Changelog for DOTA 6.65

New agility hero (Murloc Nightcrawler)
Range: 128
Movement Speed: 305
Hero Type: Agility

Agility: 21 + 2.0
Strength: 21 + 1.0
Intelligence: 16 + 1.6

Dark Pact:
===========
Slark calls upon deities of the swamps to seal a dark pact. Sacrificing some of his lifeblood, Slark is redeemed of all negative effects. After 2 seconds, a dark wave of destruction emits from the Nightcrawler, dealing damage to himself as well as all nearby enemies.

Damage: 75/150/225/300
AoE: 325
Manacost: 55/50/45/40
Cooldown: 10

Deals half the damage to you immediately as part of the cost.

Pounce:
========
Surges directly forward and latches on to the first enemy he hits, binding it with chains of darkness. The enemy is unable to move more than 275 distance away from the point of impact for 3.5 seconds.

Pounce Range: 400/500/600/700
Pounce Damage: 50/75/100/125
Leash Range: 275
Leash Duration: 3.5

Cooldown: 16
Manacost: 75

Note: Moves forward in the direction it is looking, this is not a target position cast.

Essence Shift:
===============
Passive.

Reciting ancient Nightcrawler incantations, Slark enchants his blade to steal the power and courage from his enemies. Every time Slark hits an enemy hero, he steals 1 point from all attributes and 1 additional from the main attribute of that enemy hero while Slark gains 4 points of Agility.

Duration: 15/30/45/60

Shadow Dance:
==============
Has an active and a passive portion.

Covers himself with a dark smoke, he becomes invisible and does not reveal himself while attacking or casting spells for 5.5 seconds.

Passively increases Nightcrawler’s movement speed and regeneration when he is out of sight of hostile units. Has a 0.7 delay when activated or deactivated.

Movement Speed: 30/35/40%
Health Regeneration: 2/3/4%

Active duration: 5.5 seconds
Cooldown: 25
Manacost: 120

—-

New intelligence hero (Ancient Apparition)
Range: 600
Movement Speed: 295
Hero Type: Intelligence

Agility: 20 + 2.2
Strength: 18 + 1.4
Intelligence: 25 + 2.6

Custom hero model by PrMosquito

Cold Feet:
==========
The Apparition curses his foes with The Frozen Mark which will freeze enemies to the ground. Unless target enemy moves at least 740 away from the mark within 4 seconds he is frozen still.

Damage per second: 37.5/50/62.5/75
Stun duration if triggered: 1.25/2/2.75/3.5

Cooldown: 15/13/11/9
Manacost: 90

Note: Target takes damage per second until he is stunned or moves out of range.

Ice Vortex:
===========
Gathers ancient frost energy into one area to create a small, immobile ice vortex at a location. Whenever enemies are near it, their movement speed and magical resistance are reduced.

Movement Reduction: 18/22/26/30
Magic Resistance: -10/15/20/25
AOE: 275

Duration: 12
Cooldown: 6
Manacost: 80/90/100/110

Chilling Touch:
================
Releases a gust of cold wind at a target area, enchanting allied heroes with bonus magical damage on their attacks. Lasts for a limited number of attacks up to a maximum of 40 seconds. While the enchanted heroes have this chilling touch, their attack speed is reduced by 15%.

Maximum number of attacks: 2/3/4/5
Bonus Damage: 40/50/60/70
Attack Speed Reduction: -15%

Cooldown: 50/46/42/38
Manacost: 140

Ice Blast:
==========
Ancient Apparition projects his presence out to make way for a powerful ripple of hailstone and dark magic. Once cast, it can release the spell to strike targets within 200 area of where his presence was upon release. It will deal damage to enemy units and apply a frostbite curse on them for 7 seconds where their health regeneration will be frozen and will shatter if they fall close enough to death. This spell has global range depending on how long you wait for the projections to move. Frostbitten units will take minor damage over time.

Impact Damage: 250/350/450
Shatter Threshold: 10/11/12%

Cooldown: 44/32/20
Manacost: 100/125/150

Note: You can charge (non-channeling, time based) this as long as you want if you want it to travel further outwards. Has an initial aoe of 200, but increases by a small amount the further it travels.

—-

Alchemist
Reworked Unstable Concoction

Razzil brews up an unstable concoction that he can throw at an enemy hero, to stun and deal damage. Once Razzil starts brewing, he can continue for up to 5 seconds. Each second of brewing will increase the potency of the concoction and make Razzil more red. After the 5 seconds, there is a small buffer window. If Razzil does not throw the concoction soon after it will blow up and Razzil himself will suffer as if he was hit by the concoction. Concoction can blow up mid air if fired too late.

Charge Duration: up to 5 seconds
Buffer Duration: 1.5
Damage: Up to 150/200/250/300 (Physical damage type)
Stun:  Up to 1/2/3/4 seconds
Cooldown: 16
Manacost: 90

The longer it charges up, the more damage and stun it deals. Listed values are the maximum.

Note: This is hero only target spell. You cannot release it if there isn’t a visible target nearby (if you don’t release it on time, it explodes on you instead, damage and stunning you). After casting, it builds up for 5 seconds. There is a small buffer duration after that.

Note 2: Alchemist has a red counter that counts down from 5 ontop of his head. Everyone can see this. It will be clear to the enemy when you are charging this.

—-

Anti-Mage
- Mana Void cooldown reduced from 120/100/80 to 70
- Mana Break scaling increased from 16/32/48/64 to 28/40/52/64

—-

Bone Fletcher
- Searing Arrows cooldown from 2/2/0/0 to 2/0/0/0

—-

Bounty Hunter
Reworked Jinada

Old Jinada:
==========
Passive.

Crit: 1.25/1.5/1.75/2.0x
Crit Chance: 15%

Evasion: 5/10/15/20%
Evasion Chance: 15%

New Jinada:
===========
Passive. Adds a critical strike and small maim to your next attack. Has a cooldown.

Critical Strike: 1.4/1.6/1.8/2.0x
Maim: 25% MS/AS for 3 seconds

Cooldown: 22/17/12/7

—-

Blood Seeker
- Bloodrage Rebalanced from 6/9/12/15 duration and 10 cd to 6/7/8/9 duration and 12/10/8/6 cd. HP loss at a constant 20 hp per sec.

—-

Broodmother
- Spiderlings gold bounty increased from 6-8 to 11-13 and XP bounty increased from 12 to 20

—-

Chaos Knight
- Cast Point Improved
Reworked his Blink Strike

Reality Rift:
=============
Target an enemy unit. Teleports you, any images you have and the enemy unit to a random point along the line between the two of you. Gives you bonus attack damage for one attack.

Cast Range: 550/600/650/700
Bonus Attack Damage: 25/50/75/100 (for one attack)
Cooldown: 24/18/12/6
Manacost: 50

Note: Chance is weighted, more likely to appear near center +/- 200 than on the extremes.

—-

Dark Seer
- Vacuum cast range decreased from 800 to 550
- Vacuum damage decreased from 60/120/180/240 to 40/80/120/160

—-

Death Prophet
- Witchcraft’s movement bonus has been restored (3/6/9/12%)

—-

Furion

- Force of Nature’s Treants now have 33% spell resistance

—-

Lina
- Fiery Soul buff duration increased from 5 to 7 seconds

—-

Leshrac
- Movement speed increased from 300 to 310

—-

Medusa
- Stone Gaze cooldown increased to 100

—-

N’aix
- Movement speed increased from 300 to 315

—–

Night Stalker
- Void manacost decreased from 90/112/130/145 to 80/90/100/110

—–

Panda
- Lowered Fire Panda armor by 2 points, hp from 900/1350/1800/2200 to 1200 and reworked damage from 52/105/214/234 to 70/112/140/180
- Primal Split cooldown from 180/150/120/90 to 180/160/140/120

—-

Priestess of the Moon
- Starfall AoE increased by 50 to fix issues with it not hitting units on the edge of your attack

—-

Pudge
- Meat Hook scaling rebalanced. Cast range from 400/600/800/1000 to 550/700/850/1000, cd from 14 to 14/13/12/11 and manacost from 140 to 110/120/130/140

—–

Pugna
- Cast Point improved
- Decrepify can now be cast on Nether Ward

—–

Queen of Pain
- Base Intelligence increased by 5

—–

Razor
- Agi growth decreased from 2.5 to 2.0
- Strength grown decreased from 1.9 to 1.7
- Eye of the Storm mana cost increased from 100 to 100/150/200

—–

Shadow Priest
- Shallow Grave cooldown increased from 54/40/26/12 to 60/45/30/15

—–

Silencer
- Base damage modified a little from 39-61 to 43-57

—–

Sniper
- Shrapnel duration decreased from 10 to 8 seconds
- Shrapnel AoE decreased from 450 to 325

—-

Spectre
- Dispersion now spreads the reflected damage over the number of nearby heroes. So it is the same in a 1v1 case, but greatly reduced in team fights.

—-

Twin Head Dragon
- Ice Path stun rescaled from 0.8/1.2/1.6/2.0 to 1.00/1.33/1.66/2.0
- Ice Path cooldown scales from 16 to 16/15/14/13
- Macropyre spawn speed improved

—-

Ursa
- Overpower is no longer removed when BKB is activated
- Overpower will not interrupt your movement when cast

—-

Warlock
- Upheaval cooldown increased from 20 to 65 seconds

—-

Visage
Reworked hero

Range: 600
Movement Speed: 295
Hero Type: Intelligence

Agility: 11 + 1.3
Strength: 20 + 2.2
Intelligence: 21 + 2.5

Grave Chill:
=============
Visage drains the life from a target, slowing its attack and move speed by 32%.  He then gets bonuses equal to those drained.

Stolen MS & AS: 32
Duration: 3/4/5/6 (for both you and the target)
Manacost: 70/80/90/100
Cooldown 10

Soul Assumption:
=================
Visage sends out a surge of agony towards an enemy unit, echoing the suffering that nearby heroes (foe or allied) have taken. For each 130 damage taken around him, his soul counter increases by one for up to 6 seconds.

Deals 20 damage + 60 for each charge.

Max Soul Counters: 3/4/5/6
Cooldown: 7/6/5/4
Manacost: 100/120/140/160

Note: Does not count damage taken from creeps. Charges when either allied heroes or enemy heroes take damage. Damage only has a 6 second window.

Gravekeeper’s Cloak:
====================
Passive.

Visage surrounds himself with the magical energy of the dead, granting extra physical armor and magic damage resistance. However, the energy degenerates with every instance of damage taken and will require time to recover back to full strength. Has 4 layers.

Armor per layer: 2/3/4/5
Magic Resistance per layer: 4/8/12/16

Cloak Recovery: 14/12/10/8 seconds

Instances: 4

Note: This is only affected by player based damage.

Summon Familiars:
==================
Visage conjures up two blind Familiars from the realm of death. Familiars have high attack power but each attack, up to 6, drains their power and temporarily weakens them.

Familiars can transform into stone, stunning nearby enemy units upon landing and regenerating their health and attack power. Familiars give a large bounty (150 each) if killed.

Level 1: Up to 72 attack damage, 300 HP, 1 second stun. Takes 30% damage from spells.
Level 2: Up to 90 attack damage  400 HP, 1.25 second stun. Takes 10% damage from spells.
Level 3: Up to 108 attack damage  500 HP, 1.5 second stun. Takes 10% damage from spells.

Stoneform Cooldown: 30

Summon Cooldown: 160
Summon Manacost: 150

Note: Can only have 2 Familiars up at any point.
Note 2: Stoned familiars are temporarily immune to damage, but they revert to normal form after 7 seconds
Note 3: Familiars will not autoattack enemies on their own, as to not consume their limited attack energy

—-

Windrunner
- Windrunner cooldown improved from 30/25/20/15 to 15

—-

Witch Doctor
- Paralyzing Casks now do 50 damage to heroes on each bounce

—-

Added a new recipe item (Urn of Shadows)

Requries:
- Sobi Mask (325)
- 2x Gauntlets of Strength (300)
- Recipe (250)
Total: 875

Provides:
+ 50% Mana Regeneration
+ 6 Strength
+ Active

Starts with 0 charges. Each time an enemy hero dies near you, it gains a charge. The first charges increments by 2, so it goes 0/2/3/4/5/etc
Each usage of the item decreases the charge by 1.

Each hero death can only charge up one of these items per death, so more than one hero having this will not increase the charges for both of the items.

Can be cast on an ally to heal, dispels on non-creep damage. Can alternatively be cast on an enemy hero to do half the heal (200) as damage over 8 seconds.

Heal: 400 HP over 8 seconds
Cooldown: 10

—-

Scroll of Town Portal
Reworked mechanics
Spoiler
- The casting time system for scroll teleports are now dynamic.
Whenever a hero teleports to an area, it causes any other teleports to that area to be delayed with extra time based on the number of heroes that teleported or are teleporting there. Each teleport leaves has memory lasts about 20 seconds for that location.

This does not affect teleports to the fountain area (it accounts for rough areas around shop area as well).

Example: First hero teleports to his tower, he takes the usual 3 seconds casting time. Then lets say the 3 other heroes teleport right after. The second one that telports after the original has a 5 second teleport time. Then 6 seconds, 7, etc.

- Teleport location effect no longer lies to the enemies about the landing spot

- Enemies now see the colors of the teleporting heroes

- Increases max range on where you can choose teleport near a building from 350 to 525

- The color of the teleport effect changes if you are in delayed teleport mode. It goes to normal once you have the standard 3 seconds left. So both sides can tell if its a quick or a delayed teleport and time things accoringly.

—-

Aghanim’s Scepter
- Added support for Axe. Cooldown decreased from 75/65/55 to 20

—-

Boots of Speed
- Now available in the side shops

—-

Blademail
- Duration reduced from 5 to 3.5 seconds
- Cooldown increased from 15 to 25
- Blademail can no longer reflect blademail sourced damage

—-

Force Staff
- Push distance increased from 500 to 600

—–

Linken’s Sphere
- Properly blocks Unstable Concoction and Death Coil

—-

Maelstrom
- Maelstrom attack speed bonus increased from 15 to 25

—-

Planeswalker’s Cloak
- Price increased by 100

—-

Radiance
- AoE damage effect can now be toggled on and off

—–

Vanguard
- Damage block reduced from 40 to 20 when equipped on ranged heroes  (50% less block like stout and Poor Man’s Shield)

—-

Readjusted the -bonus gold/xp system that is given in an aoe around dying heroes from being static unsplit to a dynamic split variation (numbers adjusted as well)

—-

Rebalanced the creep stats for your creeps when you kill an enemy rax

Old Melee:
XP Bounty: 41
Gold Bounty: 21-41

New Melee:
XP Bounty: 25
Gold Bounty: 18-26

Old Range:
XP Bounty: 25
Gold Bounty: 21-41

New Range:
XP Bounty: 25
Gold Bounty: 18-26

—-

* Added a new small neutral camp  (http://www.playdota.com/forums/102473/neutral-camp-harpys-debut)
* Increase the buffer time in -CM from 45 to 60 seconds (This means 15 seconds total for each player, not 15 seconds for each turn)
* Added the new hero death timers to observer scoreboard title
* Reworked Recipe tooltips http://www.playdota.com/forums/128284/text-recipes-visual-form/#post604682
* A text message and minimap indictator is now displayed when an ally purchases a Courier
* Observer board now shows ultimate cooldowns (http://www.playdota.com/forums/120509/cosmetic-observer-scoreboard-ultimates)
* Added a new physical model for Gem of Truesight (http://www.playdota.com/forums/124547/model-gem-true-sight)
* New and reworked heroes are temporarily unavailable in -CM

—–

* Added a new visual effect when you have the Haste powerup (http://www.playdota.com/forums/83240/animation-haste-rune-new-concept)
* A special death animation is now played when Pudge suicides (http://www.playdota.com/forums/17542/cosmetic-make-pudge-explode-suicide/)
* Improved spawning location code for couriers, to help against minimap icon overlap
* Decreased cooldown on Courier Morph and added a mini techies courier (http://www.playdota.com/forums/123947/buff-change-courier-type/#post582607)
* Fixed Inner Beast buff icon
* Removed extra spikes that appear on some (except Leshrac) characters with Aghanims Scepter (http://www.playdota.com/forums/11289-page3/cosmetic-remove-aghanims-spikes-heroes)
* Added new sound effect for Scream of Pain
* Improved quality of Panda’s Thunderclap icon
* Removed the gorge in the terrain near the bottom  sentinel lane
* Added visual effect for Huskar’s Scepter (http://www.playdota.com/forums/20814/cosmetics-huskar-aghanims-scepter-effect/)
* Some Nighstalker visual improvements (http://www.playdota.com/forums/5227/animation-hunter-night/)
* Rotated the direction the Frozen Throne is facing (http://www.playdota.com/forums/82193/map-layout-rotate-throne-lil/)
* Changed Scourge consumable shop model from Graveyard to Tomb of Relics (http://www.playdota.com/forums/114591/buildings-graveyard-tomb-relics/)
* Added visual effect for Sandking’s Scepter(http://www.playdota.com/forums/20844/sand-king-aghnims/)
* Added hero pick/ban data to replays for -CD mode (same data format as -CM)
* Added hero pool information to replays for -CD mode (Format: Pool+index,id)
* Fixed hero death timer overwriting player name color for leavers

—–

* Added a camera control command (-center) that locks the camera to your hero. -centeroff disables it (Not recommend it for regular games)
* Clarified Ward tooltips
* Fixed lots of typos
* Replay Data: host playerid is 0 if the game was created using HCL automode
* Adjusted where the kill timer shows on the open scoreboard. Names are always visible now.
* Some minor code optimizations when heroes are picked
* Invoker: Forged Spirit units are now added to your control group when created
* Invoker: Added an Ally/Observer only visual effect that plays before sun strike lands

—-

* Added a new icon for Essence Aura
* Added a new icon for Darkness
* Added new icon for Desolate
* Added a new icon for Void
* New icon for Enchant
* New icon for Impetus
* New icon for Nature’s Attendants
* New icon for Backtrack
* New icon for SA’s Blink Strike
* New icon for Crystal Nova
* New icon for Death Ward
* New icon for Divided We Stand
* New icon for Dual Breath
* New icon for EMP
* New icon for Exorcism
* New icon for Geostrike
* New icon for Impale NA
* New icon for Juxtapose
* New icon for Phantom Edge
* New icon for Malefice
* New icon for Reaper’s Scythe
* New icon for Timelock
* New icon for Timewalk
* New icon for Invoke Tornado
* New icon for Last Word
* New icon for Amplify Damage
* New icon for Jinada
* New icon for Track

—–

* Fixed bug with swapping with Kunkka and getting Quelling Blade
* Fixed Kraken Shell not getting disabled when Doomed
* Fixed an area where you could TP and become stuck
* Fixed a recent bug with Rhasta’s scepter upgraded Wards from being immune to Chronosphere
* Fixed a bug with Forged Spirits dying when getting an allied War Cry buff
* Fixed a recent issue with Frost Arrows cast range
* Fixed Culling Blade being blocked by Ghost Scepter
* Fixed Eul’s movement speed bonus not functioning correctly sometimes (if your hero has a unit morphing ability)
* Fixed a minor bug with Ursa’s Enrage + Fury Swipes combo against Vanguard
* Fixed some Ion Shell stacking bugs

Risk Next Gen Strategy Guide

Risk Next Gen is a Warcraft 3 custom that pits 12 players against each other in a free for all competition for world domination.  Automated hosting bots and stat recording on their website will have you craving that next victory.  Here are some tips to take your game to the next level (some of these apply for Risk Devolution as well):

Early Game

Grab small countries

At the start of the game, look to take over a two or three-city country, which will give a few extra supply at the beginning of the next turn.  If you try to go for something huge like Russia from the start, you will end up way behind players who are adding small countries to their income each turn.

Micro-manage your men

Battles at this point are all about finesse, and you have the time and ability to keep every man alive.  Always attack from the bottom left corner of cities if you can because the Barracks won’t have enough range to hit you there.  If this isn’t possible,  then select the marine that is being hit by the tower and pull him out of battle when he is about to die before sending him back in to help fight again after the Barracks has targeted a new unit.  After you capture the city, leave the weakest man behind to defend it so you can bring the healthiest ones on your next conquest.

Don’t butt heads

It is likely that you will run into a nearby player in the second, third, or even first turn of the game who is trying to gobble up small countries just like you.  Avoid a direct confrontation unless you are 100% sure you can wipe them out quickly.  If you get into a several-turn conflict that wipes out a lot of your men, even if you win and take over his territories, other players will have gotten way ahead of you just by expanding without conflict in other regions.  It is also a lot easier to defend than attack early game, since the Barracks will wipe out several of your men in long battles at an enemy city, so always you need an overwhelming force to attack.

Use healers

After taking a few countries you will have built up a decent-sized army of 15 or so men that are all fairly damaged.  While the other units are way too expensive to be of use at this stage, it is worth it to use a medic to heal your marines up to full health before their next battle.  As your income continues to increase, it is optimal to make one healer per every five marines or so, which will keep them alive and make you win battles.

Mid Game

Get the upper hand fast

Everyone knows how hard it is to outplay a guy who already has more supply than you.  While you are trying to save your men and set up perfect battlefronts, all he has to do is keep sending in wave after wave to wipe you out.  The best way to avoid this situation is to expand very rapidly in the early to middle part of the game, which will ensure you are one of the biggest players when major confrontations start to happen.  Take over every unoccupied country around you.  If you bump into anyone competent nearby, declare a truce and look to expand somewhere else that is still open.

Use Roar

As armies get bigger, the marginal utility of a few more marines becomes less than getting the four-gold healer than can roar or the five-gold navy officer that can roar.  Roar gives a +25% damage bonus to all nearby units for a whopping 45 seconds (3/4 of an entire turn), which means you are doing more with less units.

Use Knights and auto-cast Bloodlust

When your income is gets above 30 it starts becoming worthwhile to get Knights.  They have the armor and hitpoints to get close to enemy armies of marines and wipe them out quickly.  The other thing that is great about Knights is they move very fast.  You can quickly sweep through entire countries and continents before your opponent has time to react.  Also make life easy by selecting all your Knights and right clicking Bloodlust so it auto-casts and you don’t have to worry about it.

Set your country spawns

By holding shift and clicking the country spawn icon in the lower left, you can easily select all of your country spawns and rally these units to one spot to start building up troops in that area.  It is essential to keep track of all these spawns as you start taking more and more countries or you will have units standing around uselessly while you are busy microing units elsewhere.

Be an opportunist

Always look at the minimap and if fog is turned on then just use the scoreboard to see how strong individual players are and who is fighting.  Even in fog you can tell who is fighting each other if their kill and death counters are ticking up.  The best time to attack someone is when they are fully engaged in a battle with one or more other players and won’t have the resources or micro abilities to fend off your own attacks.  On the other hand, if you attack someone who is just sitting around doing nothing, they will be able to put 100% of their effort and money into defending against you.

Hit at the end of the turn

The best time to attack is in the latter part of a turn when a player may have already spent all his resources and wont be able to put them into defending a city.  Also, if you take one or a few cities right before the turn ends, your opponent will get less revenue when the next turn starts, because you will have taken away his country or continent bonus for that turn.

Jam the ports

Next Gen 2.2 update: In Transports Only mode now you can load or unload units on any terrain, not just ports anymore, so this tactic and ship blockades are less useful.  You’re better off leaving a few men in every barracks along the coast so that people can’t land there, kill 1 guy, and quickly start making units inside your countries.

After you’ve taken a whole continent or island, ports and connections to other continents are the only places that are vulnerable to attack.  For example, if you’ve taken over all of Africa, there are two ports in Madagascar, one port in West Africa, a land connection to Spain, and a land connection to the Middle East.  By clogging the ports up with marines, it will be impossible (especially in Transports only mode) or nearly so for an opponent to land there and quickly invade your continent.

Defend at pinch points

Bottlenecks on the map give a great advantage to defenders.  It is nearly impossible to invade with a large army if you have to fit it through a one-man wide gap with people shooting at you from the other side.  Spots like the entrance to Greenland, the British Isles, Central America, and in Indonesia are some of the tightest pinch points on the map.  Set up lines of marines and mortars to focus fire any units that try to squeeze through into your land.  You can also clog a small gap with a tank or some knights if you are worried about a Blitzkrieg of knights coming through one by one.

Pinch point at the entrance to Australia:

Pinch point at Central America:

Other spots on the map have walls or lots of trees which also force invading troops to funnel awkwardly through a tiny opening.  For example, there are walls around northern Greenland city and at the Great Wall of China.

Here the blue player is down to his last two ports in China but is able to fend off pink and stay alive for a long time within the walls:

Here the red player invades the brown player (who controls all of Asia) through the China port and is able to hold onto these two ports for a long time and ruin brown’s continent bonus for several turns and set up a larger invasion…

Set up battles the right way

The usefulness of each extra marine you have is limited by his attack range.  If there already 50 marines fighting in a row then there isn’t going to be room for another marine to get into attack range so he will just walk around confusedly behind them until someone dies and he can take his space.  Optimize your battles with knights and tanks in front to protect your weak riflemen, who are just behind, with a row of mortars and healers behind these.  In this way, you are making sure to have a diversity of units so that each one can be attacking from his attack range at the same time.  And remember to use Roar for bonus damage.

Know when to retreat

It’s easy to get caught up in a battle and throw tons of money into defending a city you know you’re going to lose.  It’s better to just cut your losses, pull your men back and set up a new front that you will be better prepared to defend.

Late Game

Use Ship Blockades

Even safer than jamming ports in transports only mode are ship blockades, which are essentially walls of ships that enemy ships can’t pass through to invade your ports.  Check out some of these blockades:

Northeast Asia harbor block:

New Zealand port block:

Over-zealous Hawaii ship wall!

Save money

It is good to have a surplus of money laying around that you can use in an emergency.  Other players will be planning attacks on you all the time and you need money to be able to mass units in the city that is getting attacked and fend off the attack.  It does you no good to spend all your money on ships if another player is just going to invade you by land on the next turn when you are broke.

Keep track of the big guy

Use the scoreboard and the minimap to keep track of who has the most income.  If someone is getting too big, discuss this with the other players.  It is in their best interest to team up with you against the big guy before he takes over too much and wins the game.

SS ships

Many games are decided by who has the biggest navy.  If at all possible, don’t waste money on any of the smaller ships which are of no use against SS ships.  If you save money for long enough, you can quickly amass a large fleet of SS ships that no opponent can match, unless they’ve been saving money too.  If someone has a bigger fleet than you, then avoid head-on conflict and just keep sailing away until you can construct more ships.  Getting your fleet wiped out will ensure your defeat due to the massive amount of money you put into those ships being lost.  Ships have a hard time hitting a moving target, so when you do get into battles with other fleets, make sure to focus fire on one ship in the other fleet, while retreating your ship they are attacking to prevent it from dying.

Roar Your Ships

It only costs 5 gold to make a Marine Major which can roar your ships for +25% damage for 45 seconds.  Imagine a squad of 12 SS ships worth 480 gold getting +25% damage for only 5 more gold!  This is a huge bonus of which most players don’t take advantage.

Day of DoTA Retirement edition