DOTA 2

[sack_patrol]

Lifestealer is my main hero and he's pretty damn fun to play. Also he doesn't have many hard counters so you can pick him when playing with a large variety of heroes in the game as opposed to someone like Clinkz who isn't a good choice if facing multiple Str based carries on the other team.

 

His ultimate is very easy. It's like a small AOE nuke as well as an escape mechanic. You infest a target non-ancient, non-enemy hero unit. So regular creeps, neutral creeps, ally heroes are ok to infest. Once you're inside the enemy doesn't know where you are if there are many creeps on the screen. Once you burst you deal AoE damage. If it's a non-hero unit that you've infested, upon bursting you kill the creature and steal his remaining hp and add it to yours. If it's a hero and you burst out you only deal the AoE damage but don't kill him obviously.

 

The practical uses of this skill are varied. For starters it's good for farming if you've got nothing else to use it for since you can clear creep waves pretty quick with it, but you need to be careful since cooldown is 100 seconds which is a lot of time in DOTA and you might end up needing it very soon after you've used it for something as insignificant as killing creeps. So you need to be able to predict in a way, what's coming up in the game. Apart from that it's useful in team fights since you can infest something and burst right away to deal damage and continue fighting in the battle. Also it's good for ganking unsuspecting heroes by infesting an ally out of sight and when he runs in to attack an enemy, he thinks the battle is 1v1 or if there are 2, 2v1, but then you suddenly burst out, deal the damage, and suddenly it's 2v2 but you're at an advantage.

 

Finally, it can be used as an escape mechanism. You should know that nobody can attack their own creeps if they aren't at low hp. So this means that if you were chilling in a lane and killing creeps and the enemies come to kill you, all you have to do is infest one of their healthy creeps and you're safe for as long as that creep is alive. They have to either let you go, wait until that creep dies, or use a sacrificial spell on it in order to draw you out. Everything besides the sacrificial spell takes time and the creep will advance close to a tower where you can burst and run to safety or your allies can come rescue you by driving the enemy away or causing a team battle.

 

Other useful stuff to know about him is that he deals damage based on his life steal ability. I'm not sure exactly how it's calculated but I think that basically the more hp the enemy has, the more dmg you deal to him and steal that much hp. So always target heroes with the most hp. Feast is also good because it gives extra % lifesteal. Rage not only increases attack speed but gives spell immunity which is the most important part for lifestealer. It also serves as an escape too since you can't be stunned. It's basically a free BkB.

 

Overall Lifestealer is an easy hero to play with but his effectiveness is going to rely on how well you use the spells he has and the items since he's very item dependent. Also he's weak in the early game so in competitive play it's very vital that you survive until you get the core item set before you start getting the kills and acting like the carry you are.

 

There are very well written guides on playdota.com for him and most other heroes so that's where you should look if you want to know more detail. There's no better dota website than that.

[ClayMeow]

Thanks for the explanation. I actually just came back here to say I just played a game as lifestealer. The opposing team quickly selected Ursa, so I figured I'd try him out. The game was too easy though, so didn't get a good feel, but seemed easy. Only thing was I thought I could jungle immediately, and it was a little tougher than I thought...definitely should have bought a salve instead of tangos. I finished with 0:0:6 KDA...like I said, very easy game. My favorite moment was when I went to rosh, Ursa was there, and I pummeled him, and then he tried to run away, but right into my Riki teammate.

[sack_patrol]

Lifestealer is a jungler so yes, ALWAYS jungle with him right from the start. That way you also free up an extra lane for a teammate who will get all the experience. Jungling is easy but you need to start with the lowest level neutral creeps before going to the tougher ones since some are too powerful to kill before like lvl 4. You also level up Feast first to get the lifesteal. As for items, you don't need Salve. You just get a quelling blade, 1 set of tangos and a stout shield. That should be enough. Also it's good to know how to create choke points in the neutral camps and jungle that way. Basically you cut down a tree with the quelling blade and you go into that narrow spot where the creeps line up so you take damage from them 1 by 1 as opposed to all 2/3 of them attacking you. There are sweet spots in all the jungles and it's just a matter of finding them. There's a guide about this technique in playdota.com too. xD Also I like getting Hand of Midas as my first core item, before boots or anything else because it compliments the jungling play style. It's important to always use the hand tho. So every 100 seconds because you need to pay it off before it starts making you any real profit. In the long run though you get items much faster with it.

 

There are other natural jungling heroes obviously so try not to pick too many of them on the same team because there's going to be disputes about who's laning and how's jungling. Unless you have a team with all friends and you have a plan from before that. Some of these heroes are Lycan, Lone Druid, Axe, Enigma, Ursa after lvl 5-6 I think.

Edited April 16, 2012 by sack_patrol

[NikoDG]

Does anyone on here wanna add up on Steam so we can have some people to play DOTA with?

[Rofltroll]

Lifestealer is too easy.

[WhenKittensATK]

Hmmm Lion might be my new favorite support hero. Two hard CCs and a nuke ultimate haha. Been playing with a friend and so far 6 - 2.

Edited April 23, 2012 by AZNguyen

[ClayMeow]

I've just been playing Single Draft and Random Draft lately. Makes it tougher, but I'm kind of liking the extra challenge.

[nickk47]

Just found out Dota 2 will be free to play...now I might actually play it

[RogerDeath]

I'm a fan of Enigma right now. You get the right combo off and all of a sudden there goes a TON of your enemies' health at once. His triple stun (Q) and his lock-down Ult are stupid when you combine them with his E ability (the AoE % one).

[WhenKittensATK]

Dota 2 store is open, you can buy into early access and get two costume sets for $40. Skins seem cheaper than in LoL or it just seems cheaper, since you Dota 2 uses real currency vs points.

 

http://www.dota2.com/store/

Edited June 1, 2012 by AZNguyen

[96andrei]

I'm a Sniper lover in Dota 2, it's a bit harder than other heroes in early-mid game, but it's one of the best in the late game. I'm using "the perma-basher build" I found on the internet and it works very well, add me on steam if you want to play with me, same nickname as on occ.

[sack_patrol]

http://kotaku.com/5936597/how-dota-2-exposes-the-shortcomings-of-the-video-game-industry

 

But what they categorically do not do is go against people's instincts. Nobody's going to make a multiplayer game with one map, that takes an hour to play, that looks like an RTS but will . you if you try and play it like one.

and thus the pathetic excuse for a gaming industry we have today was born.

Edited August 22, 2012 by sack_patrol