To make any kind of sense of it, one needed to back one month; back to the night the pain started. It was still Intel Extreme Masters back then. EHome faced LGD.sGty in the semi finals. LGD had gone for a solid flawless draft. But then EHome picked Venomancer.
During IEM, KongoTime did a very nice coverage of the game. It can be viewed here. However I decided to elaborate a little more because there are some aspects of this replay that I want to argue about.
Disclaimer: I would like to state that when I am pointing out “mistakes” or make a critique of any sort, this is only my personal opinion that I am expressing, open to discussion and of course not meant in any derogatory sense. The people in these games are all great and well established DotA players.
ChinaBan Phase
| Bans | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| EHOME | LGD.sGty | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Sentinel    | Scourge     | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Here the bans are quite predictable. At this level of competitiveness, neither of the two teams –both part of the Chinese Dota Elites- wants to leave an imbalanced hero, even slightly, in the hands of its opponent. One can observe Medusa, Doom and Enigma are instantly banned. Other heroes commonly classified as imbalanced are also banned. If you would like to get more information about the banning phase, read our previous replay analyses More Action Less Talk and More Action Less Talk 2. At the moment, I am not going to spend a lot of time on the banning phase but instead concentrate on three main topics of interest namely:
- Strategy at work
- Ward placement
- Game development
The three topics mentioned above are the ones I am mostly interested in through this Replay Analysis. I will however point out the key moments of the match so that one can follow how the game progresses.
Picking Phase
Instead of revealing everything right from the start, I will try to explain things progressively, in a more pleasant and entertaining manner.
| Picks and Lanes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| EHOME | LGD.sGty | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Sentinel EH.GIGABYTE.820 (Bot) EH.GIGABYTE.J (Bot) EH.GIGABYTE.AAA (Bot) EH.GIGABYTE.357 (Top) EH.GIGABYTE.X!! (Mid) | Scourge  LGD.2009.sGty (Mid) LGD.YYF.sGty (Bot) LGD.Gx.sGty (Top) LGD.ZSMJ.sGty (Top) LGD.ch~.sGty (Mid) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
LGD chooses Windrunner
Next EHome secures their main support heroes: Lion
and Witch Doctor . We have seen how good and deadly EHome can be with Lion pick at ESWC 10 Paris.LGD proceeds with Maiden and Pugna, resulting in
We can observe a few strategies already: Maiden being picked for a global mana advantage early and mid game. In addition, there is great synergy between Maiden and Windrunner. Providing Windrunner with the necessary mana, Maiden allows the latter to maximize her killing potential. Moreover, I’ll refer to hit0mi’s term “action farm hero” to describe Windrunner: basically “a versatile ricer, with good lategame potential –ranking just below Medusa or Drow- who can nuke, control a lane, gank and escape from combat.” If you missed hit0mi’s replay analysis, click Here. Finally LGD decides to take Pugna, one of those heroes known for being frequently banned.
It’s simple: Oblivion’s ward counters practically any spell-based team. Nether Ward’s Mana Flare can be triggered endlessly, as long as the ward lasts. At level four, it deals 1.5 damage for each point of mana; in other words, a spell with 200 mana cost deals around 300 damage to the caster. Moreover Pugna’ Blast is a great asset in terms of pushing lanes plus the hero also has a regeneration skill and a spell amplifier.
Now EHome’s best way of countering LGD’s anti-spell strategy is to focus on physical damage meaning relying less on magical damage to kill. That’s exactly what they do by picking Storm
, Venomancer and Sniper . Notice, Venomancer is picked right after Pugna’s pick. This is an interesting point that we will analyse and argue a bit later. For now on, let’s see the Sniper pick. Now Sniper instead of Drow; hmm I recall EHome choosing Sniper against LGD in the past, more specifically during ESWC’s 10 qualifiers and this led them to victory. The replay concerned can be viewed here.
The main reasons I can think of for the Veno + Sniper combo: Veno’s ulti + venom significantly decrease the heroes’ life and sniper finishes the job either by focusing heroes or by using his ultimate. Secondly, Sniper’s range allows him to push tower from afar without getting harmed. Thirdly, with his range and his ministun, sniper can disrupt heroes’ timing and kill from a distance.
LGD finishes with Morphling
-an “action farm hero” as well- plus Rhasta .Pointing out here that LGD has a pretty strong strat already: Destructive heroes early/ mid game with late game potential. With Pugna on its side, this allows LGD to pick nukers at will: Morphling’s wave, Rhasta’s lightning, Windrunner’s arrow and Pugna’s blast are all powerful spells, fueled by Maiden’s aura. To highlight a few points, they have great disables, pushing capacities, defense and escape mechanisms. A significant advantage from LGD’s early/mid game dominating strat may make it impossible for EHome to turn the game around; especially if LGD’s heroes have farmed and also keep pressuring theirs adversaries through strong pushing initiatives.
Strategy at Work
Lane assignment
EHome
EHome’s lane assignment makes perfect sense: with the intention of not being dominated early/mid game, the team opts for a defensive yet optimal strategy. Lion and Storm solo top and mid lanes respectively while Sniper, a hero more prone to ganks, safely lanes bottom lane with two good supports. Mid lane is a perfect spot for Storm -in terms of farming and getting runes- while Lion gets top lane where he can level up fast for upcoming mid game battles. While Lion has a few disables to defend himself and solo alone, on the contrary Sniper has none. What if Sniper came face to face with a tri-lane? It would be a definitive bye bye to EHome’s carry. Therefore EHome sends a tri-lane bottom and if you pay close attention, you will see that Sniper is not totally babysitted by his two allies; it’s more of a quasi-tri-lane where Sniper gets solo farm while Venomancer and Witch Doctor are positioned either in the nearby jungle or in lane, ready to intervene.
LGD
LGD goes for a 2-2-1. LGD.2009’a Rhasta goes mid, Morphling + Maiden top and Windrunner + Pugna bot. A few possible explanations for this particular lane assignment are firstly to dominate lanes with their spell advantage (more nukers on LGD’s side as mentioned earlier), secondly so that Rhasta gets his spells quickly for early pushing and lastly to assist their late game carries. A disincentive for LGD to opt for a tri-lane is because a crowded lane against a Witch doctor with bounce stuns and maledict would be a significant disadvantage. Watch StarsBoba’s Tri-lane with Witch Doctor against LGD’s Tri-lane, subsequent to 2009’s departure. Click Here. The effectiveness of bounce stuns and crowd control lead to eventual lane domination.
Ward Placement 1
Early Game
EHome
Warding works hand in hand with strategy in place. As stated in the lane assignments, underfarmed and underleveled heroes may have irreversible consequences for EHome especially for EHome’s team composition. Hence it is crucial for the team to secure early game and prevent any possible ganks.
Hence Lion and Storm are practically guaranteed safe farm and good pace leveling. Warding bottom area (especially bottom jungle) is not necessary due to the presence of Witch Doctor and Venomancer roaming bot. Both heroes are frequently positioned at bottom jungle which gives them vision of the surroundings. Hence an optimal warding in accordance to EHome’s original strat is at work.
LGD
Team LGD also places a ward at top river as shown in the last picture above; most probably to protect Morphling, its main carry, from ganks and to reveal runes. LGD’s second ward is placed at the bottom creep jungle position to alert LGD’s heroes of creep pulling.
Game Development
Action Instances:
The numbers inside the brackets indicate the time of the game. Like patches of colors, these instances are there to highlight special moments in the game that complete the whole picture.
Early Game
At bottom lane, Ehome’s support heroes allowed Sniper to reach lvl 3 while Windrunner and Pugna stayed at lvl 1. EHome’s supports not only harassed LGD’s bottom heroes but also prevented them from ganking mid by staying in Sentinel’s jungle.
[4.22]
Windrunner tries to gank mid while letting Sniper farm. But eventually the gank did not succeed due to EHome’s well placed ward at mid’s right cliff. In the meantime Sniper easily reaches lvl 4 against a cautious lvl 1 Pugna. The presence of EHome’s support heroes roaming in the jungle prevents Pugna from advancing further.
[5.41]
[5.36]
It is now Pugna who decides to roam and shift towards mid. LGD’s decision to neglect Sniper for a while by leaving bottom lane and to begin roaming shows their confidence in their spell damage strategy. It seems that Sniper, a relatively low hp hero who can be nuked down easily, doesn't pose them a threat for now.
[6.26]
A nice comeback at middle lane by Lion and an effective use of early maledict (as opposed to leveling heal) by Witch Doctor manage to produce a kill on Pugna.
[6.56]
In the meantime, Windrunner (lvl 2) is having a hard time bot against a lvl 6 Sniper and a lvl 1 Venomancer. At top lane however, Morphling (lvl 5) is enjoying a good farm.
The following table shows the creep score at the 6.56 min mark.
| Creep Scores | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| EHOME | LGD.sGty | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sentinel EH.GIGABYTE.AAA: 30/24 EH.GIGABYTE.X!!: 18/3 EH.GIGABYTE.J: 0/0 | Scourge LGD.YYF.sGty: 1/0 LGD.2009.sGty: 20/5 LGD.ZSMJ.sGty: 22/9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
[7.53]
As soon as Rhasta reaches lvl 6, LGD initiates an early push mid. LGD’s teammates regroup mid, leaving only Morphling top to farm. Even with 4 heroes, LGD’s pushing ability is strong.
LGD’s Offensive/defensive Strategy
To the viewers delights, LGD displays an innovative push strategy combination. The strategy involves a simultaneous ‘wards combination maneuver’: Nether ward is placed right next to Rhasta’s Serpent wards, resulting in an offensive/defensive strategy. Why so? Because usually the opposing team tends to neutralize Pugna’s Nether ward first before attempting any action involving spells. So if an enemy hero with the intention of destroying the Nether ward gets too close, he will eventually be hit by the Serpent wards. The Nether ward acts as a defensive mechanism against spells while behaving like a damage trap for nearby enemies. That’s why ‘offensive/defensive strategy’.
Ward Placement 2
Mid Game
EHome
EHome's captain, 820 decides to place a ward at the same exact position as before: mid lane’s right cliff for a peripheral vision of both Sentinel and Scourge middle lanes. The second ward however is placed at the bottom river rune cliff. This is done to prevent any gank bottom and hence to allow Sniper a safer farm. Notice that the ward positioning is done in line with EHome’s initial strategy; that is to guarantee Sniper’s later role as a reliable carry.
LGD
After pushing mid tier 1 tower, LGD.Gx places a ward is on middle's highest cliff to the left as shown below to keep middle lane vision.
The second ward by LGD is also placed at bottom river rune but on the cliff opposite to EHome’s ward. The ward shows bottom rune and gives vision of Roshan’s lair entrance.
Action Instances (Continued)
[10.06]
Getting gank by the ones being ganked: This is how Rhasta and Morphling die while trying to catch Lion at top tower. Good intuition and map awareness drag EHome Dai’s Storm towards top lane while a fast teleport by 820’s Witch Doctor arrives in time to rescue 357’s Lion.
[12.09]
A second push is carried out by LGD at Sentinel’s top lane tower. Again we can observe the wards combo strategy in place. Pugna’s blast contributes as well in a fast tower push. In response, EHome pushes middle tier 1 tower and manages to destroy it.
[13.48]
The focus now is at bottom lane. Morphling along with a few support heroes decide to shift bottom to face a Sniper who did not leave his lane since the beginning. However the latter will be rejoined by Storm and Lion.
16.09 is a crucial moment in the game. [16.09], a snapshot of an instant where time and space have frozen like the pendulum of an old rusty clock. To realize that during the next few seconds, the issue of the game will be decided.
Beautiful in a dramatic way!
Top lane is being pushed by LGD’s entire team. At that instant, LGD’s entire focus has shifted towards the top lane. LGD’s heroes will encounter EHome's Storm and Lion.
Simultaneously, action is happening at middle and bottom lane: A double lane push by EHome. Venomancer is pacing itself forward middle while Witch Doctor and Sniper have just started engaging tier 1 bottom tower.
The Veno Era
EHome now reveals Venomancer’s key role: Venomancer’s use of Plague ward (at lvl 4, one ward has 450 hp, deals a maximum of 42 damage and has a 5 seconds cooldown). EHome uses it massively for pushing as well as defending. On average, about five wards can be placed quite comfortably. Five wards are equivalent to a total damage of 210 damage on tower, heroes or creeps. Pushing tower using Plague wards bares some similarity with the concept around Rhasta’s Serpent wards, except that Plague wards have to be cast one at a time. It is impressive how much hp and how long these Plague wards last.
The other key role for Veno’s effective ward is for vision. Now, I can’t find enough words to describe how important vision (enemy’s position and its whereabouts) is in Dota. Well placed wards reveal the intentions of the opposing team and too often decide the outcome of a game. It’s funny how I experienced it myself recently. Let’s take an analogy.
Ward Placement 3
Mid Game
EHome
While LGD’s whole team is pushing top and Venomancer is ‘wards plaguing’ at mid tower, Witch Doctor and Sniper destroy the two consecutive bottom towers. A total of three wards was placed by 820: the first one on the bottom Sentinel lane,
and the last one at the entrance of the secret shop, from the middle lane. The reasoning behind is similar to what have been discussed earlier: EHome wants at all cost safeguard bottom lane for Sniper’s safe farm. If it happens that LGD try to go for Roshan, EHome will be immediately aware of it also.
Action Instances (Continued)
Mid Game
At 16.09, EHome countered LGD's main pushing strategy by initiating a double lane push at the right time and the right place. EHome reveals its trump card: a Venomancer which can solo push a lane by itself. Hence after destroying the tier 2 top lane tower, LGD is forced back to defend. Notice that Rhasta didn't use his Serpent wards on tier 2 top tower which might indicate that LGD's team members were not going only for the tier 2 tower and perhaps were trying to push Sentinel's base.
In the meantime, Sniper has just finished his Manta style [17.31]. It seems EHome's conservative strategy is paying off. This incites EHome to regroup and push mid. The already damaged mid tier 2 tower by Venomancer goes down no problem.
EHome then proceeds towards top lane except for Sniper who return to a well warded bottom lane for more farm. A clash between the two teams is soon to come. Notice that on its way top, Veno wisely left several Plague wards behind. EHome now has vision of the Scourge jungle. At [19.58] min mark, Veno’s Plague ward alerts EHome of the upcoming enemy, which allows the team to act first. Dai’s Storm manages to grab a double kill as a result. EHome proceeds towards tier 2 top tower and this time, Sniper who has teleported back top, finishes off a poisoned Pugna with his ultimate. Let’s now have a look at the teams’ item status.
Item Analysis [22.40]
EHome
With those successful pushes, EHome has managed to pick up .
Lion- Dagger Storm- Black King Bar Sniper- Manta Style Venomancer- Vanguard + GemThe item choices are pretty obvious: a dagger suits Lion perfectly as a ganking tool. Going for an early Black King Bar on Storm is a wise decision; we will see that in a few moments. In addition, a gem on Venomancer is a surprisingly effective strategy. Buying a Gem and using Plague wards’ vision completely crushes all LGD’s hopes of warding and map awareness.
LGD
Rhasta- Dagger Windrunner- Mekansm Morphling- Yasha + Ogre AxeDagger on Rhasta serves pretty much the same purpose as it does on Lion except the former can use it for wardtrapping. On the other hand, Windrunner would have been better off with a Guinsoo, an Orchid or an Eul’s Scepter in my opinion, instead of Mekansm. If the objective was to heal her teammates from Veno’s Poison nova, Mekansm did not quite help much so far. However Morphling goes in the right direction for going for a Black King Bar instead of finishing his Manta Style. Images wouldn’t be very effective early against the enemy’s bounce stun whereas a BKB grants him a few seconds to deal massive amount of damage.
Action Instances (Continued)
Late Game
[25.20]
Big clash near Roshan. Storm enters the battle killing Rhasta and escapes spectacularly, hopping over cliffs at red hp.
[26.00]
Being at a numerical advantage, EHome takes down Roshan. Storm leaves an electric image on top of the cliff near the secret shop for vision while Veno focuses its wards against Roshan.
[28.52]
EHome’s Engaging Strategy
During team battle, Ehome’s goal is to bring down Rhasta first. Storm hovers over the whole enemy’s team and lands right on Rhasta. Rapidly activating BKB, he tries to take him down. At the same time, Witch Doctor and Venomancer rushes in, throwing bounce stuns and venom + poison nova respectively. We can at last see Burning’s Sniper shine with Manta Style, Monkey King Bar and Helm of Dominator. The long farm was worth it.
A few more pushes on Scourge’s middle and bottom base and it’s a ‘GG WP’ call by LGD.2009.sGty. However one last question remains: what happened to Pugna’s Nether ward? This brings me to my final argument.
A Counter to a Pugna’s pick
Now the point I want to argue is: Venomancer is a direct counter for Pugna; more precisely, Veno’s Plague ward counters Pugna’s Nether ward. Kudos to EHome for coming up with such an impressive strategy. Due to the presence of Nether ward, high mana cost spells would deal massive amount of self-damage whereas a low mana cost spell like Plague ward would only do minimal damage. Given Veno’s ward has a low cooldown, is pretty resistant and gives vision, the ward is used to locate Pugna’s Nether ward.
Hence during the game, one of King J’s (Venomancer) roles was to locate Pugna’s ward and destroy it. Each time he cast Plague ward ahead, a bolt of lightning from Nether ward indicated him its exact location. As he proceeded to destroy it, enemies trying to stop him got poison nova + venom. Plague ward can also be used to destroy the Nether ward itself if it is placed correctly. The vanguard on Venomancer then makes perfect sense. An application of the following technique can be observed at [18.10], [21.08] and [29.09] min marks.
Final Words
There is strategy on one side. And then there is execution on the other.
Kudos to both teams for showing us amazing innovative strategies –LGD’s Offensive/defensive wards combo or EHome’s cunning use of Plague wards- and for displaying wonderful team synergy. I hope this replay analysis has showed you the importance of vision in Dota, how ward placement works hand in hand with strategy at work; strategy that has carried the day for EHome this time.
Links
Download Replay - IEM Semi Final
