Battle Techniques

Now that you know how to survive, it's time to learn how to face your enemy. I was planning to make this chapter 2 but in DotA, surviving is more important than killing. Besides, defence is the best offence and you will learn why in this chapter. In this chapter, I will talk about the various way of battle techniques on how to approach your enemy and fight them.

The Greatest Weapon
Patience. Believe me when I say that 'patience' is the greatest weapon in DotA. The ability to wait, endure with great fortitude from the harassment and not losing it for 60 minutes is what separates the pro and noobs. An average game could last as long as 60 minutes and if a player can't hold it for that long, that really can mess up the whole game.

There are a lot of thing that could break up a player's patience and that all boils down to how the player take it. For example, a death like First Blood could just break off someone's limit and probably make that person leaves the game. Keeping the cool and rational is the key. It doesn't matter if you're a teenager, a kid or an adult, whatever happens, don't act according to your emotion and just focus on the right thing to do. Obsession comes after you lose your rational and patience. Remember, outlast your enemy.

The Scariest Weapon
Confidence. Yes, you heard me. Confidence is the scariest weapon of all, not a hero with imba items nor a hero with imba scores. I've been playing for 2 years now and the only thing that still scare the hell out of me is the enemy having a confidence much greater than mine.

Umm, how do I put this. Let's say that I'm all prepared to kill this player and I am confident enough that my combo would kill him but after I made the first move, the enemy didn't even hesitate to run but instead, he stayed and decided to fight me, totally making me doubt myself. Now that kind of confidence is something scary, yet honest and real.

Now this stunt is not something that everyone could pull off easily. Even after playing this game for 2 years, I'm still practicing on mastering this skill. If you can pulled it right, it can really shakes the foundation of your enemy, even for the whole game. It just totally breaks a person confidence. Really, really nasty.

Deception (Sun Tzu)
To quote Sun Tzu's Art of War, Chapter 1 — Laying Plans, verse 19 to 24:

19 Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

20 Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

21 If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.

22 If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

23 If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.

24 Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

I've been reading 'Sun Tzu's Art of War' lately and boy they're really awesome. The quote that I picked above are the ones that could be applied to DotA. I must say the art of deception is a very deadly weapon.

Other than the one listed above, if you have the ability to screw the enemy's combo, use it to your advantage. For that you could turn the table around.

Besides that, make use of the cooldown advantage. For example, if your enemy needs two spells which needed to be casted twice to kill you while you only need to cast yours once, make use of that leverage. When he has casted the two spells and waiting for the cooldown, rush up and kill him because he couldn't do anything to you until his next cast.

It's all about knowing when to engage and picking your battle wisely. Timing is of the essence.

Moreover, not only you have to learn about yourself, but also learn about your enemy, then only you can be victorious. Learn about his skill build and his capability and try to test your enemy to learn about his playstyle. Predict what's is he going to do next and always stay one step ahead of him. Expect the unexpected. Outsmart and outplay him.

Have patience and focus hard on any loophole/mistakes that you could take advantage of. Try to bait him into making a mistake, irritate him, destroy his patience. Always remember, you have to put yourself beyond the possibility of defeat, then wait for an opportunity to defeat the enemy.

Outsmarting Your Enemy: The Psychological Approach
I've always like to think that DotA is all about psychology. Every action and move that we made are based on test/experiment beforehand. Experience counts when we're making decision for our action and the ability to go break the barrier and go beyond this state of mind is something I'd like to call wisdom.

Let me tell you a very own experience of mine where there is this imba Naix (The old one with perma-lifesteal) on the Scourge side who are currently pwning my side and he managed to picked each and every single one of my teammates while they're farming freely. Then later when the 5 of us were pushing the middle lane, the arrogant Naix decided that he's imba enough to go solo my whole team altogether.

Well at first my whole team were running away until I shouted, "Hey guys, Naix HP is low like crap, one hit from each one of us and he'll be dead in no time!". We were playing in a Cyber Cafe, and the Naix heard what I said but he still progressed aggressively. So what happened next is that all of us turned and starts to focus on that Naix. The Naix was still trying to kill us with his Rage on but after a few seconds later, he noticed that his HP was actually dropping quicker than the hero that he was hitting. So he turned but it was too late, his avatar ended and we hexed him and raped him to death.

That moment felt great for me because I was able to break the fear/psychological barrier of my teammates with rational arguement. Imagine what would have happened if my team were to run and get picked off by Naix one by one, he would have score a quantuple kill.

On the contrast, there are times that wisdom can be your own enemy. That happens when you underestimate your enemy because you thought you have seen it all but you haven't. The thing to remember is always expect the unexpected and always respect your enemy.

Trash-talking
Trash-talking is an art. Lots of people despise it and some just hate it. I think those people are weak, mostly because they're the one who can't stand it. For me, trash-talking is a form of battle techniques. Not only it can irritate your enemy but it can also cause him to screw things up.

It is what makes DotA popular. Cockiness triggers wrath and wrath triggers the motivation to fight. That is what's keeping the game alive. Besides, name me one game where the players don't trash-talk.

Words are mightier than swords I must say, words are mightier than swords.

Cockiness plays a very important part in the game, if you are able to trash-talk to a point where all confidence of the other side is gone, you basically won 3/4 of the battle.

Even though trash-talking is an art, but at the end of the day, no matter how much we trash our enemy, it is always important to remember that trashing is only a way of attack and after the game, everything should be forgiven and forgotten. Always respect your enemy only then your enemy would respect you.

Summary
All in all, the below are some points to keep in mind and a summary of everything we've learnt in this article.
 * Patience is the greatest and important weapon in DotA.
 * Confidence can shake the foundation of your enemy. The scariest weapon ever.
 * Deception is a beautiful art.
 * Appear what you're not.
 * When your enemy is in disorder, crush him.
 * If he is secured at all points, be prepared for him.
 * If he is in superior strength, evade him.
 * If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him.
 * Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
 * If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, seperate them.
 * Attack him where he is unpreprared, appear where you are not expected.
 * Always find a way to screw up your enemy's combo.
 * Take advantage of your enemy cooldown.
 * Pick and time your battle wisely.
 * Know yourself and know your enemy. Predict and always be one step ahead.
 * Expect the unexpected.
 * Wait very hard for a loophole and seek leverage.
 * Defence is the best offence.
 * Always keep your cool together and outsmart your enemy.
 * Act rationally, not emotionally.
 * Always respect your enemy.
 * Trash-talking is a dirty yet beautiful form of attack.