Lina.
There are plenty of other heroes who do her job, in a support position, but better. Eg Lion, cm, Lesh, shaman etc.
@Eskimole i never used to see Lina get picked but she appears to have become a lot more popular, i'm always tempted to pick her in all honesty and something always stops me. I think if i had to pick one i'd say Earth Spirit only because most people i play with don't know how to play with him and even the ones who can play with him would rather just not pick him. Personally i've never picked him so i'm not sure but from what iv'e seen i kinda understand why they don't pick him.
@efextoide Oh no i like Dragon Knight, he's actually one of them heroes i wish i was good with especially when i used to play limited heroes all the time. Why do you think he's pointless i'm just curious?
@6_din_49 i actually like Bounty Hunter but he's well annoying haha i don't think he's pointless but i think he's overplayed by people who only play him because he can turn invisible which annoys the hell out of me. Wind Ranger is a good support for a hard carry since she has a good stun but i can see why people don't pick her when you could just pick Drow Ranger or Medusa.
@Chains Queen of Pain is another annoying one but to be honest i never see her get picked so i couldn't comment, however she's one of those heroes that i've never had the urge to play with or even try, not even sure why haha
These heroes are played by people who think their only job as offlane is not to die. They let the enemy carry free farm, don't gank, don't farm, don't secure runes, usually useless.
I dont think any hero is pointless, all exceed at something and provide uniquely to a lineup. If you can't see that, then you aren't really paying attention to what the hero brings to the table.
They are using the word pointless wrong.
Otherwise It doesn't make sense calling elder titan pointless becuase:
- He provides a unique aura that removes a percent of armor and magic res, incredibly strong late game
- The ability to spawn an invulnerable unit that deals damage, flys, gives you vision and allows you to:
- Crowd control like nobodies business in large team-fights
He might be a difficult hero to put to good use but that in no way makes him pointless.
@HatsuneMiku i had a feeling Wisp would come up but i can't agree only because i played my first and only game with wisp and i won haha but i can see why a lot of people don't pick wisp.
@WagaGaming i totally agree with you, like it says in my initial point that every hero provides something unique to the fight and is useful in his or her own way, but i do indeed agree with you.
@IHateThisFuckingGame Tusk is another on my predicted top 10 haha that i knew people would say, i've played with Tusk twice even on one occasion i picked him by accident and i hated it hahaha i felt so useless with him, i had no idea how to se him effectively in the battle so obviously i can see why you think he's a pointless hero.
@CounterTechies i do agree with you, don't get me wrong, i just think he doesn't serve much purpose and that's why he isn't picked, i've never played a game where he has been picked but i do completely agree that the term 'Pointless' is used very loosely.
Yeah i think techies and pudge are just stupid heros for dota, they broke the dota2 mechanics.
@X6 I kinda don't get Techies i really don't think he is needed in the game at all but some people like him so whatever i guess. Pudge on the other hand is just annoying and is defo in my top 10 for heroes i'd ban for a day haha if people couldn't pick him for one day i'd probably play 'All Pick' more often and not random draft in the hope he doesn't get drafted. In the point on whether he is pointless or not obviously he isn't a pointless hero because of his incredible tanking ability and his late game domination twinned with his high fear factor but i do see why you would say him :)
Techies is not pointless, his purpose is to annoy the shit out of both teams and ruin dota games for everyone!
I think they are putting their shortcomings onto something external so that they don't to deal with it (because that requires effort)
@DreadPirateCat well they both have a stun and i guess their ultimates are quite similar but yeah.... i guess you're right, plus i like playing Lion and don't like Lina hahaha
I think that every hero has to potential to synergise with a group of other heroes. I think that some heroes can seem pointless in games because in solo queue all pick everyone generally has there own agenda/ideas of what they want to do and collaboration is minimal. What I have started to notice more and more is that dota is evolving from where a hero has a specific role. The versatility is so much more then what it was, like Alch possibly being a better support then carry (not confirmed) or Lina Carry.
What I am saying is that its tough to pigeon hole a hero as bad or pointless, My worst heroes are the micro intense heroes because Im noob, Doesnt mean that I dont know a strong visage/meepo etc are. Each meta has heroes that get picked less and I think its fair to say a hero has decreased potential but not that it is utterly useless.
@CoolStoryBro honestly i agree that every hero serves its own purpose, that is totally correct no matter how you spin it. But what i've found as iv'e gotten better and i no longer play in limited heroes is that the same heroes are always picked when it comes to the 'all pick' game mode, i feel that now heroes are picked on their reputation and not their ability or compatibility with the team, i always have somebody say "Pick faceless void" just for the sake of having him and not because he fits with the team. I guess the point im trying to make is that since the same heroes are always being picked, could you not argue that this renders other heroes pointless?
@9Plasm You think Earth Spirit is useless? What the fuck? Es is one of the best roaming supports and has an amazing skillset that no other hero comes close to.
Also, you said it yourself - you want to pick her but something holds you back. Could it be that that's because Lion is just a better version of Lina? Or any other aggressive support for that matter?
@ihatethisfuckinggame Tusk is an extremely niche pick, best suited as a counter-initiator. Enemy team has Void, Enigma, Puck, Mag etc??? just blink in and save all of your teammates and perhaps turn around the fight. He should also be played as a roaming support imo, similar to venge. If you DO want a roaming support however then Venge is just better. Tusk isn't pointless, just very niche.
There are no "useless" heroes, but there are "bad" heroes. Some heroes just do what they do, but better.
Techies isn't even that popular anymore, he was getting spammed when he was first released but he's down the 52nd most this month, right in the middle. He's about the same as Tiny and Timbersaw. He's just annoying cus his playstyle is slow. He intentionally slows games down by making you have to sentry every push and avoid common woods paths. He's an extremely defensive hero. If there is one close to pointless I'd probably say it is techies cus I don't get what he counters or syncs with.
Other heroes are not useless or bad but they are less flexible. Like anti mage. If you play anti mage you pretty much must farm battlefury with decent support and then outfarm the enemy to push/fight at ~30 mins and win. That's by far his most effective mode and he's very inflexible in that regard. That's why your friend thinks Elder Titan is useless. His main use is to counter high agi carries by stripping all their armor and then be a pro team fight disabler. He's really good on a push team. But if you stick him mid on a normal team he's just average.
lina is not aggressive support she is defenssive support, lol lina has steroid to go to late game and she can half shot bkb carry lion cant do that, they are 2 way different supports.
@Eskimole i won't lie i'd rather have a Lina then an Earth Spirit on my team any day, its just personal preference, i really dislike earth spirit. and i'm actually quite good with Lion and pretty s**t with Lina meaning to me they aren't that similar but to be fair i guess it all falls down to personal opinion since the term 'Pointless' is used very loosely.
@SamFuckinPeckinpah you are correct i won't argue with that but when you say "bad" and use the term to compare it to other heroes in its category, you make the point for you'd never pick that hero since they are bad and there are clearly other heroes that will always be picked over them, doesn't this render them pointless?
@Timberwolf obviously i agree about techies, he simply isn't needed, also he tends to be ignored through the game, i find techie teams are always 4v5. I guess you're right, i think Elder Titan just falls into that group of heroes that require a bit more knowledge and skill to play with and once you get good with him it pays off, i actually might give him a go myself and see what the deal is :-)
@YNITDotaExchange if i could compare Lina to another hero i'd be tempted to say Razor and that's only from my own experience, she can be excellent in mid like razor and can bully and harass enemy heroes of the lane with her high damage abilities, also just like razor she can be an excellent ganker if put in mid, the only thing razor has up on her is his ultimate can damage towers and lasts longer and effects more heroes, i do completely agree that her and Lion aren't really alike at all just because they both have a stun and their ultimates look similar :)
Well, they could still be fun to play and that's what dota is about right? It's a game after all.
@SamFuckinPeckinpah Very true :) its like i said to the other guy, it all falls down to personal preference and if you like a hero you shouldn't stop picking him or her or it just because others don't like that hero or think it's pointless or useless or bad or whatever, i pick who i want and who i like and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't so yeah you are right
yup, the reason someone would pick lina would be if you are vs bkb type heroes such as pa, lina with aghs should take off 70% of pa hp with just ult while she is bkbed, the rest ur team will do. also lina is good with sven and wk basically a stun to cambo on top off and lina can push, lion cant.
@YNITDotaExchange i won't lie i think lion is one of the best supports. i think lion is a lot like Shadow Shaman, both largely underrated and even though in the early game don't do much and spend a lot of time just getting the gold where they can, i think in the late game they both step up in team fights whenever their team call upon them. my underline issue with Lina in the games iv'e played in with Lina players is they try and do too much and usually don't know their real purpose in the fight which forces them to overstretch themselves and play too risky becoming just a genral annoyanc. They just constantly waste mana and hinder their own farming, sometimes it works and she levels up faster then most other heroes but if it goes wrong it can cost the team dearly in the mid to late game. :)
DREAMteam
chen -good part he can jungle and leave line alone ,ulti usless ,bounty hunter - basically takes exp for free and don't help on line ,don not engage in fight so 4 vs 5 teammatch,after an year saw maybe 3 good games with bh ,walking around -sentry,gem= game over for bounty,enchantress good but for ski jumping, rubik - higher lvl the weaker hero compare to others techies same as bh sentry,orb=game over
@KULKIET i think walking around is not the main purpose of bounty hunter. he give teams extra gold for a hero plus moves speed. maybe you just see BH who goes straight deso that's why they are useless in clash.
@Kulkiet Bounty Hunter has come up 3 times now, he generally is picked for the invisibility and so he doesn't have to engage but will happily take the gold and experience without contributing that much, saying that in the late game Bounty Hunter can be rather useful. Chen i knew would come up sooner or later, i dislike chen mainly because i feel when iv'e played with him im not really helping or contributing to anything, always get that sense that i'm letting my team down and plus i always get put with Sven, Axe, Wraith King or Ursa who in the early game need the ranged support. Enchantress i think doesn't get picked because i think she's a poor concept hero, who in practice doesn't really bring much, i'm not a pro player at all but i've never seen a good Enchantress. Techies Speaks for itself haha but Rubick i hoped wouldn't come up, he's actually my favorite hero and i think he's underrated but indeed he's a lot like Necrophos and gets bullied around quite a lot, i understand how some players get frustrated with a hero like Rubick because he's not as good in practice as he appears in concept but i do feel that a good Rubick if played properly can bring a lot to a team fight and can support the most tanky heroes effectively. But like i said it's all down to your own personal preference :)
Lina is nothing like razor, your comparison couldn't be more off. She's a lot closer to lion than razor. Lina to lion is like comparing a chimp to a gorilla. Lina to razor is like a chimp to a lion. Both are mammals and furry and... that's it.
They aren't even close, lina has 3 nukes, one is also a disable and her passive is a damage increasing steroid. Razor has one nuke, a very different kind of disable in his dmg steal and a defensive passive. His ult is a lot more like death prophet's ult than linas, it's actually nothing like linas.
Razor is an anti carry cus he shuts them down by stealing their damage and tanking. He is also a big time pusher cus with aghs his ult wrecks towers and his nuke clears waves. And he can be tanky, his passive is awesome with just a few hp items.
Lina is a nuker, pure and simple. She isn't specifically an anti carry any more than she's anti everything with magic immunity.
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Haven't updated my blog in a while. I've met a couple of lads at my university who like DOTA 2 and we've become good mates. I'm still technically an amateur player and i've got a lot more to learn about the game so i thought there would be no harm in hanging out with them. Well 2 of them played in a random death match and one of them drew Elder Titan, he seemed a bit annoyed so i asked why and he said that Elder Titan was in his top 5 most pointless heroes.
Since i consider you guys the professionals and you play on a higher level then me i'm curious if you guys think that some heroes are genuinely pointless or don't serve much of a purpose and that's why they don't get picked.
Even i know that every hero in battle serves a purpose and therefore is useful in his or her own way but i do see a fair amount of heroes that never get picked and people always complain when they get them. My apologise if my question seems badly worded or silly but i'm genuinely curious what you guys think :)
Thanks again guys :D