20-20: Alliance.Akke Answers May 7th, 2014 15:36 GMT Text by CountChocula

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20 Questions



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Akke and pro-Dota go way, way back to 2006, when he first played the game competitively after being introduced to it by Loda. His partnership with Loda would prove to be very successful, and



Famous for his obsessive practice regimen and high-level use of micro-intensive heroes like Chen, Akke's support play is the stuff of legend. Today, you get to ask him whatever you like! Choose your questions wisely.



To get you started, here's our TI3 interview with him!







TLDR: Akke likes cats. TLDR: Akke likes cats.



20 Answers



What is it that makes Alliance so successful as a team? [MonsterJukeBox]



We just have a very good synergy together, both in game and outside of the game. When we started playing together we had 3 relative new players that had the hunger to win and from me and Loda we had the experience from playing in a lot of teams having experience both winning big tournaments and also going to events getting demolished. The combination of this makes us push each other to be the very best. Right now we just try to help each other as much as possible with giving tips on what to improve and such. I also think it's important that you trust each other that they know what’s best at the same time you are open for suggestions.



Do you ever feel like EGM is too greedy and should be sharing a little more farm with you? [hifriend]



I've thought about this and the answer is no. With that said, I don't think there is one correct way to play rather you just have to play what suits your team. EGM likes to get items and to be able to do stuff. He likes to have that Force Staff and Orchid on Wind Ranger, or the Dagger on Rubick and it just suits his play style very well. I've seen him do wonders which makes it's very easy for me to let him have that space to get those items. For me, I like being the more calculated player that runs around with a 600 hp KotL and know that if someone catches me I'm 100% dead, or hiding behind some trees with a Crystal Maiden on 10% hp still getting a 6 seconds ulti off - that's how I like to play. I also think it's fun to go around and ward the map and there is no bigger satisfaction for me than to see Loda kill creeps and get strong...



What is the difference between you and EGM role in the support role? Alliance has been a team with an insane amount of team fight coordination. How do you guys achieve that? [goody153]



One of the things that I think of is that he can basically play every hero or at least he sends a message that he can which makes us feel comfortable to just let him play everything. Me on the other hand prefer to play heroes like Chen, Enchantress, KotL, Lina etc. I guess it's basically just casters because it suits my play style to stay a bit behind and find an option where I can go in instead of being the one that takes the initiative. I'm pretty much the one that takes control of the wards and I write up the timers of Roshan and sometimes also glyphs and buybacks.



That's hard to answer, I guess it's just that we all feel very comfortable on that we play and know when to do what. We try to give each other info while we fight, like if someone dies and has the chance to get a bigger look of the team fight maybe he can help the others. If we want to focus someone we call that out during the fight, or even before the fight s4 can say which target he will aim with Batrider and Bulldog say who he will send his Spirit Bear on. It's important to know what everyone are going to do and to help each other.



Which other support players do you consider to be the most intriguing, and have you studied their play style to improve on your own? [cronichazel]



Not in particular, no. I've watched players to get tips or other thoughts on specific heroes, like Goblak when he played Treant with Quantic last year. Other then that I just look for general playstyles when I watch tournaments like how they put a certain hero on a lane to farm up an item, how they move etc. It's a way to get ideas myself how to play and also to understand how other teams play which makes it easier for me to know who I should gank and when.



What is your opinion on the new Spring Cleaning patch, and how do you think it will effect the meta and your team’s play style? [Marco1723]



I don't think it will change that much, just maybe makes some heroes a bit more viable and some heroes not so viable any more. It wasn't any game breaking changes like last patch (with the placement of the creeps) so I think most will remain as normal. With that said I just love patches with small changes like this that makes you get eager to play some heroes again, like more movement speed on Skywrath (one of my favorite heroes) or the Aghanim's on KotL.



Hi Akke! Since you are the number 1 KotL player, do you think Aghanim’s is viable on the hero with the recent change in mind and is it even likely that a number 5 support like yourself will be able to get one? Since KotLs usually go for Mekansm, will you need another Mekansm carrier in the team so you can basically do a "Ancient Apparition style" Aghanim’s build for this to work? [lyxarn]



Hello! It's very likely, yes. KotL is such a hero that you easily can end up getting farm with if the opponents are pushing a lot and you have to anti-push. It's as you say that someone else should probably get the Mekansm, otherwise I still think it's better to get that item before you go for an Aghanim's but it depends I guess. The Aghanim's is very strong but you have to think about that it only works during the day so it's mostly just viable if you have the team that wants to force the fights. Otherwise the opponents will just time their push during the night and the Aghanim's is basically useless.



What are your favorite Jungle Creep to grab as Chen? If you could improve Chen how would you improve that hero? [HammerKick/Mawi]



To improve Chen I would probably make the Penitence better to make it more viable to max that one early instead of Test of Faith. My favorite creep is probably the Centaur. That combined with having a Force Staff is just so much fun and just invites big playsTo improve Chen I would probably make the Penitence better to make it more viable to max that one early instead of Test of Faith.



Could you give us a quick rundown of your item/hero/summons hotkey configuration and any other hotkey/keyboard configurations that may stick out from the rest (e.g.: use of f keys for something)? [ymir233]



Hero binding is F1. My items are ALT + (Q, W, E, A, S, D). The items are basically from playing HoN where that was default, but I think it's better to bind it to buttons where you don't have to press two at the same time like X, space, and Z. Right now I feel that I'm too used to my bindings that I think it would just make it worse to swap so I'm keeping them. Other then that all my bindings are very basic - the attack is A and stop is S. For my creeps while playing Chen and Enchantress it's 1 for the hero and all creeps and then 2, 3 and 4 with one binding for each creep. Then I use 5 for courier and 6 is the "all other creeps" binding.



Explain your skill distribution on Enchantress (since it is always changing) and what are the most important decisions you need to make with the hero on early game (item-wise and rotation-wise)? [SoundAwake]



The first decision skill-wise is at level 3. The first two should always be Enchant and then Nature's Attendants. At level 3, if you see yourself being VERY aggressive like you are in the enemy's jungle and just being super active I put one more point in Enchant at level 3. The second choice is when you should skill Untouchable or if you should go stats. You just have to look at your opponents team and see if they have a lot of nukes or if it's mostly rightclick-heroes. If they have rightclick-heroes maxing Untouchable is very good (and also makes it easy for you to kill Roshan while you tank it) but if they have a lot of nukes I max out Nature's Attendants and stats. I usually stop with two points in Enchant since you want to use the skill points for other skills and you don't get that much for maxing it.



About the rotation you have to look at the game and see what you can do. I basically never do the same thing twice - every game is a new game. Sometimes if they ward our jungle and I can't find the wards I try to enter our opponent’s jungle. An example of this was a game vs. C9 when I could only take a creep of our hard camp to the left (we were Dire) so I took that and then entered Radiant jungle and took a creep from their hard camp close to their base. After that me and Bulldog (who were playing the Centaur) did a 2-man gank mid on SingSing’s TA. This would never have happened if I could farm safely in our jungle and get creeps there, but I had to work with what I had. You should always look for options and at what you can do, talk with your team and ask your mid player if he think you can kill him and stuff like that. I always talk to s4 and make him prepared when I go there and sometimes he tells me the wave is off so we can't kill. This is also what I was talking about earlier - we help each other and by s4 telling me that we can't go he basically makes me not go and fail a gank which maybe I would have done if I didn't consult him earlier. I trust if he says we can't kill him and I trust him if he says we can.



Which hero do you think is currently underrated? [Mawi]



I'm actually a big fan of Undying, but the problem is that the two times I've had the chance to play him in an official game I failed very hard on level one which made it not worth it. So I guess I just have to work on that to get my team to believe in me and Undying once more to prove it to them that he is very good! :D



Which support hero would you most like to see rise (or rise back) into the competitive scene? You've got to have some pet favorites that just barely aren't strong enough to play competitively. Also, as a follow-up, Why Ogre Magi? [Acritter]







It's like what I was saying before, I love sitting behind and supporting others. Going around and giving bloodlust and see them kill everyone is as fun as being the one getting the kills. Also getting a random multicast once in a while is very fun as well :D To see someone melt in a couple of seconds... I love Ogre Magi! I wouldn't say no if we started to pick him again some time soonIt's like what I was saying before, I love sitting behind and supporting others. Going around and giving bloodlust and see them kill everyone is as fun as being the one getting the kills. Also getting a random multicast once in a while is very fun as well :D To see someone melt in a couple of seconds...



Which unreleased hero from Dota 1 are you looking forward to the most in Dota 2? [plasmidghost]



I would love Pit Lord to be ported, his ultimate is so fun



If you could draft anything without having to take the opponent team into consideration, what would your dream line-up look like? [MightyLinebeck]



Loda on PA

Me on Chen

EGM on Wind Ranger

s4 on Batrider

Bulldog on Lone Druid



You are 26 years old, you have a very serious job, a girlfriend and you are competing against 18-22 full time pros and you are winning them. What do you think your biggest problem will be in the future, your real life commitments or your physical skill and your reflexes? Do you think Dota is an age friendly e-sport? Do you think we’ll see 30+ year old top players in the future? [phantomlancer23]



I don't think reflexes are a problem at all. This is something that comes from when basically all competitions was in either shooting games or StarCraft where you have to have insane micro. Dota is a game where you have to have good micro but it's mostly focused on teamwork and experience.



It is as you say, I don't play as much as the rest do and I am probably one of pros with the lowest played games in pubs. I have only one account and I have xxx wins, but most of our games comes from tournaments or scrims which doesn't count so of course I play a lot more. But with that said, I often watch games and think of how I should play stuff so when I try it I am more prepared than if I would just try something out. Also basically all the time that I play, I play to consciously practice. For example I played basically all my pubs with Axe some months ago before we picked it so I didn't have to try it out in scrims so much. I guess I'm just very effective with my time that I play Dota which makes it work.



How do you keep yourself in shape? If you go to the gym, what does your weekly workout routine look like? [Spicy_Curry]



I'm very bad with keeping my routines with the gym so I stopped going there when I'm home. Instead I try to go to the gym when we are on events (they usually have a gym at the hotel) and other then that I try to eat healthy, go out running and workout some at home. It's easier to find time to do it home than to go to the gym when we have the kind of packed schedule we have.



What's your daily grooming routine? What products do you use? [Mephiztopheles1]



First of all I shower pretty much every day, or otherwise it's basically impossible to fix the hair. If you see me wearing a cap it probably because I didn't shower yet that day and couldn't fix the hair... :D



It changes from time to time what I feel like using but right now my morning can be like this:



1. Shower, make the hair towel-dry.

2. Put in d:fi salt water spray.

3. Dry the hair with a hairdryer.

4. Put in a clay wax, right now I use Kevin Murphy.

5. If my skin is dry I also use some moisturizer.



If you could pick another game to be amazing at, which game would it be and why? [Belano]



Super Smash Bros. Melee. I've been playing that game for more then 10 years and it's still one of the most fun games I know. There is basically no limit on how good you can get - every year I just see people getting better and better and I don't know any other game where players get so notably better after such a long time as in that game. You also feel you have so much control of your character, I can probably say it's the best game ever made.



If you had 30 days left to live, how would you spend it ? (Assume cost is not an issue.) [Omigawa]



I would spend time with my family and friends, maybe go on a vacation and see stuff with my girlfriend. If there was a fun gaming event like E3 I would go there. Just do stuff that I normally like but at the same time spend more time with the people I love.



If you had to characterize your old buddy Loda with one jungle creep, which would he be, and why? If you had to choose a ward spot on the Dota map on which you would have to sit and watch Dota being played for eternity, and you were unable to move, which spot would you choose? [vanTuni]







The spot close to Roshan where most of the fights happen! Haha, well there aren't really any creep that are charming in any way but maybe the Furbolg...? :DThe spot close to Roshan where most of the fights happen!



Who is your main rival for most handsome player in Dota? [DucK-]



Hard to say with so many good looking people out there but Fly, Pajkatt and Mag to name a few.





Bonus Questions

Do you have any advice for unattractive pros? [Hot_Bid]



If I would reveal that I wouldn't be so special anymore, would I? Don't try to trick me here...



What do I have to ask the barber for in order to get your haircut? [VBxGatsby]



You just tell the barber to do it like Akke and he should know right? Otherwise just show him/her a picture, easy!







Past 20-20s January 9 Cloud9.pieliedie January 21 pgg February 27 Team Zephyr March 14 Orange.WinteR April 2 EG.Arteezy April 14 Kaci Aitchison April 25 Titan.Net





Writer: CountChocula

Gfx: riptide

Editor: riptide

Images via: Starladder : CountChocula: riptide: riptide You already know Joakim "Akke" Akterhall very well. One of Western Dota's most storied players, Akke is a member of our current world champion team and is famous for being one half of the outfit's support duo, often called one of the most effective #4/#5 pairings in the world.Akke and pro-Dota go way, way back to 2006, when he first played the game competitively after being introduced to it by Loda. His partnership with Loda would prove to be very successful, and they would go on to play together on many famous teams over the next decade , culminating in Alliance's TI3 win last August. However, a true gamer at heart, Akke's interests also extend far beyond Dota. In fact, he has won the Nintendo Swedish Championships three times!Famous for his obsessive practice regimen and high-level use of micro-intensive heroes like Chen, Akke's support play is the stuff of legend. Today, you get to ask him whatever you like! Choose your questions wisely.To get you started, here's our TI3 interview with him! 我会让他们连馒头都吃不到 Those championships owed me over the years, I will take them back one by one.