Strafe Recommends: Ace Dota 2

There are lots of sources of reliable information if you want to improve your Dota 2 performance. Recently, offlaners have been rumored to be a dying breed and Marcus "Ace" Christensen decided to do something about it.

Ace used to add clips from his games to his YouTube channel but recently pivoted to more intentional content. Now, on top of watching his replays, we get tips on the best way to play heroes both in and out of the meta, straight from him.

Ace has taken the role of offlane guru in the last couple months.

Ace Dota 2: Best Offlane Heroes To Play

Despite the changes in patch 7.41, the more popular offlane heroes were either mostly untouched or did not receive nerfs. His channel seems to use an AI model, sometimes trained with his voice, to narrate the videos.

Nonetheless, the content is solid and covers most of what you need to play the suggested heroes, with a basic build recommendation, the best talents to choose and a brief explanation of why Ace thinks each hero is strong.

Farming Patterns: The Best Way to Get Ahead

Another interesting video in the recent batch of updates on Ace's YouTube channel is a detailed explanation of his farming patterns while playing Centaur Warrunner.

If you have played Dota 2 for a decent amount of time, you might know how much efficient farming can change your results. Ace gives his fans a blueprint for what might as well be the default offlaner farming pattern, with no questions asked.

7.41b and Points of Interest

As usual, whenever a balancing patch comes out, everyone has their own point of view. Despite some differences, other changes are widely agreed upon, such as Meepo's destruction in 7.41b.

Ace also released a video sharing his thoughts on the latest balancing patch, especially from the offlane perspective. Some heroes were adjusted, but no offlaners were pushed out of the meta.

Lycan: Running Laps Around the Meta

Finally, his most recent video is an explanation of how Lycan has been consistently performing well for a while now. We have seen Ace picking Lycan occasionally, and he might become more popular now that physical damage and armor reduction are effective counters to meta carries.

He explains the finer details of playing Lycan, starting before the initial horn and going step by step. His attention to detail and focus on making the most out of your wolves' abilities show how much you can get out of Lycan if you try a little harder.

Lycan can be another option to deal with Lifestealer, which we already talked about in the article where we mentioned possible counters and even featured Ace and his Slardar video.

Closing Thoughts

If you enjoy trying to find your own picks when Valve changes the meta, getting a second opinion from Dota content is always a good idea. Ace's YouTube channel is becoming a strong source of insight, especially for offlaners.

Even if you don't like playing Lycan or Slardar, you can work with the idea of high physical damage and armor reduction to find your own picks, even as a support using cheaper items and physical damage dealers such as Dazzle and Visage.

If you want to stick around and check our next recommendations or keep an eye on upcoming tournament coverage, check out the news section on the Strafe website!

Featured Image Source: Flickr (dota2ti)