An advanced guide for Dota Auto Chess

As promised, I’m back with an advanced guide for Dota Auto Chess. Instead of sharing specific strategies and saying “play this strat, you will win the game 100%”, I am going to share the best piece of advice I can offer, and hopefully you will be able to learn a thing or two from this guide.

Always aim for a winning streak. But at the same time, you should be able to judge whether you can maintain it or not.

Being on a winning streak is beneficial throughout the game. You will get the win streak bonus, (up to +3 gold per round) and your courier will also not be taking any damage. Having a hefty amount of HP on your courier is good since you won’t be forced to make hasty moves in the mid-late game if you start going on a losing streak.

At the same time, if you see that you are getting really bad rolls, its often better to go on a losing streak (which also grants up to +3 gold per round). When you are on a losing streak, make sure you are taking as less damage on the courier as possible. This is not always very easy to do since it’s an 8-player game, and the opponent is chosen by random. If you get someone who’s also on a losing streak, you might even end up beating him and lose your streak bonus. The best way to judge this is to have a lot of experience. Once you have played enough games, you will be able to roughly estimate whether you are going to win a battle or not.

Another advantage of being on a win-streak is to be able to easily defeat the neutral creeps. If you are on a losing streak, you will most likely lose to the neutrals as well since they are very strong. Neutrals have a chance to drop items on death. For some reason, items are very underrated right now, but they have the potential to make/break a game. I will talk more about items later in the guide.

Try your best to never re-roll your chesses. The only time you should be re-rolling is if you desperately need a unit-upgrade to maintain your winning streak, or if you have more than 50 gold stockpiled.

The focus of the early-mid game is to transition into the late-game with a lot of gold and as little damage to your courier as possible. The optimal economy is to always have 50 gold stockpiled and be on a winning streak. Once you have over 50 gold, you can start spending your money to buy XP or roll and get whatever units you need for your strategy.

There are 5 points at which you get interest on your gold (10,20,30,40,50). For example, if you are at 22 gold, you get 10% interest after the round i.e. 2 gold. Even if you are at 29 gold, you will only get an interest of 2 gold. And if you have 30 or more gold, you will get an interest of 3 gold.

Keeping this in mind, if you are close to an interest point, you might want to sell a few units to reach the interest point so that you get the extra gold after the round. Also, since 50 is the final interest point, there is no use saving money if you have over 50 gold.

Do not tunnel vision onto a single strategy from the beginning of the game.

If you fixate onto a certain strategy right from the beginning of the game, there is a high chance you will start re-rolling when you do not get the units you need. This is really bad for your economy and you will soon start struggling to remain in the game.

Also, most late-game strategies are generally very weak in the early-game. (like assassins and demon hunters) Many players get tunnel visioned and start picking chesses which are only good in the late-game. This ruins their early-game and they tank a lot of damage onto their courier. Eventually they end up taking an early exit from the game.

Have a general idea about all the different strategies so that you can play advantageously, irrespective of the rolls you are given.

Knowing which units and synergies are strong at all the different points of the game is a very important skill to learn. The best players do not plan out their strategies right from the beginning of the game, since the game is highly dependent on RNG. You should be able to make the best out of your situation, no matter what kind of rolls you are being given.

For example, Warriors and Mechs are really strong in the early game, but if you are not getting the required rolls, utilize whatever synergy your rolls are offering.

As a wise man once said, “Anything can work.”

Make sure to check out this amazing community hero tier list made by reddit users, /u/Questica and u/loopuleasa

Get a general idea of how to position your chesses on the board.

Unless all of your units are high level, you will always need a front-line hero that can tank the damage, so that your damage-dealers can dish out as much damage as possible. If other players are playing assassins, you will need another tanky unit to protect your backline. Having good positioning can easily give you the edge to win a round. You will be able to understand the movement patterns of the units, once you start playing a lot of games.

Always make sure to keep checking what your opponents are building.

Keeping tabs on your opponents is a really good habit. This will give you information on what units are available on the deck (since all the players get rolls from the same deck). It will also give you a chance to counter them with certain units and also to change your positioning as per the needs. At the very least, you should keep tabs on the top 3 players in the game.

You will reach a certain point in the game after which you will have to commit to a build.

Once the late-game kicks in, you will need to know which 10 units you will be playing. It is extremely crucial to plan for this during the mid-game. This will keep you calm in the late-game and you will be able to focus on selecting the correct chesses from your re-rolls.

Items are extremely powerful and can win/lose you the round, especially in the late-game.

There are many late-game items like Refresher, Daedalus, MKB etc. which can completely devastate an enemy. Make sure to check out all the combinations available for whatever item drop you get.

Plan very carefully which items you are going to give to a unit. The only way to retrieve your item is to sell the unit.

It is a good practice to drop your items in a corner after picking them up from the neutrals. This way, your items will not get accidentally combined into something you don’t want (Like Mask of Madness).

Many of the items are good throughout the game. Items like Chainmail and Stout Shield are very strong in the early game. Items like Hood and Desolator are very strong in the mid-late game.

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