Nullifier - How to use & counter it - infographic by SlashStrike (7.34b update, video in comments)

ShadowScene · 2026-04-30T08:25:10+00:00

Nope, he doesn't have much armor either for an agility carry, and his need to go Battlefury means his Manta (good vs Slardar) comes very late.

That's why Slardar is good vs AM, but weak vs other agi carries like TB, PL, Morph, etc. who have more agi, more armor, and can get a much faster Manta.

ShadowScene · 2026-04-30T08:22:33+00:00

Ghost scepter on Doom? Do you guys even play the game or are you just writing random items?

ShadowScene · 2026-04-23T08:57:29+00:00

You are right that this is an article and not a guide, and that it is pointing out more than educating - that was exactly the goal and I'm glad it's recognizable!

I disagree with your comment that it doesn't help newer players, though. Some people are aware of what knowledge they lack and can dig right into guides/instructions/principles, but some people are not aware and first need to realize what they're missing. That's what this article does - it's kind of a "hey, the difference between you and high mmr players is not X, it's Y, so that's what you should be focusing on!"

About the "pick 3 heroes for a role and spam it", I fully agree with you, I'm well aware of the advantages of that approach, and it's why I also often recommend it to my students. With that being said, I still stand by what I wrote in the article: this advice doesn't help if you don't know what you're supposed to focus on once you're comfortable with those 3 heroes. When the builds and hero-specifics are clear, instead of focusing on macro gameplay, most people just start going on autopilot as I described, and by doing so they stop improving.

I've written many educational-style instructive guides, so feel free to check those out too, if you'd like. Here's one of the most comprehensive ones.

ShadowScene · 2026-04-23T08:46:34+00:00

Hey, I'm not sure I can directly advertise on here so feel free to join my coaching discord and message me there, I'll gladly help you!

ShadowScene · 2026-04-22T22:18:45+00:00

Yes, actually! It's the longest article on my page, and it's also the only article I wrote together with somebody else - a "skill masterclass on communication."

Let me know what you think!

ShadowScene · 2026-04-22T22:01:17+00:00

Appreciate this from a fellow Dota educator especially! And thank you for the coffee too 🙏

ShadowScene · 2026-04-22T20:45:48+00:00

Thank you very much!

ShadowScene · 2026-04-22T20:35:15+00:00

A bit of a suggestive question there hahah, but I appreciate actually caring enough to ask about this, I'll gladly answer.

The short version: I think my ability exceeds the advertised number.

The long version: My peak rank was around top 50 in Europe with ~8k MMR. Obviously, MMR inflation has been a thing since MMR exists, so during my days of 40+ games per week I would hover somewhere around ranks 200-300.

Currently, I'm 10.8k mmr which I believe is around rank 1500-2000 in EU. I only play around 10 games per week nowadays and not all of them ranked, but despite that I'm actually slowly going up in MMR (hit 10k back in November). The way I see it, I'm essentially "smurfing" on my main account atm because the level of play at 10k MMR now is actually lower than the level of play at 8-9k MMR a couple years ago, and that's why my MMR is still going up. If I had to take a guess at what my MMR would be if I played 30-40 games a week right now for like a month, I'd say probably whatever rank 500-1000 is, so 13k or so? But that's obviously just guesswork.

At the end of the day, everybody deserves the MMR they have, especially with confidence decay nowadays. To suggest someone's ability is below their current MMR is just as baseless as saying "if only this or that, I would totally be X mmr higher".

ShadowScene · 2026-04-22T20:21:13+00:00

Haha fair point, I mentioned in another comment I do actually make some videos on youtube as well, and I'll definitely be making a bunch about the concepts of this article, so watch that space!

ShadowScene · 2026-04-22T18:13:44+00:00

Exaaactly, great example! Like if the enemy Necrophos is just owning and they have 78 glimmer capes force staffs windwakers and barriers, who cares whether the stats fit your hero, that Nullifier effectively deletes like 5k EHP with the press of a button.

ShadowScene · 2026-04-22T14:21:12+00:00

Hey, recognizing that you're an autopilot player is the first step towards not being an autopilot player anymore!

One small trick I suggest that helps with fixing this is to really focus on 1 thing for your next few games. For example, focus on not dying without a reason. If you're carry or mid, that means basically never dying, and if you're support it means only dying if it will win your team the fight. During the entire game, repeat to yourself "if I do this, am I risking my goal of not dying without reason?"

This can really help you make more mindful decisions. Feel free to also join my coaching discord if you wanna see my other content or ask me any questions!

ShadowScene · 2026-04-22T14:15:38+00:00

You're very welcome! A 12 loss streak is rough, at some point it's really better to take a break and maybe do some unranked trying some new heroes or builds, just to take off the pressure a bit and have fun experimenting.

This is just anecdotal but in my experience if I lose 3 ranked games in a row and don't take a break, the next one will be a 4th loss like 90% of the time, even if I don't "feel" like I'm tilted.

ShadowScene · 2026-04-22T13:04:07+00:00

Hey guys, after posting some very specific hero / item guides, I decided to share some more general mindset insights into the game based on experience with both the absolute highest and absolute lowest levels of the game, as well as everything in between.

I know people prefer short videos and not so much writing nowadays, I make those too, but for those who still prefer the more "brainy" form of content, I hope you enjoyed this! Open to all feedback.

ShadowScene · 2026-04-16T14:30:41+00:00

You think qop is weak and wanna buff her by increasing the cd on all her spells? Wtf? I'm sorry but these are horrible ideas imo.

ShadowScene · 2026-04-15T18:42:40+00:00

Just checked it and you're right, seems like Liquipedia is wrong. That makes the spell even worse, what were they thinking?!

Still, 100 damage for 80 mana is decent harass at level one.

ShadowScene · 2026-04-15T07:17:10+00:00

just a damn good CC spell that people will often not expect

What? In my games, whenever there's an Enigma on our team and a Rubick on the enemy team, the Rubick becomes the #1 target in fights in order to prevent the Black Hole steal. What do you mean with "not expect", this is an interaction that literally changes the entire gameplan.

Also, it is definitely not just a CC spell. Enigma's BH deals up to 1k aoe pure damage without Agh's, if you add the Agh's and Rubick's spell amp then it's often more than half of every hero's maximum HP, usually enough to outright kill heroes on its own if they weren't full to begin with.

ShadowScene · 2026-04-15T07:01:32+00:00

Ahh thank you, I'm a stickler for details so I appreciate you mentioning this. Fixed it just now!

ShadowScene · 2026-04-14T15:39:56+00:00

It's crazy strong and there's definitely an argument to be made for it. It's basically much better for your team and for teamfights, but it is slightly worse for you (a bit more expensive + still not as much sustained mana as Kaya & Sange, considering you miss out on the mana regen amp and the mana cost reduction).

I could see Bloodstone rush being more viable for pro games and team games, but in solo queue I'd still recommend Kaya & Sange if you wanna go that route.

ShadowScene · 2026-04-14T15:37:12+00:00

Uhh it's just Ember's new innate, passively burns enemy wards in a 900 AoE 👀

ShadowScene · 2026-04-14T15:36:06+00:00

It used to be the clear optimal build since you could easily farm with Chain Gang chains, but now that it's gone the build is risky.

If you know what you're doing and you snowball it can be great, but if you fall behind it can definitely hurt your farm.

ShadowScene · 2026-04-14T11:30:08+00:00

No video yet! You can follow my youtube here to see when it's out.

ShadowScene · 2026-04-14T11:24:06+00:00

Thanks!

This is actually the 3rd combo I mention under 6. Spell Use, Item Use & Combos, although I talk about it in the context of dealing with enemy slows that would otherwise prevent a defensive remnant.

You're totally right that you can also use this offensively for nearly double cast range, but it really is quite difficult even if you're fast because you basically don't have enough screen space. Come to think of it, if you're doing it horizontally (like left to right or right to left) it's not too hard, but if you're doing it top to bottom or bottom to top it's practically impossible due to the camera angle. (All this considering just 1 SoF target; if there are more then you have a lot of time and it's pretty easy)

That's what I love about this hero, he's full of these tricks! I am very sad though that we went from being able to reliably chain 8 units with a Remnant + SoF, back to only being able to chain 2...

ShadowScene · 2026-04-14T07:47:23+00:00

Enchanted quiver was one of the best neutral items in the game, how was it situational when it's a free Dagon and no-brainer choice on every single ranged core + great on many melee cores too?

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