DotA Weekly: Pro Tip From A Pro — The Wonders Behind Replay Analysis & How To Do It

Replay’s are fun, exciting, entertaining and can tell/teach you a lot about DotA, so they are definitely a must if you look to improve yourself as a player and at the same time want to just enjoy great DotA games at their best.

Replay Analysis is important for DotA development and improvement as a player, as there are a lot of things to look out for. You can watch a replay over and over again to see it from so many different angles, and this can make your head spin, but in the end, the effort put in will be worth the discovery regarding the difference in being good, or just being another unk.

Remember in DotA the person with more guts, determination and information will be the victor.

Now I see a lot of people reply to replays where they say stuff like, “OMG 6 items on PA = GG”, or things like “Sjoe, Troll lategame = instawin”. This makes me so confused, because what about the rest of the game? Better questions could be asked about this. For example, why not ask “how did PA get so farmed?”, or “Why did the other team let him get so farmed?”. Perhaps even, “Why didn’t they buy ghost scepters?”.

So, lets get you on the way to Replay Analyzing.

Firstly you need to download a replay parsing program, one that I prefer is this one: DotaHIT by Danat (click the word DotaHIT).  The reason is simple that when looking at the parse of the replay it should look like this:This will give you a lot of stats/information about the game and it can even provide you with an overview of how the game panned out in terms of items/farming/ganking/kills/lanes.  Now I know you must be saying “WHO CARES IF YOU CANT SEE THE GAME?! OMG NOOB”, but lets take this very parse for instance.  We can see the game is between Ks.int vs Rush3D; it is 77mins long. We can see what heroes started in the respective lanes and what Ks.GO[blin].ua went for, in terms of skills and items. Finally we can see who actually won the game. The Sentinel.

These facts are very valuable as it can give you information as what to look for, or look out for.  When comparing yourself to the professionals this is very important as you obviously want to become as good as they are, so things to analyze and look out for are in the parsing (eg. around what time Jolie/Spectre gets radiance).  If Jolie is getting radiance on Spectre, in 20minutes, you should try to push for that as well when playing Spectre.  At first it may seem impossible but with better practice, determination and the understanding of DotA — It is very possible.

Remember there is a lot of information on the scoreboard when watching a replay (I know some replays do not have) but when there are observers/referee’s it automatically -oi’s it and you can see all the interesting facts and statistics.  For those of you who do not know what it looks like >.>

Fast Fact: Consumables are like tangoes/clarities/salves, things that can be “consumed”

REPLAY ANALYSIS TIPS

Laning

The early game of DotA is very important, and in watching replays we can see what heroes are better suited to solo/dual combo etc.  When parsing or watching a replay we can pick up on what heroes to use. After this can you then ask your friends, or a pro, why are they chosen?

Also just a side-tip, I see a lot of people not being aggressive enough in the laning phase of DotA.  Remember when you have the advantage in a lane with a superior combination you must take advantage of that.  For instance in this picture we can see bottom lane Scourge has a superior advantage over Sentinel lane and takes full advantage of that with the roaming Furion.  If you want to watch the game you can download it here (click on “here”).

This replay shows you how farming/laning should be done — when the advantage is with you.

Farming

My opinion of watching a replay for farming is simple:

For watching carries: to see how fast you should be farming and what items to buy to boost farming capabilities.  My gauge for farming is to look at the creep stats and then look at the minutes.

For instance, in this picture look at the creep stats then judge how fast the player is creeping per minute.  An average/okay creep stat is 3 times per minute, but you are definitely looking to improve on that if you want to carry for your team.

Support/gankers: I would see how much farming needs to be done in order to be effective and what creeps I’ll need to last hit (neutrals&lane wise). For support you can keep to about 1 creep per minute followed by a few neutrals here and there.

You should look out for how well the carry farms and where he finds experience and gold. Watch how well he avoids the ganks, and where he runs to for support.

Ganking

It’s important to see how professionals move around the map whilst avoiding enemy vision and observer wards for a successful gang bang.  Watch the Tribal.int vs Blight.int game to see how Puppey moves around the map with Furion. He constantly adds pressure to the lanes with his “fakey” transportation animation.

Also understand how patient the DotA professionals are.  They hold onto their spells until it is the right moment to throw them.  Remember, once you do a spell you cannot do so again until your cooldown wears off.

Be patient when ganking and using spells, this requires experience and understanding of the game. You will learn how to become patient from watching more and more games.

Warding

Look out for the support players warding positions.  It is good to learn the normal spots which can be found in this comprehensive and excellent guide to warding by Nyad here.

Everyone knows where wards can be placed so it is interesting to see where the professionals can place wards so the other team cannot counter them or know where they are.

Items

This is an obvious one. See which items the professionals are using on their respective hero.  This is important as I’ve seen/heard a lot of people say “I always get Manta on PA coz IMAGES+CRITICAL=GG” or “Vlads on dazzle is just imba”. This is not always true (and may never be ) as every game is different. It is important to look for is why the pro bought that particular item, and why they go for that particular build.

Every game is always different and thereby the circumstances change. You need to learn how to adapt to the changes.  For instance hood blocks magical damage (against casters), ghost scepter can be used against melee carries etc.

The counters are endless and you will need to learn them in order to counter/beat your opponent.

Comparison

Take a hero that you enjoy playing or want to improve on.  Play a decent game (maybe a -cm or high level 35 game). Don’t play EM!  After this, watch a professional replay of someone playing that hero, then watch your replay with that hero and compare.  Evaluate the difference in skill builds/item builds/positioning/ganking/farming/everything.  See what you are doing wrong and what you can do to improve it.

Conclusion

Use all the information that is in front of you, whether it be stats/figures/colours/pictures.  The key to success and victory is right there, at your finger tips! :)

Finally, remember to analyze the replay and analyze yourself over and over :)

Thanks to Nyad with his guide to warding and DotA friends and family!

View the rest of the Pro Tips here