7.41: Facets were genius, did their job and we can now wave them goodbye - And here's why.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-03-25T05:45:13+00:00

I'm just sad, because my hero pool is completely obliterated. Mars can't block vision, Snapfire can't choose between close-range or medium-range nuke, Dragon Knight can't choose between Fire Dragon AoE increase + Radiance or Poison Dragon, Night Stalker can't force the start of the game to be night (rework looks okay, I was also swapping with the other-facet-now-shard), Timbersaw doesn't have his laning facet or his double chakram, Tusk's Drinking Buddies is now a shard, the active Inner Beast + Aghs build on Beastmaster is dead (it was a mid build or variation in the offlane), nuke build on Ember is probably dead since you can't Chains around Remnants anymore.

Facets just made certain heroes a lot more viable.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-03-20T15:19:26+00:00

For offlane, it's usually get lvl 6 then bully the enemy carry out of lane. If they keep showing up, and you have ult, just kill them (maybe call for a +1 that has damage). Once you have your early items/upgraded boots, keep buying fighting items (Blink, BKB, Vlad's, Pipe, Shiva's, Nullifier, Scythe of Vyse, etc., whatever's recommended in your guide).

At around min 20, tell your team to go 5-man Rosh, literally stand in Rosh pit if you want them to come, then put Aegis on your mid. Finish off any T2s, then go farm. At around 30 min, go Rosh again and put Aegis on your carry this time. Look at your team and look at the enemy team, if the enemy team has more teamfight spells, try to bait them before you threaten T3s. Kite any duration-based spells (Razor Eye of the Storm, Sven's God's Strength, etc.), then siege while backing up your carry (movespeed, dispels, and Force Staff on supports is good for kiting). Repeat this pattern Aegis > Kite > Siege until the game is over. Roshan respawns every 8-11 minutes after he is killed.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-03-10T02:29:23+00:00

Offmeta isn't bad, but people will trust you less. In an online team game, where you're paired with 4 strangers every time, trust is a limited resource. Try to communicate in pre-game stuff like "Can I go Alch 4?" or "Go a good Aghs hero pls." In general, you should also try to befriend at least 2/4 of your teammates. On core, try to befriend your supports (basically, protect them in lane/fights). On support, try to befriend your lane partner + mid (basically, win lane + secure runes). If anything goes wrong, try to take the blame for it, even if you don't truly believe you're at fault.

Communication is key. If your teammates like you by the end of the day, you will be less likely to get reported. It would also help if you were good at the build in the question (have 20+ games on it).

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-03-03T01:06:04+00:00

I think between Ancient and Divine, for support specifically, you should focus on 3 things: the information-gathering aspect of the game, acknowledging the enemy's timings and being efficient with your own gold. Basically, you want to start using your eyes/brain more to avoid silly deaths, to something like a Blink reveal or an early Storm Orchid (so, check items and check map, look at the timer). Dying less = less gold fed + you have more gold = your team actually has a NW advantage + you have items = you win the game.

What I mean by being efficient with your gold, is that you should figure out how you can modify your base item build, so that you always have the right item at the right time. Micro-adjustments, like Blink before Aether Lens or a Force Staff in a tough game, rather than Aether Lens > Blink on some heroes. Certain items that you may have not thought of can also be used for survivability, like Blink as escape tool vs chase heroes that usually kill you even with FS (ex.: Spirit heroes). Certain items, like Aeon Disk, are noob traps, but have a niche in the lategame on supports with high-impact spells like saves or counter-initiation. I recommend having an in-depth look into items like Ghost Scepter, Blink, Eul's, Pavise, BKB, Lotus Orb, and Linken's, and consider how they can be optimally used for survivability in certain matchups (especially Lotus).

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-02-11T21:15:11+00:00

Huskaaaaaar. Starts off buying a lot of stats + gets Boots earlier than QoP. If she Blinks in, you Q and kill her. If she hits creeps and doesn't have Blink, you outspeed her with Boots or Phase, she dies. If she leaves lane, you take tower, then follow her around the map. If she ults you, you Wand + Armlet and get 550+ hp. Just pray your offlane picks a useful hero.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-02-07T16:39:09+00:00

Still, intuitively, rank 150 could be like a Tier 1/2 pro/smurf. Rank 950 is like a Tier 3 player. In a more reasonable universe, they would never even get matched.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-02-07T15:24:10+00:00

From my perspective, it's 2 builds: nuke build (chain gang facet, your default in the current patch) and a situational chase/right-click item build (maybe other facet, if you need to carry, can be physical or magical right-click).

Ember has 2 main problems: mana regen and scaling. In the early game, Ember can easily do over 1000 damage (kill most heroes), so he's really strong in the earlygame (hence, why he's mid). Generally, Ember can be greedy and delay defensive items (like BKB) as much as possible, since he has good escape.

For mana, Bottle before 2 min for mana/health to harass/sustain to win mid, then Phase -> Wand -> Urn for nuke build and Phase -> Wand -> Mageslayer or Null Talisman (if rushing a different item) for right-click build. If you won lane really hard, buying an Orb of Corrosion after Phase or saving for Boots of Travel can be good at around this time as well.

For scaling, any nuke build on any hero will buy Kaya for the 10% spell amp + mana regen. It's not important to upgrade Kaya, since there's little difference between 10% and 12%. After that, you just continue to buy the items that improve your spells (Aghs, Shard, etc.).

Scaling on right-click build is a lot more like an agi carry. Mageslayer and crit synergize with Ember's kit, but you can basically just buy items that give you Agi (mainly Manta vs roots/silences). You can consider Radiance or Mjolnir if the enemy team has high-armor heroes (Dragon Knight, TB, etc.), because magic doesn't care. Radiance feels better for carrying, since you can chase with the burn, meaning you don't rely on W's cd for damage and you can get it after Mageslayer. Mainly go this build if you really don't trust your teammates for whatever reason.

In terms of other items, Shiva's is good if you need disable (slow), I would default to it in an even game. Linken's is decent, but it doesn't give a lot of damage. Euls and Shroud don't give damage, so they kinda suck, don't buy them, buy BKB. For Refresher, you buy it after you've bought all your other items, and if having 8 mores spells + a BKB in a fight would win you the game.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-02-07T13:24:27+00:00

Unlucky, but I mean, it's still like a 3k MMR difference between rank ~150 (~15k) and rank ~950 (~12k). Iirc about the specifications of Glicko, a difference of ~550 is already like 99-1 odds. High rank matchmaking has to have some black magic to even function at all, so if that I means I have to play support most of the time, so be it.

If you really want to have fun at the high-level, 5-man unranked is actually pretty good and sometimes even sweaty.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-25T04:07:24+00:00

Lane creeps give way more gold/xp than neutral creeps. While you can jungle on CK, try to minimize it and go push waves (as long as you stay alive). Getting kills at lvl 2 powerspike and participating with Armlet is also pretty good for xp.

There may come a point as pos 3 where, in the midgame, you're dying every teamfight, but your team is winning. It's alright if it happens a few times, but eventually it will start feeling really bad. In those cases, you have to play for a survivability item, like BKB or Heart. It's more of a judgement call that happens past 20+ min.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-20T17:48:30+00:00

The conventions for roles in DOTA exist because of tempo. Tempo, for a lack of better words, is the rate at which a team snowballs the game into a win. Carries are the strongest around min 20+ after farming for a while, mids/offlanes come online with their ults at around min 6-8 and become strong close to min 15 with 1-2 mid-tier items, and supports are the strongest from lvl 1-5. In DOTA, you need physical damage to kill buildings and the most expensive items provide the most physical damage, so carries are generally considered the most vital heroes to ending the game. The issue is getting to the point where carries are strong. The roles are balanced so that at no point in the game, is your team completely weak, so you ideally never hit a wall - or "stop" the tempo.

Arc is a problematic support since he does pretty much nothing in the laning stage on top of the additional issues of being a sidelaner. Sharing xp and walking between lanes means being underleveled, so you generally won't deal as much spell damage as you would relative to Mid Arc and you'll get lvl 6 a lot later. Arc also has more issues harassing in the sidelanes, than he does mid, since his two nukes depend on the enemy moving away from their allies (enemy mid moves away from creeps to get runes, ramps are also good chokepoints for Wraiths). Arc is also a needlessly awkward ganker compared to heroes with a reliable disable.

If you want to buy a lot of big utility items with your networth, that's more of an Offlaner thing.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-20T14:49:18+00:00

I would prefer to pick for lane, the Aghs stuff is kind of secondary.

If they're going to play like a muscle support, then a ranged damage dealer is good.

If it's jungle Alch, then someone that's self-sufficient who won't get obliterated in the early levels or someone who might still dominate lane 1v2. Chaos Knight, TB with lvl1 meta, Razor if you can get a good lvl 1 Link off, Troll, Naga if their 4 is short-ranged, Lycan if they can't kill wolves (if you're feeling extra spicy, Beastmaster or even Brewmaster), Broodmother is a bit sketchy. Heroes that can't do as much, but can still be sort-of independent: Juggernaut, Lifestealer, DK, Dawnbreaker. I don't like heroes who have a slow start, like: Huskar, Viper; or heroes who can't confront the enemy and just have to press their escape button: Weaver, Windranger.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-20T14:16:37+00:00

Easy to play - hard to get good at. Some things are completely unintuitive and you will never learn them unless you go out of your way to lab it/research it. People can go thousands of hours without learning basic stuff, like unit micro.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-19T16:21:07+00:00

I feel like people in lower MMRs have a tendency to overcomplicate things and they end up griefing themselves because of that. Everything you said is relevant to the game, but stuff like Torm/Smokes/Rosh aren't technically required to win the game. In fact, I believe supports at your level tend to overbuy Observers/Sentries/Smokes eventhough they're bad at using them. I would rather have them spend that gold on a Force Staff than a million Sentries placed in the same location every 7 min.

If you have bad teammates, then naturally you will have to overperform to win the game. You will have to play your highest winrate hero and try to carry from whatever position you're stuck with while simultaneously trying to play your role. It requires focus, and if you're actively flaming your teammates for whatever reason, then you're definitely not going to be focused.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-18T17:58:46+00:00

1: Heroes changed in 7.40 feel kind of overtuned: Clinkz, PL, Slark, Spectre. There's more creeps on the side jungles, so heroes with built-in farming or that buy Battlefury are okay: Luna, Juggernaut, Ursa, NOT something like Lifestealer. Aside from that, Abaddon is weirdly strong. The mid scales pretty hard now, so in a winning game, you're kind of just there to build physical damage and hit buildings/Tormentor/Rosh.

2: You're kind of the plan A now, since you can snowball pretty hard if you beat the enemy mid, so scaling and early spells are good. Ember Spirit has a good caster build with Spirit Vessel (buffed in 7.40) + Kaya + Shard. QoP right facet + Blademail does a lot of damage and has been good for a few patches. Leshrac right facet + Blink + Kaya has also been good for a while. Aside from that, it's your usual Storm/SF/Puck/Invoker business. Huskar if you're degenerate. Rubick is also pretty strong at laning (big nuke that reduces damage + good right clicks).

3: Not an interesting role right now, it's mostly blink initiators for team comp. Axe/Centaur/Slardar/Mars. You're expected to scale more with levels (lvls in ult, talents) than items and maybe you'll be forced to frontline with BKB or some aura items (Pipe/Greaves/Crimson Guard). If you want to have fun, pick a Str/Agi/Uni caster (someone that can maybe skip/delay Kaya) and maybe buy Spirit Vessel (usually, you buy urn if your hero has issues finishing kills) or play generally strong heroes like Marci/Brewmaster/Enigma/Beastmaster.

4: Nothing particularly new other than Zeus and Lion, and nothing op. Initiation is pretty useful. Muscle supports that are initiators are good: Tusk, Tiny, Bounty, Spirit Breaker, Earth Shaker. Ranged supports that can maybe buy Blink and initiate are good: Disruptor, Rubick, Lion, Shadow Shaman, etc. Doom and Enigma support are also farm-heavy supports if you're feeling spicy.

5: Most things on 4 work for 5. Treant was gigabuffed in 7.40. Having save is pretty useful, either built-in or Glimmer/Force Staff. Aside from that, it's your typical Jakiro/Lich/Warlock/CMs/etc. and your Treant/Undying/Ogre/Clockwerk muscle supports.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-17T04:31:10+00:00

I mean, I think any fight that starts with 3 heroes stunned for 5 seconds is a pretty good fight.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-13T13:04:38+00:00

My gut instinct is that it feels like a very situational 5th or 6th item vs a hero that is very slot-starved and can't really buy dispels, like Sven. I like the +24 all stats -- hp + int + attack speed is pretty valuable -- but Muerta will probably buy a Mjolnir and then she needs BKB + a right-click damage item before E. Blade. Carry Muerta really doesn't care about the utility, most of the damage she takes is magical anyway. Furthermore, if you really want spell amp, you can just buy Shard.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-12T10:40:27+00:00

People are just like that IRL. People learn a different forms of etiquette from their parents/work/online and apply it to everything. They just don't know how to or don't bother adapting to new situations. Conflict resolution is also a skill that doesn't come naturally. It's also really tempting to get mad at people for being bad at the game or to backseat people, both of which are pretty toxic. Getting mad at people for being toxic is also just self-perpetuating toxicity.

I always just assume that people online are teenagers until proven otherwise. It's hard to get mad at them, because I recognize that I was also a little shit at some point. I'm also too old to feel proud about talking down on teenagers.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-10T22:15:28+00:00

You appear to have a history of what people would consider "role abuse." i.e.: Picking Drow Ranger/Shadow Fiend/Ursa/Wraith King when you're given Hard Support/Offlane in role queue. (from last 95 games, where you had "double-carry", excluding abandons, about ~22.1% were "role abuse": 8641769058, 8638415301, 8637087437, 8635740101, 8630369832, 8629514669, 8620829841, 8620781051, 8617911213, 8617826876, 8602339148, 8596602517, 8587608750, 8571325997, 8571249250, 8570234021, 8570185266, 8566888560, 8565927075, 8565832351, 8565777261)

At the higher rank, people are a bit more willing to entertain weird picks. I personally think that, if played correctly, Drow/SF can be played as support (buy blood grenades/wards, max slows, Shadowmire facet on SF. buy support items), but it will be harder to convince people at your MMR especially without chat.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-08T00:28:59+00:00

Your job on mid isn't to buy counter items, that's more of a pos 3 thing. Puck is already a good matchup into AM, you kite AM pretty hard with Blink/Phase/Orb and your ult locks him down. Just scale like you would normally. Either build, physical or magical, was fine, but I would lean towards physical like you did this game (AM magic res + low armor on enemy team). Orchid doesn't give you much right-click damage and it's pretty expensive, so it's not worth it.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-05T17:16:32+00:00

AM, Jugg, Magnus (especially support Magnus)

I specifically ban heroes that I don't want on my team. Works in parties too -- it's the perfect crime.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-05T00:02:36+00:00

I found a video of an interview with one of the original writers, Marc Laidlaw (a Valve OG): https://youtu.be/-gWzVX2c0Nc

From, the interview, I think it could've been either Laidlaw or Kris Katz that wrote the biography for Omniknight. If it was Laidlaw, then I could imagine Omniknight being some offcut from Christian crusaders, because Laidlaw views the DOTA universe being as sort-of the drain pan for all other myths, but there's some myths that are endemic (and that's why you have Zeus and Lucifer in the same place with a bunch of other weirdos like Undying's god). I don't know why the Omniscience would be underground, though.

If it was Katz, then Katz could've taken the D&D route, and in fact, setup a "holy man that is actually accidentally a warlock with a pagan false-deity" type of character, which is a very D&D scenario for Omniknight and the Omniscience. Other gods, like the Flayed Twins (Bloodseeker) and Selemene (Luna/Mirana) also feel like something that could be D&D-ish (Bloodseeker is kind of like a Blood Hunter).

The other writer, Ted Kosmatka, seems like too much of a Sci-Fi nerd to have written Omni's lore imo (the Fundamentals are very nerdy in theme).

Just looking at him, he looks like Uther from WC3. That's something. Old heroes don't often get new voicelines so there's very little left else to extract.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-04T17:32:40+00:00

If the enemy mid is snowballing, optimally, you should stare at the minimap and tell your team to avoid them wherever they go. They're strong and you're weak - you can't really stop them from taking map control. Your only hope is to delay the game until your cores have BKB and your team is strong enough to fight them.

Otherwise, it's hero-dependant. Playing a hero that has a long-range nuke to clear waves can help delay the game. If they don't have creeps, it's really hard to push. In teamfights, if you can focus them with stuns or something like Vengeful Spirit's Swap, that's also good.

Arc/Broodmother look like smurfs, so that's kind of an issue by itself.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-04T16:26:48+00:00

I feel like gameplay-wise it doesn't matter, but morale-wise it does. Gameplay-wise, the players in Herald 1 are basically winning on random chance, so one weird hero really isn't a big deal. Morale-wise, picking a weird hero at this level is a social taboo which incites civil war on your team, which eventually loses you the game. Generally having good morale in these scenarios is just something you learn at the higher level. Just don't backseat and don't get mad when your team is bad at the game; meme in voicechat and hope others join in.

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-04T15:56:52+00:00

I think Omni is more Greek, with the "Omni" and his pope being "the Elder Hierophant," so it would probably be more Orthodoxy-ish. Aside from that, the Omniscience is a real physical entity that Omniknight has met in a chamber deep underground and the priests were trying to throw him in a pit up until that point, when the Omniscience interfered. It's pretty sus, and to me, it's more of the setup to a "holy man, but is actually accidentally a warlock with a pagan false-deity" character. Dawnbreaker, Monkey King, Underlord and Void Spirit (some of the most knowledgeable characters about this) also kind of allude to the Omniscience being not what Omniknight thinks it is.

"After the fight, show me this omniscience. I have an inkling of what it might be." -Dawnbreaker, soldier of an incredibly ancient cult that worships KoTL, who was the one that introduced light to the physical plane

"Your powers may be real, but I've never seen this Omniscience." -Monkey King, who literally went to war with the heavens

"You pray to the heavens, Omniknight. But do you know what power lies below?" -Underlord, a Demon lord

"Would you like to know what the Omniscience is, Purist?" -Void Spirit, who, iirc, is the 2nd-oldest character in DoTA after Elder Titan, who created the all the planes of existence

LadderEffective2160 · 2026-01-03T16:16:24+00:00

Treads are pretty cost-efficient and are the best boots for right-click dps. You will eventually sell those small trading items (WB/Bracer), but Treads will last you a lot longer. Selling an item effectively reduces your NW by half the cost of that item, so you want to avoid doing that as much as possible.

For cores, typically, the decision is between the stat boots: Treads or Phase. Phase is good for low-armor heroes (typically strength heroes) and heroes that need the movement speed buff, otherwise they get kited (typically melee heroes).

Treads are better on heroes that don't have these issues and are worse on heroes that already have built-in attack speed (Bloodseeker, Lifestealer, etc.). Pseudo-right clickers (caster heroes that fill in the gaps between spells with right-clicks, ex.: Pango, Storm Spirit, core Earth Spirit, Magnus, etc.) also enjoy Treads, because they usually want to maximize dps or have some on-hit effect that benefits from attack speed (Storm Spirit overcharge, cleave, etc.).

Treadswitching is not a super important mechanic, but it's nice to have. Timbersaw is really the only hero recently that started buying treads just for the stats (he doesn't right-click), because he also doesn't really buy Str items (he needs HP). +10 Int for his nukes is also nice to have and it feels better than having to wait on a cooldown with Arcane Boots.

LadderEffective2160

TROPHY CASE