G-1 Champions League LAN Finals Preview May 23rd, 2013 13:53 GMT Text by Firebolt145 Graphics by HawaiianPig Table of Contents



The Teams



Chuan Open Mic



Counting Clockwerk



Gallery



Live Tweets





Check out G-1 on

or on their



Official English website



Focus Mode

Turn off Focus Mode [x] Check out G-1 on Liquipedia or on their



Shrouded by the mists of The International qualifiers, a great ship has pierced through the fog and now stands before us in all her majesty. That ship is, of course, the G-1 League LAN Finals. Hosted in Shanghai, China, these finals promise to be the fix of top-tier Asian Dota that we have all been craving for. Yet there is more - two foreign groups of adventurers have also set foot on Chinese soil, bravely bearing the flags of the West. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is a precursor, a preview of the clashes between the Eastern and Western tidal waves that are to come in August.



So what have we got for you to whet your appetite? Firstly, we have a



Let the games begin.







The Teams By TanGeng



iG

Invictus Gaming, the dynastic force, still stands heads and shoulders above its Chinese peers and the rest of the world. Virtually untouched since December of last year, iG approaches the G-1 League LAN Finals with a nearly unblemished run through the qualifying groups. As the defending TI2 Champions, iG will look to test its signature active and aggressive style against international guests from abroad as well as their familiar foes from home, LGD and DK, as a preview of what is to come in August.





DK

Following a weak showing in the G-League groups and once again opening with defeats against Zenith and iG, DK recovered enough to sneak into the LAN Finals with the last ticket. A strong series of showings against Chains Stack, LGD.int, and Zenith suggests a reawakening squad, but passion and motivation for the game must be sustained for continued success. While the dominant strategy no longer favours the four-protect-one of DK's heyday, BurNIng and company are not to be be trifled with.





LGD

Lackluster against iG during G-League, LGD seemed to be playing too deliberative and slow to keep up with iG and the rest of the competition. Now after a few roster changes and the acquisition of LongDD for strategic consultation, LGD appears to have regained a step towards competing teams. Once again, LGD will be looking to measure itself against their rival iG to see just how far they have come. The novelty of international competition will be an added bonus.





Orange

Representing quintessential SEA Dota, Orange is the one team out of SEA that made it to Shanghai from the Asian qualifiers. Orange has recently been giving some uneven performances, losing out to RisingStars in AMDPL but then defeating Tongfu in the RGN tournament. While they can hold their own against the best of China online, it remains to be seen if they can match them in a LAN environment.





Alliance

For Chinese audiences, Alliance is essentially Loda+4 and old Dota fans will be waiting for the team with great anticipation. As the overall best team from the west and the one with the best command of the late game, Alliance will be looking to go deep against the best of Asia. On top of that, the match up between iG and Alliance will the first chance for Western Dota theory to test itself against Chinese and SEA orthodoxy. Time to see just how far Western Dota has come since the last International.





Liquid

Among Western teams, Liquid is arguably the strongest team in the early game while still possessing fairly solid continuation into the late game especially because of TC's solid and safe play. However, Liquid's early game is certainly more volatile than their fellow Westerners, Alliance. Against top Chinese competition, their volatility may surprise and shock some opponents but may also be the stumbling block for reliably making deep runs in LANs. Regardless of outcome, Shanghai will help Liquid with LAN experience, taking them out of the big fish in a little pond scenario, and help them practice late game situations.











Chuan Open Mic By CountChocula



A few days ago, while streaming Dota 2, ChuaN began discussing playstyles, players, and other important people in the competitive scene. His remarks were quite humorous, so fans noted down his comments.



Regarding CH: His style of ganking the enemy carry is very similar to mine - it's very fierce. Nowadays, he's very casual and just enjoying life.



Regarding Crystal: I can only say he seems like a confused person! He's pretty funny. He gets hot and cold in tournaments - sometimes he's very good, sometimes...well, you understand.



Regarding Longdd: Back then Longdd played every position. I think his support play is very strong but he likes to play Morphling.



Regarding ChuaN himself: I think my temper isn't too good, because sometimes I will get drawn in and overcommit, so my support play isn't the most professional. I'm Malaysian Chinese, not a native Malay. I knew how to speak Chinese the moment I was born. I studied Chinese even in kindergarten. My mom just called me on the phone and we spoke using the Min Nan dialect.



Regarding the TI3 solo competition: They made that competition for me. The games don't need to be played; just skip over to the prize ceremony and hand it over to me! You know what I'm talking about!



Regarding DC: A long-haired demon who won a championship on my home soil. At the time I was still playing basketball. One day I was out buying basketball shoes and passed by Times Square (in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). I saw a long-haired guy playing Dota and he was very noob. In our QQ group (popular IM software), over 30 people prefixed their display name with the phrase "they actually let the long-haired demon take the championship".



Regarding xiaoyou (GTV reporter): She's my older sister.



Regarding 9-God (2009): Back then, he was in my opinion the hardest person to face in solo mid. 9-God is really smart. At any moment he might challenge you to a battle of wits.



Regarding Wang Sicong (owner of iG): You ask me to rate him, but you might as well ask me to commit seppuku. Owner Wang has over 8000 MMR on Dota 2 ladder, over 9000 wins in LoL. In 1v1, I can only say that I have 50-50 chance against him. I cannot say any higher than that!



Regarding Mushi: He is fighting to bring glory to his country. Number one Malaysian player. Not a traitor like me.



Regarding Hyhy: Number one Singaporean solo mid. Really handsome guy. He's the Singaporean Edison Chen (Hong Kong film actor, musician, producer, entrepreneur, and fashion designer infamous for his sex photo scandal).



Regarding the legendary Sacred Relic game: Why don't you look at who I had for teammates? That Tidehunter - the only hero he ravaged in teamfights was 9-God's BKB'd Shadow Fiend. That Vengeful Spirit (VS) - at one point, my Mask of Madness-activated, God's Strength-buffed Sven stood with red HP and already had a triple kill. ZSMJ's Phantom Lancer (PL) had half HP standing beside me. I've seen the replay. If the VS there had just fired off a Magic Missile and helped me stun the PL, I would've had an ultra kill. But the VS turned and ran. At the time, I wanted to smash his face into the monitor. ZSMJ's PL ended my kill streak and instantly got 2000 more gold out of the teamfight. He farmed some more and had his second Sacred Relic. The comeback was all my teammates throwing.



Regarding ZSMJ: He's a good person who's very loyal. He's also funny, so he's a good friend. When I had to travel, he accompanied me to the airport, made sure I had my ticket and sent me off on the plane.



Regarding 830: I accept him as a brother, but not as a teammate. He's pretty good, because he led team XFY to a championship. It's just that we have irreconcilable differences in terms of playstyle.



Regarding ganking vs. unstoppable farm: Some teams win through unstoppable farm, but I prefer ganking, because you can go kill heroes and stop the carry's tempo. Of course if you have both, it would be better. In lane you get unstoppable farm, and once you go fight you are good at winning them. Then you go back to lane for unstoppable farm. If you can do that, then you are my idol.



Regarding B-God (BurNIng): I don't think I have anything to say about mighty B-God. The number one carry in the universe. Very stable, almost never gets picked off, knows how to be aggressive when he has to be aggressive.



Regarding Zhou-God: Zhou-God is only missing one thing and his play would be perfect - he sees the tempo of the game and controls it very well, but he's not good at getting unstoppable farm. Alas, no one is perfect.



Regarding Faith: Number one support in the world. He's really smart and sees the tempo of the game. He plays very aggressively which is my favorite way to play. He'll trade you one-for-one, but it'll be his position 5 for your position 1. He wins the trade every time.



Regarding Ferrari_430: Back when we were on ToT, he was my junior and didn't say much. Once he was playing Witch Doctor (WD), got a Blink Dagger and Blink+Ulti'd. Back then I was position 2 and he was position 4. Now he's position 2 and I'm position 4. This must be karma for him getting Blink on WD.



Regarding YYF: YYF has been the teammate I've had for the longest time since coming to China. One day I got up early to go play basketball. I took quick look on QQ for messages and saw YYF asking me to come to China to go pro. I mulled over the idea for two days and decided to go. When YYF plays Storm Spirit, before he reaches level 6, he'll keep the creepwave permanently closer to his tower than his opponent's. He will last hit creeps without spells. If you attack him once, he'll eat a tango. If you attack him a second time, he'll take a sip from his bottle. Once he reaches 6, you know he'll be coming. He'll say, "Hello, I'm the Stone Buddha" and he'll start flying around.



Regarding JDB Herbal Tea: So I am thirsty, and looking for a drink. This here is YYF's JDB. Since he's gone home to visit his family, it's all mine now. Crap, he's got his spies watching out for him on YY (TL note: Chinese twitch.tv)! I guess I'll have to buy him some JDB now. Last time Ferrari_430 bought ten cans of herbal tea, he only drank two before the rest vanished. I just laughed. You could've bought anything but decided to buy JDB, so you can't really blame us can you? JDB should sponsor us, because if they did I would not feed my future children milk - either cow milk or breast milk - but just JDB.



Regarding Western teams: I can only say that if we don't completely make fools out of them, then their strategies are decades ahead of ours. There will be no middle ground. Which one is it? We will have to wait until G-1 to find out.



Source:







Counting Clockwerk By Kipsate and Flamewheel







Ahh Clockwerk, our favorite battle robot. Once upon a time this small man Keen was viewed as a "hook in, proceed to die" hero; now, he is utilized in competitive play by many, and in the West most noticeably by our very own Liquid`Bulba. In this piece we will analyze what makes Clockwerk such a staple pick of not only Team Liquid, but many other teams. First, we will examine each of the four skills that Clockwerk has, then we will move onto synergistic items, and lastly we'll discuss what kind of weaknesses Clockwerk has.



But first, a prelude, a little snapshot into the recent history of the Clockwerk, briefly going over the balance changes and metagame shifts he's faced. Clockwerk's old weaknesses were plentiful: weak initiation, low survivability (especially for an initiator), lack of damage, and overall inadequate contributory status to lineups in which he was run. In the recent patches, Clockwerk has received a strength growth buff, damage buffs to Battery Assault and Power Cogs, mana drain buffs to Power Cogs, Hookshot buffs, and a significant agility growth buff. If you think I'm being redundant with the word buff, perhaps you are correct - but when IceFrog wants you to play a hero, he'll continually buff that hero until its living armor is all but smacking you in the face.



Beyond all the direct changes Clockwerk has received, he has also found a more suitable place in the metagame for two main reasons: countering the cancerous being that is Lifestealer and disrupting enemy teams' so-called "wombo combos". With a buff to Rage and different approaches to building the hero, Lifestealer became one of the top carries in the game across all regions, chewing through enemy supports, surviving initiation combos, and outlasting opposing carries. Clockwerk's improved skillset put him directly at odds with Naix, and the little robot quickly became established as one of Team Liquid's staple "unorthodox" picks back when everybody seemed to be having trouble dealing with the overgrown zombie. Secondly, Clockwerk's improved ability to just jump in at any moment's notice lent itself to keeping down burst teams. As soon as somebody from the enemy team initiated, bam, Clockwerk was there, behind enemy lines, stopping the second link in the chain from deploying. And with an extremely long hook, Rattletrap is almost always safe from the initial onslaught.



Now that we've adequately covered Clockwerk's background, let's move onto his skillset. While his core skills have remained fundamentally unchanged for quite some time, the subtle tweaks over the past few months have really improved both Clockwerk's versatility as well as his effectiveness.





Battery Assault, the skill long credited as one of the most potentially-damaging single-target abilities, allows Clockwerk to disrupt its enemies' movements and actions. While the potential 1125 damage to a single hapless foe is scary enough, the most powerful aspect of this skill is the mini-stun. Jokingly called the counter to Earthshaker, Battery Assault gives heroes with long cast times nightmares, as they will constantly be stuck doing some bizarre sort of dance as the next mini-stun lands. Between the damage and mini-stuns, supports can die very quickly to this skill, and heroes that are used to using Blink Daggers to get in on the enemy team find themselves stymied. The nature of Battery Assault also allows Clockwerk to run alongside his enemy while still dealing damage; whereas most other heroes widen the gap between them and their prey whilst autoattacking, the mini-stuns from Battery Assault pause the enemy momentarily for Clockwerk to get in a few extra attacks at no loss. Noticeably, this skill more than doubles in damage at level 2, going from 15 to 35 damage per tick. Thus, it is a good idea for point efficiency to slot 2 early points into Battery Assault if you feel you will be up in the enemies' faces.





The bread and butter, the skill that defines Clockwerk and the oft-maligned "cogblocking". Once thought of as a suicide spell, Power Cogs is now the main reason people pick Clockwerk. What does it do?



Power Cogs is quite literally a blockade that only costs 50-80 mana (depending on level). At a moment's notice, Clockwerk can deploy eight cogs around him in a square fashion. While not impassible, components of this obstruction take way too many (and by that I mean 3) attacks to break down. Slow-attacking initiators or supports don't have the luxury to waste time on those three crucial attacks. And those heroes with the attack speed to do so are often melee and will get knocked back when approaching from the outside, losing time, health, and mana. As such, Clockwerk can effectively zone a battlefield with Cogs at just the click of a button. Enemy closing in on you? Cogs. Ally attempting to put distance between him and his pursuers? Cogs. Need to zone your opposition from hitting your carry Gyrocopter? Cogs. Allied creep attempting to stroll down the lane to engage their computer-controlled opposition? Cogs.



On a light note, Fissure blocking with Earthshaker to delay the creep wave was ruled illegal in many tournaments, yet using cogs to keep your allied creeps in place in Dota 2 is perfectly acceptable. Being able to alter the flow of the creep wave at the very beginning improves Clockwerk's viability as an off laner. Furthermore, the moment enemies go on Clockwerk, he can cog himself, destroy a cog, and easily run out while the other heroes are being knocked away from the cogs, draining their HP and mana. This drainage is a very underestimated aspect of Cogs. At level 4 a single encounter with a cog will drain an enemy of 200 HP and mana; for support heroes or heroes with a low mana pool this is quite significant. This aspect of it also allows Clockwerk to sometimes lane 1v1 quite effectively against heroes by simply removing a portion of their mana and HP every time the opposing hero walks too close. For example, Clockwerk absolutely dominates Magnus mid. While the gigantic overpowered rhinomantaur can normally maintain good CS between auto attacks and Shockwave, moving in to autoattack gets him drained by Cog knockback, meaning he has less Shockwaves to work with.



We've talked now at length about the greatness of outside cog knockback, but what happens when a hero gets stuck inside the cogs? While the knockback doesn't affect him or her, that hero is still effectively trapped in place if he/she has no escape mechanism. And heroes with magic immunity, à la BKB'd Sven or Raged Lifestealer, cannot even be force staffed out by allies, as you cannot Force magic immune units (an intended change from DotA to Dota 2). As such, these hard-hitting carries that want to be up close and personal are left with two choices: either hit the cogs, or hit the little robot that dared trap itself in the arena with them. By attacking either, their impact against the rest of Clockwerk's team is minimized. Hitting the cogs wastes attacks, and hitting Clockwerk means punching a relatively tanky hero. Even if the enemy successfully breaks the cogs, a slight misstep means running into another cog once outside, and thus being subject to the torments of knockback. And if magic immunity isn't present, enemies trapped inside the cogs will be taking Battery Assault mini-stuns as well as whacks on the head from Clockwerk's autoattacks with nowhere to run. Between Power Cogs and Battery Assault, we're quickly coming to realize how disruptive of a hero Clockwerk can truly be. As a last note (and as if this skill weren't already good enough), Power Cogs can be used to cancel magic immune TPs by virtue of knockback. Lifestealer, Juggernaut, and BKB users no longer have a free ticket to the safety of their fountains when a Clockwerk is on the opposing side.





Rocket Flare is a global spell with a travel time that deals damage and grants sizable vision of a targeted area. This spell allows Clockwerk to put constant harass on his opponents or keep lanes pushed out from afar, and with adequate timing can grant him last hits that he otherwise would be unable to get. Most importantly, Rocket Flare can be used to scout. It is so incredibly hard to sneak a Roshan against a team with a Clockwerk. Even if you avoid wards by smoking into the Roshan pit, one Flare will reveal your shenanigans. Information is key in Dota, and Clockwerk's rockets can be used to find out what the enemy is doing. Rocket Flare is often maxed first due to its reduced cooldown and reasonable amount of damage.



While the damage isn't comparable to other more traditional nukes, Rocket Flare's utility more than makes up for this. Also, there's nothing like landing a Rocket on a low-HP enemy that's 10 steps away from its fountain. Long range kill!





The second skill that defines Clockwerk is the Hookshot. While talking about the hell that Clockwerk can subject enemies to through Power Cogs and Battery Assault, we have thus far neglected to mention how the little robot closes the distance. He can't simply walk in, as enemies just back off. Instead, Clockwerk's ultimate, Hookshot, grants Clockwerk extremely strong and extremely long-range initiation that puts Clockwerk almost instantly in melee range of his target. Even at level 1, the range on the Hook is over 2000. That's more than a full screen away, meaning that even if enemies know a Hook is coming, there's nothing they have to counter such range. Because of the range of Hook, Clockwerk is one of the best counter-ganking heroes. While even heroes like Queen of Pain have some issue chasing fleeing heroes if they're far enough away, you cannot outpace a 2000 range Hook, even if you react the moment you see a TP from the battle robot.



Hookshot allows Clockwerk to be right in the middle of a battle at the moment he so desires, and the speed of the Hook (which is much, much faster than Pudge's), allows for easy targeting. As briefly mentioned above, Hookshot grants Clockwerk the ability to mess with a wombo combo team's initiation chain. Perhaps the enemy Magnus gets a three- or four-man RP. Normally, his allied Lina would be able to waltz in and drop a four-man LSA, increasing the AOE stun duration. But with Clockwerk, you can remove that second chain by Hooking, Cogging, and Battery Assaulting the Lina. As such, Clockwerk's counter-initiation is extremely strong, and it grants his team additional breathing room if any slipups are to occur.



Moreover, Hookshot also allows Clockwerk to escape dire situations if he can find a friendly target to lock onto. Think you've cornered the robot? Nope, he suddenly hooks to an allied creep two screens away and clinks off to safety. And once latched, nothing stops the Clockwerk from approaching its destination, so to kill a Clockwerk with Hookshot up and allies around requires perfect chaining of disables. Last but not least, Hookshot goes through BKB, and thus functions as a secondary way to stop magic-immunity TPs. Overall, Hookshot is an excellent skill in many metrics, such as but not limited to initiation, counter-initiation, escaping, and sniping or disrupting high-value targets such as Magnus or Luna.



Item Transition:







Treads - The boots of choice can be varied, but the two most common choices are Treads and Arcane Boots. Arcane Boots is better for the team and allows more rocket spam, but Treads offers a good amount of sustainability in fights, and with tread-swapping techniques and bottle usage a smart Clockwerk will rarely run out of mana. Furthermore, paired with Clockwerk's now high agility growth, Treads allow the little robot to be a semi-carry autoattacker in the lategame. Should you choose not to run Bottle/Drums then consider running Arcane Boots. There's no real need to get Phase, as Clock's ability to close the gap post-6 is already quite high.



Bottle - Bottlecrowing is the name of the game if you can get this on the off/midlane. Allows you to sustain Rocket spam using this while also maintaining mana for your other important spells. Using Bottle charges in conjunction with Treads swapping will keep you healthy in both HP and MP.



Wand - Both Wand and its younger brother, Magic Stick, are great for any hero. Especially for a hero such as Clockwerk, who is always in the middle of a fight and thus acquires charges quickly, Magic Wand can be the difference between life or death. The little robot uses both burst mana and HP quite effectively, so there's nothing to complain about. This goes to show that magic and machine can work together harmoniously.



Mekansm - Clockwerk has, even with the agility buff, subpar armor. Mekansm gives Clockwerk some much-needed physical survivability in terms of armor, raw HP, and the burst heal. A lot of Clockwerks get Mekansm if there are no other good Mekansm carries in the game.



Force Staff - An incredibly good item on Clockwerk, Force Staff can be used to force staff yourself out of cogs while leaving an extremely dangerous foe shut in. Conversely, it can be used to close the distance with a target in order to trap him in a rusty prison if Hookshot is on cooldown.



Ghost Scepter - If you are behind and the moment you hook in you die to an enemy physical damage dealer this is a great way of improving your survivability. Hook, Cogs, Battery Assault, and just sit there and laugh for four seconds while the enemy Sven or Lifestealer twitches in angst and bewilderment.



Black King Bar - While a BKB's utility is a no-brainer against enemy lineups consisting of mass disables and nukes, BKB can be purchased to turn Clock into more of an auto-attacking hero. Instead of Hooking, Cogging, and walking out, with BKB Clockwerk can simply start wailing on an enemy with very little fear of reprisal.



Vitality Booster - One of the most cost-efficient raw HP-boosting items in the game. Don't bother making a Vanguard.



Cloak - Along with Vitality Booster, Cloak is one of the most cost efficient survivability items in the later stages in the game. Clock's good HP growth means he can sustain quite a lot of magic burst already, and the Cloak magnifies his EHP pool even more. It can also be used to eventually build a Pipe if the situation calls for it.



Drums of Endurance - A cost-efficient item that gives excellent stats overall. The HP, mana, attack speed, and movement auras make Clockwerk an even more fantastic asset in teamfights. However, given unfulfilled demand, a Mekansm is often the superior choice.



Blademail - These days Clock normally isn't focused in team fights but after all, he is an initiator, and thus can reasonably expect some reprisal. If the enemy team has more damage than it has survivability, this is a decent way to deal with them. May deter enemy focus fire as well as AOE abilities while activated.



Aghanims Scepter - The most fun item on Clockwerk. This brings your Hookshot cooldown from around one minute to a measly 12 seconds. Getting two or three Hookshots off in a prolonged teamfight is quite common. The stats provided are also incredibly usable by Clockwerk.



Weaknesses:



- Really hard to play with from behind. Once behind with Clockwerk, all he does is Hookshot in and die, reminiscent of the old days. Clockwerk needs levels and preferably farm to be effective, since a low-level Clockwerk is simply food. In terms of items, when behind, a Force Staff alone will make him do a lot more.

- Isn't actually the greatest offlaner. Cogs are not a blink, skewer or invisibility. Clockwerk is still very much killable on the offlane given sufficient lockdown and damage output from an enemy trilane. Keeping a Clockwerk at a low level or even level 1 is very much doable since as a melee hero with average speed, he is easily zoned.

- Doesn't have the greatest 1v1 matchups. In the era of tri-on-trilanes Clockwerk pales in comparison to many premier 1v1 laners. While Power Cogs makes it possible for him to survive and break even against heroes like Queen of Pain (and beat weaker solo heroes such as Magnus), enemies such as Lone Druid, Batrider, and Weaver can pretty much stomp all over Clockwerk in solo matchups.







Gallery







Source:



More Pictures





Find more at



Live Tweets



Senior Writer George "flamewheel" Zhao is in Shanghai, China this week and today he'll be tweeting live from the venue!



Tweets by @TeamLiquidLIVE









Writers: TanGeng, CountChocula, Kipsate, Flamewheel

Gfx: Hawaiianpig, Heyoka

Editors: Firebolt145. riptide

Frontpage images: Liquid`Fluff Shrouded by the mists of The International qualifiers, a great ship has pierced through the fog and now stands before us in all her majesty. That ship is, of course, the G-1 League LAN Finals. Hosted in Shanghai, China, these finals promise to be the fix of top-tier Asian Dota that we have all been craving for. Yet there is more - two foreign groups of adventurers have also set foot on Chinese soil, bravely bearing the flags of the West. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is a precursor, a preview of the clashes between the Eastern and Western tidal waves that are to come in August.So what have we got for you to whet your appetite? Firstly, we have a preview of the six teams that we will be watching closely for the next few days , written by TanGeng. Secondly, we have a collection of statements from iG's charistmatic support player, ChuaN , translated by CountChocula. Finally, from the pens of Kipsate and Flamewheel, we present an article about Clockwerk , a hero that has been making waves in all of Dota in recent months. After you have finished reading, check out the Gallery for pictures. Also, do make sure you bookmark the official G-1 English Coverage Portal , which will be updated with more content from Shanghai in the days to come.Let the games begin.A few days ago, while streaming Dota 2, ChuaN began discussing playstyles, players, and other important people in the competitive scene. His remarks were quite humorous, so fans noted down his comments.His style of ganking the enemy carry is very similar to mine - it's very fierce. Nowadays, he's very casual and just enjoying life.I can only say he seems like a confused person! He's pretty funny. He gets hot and cold in tournaments - sometimes he's very good, sometimes...well, you understand.Back then Longdd played every position. I think his support play is very strong but he likes to play Morphling.I think my temper isn't too good, because sometimes I will get drawn in and overcommit, so my support play isn't the most professional. I'm Malaysian Chinese, not a native Malay. I knew how to speak Chinese the moment I was born. I studied Chinese even in kindergarten. My mom just called me on the phone and we spoke using the Min Nan dialect.They made that competition for me. The games don't need to be played; just skip over to the prize ceremony and hand it over to me! You know what I'm talking about!A long-haired demon who won a championship on my home soil. At the time I was still playing basketball. One day I was out buying basketball shoes and passed by Times Square (in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). I saw a long-haired guy playing Dota and he was very noob. In our QQ group (popular IM software), over 30 people prefixed their display name with the phrase "they actually let the long-haired demon take the championship".She's my older sister.Back then, he was in my opinion the hardest person to face in solo mid. 9-God is really smart. At any moment he might challenge you to a battle of wits.You ask me to rate him, but you might as well ask me to commit seppuku. Owner Wang has over 8000 MMR on Dota 2 ladder, over 9000 wins in LoL. In 1v1, I can only say that I have 50-50 chance against him. I cannot say any higher than that!He is fighting to bring glory to his country. Number one Malaysian player. Not a traitor like me.Number one Singaporean solo mid. Really handsome guy. He's the Singaporean Edison Chen (Hong Kong film actor, musician, producer, entrepreneur, and fashion designer infamous for his sex photo scandal).Why don't you look at who I had for teammates? That Tidehunter - the only hero he ravaged in teamfights was 9-God's BKB'd Shadow Fiend. That Vengeful Spirit (VS) - at one point, my Mask of Madness-activated, God's Strength-buffed Sven stood with red HP and already had a triple kill. ZSMJ's Phantom Lancer (PL) had half HP standing beside me. I've seen the replay. If the VS there had just fired off a Magic Missile and helped me stun the PL, I would've had an ultra kill. But the VS turned and ran. At the time, I wanted to smash his face into the monitor. ZSMJ's PL ended my kill streak and instantly got 2000 more gold out of the teamfight. He farmed some more and had his second Sacred Relic. The comeback was all my teammates throwing.He's a good person who's very loyal. He's also funny, so he's a good friend. When I had to travel, he accompanied me to the airport, made sure I had my ticket and sent me off on the plane.I accept him as a brother, but not as a teammate. He's pretty good, because he led team XFY to a championship. It's just that we have irreconcilable differences in terms of playstyle.Some teams win through unstoppable farm, but I prefer ganking, because you can go kill heroes and stop the carry's tempo. Of course if you have both, it would be better. In lane you get unstoppable farm, and once you go fight you are good at winning them. Then you go back to lane for unstoppable farm. If you can do that, then you are my idol.I don't think I have anything to say about mighty B-God. The number one carry in the universe. Very stable, almost never gets picked off, knows how to be aggressive when he has to be aggressive.Zhou-God is only missing one thing and his play would be perfect - he sees the tempo of the game and controls it very well, but he's not good at getting unstoppable farm. Alas, no one is perfect.Number one support in the world. He's really smart and sees the tempo of the game. He plays very aggressively which is my favorite way to play. He'll trade you one-for-one, but it'll be his position 5 for your position 1. He wins the trade every time.Back when we were on ToT, he was my junior and didn't say much. Once he was playing Witch Doctor (WD), got a Blink Dagger and Blink+Ulti'd. Back then I was position 2 and he was position 4. Now he's position 2 and I'm position 4. This must be karma for him getting Blink on WD.YYF has been the teammate I've had for the longest time since coming to China. One day I got up early to go play basketball. I took quick look on QQ for messages and saw YYF asking me to come to China to go pro. I mulled over the idea for two days and decided to go. When YYF plays Storm Spirit, before he reaches level 6, he'll keep the creepwave permanently closer to his tower than his opponent's. He will last hit creeps without spells. If you attack him once, he'll eat a tango. If you attack him a second time, he'll take a sip from his bottle. Once he reaches 6, you know he'll be coming. He'll say, "Hello, I'm the Stone Buddha" and he'll start flying around.So I am thirsty, and looking for a drink. This here is YYF's JDB. Since he's gone home to visit his family, it's all mine now. Crap, he's got his spies watching out for him on YY (TL note: Chinese twitch.tv)! I guess I'll have to buy him some JDB now. Last time Ferrari_430 bought ten cans of herbal tea, he only drank two before the rest vanished. I just laughed. You could've bought anything but decided to buy JDB, so you can't really blame us can you? JDB should sponsor us, because if they did I would not feed my future children milk - either cow milk or breast milk - but just JDB.I can only say that if we don't completely make fools out of them, then their strategies are decades ahead of ours. There will be no middle ground. Which one is it? We will have to wait until G-1 to find out.Source: http://bbs.sgamer.com/thread-11359514-1-3.html Ahh Clockwerk, our favorite battle robot. Once upon a time this smallKeen was viewed as a "hook in, proceed to die" hero; now, he is utilized in competitive play by many, and in the West most noticeably by our very own Liquid`Bulba. In this piece we will analyze what makes Clockwerk such a staple pick of not only Team Liquid, but many other teams. First, we will examine each of the four skills that Clockwerk has, then we will move onto synergistic items, and lastly we'll discuss what kind of weaknesses Clockwerk has.But first, a prelude, a little snapshot into the recent history of the Clockwerk, briefly going over the balance changes and metagame shifts he's faced. Clockwerk's old weaknesses were plentiful: weak initiation, low survivability (especially for an initiator), lack of damage, and overall inadequate contributory status to lineups in which he was run. In the recent patches, Clockwerk has received a strength growth buff, damage buffs to Battery Assault and Power Cogs, mana drain buffs to Power Cogs, Hookshot buffs, and a significant agility growth buff. If you think I'm being redundant with the word buff, perhaps you are correct - but when IceFrog wants you to play a hero, he'll continually buff that hero until its living armor is all but smacking you in the face.Beyond all the direct changes Clockwerk has received, he has also found a more suitable place in the metagame for two main reasons: countering the cancerous being that is Lifestealer and disrupting enemy teams' so-called "wombo combos". With a buff to Rage and different approaches to building the hero, Lifestealer became one of the top carries in the game across all regions, chewing through enemy supports, surviving initiation combos, and outlasting opposing carries. Clockwerk's improved skillset put him directly at odds with Naix, and the little robot quickly became established as one of Team Liquid's staple "unorthodox" picks back when everybody seemed to be having trouble dealing with the overgrown zombie. Secondly, Clockwerk's improved ability to just jump in at any moment's notice lent itself to keeping down burst teams. As soon as somebody from the enemy team initiated, bam, Clockwerk was there, behind enemy lines, stopping the second link in the chain from deploying. And with an extremely long hook, Rattletrap is almost always safe from the initial onslaught.Now that we've adequately covered Clockwerk's background, let's move onto his skillset. While his core skills have remained fundamentally unchanged for quite some time, the subtle tweaks over the past few months have really improved both Clockwerk's versatility as well as his effectiveness.Battery Assault, the skill long credited as one of the most potentially-damaging single-target abilities, allows Clockwerk to disrupt its enemies' movements and actions. While the potential 1125 damage to a single hapless foe is scary enough, the most powerful aspect of this skill is the mini-stun. Jokingly called the counter to Earthshaker, Battery Assault gives heroes with long cast times nightmares, as they will constantly be stuck doing some bizarre sort of dance as the next mini-stun lands. Between the damage and mini-stuns, supports can die very quickly to this skill, and heroes that are used to using Blink Daggers to get in on the enemy team find themselves stymied. The nature of Battery Assault also allows Clockwerk to run alongside his enemy while still dealing damage; whereas most other heroes widen the gap between them and their prey whilst autoattacking, the mini-stuns from Battery Assault pause the enemy momentarily for Clockwerk to get in a few extra attacks at no loss. Noticeably, this skill more than doubles in damage at level 2, going from 15 to 35 damage per tick. Thus, it is a good idea for point efficiency to slot 2 early points into Battery Assault if you feel you will be up in the enemies' faces.The bread and butter, the skill that defines Clockwerk and the oft-maligned "cogblocking". Once thought of as a suicide spell, Power Cogs is now the main reason people pick Clockwerk. What does it do?Power Cogs is quite literally a blockade that only costs 50-80 mana (depending on level). At a moment's notice, Clockwerk can deploy eight cogs around him in a square fashion. While not impassible, components of this obstruction take way too many (and by that I mean 3) attacks to break down. Slow-attacking initiators or supports don't have the luxury to waste time on those three crucial attacks. And those heroes with the attack speed to do so are often melee and will get knocked back when approaching from the outside, losing time, health, and mana. As such, Clockwerk can effectively zone a battlefield with Cogs at just the click of a button. Enemy closing in on you? Cogs. Ally attempting to put distance between him and his pursuers? Cogs. Need to zone your opposition from hitting your carry Gyrocopter? Cogs. Allied creep attempting to stroll down the lane to engage their computer-controlled opposition? Cogs.On a light note, Fissure blocking with Earthshaker to delay the creep wave was ruled illegal in many tournaments, yet using cogs to keep your allied creeps in place in Dota 2 is perfectly acceptable. Being able to alter the flow of the creep wave at the very beginning improves Clockwerk's viability as an off laner. Furthermore, the moment enemies go on Clockwerk, he can cog himself, destroy a cog, and easily run out while the other heroes are being knocked away from the cogs, draining their HP and mana. This drainage is a very underestimated aspect of Cogs. At level 4 a single encounter with a cog will drain an enemy of 200 HP and mana; for support heroes or heroes with a low mana pool this is quite significant. This aspect of it also allows Clockwerk to sometimes lane 1v1 quite effectively against heroes by simply removing a portion of their mana and HP every time the opposing hero walks too close. For example, Clockwerk absolutely dominates Magnus mid. While the giganticrhinomantaur can normally maintain good CS between auto attacks and Shockwave, moving in to autoattack gets him drained by Cog knockback, meaning he has less Shockwaves to work with.We've talked now at length about the greatness of outside cog knockback, but what happens when a hero gets stuck inside the cogs? While the knockback doesn't affect him or her, that hero is still effectively trapped in place if he/she has no escape mechanism. And heroes with magic immunity, à la BKB'd Sven or Raged Lifestealer, cannot even be force staffed out by allies, as you cannot Force magic immune units (an intended change from DotA to Dota 2). As such, these hard-hitting carries that want to be up close and personal are left with two choices: either hit the cogs, or hit the little robot that dared trap itself in the arena with them. By attacking either, their impact against the rest of Clockwerk's team is minimized. Hitting the cogs wastes attacks, and hitting Clockwerk means punching a relatively tanky hero. Even if the enemy successfully breaks the cogs, a slight misstep means running into another cog once outside, and thus being subject to the torments of knockback. And if magic immunity isn't present, enemies trapped inside the cogs will be taking Battery Assault mini-stuns as well as whacks on the head from Clockwerk's autoattacks with nowhere to run. Between Power Cogs and Battery Assault, we're quickly coming to realize how disruptive of a hero Clockwerk can truly be. As a last note (and as if this skill weren't already good enough), Power Cogs can be used to cancel magic immune TPs by virtue of knockback. Lifestealer, Juggernaut, and BKB users no longer have a free ticket to the safety of their fountains when a Clockwerk is on the opposing side.Rocket Flare is a global spell with a travel time that deals damage and grants sizable vision of a targeted area. This spell allows Clockwerk to put constant harass on his opponents or keep lanes pushed out from afar, and with adequate timing can grant him last hits that he otherwise would be unable to get. Most importantly, Rocket Flare can be used to scout. It is so incredibly hard to sneak a Roshan against a team with a Clockwerk. Even if you avoid wards by smoking into the Roshan pit, one Flare will reveal your shenanigans. Information is key in Dota, and Clockwerk's rockets can be used to find out what the enemy is doing. Rocket Flare is often maxed first due to its reduced cooldown and reasonable amount of damage.While the damage isn't comparable to other more traditional nukes, Rocket Flare's utility more than makes up for this. Also, there's nothing like landing a Rocket on a low-HP enemy that's 10 steps away from its fountain. Long range kill!The second skill that defines Clockwerk is the Hookshot. While talking about the hell that Clockwerk can subject enemies to through Power Cogs and Battery Assault, we have thus far neglected to mention how the little robot closes the distance. He can't simply walk in, as enemies just back off. Instead, Clockwerk's ultimate, Hookshot, grants Clockwerk extremely strong and extremely long-range initiation that puts Clockwerk almost instantly in melee range of his target. Even at level 1, the range on the Hook is over 2000. That's more than a full screen away, meaning that even if enemies know a Hook is coming, there's nothing they have to counter such range. Because of the range of Hook, Clockwerk is one of the best counter-ganking heroes. While even heroes like Queen of Pain have some issue chasing fleeing heroes if they're far enough away, you cannot outpace a 2000 range Hook, even if you react the moment you see a TP from the battle robot.Hookshot allows Clockwerk to be right in the middle of a battle at the moment he so desires, and the speed of the Hook (which is much, much faster than Pudge's), allows for easy targeting. As briefly mentioned above, Hookshot grants Clockwerk the ability to mess with a wombo combo team's initiation chain. Perhaps the enemy Magnus gets a three- or four-man RP. Normally, his allied Lina would be able to waltz in and drop a four-man LSA, increasing the AOE stun duration. But with Clockwerk, you can remove that second chain by Hooking, Cogging, and Battery Assaulting the Lina. As such, Clockwerk's counter-initiation is extremely strong, and it grants his team additional breathing room if any slipups are to occur.Moreover, Hookshot also allows Clockwerk to escape dire situations if he can find a friendly target to lock onto. Think you've cornered the robot? Nope, he suddenly hooks to an allied creep two screens away and clinks off to safety. And once latched, nothing stops the Clockwerk from approaching its destination, so to kill a Clockwerk with Hookshot up and allies around requires perfect chaining of disables. Last but not least, Hookshot goes through BKB, and thus functions as a secondary way to stop magic-immunity TPs. Overall, Hookshot is an excellent skill in many metrics, such as but not limited to initiation, counter-initiation, escaping, and sniping or disrupting high-value targets such as Magnus or Luna.- The boots of choice can be varied, but the two most common choices are Treads and Arcane Boots. Arcane Boots is better for the team and allows more rocket spam, but Treads offers a good amount of sustainability in fights, and with tread-swapping techniques and bottle usage a smart Clockwerk will rarely run out of mana. Furthermore, paired with Clockwerk's now high agility growth, Treads allow the little robot to be a semi-carry autoattacker in the lategame. Should you choose not to run Bottle/Drums then consider running Arcane Boots. There's no real need to get Phase, as Clock's ability to close the gap post-6 is already quite high.- Bottlecrowing is the name of the game if you can get this on the off/midlane. Allows you to sustain Rocket spam using this while also maintaining mana for your other important spells. Using Bottle charges in conjunction with Treads swapping will keep you healthy in both HP and MP.- Both Wand and its younger brother, Magic Stick, are great for any hero. Especially for a hero such as Clockwerk, who is always in the middle of a fight and thus acquires charges quickly, Magic Wand can be the difference between life or death. The little robot uses both burst mana and HP quite effectively, so there's nothing to complain about. This goes to show that magic and machine can work together harmoniously.- Clockwerk has, even with the agility buff, subpar armor. Mekansm gives Clockwerk some much-needed physical survivability in terms of armor, raw HP, and the burst heal. A lot of Clockwerks get Mekansm if there are no other good Mekansm carries in the game.- An incredibly good item on Clockwerk, Force Staff can be used to force staff yourself out of cogs while leaving an extremely dangerous foe shut in. Conversely, it can be used to close the distance with a target in order to trap him in a rusty prison if Hookshot is on cooldown.- If you are behind and the moment you hook in you die to an enemy physical damage dealer this is a great way of improving your survivability. Hook, Cogs, Battery Assault, and just sit there and laugh for four seconds while the enemy Sven or Lifestealer twitches in angst and bewilderment.- While a BKB's utility is a no-brainer against enemy lineups consisting of mass disables and nukes, BKB can be purchased to turn Clock into more of an auto-attacking hero. Instead of Hooking, Cogging, and walking out, with BKB Clockwerk can simply start wailing on an enemy with very little fear of reprisal.- One of the most cost-efficient raw HP-boosting items in the game. Don't bother making a Vanguard.- Along with Vitality Booster, Cloak is one of the most cost efficient survivability items in the later stages in the game. Clock's good HP growth means he can sustain quite a lot of magic burst already, and the Cloak magnifies his EHP pool even more. It can also be used to eventually build a Pipe if the situation calls for it.- A cost-efficient item that gives excellent stats overall. The HP, mana, attack speed, and movement auras make Clockwerk an even more fantastic asset in teamfights. However, given unfulfilled demand, a Mekansm is often the superior choice.- These days Clock normally isn't focused in team fights but after all, he is an initiator, and thus can reasonably expect some reprisal. If the enemy team has more damage than it has survivability, this is a decent way to deal with them. May deter enemy focus fire as well as AOE abilities while activated.- The most fun item on Clockwerk. This brings your Hookshot cooldown from around one minute to a measly 12 seconds. Getting two or three Hookshots off in a prolonged teamfight is quite common. The stats provided are also incredibly usable by Clockwerk.- Really hard to play with from behind. Once behind with Clockwerk, all he does is Hookshot in and die, reminiscent of the old days. Clockwerk needs levels and preferably farm to be effective, since a low-level Clockwerk is simply food. In terms of items, when behind, a Force Staff alone will make him do a lot more.- Isn't actually the greatest offlaner. Cogs are not a blink, skewer or invisibility. Clockwerk is still very much killable on the offlane given sufficient lockdown and damage output from an enemy trilane. Keeping a Clockwerk at a low level or even level 1 is very much doable since as a melee hero with average speed, he is easily zoned.- Doesn't have the greatest 1v1 matchups. In the era of tri-on-trilanes Clockwerk pales in comparison to many premier 1v1 laners. While Power Cogs makes it possible for him to survive and break even against heroes like Queen of Pain (and beat weaker solo heroes such as Magnus), enemies such as Lone Druid, Batrider, and Weaver can pretty much stomp all over Clockwerk in solo matchups.Source: http://dota2.17173.com/news/05222013/105524099_1.shtml Find more at Liquid`FLUFF's picture blog Senior Writer George "flamewheel" Zhao is in Shanghai, China this week and today he'll be tweeting live from the venue!

Moderator