Cheewilly's Global Strategy

Mobility is a huge asset in Dota 2. It allows a team to catch enemy heroes out of position, quickly take advantage of a pushed lane or retreat for defense. It forces an enemy to constantly be on their toes, to stick together, afraid to leave the safety of their towers. They are pressured into playing defensively, merely reacting to the situation and leaving control of the game in your hands. This is the aim of the global strategy.

It is not an easy strategy to pull off. Unlike other strategies that can rely on superiority in the team fights or wait for a carry to farm up and dominate the end game. Constant aggression is required, using the mobility of the team to take advantage of any opportunities for ganks or tower kills that present themselves as early as possible. I'm sure team combinations like this have probably been thought of before, so if you feel you in fact deserve all credit for this idea, or you tried it and didn't win, please let me know in the all caps in the comment section below.

The Core

 

The global teleport abilities of these two heroes are the heart of this strategy. This can make the strategy hard to use as both Wisp and Nature's Prophet are top tier heroes and there's a substantial chance of one of these two heroes will get banned in the first ban phase, or picked before you have the chance to and without both of them the team's mobility is greatly reduced. Assuming that this doesn't happen and you do manage to pick them both, Wisp plays a hard support in the top lane with a carry in either a dual or trilane depending on the other heroes picked.

He takes the #5 position in this team, but should get a reasonable amount of gold with kill assists because when he hits level six it's gankin' time! Nature's Prophet's is a flexible hero and can fulfil a variety of roles in this team. Primarily his aim is to teleport in behind enemy heroes, either turning the tide of a fight or preventing an escape. To do this he needs early levels and so lane wise needs to be run either in the mid lane, suicide lane or jungle to get solo experience and gold. His pushing power is incredible, and combined with his teleport he can keep pressure on the enemy team or jump in for an opportunistic tower kill while the enemy team is elsewhere.

Don't fall into the trap of farming for thirty minutes with Nature's Prophet in the jungle and try to carry. Aggression is the word of the day with this team, and if you get into a farming contest things will not go well. Nature's Prophet is played in either a #3 or #4 role and will usually be in the jungle, but will probably need to pick up a Mekansm as well as do some warding to help the team.

The Mid

With a quick Boots of Travel (BoT), Tinker is able to be another global presence as well as another pushing powerhouse. Early game he is able to control the mid lane with his high damage spells and farm until he is able to use BoT and Rearm to be constantly moving, pushing and farming. He is less useful in ganking because the BoT need an allied creep to teleport into so unless one is helpfully standing nearby he still has to do a bit of walking (although he can teleport in on dominated creeps) but is still an excellent addition to the lineup. He is played as a #2 since before he has those boots he won't be able to keep up with the rest of the team and even afterward is very dependent on items.

The Carry

Adding some much needed DPS and complimenting the global ganking theme is Spectre. Playing #1 role in top lane with Wisp, Spectre needs to get as much early farm as possible so as soon as she(?) hits level six she can start using the ultimate to gank. Dispersion and Desolate make her deadly when catching enemy heroes alone (which is what the strategy is all about) and Haunt can be used as either a scout to suss out whether any enemies are out of position or to join a gank already in progress. A few early kills will allow Spectre to snowball very quickly and dominate the middle game. Like the other heroes on the team this is her strongest time in the game so it is important to keep pressing the advantage once you have it and end the game quickly before it becomes a carry contest.

The Suicide Lane

The suicide or long lane hero is the most flexible in this lineup in terms of picks. As long as they can hold their own it does not particularly matter which hero is picked, although one that has pushing potential is preferred. This hero doesn't need any mobility as Wisp can take them along for the ride and so can be altered according to personal preference and play style.

Lone Druid in particular is a good choice for this lane as he is an excellent solo laner and can take out a tower if he's left alone for a moment. His tankability and the bear's entangle are also useful during an engagement. Phantom Lance is also good as although solo lanes aren't his strong suit he is a great pusher and is able to push much further than Lone Druid due to his escape mechanism, Dopplewalk.

The Plan

This strategy is all about controlled aggression. Keeping a constant pressure on the enemy team, but only engaging on your terms. This team will be at a disadvantage in a 5v5 team fight, so if the enemy attempts to draw you into one just move to another lane and push that out. They won't be able to split up because the second they do your team is ready to telepot in and pounce on them, so they stick together but this allows you to move from one lane to another. As soon as they get there to defend, you've moved on to push a different lane.

They will either be forced into defensive play allowing you to choose the time to strike, or be forced into an aggressive move. If they attempt to counter push, you can either engage at a tower where your team will have an advantage, or counter their aggression with more aggression. This line up can destroy towers very fast so don't be afraid of getting into a pushing contest. Vision is essential to spot opportunities for ganking lone heroes so Nature's Prophet needs to be aggressively warding the enemy's side of the map.

As mentioned Spectre's Haunt can also be used for this but a few wards is far better than a wasted ultimate so keep up the vision. Early game Nature's Prophet needs to keep an eye out for opportunities to teleport in lane for a gank, then once Spectre and Wisp hit level six they should start hunting for kills when possible. If all goes well you should have a big enough advantage by the start of the mid game to start pushing hard, moving on to another lane when they try to defend and wearing them down. It is a difficult strategy to use because it requires knowing when to push an advantage and when to back off, as well as carefully co-ordinated team play aswell.

What could go wrong?

There are a few weaknesses with this strategy. First off, it relies on picking Wisp and Nature's Prophet. Without them it is difficult to maintain the global presence that keeps this strategy effective. Second, if drawn into a team fight the other team is likely to have the advantage. All these heroes have fairly low HP so it won't take much AOE damage to take them all out.

It is essential to only start team fights on your own terms, and if possible gank a hero or two first so instead of 5v5 it's 4v5 or even 3v5 to give you more of an advantage. Finishing the game early is also important as if the enemy team has a hard carry such as Faceless Void or Antimage, once they have enough farm they will be able to tear through this team like a horny strongman through a bra factory. Controlling the early and mid game and using the advantages won there to finish as soon as possible is the key to success. Finally, what if you come up against a team that's pushing hard.

They're pushing, you're pushing, it's like a Black Friday sale. They might even destroy towers faster than you, so you can't rely on destroying their base before they get yours. In this case, apart from the usual picking off a hero whenever possible is wait until they push right up to your tower. Fortify, and then teleport in behind to catch them off guard. You should be able to take down a squishy hero to two skulking around at the back before they get organised giving you the advantage in the ensuing fight.

Example Game: Match ID  - 69164197

In this match I vary the line up a little to suit the players. I pick Shadow Shaman rather than Tinker and Lifestealer rather than Spectre. They run a trilane top with Wisp. Furion solo's the mid lane, and then a batrider takes the suicide lane. We are able to gain a significant lead in the early game with a large lead in kills thanks to the global mobility as well as a few towers. However around the twenty minute mark we are drawn into a few team fights and begin to lose our advantage.

Rather than using our superior mobility to keep the lanes pushed, we are dragged into team fights that we are unable to win. By the late game the enemy team has a clear advantage and is able to take out the win. Although we lost, the early game at least shows the immense power of this strategy. If we'd had a little more co-ordination or aggresion things could definitely have gone differently.

So why don't you give it a try yourself? I'd love to hear how it went, so if you do let me know the match ID in the comments so I can see for myself. Well, thanks for reading guys. Make sure to tune in next week where I'll solve the mystery of Mystery Manor, and maybe talk about some Dota too. Until then, happy gaming!