Warcraft III - DotA & other games

[EENick]

Hey all I just started playing DotA All-Stars and I'm really enjoying it but majorly getting my butt kicked.

I was just wondering which characters, items and strategies people like to use. I find a lot of characters are REALLY hard to play like the Farie Dragon who has some really great powers if you know how to use them (but since I die all the time I cleary do not yet get how to use them properly). Still it is really fun even more so them Warcraft III itself! I really hope they make a DotA for Starcraft II when that finally is released.

I'm also a big fan of tower defense and survival and I was wondering if anyone knows some good ones they could recomend a few good ones.

[toasty]

FYI we have a dota thread Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7945742#post7945742)

@Fairie Dragon... I can't help you. I've never played the hero. He is damn, damn, damn good as a team hero, but that requires a bit of an understanding (on everyone's part) of how Team Heroes operate, and unless you have a good team to play with, that's unlikely.

[Winterwind]

And as for other games, we also have a thread for those. Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110841).

Good tower defences? Element TD, Eeve TD, Legion TD, Islands TD and MTG TD come to mind.

[EENick]

Thanks for the info. I'll have to check those threads out.

[WeeFreeMen]

I have had my fair share of DotA. Sadly I've wanned off it as of late, work and all.

However, I can advise on Puck ["Fairy Dragon"] as I used to play him for our team as a support.

Keep in mind, Im advising a support route, while this may or may not result in you being a Solo BA it is more likely to result in you getting 30+ assists if you play it right.

First off, Skill leveling Route.
I like to do it a certain way each time, just because of familiarity, however, you should try to change and adopt it when fighting diffrent characters. For instance, if your soloing and you have 2 Ints or Agi in ur lane, it would be acceptable to get Silence AoE as opposed to Orb right off the bat.

Non-sense talk aside-
Orb-Lv. 1,3, 9, 10
Silence-Lv. 2, 4, 5, 8
Phase-Lv. 7,
Ultimate-Lv. 6, 12, 18
After 10, and placing your points to your ult, I recommend +Stat boosts.
Your really only getting phase to have the opposing player lose target of you, as it de targets. Also, its handy if well timed for lets say, Mag hitting his Ult. You arent drawn in, and can handle the situation while your team is stunned.

Common Combos - Hit them with Orb, teleport JUST behind them, so you gain those extra few units of distance to attack as well as against melee.
After youve hit them w. Orb and teleported in or "Swapped" then you slap your AoE Silence immediately after 1 or 2 attacks (depending on attack speed and lv). Now they took about 500+ Mag damage and are silenced for 2.5 secs ~ You can do this as early as lv4, but it gets very effective when ganking. Throw up your ult for any suvivors, or save it for Heros such as Ice Queen to stop her channeling as most ALWAYS new players will hit it as their dying wish. Use phase if you are about to get hit with a Stun, AoE, or general "Oh Sh!t" It will render you invul and stop the attack even if its only a .5 sec duration thats all you need.

Items: a good game or well played game will never go beyond T3 items. However for the sake that you get ALOT of money, here are some of my favorites. In order. (Null / Str Tailisms aside)
-BoT
-Mech
-Silence Stick (Orchids)
-Shiv's Armor
-Sheep Stick

and if you are REALLY fast with the fingers. Demon book works wonders also, if you want to play tactical and want an Orb Helm of Dominator. Dominate the Stun Centaurs, and the Satyr for Shockwave for TD. Also, there is one with Purge that I forget the name of.

Lastly and most important tibit of info.
You Are Not a Tank! That is the best way to die with Puck, he has little to no HP and thus dies VERY easily. He is however, a strat hero [Int] so play him as one. Ganking is ALWAYS the best option, dont be a hero ;] (Pun intended)

Best of Luck