The Carry That Cheated to Win

"Never let Alchemist farm"-a mantra that has haunted the community since its earliest days. But was Alchemist truly as powerful as the respect he commands suggests?
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Chapters
Intro - 00:00:00
First Implementation - 00:02:09
The International 2012 - 00:08:43
The International 2013 - 00:10:47
The International 2014 - 00:21:42
The International 2015 - 00:30:25
The International 2016 - 00:32:54
The International 2017 - 00:45:55
The International 2018 - 00:53:47
The International 2019 - 00:59:59
The International 2021 - 01:10:22
The International 2022 - 01:13:02
The International 2023 - 01:18:00
Conclusion - 01:23:20
Sources: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
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#StoriesOfDota #Dota2 #Alchemist

[@horaciorios6002]

I love you added some lore at the beggining

[@morning7947]

I don't even play dota but I love the vids.

[@vincepatangan219]

Good dont play it

[@Smiiileyyy1]

This game is a WoW experience in 30 minutes.-

[@PrismariLaura]

I stopped playing years ago, but these videos are so well made and entertaining that I can't stop watching them :D

[@PurpleDragonSpike]

League player here- Dota never really clicked with my and my friends all played lol. I still watch every video and love learning about Dota! I love seeing the ideas lol has taken from Dota, and learning about the differences 😊

[@mikillatja]

It's the style of video that just makes me wanna know about all of the champions all of a sudden.

[@vfrostbane225]

Ive not played Dota in many years, could never get into it. But these long form videos breaking down the hero, how they were played, how the game itself used to be played, is so damn interesting! Love the vids!

[@rebirthoflegend4797]

I'm a pretty good alchemist player and my only issue with your Ti6 analysis is that one of the biggest strengths of the manta build was how it let you farm aggressively while playing safe. I don't think you mentioned it but the major change during the octarine/manta era was they took the greevils bounty away from illusion CS. It wasn't a huge deal, but was noteworthy. Anyway, my point about the manta build is that alchemist didn't need to take the safe farm, in fact, I would tend to avoid it. Travels/oct/manta/rad let you play really aggressively all over the map, then TP elsewhere when the enemy responded, and manta let you push right to the enemy tower while farming their woods. So while I'm not going to go back and analyze TI, superficially, that doesn't seem to jive with how I recall that build working. But one thing I did notice was the faceless void on his team. While it doesn't seem terrible because chrono --> concoction is an 8 second stun, the playstyle of void does not mesh with how that version of alchemist played. You ideally want your team to be able to take fights consistently, particularly, take objectives. Void could not take early objectives, and his tempo did not line up with alchemist well. When playing alchemist mid, if your team doesn't lose their lane, you win 70% of games if you are competent. The biggest issue occurs when you are backed into a corner before radiance travels +1 item allowed you to amp up pressure. Then your space gets inverted, and the phenomenon you described occurs. Because alchemist cannot get out of his base because of lost lanes and few/no tower kills, the manta illusions do cannibalize his side of the map, robbing his core. But that isn't so much his fault, as his secondary core not being someone who could win or draw his lane. Faceless void at that point was emblematic of that problem. I'm too lazy to figure out where this last line should go above, so I'm just throwing it at the bottom. The biggest issue with lane losers or not winners was not getting the tower. The benefit of the manta push was that you could push the lane back super far with minimal risk, which adds essentially 30+ seconds before the enemy team can get back to your side of the map. The illusions themselves were not strong enough to kill towers fast, but they forced a response, and that response delayed enemies ability to group up. The travels let you do that to two lanes simultaneously because travels had a 30-40~ second cool down with octarine. No towers + your team behind caused that ability to jump between two lanes and maintain constant pressure to collapse in every conceivable way. It slowed item timings, it weakened your push in both distance + the amount of lanes you could simultaneously pressure. This is stupid long for a youtube post, but fuck it, you made a 1.5 hour video on alchemist, my favorite goddamn hero.

[@rebirthoflegend4797]

I lied and have no self control. I looked at a handful of TI6 games on liquipedia and what I said is mostly what happened. Lanes would get pushed in. I looked at 4-5 games and the only one that didn't have the issue I described is EG vs Newbie, Newbie had alch/lifestealer and won the early game. But lifestealer was against a morph, timer, and void. He can't kill any of those heroes and newbie threw the mid game and the game went late. and LOL DC vs TNC is the worst version of this. They had an alch, TB, and void. Absolutely unplayable lineup lol. They got shutout in 25m.

[@vishtaspacooper]

I think this is actually probably the reality. Players assumed that Alch will create so much space, that 2 other greedy cores would be able to farm, when sadly, the reality is that Alch will hoard all of it, and then we all saw what happened. Just poor team composition and strategy is probably why they lost. This would never happen with today's more knowledgeable player base(I accept all Dota players have probably lost a few braincells, raging at their team while chain-queing in the middle of the night)

[@rebirthoflegend4797]

​@@vishtaspacooper i think his ability to hold HG really well eith oct/manta probably contributed to that view too. But as i said, it misses core requirements for alch to thrive, not just survive.

[@karthikanil5261]

Thank you for the series!

[@lucynamarzec8000]

Axe vid sounds like a great idea. I think Death Prophet is also one which could warrant a vid, since she did have a bit of reworking, and a few ups ajd downs

[@Nizav-qu5zt]

nah, anti mage

[@jms7634]

I'm lowkey waiting for earthshaker vid. He was the definition of disabler/stunner back in the day

[@lucynamarzec8000]

@@jms7634 Cries in Lion

[@YoutubesaysimCyberbully]

witch doctor bro, earth spirit , am , whatever , anyone, who cares bout fuckin DP , shes ass

[@tyronegundran4549]

I think axe is also a cool vid to do too, in my eye he is as iconic as jugg and pudge in one way or another and im excited if it ever gets released

[@Paprikawastaken]

Seeing the old purge footage and old school dota UI was really nostalgic. 2012/2013 dota was the most fun I’ve ever had playing video games. (Or whenever the massively gifted dota 2 beta keys were handed out)

[@uzumakitroy8365]

The quality keeps on improving! Hope it will cover all the heroes

[@ace074]

Really nice video. I really have been loving this channel. The touch of adding the year on right top corner is genius. Keep up the amazing work. ❤

[@FxckingRuthless]

Come on Baumi I've been waiting a month for a new video. You rock!

[@NoodleSlapper]

Dude I love this deep-dive style content. I must have watched like 6 of these already and I haven't even played Dota since 2019 (I've been playing the original since 2004) . Your stuff sent me on a massive TI rewatch bender. Thank goodness they're still on twitch after all these years. I remember being in a watch party for TI8 GF game 4, enjoying good company, having been up all night kept awake by beautiful dota, trying my hardest not to spam as much as I wanted. Good times.

[@BlueFlash215]

I stopped playing in 2015 having played since 2005. My friends and I came back, just when the biggest patch of all time hit Dota back in mid 2023. It's much more enjoyable somehow. I was Divine 2 but I got anew ranking and fell down to legend and then crusader. All the heroes were reworked and at the first 2 games were a bit terrifying and maybe overwhelming but they also ignited the fire that had us up all night to play, watch the TI together, etc Now we all got families and/or kids but we still manage to keep up in ranked. A lot of the strategy and skill, game knowledge, timings, etc carry over to today. Adaptation is needed but it's fun. We are enjoying it. I'm glad I'm back with the crew. Rat Doto forever!

[@NoodleSlapper]

@@BlueFlash215 Glad it worked out for you! Man, that's no small feat. I stopped playing when i started to feel like I have too much on my hands I don't have any energy to spare for relearning things every time a big patch hits. I couldn't adapt. It was still fun for me to be plugged in to the pro scene and content scene though, which is why I have so much appreciation for this video.

[@bIeed]

When there is an alch in the game, its an alch game.

[@sofipandarights]

Hey, I genuinely love your content and its a highlight of my day to get to sit down, make some popcorn, and watch a Stories of Dota video! Your writing and overall flow of story telling is incredibly well done!

[@TheDuckofLaw]

I love the videos! thanks for the great series!

[@childe7556]

loving this kind of vids. keep it up!

[@GreysTavern]

I have never played this game. I have listened to countless hours of your videos. You have the most perfect narrative voice and the information is always really fleshed out and delivered flawlessly. Please never stop making these.

[@mykolokolo]

had no clue this was baumi until i saw the face. good to see you doing well brother!

[@wancenzo]

Didn't know it was Baumi who narrated this. Love watching your videos when I was a teen 10 years ago 😂

[@acceleratingthesupernatural]

Amazing video as always Baumi, a pleasure to watch

[@pseudo-phoenixsen7759]

I appreciate the deep dives into characters I don't play. Nice to know what my opponents are working with. 😅

[@sergeyk9060]

Great video, please keep it up!

[@mladens1]

Amazing video. Im speechless. MEGA LIKE

[@CptFlint404]

Great work as always.

[@linsenexpander]

Love ya baumi been watching for ages. You basically taught me dota back in the day

[@williamshakemilk2192]

This is some of the best content on youtube period

[@Whatumeme]

when he tried to rush Radiance and got dumpstered on 😂🤣 that was hilarious

[@opini_kehidupan]

Alchemist so generous gold

[@tani8557]

Great vid as always

[@dolanliebmann5638]

The introduction with lore is just impeccable! :3

[@rezaoctariandy]

really appreciate the amount of effort and passion you put into every video, can't wait to see chen video

[@arislanbekkosnazarov9644]

Solid work, as always

[@inpy]

Exceptional video!

[@aronic6030]

love the videos baumi, cant wait for a ogre magi video :p

[@Switchkickzz]

Again, as always, great content team!

[@jffr1831]

great video again!

[@Apocalypse-hh4om]

These videos deserve more love

[@mikawesseling320]

This video is really entertaining, usually I don't watch these videos in one go, but this was very captivating. Are you planning on doing a video on Visage any time soon?

[@ssjgoku276]

Great video as always. Also yayyyyyy my fav offlaner Axe is next. Let's go Culling BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!! One question, how far is the Faceless Void video in the queue?

[@silvaquick193]

Anti Mage next pls. He is such a classic and still is such an iconic hero

[@dutamulia]

ty ty ty! upped!

[@TempRawr]

ahh alchemist the constant money god. always loving see these videos, so much history and evolution.

[@fawkestx5966]

Another banger, this is now my favorite of the series!

[@user-jm1lz6zg6m]

This vids make me wanna come back and play again, damn

[@reverbstarlight3405]

Commenting for the algorithm, thanks for making such great videos Baumi + team!

[@siegwardbob1166]

These videos should continue!!!!!!!

[@Dunsie]

Never played dota, but these vids got me hooked.

[@Star22233]

Great video such an iconic unique hero! If another international happens and heros already covered do well would you consider update videos? Obviously they would be short.

[@juliang8676]

Hes allready said its very unlikely because of how work intensive it would be.

[@elliejohnson2786]

Concerning your question at the end: I've had many situations playing alchemist, farming up, then not doing anything because my team is gold starved. Happens more often when I play meepo, but it has happened with alchemist too.

[@BricklayerDreDOTA]

These videos are like bedtime stories such a soothing voice to sleep to lol

[@otomihsot4231]

This made me feel so old.

[@AdityaChaudhary-oo7pr]

Loved it

[@Dr.Death8520]

I dont know where or how, but we need a bit of "Axe is Axe" in the Axe video. And good job as always on this one

[@abolfazlbatvandi9670]

Amazing video

[@IestynCowley-mf4nz]

Love your videos. Timbersaw or faceless void or oracle would be really cool. Nightstalker would be sick as well

[@Froggeh92]

I only started watching this channel. I keep watching cause of how Baumi says gouwld. Instant classic

[@umuden]

Great one, congratz Baumi

[@Illidanboscarino]

Dude, whey acidspray turns into physical, was a massive buff,was 24 damage but os amplyfi by - armor

[@ShooterMcGavin-jp2qn]

Good stuff

[@PolluxTheBat]

A great video! I did notice something that might warrant investigation for future videos, the effects of Razor's ult are strobing fairly hard at around 16:10. Viewers who are sensitive to flashing lights might have some issues with that, and it might be a good idea to potentially darken sections of future videos that have stuff like that. I'm not super vulnerable to them myself, but it did generate a bit of a headache for me. Keep up the amazing work! Alch has always been one of those heroes that I hate seeing because of how oppressive he can be if left unchecked, and it's cool to see how his impact has evolved over time.

[@robbiemacdonald3293]

I love this series ❤

[@hellosatan1]

this channel is the best on yt currently.

[@TheKabukimann]

I haven't played Dota 2 since before they introduced the talents but I enjoy your vids.

[@FearHAVOK]

Xboct under the T1 literally got me into Dota. TI3 was the first time I had even seen Dota and that 1 play sold me on the game.

[@KitsuneFaroe]

Wich one? Is there a timestamp?

[@FearHAVOK]

@@KitsuneFaroe For sure - 18:24

[@andrewkennedy5183]

Surprised you didn't talk about the offlane build, particularly Ceb did a great job of going a solar crest and blink dagger, then just feeding the team aghs

[@joe-gq9oo]

These vids are filling a big fat gap in the Dota community. Strong lore + a comprehensive history of a hero. It's probably outside of your direct experience, but it'd be great to have a short section on Dota 1 history of a hero as well when relevant. Complete the video with where a hero TRULY started

[@3amcucumbertech]

Amazing viewing, please keep these coming!

[@Snapst3r]

good intro, fits into the style of the video. noice

[@John-li6sk]

Great music

[@D1ttosog]

Thought i recognize his voice, love the content baumi been a fan since 2015 ❤

[@stephendavid1875]

Since I watched your video about meepo one of my favorite hero in the game I realized that there are KZbinrs that have this kind of passion for doing this kind of content or video I get goosebumps on your video it makes me feels excited on the next videos you're going to do keep doing great videos like this I will wait foe your video about Timbersaw, Bristleback and Abaddon besides meepo they are one of my favorite heroes in the game too

[@hieracon475]

nice lore addition

[@sandpaper7781]

Love you Baumi.

[@SamSGLM]

At ti9 the main reason of Chen alch working was the heal amp and alch did get heart 1st after the lane or 2 and with rage would have to much Regen to be killed. Heart had been changed to have 50% heal amp

[@weedmaps8375]

i've never heard of alchemist but i like the vid

[@Goudafarmer]

Yessss dota stories dropped it’s a good day boys.

[@blaisecollins5240]

I love this videos

[@Thepupps5]

I have played league for the past 10 years of my life but I’ve been watching these and loving it. I think I might start playing both

[@justinjames2436]

i would love a Jakiro video!

[@shintikryak]

Cant wait for the axe vid

[@dungagunner32]

I was listening this vid and in midway, i needed to play and Alch game, bad early made a comback in mid/late and won. All inspired by this vid. Nice

[@amirgh744]

daaaaam this videos are cool!

[@dexthgun6090]

I’d love to see a video on phantom lancer or Templar assassin maybe even tide hunter

[@Dyleniz]

still wondering why we havent gotten an invoker and morhpling video yet but still such amazing content

[@BlueFlash215]

The videos and TI made me come back to Dota. I stopped playing in 2015 having played since 2005. My friends and I came back, just when the biggest patch of all time hit Dota back in mid 2023. It's much more enjoyable somehow. I was Divine 2 but I got anew ranking and fell down to legend and then crusader. All the heroes were reworked and at the first 2 games were a bit terrifying and maybe overwhelming but they also ignited the fire that had us up all night to play, watch the TI together, etc Now we all got families and/or kids but we still manage to keep up in ranked. A lot of the strategy and skill, game knowledge, timings, etc carry over to today. Adaptation is needed but it's fun. We are enjoying it. Rat Doto, best Doto. Let rats be rats. Furion Level 25 teleport 😎

[@liamwacey807]

It finally happened. I was all ready to hear the usual schpiel about underwhelming talents introduced and this is the first positive talent implementation I've heard about, haha.

[@tejasnagendra8886]

This video series reminds me to pay my rent every month!

[@markjeniellebandas7383]

I'd love to see a vid about Doom, who always gets either nerfed or reworked.

[@KaiMifune]

Wow. This is live?

[@sinajoinical]

ty all now I just want the wraith king story

[@kadimusbaratheon7352]

Dude, where's the Ember video? I thought it was going to be the first video of this channel.

[@LtS0UP]

Weirdest strat with Alche, as pos 4. He leave lane for Off to solo. Go sleep in the jungle and give every one agh then he start getting item for himself.

[@gcextol8129]

Ti3 was so good ❤ So sad that [A] no longer have a dota team 😢

[@markperalta4831]

nice

[@blase9786]

Can you make a video about what heroes were meta for each tournament

[@huascaboy]

Do Broodmother next

[@huascar9542]

No one is talking about that Pudge spamming hook 3 times in less than 10 seconds at 59:46

[@hunghung9537]

I remember that moment when Pudge Agh give him 4s cd on meat hook.😂

[@rudolvondankheim1951]

You guys gotta do everyones favorite earthshaker eventually

[@autumnwitchmaple]

deeply in love with the fact that across both of ur dota channels the auto translate is absolutely convicted of the fact that omelette of mordiggian is your favorite item. I fucking love Omelette of Mordiggian. Can't get over it. Every time it tickles me. What do you think Mordiggian puts in their omelettes?

[@autumnwitchmaple]

augh so close at 1:01:20 it got armlet of migan. So fucking close. I can't believe it.

[@alexttty8367]

1:14:03 that was a support marcy. Meta back in the day

[@lees4416]

Give us the Ember Spirit story!

[@lukamagicc]

All jokes aside your vidos shined a light on Dota2 I thought I’d never learn. But it’s still kind of hilarious one of his favorite moments of Dota history is this anticlimactic, jumbled, gameplay. (18:26) but that’s probably all the game is 90% of the time