How much, really, does a hero lineup matter in games of competitive DotA? I have previously written that skill is overrated, but what does that speak of the hero draft?
Drafting as it was done back in the day
When most people see a prominent DotA team, they believe they are looking at a bunch of skillful players, people who can play well in order to win the game. However, is it the playing of the players who win the game, or is most of the game set fatalistically, with much of the game result being determined from the start by the draft?
How much really, does draft matter in winning a game? If not draft, then what else matters? Am I going to stop ending every sentence with a question mark?
The answer, for the last question, is yes. For the rest of the questions, I turned to the many top DotA players.
“40% draft, 30% skill, 20% teamwork, 10% luck” was the figure quoted by Lin “d4rK3n5r3b0rN” Zhi Ping, the most prominent player in Flash.DotA (and previously from Axis and Aeon), when asked how important he thought draft was to winning a game. The gist of it is that draft is the most important thing in winning a DotA game, since he probably quoted the other figures for coolness and lack of any simple numbers to add to 100%.
d4rK3n5r3b0rN has the numbers all worked out
“70% draft” is a figure quoted by Opio from Aeon, attributing the other 30% to “gameplay and the familiarity of play with the drafted heroes.” Here perhaps, is a point that is worth thinking about. How important is it for the players to know how to play their drafted heroes, even with a good draft?
NDrakaN, another popular Singaporean player, also quotes “70%” as the figure, adding the modifier “if it is a proper game”. As to what else matters for a team to win the game, he says it’s “the style of a particular team, what a team is strong in.”
The thinking that draft matters more as games get higher level and more proper, is prevalent in most of the other statements I obtained. This makes sense since there is a limited amount of individual flair that people can see displayed in DotA. And really, how much teamwork can you show when each hero only has so many spells? Whether this is true shall not be explored in this article, but sure as heck gives me a good idea on what to write in the next article.
In fact, for everyone I asked, I actually told them to not list “personal skills” as the “other factors” that contribute to winning a game.
Leader of the longest standing Singaporean Clan, DsD.Amnesia, says “80% of a game at the top level is determined by draft. Leader of top Malaysian team, MUFC.Winter, believes too that 80% of the game is determined by draft. This is a high number to be sure, but you can’t really put percentages to the different factors which contribute to the result of a game. What is important is that every single person I asked attributed draft to be the most important thing for a team to win a game, and some by a very long shot.
Winter opines on drafting
A quote by Winter aptly illustrates how much he believes a draft contributes to the chances of a team taking a victory. As he says, “if a team with superior skills has a weaker draft compared to their opponents, who are less skilled but with a superior draft, it will give the better team a hard time or may even cost them the game. When top teams clash, both sides are pretty evenly skilled so it is draft and individual brilliance that makes the difference.”
And now, the rest
Most of us aren’t too bothered about drafting too well because, as stated above, we aren’t at the “highest levels” of DotA. DsD.Amnesia says “for average teams and lower level teams, decision making and certain mistakes in the game are a large factor to the proceedings of the game. Team decision is another major factor, like the decision to push for a Rax or Roshan after a favorable engagement, or the decision to continue pushing while your base is under siege or to come back and engage.”
The rest of the people I interviewed were pretty much stumped when I told them that they couldn’t credit “personal skills” as the main determinant of victory in a game apart from the draft. Valk of prominent Singaporean Team Gaming Giants provided “lane control, knowledge of warding and ganking” as the rest of the “important factors”. D4rK3n5r3b0rN said “WTF can I say when you don’t want me to say ‘teamwork good and personal skills’” and proceeded to say that the other game breaking factor in winning a game of DotA was all about “positioning”. “Avoiding positions which would allow someone to be caught, and camping the right lanes at the right time.”
At this point, I will quote the statement provided by d4rkw1sh, oft considered the best supporting player locally. While not answering the questions I provided him, he provided some very good insight into DotA that is too much of a waste to not provide.
Here is the quote, in its entirety:
“Drafts are very funny things, sometimes they don’t matter! For example, you can be looking at a totally weak looking draft vs a strong looking draft (varies person to person) and you can just see the totally weak drafting trashing the strong one. Of course the flow of the game and skills of the players play a big part of it. Then again, sometimes when you look at drafts that are just absolute hard counters in every way you might just be right - there is no hope.
Overall I would like to say that I’m bringing all of you in circles. LOL. Actually, doing the right thing at the right time and being at the wrong place at the wrong time determines the game!
Just one person dying on the half upper of your island could actually make you lose a Rax or two. Let’s say you’ve pushed out too far and you have no TP and the opponent is almost at your doorstep and you have to run all the way back and by then your team has engaged and died. Then when you return you’ll probably die too and become useless too and just pass them more gold and a Rax.
It’s doing the right thing at the right time and being at the right place and right time that is hard.”
Tune in soon for the related article of true displays of the highest level of individual flair. Maybe. Or something related.
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