Source
r/learndota2•
OneTwoSixty

I buy/rush blink dagger every game. Am I too dependent on it?

For background, I have 900 hours in the game and started playing a year ago. Hit 2.5k solo at the end of the summer, but now only play party pubs with pals for fun.

No doubt blink is great. I primarily play support and spam Lion, Shadow Shaman, and CM because folks in my games are easy blink initiation fodder. My favorite thing in the game is blinking away on reaction when getting initiated on or to dodge a spell.

Problem is I play one-dimensionally and always rush blink after wand and boots. I have poor positioning before the mobility (always charging in recklessly to land that frostbite) and I am super greedy for the first 14 minutes by stealing unsafe runes and by farming empty lanes when I could be helping a teammate. I feel pretty useless before I get the dagger up and running, but my ability to effect the game increases dramatically afterward.

It ain’t really broke and there’s no dire need to fix it, but is what I’m doing okay? Should I experiment more with drums or an earlier glimmer/force? Should I totally switch it up and play heroes that don’t normally blink initiate like Dazzle and Omni?

Posted Feb 11, 2018, 10:11 PM UTC

35
DotaADayThere's No Morphling Like Supporphling•

It sounds like you know the answer and you're just looking for validation.

This sounds stupid, but if you're dying but you know why you're dying, then don't do what's making you die. It's a point of self control. Yeah, you can switch to Witch Doctor or Oracle or whatever hero you like, but positioning issues are independent of what hero you're playing.

So my personal recommendation? GIT GUD SCR- just kidding. Be mindful. It seems you're willing to acknowledge mistakes, the next step is fixing them.

(....although both shadow shaman and CM usually prefer glimmers before blink, but that's me)

3
OneTwoSixtyOP•

Ha! You're totally right! I'll keep the post up just 'cuz, but yeah, this is a me problem more than a blink problem. Cheers.

2
UNBR34K4BL35k blind hooker•

I have poor positioning before the mobility (always charging in recklessly to land that frostbite)

sounds like you need to fix this rather than your item build

3
DONGPOCALYPSE5k•

Lion and SS are pretty one dimensional, getting blink is pretty much what you do most of the time. Just don't skip your value items like wand/raindrop/wind lace though, they almost always pay for themselves. Also get tranqs or arcanes too. CM is more likely to get glimmer 1st because of ult value, but any support can get it as a counter to burst magic damage, in particular its a hard counter to necro. You also switch your blink for a force when you need it to counter certain enemy heroes like Riki or Clockwerk, but most of the time it'll just be blink. Items that you should consider instead of blink are urn and medallion. Pos5 medallion is less common on the supports you listed but is pretty core on supports who have kits that syengize with the armor reduction like venge and dazzle. It can also be the key to getting a REALLY early rosh timing on drafts that normally don't have someone solo it early, we're talking like 10-15 minute aegis. Notice how all my examples are instances of getting specific items to do specific things; what the best choice to get is will always be drafty dependent and will change every game. It's good that farm as a support, the trick to it is to WALK to lanes so your TP is always off CD if you need to save someone who's being dove. Farming isn't always the best way to get gold though, killing the enemy with your team and transitioning the kill into a tower is a lot of money. You just have to be able to figure out what the best thing to do is, aka the point of the entire game.

2
erpuge•

Rushing blink is not good most of the times, because supports have impact in early game and throwing it away to buy a blink is not really useful. You should first of all try to get your blink in a "natural" way, ganking and getting assists (instead of afk farming for it), and then gradually try to get rid of the habit by experimenting positioning and learning how to move properly. This obviously doesn't mean you won't buy a blink again in your life because on Heroes like ss and Lion it is almost mandatory, but you get the idea. I used to buy blink like you but some games go bad and you just won't have the money to get it, so let it be a situational item and not your core first item.

1