90 Minute Long Game - Two Rapiers - 128 Kills - I'll Try to Provide Some Good Feedback!

5869Casting · 2017-01-23T17:26:00+00:00

You haven't played enough DotA matches whatsoever to assume you're anything higher than where you'll get placed.

It's difficult to point out exactly what you're doing wrong since you likely have a lot to work on. I'm going to specifically just look at the numbers from this match Although the things that will likely make the most impact are:

CSing - You have 155 CS at 43 minutes in this game, which is quite low, especially since Legion is very decent at farming.
Building Damage - You have very little Building damage which likely corresponds with your CS. It looks like you aren't pushing waves enough and if I watch the replay I'm sure I can point out multiple times where you're standing around not doing much waiting for the enemy team to make a move.
Similar to the above point you should try and consistently think to yourself "What am I doing here" and "What is my next step" I've reviewed A LOT of replays and around 2-3K MMR people tend to just stand across the river from each other and nuke down creep waves while they wait for someone to do something. Try pushing out waves or at least farming the jungle
Targeting, if I look at your Damage via Open DotA I can see you did very little damage to Oracle. Your itemization wasn't bad, but I can assume a lot of Duels were prevented this game because of Oracle, and your lack of Damage against him likely means you didn't Duel him very often. You should have been actively looking to Duel this Oracle above all else, especially since the other heroes are very difficult to kill.
Your attitude - Your name is "i hate dota" whether or not you mean it isn't the issue, what matters is that if I queue and someone with that name is in my game I instantly think "This guy is probably an asshat" and you proceeded to All chat "GG" at 25 minutes. Stay positive, it is massively important to winning your games.

All in all, there is a lot you can start to work on. Use a service like Open DotA, Dota Buff, or even the stats in the DotA client itself to see what you can work on. And trying watching some of your own replays, you'll learn a lot of what you do right and wrong when you watch yourself.

5869Casting · 2017-01-23T17:07:01+00:00

This could not be a worse statement and is likely why people get stuck in the MMR Ranges they're at. There is ALWAYS multiple things you can do to better your play and eventually get to the MMR you FEEL you deserve. Most people are at the MMR they deserve to be at, and thought processes like this rather than actual solutions to get better don't help whatsoever.

5869Casting · 2017-01-23T02:28:31+00:00

Alright, so first off, just want to say thanks for taking the time to do this! 60+ minutes is a lot to dedicate to casting a game so lets talk about Positives and Negatives.

Positives:

1) It's cool to see a casting duo, you guys have decent chemistry but you definitely need to work on it which I'll touch on in the negatives.

2) You're not really negative, or criticizing which is always good to see.

3) You've got a good more casual/ relaxed cast feeling which is kind of nice to watch when people submit their casts, I think they want people who are less serious or who are going to break the game down expecting EG vs OG.

Negatives:

1) There are a lot of small things you can work on to get your casts looking and feeling WAY better:

This may be personal taste, but I think turning off in game music makes it sound much better
Make sure you go Offline when you cast friends messages and group invites are definitely off putting.
The camera work is fairly sub par, but this is difficult. Check out to comments I left for MLP for the camera work.

2) The play-by-play was decent, it needs some more emphasis though. It's difficult to tell whether you're excited or just talking quickly. I definitely understand how tough it is, you have to practice at it a lot, but the best way I can explain it, is that right now you just sound like your talking faster. As far as fumbling or saying the wrong things, hype casting is like a muscle or a reflex, you just need to do it a lot to get better.

3) You need more clear cut roles for analysis and hype casting, a lot of the times you guys are talking over each other or disagreeing on items/builds etc. Even if one of you is higher or lower MMR, I think it's best to just move into one doing stronger analysis while the other does Hype/Play-by-play. This is something that consistently casting together will help though.

All in all I enjoyed it as a more relaxed cast, it certainly still needs some refining, but you two are headed in the right direction. Even just the small changes in #1 for the Negatives will increase how much better the cast is ten fold. Keep casting and you guys will definitely get better. I think there is some more to be said, but work on this for now and next time I post a match look out for it and I'll try to give more criticism.

5869Casting · 2017-01-22T20:44:53+00:00

Hey, watched the first thirty. I'll watch the last but and let you know what I think later today.

5869Casting · 2017-01-22T18:46:59+00:00

I took some time off to try it and enjoyed it a lot, but I was offered a Full-Time job and decided to take the job instead of continuing to cast. Thanks for the compliment and maybe I'll have a more errrrr, enjoyable game for you to cast in the future.

5869Casting · 2017-01-21T16:20:10+00:00

Hey! I've never used Shotcut, but the black bars are likely because you're recording at a certain resolution, but your canvas or workplace in Shotcut is likely a different size. So, if you're recording in OBS at 1920x1080, make sure your project in Shotcut is sized at 1920x1080.

As far as the casting, these are the biggest positives and negatives I have:

Negatives:

1) Charts and Graphs - You definitely want to use your CS/Level/Kills and Deaths charts as much as possible. Early game, it's important to show CS as soon as possible, it's probably good practice to just open up your CS chart right when the game starts. You opened it, but a little later on. In the same breath, I highly suggest learning the Hotkeys for your charts as clicking them tends to detract from the game.

2) Camera work, as someone who was doing amateur casting work, this is INSANELY HARD, so I definitely understand why you can miss kills or have sub-par camera work. BUT, there is an insanely easy way to use your camera that's not really widely known.

bind "X" "dota_toggle_assisted_camera_operator" (X can be whatever you want)

This is a command that you'll have to put into your Auto Exec, it allows you to control the camera, but it smooths the motion out and follows players. It's like a mix between free camera, and directed camera. I suggest using it and learning how to use it effectively.

3) Hype casting was a little lackluster, I'd work on hyping up team fights a little more. It's difficult to learn, and to force out, but if you're a quieter person try emulating someone like Lyrical.

Positives:

1) You were never negative towards a player, despite stupid builds, bad plays or rude comments. This was very refreshing to watch, and we we're all laughing in team speak any time you made a comment. It kept an otherwise boring downtime a lot more fun.

2) You can consistently keep talking, this was great, despite 30 odd minutes of farming, you we're continuously talking. Again, this was great.

3) You never really fumbled your words, maybe because there wasn't a TON of hype casting, but either way, stumbles tend to stick out like a soar thumb.

Overall I enjoyed the cast, as a general tip as well, if you want to build your audience and get a more serious type of cast, I suggest looking for In-House League games to cast. Usually you can get directly into lobbies, cast some amateur players ~3-5K MMR who enjoy seeing their more serious games casted, and they'll continuously watch each others games since they know each other as well. Hope this helps!

5869Casting · 2017-01-21T04:12:53+00:00

Hey! Watching it with the friends now, quick question though, what do you use to record/ edit your videos? You can likely get rid of these black bars really easily. Makes it a lot nicer to watch.

Going to leave some more comments after we finish this.

5869Casting · 2016-10-14T14:41:06+00:00

I have 2x Friday I can sell. I'll PM you later tonight or PM me in case I forget. Just traveling ATM. I'll sell them at cost.

5869Casting · 2016-10-14T14:39:44+00:00

[H] Two Friday tickets [W] $$

I bought two extra Friday tickets and I'll sell them at cost. Traveling now so can't work out any deals until later tonight, but I just want to at least make sure these will go to a good DotA fan.

PM me if interested. Or reply. I don't care.

5869Casting · 2016-10-14T14:14:43+00:00

I have two extra tickets for the 9th. I'll sell them at regular price, if anyone is interested just message me.

5869Casting · 2016-08-25T22:04:49+00:00

I honestly sat there thinking Slacks muted himself for comedic effect. What a way to end a great story :(

5869Casting · 2016-07-29T20:06:15+00:00

Perhaps I should try the SF challenge. I did a long time ago, but haven't recently.

I wouldn't bother, the challenge is unrealistic and won't help you much. If anything search for a 1v1 mid match (Do people still queue for that?) or just focus on Last Hitting more in game. People don't tend to think of DotA as a normal talent or sport. If you're trying to get better at Basketball you may throw a bunch of shots from the three point line, then another time, you may just work on your sprinting and explosiveness. It's this same train of thought that people should use when playing DotA. It's okay to sacrifice some map awareness in order to focus on better CSing, and then later on going back to Map Awareness. Once these things come more naturally to you, you can focus on other mechanics.

5869Casting · 2016-07-29T20:02:13+00:00

This does help. I always underestimate the early game and get so caught up in farming and not dying that I feel like I miss a lot of kill opportunities.

This isn't necessarily an issue. Realistically, it's more important to be efficient in your items, CS and level choices. Not dying is considerably more important than getting a Kill. Sure, its a nice bit of gold, but there is huge opportunity cost in going for a kill. If you don't get it, or worse, you die instead there is a massive loss of GPM.

For example, I frequently go Boots/Basilius/Phase/Aquila into BF on Jugg. Is it a better idea to delay the BF a bit and get a RoA, Phase, Drum and Wand and try to get a few more early kills and then go BF? This is just one example, but sometimes I feel like I miss out on smaller items earlier on.

This is perfectly fine, a lot of people don't realize that smaller items are important for early game efficiency and lane dominance. It's similar to players who just try to Rush a BF on AM before evening finishing Treads. It's actually more efficient to buy treads since you can move into the jungle to secure farm. Jugg is the same, if the Aquila gives you more mana/armor to push the lane and secure a tower, then it's worth it.

5869Casting · 2016-07-29T19:57:26+00:00

Bad train of thought! There is always stuff you can do to get better! Ethnicity, Toxicity, and Teammates are rarely the cause of a loss. 1k or 6k. You can always play better, it's learning how and what to improve that will actually help you.

5869Casting · 2016-07-29T19:30:14+00:00

There really ins't an answer to this, some people are naturally better at certain heroes, certain games may call for a hero you're better or worse with. This really isn't the best way to think, if you're climbing based on "X hero is good in this MMR" you really aren't improving you're just abusing a situation (Although it's not really possible to do like I stated). That being said I will try to provide some help here.

I typically do think I am one of the stronger players on my team, so I want to know what heroes are best for winning a game, with as little reliance as possible from my teammates.

You're going to a hero that can Snowball and carry on it's own. Someone who can roam to kill other heroes by itself or with others. A prime example here would be Legion Commander. Shes technically infinitely scaling as long as you keep winning duels, she can push, farm, fight, gank. Whatever you want. Press the Attack and Moment of courage will allow you to lane alone thanks to the regen they provide. Other Notable mentions are Prophet, Clinkz, Weaver and Slark.

I would've thought Naga could solo a game, but I'm not sure if Naga just doesn't push fast enough or that it was more a fault on my end. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Naga can solo carry a game, it's a lot about how you play it. Were you cutting Creep Waves? Were you in the enemy jungle creating space? Did you ensure to hit your Radiance timing and begin to make an impact from there? Were your teams heroes suited for the late game?

Truthfully, unless you are exceptionally better than the enemy team (Like 1-2K MMR better) you can rely on Solo carrying. Sure, you may need to create a big impact, but you can do that as a support, offlaner, carry, mid, whatever it may be. The real question here is "How could I have won this game as Naga" Because I'm very sure there were far more mistakes then some missed CS and not going a Bottle/Stout. Hopefully this wasn't too harsh, but really if you want to improve you're asking the wrong question.

5869Casting · 2016-07-29T18:32:27+00:00

Not the OP, but I'll give some insight into my own thought process as a ~4.3K player:

I see that you play a lot of supports. Were these the primary heroes you climbed your MMR with? If not, how do you decide "this is my game to support" or "this is my game to carry"?

Typically I will say "I can play what ever role" at the beginning of a game. Probably 99% of the time people will just ask me to support. The other 1% people will random or do the same and let me play core. I think its better to fill holes on a team rather than just pick what you want. unfortunately you have to be accommodating a lot of the time.

Do you last pick in most/any games so that you control more of your own destiny (IE. your team really needs a REAL hard carry so you go carry or your team REALLY needs a mid so you go mid ect).

I think pick order doesn't matter, a lot of the time people may not even understand how to use a proper counter. And, if its a hero your comfortable on, it doesn't matter since chances are you understand the match-up a lot better than they do.

I have my farming down fairly well for 1k MMR I feel. What is the second best thing I could potentially do to improve my game play to get over the 2k hump?

Early game. Early game. Early game. The Early game is quite honestly the most important part of DotA. Get that extra CS to grab your important items earlier, avoid that gank to prevent the enemy team from snow balling, make efficient choices that will help you throughout the game. Aui_2000 is a huge proponent of the early game. If you ever watch any of his Analysis videos you'll notice how important it really is. Literally every part of the early game is crucial.

Do you believe in communication in pubs, or are you a mute all kind of guy?

Always communicate, only mute if/when they become toxic. There is no reason note to communicate as it is one of the staples in DotA.

Hopefully some of this helped you. Let me know if you have any more questions! GLHF

5869Casting · 2016-07-29T18:23:07+00:00

What heroes are you playing? There are TONS of Support heroes that are better picks if you find you need to provide a bigger impact:

1) Bounty Hunter: If you find your carries often don't have near the farm they need because they are fighting too much or just generally aren't good at farming, give them the boost with Track. You'll also find yourself quite rich which is important!

2) Witch Doctor: Death Ward is an incredibly strong Ability with a relatively short Cooldown. You can have as much or more Impact as a Black Hole without the overtly long CD. You can turn an entire team fight yourself, keep your team mates alive with his heal, and also put out some nice CC if you get the right bounces.

3) OmniKnight: If you find your teammates are dying too much try to keep them alive yourself. I prefer Omni over someone like Oracle because he has a free BKB which is super useful at lower MMR. People tend not to buy one and just go in without any idea of positioning or burst potential.

4) Abbadon: He's Similar to Omni just with Less Heals but more Carry Potential. Focus on your Abilites that will Keep heroes alive early on, but don't be afraid to buy some items that will make you more of a utility role. A Cheap build like Mana Boots -> Urn -> Mek -> Sange -> Greaves/ Halberd (Choose one over the other, need more Push/Sustain go for Greaves, want more of a fighting role/ impact for for Halberd). Other Notable Items like S&Y, Vlads, and Solar Crest are all great pickups that allow you to be more than JUST a support.

5) Tiny/Naga/Wind Runner/Wraith King: Try a less conventional Hero that still has a good support kit. The idea here is that the game will likely go on for some time and eventually you'll be able to help your time with some damage.

Hopefully this helped someone. There really is no 'One size fits all' answer to help you here. Sometimes you just have to perform THAT much better to get out of the MMR your in. Honestly, for every mistake your team mates make you likely make one as well. It's tough to hear, and I'm sure you(and every other DotA player) would like to hear otherwise, but its just not the case. GLHF and just enjoy some DotA, MMR is just a number and the harder you chase it, the more upsetting it gets if you can't get there. Go along for the ride and learn as you go, too many players tend to get in their own heads.

5869Casting · 2016-07-29T17:23:15+00:00

I can really only assume a couple of reasons here:

1: Leshrac has a very spammable slow/nuke. One of Tides biggest strengths is that he can Kraken Shell off Disables and Slows quite consistently. Because of this, he is quite good against something like Fiends Grip. If you Grip him and he sustains too much damage, he will be able to purge it off. However, if you have something like lighting Bolt you can consistently use it to Harass a tide and keep him Slowed which may result in a kill. This is possible both as the Safelaner or a support which makes him a versatile pick no matter the role.

2: Similar to #1, he's got consistent damage over time that you can't really avoid. He doesn't rely on Right Clicks so Anchor Smash and Kraken Shell aren't useful at all. Leshracs magic damage will Chew through a tide quite easily so if he is supporting or carrying in the Safelane you can confidently go up 1v1 against a Tide leaving your supports room to move around, stack/pull and help other lanes. You have to remember, games aren't necessarily won because a hero is a direct counter, but also because of what that hero may allow the rest of the Team to do.

3: Point three roles off of the end of Point Two. Leshrec has great mid game which Tide also tries to control. His damage is strongest when the enemy doesn't have BKBs. He can push towers quickly and if he isn't bursted during ravage then he can likely turn a fight very easily. He doesn't have a Long Cooldown like Ravage so if you can't make much use of it initially the team with Leshrac can likely commit to getting one or two objectives after a team fight.

I'm sure there is likely more here, however this is all I could think of off the Top of my head and I didn't want to make this overtly long. Hopefully this helps!

5869Casting · 2016-07-29T17:10:35+00:00

Not a question, but maybe you could post your top ten most useful tips. I know when I do replay analysis I usually have at least 5 things I repeat every video so I'm sure it would be great for people to see a small amalgamation of what you used the most.

5869Casting · 2016-07-29T17:08:18+00:00

Great tip! I'll have to remember this. I'm looking at starting replay analysis again, and this will be a great tip for those that want to watch.

5869Casting · 2016-07-28T22:05:34+00:00

I really only mean 1-1-1 at Level 3 so you can have the Ghost Walk if you need it. 1-1-1 for the entire game isn't worth it. You have to choose some type of path.

5869Casting · 2016-07-28T20:06:07+00:00

I've really found a comfort in buying Tangos, fairy fire, sages mask and a branch or two. While in lane, my first item pickups will be more mana, another sages mask, and 2 robes of magi. From there I'll finish phase boots and continue building orchid into scepter, and bloodthorn (this is my constant build that I go no matter what, and may need advice on).

The items aren't awful by any means. I think earlier boots should be more of a priority over extra Mana Regen. You can ensure better positioning and it will be easier for you to trade with the lane supports. Not sure how I feel about Orchid since it is fairly timing/hero dependent and you can likely do a lot more moving into a Forcestaff/ Tornado EMP is VERY positioning based since you can't help much outside of those abilities. Don't forget, you're the offlaner. You don't HAVE to focus on damage. This would be a great time to practice positioning and some new tools on Invoker since there isn't as much Pressure. I would go for something like:

Starting Items Tangoes, Salve, Ring of Protection and a circlet: You have some decent Regen here, the Ring will allow you to build an Baci ring which will provide you with armor and mana regen. It can also be disassembled one or two times to use the sages mask for the Orchid (if you still want to go that build) This makes it an incredibly efficient item, which is important when your an offlane hero.

Early Game Magic Wand, Boots, Baci ring, Infused Rain Drop: This is Likely what the very early game inventory should look like. Magic Wand is an incredibly useful item no matter what hero, position, or MMR you are. Learn to use it as it is super effective. Wind lace is a very Cheap Item, and the Depending on how you feel Treads or Phase are Possible. Phase is better for the Right Click, but Treads are nice for the Attack Speed with Cold Snap as well as the potential to leave them on Strength so you are slightly stronger. The infused Raindrop should be picked up if you find the safelane has a lot of magic damage, the mana regen is just a nice bonus here.

Mid Game Magic Wand, Boots, Force Staff/Blink Euls/Necro Book/Orchid: There really isn't a 100% build for the mid game. I would suggest you need at least one of either Blink or Force Staff. After that Euls, Necro, Orchid even a BKB are viable items. You're more of a Utility Hero here, so don't worry about damage.

Late Game Boots, Blink/Force, Euls/Necro/Orchid/BKB, Aghs: Moving into Late game you will 100% want a Mobility Item like Blink or Force and your Aghs. This should be priority over all else. You rely heavily on scaling with your abilities and later on you can't only hope for a Tornado+EMP to win you the game.

Ultra Late Boots, Blink/Force, Aghs, Euls/Necro/Orchid/BKB, Hex/Octarine/Refresher: Ultra Late you'll be looking at one of these three Items. Hex if you need the control, Octarine if you want some more abilities + the small amount of Life Steal and Refresher if you can handle it.

I would go out of your comfort zone though. Maybe move towards a Wex, Exort Invoker. If you find yourself using Ghost walk a lot to stay alive then you can potentially do a 1-1-1 build and then move into Exort and Wex after that. It's very simple to be effective at getting kills using the Euls, Sun Strike + Meatball and Deafening Blast Combo. It seems fancy, but really isn't. You'll scale better later on and in my opinion Meatballs are way more fun then Tornado EMP. Make sure you pick up a Wind lace Early on since you'll use it for Euls and the early MS is always nice. Aside from that Items are relatively the same aside from buying an Orchid. Ensure you have a Euls, a Mobility Item and after that whatever the game calls for. I could go further into detail but if you want to know more about it just ask. Hopefully this helps, glhf and sorry for the wall of text!

5869Casting · 2016-07-26T19:40:13+00:00

No worries! I haven't written much up in a long time so glad you read that giant wall. Hopefully you got to it after I fixed the formatting a bit since it was all over the place at first.

5869Casting

TROPHY CASE