You generally need to have a plan in mind already...
1 )Decide your lineup idea (lategame, pushing, AoE, etc)
2) Counterpick while trying to keep to your strategy. E.g. you picked Rubick because they picked a Magnus and Warlock but you also already picked Furion and DP for your pushing strat.
2.5) If you can completely crush them with counterpicks, dump your original strat. (Razor against OD, TA against Puck. Aggresive tri against super late gamers like AM)
3) Decide whether to priority pick if you feel they will ban or pick it OR to conceal pick. (e.g. picking two misc supports instead of priority picking DS or Furion to conceal your strat.)
As for banning, decide from their picks and yours, should you ban major threats to your lineup? Or do you ban what you think will be a core in their lineup.
Theres more to drafting but eh, this covers the basics.
I make a lot of crappy drafts to be certain but the biggest thing I try to focus on is having balanced, powerful lanes. I want at least one ranged and one disabler per lane. Warlock is a fine lane support with heal and chains but not for a hard carry with no disable like faceless void or anti mage. They'll get pushed and killed. He's fine if he is support say sven or maybe luna.
Secondary objective is to have a presence all game. Picking a push team is fine, if your team gets on board with that strat. But you never want to pick a late game only team like 2 hard carrys and no mid games peeps. Dota hardly ever goes late anymore. Conversely though I don't want my only carries to be bounty and qop for example. They won't have the late game presence and they aren't tower killers.
Finally I pay attention to what's left on the board. I generally like to use my first round on the strongest supports, like AA, CM, witch dr, shadow shaman, veno etc. But if there's only two ranged mid options like qop and viper, and there's multiple supports to choose from, I'll pick my mid first. Or there might be a draft with very limited disablers, maybe no disabling supports if you draw omni and dazzle and the like so you might pick a disabling carry like slardar or dragon knight sooner. Countering is good but don't do so if it doesn't fit into your makeup, you'll just hurt your team more if you try to counter riki with slardar as your 4th or 5th pick when you already have disabling carries for example.
Drafting in CM is very different to drafting in CD. In CD you must identify heroes who have limited counters left in the pool, and whose role is scarce. Generally speaking mid or offlane should be taken first to ensure you have strong solo lanes. If you have first pick try banning all but one typical offlane/mid hero and taking the remaining one to force your enemy into a weaker lane setup.
In CM there is way too much going on to cover it in a reasonable amount of space. However, there are a few key things that I like to live by:
1) Have an overall concept in mind, whether it be AoE, push, late game, etc.
2) Learn from the bans. Assuming you are facing a competent enemy, their bans should be able to tell you something about what they are planning, AND/OR what they believe you to be planning.
3) Do not live solely on counterpicks. A bit of "this is what we're doing, come at us" is good.
4) Bait your enemy into weakening their lanes. One of my favourites is going obvious teamfight with picks 3-4 and leaving naga in the pool, especially when the enemy needs on offlaner or mid.
5) Establish what kind of tri lane the other team is heading for. Most drafters pick their two supports first and this should be a strong indication of their intention.
6) If you are going with a jungler ensure your support pick is one that can handle the situation. Most offlaners are used to dealing with 3 heroes, and having only 2 against them makes things significantly easier.
7) Not so much about picks, but ensure that your team knows your general item plan and strategy. Clarify mek/pipe purchasers, and also build routes for versatile heroes. For example, blink dagger optional heroes might rush it when you wanted them to purchase a mek first, therefore weakening your strategy. The last thing you need is your team working against you.
Just a quick question, if you are playing in a pub or a game where you can't get any info about the opposing team, what would good first bans be? Just annoying heros, ones that go against your strat (ES against a summons based strat for example) , that type of thing?
I'm pretty much 80% for the month. I use in my trash bucket tier (3k mmr) this rule of thumb on captains mode or captains draft.
1. If you are in an incomplete party (not a 5 stack) always have dotabuff.com open. (Use shift+tab while in game so you don't have to alt+tab out and use the steam browser)
2. Quickly review top played heros on your team with win %, and played amounts in mind. (best to review your current team prior to game launch)
3. Quickly review top played heros on enemy team and ban top win % heros out of the 5. Ban accordingly (I typically ban in this order: Pushers, initiators, carry, support.)
4. Pick your support/nukers first (Ward bitch and semi ward bitch)
5. 2nd round I typically pick my initiator/tank and carry next.
6. Keep mid pick as last. Use dotabuff.com to know what hero would go against their mid the best. IE worst versus/best verses on hero stats for the month.
Look everyone says "have a plan beforehand" but plans change as the enemy picks their heros, or ban yours. You can't have a static plan beforehand when picking in captain's mode. It makes your picks rigid and inflexible if they counter pick you.
My top 10 bans:
1. Natures prophet
2. Death Prophet.
3. Bristleback.
4. Slark. (High pub stomp win rate....)
5. Outworld devourer.
6. Crystal maiden (Very high win % and good in trash tier.... If no one on my team wants to use it, and enemy team is first pick I ban it.)
7. Life Stealer.
8. Phantom Lancer.
9. Timbersaw.
10. Viper. (EZ right click hero..... for trash tier 3kers)
My bans are not always like this but seems to be the most common bans I have. They are all solid bans. Most teams these days are doing "TRI LANE" So getting rid of an offlane hero like the timber or bristleback is optimal. If you see two support/stun type heros and a carry, you know they are probably tri laning.
The minimal you need to know when doing your draft is "Are we doing a 2/1/2 or are we doing a tri lane, or are we doing a 2/1/1 jungle?" Other than that do not have a static value on what characters you are picking before the game.
I don't think I would ban NP, just counter pick with bounty or bloodseeker. NP is one of the easiest heroes to counter pick. I agree with the other bans though i'd put viper in the 3 or 4 slot. He's a ridiculous mid and offlaner currently. And I'd add mirana to the list somewhere. I never ban PL unless they pick kotl.
You generally focus on heroes that both fit your lineup and counter theirs.
Generally here's the drafting consist of:
Pick 1 & 2: Support 1 & 2
Pick 3: positiion 3
Pick 4 & 5: Carries 1 & 2.
example of drafting styles usually obvious by 2nd pick:
push strat: Veno & Pugna, chen & rhasta, warlock asap...
early roshan strat: wisp, ursa, wraith king, veno/pugna, chen/sven
stun lineup: sv, sven, wk, es/sk, etc...
anti-push lineup: naga, alchemist, kotl, undying
Also know counters:
Venomancer counters TA
Viper/razor/huskar counters OD
anti-trilane heroes:
Alchemist, KOTL
Anti-PL heroes:
Magnus, Sven, riki
Anti-stealth heroes:
slardar, bh
@ Wookie
My problem with the usual setup i have, no one likes spirit breaker or bounty or bloodseeker. I typically try and pick mirana 3rd or 4th pick if still available, is why it's not on my top 10 ban list. I have about 3 or 4 people on the usual squad I roll with that know how to play, land great arrows, can offlane or mid with her or in a pinch safe lane if needed.
@ Princess Zukini
You may want to add Kunkka as a counter to OD. Boosting tide bringer max and not being dependent on x marks the spot or other spells isn't needed against him. Tide bringer is huge. I had the unfortunate experience midding against him and was not pleased with my OD results.
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im curious coz i just wanna learn how to draft..
a.) how do you draft when you want a 5 man push team? do you ban kotl/magnus/AA at first ban phase? though your intentions will be very obvious
b.) drafting heroes to win the 3 lanes?
c.) How do you draft against an opponent with a team oriented line up(Gyro, magnus,enigma, etc.)?
d.) getting a balanced line up preferable? carry that scales up to late game, heroes with aoe nukes for creep clearing, initiator or counter initiator, famer(optional)
e.) counter picking
f.) drafting unusual strat. (e.g. global strat by DK zeus,AA,NP)
g.) banning heroes that you always lose against
These are just examples,every time i do the drafting in my cm modes i feel like im always outdrafted when we lose and i analyzing wether its just team play that we lack or im just a poor drafter...