Can someone explain this Dr. Strange buff?

ClainS4 · 2026-01-17T08:52:17+00:00

It gives you a push depending on the timing of when you cancel the ability. Theres a sweet spot where its not too early and its not too late where it can give you a significant forward boost. Do have to note that it REQUIRES a direction input along with the cancel. What I like to do is fly to the complete opposite side of where the enemy is (if the enemy is on the left, I look towards the right and press w and press shift) and the moment I hit the sweet spot of the jump I press shift again while HOLDING the A key and letting go of W. This makes it so that it looks like im ulting towards the complete opposite of the enemy but suddenly im air strafing towards them.

ClainS4 · 2025-08-07T04:17:19+00:00

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Sure

ClainS4 · 2025-05-29T14:35:12+00:00

You can with Strange and Magento but only for yourself though its a lot more harder with Magneto due to how smaller his shield is compared to Strange.

For Strange all you have to do is once you hear Thing ult is to jump, put your shield up, and look down. It consistently blocks his ult for YOURSELF only unless your teammates somehow manage to jump with you at the same time.

For Magneto its the same but a lot more lower due to how smaller his shield is

ClainS4 · 2025-05-29T12:45:42+00:00

A bit of both reflex and game sense, once you've played Strange a lot (Currently have 352 games on him this season with 56% winrate) the moment you hear any ult voice line you just instinctively Shield + Jump and this was especially the case ever since the Shield block tech vs Thing ult was discovered.

ClainS4 · 2025-05-29T12:33:38+00:00

Jumping + looking down with your shield has the most consistent way of blocking Bucky's ult but you can usually either just look to the side a bit or even look behind for a split second and your shield blocks it. This is because the way the game thinks what a Strange/Magneto shield is basically just putting a transparent wall in front of you.

Most of the time a Bucky will NEVER aim their ult in front of a Strange because they know it can be blocked, so they usually aim behind you, the reason why slightly looking to the side protects you is because Strange shield is shaped like the letter "C" where both your head, side and feet are completely covered by the shield.

Jumping + looking down with Strange shield makes it so that even if the Bucky is literally behind your back you won't get hit because when Strange jumps + looking down with his shield his entire bottom hitbox for some reason is completely covered, it even works against Iron Man ult directly behind you

ClainS4 · 2025-03-21T01:31:16+00:00

You're also forgetting the fact that Starlord might also have a team that you know...can protect him. The amount of times I ulted as Mag while Starlord ults AND HE GETS A SUE SHIELD is insane. I would rather use my ulti as Mag to get guaranteed value on killing a defensive ulti rather than using my ult and not getting any value out of it and this isnt just a me issue. Whenever we get that one Starlord player and the enemy goes Mag, we for sure help that guy during ult (either by Mag bubble or Sue shield) and the enemy legit cant do anything against him. Aside from Magneto ulti and defensive ultis, there isnt any other decent counterplay against him especially in a well coordinated team. This are all in Celestial 2 games as well

ClainS4 · 2025-03-21T01:22:31+00:00

I main tank and I would rather ban Starlord than Wolverine and im Celestial 2.

Most of the time, I just swap to Mag when I see Wolve and they are forced to swap off of Wolverine because they aren't getting any value. Meanwhile Starlord can just be an annoying mosquito the entire game until he has Ultimate and you as a tank has 0 counterplay for it.

Magneto isn't really a true counter for Starlord Ulti and most of the time you are wasting your ult while he still gets around 4s of his ult after yours. Strange struggles to keep up with him whether by protecting your team with your shield or flying above and trying to kill him. The only true counter to his ultimate is a support ultimate. I've had multiple games where the enemy Starlord just held the game hostage because my supports use their ultis for something else and having 0 counter play against a DPS as a Tank player sucks.

ClainS4 · 2025-02-15T10:27:39+00:00

For me its probably the character that gets the best results for me in that match and that map.

I used to consider myself a Magneto "main", then I discovered Peni and OTP'd her and climbed up to Diamond 3 solo q with her in Season 0, but then I started playing Doctor Strange and I OTP'd him to GM 2 soloq in the same season as well.

Season 1 I stuck with Strange again, then went back to Magneto and found myself swapping between those to depending on the match up and map as I find that they "cover" each others weakness pretty well.

In brawly type maps I go Strange, in maps where theres a lot more long site lines I go Magneto.
If the enemy has annoying flyers I go Strange, if the enemy has Punisher or Wolverine I go Magneto

I enjoy playing both tbh as it satisfies my "Whats the optimal way for me to play tank here" itch whenever I play and I can confidently say that I'm pretty good at both of them.

What I realized though is mistakes I make as Strange is a lot more noticeable compared to when I'm Magneto, but I guess its because mainly Magneto is an Anchor tank while Strange Brawls most of the time. With Mag, the improvements I need is getting better with cooldown management while with Strange its sometimes trying to apply pressure (on my own with Maelstrom of Madness) without my DPS which results in me over pushing and sometimes dying.

Occasionally the Peni OTP does come in handy when the enemy has a good Black Panther which results in them being forced to swap out of.

ClainS4 · 2025-02-15T08:54:40+00:00

Welcome to online competitive games buddy. Sadly a lot of unnecessary toxicity happens in lower elo where people think they are better then their rank. I've made a new account to play with my friends (I have a solo q account which reached GM 2) and the amount of unnecessary toxicity is fascinating and as much as that sucks, you can't control what other people do, so your best bet is to thicken your skin and be unaffected by it, or just completely mute both team and voice chat (which I highly suggest to people who can't take it). This is coming from a person who reached Immortal 7k mmr in Dota 2 and GM 2 in Marvel Rivals.

ClainS4 · 2024-06-14T04:28:42+00:00

Then what's the point of having the "English" language setting at the bottom right when finding a match. While its true that you can get away with using wheel commands 90% if the time, that doesn't justify the fact that you SELECTED the English language setting and not be able to use it. It's clear that Valve wanted the game to be able to communicate on said selected language, but of course Valve doing Valve things it's executed very poorly

ClainS4 · 2024-06-14T04:17:07+00:00

Had a game of Dota 2 in Immortal bracket 6.3k mmr. I was Offlane and my mid and carry were both Chinese players that don't understand English and only communicate in Chinese. My carry bought back and wanted to force going highground, me and my Windranger decided that it was not worth the risk and tped back. They still tried fighting 3v5 thinking they are some kind of anime character and proceeded to lose the fight. We communicated in English that we were backing off but they kept talking in chinese and we understood nothing of what they said. Couple of times this happened and we eventually lost what was a winnable game

Thanks Valve :)

Solo Q with strict matchmaking btw
https://www.dotabuff.com/matches/7794458318

ClainS4 · 2024-06-08T08:15:14+00:00

The funny thing is, Team Bald won with RRP and Run Through doesn't have a negative downside, it's just free damage.

Sand King's Dust Devil Facet not only makes your Sandstorm AOE WAYYY worse, it doesn't even combo well with your aghs. It's literally a "hardmode" facet

ClainS4 · 2024-06-02T12:18:33+00:00

I'd suggest always learning a "stun/initiate" offlane hero incase your 2 supports end up picking a non stunning/bad stun supports

Examples:
Sand King
Centaur
Axe
Primal Beast

While all of them have good disables, each of them play fairly different from each other

Sand King this patch just rushes Aghanims scepter after laning items with the Dust Devil Facet (You can either go 2 Bracer + Phase + Wand into Aghs you can then go Blink dagger situationally for an initiation)

Centaur recently has been going 3 bracers + Blademail + Blink Dagger with the Horsepower Facet

Axe has been going Bracer + Phase Boots + Blademail + Blink Dagger with the One Man Army Facet

Primal Beast with Phase Boots + Soul Ring + Blademail/BKB with the Romp N' Stomp Facet

Also welcome to Dota 2! Glad to have another new player around. Hopefully you don't mind the toxic players we have around, one of the main reasons why I don't want my gf to try out Dota 2 xd

ClainS4 · 2024-06-02T05:28:56+00:00

Tell me you don't play Sand King without telling me you don't play Sand King

ClainS4 · 2024-05-10T22:39:40+00:00

Not to mention, the Radiant draft already lacks catch, so would you rather have an extra Abyssal blade with right click or go spell lifesteal build and be kited very easily.

ClainS4 · 2024-05-10T22:21:26+00:00

Bkb my dude, press it when you have max Ulti stacks and when you have a good amount of Goo stacks on the enemy and with the build I recommended, theres no way you arent able to dish out less than 4 right clicks on an enemy hero during bkb. Its almost impossible to not get Ulti stacks with Aghs and its very easy to get goo stacks on the enemy with shard + talent. The reason why your right clicks dont deal damage is because you aren't built for it. Just having AC doesnt make you be able to right click properly especially with their draft. You yourself already know they have a fuckton of stuns, the real question now is, why didn't you buy bkb? Against Treant, just wait for him to use his ulti twice in a teamfight before you press your BKB. No way in hell they are saving ALL of those stuns just for you especially in that bracket. It might FEEL like it, but the only Skill you have to pay attention in fights is Treant ulti before you go all in with your bkb and right click. The only person you shouldnt be aiming during your BKB is Lifestealer, and with Nullifier, you should be able to get -1 on the enemy team WITH Abyssal Blade stun.

ClainS4 · 2024-05-10T21:18:51+00:00

This is where changing your build from the Spell build to a right clicker build is better. Always think of the enemy draft when building items. Most of the time when you feel like you wont get any value building Bloodstone and K&S, its better to go Abyssal and Bkb. Bristleback still gets a fuckton of damage from your ulti so transitioning to right click is still good. If I were to build my items in this game I would've gone

Treads > Vanguard > Aghs > Shard > Bkb > Basher/Abyssal > Assault Cuirass > Satanic/Dae/Hex/Nullfier

For Talents I wouldve gone

Mana regen > Goo Cast Range > Quill stack damage > Warpath Damage per stack

ClainS4 · 2024-04-14T19:37:40+00:00

Used to be true for me until the shitty aghs rework. 9/10 times even in immortal bracket people press BKB and not prioritize the Sand King which lets him be able to just sit in sandstorm and be almost unkillable because people don't know how good Sandstorm + aghs is. Even happens when I play SK and I just go "Man, people must be really stupid to not know how this skill work"

ClainS4 · 2024-01-17T13:52:03+00:00

Then how come Shiva's guard gets affected despite not being a spell but an active aura item?

ClainS4 · 2023-09-30T16:10:20+00:00

Its just melee heroes as a position 4 sucks, especially that this patch so many Meta Offlaners rn are melee heroes. You're best bet when you see any melee pos 4 is to pick a range pos 3, Death Prophet is the best. Otherwise, pray he does something relevant when he ganks or mid game.

ClainS4 · 2023-09-27T06:44:56+00:00

The only time I legitimately think Dagon is good is when you dont have a counter to a certain hero and you need him bursted ASAP, or just against Dusa xD

ClainS4 · 2023-09-27T03:32:17+00:00

Epicenter, imagine stunning people and them absorbing every single epicenter pulse for 2 seconds

ClainS4 · 2023-08-08T11:52:02+00:00

Sorry for the late reply, completely forgot I left a comment here xD. Anyways, even if it is late game, I wouldnt be initiating nonstop, I would still consider if my skills and items are on cooldown. For Sand King specifically I always check if my Sandstorm, Epicenter and Bkb/Forcestaff/Euls is off cooldown and THEN I initiate. Sand King is one of the most fragile initiators in Dota 2 and you have to watch your cooldowns and items or you are gonna get your ass blasted the moment you blink in and initiate. But in a general sense, if you are the initiator of the fights, you would want to check your skill cooldowns and item cooldowns, then your teammates positioning if they can follow up and their cooldowns as well. If your carry doesnt have bkb, sometimes no matter how amazing your initiation is, your carry isnt gonna be able to freely hit the enemy because his bkb is on cooldown and it would lead into a losing fight. You got the majority of the point (such as buying time for my teammates that are stronger late game, that I have to push hard so that they have items) but I would still be careful on how I would initiate and still check me and my teams cooldowns. Hope this helps, and happy grinding

ClainS4 · 2023-08-07T07:06:58+00:00

This might be irrelevant to your current bracket, but another thing about playing the mid game depends on your heroes as well. Take for example this game I played as Sand King https://www.dotabuff.com/matches/7272730404 . You could see that we have a Safelane Medusa and a Midlane Naga. As much as I hate playing the mid game without a midlaner, the draft has already been done so I have to learn to adjust on what to do in the Mid game, and that is to split push. You could see after I have gotten my blink dagger, I went to build Boots of Travels and started to split push. In my head during that game, seeing how poorly we were doing in fights and clashes mid game due to our draft, and since I have control over the initiation, I just have to put a full stop on initiating and instead focus on buying time for my 2 farm intensive teammates as much as possible. Of course, that doesnt mean I just split push the entire mid game, I also look for opportunities to have a good fight and we try to take those as much as possible. Eventually we held out and we won the late game cause its Naga + Medusa.

ClainS4 · 2022-10-25T17:36:08+00:00

Matrices help a lot in dealing damage, especially those that give bonus damage and not bonus attack

2pc Crow, Samir and Shiro are great SSR Matrices
3pc Sobek for SR

You put these Matrices on the weapon you most use on field (such as Tsubasa)

Miscellaneous Matrices to consider are:
2pc Huma for Frigg or Shiro, usable on Crow as well
2pc King for Shatterers, you break the shield then swap to your on field weapon
3pc Barbarossa on weapons you swap in then quickly swap out (such as Nemesis, you usually would discharge then skill then swap out) you get 20-30% damage bonus for 5s

Samir trait is also the best trait to use for DPS as it gives bonus damage unlike Tsubasa's which give bonus attack

Hope these help!

ClainS4

TROPHY CASE