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caspian

Imperator Posts: 2387 Joined: 27 Mar 2007 gold

League heroes Ban and Pick Walkthrough - 6.57b

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:49 pm

TABLE OF CONTENTS
(Use CTRL + F and enter in any of the following terms to zoom into content)

Introduction
Purpose of banning heroes
Bans
Picks
Final notes

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Introduction
As you may have known a new mode, Captains Mode (-cm) was introduced in 6.56, and instantly this became the favourite game mode of league players. What this mode does is allow either the Blue or Pink player to start the banning/picking of heroes. In the past players used to spend hours discussing bans and picks, so that this became a nuisance and Icefrog had to do something about it. Therefore this mode was introduced, with a time limit given for Blue and Pink to ban or pick heroes. If they passed the time limit, they could have extra time to choose, after which they are automatically given a random hero. So both sides have to choose their bans and picks without thinking for too long.

First, the mode starts with choosing Blue or Pink to start the game. After that each side is allowed to ban 4 heroes of their choice. Later on, each side will go on to pick 5 heroes, provided they choose within the time limit. Finally, each player will choose what hero they wish to use, from the pool of 5 heroes that Blue / Pink has chosen. Most of the replays I will upload in the Queen of the Leagues replay thread will feature this -cm mode, so you can see how it works from there.

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Purpose of banning heroes
The purpose of banning heroes, in case you're wondering why this is done, is to prevent players from depending on solely just one strategy to win every single game. This was a painful experience from before 6.37, when no such feature existed in leagues yet. If a team got Sentinel they rejoiced, because they could pick a certain combination of 5 Sentinel heroes, which I will not mention here. Such a lineup was a guaranteed win - the Scourge could do nothing about it. Therefore to prevent lineup abuses, to make games more risky for players and fun to watch for observers, this ban feature was introduced. It is not because league players are noob, if that's what you're thinking.

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Bans
A total of 8 heroes will be removed from the pool so that both sides cannot use them. While it is difficult to name outright what heroes should be banned (since any hero can be banned for unknown reasons), take note that the following are heroes that are seen often banned in 6.57b:

In the current opinion of many league players probably the most bada** hero. Functions extremely well only with an Arcane Ring, Boots of Speed and some Bracers, all his spells provide excellent support to any allied hero(es). The most powerful, though, is his 20-second Repel which can be casted on a single hero all the time to protect it from magic damage and disables - common stuff in league games. And the hero(es) that will most probably be Repel-ed is that damage, "carry" hero, like Broodmother, Nevermore, Luna, Spectre, Visage, Terrorblade, etc. - heroes who wreck the most havoc once they are fully equiped.

One of the superheroes of league players - for my definition of superhero click here . Once equipped becomes so powerful that even its images alone can kill a hero. Furthermore Desolate and Dispersion deal "pure" damage - cannot be reduced by spell resistance or armor, and these passives pass on to images. Spectre's item of choice is Diffusal Blade/Manta Style, and since the 6.56 buff on Manta Style (check 6.56 changelog on www.getdota.com) near-permanent bans have been unleashed on Spectre so that it does not even appear in league games once.

See this . Yet another superhero, every part of Visage is an asset to any team. Grave Chill is a nice slow and chasing spell, Soul Assumption gives Visage near-ridiculous damage - unlike Nevermore, he doesn't even have to last-hit a creep to get the bonus +6 damage, and every time it triggers Visage is healed. Gravekeeper's Cloak is a very good damage reduction skill similar to Dispersion. Raise Revenants is probably what most league players have issues with, as revenants double as observers and damage dealers. From 6.56 players are so restricted from buying observer wards that they can have at best only 2 observers every 6 minutes, and they can still be destroyed by sentry wards or necronomicon 3 summons (frequent item in leagues too). "Ganking" is also a favourite pastime of league players and it depends on enemies not having sight of gank teams beforehand. Revenants completely destroy ganking teams due to the vision they provide. See here for more information on revenants as observers.

See this . Also, Chen is a very good "jungling" hero - he can earn gold just by converting certain creeps and using them to tank the damage from neutral creeps while both hero and creep kill them. Thus he can give a "solo" lane to another hero, and both league and "pub" players love solo lanes, don't they?

Yet another hero regarded as bada**. Has extremely good gank potential that even the Blink-Stun era heroes of 6.48b (I have a short article about the Blink-Stun strategy in 6.48b here ) - Queen of Pain, Mirana Nightshade, Faerie Dragon, Sand King, etc. cannot rival. Also, see here for more information.

Ezalor has become a better support hero ever since his remake by the frog. His ban, if anything, is because some league players might not like his Recall and Blinding Light abilities. Recall is a good teleport and push ability and is extremely good for bringing in reinforcements in case of a fight, to tip the balance in one's favour. It also eliminates the need for one hero - usually the "carry" hero - to buy teleportation items.

Very good gank hero, even more so as sentry wards have gotten a strong nerf. Possesses a combo that deals very high damage to one hero. Like Rikimaru, both greatly depend on their invisibility to be successful. Dust of Appearance may be a good counter but it has not been able to make up for sentry wards' weaknesses, as far as league players are concerned.

The only often-banned hero that is "nuke"-based, league players often play risky manoeuvrs that leave their heroes with very little HP. Zeus removes that survival advantage, and is a dreary reminder to enemy players never to take risks. Can also reveal invisible heroes with Lightning Bolt and take part in AoE combos through his ultimate - see here for an example.

Superhero that depends on magic immunity to win prize money. If Omniknight is removed this will probably lower Broodmother's chance of being mentioned (banned or picked) in games. If she is picked, the first item that comes to mind is Black King Bar, since this gives her the power to demolish heroes without being demolished herself.

Since 6.52e has become very popular to the point of being threatening. Players may not like his ultimate which gives an extremely large AoE (1050 AoE) stun, is instant, stacks with other Impale-based spells (Nerubian Assassin, Lion, Sand King) and also stuns for a rather long time (2.25 seconds, but since targets fly into the air, approximately 3 seconds). Also a good "tanking" hero if managed to be properly equipped.

Became popular in 6.57b leagues because of the strong nerf to sentry wards (as mentioned in the Nerubian Assassin section), and also because of the buff to Diffusal Blade/Manta Style. See here .

Like Chen, is able to jungle, but unlike Chen, can become a strong "carry" hero if left untouched. His presence alone gives enormous pressure to the enemy team to constantly seek him out in the forest - not an easy thing to do. Items are also very simple; just a Power Treads, Vladimir's Offering and BKB is enough to get Banehallow going.

Call of the Wild gives a Hawk that features as an observer - a hated thing in leagues like Visage's Revenants. Wild Axes, the quillbeast and Primal Roar can override magic immunity, so those heroes that depend too much on magic immunity will be in for a tough time.

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Picks
After the ban phase is complete, a total of 10 heroes will be picked. Compared to bans a much greater pool of heroes are available to choose from, and it is quite impossible to give an exhaustive list here. Also, depending on the players' preference they may want to pair up certain heroes together so that sometimes unorthodox hero picks can happen. It may be more feasible to give a list by dividing heroes into different categories of roles they play in league games:

Superheroes
Moon Rider, Soul Keeper, Shadow Fiend, Dragon Knight, Geomancer.
Meepo has rather inconsistent picks and bans - sometimes he is banned, sometimes picked, sometimes not mentioned at all. However Luna and Terrorblade on the whole seems to have fewer mentions recently.

Gank + "DPS" (a combination of Gank and damage dealer)
Priestess of the Moon, Queen of Pain, Lifestealer, Skeleton King.
Mirana and Naix have more bans recently, probably to prevent it from being used by certain players in a team.

Gank
Slayer, Tormented Soul, Demon Witch, Faerie Dragon, Tinker, Earthshaker, Sand King, Stone Giant, Necrolyte, Pit Lord

Gank + "Tank"
Axe, Centaur Warchief

Support
Warlock, Lich, Shadow Priest, Ogre Magi, Vengeful Spirit
Support heroes are the ones who usually have very simple item builds, costing no more than 2500 spent on Boots or some Bracers or Nulls Talisman. Usually this is due to spending gold to buy couriers/wards/dusts of appearance.

Miscellaneous
Slithereen Guard, Bounty Hunter.
These are situational heroes that often get into the limelight recently for countering invisible heroes like Rikimaru and Anubarak.

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Final notes
As a last note, you should remember that not all the heroes mentioned in the "Ban" section will automatically receive bans, and not all heroes in the "Pick" section will automatically be picked everytime. There are exceptions sometimes, as I have mentioned. If a "Ban" hero is not banned it will most probably be picked, and a "Pick" hero could also be banned. No strategy is rigid.

Sources used: Competitive Dota replays, from Dota-Allstars Competitive Dota Forum

NB: In case you're wondering why I'm doing this, it's to supplement the Queen of the Leagues strategy. See I have everything prepared now. Laughing

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Just submitted the Queen of the Leagues strategy
33 kills, 6.56 Enchantress, Holy S*** min 20, 24000 gold in items by min 55 - on 26 Oct 2008

Last edited by caspian on Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:28 am; edited 5 times in total