[Guide] What does a hero truly need?

[JJE92]

What does a hero truly need?

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INTRODUCTION

I've written many guides already, but rarely finished any of them, mostly because I try to add every aspect. This time, I wanted to write more of an essay than a guide, but it became longer and longer, explaining the three points that I consider to be most important when it comes to a hero and how they interact. The reason for this is mainly that I don't get stuck anymore, because everything seems to fit together for me.
I've had several incentives that helped me finish this guide quickly. First off, I wanted to write this for dotacommentaries.com Betakey article contest, but I didn't make it as quickly. Then, I wanted it to be my 5000th post (which it actually became) and the news that every guide writer got a beta key was also an incentive. But these are only incentives, I had in my mind to write such a guide for a long time and I'm really happy that I finally made it.
I've tried to be not that theoretic and add enough examples to make it clear, also add some parts about my thinking progress through the last two years that changed my view of some aspects. Hopefully, that will make it easier to read and understand and to use for your own suggestions and reviews.

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CHANGELOG

November 05, 2011

• Posted in others subforum, planning to potentially release it on the guide section of this forum.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Three points

2. Skills
...2.1 Why are skills the basis of each hero?
...2.2 What type of skills are there?
...2.3 What does a good skill need?
...2.4 A skill's concept: the uniqueness
...2.5 A skill's workout: the fluency/functionality
...2.6 Summary/Conclusion

3. Concept
...3.1 Skill Synergies & Comboes: the way skills work together
...3.2 What does actually make Skill Synergies good?
...3.3 What is a concept and which aspects of a hero play a role in it?
...3.4 How to figure out a hero's concept
...3.5 Summary/Conclusion

4. Utility
...4.1 What is utility?
...4.2 Explanation on laning
...4.3 Explanation on roles
...4.4 Comparison to other heroes
...4.5 Which problems can arise?
...4.6 Summary/Conclusion

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THREE POINTS

What does a hero truly need? I think any hero suggestor has posed this question at least once. What is the essence of a good and successful hero?
I've theorised about this for quite a while, and came to the conclusion that there are three important points to consider. These three points aren't standalone, they build up on each other. Before going in-depth into each individual point, here is at first a general layout of my conclusion:

• The basis of each and every hero are its skills.
  Every other aspect of heroes and every other point mentioned is dependent on the skills and their workout. The skills make heroes unique and different to play with from other heroes.

• What makes a hero feel coherent is its concept.
  The concept has a lot to do with skill synergies and comboes, but is also more than simply that. The skills of each hero put together form a concept that saturates each invidual skill.
  As such, the concept is dependent on the skills, but it also transcends them, meaning it is more than the sum of the individual skills.

• Lastly, what makes a hero viable for picking is its utility.
  Utility means that the hero can be put in a lane, that he can fulfil his role in such a way that he's different from other heroes with similar roles, giving him a reason to be picked.
  The utility is dependent on every aspect of a hero. The slightest flaw in these aspects can harm or even ruin a hero's utility. A hero with a great utility is the final result if you have done everything else correctly.

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SKILLS

2.1 Why are skills the basis of each hero?

• Everything depends on skills. The skill synergies & comboes depend on the skills, the hero's concept can only become clear through the skills, the skills and their workout unfold in a gameplay, a hero's utility depends on the skills. Thus, they are the basis upon which everything else is build.
• Without skills, each hero would be the same. Skills make heroes different and create different concepts and utilities. In short, they are the basis of all uniqueness that a hero can have.
• Problems with skills will result in problems with the concept and the utility. If the skills are insufficient, a hero's concept and utility will also become insufficient to some extent.
• Nevertheless, skills are only the basis, not more. Even if all skills are great, this doesn't mean that your hero is great. Utility and concept transcend the skills, meaning that they depend on the skills and develop from them, but also add more needed things to the hero. In short, the skills define the potential of a hero, a hero can only be as good as the skills, but an overall hero can also be a lot worse than the skills.

2.2 What type of skills are there?

Clarification: Yes, there are active, passive, AoE-targeted, single-targeted and many more types of skills. No, that's not what I mean here. The type of skills I mean here is the role they have in the skillset.

1. The awesome ability everyone remembers when thinking of the hero
   --> eva00r, the creator of both Twin Head Dragon and Huskar called them WOGM-skills (for Wow-Omfg-Great-Move) and explained in an old guide that each hero should have such a skill. The reason is obvious: such a skill makes the hero very fun to play and gives players an incentive to use the hero. Furthermore, these abilities tend to influence the concept and utility the most and thus not only bring extreme uniqueness for themselves, but for the whole hero.
   --> Examples: Clockwerk Goblin's Hookshot, Pudge's Meat Hook, Phantom Lancer's Juxtapose, Shadow Fiend's Shadow Raze, Zeus' Thundergod's Wrath or Necrolyte's Reaper's Scythe
2. The fundamental ability defining a large part of the hero's gameplay
   --> This is the second - sometimes forgotten - key-factor. These skills might not be as flashy as the WOGM-skills, but are more often than not simple skills with a huge influence on the hero's gameplay. Along with the WOGM skill, they explain most of a hero's gameplay and coin the final two skills.
   --> Examples: Earthshaker's Aftershock, Doom Bringer's Devour, Morphling's Replicate, Nerubian Weaver's Shukuchi, Storm Spirit's Overload or Lich's Dark Ritual
3. The combo ability completing the usual skill combo of the hero
   --> These skills are an addition to a hero's skill combo. They don't really define a hero's concept or utility like the previous skill types, but they complement them.
   --> Guardian Wisp's Spirits, Lycanthrope's Howl, Dwarven Sniper's Shrapnel, Venomancer's Venomous Gale, Windrunner's Powershot, Visage's Grave Chill
4. The complementary ability adding something the hero is still lacking off
   --> A filler ability might sound like something not really needed, but that's definitely not the case. These skills are just not very influential for the concept and utility or the other skills. Nevertheless, they fill the holes other skills might have left open in the gameplay, they add something to the hero that improves his performance in such a way that it goes well with the other skills.
   --> Examples: Beastmaster's Inner Beast, Sand King's Caustic Finale, Gyrocopter's Flak Cannon, Spectre's Desolate, Lina's Fiery Soul, Batrider's Flamebreak

Why is this categorisation useful? Well, it exists, so it must have some use, but mostly this concerns concept and utility, so for now, it's only important to call your attention on the fact that something like this exists. Keep in mind, though, that not all skills can be classified exactly into these categories, they can be between some categories.


2.3 What does a good skill need?

• On the one hand, a good skill needs to have a solid skill concept/idea. This is mainly achieved through uniqueness and originality.
• On the other hand, a good skill also needs a solid workout, which is achieved through things like fluency and functionality.

If you want more information than what can be found in the following two points, then just take a look at The][nquisitoR's Ability Suggestion Making Guide,


2.4 A skill's concept: the uniqueness

• Before a skill's concept can be checked on its uniqueness, it first and foremost needs to have a coherent concept to begin with.
  Although this seems like a fairly irrelevant point, because having a clear concept is easily achieved, this can lead to problems if the skill's effects are too contradicting or if there are spellbook abilities without a clear concept behind it. Then, the skill concept is very vague and hard to compare with other skills' concepts for originality.
• Per definition, a skill is unique if you use it differently from all other in-game skills.
  This means that neither the effects, nor the targeting type makes a skill unique - although it will certainly help - but mainly the usage.
  Furthermore, uniqueness is only measured by what is currently ingame.
  Keep in mind that there's no absolute guideline on what is unique and what not, originality has to be interpretated qualitatively through comparison with other in-game skills, not measured quantitatively.
  
  Skill: A long-rangedsay 2000 skillshotpoint-targeted missile that affects the first enemy hit dealing damage that increases the longer the missile travelled, with only a short CDsay 5 seconds
  To figure out whether the skill is unique, you would need to compare it with in-game skills. The most obvious skills with similarities are PotM's Arrow and Enchantress' Impetus.
  The latter only has similarities in the damage mechanism, which is not a huge deal, because the skills' usages are fairly different.
  The former has many similarities in the targeting type and in the effects. However, PotM's skill is used to stun an enemy out of nowhere with some randomness. This example ablity would not have such an initiative usage, but it's more of a long-range poke to weaken the enemy before the battle starts. As such, it has probably more similarities in the usage with Tinker's Heat Seaking Missiles than with PotM's Arrow.
  Overall, a fairly unique skill I'd say, because the usage (not necessarily the effects) is unique.
• Creating a unique skill can be done in many different ways. You can invent new targeting mechanisms, new effects, or you can combine existing ones. Putting in-game skills into categories and trying to create a skill that would fit into that category and be different in its usage can also be an effective method.
  
  Take a look at all in-game chain-lightning-type abilities. Just by doing that, you could come to two unique ideas that are not yet in-game:
  a) A chain-lightning with unlimited bounces between heroes that only stops when there's no valid target in the bouncing range
  b) A chain-lightning that actually links the units hit in some way

If you want more information about this point, check out this Guide on Originality by doomed2die. Some parts are also written by myself, specifically a guide on how to make a unique skill.


2.5 A skill's workout: the fluency/functionality

• In order to become a good skill, the skill idea needs to be properly worked out. The objective of a workout is to finalise the initial skill concept, so that it functions as intended without adding unnecessary stuff. This is done by choosing the side-effects and numbers carefully to only work for the fulfilling of the concept and to not cause any problems.
• Working a skill out properly takes some experience. You need to imagine how the skill would work in DotA, how it would be used and detect whether some aspects of the skill could cause problems, and if they do how to fix them.
• Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast is a masterpiece in terms of fluency and functionality. Its main effects are definitely the damage and HP-freeze. These allow the skill to be used as a global nuke and as a powerful anti-healing skill in teamfights. This makes it very easy for enemies to drop to a low HP percentage and at this point, the instant-kill comes into play. As this is a global skill, you might not be in range to finish the enemy off, but if the enemy was already wounded, the dps along with the HP-freeze and the instant-kill can do the trick and do what the skill is intended to do.
  
  
  Lately, I've seen this skill twice: a passive that makes a hero leap forward whenever he moves a certain amount of units. Twice the same - relatively unique - idea, twice the same issue with the workout: it is impractical.
  A leap is a delicate effect, very dependent on timing, your facing and positioning. Having this effect in a workout that makes the activation uncontrollable and nearly impossible to time properly will result in the skill becoming disadvantageous for yourself. You could leap when you don't want to, like into multiple enemies, when you're about to attack or right before you could leap over a cliff and so on. A much better workout would've been a passive that gives you for a limited time an activateable leap whenever you have moved a certain amount of units.

2.6 Summary/Conclusion

So what have we learned so far:

• Skills are the basis of each hero, because everything depends on the skills and develops through them.
• There are different roles a skill can have in the whole skillset of a hero, like 1) being the ability that everybody remembers and that defines huge parts of the hero's gameplay, 2) the defining ability that decides along with the number one how the hero's gameplay looks like, 3) the combo ability that completes the hero's combo and 4) the complementary ability that adds something that hero is lacking off.
• A good skill needs a good concept achieved through uniqueness/originality and a good workout achieved through fluency and functionality.

Now, many reviewers only look at the skills, perhaps a bit at how they work together and that's it. But a hero consists of so much more that.
I used to review all skills, synergies and gameplay right from the bat when I started reviewing hero ideas. However, what took me a while is how to figure out what makes synergies good: a concept, and that will be our next point.

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CONCEPT

3.1 Skill Synergies & Comboes: the way skills work together

Per definition, synergy is following (quoted by Dictionnary.com, credits to chadpiety123 and Eethn):

In DotA, skills can synergise in multiple ways:

• One skill allows others to be used more easily/effectively:
  This is by far the most common synergy and the essence of all comboes. There are so many examples for this in DotA: Pudge's Meat Hook followed by Dismember and Rot, Admiral's X Marks the Spot followed by Torrent, Sven's Storm Bolt followed by Warcry and God's Strength, ...
• One skill directly improves the outcome of another skill:
  Often referred to as forced synergy. This is done in Ogre Magi's Multicast, Batrider's Sticky Napalm, Wisp's Tether and Relocate or Shadowfiend's Requiem of Soul.
• Chain nukes/disables:
  The reason why this is synergetic, is that if you chain them one after the other, they become more effective in focusing down your enemy than if you just use them seperately.
  Example's are all of Zeus' skills or Lion's Hex and Impale.

Now, there are many more delicate differences, but if you want to know more of this, better check out chadpiety123's Comprehensive Guide to Synergy, there you will find all the information you need. If you want more information about specifically Forced Synergy, take a look at ShadowFury/The Lord God's Introduction to Dynamic Synergy.
For us, it's enough to figure out what synergy and skill comboes mean.


3.2 What does actually make Skill Synergies good?

Now, we're treating a point that chadpiety123 has only scratched in his guide to synergy.
Read the title of this chapter carefully: "What does actually make Skill Synergies good?" I did not write: "What makes Skill Synergies good?"
This is for a good reason: Unfortunately, skill synergies are often only rated through their quantity, not through their quality.

• A quantitative point of view would only look at how well the skills synergise, meaning how many forms of interaction can be found between the skills - the more the better.
• A qualititative point of view would also take a look at how unique the skill synergies are, how the skillset with the interactions between the single skills forms a unique concept that makes the hero different from any other hero. A concept, which saturates every single skill and makes clear what their role in the whole skillset is (remember 2.2).

3.3 What is a concept and which aspects of a hero play a role in it?

The concept is the idea behind the skillset that explains why the skills have been put together like this. It gives you information about the general role, playstyle and skill combo of a hero.

• The main stat, general stat distribution, the general attack range (melee, ranged) and the hero's general role (support, carry, assassin, pusher, ...) are factors of the concept that categorise the hero. This also gives a first impression of where the potential lies in his skills.
• Furthermore, the concept consists of 1 or 2 core concepts of the gameplay / niches (these are just names I got accustomed to use for this aspect, I haven't found any better names to describe this so far). These core concepts catch a specific idea of a skill combo or even a single skill of the hero which defines a significant part of the hero's gameplay.

The core concept is the central part of a hero's concept, because it decides mostly by itself how unique the hero's concept is. It integrates the concept of single skills, the skill synergies and the various categorising factors of a concept into a deeper sense.


3.4 How to figure out a hero's concept

1. First of all, I'd advise you to look at the single skills' concepts, especially at those of the number 1 and 2 (remember 2.2)
2. Secondly, you should take a look at how these single skills' concepts interact. Is there a certain combo? Is there a special way to use the skills together?
3. Thirdly, look at the hero's categorising factors of a concept
4. Finally, you should be able to pick out the core concept and explain the hero's core concept with it.

1. 1: Fissure is the longest-ranged instantaneous stun in DotA and also creates impassable terrain to block passage.
   2: Aftershock makes every skillcast an instant AoE stun.
   3: Echo Slam allows for a high damage output the more enemies there are around you
2. a) The skills can be used as an AoE chain stun around you.
   b) Fissure can be used to block the enemy's pathing so that you have an easy chance to get into their melee range to use your other skills.
3. Earthshaker is a melee STR hero that focuses on ganking/supporting and initiating.
4. Earthshaker is the best stunner in DotA, with the longest range instantaneous stun and the longest AoE chain stun.
   The former makes him a powerful ganking and supporting hero, allowing any killing attempts against enemies to suceed or killing attempts by enemies to fail easily by stunning enemies from a long range and blocking their path.
   The latter allows him to be a great initiator that can fearlessly jump into an army of enemies and disable them for a decent time and even deal massive damage against them.

1. 1: Hunter of the Night makes you move and attack very fast in the night, making you a dangerous roamer
   2: Darkness: Turns Day into Night, turning you from a weaker hero into a powerful hero or letting you be a powerful hero for a longer time.
   The Rest of his skills damage and cripple enemies, making them unable to run from you or fight you during the night while also weakening them during the day.
2. a) Night Stalker uses the night to roam for enemies, if he finds one he slows them down, severly cripples them so that they can neither fight properly nor escape and beats them with quick attacks.
   b) To extend his night time power or to use it even if it is day right now, he uses Darkness.
3. Night Stalker is a melee STR hero that focuses on ganking and chasing.
4. Night Stalker is very powerful during nighttime, but relatively weak during daytime.
   His skills turn him into a ganking killer at night time, capable of killing any hero that he catches alone by making them unable to fight properly, nuking and slowing them down and decimating them with an enhanced autoattack.
   To make him less situational and useful during the day, Night Stalker can prolong the nighttime or even turn day into night, so that he can use his powers whenever he needs to.

1. 1: Morph allows him to either become a tank and buy damage items or a damagedealer and buy survivability items. He's thus capable of both giving and taking massive amounts of damage at the will of the player.
   2: Replicate: A copy of a target hero that can be used for mindgames, quick (global) mobility, an escape mechanism, copying passives/auras to your team and simply for increasing your damage output.
   3: Waveform: Another escape mechanism that can also be used offensively as a nuke.
   4: Adaptive Strike: a nuke with a stun/knockback depending on how you morphed that can also be used both offensively to kill the target or defensively to stun him and push him away from you.
2. a) The skills allow Morphling to go in agressively while still having another type of escape mechanism ready.
   b) All skills can be either used offensively to kill an enemy ASAP or defensively to survive for a decent time and escape even the grimmest situations.
3. Morphling is a ranged AGI hero that focuses on carrying.
4. Morphling is the hero with the most escape mechanisms.
   His skills can be used to either deal lots of damage or to evade/tank a lot of damage.
   This allows him to dynamically adapt his playstyle. He can either focus on an offensive usage of his skills, being able to deal a decent amount of damage and kill enemies even early on or focus on a defensive usage of his skills, being able to safely farm up many places of the map without risking death.

1. 1: Spin Web makes it very hard for Broodmother to be chased out of her lane, she can stay in her lane forever with this if she wants to and lasthit relatively safely.
   2: Spawn Spiderlings allows for another last-hit ability that spawns Spiderlings that are great for pushing, farming neutrals or killing enemies.
   3: Insatiable Hunger makes her a powerful fighter. If a hero appears in a lane that she pushes, she can easily handle him in a fight.
2. a) Broodmother can stay in a lane safely, lasthit, amass Spiderlings and constantly push a tower.
   b) If she gets into a precarious situation, which can easily happen when pushing, the Lifesteal and her webs can save her.
3. Broodmother is a melee AGI hero that focuses on pushing and semi-carrying.
4. Broodmother constantly pushes one lane.
   She does that through amassing Spiderlings that are effective in pushing down towers. At the same time, Spin Webs allow her to stay safely in her lane and escape ganks quickly and regenerate back. Against few enemies that come to prevent her from pushing, she can fight well and harrass them out of the lane or even kill them, so that it takes a lot of effort to keep her out of the lane or even kill her.

• 1: Illusory Orb sends out an orb that deals damage, while you can blink to the current place of the orb and end the skill, thus allowing you to both nuke enemies and/or overcome quite large distances.
  2: Dream Coil traps enemies in a pretty large area.
• a) Puck's general combo is to use Illusory Orb to get in, Dream Coil to trap his enemies and Waning Rift to further damage them.
  b) More specifically, Puck can use Phase Shift to keep himself safe while the Orb travels or to ensure a safe escape with Blink Dagger.
• Puck is a ranged INT hero that focuses on AoE teamfights, initating and chasing
• Puck is a very mobile AoE nuker.
  He uses his Orb to initiate and position to unleash his AoE combo that traps enemies. After this, he tries to survive with the help of his silence and especially Phase Shift with Blink Dagger, that can get him out of danger again quickly. Therefore, he can go in the center of a battle and still get out safely, although he is very fragile. He tries to survive as long as possible and unleash further comboes of Orb and Ethereal Jaunt and chases fleeing heroes with ease.

• 1: Chain Frost easily decimates enemy heroes that stick together without creeps in their vicinity.
  2: Dark Ritual denies enemies gold and exp and keeps the creepwave closer to your tower, while also allowing you to use your skills more often.
  3: Frost Nova nukes and slows enemies around a target
  4: Frost Armor keeps his team provided with armor buffs.
• a) In laning, Lich keeps the creepwave back at his tower, allowing his ally have an easier time farming and his enemy (preferrably carry) to be denied EXP and gold on top of that. Furthermore, he can keep harrassing enemies with Frost Novas and keep his allies safe from harrassment with Frost Armor.
  b) In teamfights, Lich uses his Chain Frost and Frost Nova for superb AoE damage output, while helping his team with armor buffs.
• Lich is a ranged INT hero that focuses on support/babysitting, anticarrying and teamfights.
• Lich makes laning for his allies easy and for his enemies difficult, while also being devastating against multiple enemy heroes.
  He is mostly put with a carry whom he supports by giving him a safe place to farm, but can also be put against an enemy carry to prevent him from farming effectively.
  Besides, Lich has the power to single-handedly win teamfights if Chain Frost bounces between multiple enemies in succession.

3.5 Summary/Conclusion

So what have we learned in this chapter:

• Skill synergies are the interactions between skills that make one more effective through another skill. This can be done both directly and indirectly
• How good skill synergies are depends mostly on their quality, meaning how unique they are and how unique of a concept they result in.
• The concept is the idea behind the skillset that explains why the skills have been put together like this. It consists of categorising aspects and the core concepts. The latter decides mostly how unique the concept is going to be.

Now we might have a unique hero with good skills. But do we have a good hero? If you had asked me this a few months ago, I would probably have repeated with yes. I might have detected some flaws here and there, but I would've simply put this under "workout issues". And yes, this last part concerns mostly workout things. But if you look at the competitive scene, there are quite a few heroes that are not picked, although they have awesome skills and an awesome concept.
So what is their problem? It can be flaws in the gameplay, which will also be a part in the next chapter, but we'll put more into this. Their problem would be that they lack of utility and this will be the last one of the three points.

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UTILITY

4.1 What is utility?

A short comparison: We said that skills have a concept (uniqueness/originality) and a workout (fluency/functionality). The same could be said about the whole skillset - the former being the concept (the uniqueness/originality) and the latter being the utility (fluency/functionality).

So which factors affect a hero's utility?

• How well you can be put into a lane
• How well you can fulfil your role
• How unique you can fulfil your role

4.2 Explanation on laning

The early-game is usually described as the laning phase. Before you really want to start teamfights, pushes and similar things that are done in the later stages of the game, you first want to gain some levels, so that you have all the skills available that you might need and you want to have your core items. This is done most easily by distributing your heroes in various ways among the different lanes.

So, the first and foremost job all heroes playing DotA have to fulfil is to succeed in their lane. The laning phase decides on how strong heroes come out of the laning phase into the mid-game, you can get a small farming advantage that can make you win the first teamfights and thus snowball into a won game. In short, while a won laning phase does not make you win a game, it increases the chances that you win a game. Therefore, it is vital that a hero can be put in a lane, where he can contribute to your team winning the laning phase.

Now, the question is how can you see whether you've won the laning phase or not? The two indicators for a won laning phase are the amount of EXP and gold. If you have a higher level and better items + more gold than your enemies, then you have won the laning phase - even if your enemy has more kills than you. Although kills certainly do help in winning the laning phase, they are not the decisive factor!

So which laning options are there, and what does a hero need to fulfil in order to handle them properly:

• The solo mid hero:
  There is always at least one solo hero and the choice for the midlane to be the sololane is pretty obvious. It is best protected against ganks due to the short range to the tower and this also makes it very hard to kill your enemy without tower-diving. It allows for runeing and ganking easily on both lanes, the level advantage of solo heroes makes this a lot easier.
  Solo-mid heroes must have a great lane dominance through their attack range, attack projectile speed, attack animation, base attack damage and some more or less spammable skills, so that they can lasthit very well and thus outfarm and outharass their opponent. Such heroes should also make good use of farming and their level advantage.
• Duallaning mid:
  Rarely done, but still a viable choice for two things. On the one hand, you can do that to counter the enemy's solo mid, but that is hard, most often you can only limit his farm with this. On the other hand, you can allow your carry free farm along with a support (currently done once in a while with Anti-Mage + Lich)
• The solo side-lane hero:
  A solo side lane hero allows for another hero having the advantage of gaining faster levels and more income, but at a much higher risk than a solo mid hero. The sidelanes are longer than the midlanes and have more space to keep enemies out of the EXP-range and to chase them to death. Furthermore, you can't even be sure whether you will be fighting a solo, dual or trilane, so you need to succeed against different types of lanes.
  Therefore, heroes capable of handling such a lane usually have a high mobility or other escape mechanisms to stay safe even if ganked and make use of the available space. Such heroes usually take a lot of effort to kill. They also shouldn't be too farm- and level-dependent, because that would be awful if they had to fight against a trilane where they're constantly outzoned. Last but not least, an ability that allows to farm over a very long range is very helpful and allows getting some EXP and farm no matter what enemies do.
• The trilane:
  A trilane gives up on gaining quick levels and completely focuses on winning this lane. It levels slower than other lanes and results in more heroes having a lower farm, but therefore, they have much higher chances of denying their enemies most of the farm and getting all the gold you can possibly farm on a lane. Trilanes usually consist of one carry that gets the farm and two support heroes with a high amount of disables and nukes that harass the enemies away from the farming carry and abuse every small mistake of their enemies to get their carry a kill.
  The advantage of running a trilane is that the carry, who doesn't need quick levels, but more importantly a lot of farm, can farm without having to fear too much, because there are two heroes to keep enemies away from him or save him if needed or even get a kill.
  With an advantage and the proper heroes, a trilane can also quickly push down towers, which is an effective way to get an early gold advantage.
  The major disadvantage is that this will result in three of your heroes having a lower level, making such a lane easily gankable by solo heroes as soon as they have some level advantage. Furthermore, the supports, who don't continue farming as the carry does, will stay at a comparatively low level and thus only have a very limited influence on the game from that on. Another disadvantage is that you don't really use the jungle (although this is eased by creep pulling and temporary jungling by the supports). In some cases however, the supports go ganking or jungling once in a while.
  Trilane Farmers usually need the support to farm safely, but often are also capable of stealing kills early on and have an escape mechanism.
  Trilane Supports need to harrass their enemies, so they are usually ranged heroes with disables and nukes that can easily kill an enemy with a single combo.
• The duallane:
  A duallane is is most powerful against another duallane. There are many sololane heroes that can handle a duallane. And trilanes are mostly an expanded and thus more powerful version of a duallane. The general setup of a duallane is either a babysitter + a carry or two nuke- and disable-heavy heroes that combo up well.
• The jungler:
  A jungler focuses on fighting neutrals in the jungle, only coming out once in a while to gank other lanes. The main problem in DotA here is that junglers can be easily countered by blocking camps with wards. Furthermore, jungling is always risky, because you will stay at lower health and/or mana than heroes that are laning, so that you're very prone to ganks.
  On the other side, having a jungler also means having some sort of a wild card. A jungler increases the amount of overall farm your team has and also spreads the experience, although junglers usually level slower than laning heroes. Moreover, a jungler is missing the most time on the minimap and walks around the map quite a bit, so that he is able to gank lanes very surprisingly, which can be a constant threat for enemies.
  Junglers usually have minions they can let tank for them. A large amount of lifesteal could also do the trick, but this is very rare at this early stage of the game.
• The roamer:
  A roamer doesn't belong to any lane, but roams from lane to lane trying to gank enemies non-stop to force them to play more defensively, get enemies killed and thus create an advantage for all of your lanes.
  The generic problem of roamers are that they will soon become outleveled and outfarmed by any other heroes, they don't lane and thus get not much experience or gold. The risk is high, because if ganks fail - e.g. due to good warding - they become very ineffective and thus result in a hero being way behind without gaining any advantage from that.
  To be a successful roamer, a hero needs a ranged disable and perhaps even some burst damage output, do fine even without any items, and have powerful skills at the first few levels.
• The dual jungling squad:
  A dual jungling squad is usually made up of one hero that could even jungle solo and one roamer that cannot jungle by himself. This tactic also allows for three sololanes, but the squad can easily support the sololanes in their vicinity. The junglers have to split up the gold and exp, but therefore also jungle faster and a lot more safely and are not as prone to ganks as a single jungler. They can even invade the opponent's jungle. Another huge advantage towards single junglers is that the frequent ganking these heroes have to do (they jungle faster and thus have time to spend in ganking) will be much more successful. Through this technique, heroes that would usually be underfarmed and underleveled, like trilane supports or roamers get more farm and levels than usual without sacrificing too much of their supporting and ganking potential (although they need to have a carry that can solo) which easens their mid-game a lot and makes them overall more effective.
  The main problem is that your lanes will be under more pressure, you have three sololanes, so this strategy doesn't work in any team setup.
• The dual roaming squad:
  A dual roaming squad allows for three sololanes and a more successful ganking, because with 3 heroes, ganks rarely fail. Often, however, these heroes are not true roamers, but trilane supports in disguise, who just roam around the map to gank if their farmer can do fine without them.
  This technique results in even more heroes staying at low levels than it would as trilane supports, so they really focus on gaining that early advantage through successful ganks.
  Both roamers in such a squad usually have disables and some burst damage to ensure an effective gank.

Conclusion: To be viable, your hero needs to fit in at least one of these laning options. The more he fits in, the better, because no matter how the meta-game changes, his laning will still remain viable. But if he has problems no matter where you put him against all of the heroes that are viable on these lanes, then this hero won't be viable.

Windrunner: She can be put in nearly any lane. She's capable of handling solo mid fairly well and makes some use of quick levels. She excels at handling solo hard lane through her Windrunner and Powershot. To a minor extent, she's also capable of being a support, the stun is not so powerful, but she doesn't depend on farm.

Nerubian Weaver: He can be put in a solo hard lane quite well. Although he needs farm, he can get that quite effectively and safely with Shukuchi. In a trilane, he also does quite well as a farmer, his skills can also be used to finish off enemies. He can also duallane as a farmer with a babysitter if needed (e.g. if he can't handle a sololane).

There are no perfect bad examples in DotA, but still some heroes have problems due to laning flaws.

Kunkka: What was at first one of the best melee laners, then has been nerfed hardly. He may have been viable as a solo mid hero, but right now, he isn't. To harrass his enemies he has to get up to the creeps and with his low armor, he can be easily harrassed back much more by the enemy through normal attacks alone, and skills only make this worse. He has no skill to harrass enemies either, his Torrent is unreliable and costs way too much MP to use it to farm or harrass.
He might be somehow viable in a duallane with two stunners and nukers, but even for this, there are more viable heroes that can decimate the enemy heroes more quickly and easily. Besides, such a duallane is not good in the current meta-game either.

4.3 Explanation on roles

So, what are roles? Generally, the DotA game centers around 4 actions, each hero will always do either one of those. These actions are farming, ganking, teamfighting and pushing (yes, there is Roshan, but we'll ignore that, it isn't of much importance for a hero's role). Roles describe what a hero is able to do within these actions. Not every hero is equally strong in every one of these actions, but if he's more powerful in one, then he should be weaker in another, so that it balances out.
For this, you have to specify between general roles and specific roles.

• General Roles are the roles that lay out the gameplan of a hero. In a very general way, they describe what a hero can do best in a game.
  Each hero has at least one such role.
• Specific Roles specify what a hero can do within one of the four actions. They are additions or specifications to a hero's general role.

• The carry:
  This type of heroes has relatively poor spell damage, but their attack damage scales extremely well with farm. Therefore, they are mostly concerned with farming for big items that help them keep attacking with a high damage. Without items, they're kind of crappy, but with each item they progress more than any other type of hero, because normal attacks scale better into the late-game than any skills. Therefore, they will farm whenever they can and as much as they can. Until they are farmed up, they only participate in ganks and teamfights or pushes to get kills or lasthits without risking death. As soon as they have sufficient farm, however, they become stronger than any other hero through providing a consistent high damage output and therefore become the decisive factor in ganks/teamfights/pushes.
  A carry hero needs to be able to survive the laning phase, where he is the weakest, without much problems if he has help of support players. After the laning phase, he should be able to farm by himself without problems and accumulate multiple big items as quick as possible. In the late-game, he should be the strongest role of all, being able to deal massive consistent normal-attack damage output.
  Examples: Spectre, Medusa, Sniper
• The support:
  This type of heroes doesn't farm big items, because they function well without them and are the strongest heroes at early levels without items. Therefore, they rather tend to get small items that help their team or just some stats to not fall too far behind. Instead of farming themselves, they help their allies with whatever they can. This can be making them have an easier time to farm by babysitting them or ganking their lanes so that their allies get an advantage in their lane over the enemy. At ganks, they might not be able to kill their enemies, but they often have powerful disables to support their alies, or if being ganked, they do everything they can to keep their allies alive. In teamfights, they help to keep their allies alive and support them in getting the enemies. In pushing, they can also support their own creeps.
  To be a support hero, a hero needs to be mostly farm- and preferrably as well relatively level-independent. Add in some skills that help your allies in multiple situations in offensive and defensive ways, and you have a nice support hero.
  Examples: Lich, Crystal Maiden, Chen
• The assassin:
  This type of heroes provides powerful single-target killing potential. They are capable of killing an enemy they gank on their own and want to get kills through it. Often, they are solo heroes, because with a level advantage, they can get kills more easier, because they mostly depend on their skills to finish off an enemy. They only need farm to get these quick levels and to compensate for some minor issues they can have. They mostly gank after level 6 and do this on their own - unless they have to kill off an important, more survivable target. In teamfights, they fulfil their role by killing of key targets out of nowhere within very short time. In pushes, they can overcome their enemies' defenses by killing off an enemy target and thus forcing the other enemies to retreat or get killed as well.
  An assassin needs the element of surprise. They need to get to the enemy before the enemy can do something about it. Then, he needs powerful disables and a strong burst damage in order to finish him off before the enemy can do anything about it.
  Examples: Lion, Tiny, Nerubian Assassin
• The AoEer:
  This type of heroes adds a strong AoE burst damage output and disables that allow your team - if comboed up correctly - to kill multiple enemies at once. These heroes are not the strongest farmers or gankers. They farm to increase their mid-game potential, preferrably in a solo lane where they can level up their important spells ASAP. In ganks, they are often inferior due to their weaker single-target damage output, although they can still help. However, in teamfights, they are able to decide who wins the battle. With a properly coordinated mix of AoE disables and AoE burst damage, they can catch multiple enemy heroes and make them unable to fight, thus resulting in a won teamfight. Usually, they are also quite good for pushes, because of their power to nuke down creepwaves quickly.
  To be a good AoEer, a hero needs a powerful AoE combo, with disables and burst damage that affects multiple enemies at once.
  Examples: Puck, Enigma, Invoker
• The tank:
  This type of heroes tries to redirect the enemy's damage output away from their allies and onto themselves. They are a mix of relatively tanky heroes that are hard to finish off quickly, but still they pose a long-term threat with powerful damage over time or other utility. These heroes generally need some farm to either overcome their lack of tankiness or their lack of threat to keep a good balance between those two. In ganks, they can easily chase and even towerdive enemies that are not finished off quickly. In teamfights, they try to be in the center of all enemies, posing a constant threat for them and thus being focused instead of their fragile allies. In pushes, they often go behind the tower and try to make it as uncomfortable as possible for any enemy that tries to prevent the push.
  A powerful tank is very beefy and poses a high enough threat to be focused or some other method to redirect damage onto himself.
  Examples: Axe, Necro'lyte, Venomancer
• The pusher:
  This type of heroes focuses on pushing down towers as fast as possible. This can be done through summons and fast creepwave-clearing, so that the tower can be focused without you or your allies being damaged. Farming by these heroes is mostly done to clear the creepwaves stopping them from getting to the enemy tower or when they need some item to function properly. If ganks and teamfights happen, these heroes try to help winning them, but more importantly, after a won teamfight, they try to immediately push down the closest tower. In pushes, they are the strongest type of heroes, because they pose a large threat to towers and can decimate them quickly.
  A good pusher needs some way to get the tower tanked (preferrably controlled units) and good ways to clear creepwaves as soon as possible.
  Examples: Chen, Broodmother, Furion

Here are some examples of specific roles:
semi-carry, snowballer, babysitter, ganker, anti-[insert general role], sacrificial lamb, global, initiator, disabler, chaser, turtler, ...

Each hero needs at least one general role. This general role is almost always specified through specific roles that explain which aspects of the general role can be fulfilled by this hero. In this case, the specific roles are directly connected to the general role. (Example: support(babysitter, ganker) or carry(anti-tank))
Not rarely, however, a hero has more than one general role. This can mean two things: One the one hand, this hero could be a hybrid, that fulfils two roles quite well at the same time in such a way that if he doesn't fulfil one of them, he will neither fulfil the other one. On the other hand, this could also mean that the hero has the choice between these two roles, but can not properly fulfil both of them at the same time. (Example 1: assassin-support or tank-AoEer, Example 2: support/assassin or tank/support)
Often, a hero also has a second general role that is directly connected to the primary one, similarly to how specific roles are attached to general roles. This means that the hero can only fulfil the second general role by fulfilling the first one. (Example: carry(tank) or support(AoEer))


4.4 Comparison to other heroes

Something that should be always done when judging the utility of a hero is to compare him to heroes with a similar role, because that makes it clear why and when the hero is pick-worthy compared to the other heroes of that role.

This brings us back to the core concept/niche, because as said in 3.3, it decides how unique a hero is going to be compared to other heroes.
As such, utility also needs to make sure that a hero is different from other heroes in terms of their concept (role, core concept), because else, that hero wouldn't be pick-worthy (two heroes would fill the same role, just one of them would be better, so the other one wouldn't be picked anymore.


4.5 Which problems can arise?

So, now that we've explained the factors, we still need to think about when exactly a lack of something becomes a hindrance for utility.

Generally said, a hero lacks of utility if he has problems in his gameplay that can't be solved or are too inefficient to solve.
Every hero has problems and needs, that's for sure. If he has too little of them, he easily becomes imbalanced. If he has too many of them, he becomes unpickable, because other heroes can do their job - perhaps even a similar one - more easily.
This way, a balance should be kept. If a hero fulfils one aspect of a role extremely well, then he should have a harder time fulfilling other parts of his role.

• Kunkka, the Admiral:
  His laning may have been strong when he was released, but it was nerfed pretty hard. He has to be near creeps to harrass or last-hit (which is basically the only thing he can do in a lane), and with his low armor he's easily harrassed back more consistently and thus outlaned fairly easily. This way, he's unviable for a solo lane. In a dual lane he might be viable, but there are way better follow-up stunner with a much higher burst potential than him, so that he's nothing more than an optional choice for such a laning pattern.
  His AoE teamfight is powerful, but very unreliable, it needs many fortunate circumstances to unleash its true power, which makes him less viable as both an initator and AoE damage dealer, although he still has some good utility here.
  So overall, Kunkka is a good hero, but needs a more powerful laning to be viable, otherwise, there are far more efficient heroes that are simpl picked over him.
• Tiny, the Stone Giant:
  You might ask yourself what can be balanced about a hero that can instantly kill you? Well, he's a superb example.
  His laning balances his utterly strong mid-game assassination. He is a fairly weak laner that needs a solo lane. Although he can survive and even farm with ranged stuns and nukes, he can also be countered fairly well. If it goes well and he gets good farm and even a kill, Tiny is a hero that can snowball rapidly, but that rarely happens. If it goes okayish and he can at least stay in the lane, Tiny can use a lot of his mid-game power, but he's not unstoppable, because he needs to get into melee range and without much farm he has no Blink Dagger. If he gets killed a few times in the early-game, this hero can be countered and his damage output will stay below average - he isn't able to kill efficiently anymore. That way, the superb damage output gets balanced with a relatively weak laning phase.
• Ulfsaar, the Ursa Warrior:
  The Ursa Warrior has many issues that prevent him from entering the competitive scene right now.
  First of all, it's his relatively weak laning options. He can't really be put in any lane. He needs levels and farm, but he can't solo mid or solo hard lane, he'd be destroyed in either of these lanes without anything ranged and a relatively weak last-hitting. In a dual/trilane he isn't a bit better, he has a hard time to keep attacking enemies, no stun and only a limited burst damage that early on. Besides, this limits his level gain. In the jungle, he is best put, but there, he can be easily ganked and killed, wards ruin his jungling and his ganking is pretty weak as well.
  Later on, he can be a fairly good assassin, but he needs Blink Dagger. Nevertheless, he's also counterable very well with any kinds of coordinated disable, crowd control or Ghost Scepter. Therefore, other assassins are far better, because they can dish out similar amounts of burst damage, but are far less item-dependent and can be put in lanes way more easily. Ursa just has a too huge drawback to be efficient.
• Nevermore, the Shadow Fiend:
  Shadow Fiend, like close to no other hero in DotA, is very dependent on quick farm and levels. Fortunately, he is quite a decent solo mid hero, so he is definitely capable of getting this. However, what he shines or falls with are enemy gank attempts.
  If there are close to no enemy gank attempts, a good Shadow Fiend will always be able to get a nice amount farm and levels, sufficient to make him the most powerful hero on the map during the mid-game.
  If there are many successful gank attempts, Shadow Fiend will fall behind and not recover from this. Without relatively safe farm and levels, he's just a sub-par hero.
  Therefore, Shadow Fiend is very counterable if you don't allow him to get farm. Depending on how easy ganking is in the meta-game, Shadow Fiend could be either an overpowered hero, or remain unpicked as an underpowered hero.
• Zeus, the Lord of Olympus:
  Zeus was once one of the most popular heroes in competitive play, but he has completely fallen out of favour.
  Two things prevent him from really shining:
  His laning. As a solo mid hero, there are a lot of heroes that can beat him nowadays, his attack range and animation is one of the worst in DotA and Arc Lightning is not a good skill to last-hit, because you push with it and use quite a lot of Mana.
  In teamfights, he needs to keep casting his skills. However, there are many heroes nowadays that can overcome your good positioning and Zeus doesn't have the survivability to get over this.
  There are many heroes with a similar damage output that don't have these problems, so that Zeus isn't a popular pick anymore.

4.6 Summary/Conclusion

So, what are this chapter's conclusion?

• Utility is about how well a hero's concept is worked out and functions on the hero as a whole.
• If a hero has too many issues with his gameplay that are not solvable or too inefficient to deal with, he won't be picked. Likewise, if it's the other way round, the hero will become imbalanced.
• The things that can stop a hero from being picked are weak laning options, being unable to fulfil his role and not fulfilling his role better than other heroes or in a unique way that would make him viable.

__________________________________________________

LAST WORDS

That's it, my guide, hope it was helpful to you. As my last words, I want to thank some guys that I'm really grateful about:

• Icefrog, Guinsoo, Eul for making this awesome game, Valve for continuing it to DOTA 2
• Hominghead, my best buddy, for introducing me to this awesome game and playing numerous games with me
• The][nquisitoR, for his help via Skype and especially his hints at the role section, really helped me
• Luminous, Nebu1a and IanJamesBarnett from dotacommentaries.com, you introduced me to the competitive scene and shaped many of my theories ^^
• Countless members of this forum that I can't mention all at once, the discussions with you at suggestions, CtH contests and other guides or discussions were really productive and helped me immensely to write this guide.

[Unan1mous]

First and foremost, good work! Its so bloody long that it took me a longgggg time to finish reading the thing.

Old and new players alike should benefit from reading this when creating a new hero. Judging from your criteria listed above, I think I lack in the utility department, my heroes tend to have an abstract placement when it comes to assigning them a role.

As expected from you, the majority of the points are touched upon. Skills, synergy, utility, etc...I honestly don't have much to add about that, you already went in depth about everything I'd like to mention. However, one slight addition which I think is needed to the abilities section is a sub-heading or at least a slight mention of the "fun-factor". The cunning required and satisfaction received when landing that arrow or torrent just makes the hero in general popular (As seen in the Mirana usage spike a while ago, as well as kunkka, pudge, SF...etc). Also, I think that (although not as important as the topics you have listed already) you can add perhaps a theme/cosmetic portion to a hero (you touched upon niches briefly, but nothing much beyond that).

GL on the rest of the guide! Support!

E: Cool. 1700.

[NoThlnG]

Overall a good guide though one thing bothers me.

The fluency/functionality. It's kinda out of place considering most other things talking about the "result" of the hero while this talks about the "process". It'd more appropriate if talks about "self-synergy" in case you want to talk about the result.

[Nevfigalo]

I would mention that hero's utility needs to fit current Meta-Game to result in being picked (overall: Meta-Game input). For example: Medusa.

We shouldn't remake existing under(not)picked heroes to fit current meta-game (imo) => We can made new hero with low/non utility in current meta-game. It is called alternative.

It is really important to keep alive such alternatives, otherwise meta-game would stop changing, which would be really bad for game and players. It happens right now. :/

What is more, laning is more dependent on current meta-game and other heroes than on hero itself (imo). It is nothing wrong to not being able to lane in current meta game.

In conclusion, utility =/= being picked, bad laning in current meta-game doesn't mean that hero lacks in utility.

Imo, Ice Frog has been forcing current meta-game (by nerfs/buffs/new items and heroes/hero remakes). It's his intentional or not fault.

[JJE92]

Originally Posted by Unan1mous

As expected from you, the majority of the points are touched upon. Skills, synergy, utility, etc...I honestly don't have much to add about that, you already went in depth about everything I'd like to mention. However, one slight addition which I think is needed to the abilities section is a sub-heading or at least a slight mention of the "fun-factor". The cunning required and satisfaction received when landing that arrow or torrent just makes the hero in general popular (As seen in the Mirana usage spike a while ago, as well as kunkka, pudge, SF...etc). Also, I think that (although not as important as the topics you have listed already) you can add perhaps a theme/cosmetic portion to a hero (you touched upon niches briefly, but nothing much beyond that).

E: Cool. 1700.

I think I've touched the fun-factor in the skill types chapter. The point is, I don't beleive all the skills need to be really awesome and exceptionally fun, they just need to be unique, that's more important. However, 1 skill definitely should be such a WOGM skill, because these are the fun skills that seperate the hero the most from other heroes, they are the skills that are most remembered when you think of the hero.

On the theme/cosmetic portion: I've completely neglected that for this guide, because I wanted to really touch the gameplay aspects. I can add a further chapter about this on popular demand, but that's not what I intended with the three points, they are meant to focus on the vital parts of a hero.

Oh, an congrats ^_^

Originally Posted by NoThlnG

The fluency/functionality. It's kinda out of place considering most other things talking about the "result" of the hero while this talks about the "process". It'd more appropriate if talks about "self-synergy" in case you want to talk about the result.

I guess this is because of the first two items on the list of this chapter. Although it may sound like this concerns the process of working out a skill, it really doesn't. The examples make clear what is meant, they show when the final result of the skill has a good workout (being when it's fluent and functional to use in the game) and when not.

Originally Posted by Nevfigalo

I would mention that hero's utility needs to fit current Meta-Game to result in being picked (overall: Meta-Game input). For example: Medusa.

We shouldn't remake existing under(not)picked heroes to fit current meta-game (imo) => We can made new hero with low/non utility in current meta-game. It is called alternative.

It is really important to keep alive such alternatives, otherwise meta-game would stop changing, which would be really bad for game and players. It happens right now. :/

What is more, laning is more dependent on current meta-game and other heroes than on hero itself (imo). It is nothing wrong to not being able to lane in current meta game.

In conclusion, utility =/= being picked, bad laning in current meta-game doesn't mean that hero lacks in utility.

Imo, Ice Frog has been forcing current meta-game (by nerfs/buffs/new items and heroes/hero remakes). It's his intentional or not fault.

I think I need to make the difference between "pickable" and "being picked" more clear.
Being picked depends completely on how popular the hero is in the current meta-game, that's not what I mean.
Pickable means whether the hero is viable in the game on the whole or not. This is not as much dependent on the meta-game. If you checked my laning option list, I've included all possible laning options in it (well, except for trilane mid or anything more than a trilane, because that would probably not be viable no matter how much the game changes). The question whether a hero is viable or not depends on many things. In the meta-game, we usually mean laning options and the main strategy used (farming, ganking, team-fighting or pushing). These things are interchangeable and will turn back over time. But the meta-game also include things like new heroes added, heroes remade, new items and other map changes. These things won't turn back, but can also interfere with a hero's pickability. Therefore, a hero that was once pickable in a certain laning/strategy meta-game won't automatically be pickable again, even if the laning/strategy meta-game is the same as before.
I also agree that we shouldn't remake heroes just to fit them into the current meta-game, but we should leave them a place to fit in. Visage is not picked anymore since the shift away from trilanes, but if the game shifts back to trilanes, Visage will again be viable. Therefore, Visage has a place in the game and is pickable.

And yes, utility isn't really about the hero, it's about the hero in the game.

I think IceFrog's intention is to balance meta-games out. In the perfect DotA, all laning options, all strategies would be equally viable, so that teams can use any of them to their advantage. But that's insanely hard, if not impossible, to fulfil.

[Nevfigalo]

Originally Posted by JJE92

Pickable means whether the hero is viable in the game on the whole or not. This is not as much dependent on the meta-game.
Yes. Pickable means that captain can open the tavern and click on the exact hero.
If you checked my laning option list, I've included all possible laning options in it (well, except for trilane mid or anything more than a trilane, because that would probably not be viable no matter how much the game changes).
I see that only some really... let's say original heroes, which not move or not attack or have 1 base strength or whatever else, have no laning options. Some heroes of course are weaker in laning phase, they even need baby-sitting, but they still can create lanes with other heroes. Conclusion: it is really hard to make a hero, who doesn't have any (at least weak) laning options.
The question whether a hero is viable or not depends on many things. In the meta-game, we usually mean laning options and the main strategy used (farming, ganking, team-fighting or pushing). These things are interchangeable and will turn back over time. But the meta-game also include things like new heroes added, heroes remade, new items and other map changes. These things won't turn back, but can also interfere with a hero's pickability. Therefore, a hero that was once pickable in a certain laning/strategy meta-game won't automatically be pickable again, even if the laning/strategy meta-game is the same as before.
Have you again messed pickable/viable with being picked?
You have now split meta-game into laning/strategy meta-game (which i will simplify to laning startegy). I know that two different meta-games can have similar laning strategy. I didn't say that being picked is dependent on laning strategy, did I? In theory, with advantegous meta-game exact hero can find place in new laning option.

I think IceFrog's intention is to balance meta-games out. In the perfect DotA, all laning options, all strategies would be equally viable, so that teams can use any of them to their advantage. But that's insanely hard, if not impossible, to fulfil.
The perfect meta-game is no meta-game. Who knows IceFrog's intentions, we can only observe what he is doing.

All in all, i have pointed that being picked is not dependent on hero's utility. If i find some time, i might check concept or skills in future.

[R.B.Economy]

Puck's further damage is dealt through Waning Rift after it uses Ethereal Jaunt of Illusory Orb.

[JJE92]

Originally Posted by Nevfigalo

All in all, i have pointed that being picked is not dependent on hero's utility. If i find some time, i might check concept or skills in future.

About the laning options:

Originally Posted by Guide

Generally said, a hero lacks of utility if he has problems in his gameplay that can't be solved or are too inefficient to solve.
Every hero has problems and needs, that's for sure. If he has too little of them, he easily becomes imbalanced. If he has too many of them, he becomes unpickable, because other heroes can do their job - perhaps even a similar one - more easily.

You can't have no laning options, that's impossible and not what I mean. Every hero CAN be put into every lane. But each hero has specific laning options on which he is viable/good.

Take my example (4.5) Ursa Warrior:
He can jungle decently, but that's it. And even at the jungle, he's fairly counterable, although he needs quite some levels and farm to be effective. Therefore, he isn't viable, no matter how the meta-game changes, unless certain new items/heroes are introduce that exactly complement his needs (which is highly unlikely).

And that's where I want to get at.

By the way, you can't have no meta-gam in DotA, because there always will be strategies, actions used in the game which transcend a prescribed ruleset.

Originally Posted by R.B.Economy

Puck's further damage is dealt through Waning Rift after it uses Ethereal Jaunt of Illusory Orb.

Thx, fixed ^^

[Averrios]

This is so ... what's greater than legendary?

GJ man, epic title

EDIT: Still not read through but gonna do

[doomed2die]

I like this. I like it a lot lol. Possibly, finally, an omnipotent go-to guide for hero making? (Well, it references a lot of other guides but meh)

[kitchen]

Pretty cool! There's a lot of good thoughts here. Honestly though, the people who need the most help with this stuff probably ain't gonna be arsed to read this through. It's a fun read for people who are into this stuff, though


How I'd do it is break good hero design into 3 parts:

Freshness, Healthiness, and Fun

Freshness is originality and creativity. What does it add to the game, in terms of both specific skill mechanics (targeting types, skill effects, strategic use) and overall game influence?

Healthiness is the quality that makes a hero good for the game. If a hero makes the game worse, that is bad. The perfect hero is pretty easy to understand and at the same time very difficult to master. It should reward good play. Players should be able to play against it, as well. With a healthy hero, player input is the most important determinant of success.

Fun is just fun. Hopefully with the previous two concepts fulfilled, fun is the product. There's not a whole lot to say here, but fun is what we're after in the end; fun within the context of a competitive and playable game is what we want.

These are the 3 things to be sought after, and as far as I'm concerned, if a hero has these qualities it's a good design no matter how it gets there. Skill synergy and things like it are means to an end, but I think where people get the most mixed up is when they mix that up and see them as the goal. Fun, healthy, creative hero with no obvious skill synergy > boring, unoriginal, unhealthy hero with oodles of skill synergy. That's a paradigm shift that one needs to make before producing good hero ideas, imo. That said, a hero with a central concept is a fantastic quality. Skills need not be so tightly bound to it, though.

This topic always gets me blabbering on, lol. Anyway good job here, I liked it

[TL-Flames]

This was the sort of guide that i was going to expand my own into but never got around to =P I've only skimmed through most of it at the moment and its looking good but i'll try come back and look through each section in detail.

BTW

"A leap is a dedicate effect"

Think you meant delicate here.

[chadpiety123]

Lovely guide. It's very informative and really well structured.

I surely like the summary. It's everything in a nutshell (obviously) in a good way. I mean I could read that and be done with everything.

I absolutely like that you touched on coherence and fluency. It is something that most people forget when suggesting. Sure you have an awesome wtf idea, but without coherence and fluency, the hero will still prove worthless, and that awesome idea will be put to waste.

The role part is quite helpful as well. You can't really make an hero, or even an ability without a role in mind.

I have a few qualms here and there, but they might just be a matter of opinion, and we can't be too nitpicky with such a great guide. It's also not boring to say the least.

Here are some points I'd love to add. I don't know if it necessarily fits into the guide but just some points.

1) Overdone skills - some skills tend to be overdone
------->Overdone due to the amount of effects - some abilities just have too many effects. This is subjective though there is no real standard to know whether an ability has too many effects but when it starts to get confusing, it's definitely bad. DON'T PACK 9823 POSSIBLE SKILLS INTO ONE.
------->Overdone due to amount of subskills - and yes, I had to say this. Recently, after browsing through the forums, I've noticed a lot of ideas using subskills, but the downside is, the subskills are barely related-- they don't stem from the same thing, use the same thing (aside from mana) nor do they manipulate the same thing. As a rule, I'd like to think that a subskill should support the main skill, or constitute it, meaning, the main skill and all subskill should somehow be strongly related. DON'T MAKE SUBSKILLS AN EXCUSE TO INCLUDE 12323 SKILLS IN YOUR HERO.

2) A question of coherence and fluency
I've also seen a lot of heroes recently that tries to do this whole mode thing, or this whole conditional thing, and most of the time, they just do not add up together. It's really hard to explain, but it's probably similar to "overdone due to amount of subskills" up there. I really hate it when people do obnoxious things just to include 1324 amount of skills to they skill pool. Seriously, make things atomic, and focused for each ability, so that it doesn't feel like a big heap of confusing junk.

3) A note on originality: SCAMPER, it's hard to come up with something really really unique right now, especially since we already have around 400+ skills in game, but my tip is to scamper in a trial and error manner.

S = Substitute
C = Combine
A = Adapt
M = Magnify
P = Put to Other Uses
E = Eliminate (or Minify)
R = Rearrange (or Reverse)

Try each one (or more than one if you will) and see how it feels. If the ability feels unique AND fluent AND coherent, it must be good.

4) Concepts and numbers go hand in hand SOMETIMES. For example, you could say that a blink no matter what it is still just a blink and it is difficult to make that unique, but imagine a 0 cooldown Blink (ROFL-Spirit anyone?) and now you have a new unique ability, just need to balance that out a little.

5) Lastly, sometimes, it's just in the description. Something feels wrong? Try rephrasing it first. IMO, A GOOD HERO NEEDS GOOD DESCRIPTIONS.

I hate to be a grammar nazi, or a non-English speaker hater or anything but PRESENTATION MATTERS (not exactly visually but that helps too).

========================================

Sorry for ranting and all!

Thanks for the quote. Great USEFUL guide.

[DirtyEpic]

Nice guide mate! It's very handy and one can see the effort you put in it. Also gratz on your 5.000+ Posts!

Cheers~

[Straight Flush]

Everytime I need ideas I can just come to any of your guides and everything just hits me. Awesome job JJ

[JJE92]

Originally Posted by Averrios

This is so ... what's greater than legendary?

GJ man, epic title

EDIT: Still not read through but gonna do

Godlike ^^
Which is why DotA owns LoL (in DotA you can become Beyond Godlike, in LoL only Legendary)

Originally Posted by doomed2die

I like this. I like it a lot lol. Possibly, finally, an omnipotent go-to guide for hero making? (Well, it references a lot of other guides but meh)

Thx, that was my intention ^^

Originally Posted by kitchen

Pretty cool! There's a lot of good thoughts here. Honestly though, the people who need the most help with this stuff probably ain't gonna be arsed to read this through. It's a fun read for people who are into this stuff, though


How I'd do it is break good hero design into 3 parts:

Freshness, Healthiness, and Fun

Freshness is originality and creativity. What does it add to the game, in terms of both specific skill mechanics (targeting types, skill effects, strategic use) and overall game influence?

Healthiness is the quality that makes a hero good for the game. If a hero makes the game worse, that is bad. The perfect hero is pretty easy to understand and at the same time very difficult to master. It should reward good play. Players should be able to play against it, as well. With a healthy hero, player input is the most important determinant of success.

Fun is just fun. Hopefully with the previous two concepts fulfilled, fun is the product. There's not a whole lot to say here, but fun is what we're after in the end; fun within the context of a competitive and playable game is what we want.

These are the 3 things to be sought after, and as far as I'm concerned, if a hero has these qualities it's a good design no matter how it gets there. Skill synergy and things like it are means to an end, but I think where people get the most mixed up is when they mix that up and see them as the goal. Fun, healthy, creative hero with no obvious skill synergy > boring, unoriginal, unhealthy hero with oodles of skill synergy. That's a paradigm shift that one needs to make before producing good hero ideas, imo. That said, a hero with a central concept is a fantastic quality. Skills need not be so tightly bound to it, though.

This topic always gets me blabbering on, lol. Anyway good job here, I liked it

Well, since this is more of a theoretic guide of what heroes are and which aspects make them good, it's bound to be not the best for newcomers. This is actually more designed for people who already have some experience with making heroes and want to get a theoretic structure on the vital parts of a hero. I wouldn't have been able to make much use of this guide myself when I started reviewing, but about 2 years ago, I would've liked to read such a guide ^^
Anyway, for newcomers, I would rather propose NoThlnG's or TL-Flames' guide ^^

While I agree with your three points Freshness, Healthiness and Fun - I definitely can't think of a good hero without these aspects - these aspects don't describe what I intend to explain. With these terms, you can pinpoint aspects that every hero that is well designed has. What I want to make clear, though, is rather how a hero is structured - the basement (skills), the building (interaction of skills resulting in a concept) and the superstructure (interaction of the hero in the game).
I've added your points into my explanation of these structures, although in other words. Freshness is the uniqueness found in the skills and the concept. Healthiness is the workout found in the skills and the utility. Fun is only scarcely mentionned, but Imo results automatically from a good freshness/uniqueness and healthiness/workout.

Originally Posted by TL-Flames

This was the sort of guide that i was going to expand my own into but never got around to =P I've only skimmed through most of it at the moment and its looking good but i'll try come back and look through each section in detail.

BTW

"A leap is a dedicate effect"

Think you meant delicate here.

Fixed, don't know if typo or just fail (d and l seem far apart)

Originally Posted by chadpiety123

Lovely guide. It's very informative and really well structured.

I surely like the summary. It's everything in a nutshell (obviously) in a good way. I mean I could read that and be done with everything.

I absolutely like that you touched on coherence and fluency. It is something that most people forget when suggesting. Sure you have an awesome wtf idea, but without coherence and fluency, the hero will still prove worthless, and that awesome idea will be put to waste.

The role part is quite helpful as well. You can't really make an hero, or even an ability without a role in mind.

I have a few qualms here and there, but they might just be a matter of opinion, and we can't be too nitpicky with such a great guide. It's also not boring to say the least.

Here are some points I'd love to add. I don't know if it necessarily fits into the guide but just some points.

1) Overdone skills - some skills tend to be overdone
------->Overdone due to the amount of effects - some abilities just have too many effects. This is subjective though there is no real standard to know whether an ability has too many effects but when it starts to get confusing, it's definitely bad. DON'T PACK 9823 POSSIBLE SKILLS INTO ONE.
------->Overdone due to amount of subskills - and yes, I had to say this. Recently, after browsing through the forums, I've noticed a lot of ideas using subskills, but the downside is, the subskills are barely related-- they don't stem from the same thing, use the same thing (aside from mana) nor do they manipulate the same thing. As a rule, I'd like to think that a subskill should support the main skill, or constitute it, meaning, the main skill and all subskill should somehow be strongly related. DON'T MAKE SUBSKILLS AN EXCUSE TO INCLUDE 12323 SKILLS IN YOUR HERO.

2) A question of coherence and fluency
I've also seen a lot of heroes recently that tries to do this whole mode thing, or this whole conditional thing, and most of the time, they just do not add up together. It's really hard to explain, but it's probably similar to "overdone due to amount of subskills" up there. I really hate it when people do obnoxious things just to include 1324 amount of skills to they skill pool. Seriously, make things atomic, and focused for each ability, so that it doesn't feel like a big heap of confusing junk.

3) A note on originality: SCAMPER, it's hard to come up with something really really unique right now, especially since we already have around 400+ skills in game, but my tip is to scamper in a trial and error manner.

S = Substitute
C = Combine
A = Adapt
M = Magnify
P = Put to Other Uses
E = Eliminate (or Minify)
R = Rearrange (or Reverse)

Try each one (or more than one if you will) and see how it feels. If the ability feels unique AND fluent AND coherent, it must be good.

4) Concepts and numbers go hand in hand SOMETIMES. For example, you could say that a blink no matter what it is still just a blink and it is difficult to make that unique, but imagine a 0 cooldown Blink (ROFL-Spirit anyone?) and now you have a new unique ability, just need to balance that out a little.

5) Lastly, sometimes, it's just in the description. Something feels wrong? Try rephrasing it first. IMO, A GOOD HERO NEEDS GOOD DESCRIPTIONS.

I hate to be a grammar nazi, or a non-English speaker hater or anything but PRESENTATION MATTERS (not exactly visually but that helps too).

========================================

Sorry for ranting and all!

Thanks for the quote. Great USEFUL guide.

1/2) I think this concerns both the concept and the workout of a skill.
If a skill has so many effects and is that complicated, it runs into danger of having no clear and coherent concept. But even if it has a clear concept, the workout might be overly complex and impractical.

3) That's great, but Imo you should rather post this in doomed2die's Guide on Originality, because this explains pretty well how you can make an original skill. In this guide, I don't really want to do this, it's more a theoretical approach on when a skill is unique.
And as it is made clear in the example, it's not necessarily a unique effect that makes a skill unique. It's the way the skill is used, and for this, there are still so many unique options left, despite the massive amount of in-game skills in DotA.

Edit: I posted it there

4) True, that's basically what I explained. The usage of the skill decides whether the skill is unique or not. If a number changes the usage of a skill (e.g. if you change the Blink Range from 1200 to 400 and the CD from 6 to 2), then the usage will already be pretty different.

5) Yeah, but the description is a formality, it doesn't change the hero at all. It only changes the representation of the hero. Since this is an analysis on what a hero needs - not specifically a hero suggestion - I don't really want to add such things to the guide. Furthermore, I haven't treated visual things at all, because I intend to talk about the purely gameplay aspects of a hero.

Originally Posted by DirtyEpic

Nice guide mate! It's very handy and one can see the effort you put in it. Also gratz on your 5.000+ Posts!

Cheers~

Thanks, and Cheers

Originally Posted by Straight Flush

Everytime I need ideas I can just come to any of your guides and everything just hits me. Awesome job JJ

Glad to hear that

[chadpiety123]

Haha, I guess I got carried away. Well, honestly, those probably are my rants on recent suggestions that I have seen. ) sorry 'bout that

[R.B.Economy]

Chad stated great points regarding overdone skills. It seems to me that almost every hero in the the Hero Ideas section comes with sub-abilities, and some even have 2 or more sub-abilities! I understand that the suggestions have very little chance of getting into the actual game and most people suggest for fun, but when you consider that if the majority of the ideas suggested are actually as close to the actual game as possible, IceFrog might actually pay attention due to the overall improved quality of the suggestions? At least he will not go "WTF SO MANY EFFECTS? HOW AM I GOING TO CODE THIS??" whenever he sees a suggestion.

Just look at some of the latest heroes:
Grand Magus
Sub-skill in Telekinesis, but just a simple effect. One might argue that Spell Steal gives Grand Magus a 2nd sub-skill, but the ultimate does nothing except getting a working spell to replace it. No special effects whatsoever.

Phoenix
Fire Spirits and Sun Ray each has a sub-ability, one is to target, one is to move. Target and move are both simple effects, yes?

Tuskarr
No sub-abilities.

Wisp
Expand and shrink Spirits AoE (no additional effects, just moving the effects from the main skill Spirit). Also has a sub-ability to break Tether (spell canceling, no additional effect).

Gyrocopter
No sub-abilities.

Disruptor
No sub-abilities.

Shadow Demon
No sub-abilities.

Murloc
No sub-abilities.

Ancient Apparition
Just a sub-ability to target where Ice Blast hits. (targeting, no additional effect)

So from these new heroes, we can see that most have NO sub-abilities (to keep it simple), and even if there is a sub-ability, it has NO additional effect other than targeting/moving/canceling. Meaning sub-ability has no extra slow, or extra stun, whatever. What I don't understand is that if people can spend the time and effort of thinking ZOMG extra effects into their suggestions, how hard can it be to NOT overdo a skill? It's simply doing less, but making it fitting to the actual game. That, I believe, is how the suggestions can be improved overall.

The second thing I'd like to highlight on is Originality. I'd say that everyone defines originality differently, but one thing we can be sure of, is that even the new heroes are not 100% original if one wants to nit-pick. I can argue that Thunder Strike is just a nuke divided into 3 pulses or that Glimpse is just a reversed X-Marks the Spot. How about Relocate being an improved Teleport or Demonic Purge is simply old Purge with damage?? Therefore we can conclude that originality is not about nit-picking how an ability is a tweaked version of an existing ability, because you can't escape from things that are already in the game! It's about rearranging the mechanics from existing abilities and making a new ability from there. Unless if someone suggests an ability called Shadow Bolt which is exactly the same as Storm Bolt with a different icon, description and projectile, then we can say it's not original at all. So it's important not to focus on where the ability steals concept from, but how has it changed from the existing ability, and how does it fit into the game and the hero?

[TL-Flames]

Following this trail of discussion, I also agree that overdone heroes are the most common mistakes that we see on the hero forums. This is not necessarily their fault, it comes from reviewers as well who shoot down skills that they deem unoriginal since they're not looking at the skill as part of a whole. Instead, they're throwing a blanket over the rest of the skill-set and comparing a single skill to an existing skill. With such a diverse hero pool, avoiding similarities is almost impossible (especially considering engine limitations).

This leads to newer hero creators "overloading" their heroes, essentially covering all bases and leaving no weaknesses. I don't think I've seen a good transformation/spellbook concept on these forums because of this tendency to overload. We're also starting to hit the other end of the spectrum where people come up with cool concepts that are just impractical to use in game (funnily enough, tends to happen to transformation/spellbook heroes most often as well).

[AKBu3nY]

Originally Posted by R.B.Economy

Shadow Demon
No sub-abilities.

He has a sub ability for his Shadow Poison (Release).

Gonna read this if I have enough time for it. It is quiet long, but the replies are all very positive.