This week's subject is that phrase you hear often times while playing Dota 2: Use Your Brain! Since it is a strategy game there is no reason you won't use it. But admit it, you sometimes don't. I know I'm not using it sometimes. Everyone has their excuses. Mine is usually being tired of a full-time day job and my brain being already off after tending some wife and kid issues at home just before I sit in front of the game and have some fun.
I can play 10 to 15 games in a week. That's it! This is how much I can invest in the game in terms of time. This isn't enough to have a steep curve on the MMR vs Calendar graphic. Because of this, each of my limited number of games is very important. I can't have any excuse for not being there 100%. If I feel lazy or I want to play Techies it is still okay, I can have some fun but then I never play ranked Dota 2. I can go play another game or watch a movie. I have to feel and tell myself that I will play 100%. After some games, I really feel exhausted. If I'm tired but still want to give it a shot I know I must feel exhausted when the game is finished. Only then I can say I played 100%. I know at those games I get 4+ commends.
Well, it is not easy to focus all the things I have to keep in mind, especially at the times when it tends to go for a snooze. But I found a solution to remind myself all the ideas I have to focus while on the go!
(i) My current focus ideas
The image above includes every idea that I want to and can focus while I'm playing Dota 2 at the moment. You can't read a page of notes if you are dead and waiting to respawn. But you can take a look at these ideas to see if you are out of your path.
This is a dynamic brain image and it is changing frequently. I remove the ideas or reduce the font size as I get more used to and apply them every one of my games. As more space opens I add new ideas to focus. Some ideas enter from the top and become the central focus like "100% or nothing!" that you can see above. I do this if I realize that I lost a game because I didn't care enough about that idea. Losing a game hurts me the most if I overlooked or ignored something I already know and I lost because of ignoring it.
I open this image every time before I start the game. I switch back and forth to it while queueing, playing, waiting to respawn and after the game. For two weeks I haven't shared my MMR progression with you. It was because I posted an entry about the 7.08 patch on Saturday and there was actually no progression to share with you. The week before I started using this brain image my win rate was 41%. At the start of the last week, I began to use this image to keep myself focused and I raised my win rate to 71%. I'm still spamming Juggernaut. I have 22 more games to play with him. After that, I will create myself a hero pool of 3 or 5 core heroes. I'll keep playing the carry role.
Below are the ideas that I have recently focused using my Brain. :)
Spend Unreliable Gold
I will make quotations from the Dota 2 Wiki for this: "Reliable gold - Any bounty you get from hero kills, Roshan, couriers, Hand of Midas, Track gold and global gold from towers are added to your reliable gold pool. Unreliable gold - Everything else (starting gold, periodic gold, creep kills, neutrals, etc). Dying only takes away gold from your unreliable gold pool.
Buying items use up your unreliable gold first before using your reliable gold.
Hovering your mouse over the amount of total gold shown in the HUD shows your reliable and unreliable gold totals."
Check your reliable gold and unreliable gold frequently. Spend all your unreliable gold before death, so keep some cheap items ready at your quick buy to spam B when you are about to die. This way you will be to spend the gold that you will anyway lose if you die with it. Also while you are not in any kind of danger don't buy items as soon as you have enough gold. Check if you can farm 1-2 minutes more and get your item without spending your reliable gold. You will get richer! I promise.
Avoid Initiating
If you are not playing an initiator role avoid initiating as a carry. I have an impatient and headlong nature. As long as I keep spamming Juggernaut I have to be extra careful about this. Early game Juggernaut will be weak against physical damage. As of 7.08 patch, he has less critical damage. Avoiding hit trading will be wise. By joining later but staying longer in a team fight you will cause more damage to your enemies.
If Someone Is Feeding At Their Lane Go Help!
This is not easy. There are games where the enemy pressures one of your lanes with 3 or 4 heroes. It may not be your lane and you may decide to keep farming. At the later stages of the game, you can push lanes and they'll have to come and defend their tower. But in the early game, you won't be able to push so fast and you won't be able to farm the lane safely if they return to your lane. It is a risky decision but in some games, you have to do it because your teammates will keep doing the same things and die over and over again feeding the enemy heroes. I can't say I have successfully implemented this to my games. Most of the time players start to flame each other and the game finishes in 20 minutes. I play games against the odds and win though which will bring us to the next topic.
Even If You Lose Your Lane, You Can Still Win.
There's Always A Way!
Work Hard! Be Patient! Victory Is Forged Step By Step.
Let's stay there are 3 enemy heroes in your lane and your support has just fled. Don't feed. Don't do stupid things like leaving your lane to have an easy neutral camp and get ganked while you return to your tower with half HP. Be patient. Try to get at least 1 last hit from each creep wave. Something will happen at the other lanes and the enemy will have to go defend their towers and you'll get your farm eventually. If they stay then your other cores will get stronger and you'll have space later anyway. The enemy picks may be stronger against you as well. In low MMR Dota 2, there is no impossible game. If you get the right items you will see you can beat them.
Smoke-Gank Their Carry!
If you do this a couple of times successfully and they do not you will win. EZ GAME!
Micro The Healing Ward More!
This one is about Juggernaut. Well, for some time I was even forgetting to use the healing ward in team fights. Popping the healing ward and just walking away will keep it behind you. It dies in one hit so it is really easy for the enemy to kill it. While you escape you should spawn it in front of you and keep it here as you run. This will keep you busy for some time but this way you will survive and keep your precious resources to yourself.
Gauge Others!
I wrote about this two weeks ago.You have to keep track of what your friends and foes carrying with them and what level they are at. You look stupid while wasting your Omnislash on a Sniper who has just made himself a Shadow Blade a moment ago.
Assign A Killing Order For The Enemy In Team Fights.
This is self-explanatory. If you manage to kill their support first they may lose their crowd control skills and you do your thing as you like it. Going for Wraith King first? Good luck.
Don't Fight If You Don't Have Any Advantage!
The reasons you fight in a ranked Dota 2 game are:
1- To take objectives like towers, barracks, Roshan, etc.
2- To hinder their core's farming and item progression.
3- To stop the enemy doing those two things to you.
I can't think of any other reasons. Anytime you fight without enough information, like enemy positions, items, levels, skill cooldowns, etc. you put yourself in danger. You may be trying to defend a tower. If you see that you are not stronger and you can't beat them, why fighting? To watch your tower go down while retreating is better than watching it go down while you are waiting to respawn.
100% Or Nothing!
I wrote about this at the beginning of this post. If you are playing a carry hero you know everyone depends on you. You can't wander around without doing nothing. You have to be precise. You have to be doing something all the time. You have to push the lanes, you have to go farm at the jungle, you have to defend that tower, you have to go gank their jungler, you have to go fight that fight and you have to take down that tower. You have to keep track of everything. You have to commit to this role and that needs 100% of you. No less.
See you after the next patch!
| Game# | Day | Game | Hero | Result | MMR | Gain | Match ID |
| 53 | 29.01.2018 | 1 | Jug | Defeat | 1183 | -25 | 3706736431 |
| 54 | 30.01.2018 | 1 | Jug | Victory | 1207 | 24 | 3708375662 |
| 55 | 31.01.2018 | 1 | Jug | Victory | 1232 | 25 | 3710100547 |
| 56 | 2.02.2018 | 1 | Jug | Victory | 1256 | 24 | 3713671192 |
| 57 | 2.02.2018 | 2 | Jug | Defeat | 1234 | -22 | 3713730101 |
| 58 | 2.02.2018 | 3 | Jug | Defeat | 1210 | -24 | 3713804514 |
| 59 | 3.02.2018 | 1 | Jug | Defeat | 1189 | -21 | 3715370060 |
| 60 | 3.02.2018 | 2 | Jug | Victory | 1211 | 22 | 3715732154 |
| 61 | 3.02.2018 | 3 | Jug | Victory | 1235 | 24 | 3715790601 |
| 62 | 4.02.2018 | 1 | Jug | Defeat | 1210 | -25 | 3717419891 |
| 63 | 4.02.2018 | 2 | Jug | Defeat | 1186 | -24 | 3717486725 |
| 64 | 4.02.2018 | 3 | Jug | Defeat | 1163 | -23 | 3717607968 |
| 65 | 6.02.2018 | 1 | Jug | Victory | 1188 | 25 | 3720873498 |
| 66 | 7.02.2018 | 1 | Jug | Victory | 1212 | 24 | 3722407724 |
| 67 | 8.02.2018 | 1 | Jug | Victory | 1237 | 25 | 3724055679 |
| 68 | 9.02.2018 | 1 | Jug | Defeat | 1211 | -26 | 3725708030 |
| 69 | 9.02.2018 | 2 | Jug | Victory | 1236 | 25 | 3725768475 |
| 70 | 9.02.2018 | 3 | Jug | Defeat | 1214 | -22 | 3725841432 |
| 71 | 9.02.2018 | 4 | Jug | Victory | 1236 | 22 | 3725917816 |
| 72 | 10.02.2018 | 1 | Jug | Victory | 1261 | 25 | 3727130224 |
| 73 | 10.02.2018 | 2 | Jug | Victory | 1287 | 26 | 3727578497 |
| 74 | 10.02.2018 | 3 | Jug | Defeat | 1262 | -25 | 3727703433 |
| 75 | 10.02.2018 | 4 | Jug | Defeat | 1237 | -25 | 3727761516 |
| 76 | 10.02.2018 | 5 | Jug | Victory | 1262 | 25 | 3727842339 |
| 77 | 11.02.2018 | 1 | Jug | Victory | 1283 | 21 | 3728609585 |
| 78 | 11.02.2018 | 2 | Jug | Victory | 1308 | 25 | 3729531852 |
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