https://www.cybersport.ru/dota-2/articles/kak-poteryat-druzei-i-zastavit-vsekh-tebya-zareportit-moya-borba-na-techies

How I Lost Friends

No matter how far-fetched it may sound, it is quite possible to lose a constant stack of friends in Dota 2 because of Techies. The first ten matches that I played with my friends, playing the Miner, were pretty funny. It was an exotic experience, because Techies did not appear in our picks before, and therefore the result of the match was not so important – the process itself was funny. We came up with different bundles of heroes that could make the character as useful as possible, and we laughed out loud with the next explosion.

However, after ten matches they told me: “Okay, have fun – and that’s enough, let’s play normal Dota”. Indeed, Techies is a character that is seriously changing the format of the match. And I understand that not everyone is ready to play some kind of mixture of strategy and budget version of “The Lord of the Storm” just because of one character. However, it is worth remembering that there are plenty of other situations in Dota 2 in which you are required to change your usual style of play: for example, when your first position suddenly takes a seven-carry in the form of a Beastmaster, Silencer or Bristleback, doesn’t that “plant all timer command “? Or if Tinker suddenly appears at the peak, fluffing up all the lanes and taking the forest farm, thereby leaving the teammates with almost no gold and experience, shouldn’t the rest of us have to act on the map in a completely different way? I do not argue that the changes that Techies makes to the playstyle of both teams are much more serious than those described above, but this does not negate the fact that in order to be successful in Dota 2, you must constantly change your playstyle, adjusting to the situation.

These theses did not convince my friends, and therefore I decided to continue my fight on Techies alone – and proudly rolled the cart into solo matchmaking. By the way, Cybersport.ru readers sometimes criticize our author Vladislav Machinae Zhivotnev for his unpopular opinion on various gaming and social issues. You probably would change your attitude if you knew how much he disliked Techies and how many times he said that he dreams that Gabin would remove this hero from Dota. After a dozen of our common matches with Miner, Machinae could not stand it and tactfully (no) stopped playing with me in the group. However, these were only my first tests on the way to learning Zen ministry – then I was waiting for a meeting with random people in matchmaking.

“- Hi, guys! – Go fuck yourself ”

In the Russian-speaking community, it is customary to scold our region for toxicity, using English-speaking players as an example: “They don’t go to the movies with the mother of the first person they meet, and the cards are almost ruined”. For six months of non-stop playing on Techies, I realized that European gamers can give ours a decent head start in terms of toxicity – if they suddenly meet Miner. English-speaking players will not joke about the “illegitimate son of TraVoMan” or your unconventional orientation – they will diligently try to spoil your game, and first of all, allies will do it.

In almost every game on the European server, I was faced with the fact that teammates from zero minute declared me an enemy of the people. Offlainer refused to stand in the lane and immediately went into the forest, while farming, the carry tried to divert the creeps to red mines (and he doesn’t care that they were placed specifically for his own protection from a possible enemy attack), and especially ardent fighters for “pre-scoring justice” reported to their rivals to chat about the location of my bookmarks. The most curious thing is that all these events could have happened in one match. And after a predictable defeat, it is from such teammates that reports usually arrive, and a couple more will probably be thrown by rivals who nevertheless managed to explode several times.

On the European server, I have never encountered a situation where a hardliner after a peak would say: “Well, Miner, let’s blow this line to hell?” (in our region, they are so friendly met quite often). Given that Techies is a hero that relies heavily on team interactions, the lack of at least minimal contact with teammates significantly reduces your chances of success. Although I note that on the European server against Minera they play much worse than in our region, but this can hardly somehow compensate for the problem with the allies. So you can safely tear your pre-doter foreign agent and put only the Russian server in the search.

Techies is a hero for those who are tired of Dota 2

Even the most devoted Dota fans had periods when they left the game for a month or two or even removed it altogether, vowing never to install it again. Someone is returned to Dota 2 by friends, major tournaments or nostalgia – I was brought back to the game by Techies. When you have played more than 6 thousand hours in Dota, sooner or later you come to realize that the process is monotonous, especially in the absence of global updates. It seems that the game is physically incapable of surprising you. And that’s when Techies knocks on the door.

When the Cybersport.ru team and I played at the Staff Cup tournament and picked Techies, the match commentator joked for a long time that the people who take Miner probably have very specific tastes and a strange psyche. Quite a popular proposition. However, Techies allows you to look at Dota 2 from a completely different angle: start studying the trajectories of people on the lanes, the popular farming routes for different heroes, and calculate damage based on the opponent’s magic resistance. And at this moment Dota 2 really turns into chess, and you want to play it again in the evenings.

Techies is also a non-stop action game. It would seem that the character hardly participates in fights, where is all the dynamics? Unlike all supports in Dota 2, Miner always has something to do, even if the game is as passive as possible or you are pinned down at the base. The specificity of the gameplay for Techies is that on this hero you need to constantly monitor the map and anticipate enemy actions. You are less concerned with mechanical clicking when trying to spot a creep; instead, like in the new Netflix Queen’s Turn, you start planning actions a few moves ahead. And then the enemy carry explodes on the very masonry that you diligently did in the smoks, dodging through the forest in an attempt not to run into the enemy support. And at this moment Dota 2 begins to play with new colors. By the way, we won the map with Techies at that tournament – unlike all the subsequent ones.

4K MMR players are smarter than you think

Naturally, like all Techies pickers, I sometimes watch TraVoMan videos. Sometimes it surprises me with what imprudence the conventional Arteezy plays against Miner, exploding over and over again because of the desire to farm a camp or be the first to run into a roshpit in the 40th minute. Even more surprising against this background is the prudence with which ordinary pubers with the rank of “Sovereign” sometimes act. They are ready to sacrifice part of the farm, but they will not go into the forest until their support with a pack of wards passes there. This fearfulness, of course, slows down the process of making money, but it can completely neutralize the efforts of Techies, who used several smoks, placed visions and mined three camps to the eyeballs, spending five minutes on all this.

Enemies’ fear of Techies can untie your team’s hands, but at the same time turn you into a burden, because a Miner who does not make important minuses is a useless hero. Most of the bookmarks on the enhancements in 90% of cases, even if the opponent did not see you, will be destroyed, because, thanks to the TraVoMan rollers, this is what is expected of you. Rampage in the roshpit, too, most likely will not work – the opponents will launch the “five” there, see the sign and simply wait it out or abandon this idea altogether and go to push, realizing that you have no Minefield Sign available at the moment.

Therefore, try to surprise your rivals, and do not just copy the points of bookmarks from TraVoMan. The barrels on the lanes are a rather primitive and obvious arrangement of mines. However, oddly enough, at 4 thousand MMR it can be quite effective. Enemy barks, seeing that their entire forest is in sentry-wards, will feel much more confident when releasing the line, and here they can be caught.

Also try to get less caught in the overview of your opponents. While mining the forest, you often want to farm the creeps running by, but the enemy will understand that if you have been pushing the lane on the top for two minutes already, then, most likely, this is where you have sketched several clutches of barrels.

Ideally, you need to remain unnoticed as long as possible so that rivals do not understand exactly where you are doing your dirty deeds. The second way is to make fake bookmarks. Suppose you came to the enemy troika, defiantly threw one barrel at the camp with the enshents, pushed off the line and then shot down the enemy’s vision. At this moment, the core of rivals will almost certainly be actively blinking at you and asking the supports to solve the problem as soon as possible. At this point, you can download Smoke of Deceit and go to bookmark on another lane. When the enemy supports again go to recapture their “triangle” (at this moment, by the way, it is better to blow up the barrels so that the enemies do not understand exactly how many there were, and thus do not see through the catch), the enemy’s carry will probably press the line, on which you planted the bombs. If everything was done correctly, then the probability of an easy kill is quite high.

You can also use a chicken as a distraction. Send her into the forest next to one line, and at this moment, mine another. Players don’t always pay attention to enemy couriers, but in matches with Techies, the attentiveness and caution of Russian-speaking gamers usually goes off scale, so it can work: the enemies will waste a couple of sentries, and the cor will go to the opposite lane – to you.

Techies is the hero of the second stage of picks

One of the Techies’ key problems is that the hero is fairly easy to counter. I prefer to use Minera exclusively in the fourth position, which means, by all standards of 4000 MMR, I need to choose a character in the first stage. Nobody likes Techies, therefore, as soon as the team sees Techies at the opponent, it often tries to “close” him right there, although we are only talking about “four”. It turns out a twofold situation: on the one hand, when the enemy carry counter-picks you, it deprives itself of variability and gives more freedom to your crust, and on the other hand, the conditional Wraith King, taken solely in order not to die on mines, will become Minera’s nightmare.

Lifestealer, Wraith King, Specter, Anti-Mage, Templar Assassin are characters that are less afraid of Techies. And if the enemy team has both WK and TA at the same time, then you should come to terms with the idea that today you will only be able to blow up supports. Although, here too, rivals can complicate our life by taking Zeus or Beastmaster with Necronomicon, which deprive Miner of the opportunity to make bookmarks on the lane. In such a situation, you should think about giving up the fast Aghanim’s Scepter and bet on Stasis Trap, which can stop the aggressive initiation of Templar Assassin or Wraith King behind the tower.

In order not to be in a situation where Techies cannot reach their potential, it is worth banning all dense carries, meta characters with the ability to use magic immunity, or heroes with summons or illusions. Ideally, ask your allies to leave you the second stage of the pick so that at least one enemy core does not try to counter you.

Faceless Void, Phantom Assassin, Slark, Drow Ranger and other dodgy characters will be our ideal “client” on the lane. They will suffer from the laning stage until the end of the game.

Do not chase highlights like TraVoMan

It is generally accepted that the team with Techies from zero minute to the end plays four. This is partly true: in most mass fights, Miner can do little to help, especially if the 40th minute is on and you don’t want to press Blast Off to immediately go to the tavern for 70 seconds. However, that doesn’t mean Techies shouldn’t join the team. In the laning stage, Miner is the perfect ganker, who, thanks to the speed of 310, can quickly move to the center and make a kill via Blast Off. In the middle of the game, Techies should keep his carry as safe as possible by placing Proximity Mines and Stasis Traps on all forest approaches to minimize the possibility of a surprise attack. Yes, these actions will slow down our own farm and, probably, we will make a couple of kills fewer, but the benefits for the team will be significant.

In addition, Techies should always go along with their team in the enemy “three”. The miner allows you to securely take a position and deprive the opponent of the farm. In addition, any subsequent teamfight near this location will already be beneficial to the allies, since the opponents will have to fight in a minefield. The miner cannot be a great helper in a fight, but he creates conditions so that it would be beneficial to his team. Well, Techies with Aghanim’s Scepter are the best pusher in Dota 2. By placing a sign and throwing Remote Mines under the opponent’s T3 tower, he almost deprives the enemy of the opportunity to impose a battle for her. Therefore, as soon as your team went to a foreign base, you should already roll your cart in the forefront. If you have a range core, then it makes sense to impose a descent from the high ground of Stasis Trap, so that even if the opponents decide to bypass your plate and hit from the flank, they definitely did not succeed in doing it unexpectedly.

Techies is also one of the best heroes to control Roshan. Even if we don’t yet have Aghanim’s Scepter or time to mine the surroundings, two Remote Mines at different ends of the Roshpit will be enough for your team to have vision and know about the opponent’s plans. Well, if the sacred scepter is already in your hands, then we throw 8-10 barrels near the wall to the left of the torch inside the roshpit, force the territory around us with Proximity Mines and Stasis Trap and immediately call the team. After that, it remains only to put a sign and look forward to the doomed attack from the opponent.

In short, Techies can be an extremely useful and versatile team member, even without enchanting ramps and “godlike” ones. Therefore, you should not put your personal KDA above the interests of your teammates.

Sorry Torte de Lini, you’re wrong

Each doter knows very well the guides from Torte de Lini – he created them for all heroes in Dota 2 and continues to update them with each patch. However, in the case of Techies, I think he chose a highly controversial skill learning sequence. Following his guide, Stasis Trap needs to be taken only at 11th level, and before that – max Blast Off. Let me remind you that initially the third ability deals 540 magic damage, with each level this value increases by 100 units. This increase does not provide any tangible benefit on the lane, while due to the lack of Stasis Trap, all your Proximity Mines become completely useless, of course, unless an allied Mars nails the enemy to a tree near the mine. In other cases, when at least some attentive enemies are playing against you, they, having heard a characteristic squeak, will immediately leave the affected area.

In addition, thanks to the explosion of Stasis Trap, you can calmly control all your forest bookmarks, without fear of letting your opponent pass. Therefore, it will be optimal to pump Stasis Trap at the fourth level and already seriously strain enemy supports on the lane or control the displacement of an alien mid lane.

By the way, the Torte de Lini guide does not mention an important point about laying mines. If you want them to gather in one pile, and not just be scattered, then when laying the second mine you need to click not on the ground, but on the icon of the first mine. This applies both to the combination of Proximity Mines and Stasis Trap (if they are not combined, then the enemy can get rooted, but there will be no explosion), and the tabs from Remote Mines – this will not allow enemies to estimate the number of mines and make them less noticeable.

Прежде чем покупать новый сет на Techies, проверьте, как мины будут отображаться в игре. На самом деле визуальная составляющая мин может отразиться на том, насколько быстро враги будут реагировать на угрозу. К примеру, набор Pachyderm Powderwagon превращает Remote Mines в маленьких слоников, которые качают ушами и хоботом, из-за чего их легче заметить, поскольку наши глаза (точнее, нервная система) быстрее реагируют на динамические объекты. К тому же этот скин может вызвать баг с иконками Remote Mines и Proximity Mines, когда вместо изображения будет просто серый фон — это может помешать поставить новую мину в нужную кладку.

Как усилить урон от мин?

Играя на Techies, я заметил расхожее заблуждение: многие считают, что предметы, дающие увеличение магического урона, повышают урон Proximity Mines и Remote Mines. Судя по статистике Dotabuff, в это верят и те, кто сам играет на Минере. Я могу представить, что кто-то берет Kaya исключительно ради регенерации маны, хотя, объективно говоря, Eul’s Scepter of Divinity куда эффективнее и вообще полезнее. Но вот объяснить выбор Nether Shawl в качестве нейтрального предмета мне сложно. А в четвертом тире большая часть Минеров забирает Timeless Relic — один из сильнейших предметов. Он усиливает у Techies исключительно Stasis Trap — оцепенение от нее длится на полторы секунды дольше. Да, это приятное усиление, но практически в каждой игре наверняка найдется тиммейт, которому Timeless Relic будет куда нужнее. Запомните: урон от мин такими артефактами усилить нельзя.

Хотя винить в этом игроков тоже будет неправильно. Разработчики сами ввели пользователей в заблуждение. Если купить Yasha and Kaya, взять Timeless Relic и нажать Alt, то Dota 2 действительно покажет, что наш урон увеличился почти на 30%, но это ошибка описания. Это можно проверить, если заглянуть в журнал сражения в тренировочном матче.

Однако возможность усилить наши мины все-таки есть — в этом поможет Veil of Discord. Однако, учитывая, что для этого надо необходимо заранее использовать предмет на врагов, его эффективность для Techies снижается, ведь зачастую вас не будет рядом с кладкой.

Techies не выигрывает и не проигрывает в соло

Главное, что нужно понимать, — Techies, как и любой герой в Dota 2, не может одним своим присутствием испортить команде игру. Очень часто в матчмейкинге после проигранного без шансов матча приходилось слышать фразы по типу: «Ну че, взорвал всех, да? Ноль импакта — отличный пик». Для многих пользователей Techies становится отличным оправданием общекомандной неудачи. Иногда я пересматривал такие матчи и приходил к выводу, что даже если бы вместо Минера была другая «четверка», то результат, вероятно, был бы таким же. Почти в каждом втором поединке на профессиональной сцене бывают ситуации, когда один из героев выпадает из игры и вносит «ноль импакта». Однако это совокупность факторов, а не признак того, что персонаж бесполезный и его следует удалить.

И наоборот: Techies не выиграет матч в одиночку для своей команды, хотя после парочки красивых взрывов самолюбование может оторвать вас от реальности. А это ведет к тому, что ваш игровой стиль на Минере превратится в вариант 1 + 4. Из этого зачастую ничего хорошего не получается.

Уверен, что мне не удалось переубедить ни одного хейтера Techies в том, что герой не так плох, как кажется. Но в конце я предлагаю вам подумать о том, что матчи с Минером — это обычно самые потные и безумные поединки, какие у вас только бывают. И это влияет на общий уровень игры на карте: вардинг становится более осмысленным, а пути к Рошану или на хайграунд — более изобретательными. Одно только незримое присутствие Techies вынуждает вас показывать свою лучшую игру. Разве не круто?