ES is indeed hard to completely shut down, and a good ES will be a pain as soon as he gets a blink dagger. Lineup playing against one should try to favor 1-2 melee heroes max, and put the rest at range to reduce the chance of positioning issues and end up in a big echo slam. Additionally, proper vision (ward and sentries but also hero ability such as KotL Agh or NS Agh during day/time) will allow you to anticipate the ES initiation. I also like to play hero that can disrupt blink dagger when playing against big initiator like ES/Enigma/Mag (e.g. Spectre).

Veno is just annoying for his slow, but lack a lot of actual fighting power if he can't land his ability. Early game, that means you can bully him out of lane to prevent him from acquiring experience. He might still get gold from his ward's last hits, but at least he'll be lower level and this will greatly reduce his damage. Heroes with high magic resistance or high mobility are what I favor against veno (e.g. AM) since they can just ignore his slow and escape or chase. Additionally, Veno lack any sort of hard control, and alone he can't stop you from TP out until he has a eul. So if a Veno blow his Q and/or his R on you, and you feel like you can't survive, a good TP home is always a solution. In teamfight, Veno is a pain. He should always be focused down early, and controlled if you can to prevent him from using his R, but barring that, delaying as much as possible is also a good option. Scrappy fight don't favor Veno either. His ultimate will only hit a limited number of player instead of the whole team. Always keep an eye out for him, and if you can engage him separately from his team, do so. It might force him to blow his ult only on you, and save your team from having to deal with it. Either way, if the ult ends up being blown you need to treat it like a race. That ult (w/ Veil) is going to destroy your team in a matter of seconds. You need to get your picks (ideally those that can interrupt your TPs) and get out. If you have healing, you might be able to stand your ground and fight (hence the popularity of KotL/Necro for the sustain they bring).

 

My games float around somehwere between 2-4k, and I've yet to see a game that was decided more by the "OP"-ness of heros than by whose carries failed less at farming. I feel like until you actually get good, it doesn't really matter all that much what you pick as long as the lineup doesn't require 2 maps worth of farm.

 

Thank you Hawkin for the more in depth responses.

I agree adequate farming can pretty much decide games at our bracket, I am not sure I agree with the "pick anything" line of thought. This could just be a personal thing, but I feel the draft is considerably more important this patch than previous ones. An example of this is pretty much any line up I have played in that lacked solid counter initiation has been an uphill game and more often than not a loss. This could also be a result of climbing a playing against more competent players and I am just now noticing it.

 

Dota is such an interesting game for deciding moment such as these. While ES is a great initiator, his force lies more in counter-initiation as many other heroes. It's amazing what smoke can do, and how little they are used in lower brackets. However, I do want to point out that smoke break at 1025 range (vision) and most heroes have 1800 Day / 800 Night. Add to that the unobstructed vision from NS/KotL Agh, and they can (if aware enough) prevent you from blinking forward.

Nonetheless, one should always keep an eye out for ES. Stay spread, and just chipped at towers or at heroes until he either revealed himself, or you have a clean kill without committing all of your heroes so you don't get echo in the face.

 

http://www.dota2.com/duelingfates

Dueling fates patch notes are up.

 

As the size of the observable universe is to the earth, so the size of the earth is to the violin I am playing.

 

Poor Man's Shield though. Gonna be rough playing Ember these days.

 

Ember is probably my most played hero, so I will feel that pain thoroughly. I have very mixed feelings on the changes made to the hero. On the plus side it looks like Magic Damage Mirana may be viable again so I still have one of my two favorite heroes.

The 3rd Rosh kill bonus was the thing that stood out to me the most, along with removing the shrines in base. High ground sieges should be infitinately easier.

 

Why would you play magic dmg Mirana when you can get the +Leap ASPD talent early now? That thing gives an obscene amount of damage.

 

The randoming changes are hilarious. "Free mango for you!"

I haven't played since before TI but I'll probably play again eventually. This patch is interesting but not sure it's the right time to come back.

 

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Due to Mirana's agi gain I still think her right click build should be strong, but a 2 second bonus? That is painfully low, if the duration was still 5-10 seconds I would be more optimistic. I could be 100% wrong in this assessment, but what is a new patch for it not testing new things?

What leads me to wanting to mess with magic damage Mirana is the following:
-Kaya's 10% spell amplification/cost reduction plus with Mirana's 12% spell amp talent seems like a pretty substantial damage bonus, especially when you consider her scepter as well.
-Her right click talents are taking a bit of a hit this patch
-I remember how powerful magic damage Mirana was in 6.88, some of that strength came from Leap's disjoint but I am hoping the talent buffs make up for that.