Feels like matchmaking has been very strange these last couple of weeks. I'm in archon 3 and I've run into a lot of players that just don't feel like they should be in Archon. I'm talking people dying multiple times to Blood seeker ult, people tping to a tower they died not that long ago, alone.

I was stuck at crusader for a while, bouncing between crusader 4 and crusader 1, and now im at Archon 3. Previously, it felt like I would run into the opposite problem: people that were either smurfs, or players coming back to play the game again who should be at a higher rank.

Has anybody else been experiencing this?

The Esports world cup was done. I'm looking forward to The international. I want 1w (due to 33 and Whitemon), Yandex (due to Saksa), Liquid or Spirit to win.

How about you?

I don't play mid too often, but this is definitely something to think about as a frequent pos1 to call out for my midlaner.

Hey, been trying to get back into Dota 2 lately.

Are there peak hours in which I have to queue for All Pick (EUW)? I've queued several times and it always went beyond 4-5 minutes, after which I stopped and queued Turbo instead.

Also, the Turbo games are usually quite unbalanced. It's mostly just stomps, because there's one or two very good players on a team and not the other one (I'm not one of the good ones). It really sucks the fun out of the game when you know the next 20-30 minutes will be sitting around, waiting for the enemy team to finish.

Emphasis on using AM's silence

As the title says, I'm still learning. I play on EU servers, unranked, I have played for about 25 hours, I mostly play mid lane.

but they are painful when you are the reason your team is losing, and you know it.

In Insania, Quinn and Cap's newest podcast episode, per Insania, the tourneys right after The international till April or May don't matter as much. Many teams use those tourneys to improve, including practicing and making some tactics. Of course winning has been 👍 but the hotter competition will start around May. The strong teams now may or may not be the strong ones in The international 2026. 1 factor is if in the future there's a new patch and there are big changes. No need to view Insania's clip. Just wanna share this tidbit here.

Seems most top players max death pact first nowadays. Clinkz is one of my heroes and I'm trying to understand this build.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40471017

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Me: Mom, can we have *image of Largo from DOTA 2*?

Mom: We have Largo at home.

Largo at home: *image of Sona from League of Legends*?

Ceb's great analysis of Falcons' Sand king actions

The Sk-Hoodwink action has been so strong Valve may nerf Sk, Hoodwink or both. Clean execution by Malrine and Crit. Great synergy.

Many thanks, Khezu. I wonder if other teams will copy that tactic or alter it a bit to suit their style.

Quinn retired.

I read some 👎 comments re him a long time ago. Then I viewed Cap's podcast. Many thanks to Cap for having Quinn and Insania at times. I realized Quinn seemed to be a 👍 person, not a jerk. He had reasonable takes. He hated roster shuffle rumors. Per him the news should come from the organization, not a tattler. I've agreed. Per him it was 1 of the few times the organization could gain fame. He cared much re Dota 2. His retirement vid also shows he's cared much re Dota 2. He was talky so he was a natural in podcasts and at-site interviews. Someone said Quinn and Insania were easy to interview so Dota 2 interviewers <3 them. I've been a fan.

He'll need a Cap-level, Sunsfan-level or ODpixel-level partner if he's an analytical caster. I'm stoked. Or he'll analyze drafts.

The International 2025

Streams

Twitch: EN | RU | ES |

YouTube

Coverage

Liquipedia | GosuGamers | JoinDota

Schedule

• LOWER BRACKET FINAL: PARIVISION vs Xtreme Gaming [CEST Countdown]
• GRAND FINAL: Falcons vs Lower Bracket Winner [CEST Countdown]

The International 2025

Streams

Twitch: EN | RU | ES |

YouTube

Coverage

Liquipedia | GosuGamers | JoinDota

Schedule

• Xtreme Gaming vs Nigma Galaxy [CEST Countdown]
• BetBoom vs Heroic [CEST Countdown]
• PARIVISION vs Falcons [CEST Countdown]
• Lower Bracket A winner vs Lower Bracket B winner [CEST Countdown]

The International 2025

Streams

Twitch: EN | RU | ES | YouTube

Coverage

Liquipedia | GosuGamers | JoinDota

Schedule

• Tundra vs Heroic [CEST Countdown]
• Tidebound vs Nigma[CEST Countdown]
• Xtreme Gaming vs PARIVISION [CEST Countdown]
• Falcons vs BetBoom [CEST Countdown]