Night Elf FFA Overexplain video

[Dovekie]

Gonna start doing some videos again. Any feedback or recommendations are appreciated.

[Seksi]

Hey Dovekie,

Cool video, thanks for making it. 

Could you expand on why you prefer 3x Orbs?  Do you still prioritize them over other items in the late game when optimizing inventories? 

Elf item slots are limited as you know when considering Boots, Staff, AMS potions, and scrolls.  Curious to know your thoughts. 

[Dovekie]

Yeah, sure:

-Getting 3 Orbs out at minute ~10 or so is a huge power spike. It lets you creep very quickly while having 50 food of pure production (4 gold mines and massive lumber income, zero army or a single bear only), especially magic immune creeps. It also gives you a ton of pressure against people when they bother you on the map. Often I can just kill a weaker player with 3 heroes at this point in the game, as early as minute 10-12. The damage is just too high for such an early point in the game. 177 total damage per your heroes auto attack [(9 * 6 + 5) * 3], this in conjunction with Haze/BoF/Treants/(Rockets/Manaburn/Acid Bomb), and double staff tricks / rejuv.

-It allows for extremely strong defense while tanking at your moonwells. The pure damage the poison does really minimizes the length someone can spend at your base. It's nice if you need some time to build an army while fighting off teamers.

-It lets you forgo hippogryphs versus Human and Orc, and go pure Chimeras + MG. This pushes the ground damage to an unreasonably high amount. Triple Orb'd, roared hero with x2 AoE spells can beat a large amount of Wyverns or Gryphon/Hawk/Gyro, especially with a MG.

-This early advantage pushes your heroes to quite high levels and the momentum really carries you.

-You can sell the Orb much later, especially on the Alchemist, if enemy heroes start getting to level 7, 8, 9, etc. I'd probably prefer a periapt vs Undead in the very late game, but versus Human, Elf and especially Orc (where cyclone carries me), I would prefer the Orbs.

I know the quality of opponents isn't the greatest right now, but this is by far the best winrate I've ever had. I'm like 160-3 right now, and I do face a decent opponent here and there. I can sometimes finish out games under the 17 minute mark (or faster) even with a strong player in the game, or at least lock an extremely strong spot with 4-5 mines and triple 6 heroes. The speed that the Orb's provide by just that extra bit of power while hoarding for a couple minutes is, in my experience, substantial.

[FML|HighTac]

Admittedly, I have a very chimera and expo heavy play style, so I usually don't have 900 gold to spare at the ten minute mark. I think it's definitely viable to get triple orb early, but it has to suit your play style.

Eventually, a venom orb deals 5 damage per auto attack + 54 damage over time. On paper, that only adds up though if you change target quite often. A chimera has an auto attack damage of 74, so I rather invest my 330 gold for that unit. Of course it's not 100% comparable, but to some degree, it is.

I often play without orb at all late game. Just no item slots available.

2x TP
3x Staff of Preservation
3x Invul/Heal Pot
1x Staff of TP
2-3x Heal Scrolls
1x Mana Pot or Pendant
3-4x Periapts of Vitality

So if I find 2-3 great other items (e.g. Spellshield or Auras), there is no more space really :)