a_cloth
11-10-2009, 11:59 PM
What factors effect whether or not to pick pyromancer vs. thundebringer vs. plague
kraken vs. maliken
pestilence vs. maliken
demented vs. succubus vs. plague
valk vs. soulstealer
witch slayer vs. pyromancer vs. succubus vs. plague
madman vs. sand wraith
Ahhh I have no idea how to decide between these combination when I have a choice of either in Banned Draft.
They all seem to be on the same tier.
Decency
11-11-2009, 12:31 AM
Generally you need to think about lane combinations and what your team needs.
For example, Thunderbringer usually is a solo mid. Pyro can do that too, but he can also be a good side laner because he has a stun. You can throw someone else, like Hammerstorm, with him and you have a very powerful lane. Plague Rider has armor that slows and good lane presence because of his mana skill and nuke. He scales better late game, in my opinion.
Also, you need to think about what your team needs. For example, Soulstealer is much better than Valkyrie in the late game, but Valkyrie is an awesome ganker midgame whereas Soulstealer needs to farm: he's a carry. If you already have a carry, Valkyrie is probably the better choice.
Really hard to go over all of the examples, but that's the gist of it.
Drasha
11-11-2009, 01:49 AM
check out outpicked in the strategy section searching that word should come up with 3 threads with 20 pages each of discussion.
ACatInTheHat
11-11-2009, 02:17 AM
I'll take a shot at this.
kraken vs. maliken
Maliken is a better carry, Kraken is a better initiator. Maliken is the "safe" pick here, so you'd only pick Kraken if you already have a good carry on your team, but are having initation problems. If you also have AoE stunners they can work wonders together with Kraken's ulti. He is also viable versus immobile teams, ie. heroes that don't usually get portal key or have any form of blink/escape/initation mechanism themselves, so that a) it's easier to catch them, and b) it hurts them more if they're split up.
pestilence vs. maliken
Pestilence is more like Kraken if he gets portal key to initiate. But he's more of a carry, in fact, he IS a carry, so he's alike Maliken in that aspect since both are strength-based carries. Kraken's ulti lowers armor, but Pestilence's ulti is much better at this, so you'd wanna go with him if you're facing a tanky, high-armored team (a team that has Plague Rider, for instance). Facing squishies, I'd rather go with Maliken. Also, Pest is a good choice versus a team with one or more invisible heroes, of course, including those that normally build Assassin's Shroud (not that many).
demented vs. succubus vs. plague
Demented, like Pest, works wonders against high HP/armor teams. But you don't pick him if your team lacks physical damage. In fact, you'd pick neither of these heroes if your team lacks physical damage. :) DS is the best babysitter in the game, but Plague Rider is not bad at this either. DS is also a pusher, in that he can heal both creeps and heroes and sustain the pushes for a long time. Plague works better in teams that can kill creeps fast, so his ulti works better, and versus teams that do a lot of physical damage. Teams that kill creeps fast are AoE-heavy teams, so he'll fit right in, and AoE teams are a good counter to some pushing/ganking strategies. He can easier be countered than both DS and Succu, since there's a nifty little item called Barrier Idol in this game. And his ulti is often dodged before it does full damage by good players with invis/shrunken head/blink/leap/whatever.
Succubus is more of a ganker, and is great to have in a team that features Valkyrie or some other hero that can use her sleep ability to great advantage (Valk is also a gank hero, so they can work wonders in pair that way). Also, she's a fantastic counter to some late-game carries.
In other words, pick DS or Succubus if you're facing a carry-heavy, late blooming kind of team, against which you a) want to push fast (DS) and gank hard (Succu), and b) counter at least one of them by murdering their damage output (Succu), or lowering their high armor (DS). So, if you are facing that kind of team, but already has gankers, you'd go with DS for the pushing. If you have pushers, you'd go with Succu for the ganking prowess. The choice is made easier if you failed to ban/pick either Jeraziah or Accursed, you wouldn't want Succubus then. :)
Pick Plague if you're going for an AoE heavy lineup, ie. if you're facing a pushing/ganking kind of lineup (in which DS is weakened by the fact there won't be many friendly creeps around).
valk vs. soulstealer
Hmm, well, SS deals more magic damage, so he's better versus teams that lack resistance in that area. He's also less of a ganker, gaining his advantage in full-scale team fights. If you're facing that carry-heavy team again, you could pick Valk as a counter, or SS to out-farm them. Also, if you're facing a team that has a dedicated jungler like Tempest, Valk is more viable since she's not only a better ganker, but really shines in jungle ganking.
But I guess more importantly is that they both are tough heroes to play, so you should pick the one you're best with.
witch slayer vs. pyromancer vs. succubus vs. plague
I don't see many reasons to pick Pyro over WS. WS is a better roamer than Succubus (and Plague of course), and yeah, he rocks, simple as that. Pick him unless you're desperate for the AoE nuke or need Succubus for reasons that I stated above.
madman vs. sand wraith
Well, Sand Wraith is more viable if you're facing a team with Magmus, Behemoth, and other AoE dudes. First of all he's a dedicated farmer, and that's one way to outlast an AoE-heavy team. Madman can farm, but he can participate more in ganks other than use his ulti to steal kills like SW does. What separates them vs AoE teams especially is that SW kills those types of teams with his passive ability, making him the better choice there. But you have to make sure your team can play 4v5 for 20-30 minutes before picking SW. Also, if you lack initation early, Madman can help out there but he's no master at it. SW kind of needs a babysitter as well, Madman is more independent and can be used to dominate lanes if paired with a stunner.
That's that. Please go ahead and rebuke my points, cause I don't know what I'm talking about really. :)
FuzzyWuzzy
11-11-2009, 03:25 AM
What factors effect whether or not to pick pyromancer vs. thundebringer vs. plague
kraken vs. maliken
pestilence vs. maliken
demented vs. succubus vs. plague
valk vs. soulstealer
witch slayer vs. pyromancer vs. succubus vs. plague
madman vs. sand wraith
Ahhh I have no idea how to decide between these combination when I have a choice of either in Banned Draft.
They all seem to be on the same tier.
Most of your comparisons are wrong.
Kraken and Maliken have nothing in common, so do Soulstealer and Valkyrie (apart from the fact that they both solo mid and try to gank sometimes)
Usually picks are not only about comparisons between each of the heroes, but the synergy between all your heroes.
I.e Demented Shammy + Pestilence (both have armor reduction skills and physical damage)
Succubus + Valkyrie - sleep + arrow is pretty much a dead hero
Pyromancer + Magmus / Hammerstorm - dual stun
Panda + Andro - double armor reduction coupled with massive physical damage from Panda's skills.
Usually the comparisons will be along the lines of:
Support - Demented vs Hellbringer vs Plague Rider vs Andro vs Glacius, etc
Initiator - Magmus vs Kraken vs Pharaoh vs Behemoth (hard to get) vs Tempest (hard to get), etc
Carry - Madman (semi) vs Pestilence (semi) vs Maliken vs Sand Wraith, etc
Just pick Scout, he's a counter to everything. Rumor has it Loda killed a scout once, but that's just what I've been told.
a_cloth
11-11-2009, 01:07 PM
Most of your comparisons are wrong.
Kraken and Maliken have nothing in common, so do Soulstealer and Valkyrie (apart from the fact that they both solo mid and try to gank sometimes)
Usually picks are not only about comparisons between each of the heroes, but the synergy between all your heroes.
I.e Demented Shammy + Pestilence (both have armor reduction skills and physical damage)
Succubus + Valkyrie - sleep + arrow is pretty much a dead hero
Pyromancer + Magmus / Hammerstorm - dual stun
Panda + Andro - double armor reduction coupled with massive physical damage from Panda's skills.
Usually the comparisons will be along the lines of:
Support - Demented vs Hellbringer vs Plague Rider vs Andro vs Glacius, etc
Initiator - Magmus vs Kraken vs Pharaoh vs Behemoth (hard to get) vs Tempest (hard to get), etc
Carry - Madman (semi) vs Pestilence (semi) vs Maliken vs Sand Wraith, etc
kraken and maliken both initiators :mad:
Darkshine1
11-11-2009, 01:11 PM
Maliken's a carry who CAN initiate. Kraken's an initiator. There's a difference.
AndrewReily
11-11-2009, 01:38 PM
Maliken's a carry who CAN initiate. Kraken's an initiator. There's a difference.
Mali is a carry who can initiation, and kraken is an initiator who can carry.
GET IT RIGHT.
:)