Leagues and Pubs - Carry Heroes
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009Once again we have an insightful thread made by our very own CounterForce[x] this time we are looking at the difference between the worlds of pub games and leagues when it comes to picking a carry hero.
Due to random popping of carry threads recently which are mainly comparing league carries against public carries, and because I am involved with a program starting tomorrow, I decided to make this thread based on the one of the leaguer’s topcarry; Boush the Tinker. He will be the main comparing example.
First, let us start with the definition of a carry. A carry hero is a hero who ultimately wins most of the game for his team. This can be achieved through 2 ways, which is to establish total dominance or by accumulate sufficient firepower to bring down the tree/throne before your opponents do. A naturalcarry hero will usually have skills relegated on fulfilling these 2 purposes. Whether he does that via his inventories or skills, that don’t matter, but it does determine how good he is as a carry.
Let’s take a very classic example; a Mortred with 2 battle furies, BKB, Butterfly, Treads and Satanic is a strong carry; there’s no way a tinker can beat her. But can she get all that faster than a Tinker could get a Shiva-Guinsoo which would give him the capacity to end a game? The strength of a hero as a carry is related to his/her skillset and attributes; a strong carry have more than just potential; he CAN achieve it.
Leaguers define a good carry from a 3-point evaluation; survival, control and true potential. Heroes that can survive and deal damage(Krobelus, Morphling, Raijin), heroes that grants control(Visage, Slardar, Specter) and heroes that have the truepotential(Dirge, Ursa, Sniper).
So back to Tinker, why is he a carry hero is a class way ahead of Mortred/Void/Troll? First of all, Tinker have a solid early game; he is likely to be a liability to any team as he is very strong in ganks with his Laser+Rocket combo and he’s indefinitely mobile once he gets his boots. All these are very important criteria in pre-determining whethera hero is a strong carry or not. Most of a game’s outcome is determined in the first 20 minutes. Mortred/Void/Troll is unlikely to be as contributing to the team as aTinker is. This gives him an advantage as a carry as he can help his team secure early dominance.
Second, let’s look at his farming capability. Tinker with Travels is undoubtedly the most mobile and dynamic hero in the game. He’s almost impossible to gank and can easily reload his HP/MP using rearm. This gives him durability and opportunity; he can farm, push and gank safely.Tinker ’s March is also a strong farming skill; one may agree if viewed from a single spell-perspective, but the combination of Travels + Rearm + March givesTinker immense farming efficiency when compared to Mortred/Troll. You can’t counter his farm unlike how you could when against Troll using wards. Needless to say, aTinker will always be richer than a Troll in an all-player competent game.
Third, let’s view them from item build perspective. Carries like Void/Mortred will revolve their build around damage first before going to survivability. In this progression, there will likely be drawbacks; physical is a very weak method of damage dealing unless you acquired the mechanism to establish the maneuver(BKB in this case) whereasTinker carries his team with pushing power and high capacity disables which will never be undefined; that is the real thing you need to win a game.
Fourth, a hero with huge physical damage output are more vulnerable as they have to be in close range compared to a carry that relies on spells. This is simplified as spatial advantage and effective control over variables. You will always be the aim of ganks, enemies in clashes and disables. This further mitigates yourcarry potential as you have to work far harder.
In a nutshell, a Mortred, Troll, Void or almost any DPS carries that needs to farm up will never be as strong as a carry like Tinker or Morph. You should never evaluate a carry’s strength on pulling out kills after 40 minutes of free farming; rather, view a hero as a whole.
Unfortunately this does not mean that you are better of picking Tinker as a carry in a pub game. In leagues, there is communication between team-mates, not just “bot m2″ (if there is any communication at all) but real communication. Leaguers use VoIP so that they can discuss strategy in real time without taking a break from microing their hero and get raped by a waiting Pudge. At the same time, they plan out their picks to ensure that they have a balanced team capable of covering their individual weaknesses.
This may have seemed a little off topic, but bear with it just a little longer. While heroes make a very important part of the game (it would be nothing without them) the real thing that makes a good player, and more importantly, a good team team (there are very few gamebreaking players out there) is strategy and communication. And if that means blasting Mortred to oblivion with a Laser+Rocket combo, so be it.
