Chapter 717: Blue Ogre, Get Out of the Intelligence Class! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Chapter 717: Blue Ogre, Get Out of the Intelligence Class! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

“How about we team up for a bot match? Before playing regular matchmaking, I think you need to play a few bot matches, but you can choose to cooperate with players against bots,” Zhang Yi said to Wang Han beside him.

“Alright, perfect. I can try out this Ogre Magi Arcana that looks like a Blue Ogre,” Wang Han nodded in agreement.

After all, they had just unboxed a seemingly high-grade cosmetic, and everyone wanted to enter the game and experience it.

They teamed up for matchmaking. There were five difficulty levels for the bots.

From Easy to Insane, but you could only unlock the next difficulty level after clearing the previous one. This design was primarily to give players an experience, similar to the Terrorist Hunt Mode in Rainbow Six Siege.

Insane difficulty bots in DOTA were programmed to react like normal AI. Some lower-ranked players might even struggle in lane against the bots' deny farming.

As for spell chaining in team fights, the in-game AI was also quite advanced.

Of course, that was for Insane difficulty AI. As for the other four AI difficulties, unless a player literally didn't know how to play at all and couldn't even follow recommended item builds, it was basically impossible to lose.

Zhang Yi and Wang Han teamed up and started an Easy bot match.

The moment they clicked, the preparation screen popped up instantly; it was an immediate queue, clearly indicating a huge number of players.

Upon entering the hero selection screen, rows of heroes were available for selection, making Zhang Yi and Wang Han a little overwhelmed.

Below, there were also various roles for heroes, such as Core, Support, and more specific ones like Tank, Burst, and so on.

Wang Han didn't hesitate much and directly chose Ogre Magi.

Zhang Yi pretended to think for a moment, then chose Dragon Knight.

“My hero is a core position. Can go all three lanes?” Zhang Yi was a little surprised looking at the Tank, Core, Initiator, and Disabler tags below Dragon Knight.

“Ugh, why is this Ogre Magi a support? Shouldn't a mage be the main damage dealer?” Wang Han looked speechless at the tags below her hero.

The remaining three players, after careful consideration, also successively picked their heroes:

Terrorblade, Mirana, and Invoker Carl.

Clearly, they either had cosmetics for these heroes or chose them because of the Dragon's Blood anime, picking the main characters.

However, the role assignments were very clear, and the team composition was quite reasonable. This obviously showed the significant impact of the new player tutorial.

Chen Xu put so much effort into the new player tutorial precisely to help players better understand what kind of game DOTA is.

For example, for Zhang Yi's Dragon Knight, when choosing the top, middle, or bottom lane, friendly tips would appear.

If one had a deep understanding of DOTA, these friendly tips would feel like taking off your pants to fart, perhaps even a bit comical. But in the current situation, they clearly helped players understand the division of labor and purpose of the three lanes, encouraging players to fulfill their roles according to their hero's characteristics.

Of course, it was just encouragement. Players could also play with a five-core lineup; whether they won or not depended on their own skills.

After confirming the hero selection, there was a period for players to strategize and pre-purchase their starting items.

Following the prompts, Zhang Yi bought two Gauntlets of Strength, a Tango, a Salve, and a Quelling Blade, perfectly spending all his starting 600 gold.

Wang Han bought two Observer Wards and, as prompted, also bought a Sentry Ward. Then, she fully stocked up on two Iron Branch, a Clarify Potion, a Tango, and a Healing Salve.

Upon entering the game, Zhang Yi and Wang Han immediately headed to the top lane.

Wang Han brought her two Observer Wards with her, placing them on the high ground indicated by the system. The other three random players had no objections either, as it was clear that new players had no concept of needing wards for the middle lane.

Zhang Yi then glanced at the other three players. As he expected, all three had cosmetics.

And they looked quite flashy.

“My hero feels so complicated! I have ten abilities! But why do I have to cast them manually?”

At this moment, the Carl player, who had already run to the mid-lane river's tier-one tower, spoke the first words in the game over voice chat. This Carl player was completely bewildered.

At level one, he could only learn three orbs, representing Strength, Agility, and Intelligence, and each orb had additional effects.

Ice Orb granted health regeneration, Lightning Orb granted attack and movement speed, and Fire Orb granted attack damage. Finally, there was a spell called Invoke, which, according to the description, required combining the three orbs in different sequences to summon corresponding spells.

“Is this hero that powerful?”

“He's invincible! We only have four skills, not counting yellow attribute points, but you have 10? Isn't that broken?”

The Terrorblade and Mirana players in the bottom lane also chimed in.

“But how can I use all of them? Although the game system says this hero is complex to operate, this is too complex, isn't it?” The Carl player was equally speechless.

“Then don't switch spells. I feel like your hero isn't meant for casting spells. Look, your hero's orbs can be leveled up seven times, and it's an Intelligence hero, which means you get 14 extra Intelligence points, or 14 attack damage, for free. And a level 7 Fire Orb adds 14 attack damage, so three Fire Orbs are 42 attack damage. I see you also have a skill called Alacrity, which at max level adds 94 attack damage and 94 attack speed. If you build attack items, use Lightning Orb to attack people, and if you build attack speed items, use Fire Orb to attack people!” Zhang Yi carefully studied Carl's skills and offered his suggested strategy.

“But this isn't in the recommended item builds,” the mid-lane Carl said skeptically.

“I think the Dragon Knight bro makes sense, your hero is invincible!”

“Yeah, yeah, worthy of being the mastermind from the anime. This will definitely get nerfed later!”

“Terrorblade, you're not bad either! Look how high your Agility gain is, and your armor is super high. Your third skill can also switch to ranged and adds sixty attack damage!”

The two players in the bottom lane were clearly convinced by Zhang Yi's theory and began to flatter each other.

“But Dragon Knight bro, aren't you the protagonist of the game? You don't look as beefy as the Ogre Magi next to you, do you?”

“Yeah, and your ultimate transformation into a dragon only has a toxic attack? No attack damage bonus?”

“Aren't you the protagonist in the anime? So weak!”

“Davion, how am I, Mirana, supposed to support you? I'll just stick with Terrorblade!”

Listening to the other two players, Zhang Yi shifted his attention to his Dragon Knight.

Weak? He felt it was alright. The third skill added armor and health regen, and the ultimate at level two had a splash effect for farming, and at level three, it even had a slow effect similar to the Frost Dragon in Warcraft.

Plus, it had a breath attack for farming damage and a single-target stun. It was quite comprehensive, he thought.

But what was this about being too squishy? Didn't they see his third skill added so much armor?

Zhang Yi was puzzled. He then clicked his mouse on the Ogre Magi next to him, who had just placed two wards on the high ground indicated by the system.

Then he froze.

What did he just see!?

“No, is your hero really a support!?”

His Dragon Knight started with 56 attack damage, 3 armor, 21 strength, 620 health, and a strength gain of 3.4 per level.

But this two-headed Ogre Magi in front of him, with 52 attack damage, 7 armor, 23 strength, 660 health, and a strength gain of 3.3 per level—what the heck was that?

Zhang Yi double-checked. Yep, it was right!

This Ogre Magi was an Intelligence hero, but what was with this excessive strength gain and attributes?

Are you the support, or am I the support?

Blue Ogre, get out of the Intelligence class!

(End of Chapter) <>