DotaStrategy.com - What makes a Carry - Pub's pick vs League's Pick

Counter_Force[X]

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What makes a Carry - Pub's pick vs League's Pick

Posted on Fri Nov 20, 2009 3:28 am

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 top carry; 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 natural carry 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 true potential(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 whether a 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 a Tinker 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 gives Tinker 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, a Tinker 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) whereas Tinker 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 your carry 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.

Last edited by Counter_Force[X] on Fri Nov 20, 2009 3:40 am; edited 1 time in total