Inside Version 6.69c

Huge LAN tournaments affect strategy like nothing else - just take a look at both last year's SMM and ESWC in June. Even though months have passed since EHOME's flawless victory, the changes their gameplay and tactics brought remain powerful.

Now with SMM '10 just a couple of days ahead of us, what kind of new strategies are there to be seen? For those who just can't wait any longer, let's play the role of a captain. Think out of the box, and develop new strategies that will allow you outwit other captains in picking and laning. Below is a prediction done by GosuGamers; make your choice!

ESWC Summary - Concept of version 6.67c
The era of trilaning and range carriers. The point of this strategy is to dominate the laning- and mid-game phase, by using a trilane to either give your carrier the time to farm up his items, or to hurt the opposing carrier and finish the game as soon as possible. Ganking is executed with the sole purpose of pushing respectively getting towers.

Supporters suffer the most from these strategies, as their main purpose does not lie in roaming, but to wait in the fog and protect the carriers without taking gold and experience. An example of a typical trilane 6.67c draft can be viewed on the right.



What to expect from SMM - version 6.69c's possible impacts on the tournament
1.) The change in the experience system:
If we compare the EXP system between v6.68 and v6.69, we can see that the amount of gained experience is now varying in relation to the number of assists, unlike in v6.68 where it basically stays the same, no matter how many heroes are included in the specific situation.

As we can also see: The experience gained from hero kills is altered in a way that killing a hero single-handedly becomes far more beneficial compared to doing it in a trilane. This may result in a differentiation of lane structures: From the standard 1-1-3, to a 1-1-2 with a roamer or jungler. Jungling heroes can still protect their carrier in a dual lane without taking any experience away

Changes in laning behavior may also be predicted. At laning phase eg 1v1 mid, we have two possibilites here:
The player suddenly becomes more aggressive, attempting to take out his opponent, thus earning a solo kill. The slayer would gain a massive amount of bonus XP and would achieve an early lane domination (ganking/roaming supports are not included in this example).
Or a player becomes a lot more conservative, as a single mistake could be capitalized in a way that would cost them his lane dominance, and on a greater impact, the game as well.
History taught us, that players prefer it safe, especially when a large amount of cash is at stake. That's why an occurrence of the second pattern seems more likely, considering equal powers betwenn two mid solos.

The changes of version 6.69 also include a buff towards ganking heroes, who are able to take out their opponents singlehandedly (, , or ), thus allowing them to not trail behind in terms of level. Heroes, who are able to take out incoming ganks without dying (, , or ) benefit from the changes as well.



2. Prediction: The Heroes

Map Control:
Now with courier being able to bring Gem, dewarding becomes much simpler, as one can easily bring the jewel using courier, move the courier uphill to spot Observer Wards and destroy them. After dewarding is finished, simply return the Gem to the courier and bring it back to the base. We all know that it is not possible to gank / push / even turtle without sufficient map control, thus this change is a buff towards heroes with abilities to open up fog of wars.

Verdict: Broodmother & Beastmaster would still be ban / first pick materials, Clockwerk would probably be picked more frequently

Ranged Carries: VS
Drow will slowly starts to disappear, as a hard carry with neither an escape mechanism nor a nuke nor any early game lane-controlling skills, the change of range manta hits her the hardest. Despite the Manta and Replicate nerf, Morpling is still a very solid carrier with a new scaling nuke and two escape mechanisms.

Verdict: Drow will disappear, Morphling will stay

Melee Carries:
The improval of Manta greatly benefit these melee carriers. Is it enough to bring them back to the spotlight?

Verdict: Picked once in a while

Strength Carries:
The return of both N'aix and Slardar are imminent. From the WDC we know, that a fully farmed Alchemist kicks ass; thus it's just logical for these tank-eaters to return back to competitive scene solely for the purpose of decimating our fat goblin.

Verdict: Ban / Pick Material

Supporters: vs
Lich and Silencer will rise in popularity as new supporters compared to Crystal Maiden. Silencer is an anti-trilaner due to Curse of the Silent, the combo breaker Last Word, and a direct counter to Enigma. Lich proves himself worthy, due to his Armor (counter to VS and Alche all together) and his devastating Chain Frost.
Verdict: Both are worth banning. Will be picked/banned oftenly

Nerfed Supporters:
Despite the nerfs that both Venge and WD got, there is no denying that both are still top tier supporters. They both have skills, which are imbalanced early on and still scale well into late game.

Verdict: Ban / First Pick Material (VS), Pick Material (WD)

Solos:
All four are still the same solid soloers that could maintain their momentum until late in the game.

Verdict: Ban / Pick Material, if YaphetS is on the opposing team, SF is definitely a first ban.

Buffed:
Huge buff for Razor, Invoker, and Syllabear. Hopefully we would see some games featuring these heroes.

Verdict: Surprise Pick

New in -cm:
The recent addition of Chaos Knight, Slark, and Magnus into the Captain's Pool, will definitely make the match more breathtaking. Nessaj is a very strong ganker and late gamer all in one, as Phantasm plust Reality Rift plus 4 second stun equals autokill. The buff on Magnus' Empower and his "mini force staff" might make Magnus a suitable subtitute for Enigma's BH. Of course, we must not forget the pubstomper hero, Murloc Nightcrawler.

Verdict: Ban Material / Surprise Pick

Special Mentioning:

Enchantress will return once again, due to her laning flexibility (jungling/roaming), in addition to a very powerful Aghanim buff.
Verdict: Definitely an option in a push-strategy

VS
Just like a passing storm, Raijin will soon be completely replaced by Faerie Dragon due to his overnerf. The two of them share many similarities, both are great soloers, highly mobile, heavy nukers, semi-carriers + initiators (Puck with dagger / Storm with BKB) to an extent, and hard to be killed due to impressive escape mechanism.
Verdict: Disappear


The armor nerf is not enough to stop teams from perma-banning Doom, as he would still be one of the best lane / teamfight-controlling hero in the game.
Verdict: Ban / First Pick Material


Can you guys think of other possible/creative winning strategies? Stay tuned to GosuGamers for future announcements involving SMM Live Coverage and other interesting events!

Links
getdota.com - Changelog for DotA Map Version 6.69c