From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

"This wave showed us Terrorblade's ability to fight head-on. No one on the Dire side can actually confront him head-on. They can only rely on Terrorblade's Black King Bar (BKB) to kill him with his skills after it ends. So Terrorblade immediately teleports away after his BKB ends to prevent the opponent from killing him."

"Yeah, both the Radiant and Dire suffered heavy casualties in this wave. The birdman bought back but still couldn't kill Terrorblade. Timbersaw only managed to control the Aegis, and Puck got a Refresher Orb Shard. It's fair to say that it wasn't a very profitable situation for either side."

The two commentators analyzed the Roshan fight from several aspects.

After the Roshan fight, the Dire didn't push with the Aegis, since their carry, the Birdman, didn't have the Aegis and died after buying back. They could only let Kayn farm some safe resources and let Timbersaw push the dangerous lane. The two sides were deadlocked until 47 minutes and 50 seconds, when Timbersaw's Aegis expired and the two sides met near the river.

Gu Ran's Puck had a Disc of Light and was farming in the mid lane. His four teammates were nearby, and just as they finished farming a wave of creeps, Tidehunter jumped in and stomped on them, and with Terrorblade's damage, they immediately forced the Disc of Light out of their hand. Timbersaw saw this and charged into the Radiant crowd with a Chain Saw, activating Aghanim's Scepter and Revitalizing Armor to rampage. Terrorblade had just activated Metamorphosis when he was immediately silenced by Venomancer, and the two illusions that appeared were killed by Terrorblade using Satanic.

Seeing that Terrorblade had activated his Metamorphosis, the Dire retreated to the right side of the river, intending to stall until Terrorblade's Metamorphosis ended before engaging. Radiant, of course, couldn't let the Dire escape so easily. Terrorblade and Tidehunter immediately used Blink Dagger to chase Timbersaw, forcing Timbersaw to use his Black King Bar. Rangor also immediately followed up with his Harp to buff the carries' movement speed and damage output.

However, the opposing team's formation was immediately broken, and Kayn, who had been hiding in the shadows, found an opportunity to kill. He spotted the Keeper of the Light in the backline from the high ground in the Radiant's main jungle, and immediately used Blink Dagger to get close and kill him in a few hits. Then he activated Black King Bar and tried to kill Treant Protector. Treant Protector could only use his ultimate to entangle Kayn and save his life.

Terrorblade couldn't kill Timbersaw head-on, and his lack of control prevented him from killing Gu Ran's Puck. Looking back, he saw that one of his two supports was dead and the other had escaped. He quickly used Blink Dagger to return and duel with Kayn, but Kayn saw that Terrorblade had only activated Parry and then waited for the cooldown to be over before using Grappling Hook to escape.

At this point, the Tidehunter's Black King Bar (BKB) was activated. Timbersaw immediately used a Scythe of Vyse to control him and then activated his Flamethrower skill to start roasting him. Under the cover of Langgo, the Tidehunter fled in a sorry state. Terrorblade had no choice but to return to attack Timbersaw, allowing the Tidehunter and Langgo to retreat to the stairs in his own triangle area.

However, managing the Timbersaw meant neglecting the other two core units. Gu Ran's Puck immediately used Blink Dagger to enter the fray and directly targeted the Tidehunter. XS's Kayn also used Blink Dagger to enter the fray, marked the Tidehunter with Raven Sands, switched to Long Sword and Echoing Slash, followed by Raptor Dance. He maximized his damage output in one wave and took down the Tidehunter, but he was also killed by Terrorblade.

"Isn't Kai being a bit impulsive? Is trading his life for the Big Fishman really that worthwhile?"

Yuno feels that the point guard position is being too aggressive.

"Actually, Kay is playing the right way. His hero role is an assassin. In this team fight, Timbersaw and Puck can both use Dragon in the late game. Kay's task is to find opportunities to kill enemy members and deal damage."

Feng Zhuiyi explained that the current version is no longer an era that relies entirely on the carry position. In the late game, the Dire lineup actually relies on Timbersaw, who is the hero who needs to exert the most effort in team fights and has the best chance of catching the dragon.

Gu Ran's Puck took advantage of the chaos to eliminate the Treant Protector who was watching the show, leaving only Radiant's Terrorblade and Langgo facing the four Dire heroes on the battlefield.

TB can only kill one Venomancer with Black King Bar (BKB), and then he has to teleport back home before the BKB expires. In that case, Langgo can't retreat and gets taken down by Dire.

"We can see that the Dire's kiting in this wave is very exciting. In the last wave, they fought Terrorblade head-on and it was very fierce. Maybe they learned their lesson. In this wave, they kited Terrorblade and took advantage of the opponent's pursuit to cut off the backline first and kill Terrorblade's teammates. After Terrorblade's teammates were all dead, Terrorblade dared not fight anymore. After BKB ended, Terrorblade was just a toy for the Radiant."

On the main stage, commentator Feng Zhuiyi reviewed the team fight they had just witnessed while analyzing the Dire's tactical approach.

"TB also dealt a lot of damage in this wave, but he couldn't protect his teammates. There's nothing he can do. Once the skirmishes in the jungle become a drawn-out battle, the Radiant formation gets messed up and it's hard to win. In the end, Old Chicken's TB decisively used BKB and TP to leave. If he hadn't left, he probably wouldn't have been able to face Timbersaw and Puck's high spell damage at all."

Commentator YUNO agreed with Feng Zhuiyi's point of view and added some details.

Even after this kill, the Dire still couldn't push forward, but they could push all three lanes of creeps into the Radiant's half of the map. Terrorblade, without Black King Bar, didn't dare to appear in front of the two enemy magic-based carries and could only wait for the creeps to reach the high ground before farming. The economic gap between the two sides widened further, reaching 13,000.

At 52 minutes into the game, the fourth Roshan respawned, and both sides activated Smoke of Deceit again. The Radiant team stood in the woods to the left of their own Tier 1 tower ruins, while the Dire team activated Smoke of Deceit from the river.

Lu Chen's lumberjack took the lead, and his Blink Dagger opened up vision in Shiva.

[I've got my sheep on the lumberjack! He hasn't even skinned it!]

Sen's voice suddenly came through the Chalice team's voice chat channel.

Upon hearing this, Terrorblade immediately activated Terror Shock, and Slardar used Black King Bar to stun Timbersaw and began dealing damage. Venomancer was also affected by Terror Shock and couldn't jump to kill Timbersaw immediately. Under the damage output of Terrorblade and Slardar, Timbersaw fell in two seconds.

[oldchicken kills Huaqiang, earning 1288 gold + 1524 gold, split among 4 heroes]

【Huaqiang's godlike slaughter has ended】

After the Timbersaw died, the Radiant immediately started attacking Roshan.

The main stage switched to the Dire's voice channel to hear how they planned to respond.

[This wave is mine, I have buyback, should I buy it and fight them?]

Lu Chen's tone was filled with regret. He had saved a Black King Bar, but he didn't expect the opponent to already have a Scythe of Vyse and Terrorblade had already used AoE, so Venomancer couldn't save him.

【Don't buy it. We'll likely get wiped out if we try to force our way into Roshan's area. Terrorblade just needs to hold Roshan to force us into a direct confrontation. We've suffered from this in several Roshan raids. Let them fight; I'll see if I can steal the Aegis.】

The audience was wide awake at the mention of stealing the shield. Gu Ran had already stolen the shield once this round, so would he succeed this time?

Gu Ran observed the area near Roshan for a moment, then placed an illusion orb inside and only saw Terrorblade attacking the Aegis. Roshan's health was still around one-third. Instead of going directly to him, he used Blink Dagger to farm the wave.

The enemy team should have activated their smoke screen. If we jump in to contest without our teammates' interference, we might die. After judging that there was no chance, Gu Ran chose to push the lane and create pressure.

Thus, the Radiant side successfully secured the Aegis of Roshan.

[It's okay. The enemy pushing high ground with Aegis is our opportunity. Their formation will be disrupted. Terrorblade isn't that strong with Aegis; without Demonic Strike, he's useless.]

Gu Ran's calm tone reassured all his teammates. Making mistakes in such a critical situation is not terrible; what is terrible is regretting the mistake afterward, which will only affect their subsequent performance.

[Lu Chen, your strategy is sound. Our team fights rely on you initiating and locating the enemy supports. The reason we got instantly killed was because we didn't know that Keeper of the Light had Scythe of Vyse, Terrorblade, and Aghanim's Scepter. Next time, as long as you activate Black King Bar and locate the enemy, you'll be fine. If Terrorblade attacks you, activate Active Armor. As long as we find the enemy supports, we can follow up.]

When they push high ground, Terrorblade will definitely be at the front, attacking the towers, while the others hide in the back. As long as we find and eliminate their backline supports, they'll have a very difficult time in team fights.

Gu Ran's words were overheard by the main stage's voice channel.

"We just heard about the Dire's tactics, and they seem to make a lot of sense. What do you think?"

YUNO turned to ask Feng Zhuiyi for her opinion.

"I think their approach is spot on. The Dire can't go head-to-head with the Radiant. They need to find the supports to kill first and then deal with Terrorblade. Gu Ran is absolutely right about that. If they can really do that, even if Terrorblade has the Aegis, the Dire can still win."

At the 55-minute mark, the Radiant team cleared the creep wave and grouped up to push the Dire bottom lane high ground. Terrorblade activated his Metamorphosis and stood on the high ground to attack the tower, while his teammates used Smoke of Deceit to defend behind them.