The Lost Art of 1v1 (New versions)

During the Champion of the Arena Tournament I came to notice that a lot of people are lacking skill in 1v1 games. So here are some tips to improve your game. And I'm sorry if this seems repetitious to Yiffs post about 3.1b.

I) Take advantage of ALL the spawns. I don't know how often I'll see 1-2 spawns - usually the very top and very bottom - spawns are left alone all game. This is ridiculous. When creeping you want the path of least resistance. If creeps are lower then your hero, you receive bonus exp for killing that to sort of subsidize. Realistically for the best farming efficiency you ALWAYS want to be fighting creeps 2-3 levels lower then yourself. They die faster, give as much or just a little less exp then creeps your level, you don't take near as much damage etc.

II) People gear towards end game. A majority of 1v1 games will not make it passed mid-game if played properly. While it is important to always have a back-up plan if the game does last, don't use pure late game builds. You won't have a team mate to fall back on to get you there. 8 kills isn't much when you start adding in a few ganks. Even straight duels.

III) Playing Farmer Joe. Screw with your opponent. Many focus purely on ganking, although ganking is nice even if you cant pull off a gank there is many more ways of slowing an opponent/screwing with them. Watch thgem, especially when creeping in the mid, They cast their farm spell, run up, hit the weakened spawn with yours, steal all the creeps then run off. This done a few times will give you a massive advantage. Not only have you taken a spawn away from your enemy but you gained a ton of easy kills. Of course this combined with a gank is pure beauty.

IV) Pay attention to what your opponents build is. Don't wait till the first duel to scope what he has, unless your playing in dark mode there is no excuse to take peaks to see what your going to be up against while farming.

V) Well rounded builds. This is absolutely crucial. Unlike team games where you can rely on your team mate to fill in your builds holes it's just you in there. Example) playing melee with no slow. Think of every possible way you can get bent over like Elton John on Pride Day, and then fix that.

VI) Only gank or spawn steal when you know it will benefit you. DO NOT take stupid risks, anything lower then a 60-75% chance of success will put you behind. Do Not chase your opponent to their base, again, only chase when you know you will get the kill one way or another. Sure you made him run from his spawn to base. But now your the ENTIRE map away from your base, 2/3rd of one away from your spawns and you are now facing a fully healed opponent ready to kick your ass.

VII) Know how items counter spells. Every advantage is worthwhile in 1v1, Don't allow your opponent to over power you or counter you.

VIII) Move speed is critical. Because your going to be bouncing between 5 spawns on your side, 3 possible spawns on your opponents side and possibly chasing them down for ganks you need some move speed. Always have boots and/or endurance and if possible use higher move speed heros. The slow strong tanks are great in team, they can really put you behind in 1v1 though.

IX) Some skills that are considered team skills are also money for 1v1. Holy Armour is a great example of this. Just because you think its team orientated doesn't mean it can't be an asset in a 1v1 match.

X) Watch your opponent and the minimap. This covers protecting yourself from ganks, ganking others, spawn thieving and prohibiting opponent from bonuses and bosses. Allowing an opponent to get even just 2 ganks on you ends your game 25% faster. Thats 25% more time you could have had to catch up. 1 gank can be the difference between victory and loss.

Furthermore, not allowing your opponent to get essences, yiff or flag can be seriously detrimental to their game. Not only does this put them drastically behind in the game but it puts them off their game. Nothing is your friend like panic in a 1v1. If people panic they generally make mistakes, if you force your opponent to make mistakes you win.

XI) Glorn's going to massively disagree with me on this point, but in 1v1 bombs can be your friend. This doesn;'t go without saying that bombs can be very detrimental to your game if you make a mistake with them. But with 5+ open spawns and bombs ability to nearly one shot spawns within the first few levels can give you a huge advantage. When using bombs you don't want to use anything mana heavy. Meaning, bombs and barrage are generally a bad idea. Why? You spent half your start money on bombs and after they are done you wont have enough mana to support your build nor any other stats. If you use bombs ensure your build can carry through what I like to call the rut. You may get a massive head start but by 2nd round most can catch up and pass your head start if you are not careful..

X) Don't use gank builds in a serious. They are easy to counter and if you don't get 8 lucky ganks or they don't rage quit you are usually finished for mid game. Ganking with farm skills at the correct time is as effective as a gank build. If you don't believe me play vs Jar. He gets more kills off just frost fall then most people can with Banish Nova WC.

XI) Know your builds power curve. If you know your build loses momentum towards late game, end the game before then. This goes back to the theme of not having a partner to cover you. If you lose momentum you lose the game, you opponent can always make a big come back. Also, make sure your builds power curve will be adequate in mid and early game. Domination in early and mid is crucial. Even if they have a late game build that gains strength when you fall, the amount that your ahead can serve as a buffer while you finish the game. The early game duels are really important to win, the bonus gold and exp can be the difference of winning and losing in a game where your equally matched. Not only do they give you a huge playing advantage, every duel is 12.5% of the game, (1/8 kills), the more you get early on the less chance they can catch up. Always try to win the game during the climax of your power curve.

I'll add some more points when I have some more time.

check their items
learn what counters what skills aren't the only thing that can be countered

watch their creeping pattern killing the spawn one or 2 ahead of what he wants can through a pro off their timing (though it has less effect on those who creep inefficiently)

learn how to time items/spawns with duels /clock sometimes little edge here little edge there can be worth a slightly less effective game a few minutes later if there aren't going to be any fights then

learn how to do little things (shift clicking while running to a spawn so your cd are up a fraction of a sec faster) that add up remember its doesnt matter how large a win is as long as you win (just think about how many times you thought 'i could have won that fight with one or two more hits')

long term vs short term

can i end it now?
can he?
should i be creeping a bit more passively or a tad more aggressive?
are my cd up? are his (learning to "feel" out cd timings is a skill that comes from a lot of practice with/against each skill while trying to check the timing)

creating windows (could be the same as your last point but more about the small changes then the arch of the 3 big stages of early, middle, late game)
sometimes you can play less effectively in the long run for a short term advantage you can turn into a larger lead in the long run

example: evasion the skill gives 4xlvl in eva combat master gives 4+2xlvl for the eva and 4+2xlvl for the crit so at lvl 1 it gives a higher eva then eva itself though most consider eva a better skill if you both lvl it once at 4 and then dont touch it again until your other skills are maxed assumeing all other things are eaqual yours is better for a larger part of the game you can gain an edge early/mid game that wont be a complete massacre if he gets to endgame (it will be bad but not as bad as it could be)

the idea is i give up other times because i need it to be strong at THIS point where i dominate or am weak to a certain style

these # are from the 12 lvl system i havent checked the 15 system yet so sorry if this example doesnt apply anymore its more for to show the general idea

example 2 (this might also fall under item countering)
your opponent is rushing to a scepter of primarch before he has the agility to support it and has a slightly slower hero then you. grab a ice orb a boots of speed and some decent agi/dmg items follow him hit him every now and then but make sure to last hit every creep in every spawn (dont try to kill him and run if he tries to fight) while it wont shut him down and with a decent creeping skill he can push you back/get some creeps he will not get as much as you can take from him so you can create a small window where you out farm him

(another way to go about it would be to just get the creeping stuff and just ignore him but this puts on more pressure and forces him to tank for you, though is a little more dangerous)


MEMORIZE EVER SKILL AND ITEM IN THE GAME i know its hard i know it takes time i know i sometimes forget somethings name every now and then but i can tell you i have read every description of ever item/skill at least twice (probably more then that but still) playing without knowing what these things do/where they are/ how they work is very hard

when i hear "what does terraptus do?"(after i say my build) or "why am i missing so much?"(while beffudle is on them) i am constantly surprised its like playing chess and not knowing how the pieces move "how does the horse guy move again?" "why can your pawn take mine its not right in front of it" probably aren't going to be said very often by ppl claiming to be good at the game

Thanks for filling in my blanks Yiff!

np a lot of these thing from this guide (and mine) are vague enough that they could pertain to any edit (general ideas anyway)

i would like to point out another thing i think i stressed in mine the biggest difference imo between a 1v1 and a larger game is the creeping patterns its so much easier to set up a nice creeping pattern when 2 or 3 of the closer spawns are'nt "called" by teammates and the creep lvls shouldn't vary as wildly there are times when it does but its not as wild/ unpredictable as in team games

btw do you know anything pertaining to the latest edits you can share specific to the edit (example a while back i noticed in one of the old edits that the right and left spawns had a slightly different doodad setup so one had a smaller choke making it easier to kite creeps /w ranged and to hit creeps with stuff like shockwave/befuddle so a few builds where stronger based on what side you where on there where massive changes to terrain but i haven't noticed anything like that in the current layout)

oh and another example once i remember the items where set up slightly differently so certain builds had longer/ shorter run distance for certain times in the game (i found that really annoying because my favorite build had all its earlygame items next to the door on one side and at a far corner on the other)

Well, I know in the new edit bombs are probably going to be a bad idea to start with now. They will still be workable, but because of their increased price their advantage is going to be reduced.

The Flag in mid-late game 1v1 is something that is quite often overlooked. This isn't a new edit type of thing, but it is certainly a lost art. You take out a creep spawn then hit yiff/treasure then go for gank/opponent spawn (if possible) snatch flag, run back and hit an archon. You can hit treasure again but this leaves you open to a massive gank possibility if your opponent is paying attention. The flag has a massive MS slow, speed set is mandatory to make this efficient. But in late-ish game you can get something crazy like 40k+ gold for a double Treasure room, flag and archon.

Another thing I noticed the other day that some may not know about is like in the old maps you can clear to spawns with meteor. If you kite the creeps from one center to follow you, then hit meteor quick enough on the other side you can hit the runners on the way back to their spawn with the meteors coming behind you then the creeps infront, I even got both spawns and a gank in a pub. But that was more luck then anything.

But even though the map went over massive cosmetic changes its still relatively the same game. As you stressed knowing all the spells I would like to stress experimenting with shit you've never used before. I haven't seen anyone use monsoon forever yet it is one of the most powerful farm spells in the game. And you hit the nail on the head on creeping patterns. A proper pattern is crucial to leveling quickly. Its all in the hips.

One thing I will say about new edits though is that skills/heros that were previously under powered or under used get nice buffs from Glorn every so often. Ones that are over used get nerfed. Be aware of the editing stick.

I've just pounded back 10 hours of Biology, so when my brain starts to work again I'll see if I can think of some specific Revolutions tips. Although I am a little leery opening my mouth about specifics when entire 1v1 is about to change drastically with the introduction of the new map.

Nice work guys!
https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img227/6613/all3b.png
The whole list of items, abilities and heros(excluding special ones).

that is only a picture... no descriptions....

If you could it would be super awesome if they simply click a picture from the list and it gave a decription of the item. Be something cool for the new site when it gets done.

it would be too much work... i could do it but i need a program for it i think... if ysome1 finds it for me I'll do it =p

To do something like that would be a chaotic mess. The code for the page would be like ... ridiculously long... Pretty much something like

<div style="text-align:center; width:1200px; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;">
<img id="Image-Maps_4201010061339106" src="http://www.image-maps.com/uploaded_files/4201010061339106_wrenchhead.jpg" usemap="#Image-Maps_4201010061339106" border="0" width="1200" height="1520" alt="" />
<map id="_Image-Maps_4201010061339106" name="Image-Maps_4201010061339106">
<area shape="rect" coords="269,10,319,60" href="http://www.image-maps.com/" alt="1" title="1" />
<area shape="rect" coords="1198,1518,1200,1520" href="http://www.image-maps.com/index.php?aff=mapped_users_4201010061339106" alt="Image Map" title="Image Map" />
</map>
<!-- Image map text links - Start - If you do not wish to have text links under your image map, you can move or delete this DIV -->
<div style="text-align:center; font-size:12px; font-family:verdana; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; width:1200px;">
<a style="text-decoration:none; color:black; font-size:12px; font-family:verdana;" href="http://www.image-maps.com/" title="1">1</a>
| <a style="text-decoration:none; color:black; font-size:12px; font-family:verdana;" href="LinkX" title="Image Map">Image Map</a>
</div>
<!-- Image map text links - End - -->

</div>

Multiply that by every single square on the image.

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Thank you though Tuus for compiling that, I will be able to use it... Just copy, cut and paste images out of there to put beside item descriptions

http://cchraedm.ca/cha/

I just coded the bare bones of the menu the other night. I still have some bugs and streamlining to do. Some options arn't centered and the items menu is to long to fit on the page. I'm just going to conjoin the #1 and #2 shops to one page and segregate them on the page between "Shop 1" and "Shop 2"

Don't be to judgemental as of yet, as I said it is just the bare programming for just the menu with a basic colour template to make it look not sketchy. But at least you can see the direction I'm going.

lemme know if you need any help wit dat

*edit
By the way the images were slightly bigger b4... looked much better but imageshack wouldnt let me uplad it T_T i can send it to you somehow if you need it

brentcolmandesign@gmail.com

Send anything site related to that bro.