Fourth Spirit - A Dota 2 Podcast

In which Ursi and Proud break apart all of the patch changes in 7.27, how they affect the state of the game, how they interplay with various heroes, what changes are most significant, and tons more! We also learn about exchange rates of attack speed to attack damage, which heroes would make the best vampires, which heroes are now dagon users (hint: none), and more.

On a special episode of the podcast Proud, Ursi, and Bee get together to talk about current events surrounding the overall Dota structure, how the community should hold people accountable, how different people have reacted to current events, how pro players factor into things, what the future holds for Dota as a scene, and other facets of the esports ecosystem. Other casual dota topics follow, including: Ember Spirit, Windranger, art restoration, adventures in the forest ft. gun, and a few other things!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi develop the idea between what makes a hero a 'good hero' vs. what makes a hero a 'bad hero' in a given metagame! Topics include: Monkey King, Puck as a support, Ursa, Ursi's Tinker experiment developments, Armor!!!, Anti-Mage, Naga Siren, and plenty more!

On this week's Teach Me Tuesday Bee and Ursi cover a bunch of mid heroes they've been playing, a bunch they aren't, and discuss getting the most out of the lane! Topics include: scheduling Dota, Tinker, aggressive buybacks, smoking, lane swaps, Jakiro, Windranger, OD, Tinker, Cavern Crawl, and plenty more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi contemplate the value of a femur in a fight, the relative strength of New Jersians vs. Moose, and maybe even some Dota 2! Topics include: Mid lane maximization, Silencer as a 4 vs. Silencer as a 5, support duo synergy, Tusk, Ursa, Battlefury's transformative abilities, minus armor, Void Spirit, Jakiro, Wraith King, optimizing Clinkz for +dmg, Wand vs. casual stick, and plenty more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi talk about a few mini-segments, a whole lot of week-in-dota, and end up playing a stun-heavy Chaos Knight + Lion lane! Topics include: Cavern Crawl experiences, how to learn a new hero efficiently, Luna, Helm of the Dominator, Drum, Warhammer, Raindrops, Natures Prophet, heavy harass offlanes & support duos, Zeus, Drow, Anti-Mage is a pox upon our society, 5 support rotation strategy, and plenty more!

On this week's Theory Craft Thursday Proud and Ursi chat about the developing Battle Pass and the trend of carries who excel at poking and prodding, rather than traditional bursty hard carries! Topics include: Personas vs. Arcanas, more Troll Warlord hate, Brewmaster, Venomancer, Ogre, Maneater, Dark Willow, Lifestealer, Clinkz, late game itemization, Sange & Yasha, and plenty more!

This week on Teach Me Tuesday/Wednesday, Bee & Proud give their thoughts on everything in the Battle Pass! They also discuss a wild Lycan game & Bee's first attempt at playing Timbersaw and what items to get. Sound's a little fucked cause of trains and stuff, sorry friends I did my best.

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi discuss a couple near-perfect team comps, a whole lot of reflection on the game right now, predictions for Battle Pass, Legion Commander, Clinkz, Lifestealer testing, why Ursi's CK experiment is done with, and plenty more!

In which Bee and Ursi pull apart a bunch of 3 vs. 1 matchups, learn to differentiate between agressive + defensive lanes, go on a bunch of tangents, and more! Topics include: Timbersaw, the Monster Effect, cooking muscles, Centaur Warrunner, Bane, relaxation in Dota, Bonsai, Brewmaster, and plenty more!

On this week's Theorycraft Proud and Ursi talk about how Spell Prism outperforms every other neutral item, supporting is real weird, numbers are nonsense, and more! Topics include: Clinkz, Pudge, Illusionist's Cape, Spectre, Feeling behind when you're ahead, courier metagame, starting items, Orb of Venom, Void Spirit, Templar Assassin matchups, missing hooks, playing 'frontliners', and plenty more!

On this week's Teach Me Tuesday/Wednesday, Proud & Bee delve into the concept of creep skipping and how to pull it off when you're having a rough offlane. They also discuss how caring about dota is hard, Spider Legs are actually boots, how to counter Snapfire, Bane & Winter Wyvern things, and whether drinking caffeine makes you win.

In which Ursi and Proud cover all the recent meta developments, their reignited love of Ability Draft, and try out Wraith King 3 alongside 4 Tiny! Topics include: Lone Druid, Ursi throwing Sven games, how impossible it is to push a tier 2, Lone Druid, Monkey King, mid Dazzle, ability draft, long games, Wraith King's differing function as a 3 or a 1, Clinkz, and plenty more!

In which Ursi is joined by semi-regular-but-still-special guest Migs to meander about a few highlights from 7.26c, a few misconceptions, larger laning changes developing after deny changes, and the weird reality of 4 Sniper being trendy in pubs! Other topics include: PA Coup de Grace talent, evasion talents, core Sniper builds, Juggernaut, new player adjustments, quarantine haircuts, World of the Married, Windrangers with bashers, and more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud has some hot takes which Ursi convinced him to make into a manifesto that will surely prevent both of us from getting jobs in the future. Topics include: Patch 7.26b, Lone Druid, Deny changes, the talent fiasco, tower regen changes, item drop timings, Bounty Hunter's existence, how the dota changes affect new people, overall feelings, Winter Wyvern, winning games where you lack a clear win condition, and more!

In which Ursi and Proud discuss the abundance of changes in 7.26a, some of which don't matter, others of which matter a lot! Topics inculde: the biggest winners & losers of 7.26 & 7.26a, Proud's newfound appreciation for MKB as a damage item, last hitting efficiency, Lone Druid, Dignitas, Clinkz' big buffs, Alchemist's big nersf, Troll Warlord's existence, Necrophos 3, Sekiro, and more!

This week on Teach Me Tuesday, Proud & Bee discuss how and when to farm as an offlaner. Also on the agenda; MMR histories, pesky Pudges & neutral items as cosmetics.

In which Proud and Ursi discuss many things, as always. You should be used to this by now, seriously. Topics include: XCOM, Drow, Slark, Monkey King detox, Nyx Assassin, Ursi's encounter with a 4 Weaver, Crystal Maiden maybe being good, how to pick fights, the idea of 'miscellaneous damage', Ember, KotL, and more!

On this week's Teach Me Tuesday Ursi and Bee get deeper into Bee's transition into an offlane player and answer a listener question on improving when you're newer to the game! Topics include: Centaur Warrunner, Dragon Knight, Sven, Crystal Maiden, how the heck Retaliate actually works, denying for lane advantages, Phantom Lancer, Nyx Assassin, and more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi try desperately to make heroes that are bad into heroes that are good, but it is a fool's errand. We also discuss a new theory of drafting which helps to visualize the value of certain hero picks (see below for a visual representation made by Proud), and plenty more topics as always! CHEXIMAGE

In which Beedub and Ursi cover how to build-up your hero pool without driving yourself nuts losing games! Topics include: Queen of Pain, safe 3 picks, Magnus, Centaur Warrrunner, 'boilerplate' heroes, diversifying picks, identifying advantages/disadvantages within matchups, and plenty more!

In which Proud and Ursi discuss their recent adventures playing a ton of Dota, both good and bad! Combo for this week was 1 Luna with 5 Oracle! Other topics include: Monkey King, Weaver trials, Pugna's popularity, KotL + Ember as a combo, Tiger King, Doom Mid, teamfight geometry, Sven builds, and plenty more!

Edit: Fixed how awful the quality is, damn sorry friends. On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi do a fusion dance and become one. Topics include: Death Prophet's strength, 7.25b quick review, Blademail, expanding the 3 pool, different pushing archetypes, Weaver, Monkey King Bar, Monkey King himself, Dragon Knight, Pugna, Meepo, and plenty more!

On this week's return to Teach Me Tuesday Bee and Ursi exlpore Bee's re-entry into Dota, have some epiphanies regarding play, positions, and more, reassess some theories, talk about common problems we're running into, and plenty more!

In which Ursi and Proud recap their first dozen-or-so games of the new patch 7.25/7.25a and play the newly-buffed Gyrocopter alongside a 5 Tusk to cover niche, hyper-situation 5 support synergies! Other topics include: Snapfire's new aghs, Juggernaut builds, Lion, Manta vs. SnY, Bane, Lion, Weaver, the new pick phase structure and its implications on meta, and plenty more!

My mic's kinda messed up at the start but we're just talking about owls or something feel free to skip forward a couple minutes idk In which Ursi, Proud, and Bee analyze the full patch notes for 7.25! We have debates about the new picking order, do lots of Math, develop their owl impressions, HP regen, all the hero changes, and plenty more !

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi develop their pool of heroes in this patch! Topics include: building crit items on Phantom Assassin, Bristleback, Luna, the value of weird niche counters like needing to turn heroes around, Silencer, attack range actually being valuable, 3 Meepo (?!), Spirit Breaker's hidden value, and more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thurs-Fri-Day Proud and Ursi break from their cocoons and become beautiful butterflies, only to die 7 days later. Topics include: Bristleback (as a carry!?), Crystal Maiden, new ranked badges explained, Phantom Lancer, Earthshaker, enabling Storm Spirit, and plenty more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi get together to reassess their feelings about pro dota thanks to the new and exciting DPC changes, review patch 7.24b's nerfs to our favs and not-so-favs, chat about their week playing a whole ton of different heroes, discuss their love of blademail on any-and-all heroes, their time playing some old-favorite heroes (like Pangolier) and newly-favorite heroes (like Snapfire), and plenty more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi find a way to play 4 Queen of Pain. Topics include: Blademail, Crystalys, Lifestealer, Ursi throwing Kunkka games, Snapfire (as always), Lion, Meepo, Morphling, Witch Doctor's place at the moment, draft phase mindgames, which heroes may be furries, Midas, and plenty more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thurs(Fri)day Proud and Ursi get together to go back to basics, playing a classic lane combination! Other topics include: more Snapfire chat, Astronauts, Lich, Phantom Assassin, dropping out of high school, Big Momma Britain, Morphling, Kunkka, casual Crystalys', support Pugna rising in popularity, Clinkz, and plenty more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi discuss: Morphling, common trilane hazards & pitfalls, Outworld Devourer, Shadow Shaman being utter trash, Riki being the opposite of that, predictions for 7.24a minor changes, Meriweather Lewis, the irrelevance of Night Vision talents, Snapfire' prevalence, and more! For our game we played 3 Slardar with 4 Rubick!

On this week's Theorycraft Thurs (Mon) Day Proud and Ursi get to react to the new patch and its small-but-fun changes! For our focus we played Grimstroke 5 with Sven 1 and loved it! Other topics include: Spectre, Juggernaut's return to our hero pool, neutral item slots, wrestling, Grim Dawn, Sonic, and plenty, plenty more!

Ursi and Proud get together to review the exciting new patch 7.24! We do a full run-through and get into all the details, test some theories, and get excited to play a whole lot of new things!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi start all kinds of beef with all kinds of people, from their teammates to their competitors and, most of all, their friends (now enemies, i guess). Topics include: Clinkz, Treant Protector, Tier 5 items, Path of Exile, the new ranked system, Phantom Lancer counters, Dark Willow, Pro meta vs. pub meta, Disruptor, WoW, and plenty more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi discuss everything known to man. Some topics include: Drow Ranger, Tusk, Monkey King, Path of Exile, Stalker, Clockwerk, what makes a mediocre team comp, Omniknight, Children of Blood & Bone, Cogs, Shadow Fiend, and plenty more!

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On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi are joined by Gothir to play a game, chat about dota, cover the new mini-patch (7.23f) and more! Some covered topics include: Slark, Bloodseeker, Puck, Phantom Lancer Aghs, Magnus, dealing with tanky heroes, Oracle, anti-kiting strategies, the value of Boots of Travel, and plenty more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi bring in 2020 by looking at a few games they played before recording, their week in Dota, meta developments, and plenty more! Topics include: Ancient Apparition, the current small-but-well-defined support pool, dealing with smurfs, the value of last pick, Proud's new Tiny build, Shadow Fiend, Huskar, the absurd value of kiting, Mirana, and more!

On this holiday Friday Proud and Ursi get together to chat about their experience with Dota recently, holiday gifts, the Witcher Netflix series, explaining what the 2-4 Framework is (patent pending), patch discomfort, patch enthusiasm, Dota player numbers over the years, laning opportunity cost(s), cooking with cast-iron, knife companies, and plenty more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi break into 100 different topics in 100 minutes. Topics include: the expansion of the current 5 pool, Skywrath's dominance as the perfect 4, Ursi being the victim of biological warfare, Queen of Pain, AOE stuns being the key to victory, Lifestealer, Tiny, Puck, Grimstroke, how to operate a super strong 3 + 4 combo lane, and plenty more!

LAST COUPLE MINUTES OF THE EPISODE GOT FUCKED UP, HERE'S IT IN FULL I HAD TO TALK QUIET SO IM A LITTLE STATICY PLEASE BE NICE TO ME

I HAD TO TALK QUIET SO IM A LITTLE STATICY PLEASE BE NICE TO ME

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi open their minds' eye by claiming outposts near and far. Our combo we analyze and play this week is carry Tiny with 5 Dark Willow, who complement eachother swimmingly! Topics include: Ursa, Treant Protector, 3 Venomancer, weird hero choices (especially 4's), hero picking order changes, the value of support counterpicks & carry counterpicks, Slardar, Pugna, underplayed heroes, mango tree placement, and plenty more!

On this week's Theorycraft Thursday Proud and Ursi establish that there are no longer any 5's, only 3.5's and 4's with the new Support changes working their way into changing the pub meta! Topics include: Void Spirit, Snapfire, PA being terrible, Pangolier, jungle items, Mask of Madness LD, 4 Luna, 3 Venge, and plenty more!

On this continuation of our review of the huge 7.23 patch notes Proud and Ursi get deeper into the patch after having played a whole lot of games! We're covering the new heroes, new map, new items, new RNG components, specific heroes (notably the very-high-winrate-increase heroes like AM, CM, Venge, LD, etc.), Proud's take on the new (very strong!) Lone Druid, Kunkka's aghs, how supporting has changed already, item equity amongst teammates, and plenty, plenty more!

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On this week's short Teach Me Tuesday Bee and Ursi do their last Teach Me Tuesday of patch 7.22, make their predictions about 7.23 right before it comes out, and talk about other general Dota topics, as always! Other topics include: Butterflies, Dragon Knight as a 3, Techies, Comfort Heroes, Earthshaker, Cramming in a ton of Dota, Kaya item combinations, and more!

On this week's Theory Craft Thursday we rejoice in the coming of a new patch and say farewell to 7.22 and its various iterations! We're chatting about our highlights from the patch, what we learned & took away from our experiences over the last 6 months or so, and plenty more before we play Lifestealer with 5 CM as our final combo of the patch! Other topics include: how much money Valve deserves as tithes, the stompiest heroes, Faceless Void builds, Underlord, Anti-Mage, Ursi's encounter with a prophetic 11 year old, the development of the 4 position hero pool & game role, super-late-game decision making, and plenty more!

On this week's Teach Me Tuesday Beedub and Ursi embrace the wonderful land of the offlane, Bee's new home! We get Hot Takes about pro dota, support Abaddon chat, Tidehunter, Earthshaker, courier sniping, the new Pokemon game, which names are the best, and plenty more!