How to pick WINNING heroes - ft. rkryptic | Last Pick #1

[@rkryptic]

Holy heck these guys are super handsome. Happy to be the first guest on this series!

[@karmakaz1]

Is riki again a viable support in pubs? seeing it in fissure tourney

[@Takapon218]

Damn you aren't kidding though 😍

[@jacksonmiller1328]

I tuned into the qualifiers and freaked out when I saw yall casting. Congratulations you’re so solid at it, Zach

[@jftsong4181]

Wait which game, I wanna check it

[@skittering]

Good concept, I watched the whole thing. I'd add - it would help a lot if you explained why specific heroes are bad. e.g. why is tide not supposed to be first picked, why is PA/tide a terrible match-up etc. Generally more 'showing your work' about the mids, I have no clue how the mid matchups work at all

[@idlemindedmage6925]

This format was fun to watch and still super educational!

[@Arcticp75]

This is a great combination of entertaining and educational. I really hope you two do more of these or find ways to slightly twist the format and keep it fresh!

[@sneakychicken]

I think it's very useful for cores to show the pick they would prefer to take so support's can better support them. The number of times as a 5 I have first picked Oracle only to have my safe lane take Medusa

[@Gomlmon99]

But how can they show they until they know what heroes they’re playing against?

[@sneakychicken]

@@Gomlmon99 they can always change their pick but they could at least show the hero they would prefer to play if it's not countered. lots of players have a hero they main in a role

[@nightwind_ow]

@@sneakychicken Totally agree. I think one reason some people don't do it though is because as soon as you click a hero, it's often interpreted by others as "Oh, you already decided so you want to pick next. I'll just hold off for now!"

[@Gomlmon99]

@nightwind_ow idk, i don’t do it because there’s maybe 6 heroes I have an equal chance of picking, so no reason to suggest I’m going to pick any one of them until I can have an idea what it’ll be

[@stfu-pi-ddk1ddo891]

​@@Gomlmon99use shift and right click

[@chairmanmoo1362]

I love the absolute heck out of this series concept and want more, stuff like this is helpful for me as a support player and for linking to my core playing friends.

[@FunnyRumel2]

Oh my god I love this format, I've searched for exactly this for a while now, goddamnit im happy, thx!

[@FunnyRumel2]

Would love to have like a drafting tier video, where the most important factors are listed. Like for example if u had to choose between winning lane or having catch, whats usually most important? Or is it rather more important to have teamfight abilities over early game presence etc

[@MrManOverThere]

Love the series! Hope that one day we can submit our own games/drafts for analysis but this is going to be such a great educational series no one is touching.

[@ZQuixotix]

Yeah, I'd love to get some viewer submissions in, maybe people can just share them in general in the comments and I can pick some out. I just used my own to start the series off but maybe every video could cover a range of MMRs from viewers

[@rmac0101]

I hope you continue the series Zach! Drafting is understated in pubs but so much fun to theorycraft

[@ZeroXcuses]

Long time Watcher and listener and subscriber, probably my first comment. Please do more videos like these because I've been playing DOTA for over 20 years and draft Theory still eludes me, especially with the addition of facets and power creep or play a traditional mid like Zeus as a support and all that. Thanks

[@DaMetalboi]

Great format, hope to see more of this. Only wish to include a few more non-meta picks as suggestions.

[@dgkallday5813]

This is a much needed series. I would like a little more information on why a pick is bad or good.

[@pandarexx780]

Cool concept, hope this series is a hit.

[@jax5287]

Fun format, great name and great guest! Good work

[@tuvarkz]

Wouldn't it also help to see what heroes got banned? As core player, seeing Sniper available for grabs immediately stops me from even considering half my hc pool, bc I very well know that I can't rely on the other two core spots to take a hero that can initiate on Sniper.

[@ZQuixotix]

Since bans are random in pubs, I didn't want to put too much emphasis on it but I can definitely add them in next time to have for consideration!

[@knkaitlog]

12:16

[@tuvarkz]

@@ZQuixotix Thanks. I literally have customized the hero distribution to have a "Checks" tab to see what note-worthy heroes are in play. EG I don't want to pick a carry that does near to no AoE damage if PL is in play, a carry that really doesn't want to buy diffusal if Medusa is in play, a carry that doesn't usually go for Silver Edge if Bristle is in play as the biggest cases alongside Sniper, plus the 5-ish heroes that make playing abaddon hc varyingly different levels of annoying.

[@bolobolo-u8h]

loved this format, zack!

[@safaqqu7398]

Cool format, liked it

[@pineapplescuddleduck]

im a mid player so recently ive been trying to use last pick more effectively so this is really helpful thanks

[@reptizzle4020]

This is awesome. Looking forward to more

[@pa1nted]

Great video! Keep these coming

[@gamdanyunizar7849]

Damn this is clean, I wish for more dota contents like this

[@manuelmarce2544]

You guys are amazing casters! Hope you cast many more together.

[@florianju5638]

Hey, super nice format! I'd love to see more like this! Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu :=

[@Sharon_13.30]

Most of the time I "watch" your videos while I'm working, and I have my phone away from me, I almost had a heart attack when the audio jammed 'cause I thot the issue was with my Bluetooth headphones lol and those are new! But thanks for the video ❤

[@feistyy]

I don't even play dota anymore but I love watching these videos!

[@Fixation12424]

As a mid laner I felt that last draft, happens so often. 2 support nukers, 2 cores that dont initiate, enemy mid is Lina, sniper, viper etc. so it’s impossible to do well in lane + provide initiation for the team

[@godmaster5000]

On the second draft, bro just picked Slark vs night stalker idk how that made sense for him

[@FranzFries12]

I see lina, i pick wk, venge I see my offlane can dagger, i pick ls

[@lukeskywalker6641]

Hey Zac, can you make a second video for getting out of herald? I recently made it to 1137k MMR, but there was a losing streak that was triggered and I didn't win a single ranked game until I reached 90 MMR. I am now 519 MMR without double down tokens, but I still think that I will never spend long enough time in high MMR enough for me to realize what I am missing to stay high MMR. Getting to guardian is not enough. I need to know what I need to STAY guardian and beyond. I know your first getting out of herald video is a masterpiece, but please understand. I am not CHALLENGING you, I need HELP. And I, only I, not other heralds, need to learn more, in order to never get stuck in low MMR ever again. If you don't have time for me, consider that this will be also invaluable to countless other heralds who are stuck, but have good potential. Please help. Help me obi wan Kenobi, you're my only hope. 😞

[@svenge_]

Good format want more

[@soooooomething]

Draft 1: radiant last pick should have been timber. They have revealed 4 melee and 3 strength. Even if was carry, timber is still excellent into illusion heroes dire last pick should have been sniper. 4 beefy boys to protect a sniper, bloodlusted by ogre, and can be saved by dawn/pudge/TB. Draft 2: radiant last pick should be monkey king - good against pudge, NS, AM. Not much to steal from rubick, and if he can get on top of rubick it's over. Wukong's combo's well with SK and shaman and DK. Only problem is that if NS is ahead he can get on top of MK. Alt is put DK mid and go PA/slark. PA more favored vs AM dire should pick pango or OD. They have no hard CC against pango and nobody to hit the ball except DK. OD good for the saves + they are all low mana and DK susceptible to pure damage. Alt is timbersaw Draft 3: radiant should pick a support, phoenix would be great since zues can't do much, if he can survive nyx it's an easy egg, dominates lane vs PA. dire should go viper into two people she can break, windranger also good against all 4, or OD

[@sgtpatton]

series premiere!! woo!!

[@Silthanas]

I would watch more of this. Moar drafting tutorials plz

[@ImStevenJohnson]

Two of my faves!

[@simon7762]

Cool series!

[@YY-mk4ti]

Do you know how to play as Lina against Nyx mid? Lina is pretty strong but it sucks that I always to know where Nyx is and every time I don't pay attention enough, I get absolutely blasted to zero. I can't even utilize my Boots of Travel because I know Nyx would immediately hunt me down whenever he sees me in a lane. I did pretty good killing other heroes but Nyx would just end me after I kill one of his teammates and it became the story of the game, I kill his team, he kills me and then we lose. Was it an unwinnable game or I could've done something?

[@mek8568]

Use yourself as bait and have your team kill nyx. Don’t show on waves and hit the jungle more.

[@ZQuixotix]

You actually have the solution in your own post! If you don't pay attention enough, Nyx will find you and kill you. Nyx Assassin does not farm fast at all, so he heavily relies on finding kills through the game to keep scaling his burst combo higher than his target's health. You and your team have to avoid giving free kills (especially in the early/mid game). This can be done by ward/sentry combos on the map and by staying relatively grouped up. Most pub Nyx Assassins constantly look for solo kills, as soon as your HP surpasses his one combo burst potential, he falls off.

[@YY-mk4ti]

@ I see. The times where I was very careful(Paranoid), I only hit the jungle and always hug the tower whenever Nyx is not showing on the map but that leads him to kill one of my teammates instead so his kill spree didn't really stop and we lost eventually. I guess it takes team coordination. I just find myself helpless that time. Thank you for the response.

[@beanothy7515]

Liked this content

[@RealChadR]

Best Casting Duo ever

[@SL-es1pb]

in draft 1 - 2, i bet the pudge pick from carry was just to ban it. I think there is a collective love/hate on pudge first pick right now.

[@mechanicalhelios8321]

yea many core players in pubs r completely brainless when it comes to drafting, i rmb a match where my team's mid picked huskar last pick when enemy alr showed axe :/

[@matthewh4737]

Good series!

[@imbaLULZ]

cool cool cool!

[@ayubious]

for draft 2 i think rkrypyic is really overestimating am vs slark, even on d2pt it's 59% in slark's favor across 66 games, blink ns seems more of an issue but he completely farms the other heroes with diffusal aghs build

[@akaadamrg]

The series is kind of useless to me unless you explain why a hero is weak or strong and explain the items needed and why. Explain why darkseer Nyx is strong. Why mage slayer on Tide. I can't learn if I didn't know why

[@kuroshinryu]

Go on the hero page, learn the hero, try to figure it out how it works. Knowing meta at that level would help, but sadly I am low rank so can’t help you with that.

[@diegoakadisciple8336]

Would love that addition as well. I play a lot of dawnbreaker (Although I am only a guardian 1 @ around 250 games), but I don't exactly know what would constitute a hard counter for her. I guess it is stuns that can stop her q? That's my guess right now.

[@TerrennonPriv]

Nyx is a very strong support hero for a long time, he is usually weak in low mmr pugs and very strong in high mmr pugs. Nyx want non-sup, not-cheap items like dagon so pos4 not pos5. He can oneshot any non-ancient creep, allowing him to farm easily when he rotates, one of the cases why nyx is good pos4 = rotate and farm at the same time. So he wants a pos3 that can easily stay 2v1, and that was mentioned in the video, just without the "everyone" knows details on it. Dark Seer is a lane dominator that can safely farm both lane creeps and jungle with ion shell. Also Dark Seer likes to dive with 2 mele heroes so 2x shell on the enemy takes into t1 tower which is the main job of pos3 early. Dominate the lane and kill the tower. He can dive and/or safely solo farm. Pos5 Zeus with Nyx Pos4 allows Nyx to solo hunt without items due to global ult, so it's good combo pick in theory. But in this draft PA was picked vs Tide. Tide doesn't care about PA's evasion, takes 0 damage from dagger poke, and reduce her dmg, and deal mostly spells damage what PA don't like. Later in teamfights Tide offer a lot of control that PA don't like. Tide > PA. The rest is just hero knowledge, Tide needs mana, one of the mana items recommended for him is Vlad. Later you want to do your job and survive against their magic damage, so mageslayer. Tide can't win the game on his own, but he offers a lot of control. He is considered an anti-pushing hero and one of the best anti-initiators in the game, but many think he is mainly an initiator and that is wrong. Tide doesn't picks like AM or Slark in lane, they can just manfight and Tide will lose. Later he can buy shard to at least be annoying to them but usually they have too much lead to care about it at that point. Git gud, start thinking, don't wait for information :P

[@ZQuixotix]

Appreciate the feedback! It's tough to balance going into a ton of detail for each specific match up while also trying to keep this about drafting in general and considering the larger trends and hero pool available. I can maybe try just having one draft in a video with even more discussion on the heroes in that game. I was thinking exact items and builds are usually covered in a hero guide video. General tier lists and meta videos often describe why a hero is good or bad in a patch (which is often ignored in pubs anyways). I'll try to find the right balance of talking about that information without just repeating the same content in every single video while still keeping the focus of this series on pub drafting

[@ZQuixotix]

Also to answer some of those questions Dark Seer plays the lane with Ion Shell, so any fast melee supports with crowd control make it easy to run at an enemy with double ion shell (something a ranged hero wouldn't do). If the match up is bad, you can also creep drag for the Dark Seer. With Ion Shell + Surge, Dark Seer is pretty safe to leave alone for longer periods of time. This lets Nyx go and jungle with his W, stack (for Dark Seer Ion Shell), or gank. Tide Hunter's Kraken Shell makes him survivable vs auto attacks (especially against a lot of weaker attacks). Damage Reduction from Anchor Smash makes him good vs higher damage auto attacks. Anchor Smash applies Mage Slayer which reduces magic damage (while also increasing his magic resistance). The general stats also help Tide Hunter farm faster. This makes it a great early item so that Tide Hunter is tanky vs pretty much every single hero in the game

[@TripTVx]

Good video, but there's basically no chance that people will see this and actually pick good heroes anyway :D Even in low Immortal, people just pick random heroes that don't fit the draft or even the role

[@phatyy-]

soooo good

[@Jeff-yj1jn]

I love this idea - but I think you should take your structured thinking to the concept. Why is PA such a bad pick for Tide? Carry players obviously get this, but support players don't play core heros. So how do we know? "There are heros that just win the lane". Ok - who are the top 5 lane dominators? That kind of thing. Also, please share the game IDs so we can go and watch game itself please.

[@Vorsgald]

I think Zeus 5 is troll tbh! I can see Zeus 4 (although he's kinda garbage at roaming, it's more valid to push the lane to pressure the opposing 1 in most cases), but he doesn't really contribute anything to the safe lane that (literally?) any other support can't contribute better. Dewarding, I guess? But I'd rather spend the 100g as a 1 for a couple of sentries than have a Zeus 5 lol

[@madara657]

Please talk why is's a good lane. How x hero counters y

[@TheGlenn8]

Showing bans is probably important.

[@akutheshapeshiftingmaster7852]

Please someone make a courier based on Z's cat

[@FunBox.]

The best advice for this current meta I can provide is that the absolute best pick during strategy time is uninstalling the game... Has anyone else's experience just been terrible recently? 80% of my games are complete stomps one way or the other and it's so boring. I'm curious if others are noticing this as well because there are seriously questionable decisions by the matchmaker. I don't know, I'm taking a little break from the frustration.

[@7oki479]

nice :D

[@saltiney8578]

meow meow meow

[@randymarsh5176]

10 minutes in and the ryptic guy is repeating himself and yapping without adding much value. great format zack but your colleagues responses can easily be cut down by 25%-50%

[@kingheenokgaming4783]

Drow gonna be crush by this lane (dawn + ogre). I was a drow this week against these two. Melee regrets life decision against drow. That I can tell haha. Im 66% WR drow with a 85-90% lane winning record. Just don't get all in kids.