Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone! I'll take a break for a while. DOTA Guides and Strategies will resume in a couple of days.

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Off Topic

This blog, mydotaguide.blogspot.com, has been disabled by google for a few days including my other blog progdiary.blogspot.com. Their bots mistakenly thought that this was a spam blog. Good thing it's back now after 5 days.. :( But my other blog is still disabled. I hope they get it back soon.

In case any of you experienced or are experiencing the same thing, please let me know.

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Sven Guide

Sven (Rogue Knight)
A follower of the great God of Order, Paladine, Sven has sworn to uphold the rights of all. Born of a Knight and a Night Elf and ostracized since birth, Sven has lead a solitary existence of meditation and training. He has come out of his wanderings determined to guard the innocent against evil. Armed with his blessed cleaving blade Justice, and harnessing the power to strike down his enemies with the might of God's Strength, Sven's wrath toward the unjust is a sight to behold.(From Warcraft III: Frozen Throne)

Hero Skills

Storm Bolt - A magical hammer is thrown at an enemy unit, causing damage and stunning the target for 2 seconds.

Level 1 - 100 damage.
Level 2 - 150 damage.
Level 3 - 200 damage.
Level 4 - 250 damage.

Great Cleave - Sven strikes with such force that all nearby enemies take damage.

Level 1 - 10% damage is splashed.
Level 2 - 20% damage is splashed.
Level 3 - 30% damage is splashed.
Level 4 - 40% damage is splashed.

Toughness Aura - Sven is here to pump you up!

Level 1 - Increases base armor by 2.
Level 2 - Increases base armor by 3.
Level 3 - Increases base armor by 4.
Level 4 - Increases base armor by 5.

God's Strength - Sven gets pumped up! Adds bonus damage for 25 seconds.

Level 1 - Adds 100% damage.
Level 2 - Adds 125% damage.
Level 3 - Adds 150% damage.

Hero Builds

Semi-MVP Build - This build is best if you have another option to be a primary mvp in your team

• Starting Items - 2 tangos, 1 flask, the rest to branches
• Early to mid game items - power threads, 2 bracers, town portal
  
• Late game items - black king bar, mask of madness, heart of tarrasque
  
• Skill Build : storm bolt, stats, storm bolt, stats, storm bolt, god's strength, storm bolt, great cleave, stats, great cleave, god's strength, great cleave, toughness aura, great cleave, stats, toughness aura, god's strength, toughness aura, toughness aura then the rest to stats.
  

Gameplay :

During lane battles, concentrate on making last hits. Don't worry about denies too much. Let your teammate on the same lane with you worry more about that. It is best that you get most of the last hits(therefore getting the gold) so you can secure your early items. While doing last hits, keep an eye on your enemies if they go out of position while doing last hits or denying or even harassing your lane themselves. At any chance one of them is exposed, cast storm bolt right away then follow up with some spells from your teammate. Always try to go for the kill if this happens but don't go in their tower yet.

Once you reach level 6 or so, go back to regenerate your mana and health. Shop for items too like boots and bracers. Go for power threads if there is enough. Once you have at least 2 bracers and power threads, you are now ready to do some hunting. Try to visit every lane possible and go for the kill. Be aggressive. Sven is very strong early game with just 2 bracers and power threads together with level 1 god's strength and level 4 storm bolt. With good team play, you are sure to get the kill. Make sure that you always come from the blind side for surprise. Always check for rune from time to time. When going for the kill, don't hesitate to use god's strength. At the early stage, one storm bolt and 2-4 attacks kills an enemy with god's strength enabled. Slowly get black king bar and mask of madness while repeating the process. This is very helpful for your team because it pressures the enemies and at the same time you are preparing yourself for middle to late game clashes. Get black king bar first. When you have this item you can now go inside clashes without being interrupted of any disabling spells like bolt or voodoo. And if you have mask of madness, it will just make things quicker for you to kill enemies.

During later game, get heart of tarrasque so you can still endure physical damage in case the enemies decide to focus on you with their physical attacks. If you still have extra gold after that, try to experiment what items are best for your gameplay. You can get another heart of tarrasque, sange& yasha, eye of skadi or dagger of escape. Just try it out what works best and it also depends on what are the enemy heroes. If they are blinkers, get dagger of escape...you get the idea. :)

MVP Build - This build is best sven is your primary option for mvp and you really rely on him for the late game

• Starting Items - 2 tangos, 1 flask, the rest to branches
• Early to mid game items - boots, black king bar, mask of madness, town portal
  
• Late game items - heart of tarrasque, sange & yasha (or another heart of tarrasque if you have lots of gold)
  
• Skill Build : storm bolt, stats, storm bolt, stats, storm bolt, god's strength, storm bolt, great cleave, stats, great cleave, god's strength, great cleave, toughness aura, great cleave, stats, toughness aura, god's strength, toughness aura, toughness aura then the rest to stats.

Gameplay :

Lane battles is the same with semi-support build. Sven gets the priority on all kills would it be creeps, heroes or structures. The main difference on this build is sven focuses on farming and securing his items early. He will not go hunting but will stick on the lane. He will also be fully supported with wards and support heroes by his side if really needed. You can go for the kill but on enemy heroes on the same lane. Use your town portal to escape gank attacks and to help your teammates from other lanes if you are absolutely needed or else just keep farming. You don't need threads early part. Boots is enough but you can get power threads if you want. The important thing is to secure black king bar as early as possible then at this point you can help on clashes and then go back to farming your next items. You will come out middle to late part of the game with good items. If done correctly, you will have way better items compared to other heroes making you a very big threat to the enemies.

Note : On clashes, remember to cast black king bar first before casting god's strength. Casting god strength first will cancel it out when you cast black king bar after that.

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Dynamic Duo for the Week

This week's dynamic duo is a fun one. I like to play with this with a close friend specially on public games like battle.net. This is best to use if you play DOTA games for fun and for the sake of doing trash talks with your friends. :)

So this week's dynamic duo goes to Lion and Lina. I think you already see where this leads. heh. But I will discuss it deeply here so you will know how make this combo really work. Thus making your friends very annoyed. :)

First, buy mana regen items for both heroes and starting items that will boost their stats. These are most probably ironwood branches and clarity potions. Other one can also make ring of basilus for mana regeneration on both heroes. The best you can do is equip Lion with the ring of basilus and then have Lina buy sobi mask. This way Lina can spam her two offensive spells, Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array. Lion only needs to cast one offensive spell during the early part of the game which is impale. Let Lion get mana drain too so he can absorb mana from enemy creeps or heroes when he is almost out. At this point, both heroes will have the ability to spam their spells.

During lane battles, always cast your spells in combo. It is important that Lion will cast impale first then Lina will follow it up with light strike array and then dragon slave. Keep doing this to harass your enemies on the lane but be sure that you will have enough mana to cast level 6 when you are almost leveling up from level 5. This way your enemy will be very pressured of getting killed so he has to go back to heal. At this point concentrate on farming while harassing the remaining enemy with seasonal attacks(if there are two enemies in the lane). When you reach level 6, you can go back to the base to purchase items and heal or you can attempt to kill an enemy on the lane with low hp. When both Lina and Lion are level 6, this is the fun part. Choose one hero then let Lion cast impale. Lina will cast light strike array after that for chain stun while lion is doing a normal attack at the same time. Lina will then cast dragon slave then Lion will do the finish with finger of death and if the enemy is still alive, Lina can make sure of it by casting laguna blade. :) The best scenario is if you are able to kill one enemy with only one ultimate like finger of death. If this happens, you can harass the remaining enemy on the lane with normal attacks while getting creep kills and denying at the same time. When Lina has enough mana to cast laguna blade and one spell at least, you can attempt to kill the remaining enemy. Keep repeating this process killing enemy heroes alternately unless they will switch to another lane. lol.

At this point, Lion and Lina are near or about level 11. Get dagon for both heroes as their next items. This is will make them more deadly doing chain stuns and then making sure that the target hero is dead because even though the enemy has higher health points at this point because of item and level, Lion and Lina have additional offensive which is dagon and if they reach level 11 their ultimate is deadlier. With both heroes having dagon, always go together for the kill. Visit enemies who have been farming for long to kill them and waste a portion of their gold. Push every time you killed a hero. You don't want the game to take so long that the enemy will have the time to recover and the mvp heroes will get their desired items.

If the game lasted long enough to reach level 16 or more, get aghanhim's scepter and refresher orb for both Lion and Lina. This will make their ultimates' damage even greater and also reduce their cooldowns. And with refresher orbs, Lion and Lina can cast dagon, minor and ultimate spells twice ensuring death to the enemy. :) If you still have enough gold, experiment with other items. You can buy heart of tarrasque if you have problems on staying alive during clashes or you can buy guinsoo to increase damage, mana, mana regen and to be able to disable a target enemy making chain stun even longer. You can also choose to upgrade dagon to max level at this point.

Note : For advanced gameplay, you can get dagger of escape for proper positioning, good element of surprise therefor executing attacks effectively and for escaping death.

So there we go. I hope you like this week's dynamic duo. Now try it out with your friends or against your friends. :D

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DOTA Lane Control Guide

Today, I was going to post a comprehensive DOTA guide to lane control but I found this very good guide by Blaow which pretty much said it all and it is complete with screenshots and advanced techniques. But the you must have at least a basic understanding of DOTA to fully understand the guide. Here is a part of it :

Preface: This is a guide to early game lane dominance. I assume the reader has a basic knowledge of DotA and can refer to other sources to look up heroes/items/abilities. If I use an abbreviation or term you do not understand please refer to Malle's excellent DotA game commands and common abbreviations list. I will be focusing on non em since lane control in em is less important, although I will try to point out some points for em as well. If you disagree or have something to add please post and back up your points with a valid argument, I'll try to include other's view points with credit if they are good even if they disagree with me. Sometimes there is more than one right way, or different things work in different situations. Please post your comments, opinions, and disagreements, constructive criticism is welcome! Anyway, on to the guide.

What will I learn from this guide?
This guide is an effort to comprehensively cover every aspect of lane control and early game strategies within reason. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of lane control I suggest you read all of it. However more advanced readers will certainly be familiar with some or many of the ideas covered so if you belong to that group feel free to skip sections. If you wish to explore a certain aspect of lane control use the table of contents - hit ctrl-f and type in the section you wish to go to.

Brief Table of Contents

1. What is Lane Control?
2. Your Hero
3. How to Build a Lane Controller
4. Choosing your Lane Control Style
5. Harassing
6. Map Awareness and Ganks
7. Creeps and Towers
8. In-Depth Scenarios
9. Secret Paths and Juking
10. Replays and Other Reading Material

To read the rest of the guide, visit this link. This guide is very helpful. I assure you that it will improve you lane gameplay when you read this guide.

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ASUS Autumn 2007 won by sP

Congratulations to sP[Palit] for winning the Asus Autumn edition, the biggest LAN Tournament in Russia. More details can be found here.

It is good to know that DOTA is included on the biggest LAN tournaments from around the world.

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DOTA players unite! Let's help dota get into WCG

This article was posted November 18, 2007 by Naz of Dota-allstars.com. Article can be found here. I figured I should also post it here to help DOTA get into the biggest e-sports event in the world.

Here is the article:

DotA-Allstars needs your help!

Most of you already know what the World Cyber Games is, but for those who don't, WCG is the biggest ESports event in the world.. With about 1 300 000 participants from 75 countries and 12 titles to obtain for honor, glory and money prizes.

However, these 12 games currently don't include DotA. There is an official vote to include other games, but DotA isn't included in this vote, how can we became a part of this mega esports event if we aren't even considered an option? The community will need to show to the WCG Administrators that we are a large community with competitive interests and show them that our game and our community is worth to be part of this amazing tournament. To achieve that, all that you need to do is to write an e-mail to ICM, the company behind the WCG, and tell them why DotA should be a part of the World Cyber Games.

In your e-mail, state why you want DotA to be a part of this tournament, things you can point out are the huge community and the already present prize tournaments. For more suggestions of things you can include in your e-mail, visit this forum topic

If we want to see DotA at next years WCG we will need to fight it.There is no big gaming company behind dota like Valve, Blizzard or EA, the one and only thing that makes DotA interesting for the ICM is how big our community is and how many people are going to see the commercials of the WCG-main sponsors. We have more then 500 000 members, which is very big for game standards, we can join the WCG with the backing of the entire community. We need to be a part of the WCG main vote, because there is no USA WCG and there are no votings for the European WCG. This is our only chance - we need to fight for the WCG main event. And if you help us we have a very high chance of getting accepted into this prestigeous tournament!

Besides nice games and replays to watch everyone of you will have the chance to participate in the national qualifiers with your clan or team. The finals will be played offline on LAN much like the exciting tournaments of Dreamhack or the upcomming Fire and Ice. A very strong aspect of the World Cyber Games is that every country can have some spots, smaller countries with not so well-known Clans which normally don't have a big chance of making the playoffs of other big tournaments can take part in the LAN-finals of the WCG.

Thank you for reading, I hope you will help us to get DotA to the next level!

So everyone let's do our best to help our beloved game into wcg!

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Dynamic Duo for the Week

This week's dynamic duo, which is one of my favorites, is Omniknight and Tormented Soul. The reason that I like this combo is because it is strong on lane battles, very good for early push if you that's your team plan, they are a strong combo during clash and they are also strong on any part of the game even during late game. Maybe the only drawback on this combo is it is not very good when it comes to ganking heroes on the map. That is compared to other hero combos where you have double stun combo, etc.

From the start to the last part of the game, Omniknight will play as a full support hero giving his all out support to Torment Soul while Tormented Soul will act as an mvp(most probably secondary mvp because of the usual case of having a main str hero or agi hero). During lane battles, Omniknight will just keep getting xp from a distance letting Tormented Soul spam his skills on the creeps and enemy heroes so get mana or mana regen items. When creeps go up to the enemy's side, let Omniknight pull the neutral creeps from the nearest creep camps to fight with your next creep wave(also known as creep pulling). That way, the enemy creeps will go again to your side balancing the control of the creeps and at the same time getting more experience than the opponent because Tormented Soul gets the experience on the lane while Omniknight gets experience from the neutral creeps and your enemies will not get that much experience because some of your if not all creeps will be killed by the neutral creeps. At this point, you are on the advantage during the lane battles. Just keep doing this and let Omknight heal Tormented Soul once in a while if needed.

The important items for Tormented Soul on this combo are Aghanhim's Scepter and Linken's Sphere. You can get the next items of your choice. I suggest boots of travel and dagger of escape then items to boost your health points to stay longer on clashes. If you still have extra, get guinsoo to increase your damage, increase mana, increase mana regeneration and to disable a target enemy. Omniknight might have boots and mass bracers because he won't have that much gold due to dedicating full support giving creep and hero kills to teammates and at the same time providing sentry and observer wards during the game.

During clashes, cast repel on Tormented Soul then he can just go in the middle of the battle spamming all skills while having pulse nova activated. With Aghanhim's Scepter on your inventory, this can deal quite an amount of area effect damage. If you also have Linken's Sphere, you automatically counter the enemy's chance of dispelling repel through Medusa's purge and Diffusal Blade. If the enemies focus on you with their normal attack, you have Omniknight to cast Guardian Angel. This will drive them crazy taking away their hope of winning the clash. lol. But remember to keep Omniknight on a safe distance and guarded by the other heroes. This is very crucial because if they are able to cast Eul's or worst kill Omniknight first before he can even cast Guardian Angel then this combo won't work. Don't worry about Omniknight a being few distances away from Tormented Soul because level 16 Guardian Angel has a wide affected area and ha a 9-second duration(this might change on next versions).

Do the same during pushes. If the enemies just wait from a distance, cast diabolic edict on the structures(most probably tower) then go back to Omniknight before repel wears off and have it casted on you again then keep repeating until they're forced to engage in a clash. Tormented Sould should not be afraid being alone in the front line for a while because he is immune to magic and you have Guardian Angel if they do physical attack so there is a little chance of killing you and you will have your teammates to back you up anyway in a flash when the enemies go near. :)

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Spectre Guide

A darkness who was ancient even in the early days of the world's existence, Mercurial is the embodiment of rage and vengeance in the souls of those long dead. Haunting her enemies with relentless fervor, she is able to throw a dagger-like projectile that allows her to chase her prey beyond physical boundaries, and the fear and the desolation struck in the hearts of those who have the misfortune of encountering her alone is a pain impossible to withstand. Spectre's thirst for destruction is insatiable, and the upcoming struggle seems to be just what she was waiting for.

Hero Skills

Spectral Dagger - The Spectre launches a deadly dagger that trails a Shadow Path. Deals damage to the targets in its path. Units hit by the dagger will also trail a Shadow Path. The Spectre becomes phased (gains zero collision) while on the path.

Level 1 - Spectre gains 5% movespeed, enemies lose 5%. Deals 50 damage.
Level 2 - Spectre gains 9% movespeed, enemies lose 9%. Deals 100 damage.
Level 3 - Spectre gains 14% movespeed, enemies lose 14%. Deals 150 damage.
Level 4 - Spectre gains 18% movespeed, enemies lose 18%. Deals 200 damage.

Desolate - Deals bonus damage that cuts through armor when attacking a hero that has no nearby allied units. Works on Illusions.

Level 1 - 15 Bonus Damage.
Level 2 - 25 Bonus Damage.
Level 3 - 35 Bonus Damage.
Level 4 - 45 Bonus Damage.

Passive

Dispersion - Gives Mercurial a chance to avoid damage and disperse it to an area around her. Has a minor stun effect. Can only disperse for as much hp as she has. 400 AOE.

Level 1 - 4% chance.
Level 2 - 8% chance.
Level 3 - 12% chance.
Level 4 - 16% chance.

Passive

Haunt - Creates a haunting image beside each enemy hero. These images are uncontrollable, take 200% damage, deal 50% damage and each of them will attack only its pair. Cooldown goes down with level.

Level 1 - Lasts 4 seconds.
Level 2 - Lasts 5 seconds.
Level 3 - Lasts 6 seconds.

Hero Builds

MVP Build I - This is best if your role is the main mvp of the team and you are being given priority by your teammates when it comes to items. This includes letting you farm as you can at the same time protecting you as much as they can so you can secure your items.

• Starting Items - 4 tangos, 1 flask, rest to branches
  
• Early to mid game items - power threads, 2-3 wraith bands (or vanguard), sacred relic
  
• Late game items - radiance, sange & yasha or(manta style), butterfly
  
• Skill Build : dagger, dispersion, dagger, dispersion, dagger, haunt, dagger, dispersion, desolate, dispersion, desolate, haunt, desolate, desolate, stats, haunt, rest to stats
  

Gameplay :

Play safe during early lane battles specially if your enemies on the lanes are very strong and aggressive. Hopefully you have a good support hero with you early in the game(like lich and warlock) so you will feel secure. Concentrate on getting gold on last hits. Don't let your enemies attack you freely so only get close when you will do last hits to get gold or else keep distance. Use your dagger wisely. Use it only when you will go for the kill or to run away. You can use it to cross trees to escape death. Other than that, reserve your mana. Don't use it to spam. Recharge your health and mana when you reach level 6. Be sure you have enough for haunt in case your teammates ask for it. That's the beauty of spectre. She(yes, mercurial is a girl) can help early game offensively anywhere on the map while still farming on the lanes unlike other mvp heroes. Get items when you recharge on the fountain at level 6 or so. Get boots and wraith bands(or vanguard). Buy wraith bands if you are going to be aggressive on killing enemies early. Specially when your game plan is to cast haunt always and go for the kill. If you fele you're going to have any difficulty on the lanes or you might resort to farming on the creep camps, buy vanguard. Buy power threads after that. Power threads is very important to mercurial whether for farming or hunting for kills. After that, concentrate on farming for relic. Your priority from this point on is to get sacred relic. This is only the hard part. Once you secured radiance, it will be a lot easier later on. You can get your next items easily and you will now be a big threat to enemy heroes. Haunt along with desolate will hurt them badly once you have radiance specially if you got it below 30 minutes in the game. Whenever your teammates or opponents do a push, just farm on the free lane then cast haunt during the clash and go there when haunt is almost finish to sweep your opponents. Always target the weakest and most vulnerable heroes first(these are usually the support heroes or could be the mvp hero with low hp). After that, go back to farming. This is what you will always do. Go to a free lane or go to creep camps. You will only join your teammate during clashes through haunt. This is the reason why mercurial is one of my favorite heroes. She can push a different lane by herself and when your teammates need you, you can go there just in time.

Your next items would be Sange & Yasha(or manta style). Assess carefully which item is best. Manta style is best if most enemy heroes rely on mana or crucial enemy heroes are dependent on mana just like Skeleton King for reincarnation. Other than that, buy Sange & Yasha. It will boost your attack speed, health points and damage. Then buy butterfly after that so you will have higher damage and you will attack very fast which will make haunt very effective. You can experiment what item you want next. I like going for refresher orb. Two haunts will hurt your enemies very much. hehe.

MVP Build II - Do this build if you are not the main priority for the team when it comes to item meaning you are not given that much time and protection to farm for relic early part of the game. Use this build too as an alternate build for MVP Build I if you are having a hard time securing radiance.

• Early to mid game items - power threads, 2-3 wraith bands(or vanguard)
  
• Late game items - sange & yasha(or manta style), butterfly
  
• Skill Build : dagger, dispersion, dagger, dispersion, dagger, haunt, dagger, dispersion, desolate, dispersion, desolate, haunt, desolate, desolate, stats, haunt, rest to stats
  

Gameplay :

Almost the same as MVP Build I except you will not go for radiance. You will directly go for sange & yasha(or manta style) instead of getting radiance first. The good part on this one is you are flexible middle part of the game unlike the first build on which you will really come out late game. You can be actively hunting with this build middle game. This is also your best alternate solution if your enemies keep killing you. So instead of waiting for sacred relic, just go for sange and yasha instead. The drawback on this build is your items won't be as fast as the build with radiance and most likely you won't be as strong as the first build late game.

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