Hi everyone, I just want to thank you ahead of time for humoring me. I've searched for the answer to this question but to no avail. I was reading the hero guides about good builds and items to use, and there are "core" items and "after core" items that are listed after "starting items". My question is; when do you determine to get these items/what exactly does core/after core mean? Thanks for your time! =)
Core means items that you should try to get in each game, those are the items that your build is essencially made of. After core or luxury items, are those that you go for after you've made all your core items, which I don't think is a surprise.
Yeah I figured as much, however when do you really determine when to get the items? Is it just when you have enough gold to start picking them up and replacing them with your start items?
Start items are usually items that you use to recover HP / MP etc. Or items like duckboots or minor totems that help you get ur core items. Duckboots - > Soulscream ring, Minor totems - > Power Supply etc. Generally youd go for one of ur core items that you can get ASAP. So its exactly what you say, get enough gold then buy it to replace the starting items
Alright, cool. I just wanted to make sure, still trying to get a basic understanding of everything since this is my first DotA style game that I've actually gotten into. Thanks for the replies! Question answered.
=D I think it's the way your supposed to ask a question that leads to being helped in a good way rather than being flamed. I searched before I asked, I think that was the deciding factor on not being flamed. hehe
Situational items are sometimes more important than core items. Mainly the Shrunken Head, Hellflower, Kuldra's Sheepstick, Puzzlebox, Barrier Idol, sometimes even the Power Supply (used widely against Armadon).
Starting Items:
Items you pick off when starting the game, these are mostly items to regen ur HP or mana.
Also some items to increase ur last hitting capabilities or defending capabilities.
These are ofcourse reccomendations, you can change this to ur preffered taste.
Laning Items:
These items you should pick up (courier) while ur still in the laning phase.
These are the start of ur core build mostlikely or will help you dominate ur lane.
As example Lifetube or Blood chalice, or boots.
Core Items:
These items are neccesary to your character (following the guide) these are picked to and selected to suit ur hero, therefor you will need these.
If you cannot farm these items, you'll have a problem.
Luxury:
When you got ur core items, you can select these, also these are based on taste.
If you think you have a better idea or build you can also pick them.
These are mostly to increase ur survivabilty or increase the damage output.
Carries have as example, winged bow, savage mace etc.
While tanks mostly will get behemoths heart etc.
As HCLivess said, situational items are perhaps more important to have knowledge about, to give your team an extra edge or to play on the enemies weakness. The situational items almost always comes from the enemies hero-picks and item-choices.
Lets take a redicilous example to clearify: You play against 5 heroes who can go invisible, obviously, the situation requires you to get true sight (ability to see invisible units), and that should probably be prioritized over your "core" items. Now lets say these 5 invis heroes, who typically relies on physical damage (madman, scout, nighthound, tremble etc), they all buy codexes (an item that allows them to deal a high-magicaldamage nuke), in response you will want to buy magic armor, to counter their silly strategy, even if its not part of your "core" build.
Edit: Sometimes, the "core" items are useless aswell. Many people would say that nullstone is core on heroes such as Hag & Repulsor, but if the enemy team only has heroes such as valkyrie, slither, magmus, behemoth and jerazia, your nullstone would be pretty useless.
Posting Permissions
