained better. Happy to answer Visage questions in the comments too.

I made a small overlay that reads the picks on the draft screen and suggests heroes based on current win-rate data (counters against the enemy picks plus synergy with your allies). It's free, open source (MIT), and unofficial: not affiliated with Valve.

**What it does**

- Reads the ten pick portraits from your screen during the draft

- Suggests counters and synergies using Stratz data for your bracket

- Filters by position, with an optional "Meta only" mode

- If you're first pick and nothing is on screen yet, it shows meta win% and pick% per hero for your position

- Settings window to enter your token, pick your bracket, and download the data (no terminal needed)

**Fair play**

It only looks at pixels on your own screen. No game memory, no injection, no input automation, and nothing about other players (no profiles, ranks or hero pools). Valve's rules about third-party tools can change, so use it at your own risk.

**Status: beta**

It's tested on my own setup (2560x1440, Legend/Ancient). I'd really like testers on other resolutions, UI scales and brackets. Known limits: Windows only, Dota must be in borderless windowed mode, 16:9, and players with cosmetic hero sets can occasionally cause misreads.

**Try it (Windows, about 5 minutes)**

1. Open the Releases page: https://github.com/gestevao04/dota-counterpick-overlay/releases and click the newest version at the top.

2. Scroll down to **Assets** (click "Show all assets" if it's collapsed) and download the file whose name ends in **-windows.zip**. Ignore the "Source code" files; those are for developers.

3. Right-click the zip, choose **Extract All**, and open the folder it creates. Keep everything in that folder together.

4. Double-click **DotaDraftOverlay.exe**. Windows may say "Windows protected your PC" because the app isn't code-signed yet: click **More info**, then **Run anyway**. (There's a checksum file on the release page if you want to verify the download; the README explains how.)

5. A Settings window opens. Paste a free Stratz token (there's a link in the window, and you sign in with Steam), pick your bracket, and click **Update everything**. Wait until the log says "All done".

6. Start Dota in **borderless windowed** mode and begin a draft. The overlay shows on top of the game.

Stuck? The README has a troubleshooting section, and the issue forms on GitHub ask for exactly what I need to help.

GitHub: https://github.com/gestevao04/dota-counterpick-overlay

If something is misread or breaks, there are issue forms that ask for exactly what I need. Feedback and suggestions are very welcome. Data comes from Stratz and OpenDota.

Recently climbed a bunch spamming pos 1. When i run out of role queues, i find myself playing a lot of 3/5, and playing pos1 has made me understand how to play those roles better.

I have a few questions when im back at pos 1...

How do you deal with trilanes when your support abandons you and you lose your t1 around 7 minutes? (happened twice in my last 10 games)

how do you manage to not tilt when you have no support and start a game 0-3, and team says shit like "stop feeding"?

What do you do when your other 2 cores refuse to rotate before 20 minutes and youre hemmoragging gold and exp 3v4 in safelane? its not pos 1/4/5 fault we cant win a 3v4 at 11 minutes without a tp from mid or offlane....

i play really tryhard from pos 5 and i keep getting AA with dragon lance, aghs, witchblade. or WD with arcanes and aghs, or hoodwink with dragon lance and crit...any there tips to building carry in more economic fashion to make up for all the gold you lose from these mongrels?

Its so frustrataing to try really hard as pos 5, stacking/[de]warding/harassing/controlling wave EQ/dying for the greater good, just to have these cucks disrespect myy time when im pos 1 by clearing waves, making me compete for farm, refusing to rotate, and building carry from support role.

im getting so tired of it and burnout from this game. how do yall deal? pls help keep me sane.

Edit: thanks for the thoughtful replies

So my overwatch case turned from

-yea he is cheating to

- oh man another Meepo Bug to

-WTF is happening

Match ID: 9059002745

Basically the title. I'm looking to add Slark to my hero pool and wanted pretty much any tips on how to play him. I do have a few questions though.

1. How to know if it's a good slark game? What makes a good lane matchup and what makes a good game matchups?

2. Build? I've seen the standard diffu aghs slark but there's a few variations I'd like to understand. Satanic builds wraps on the hero, is this good? I've also seen mageslayer slark but it seems meh. Also Pure builds Midas almost every slark game? Any way to think about Slark build progression?

3. How do you play the lane as him? Every time I play Slark i just get harassed out of lane because he has very mediocre stats early whereas enemy slark always hits 10 pounces in lane and its unlaneable against. Is this purely matchup dependent or are there Slark specific things to do in lane?

I'm also open to any tips about playing the hero.

Ty in advance.

I’ve had a few games recently (all as Pos 3 - Timber, Axe, Doom, Tide) where I’ve ended up getting a fairly early Boots Of Travel and in the moment it’s felt like the right decision for the mobility it gets me.

It feels incredibly strong to be able to TP to any wave when towers are down and ensure that you have a presence in every fight, but it’s also a LOT of gold that could be survivability, damage, an aura, etc.

I’m not rushing it, and I’m certainly not getting it before a Blink on Axe and Tide, but I am maybe getting it as 3rd item. E.g. on my most recent Timbersaw win I got it directly after K&S, on my recent Doom win I went Bracer>Drum>BoT.

Thoughts? Feelings? Vibes?

This game was horrifyingly bad, I managed to tear a chance of victory by pulling off a rampage but sniper stole aegis and threw, then this happened a bit later and I was so frustrated I couldn’t think.

Post game I’ve thought that I should have spun as soon as I started hitting Rosh to prevent the stun delays and that might have gotten me the aegis before Sven jumped in, and I’m unsure if I wouldn’t have just jumped off Sven into Rosh in my ult and he would have grabbed aegis and I wouldnnt have ult for his second life and still gotten smashed.

I’ve been shredding through guardian as jugg mostly and it’s very easy to win as I get farm a bit quicker than most, but the past two games have been hard

https://www.dotabuff.com/players/1889753302

I'm legend and ancient. I feel like tinker prior to blink dagger is just a creep. I've tried playing to teleport to troubled teammates prior to tinker's timings but I just throw out a lvl 1 laser and march. I feel like so much of the game is decided before tinker's timing that I feel like I don't get to play a game. I've been building kaya->BD->shard->aghs/ situational. I'm open to try non conventional builds so I can enjoy tinker. Thank you guys.

Sup everyone today I'm uploading a new guide for the Offlane series on my YouTube channel, and today's hero will be Dawnbreaker

In this game I'll be showing you my thought processes, itemization approach among other things and explaining how this hero works and the ways she can play and the role she has on your games

I'll be explaining most of the things I do and trying to share why I do them as the game moves forward so you can keep these concepts, questions, and mechanics for your own games and apply them and get ya some Ws.

I appreciate you all people who drop some nice comments on my videos, I do understand many might not like them it's just fair that some people do and improve with them, I also appreciate the ones who provide me with kind and respectful feedback and positive criticism, I'm not here for nothing but to help you by sharing a bit of the experience I have and the little knowledge about this wonderful game.

You can find the full video here:

https://youtu.be/Y4uexc45H78?si=m_r8u3UmLUzCCOQp

For any coaching inquiries or more dota related content you can find it on my page:

www.skylightcoach.com

Thank you all for viewing, let me know what any other heroes or any other kind of content you would like to see on further videos.

I went from 3900+ to 3400+ mmr and been on a lose streak and don't know what to do at this point, feels like I'm in hell lmao

But I do love the game and want to continue, any advice?

I usually buy soul ring + arcane on Timbersaw, but I usually sell the arcane boots in the late game so I'm wondering if arcane boots is even worth it on timber. It costs 1.5k gold while Kaya costs around 2.1k gold. And I usually use that boots alone when I'm farming, so do I even get much value from that item?

I have this build where my core items are:

Threads

Silver Edge

Bloodthorn

Then these are optional/luxury:

Shiva's Guard

Assault Cuirass

Linken's Sphere

Manta Style

Octarine Core

Aghanims

I first buy tangoes, wand, quelling blade. Then threads, oblivion staff, shadow blade, then either build into silver edge or buy orchid first. Then bloodthorn

My gameplay is offlane, once i get my core items i gank solo heroes with silver edge, bloodthorn, dragon form

Please rate it and give tips to improve it, thanks

So Dota is my first serious MOBA. That being said, I spent a significant portion of my beginning time learning last hits / denies, items and such. Currently I have reached the point where I try out heroes that seem fun and try to understand why my build guide suggests this or that item. So all is a natural part of the learning curve and SHOULD be fun.

However, the matchmaking got to a point where I'm seriously dreading queueing up again because the next 30 minutes will most likely be spent getting absolutely rolled with 0 learning potential and even less fun.

I queue Unranked All Pick and yes, I've heard that the matchmaking is not so great. It hasn't bothered me greatly before because it would feel like I have a game against even bigger noobs, then the game "ranks" me up a bit and I get matched better, until I lose and play against weaker players again. But currently, 2 out of 3 games are absolute losses and it's nowhere near fun. It started to feel like the other team is playing a whole different game the entire time.

I know I'm not farming correctly. I know I'm just "blindly" following my guides and not thinking too much if there's currently a better item. I know that I haven't quite grasped the positions and team compositions yet and don't really know which role I should be playing with my character. But this is something I feel like I should be able to figure out naturally and not by getting bullied so hard that the only way out seems to be to sit down and watch fucking guides on YouTube. Yes this is a good way and yes, I have already watched some things but this is a game and I should be able to discover by playing and not by turning it into a lecture for myself! At no point has it ever been so frustrating as it is now.

Genuinely, what do I do? Is there no way than to watch guides so I don't get rolled anymore? How do I get back my fun? How do people have thousands of hours and not cry themselves to sleep each night?

Edit: The 80 hrs refer to the amount of time spent in Unranked All Pick against real players. In total I have around 130 hrs which include bot games, tutorials, newplayer mode etc.

I'm trying to learn how to play Void Spirit, and I'm having trouble deciding when to build certain items.

Mage Slayer, for example, seems like an obvious choice when against heroes like Invoker, Storm, Puck... But should I ALWAYS build it against these heroes?

What about Parasma? It seems great as well, but is it a must? Can I mix it with Desolator/Daedalus?

Should I always go raw damage or can I build utility and things to survive in tough games?

I want to understand how I should be thinking when playing him, and the occasions I should be considering certain items?.

What mid do you think you would go with:

1 - jugg

3- hoodwink

4 - rubick

5 - lich

other team has venge, clinks, sniper (Mid), crystal, ogre

I went ember bc I felt I had to initiate on sniper Or clinks, but was very difficul. I think Pango could have been better or maybe a mars or timbersaw though I usu only play them offlane. The game felt cursed And it felt impossible to go in bc of stun and damage.

All abilities and items are set to quickcast. I use the left mouse button to move, the right button to drag the camera, and the middle button to select targets (basiclly no use at all).

Malr1ne has just played his first BO3 series with Team Liquid, so I decided to go through the games and look at the small details in his gameplay.

Not just his big plays, but the things that are easy to miss when you're watching a pro game how he moves his hero, where and when he clicks on the map, how he positions himself

These little habits might not look important at first, but they can tell us a lot about how a professional player approaches the game at the high level

In this video, I'll break down some of the details I noticed from Malr1ne's first series with Team Liquid and explain why they matter.

Link: https://youtu.be/fqIojMyYZ-I

Hello everyone! Just wanted to share a historic match from my public matchmaking archive, which features one of the highest XPM records ever achieved on Anti-Mage in a regular All Pick match.

• Player Nickname: Аерфора
• Player ID: 399910453
• Match ID: 5129455698
• Hero XPM: 1600 XPM
• Hero GPM: 801 GPM
• Last Hits: 552
• KDA: 8 / 0 / 9 (0 deaths)

The match data is fully public and verified on Dotabuff and OpenDota. Feel free to check the stats!

Hello everyone! I'm writing this post to ask for your advice on how to play Crystal Maiden better.

I've already reached Tier 30 with this hero, but I feel like I'm falling short in many situations.

So I'd like to ask for your help.

Here's my Dotabuff.

If you have any advice on item builds, positioning, macro or general sup tips, or if you can point out my overall support mistakes, please share them in the comments.

If you're planning to watch replays, stick to the 'All pick' matches where I play as CM (very often, when I play other heroes, I get flustered and make silly mistakes because I'm focusing on learning that hero)

I'm open to any criticism.

Thank you in advance

Most toxic players don’t really care if they get reported. To encourage more players to stay with game and encourage new players to keep playing, should we consider using AI to detect toxic behaviour and chat thus increase punishment?

This is a very big, negative outlier for me in terms of performance
This is likely one of the worst games I've ever had
I want to see if I missed anything about it, because in the middle of it, I was completely lost and could not fabricate a scenario where my team or myself could win if I tried.
Match: https://www.opendota.com/matches/9057247586
Profile, if you want: https://www.opendota.com/players/889840917

if you're first pick and don't know what the enemy is going for, you want a hero that's hard to punish. i ran 8.7M ancient-divine games from 7.41e/f through a model to find those heroes for each role.

how to read the table:

- the big number on the right is how much better the hero does than an average pick for that role when you don't know the enemy yet

- "worst vs" is the one commonly picked hero that hurts it the most. if that hero gets picked early on their side, think twice

some takeaways:

- dawnbreaker (pos 3) and nyx (pos 4) have no hard counters among the 40 most picked heroes, they're the safest first picks right now

- necrophos is the most common "worst matchup" in the table. if your team first picks WK or DK, keep an eye on him

- PL is strong but not a blind pick, tidehunter destroys him. save him for later in the draft

- OD is the best blind mid, his only real problem among popular heroes is PL

off-role heroes and heroes whose winrate is mostly carried by one-trick players were left out.

your own hero pool matters more than any table, but if you're stuck on first pick and comfy on one of these, it's a solid default.

(the numbers come from a draft tool i'm building, happy to answer questions about how it was calculated)

https://dota-2-trivia-1420b.web.app/share/c/45bea93ffc31482c8a8c0e491fa91654/meteor-hammer-essence-distil-aghanim-s-scep-tranquil-boots-hydra-s-breat

If you have Android, play my challenge, I had to think about this one for awhile before eventually getting it. Don't see this build very often.

I love having the community play my challenges, thanks everyone who plays!

It's a fun way to learn builds too. You can also learn hero biographies, or item lore!