20-20: Titan.Net Answers! April 25th, 2014 14:27 GMT Text by CountChocula

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20 Questions



20 Answers



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exploded on to the world stage at TI3, wowing fans both East and West with his support play that proved to be an integral part of Orange's deep run at the tournament.



One of the most effective initiators currently playing, Lim is well known for patiently waiting in the trees for precisely the right moment to strike (hyhy must love him). Currently playing for Titan, Net is one half of their very effective support duo, and is as such a central figure in the Asian Dota scene of today.



In this 20-20, you get the chance to pick the brains of one of pro-Dota's most vibrant supports. From warding to rotations and beyond, ask Net the questions you've always wanted to ask him!



20 Questions

! The answers are below. You asked the questions ! The answers are below.



20 Answers



What is your favourite moment from TI3? [Zealos]



Winning against DK. In that matchup we lost the first game, but we came back the next day to win two games in a row and proceeded to enter the top 4.



After such a strong showing at TI3, you guys must've been very disappointed to hear that Mushi was leaving the team. Recently though, Titan has been showing strong form again and the team seems to be peaking at the right time. What would you say are the biggest differences between Yamateh and Mushi? [rebdomine]



Mushi is more serious in nature, while YamateH tends to be cuter and more energetic. ^^



Describe each of your teammates in one word. [klo8]



NWP – Funny

kYxY – Quiet

Ohaiyo – Diet

XtiNcT – Sleep



How do you think the SEA scene this year compares to last year’s scene? What do you think the scene needs? [opterown]



SEA this year hasn’t changed much from the previous year. The only difference would be the addition of a couple of teams; it’s still the same few competing at LAN tournaments though. I believe what SEA needs now is more tournaments, and other SEA teams would have to regard Dota 2 in a more serious manner, otherwise it’s still going to be tough for them to achieve anything at international tournaments.



Who do you think is going to be the team to beat in the Western and the Eastern scene for TI4? [goody153]



Na`Vi and DK respectively



Please explain the methodology of how to find those perfect spots to hide in the trees before initiating on a hero. When did you find the inspiration to make this a defining part of your playstyle? [NeThZOR]



Based on my 6 years’ worth of experience in Dota, since I started playing heroes with the ability to impale/stun enemies.



It seems that you love to play Sand King in 6.80. What about the hero makes him worthy of being picked so often? [CosmicSpiral]



Mainly because nowadays Sand King can use Sandstorm to catch up on Gold and XP in the jungle, and his high survivability with various escape mechanisms. Not to mention he’s a really strong initiator!



Sand King gameplay tips? Should you roam early or just look for XP/gold? [zezamer]



Depending on the overall situation, what runes you get… It mainly comes down to your own judgment.



If you had to close your eyes and pick a support duo right now without looking at the rest of the draft (either yours or your enemy's), which two heroes would you choose? [ymir233]



Tiny and Bane



Your thoughts on the current meta? Which items/heroes need nerfs/buffs? I'm a fan of Titan, keep up the excellent play guys, kick some western/eastern ass SEA doto style! [ncsix]



The Naga illusions have got to be nerfed, perhaps giving it a longer cooldown and higher percentage damage taken.



It's really important for the support duo to have impeccable coordination when it comes to chain-stunning, rotation, split scouting, warding and rotations. In your opinion, is it difficult to pair with a different support partner and as effective or is the transition manageable? [ArchDC]



Definitely not as good. It takes a long time before a support duo can reach a certain stage of mutual trust and understanding.



I've always wondered, is playing an initiator role on such big stages like The International more mentally taxing to you than maybe other roles? It seems like you have one chance with long cooldowns to either make or break the whole game. I just wonder what your mindset to that is --does the pressure of that get to you or with practice does it eventually become second nature? [solidONE]



The pressure is definitely there, but once you go up on the TI stage there’s no room for self-doubt or fear. You have to keep your calm and perform your best no matter what.



Before you started playing professionally, who was the player or players you looked up to the most? And if there were any, did you try to emulate or copy their style before coming up and inventing your own? Love watching you play, and hope 2014 is a good year for you guys! :D [ArTiFaKs]



Ice. I started to notice him when he was in Kingsurf – they were a well-known team throughout Malaysia and he (Ice) was performing really well on the team. His warding was simply beautiful, and I used to observe and learn from how he plays.



In competitive Dota it is common to see support duos fail to make an impact and that puts a huge strain on the cores. What are some tips that support players could apply in pub games to make that impact and secure the early game for their team? [Spicy_Curry]



Watch more replays, try to roam as much as possible, buy wards, cover your carry… but still it all comes down to what kinds of teammates you get when playing pub games :D



When you started playing, were you a guy who played only a specific role like carry/mid or did you random a lot or did you actually play support from the start? It seems like most support players started out dota wanting to be the guy with high farm priority but then later on when they got better at the game realized the depth of support play and started switch it out. [skirmisheR]



I used to random a lot in pub games, so I don’t usually play like a few fixed heroes. After all, the whole point of playing pub games is to have fun. But yeah in my early days I started out as a carry player, but I slowly made the switch to playing support later on.



What teammate has impacted you the most as a player and as a person? [Omigawa]



Mushi



You have been partnered with a few support players during your time on Orange, MUFC, Cybertime and Nirvana. What are your thoughts regarding each of them? Who do you think is the best support partner? Does XtiNcT bully you and ask you to buy all the wards? [lucas_kkh]



Ice really loves to buy wards, and is willing to sacrifice even more than myself; Ling would make a pretty good player if he was more stable and creative in his plays. As for X, he’s always been a very stable player who’s able to make clutch plays on certain heroes. So I believe my answer would be X, since we’ve been playing support together for a very long time now and we’ve already reached a certain level of mutual understanding. And nope he doesn’t, we’d always decide who to buy wards first so that the other could go for other key items.



Did you watch Free to Play? If so, did you enjoy it? How was the documentary received in your country? [shostakovich]



Yes I did, I think it was very well-written and produced. As there were some SEA players featured in the film as well, the Malaysian fans seem to have loved it a lot.



I'm always worried about the situation of professional Dota players and whether they will be able to sustain themselves. Can you describe your current situation and how you see your future? What would you change in the Dota scene to make it better? I hope the best for you in the next tournaments. I follow your team and I know that it’s getting great results lately. It's looking pretty good for the next TI! [calhob]



Thanks for your support! I’m fine with living off the salary and prize monies that I’m getting now and am managing well. In the future I’ll either go back to studying, or do something I love, e.g. scuba diving. I’ll probably become a scuba diving instructor or something.



What's the reasoning behind your nickname? [TheEmulator]



There’s not much meaning behind it actually, just a random IGN I used in other games.





Bonus Questions

There is “MVP money” in WPC ACE League. Do you guys split it up? So, how is this “MVP money” divvied up up? [jeffvip]



Yes we do, we split it up amongst the five of us since everyone did their own parts well in the games we won, so it’s only fair for all of us to share the MVP money.



If you could rework one hero completely, which hero would it be and what would you do? [Darkren]



Pudge – I’d raise his HP by 10 folds so that he doesn’t die as easily, since there’s someone I know who loves to play this hero. Yep.



Why are you so good at Sand King? What are your top 3 favourite heroes? [BurningSera]



Haha thank you! But I believe I’m not as good as how the netizens/fans described me to be, there are many other players out there who play it better. Nyx Assassin, Lion and Sand King.



Do you like to hide in the trees in real life too? [meegrean]



I grew up in a forest, so what do you think?



If you could have one player come back from retirement, who would it be? [duckmaster]



Hyhy













Writer: CountChocula

Gfx: riptide

Editor: riptide

Images via: Titan

: CountChocula: riptide: riptide Wai "Net" Pern Lim exploded on to the world stage at TI3, wowing fans both East and West with his support play that proved to be an integral part of Orange's deep run at the tournament.One of the most effective initiators currently playing, Lim is well known for patiently waiting in the trees for precisely the right moment to strike (hyhy must love him). Currently playing for Titan, Net is one half of their very effective support duo, and is as such a central figure in the Asian Dota scene of today.In this 20-20, you get the chance to pick the brains of one of pro-Dota's most vibrant supports. From warding to rotations and beyond, ask Net the questions you've always wanted to ask 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.