DotA2 - Original Thread

There are 3 main 'devs' of dota in WC3.
Eul was the first, he created a lot of pomegranate in regards to the map and so on, kind of the father of dota if we don't count AoS as the true father.
Then comes guinsoo, he basically took heroes from a lot of different dota games and added them together into what was then known as dota allstars. Guinsoo implemented roshan(Roshan is the name of guinsoo's bowling ball) and recipes and tries to act as though he was behind creating 75+% of the heroes. He wasn't, he copied them from others and changed them slightly, not to mention that barely any heroes today are anything close to what they used to be.
Then comes IceFrog and takes a more serious approach to the game and the competitive scene starts growing, IceFrog listens to his community but doesn't let the community dictate the changes or heroes(Puck was a fan-made hero for example) almost everything dota happened on one forum called DotaAllstars. The forum becomes big, like absolutely monster big. The game grows happily and IceFrog primarily listens to pros as to what they think, and he tends to create batpomegranate insane ideas and then kind of just tweaks them untill they work. Then pendragon is hired by riot, shuts down DotaAllstars since he was the host, promises to reupload all the forum sometime soon within a few weeks, meanwhile he puts LoL advertisement everywhere on the site. Years later the data still hadn't been re-uploaded and when he finally does re-upload it multiple things are missing, primarily in the hero idea and item idea section. This is a huge pineappleing reason as to why dota players are hostile towards LoL, because pendragon shut down their site and replaced it with LoL advertisement, he basically burned the bridge between the two games, sadly.(He could've transferred ownership, even when he re-uploaded it he was a plantain about it).
I have absolutely nothing against LoL myself, but i know where a lot of the hate originates from.

These are the kind of gems that were lost for years:

 Knights of light

This strategy ONLY WORKS WHEN YOU ARE ON SENTINEL. If you are on scourge the ghouls attack you and you die almost immediately after spawning, due to your radiant and goodly nature.

The key to any good DotA team is the members' synergy and theme. Who could be better at working together than the charitable and modest KNIGHTS? Here are the heroes:
Omniknight (Omni)
Rogueknight (Sven)
Holy Knight (Chen)
Dragon Knight (DK)
Chaos Knight (CK)
This strategy is all about the theme here-you're knights. of the freaking round table. Therefore, you are bound to your oath: No KSing. If you KS your knight status has to be revoked and you have to leave the game after selling all your items and donating the money to the poorest member of your team.

Now, this team is pretty well rounded. You have Chen, the brains behind the operation. It's a good idea to have him be the leader of the team, because he's the smartest of the heroes. He also has skills like "Hand of God" which is pretty much intimidating yet also is clearly most righteous. So unquestioningly follow anything Chen says, because his intelligence score is going to be much much higher than yours. This team has sufficient nuking to work well through early game, but late game is when it really shines. If you don't shine late game, that shows that there is something wrong with you and God has not given you favor, so you should sell all your items and give them to the Sentinel.

A SIDE NOTE: Knights do not gank. They give ample warning of their approach by spamming in chat "BEWARE VILLAIN, I AM COME TO SLAY THEE,"[make sure it's all caps] and also they usually challenge the enemy to 1v1 combat. If the enemy declines, then the friends and compatriots of the knight (read: the rest of you) are then allowed to honorably engage (read: gank the crap out of) the enemy.

I. General Strategies/Hero Specific item builds

Here's who I will recommend to go together in each lane:

Mid: Sven/CK: the reason for this is firstly that they're both some weirdo race that should probably be kept away from everyone else. Also, this way you have a balanced force, some cavalry(CK) and some infantry backup(Sven). Cavalry is highly effective versus infantry in the new versions of DotA (6.27b+). Using cavalry, however, makes it mandatory to speak and give commands to your horse (which you must name) in all talk, as you should be yelling these commands. Sven can, if necessary to the RPG side of the game, also fill the role of squire, making him act as a chicken as well as omgwtpbbqpwner in times of need. Sven and CK should get, as far as items: Platemail, broadsword, boots, stout shield, helm of iron will. These should then be upgraded as quickly as possible to Aegis, Crystalys, Treads, Vanguard, Helm of the Dominator. Notice the lack of pants-items that you're buying ; this is because real knights model their behavior after the Right Honorable Zap Brannigan, who realized long ago that pants are for girls. With sturdy armor, sword, boots, shield and helm, a good knight can go far.

Top: DK solo. DK has some pretty impressive solo action. He has Dragon blood, which enables him to solo without going back to heal, ever. To maximize his potential, what you really need to do is fill your inventory (after boots) with Perseverances . Every single slot should be full by level 16 or so, with 5 Persevs and treads. After that, DK should start stacking battle furies. By the end of the game you can be doing 175% splash damage (and the 11th commandment is: Thou Shalt do Massive AoE with every attack) and getting ridiculous hp(24hp/sec, + str bonus) and mana regen(500%). Also, try to challenge the enemy to 1v1 contests, because your shield bash can work wonders as far as cleansing the world of the hellspawn enemy.

Bottom: Chen/Omni. This duo is the most pious of the bunch. Every in-game night, you should have both of them go to your tower and pray for at least a minute, so that God will continue to support them and provide them with wtppwn skills like purify and hand of God. If you forget to do this you have to go back to base as soon as possible and pray for an entire day, during which you should take all of your equipment off and let others use it or even have it permanently. After this you actually have more hitpoints and mana than normal, it just doesn't show up on the display, and you also have a higher hero damage reduction than you normally do. This is due to the divine favor gifted to you when you pray for an entire day- again, none of this will show up, but if it did then God would be proving his existence and so then there couldn't be faith blah blah blah blah. But anyway, basically you're invincible after this happens, so your whole team should group behind you as you all push middle. If any of you die on this push, that means God hates you.

Also- sometimes, Chen should go out into the forests looking for people ( and things ) to convert to your religion. While he's doing that Omni needs to be especially careful, because he has to be vigilant and watch closely for the effects of corruption and evil enough for two people. He also needs to assist Chen if the enemy tries to perform dastardly backdoor bandit action on him while he is "convincing" the small children and denizens of the woods to join his cause.

II.Early game:
As knights, your primary concern is to deny (honorably) and try to work at the towers, defending the land and last-hitting evil-doers whenever possible. If you're really going to take this RP idea far, then everyone also probably needs to go straight for headdresses, meks or basiliuses, because you have to help others as well as yourself in your quest to destroy evil. Plus, multiple meks along with purify and hand of god and divine intervention is so freakin' good. Even without everyone going for that, hp regen is key, as is the armor and mana regen aura for basilius - everyone on your team has spammable abilities that depend on mana. Ultimately, early game is your time to let Chen show some neutral creeps the glory of your Most Divine Lord and try to farm like hell. Your team will be a little gimped for a while, because 4 of the 5 of you are melee. However, as anyone will tell you, none of these heroes are terrible early game, and all of them can contribute without farming a ridiculous amount. One of your best assets is that 3/5 of your team has a 2+ second stun, and the other two members have slowing abilities, so fleeing before the forces of Good is quite difficult; they must stand and fight, or be destroyed.

Another strategy early game is:

1. Invite the other team to a feast of sapphire water and trees at the "Gates of Rohan"
2. If they attack you, you freak out about violence at the kings feast and punish the pagan beasts.
3. If they don't, then you yell pomegranate about slaughtering the heathens and kill them.
4. Drink heavily (sapphire water)
5. Smite evil
Basically this strategy is undefeated in about 15 games trying it, including four CAL matches. I'm pretty sure that there are absolutely no holes at all in this one. In fact, I recommend this one more; however, it's harder to pull off sometimes. It requires an awful lot of sapphire water, and that pomegranate's expensive, but you have to be careful to not get too much, otherwise your ability to walk in straight lines, speak coherently, and have any sort of good judgment about the opposite sex, etc. can be greatly hindered.

III. Middle game

While Knights of the Round Table spend most of their time gallivanting around the countryside saving hotties from dragons and jousting with evil black knights, (levels 1-10) eventually they must meet back at the court to share tales. As soon as you reach level 10 you MUST begin the long trek home(recommended at lvl 8), bringing any converts that you may have made or squires/damsels in distress you've encountered along the way. Once everyone has achieved level 8 and has returned, the collected knights must go on the hunt for the Holy Grail, which is encased in a giant frozen icicle in the far northeast of the land. This involves a valiant and strong push through mid--the "crusade", which must be based entirely in your faith and adherence to your code of honor. You should be able to easily win on this push.

III. Late game

You should have turned the heathen scum on their tails and made them flee by now.

IV. Team Strats

"The Crusade:"

Crusade tactics involve an allout push towards the Holy Grail, which is located in the top right corner of the map, inside some sort of ice crystal. To succesfully Crusade, your whole team must assemble and destroy the crystal imprisoning the Holy Chalice of Life. Keep in mind: When doing the "crusade" tactics, one might be afraid of being waylaid by enemies and having to defend oneself. Fear not, there are mind-tricks and plans for coping with any attempt the brigands put forth to end your righteous existence. Firstly, make sure that you go everywhere in formation before you engage in combat. Keep the cavalry ( chen, ck) on the edges, so that they can flank the enemy lines during the heat of combat and attack from more weakly defended sides. The Flying V, as it is called, puts the Dragon Knight as the leader of the infantry divisions, backed by the Rogue and Omniknights. Make sure that your forces are in this position, because it absolutely optimizes your strengths and makes it much harder for the enemies to encircle your forces, trapping you. Watch for lurkers in the woods, as they could perform all manner of nasty deeds to you. If you see any such hoodlums, charge the whole team in after them--with solidarity comes strength, and 4/5 of you are strength heroes.

"The Tournament"

Each member of the team chooses one of the enemies to engage. All heroes charge the one hero they've chosen and engage in man-to-demon honorable combat. Upon defeating the enemy you must lend encouragement and support to your allies, but may not in any way touch their foe. This strategy is particularly effective never.

Along with a lot of guides that actually still hold true today, like warding spots and pomegranate, there was even a zeus guide by merlini ;_;

That was an insightful read. Really interesting to know some more about the backstory behind DoTA. That knight team idea sounds mighty awesome, and must do that at least once in my DoTA career.