Quote (Bloodrushdx @ Jan 3 2014 01:06am)
I think he's just looking for the common opinion on current top strats, lineups, metas, lane combos, etc.
As a booster I try to specialize in doing whatever it takes to takeover and crush 1500-1800 games. My mindset is that I need a hero that can mid (or if a troll refuses to let me have it, sidelane well). This hero needs to be able to gank effectively (solo queuing hard carries is almost always a terrible idea), mid very well, have some farm potential, and scale late game. The two best hero options I've found are Gunblade (my #1) and Dampeer.
Let's take Gunblade as an example. 600 range, powerful base damage, smooth animation, above average starting movespeed. I completely crush mid and nab a mid kill or two in about 95% of my boosting games, and he is wonderful at roaming and ganking when your ult is up, and farming when it's down.
Less specifically, it's INCREDIBLY important to bait your team along. No matter how talentless, emotionless, or oblivious your teammates may be, be kind to them and throw out unnecessary compliments. Even saying something like "wow, nice stun hammerstorm" makes someone like you and do what you ask. I've had Dark Lady's bend over backwards to counter everything I've asked just because you build a friendship with them. If there's a troll on your team ignore and mute him immediately, the more you respond the more likely he is to ruin your game.
Be aware of the ward game. More than likely in pub games the supports warding are idiots and have no clue how to correctly do their job. Being a good warder means constantly watching where the other team wards, countering it, and warding in spots that effect your teams next move. If you're playing a hard carry and your support refuses to ward, do it for them. Spending 400g to get vision will be worth it 100% of the time.
I'll try to give my thoughts on your points...
Farm/GPM?
-Any good player should be able to maintain a pretty solid GPM on whatever hero you play (asides from supports, and even some of them can do things to keep you above the 100gpm level). Unless you're hideously farmed though, other factors are usually more important than you having that extra 150gpm.
Snowballing?
-This is hugely important, especially on gankers. A lot of the current strong gankers and mids rely on getting a lead and feeding off of it, so make sure you don't do things to throw your momentum in games like this. Getting too aggressive, picking bad team fights, getting greedy, all of these can throw away leads in seconds.
Keeping enemies' Farm/GPM down?
-This is important if the enemy team has very item dependent heroes. For example, if there's a Magebane on the other team that has been farming well in the laning phase I'll make a point to go mess with him often so he doesn't get too comfortable. Gunblade works really well for heroes with escape mechanisms since his ulti prevents most movement based spells.
Counterpicks?
-Honestly I don't feel like counterpicks are anywhere near as important as people think they are (except in high level games, but for my points I'm talking pubs up to 1850ish). Make sure you don't send your lanes with no chance to die, switch lanes with people if you can handle the matchup better, or give up mid if your lineup just doesn't allow for it. It sucks, but it's better than having a troll shitstorm of a game.
Item Counters?
-Item counters are more important than hero counters in my opinion, because they are easily accessible in each game. Tablet of Command is the most underrated pub item ever, and it counters the living shit out of so many heroes. Enemy has a Pharaoh? Tablet. Enemy has a Kraken? Tablet. Worried about someone on your team getting bursted? Buy a Storm Spirit. Is their team carry heavy? Grab a Void Talisman. People are constantly so bad at using those three items in particular yet they are such cheap game changers.
Helping out other lanes?
-This is a tricky one. If I'm playing Gunblade mid and getting kills (and the guy I'm midding against isn't roaming and wrecking), then I usually just ignore pleas for ganks. If they have some kind of carry going out of control I'll make a priority to TP and gank, but a lot of times leaving mid and going for a kill ends up being a waste of time and your opponent can catch back up a bit.
Pushing?
-Push lineups are so cheesy in my opinion, you have to be a fairly specific lineup to be able to counter it and it's such a terribly horrible feeling to be playing against a push lineup without a chance of stopping it. Just looking at pushing in general, people undervalue counterpushing, it's a very important part of countering group pushes and forcing teams to make tough decisions. Just make sure to have a TP, hon rule #1.
I'm sure 99.9% of what I said is common sense to everyone, but I've been in a queue for 24 minutes and had some free time, lol.
THIS GUYS THIS!!!
Bloodrush needs to write a book like ASAP
+1