LogFAQs > #961815133

Dota is a game that has shaped the majority of my adult life. It's a hugely fun experience, a great spectacle to watch, and an interesting view into international cultural analysis. Between the original AllStars mod in Warcraft 3 that introduced Random Draft through today, it's a game that I always come back to (and occasionally get extremely frustrated with.)

As such, since I'm still relatively new to B8 (it hasn't even been a year!) I figure I'd give my writing chops a shot and take a look at each of the playable Dota heroes in a ranking topic. This serves a few purposes:
- Trying my hand at a ranking topic by jumping in the deep end (while simultaneously getting to do this during slow periods at work.) I've got some basic write-ups finished for the first few, which I'll try and do daily/on weeknights, but it's 122 writeups total. Y I K E S.
- Self-improvement at the game. It's still fun after all these years, but I am primarily a support player, and my playstyle well, I don't lane control as well as I should, or roam as much as I should, or stack as much as I should, et cetera. Writing about each of these in detail from three perspectives (playing as them, playing with them as allies, and with them as enemies) may help me have a "eureka" moment next time I deal with one of my most disliked heroes.
- Self-gratification. I get to complain about things I don't like and probably be rebuked if anyone has a clue what I'm talking about. Criticism helps me! This ties into...
- Self-improvement Mk. II - refining my critical style. I am, quite frankly, an eloquent rageball when something annoys me (and hey, any Moba will breed that,) but I offend more by sheer accident than I do by intention - and yes, this bleeds over into real life sometimes. Maybe I'll try for a bit less profanity? Nah, the hell with that.
- Providing layman's observation and commentary, or fun facts for people who may have even played it once in the past and then forgot about it ten years later. (And maybe assembling a B8 group if we have lurkers on the US servers?)
- Working on my teaching style in a Q&A format.

Opinions can change in real-time, and what I once found really fun, I absolutely despise from overuse another time; all the more so if I have recently been dunked on in the past couple of games by the same hero. Since I've been playing so long, I have a general feel of how things used to be, and after a few years hiatus, I also have a general feel from a "newbie's" perspective. That said, I've got my "this is my objective worst, even if they are more than capable of winning games of their own right." laid out for the bottom 10, at least, and I nebulously have my top 10, too. I'll *try* to include, but not be limited to: ease of use, skill ceiling, stat spread, fun factor, potential memes, effectiveness throughout the game's lifetime, and whether I choose to ignore my own criteria for one reason or another.

Please note that this only includes heroes that are *playable* in the main game, and likewise does not count some that were once in the game and removed