Originally Posted by Zalmoxis

What hero do you guys generally prefer for ranked and what rating are you?

I'm currently struggling to break the 3900-4000 rating, and I usually end up playing Mirana as a solo offlaner. Mirana can do no wrong, no matter the setup, and I am pretty decent with her. Used to find her boring at the start, but now I love her.

Originally Posted by bazoozo

I didnt get my solo rank yet. but im sure its like 4k and above. we will see

your solo rank is generally lower than your party rank

Originally Posted by BenDover

for ranked im usually sitting with Darkseer offlane or support veno.
generally weaver if i have to carry something
been sitting on 3880 party ranking for a while, hoping to break the 4000 mark in the next month or two.
struggling atm cus my regular team mates who i play with have been dropping from the 3800 they started on, to 3400-3600, so my friends are letting me down :< but one of the guys i play with is sitting on 4500+ so i guess that makes up for it.

usually run the #4/5 role support, so i pick up the disruptor and warlock every now and then.

i just think veno is a great hero all round, can run him anywhere and with almost any role really.
ive run him offlane and mid with the max wards build, the early blink + aghs is evil.
although i usually get those eventually when im a regular support anyway.
get so many assists and the updates to dotabuff are showing that the hero damage over the game from veno is >>
http://dotabuff.com/matches/477295805
http://dotabuff.com/matches/472112983

Originally Posted by bazoozo

Ehh.. My team generally makes me play offlane,roam or or supp.... . I usually go mirana, pudge or windranger. I am currently 3600 thats pretty bad XD, I didnt get my solo rank yet. but im sure its like 4k and above. we will see

Originally Posted by Zalmoxis

Veno is fun but generally lacks sometimes due to the lack of disables.

Originally Posted by Zalmoxis

Ds, don't see many of those. If you think about it, he's pretty great in team fights and overall, but as far as supports go, wd, disruptor or lock are more OP.

Originally Posted by Zalmoxis

I've tried weaver too but he's more of a risk hero. If you are shot down on the offlane early on you have no chance of recovery. Plus your hp is so low you can get 2 shot very easily by nukes.

Originally Posted by Zalmoxis

ranked needs OP heroes if you want to get high rating.

Originally Posted by Zalmoxis

Also noticed that Slark is OP as fuck in ranked.

I've tried weaver too but he's more of a risk hero. If you are shot down on the offlane early on you have no chance of recovery. Plus your hp is so low you can get 2 shot very easily by nukes.

Originally Posted by BenDover

yeah, but thats why there are 4 other heroes on your team.

Originally Posted by BenDover

darkseer isnt a conventional support, hes an versatile offlaner, allows you to have a jungler or 2 other supports.
or even allows you to move to the jungle if lanes arent working out well.
i use him to get an early mek, shut down the melee safe lane carries, buff up the team fights and generally make the other supports lives easier, seeing as getting farm on darkseer is easy as, so you can afford to sponsor a ward or two, upgrade courier, take up the mek/pipe roles etc.

he synergises really well with melee carries/mid heroes, with ion shell +surge and vaccing people into aoe stuns etc.

Originally Posted by BenDover

the cool down on shikuchi (however you spell it) is like 5 seconds, so you can generally avoid most nukes, hes all about positioning. attack twice + double attack, go invis and deal some damage with that, attack again with cover from the bushes etc.
all he needs is 1 damage item and his damage output is ridiculous.

Originally Posted by BenDover

you place too much emphasis on your definition of OP, with 3800+ ranking, your team mates, even in solo queue, SHOULD be picking reasonably balanced teams.
ranked is just about decision making, not OP heroes. at our level, we cant really exploit the OP factor of certain heroes, well enough for it to be THAT much of a factor.
Windrunner shackleshot just has a fairly high skill requirement to play well, the shackleshot can either make fights or break them. can be run as a conventional support, or offlaner or even mid. powershot allows her to always get farm, and the windrun is a really reliable escape mechanism and the evasion bonus in a team fight cannot be underestimated.

Originally Posted by BenDover

i dont think slark is OP at all, unless your skill level is high enough to dodge stuns with dark pact.
the stat drain thing is the only really cool thing about him, sure, if the games going well, the stat drain thing is ridiculous, but his HP gain and high risk movements make him... unreliable.
I would much prefer an early game undying or a support abbadon to drain stats and dodge stuns.

Originally Posted by bazoozo

Getting shot down early on the game would rarely happen if you would maintain lane equilibruim