The International 2017 — Battle Pass: Path of the Rising Tide
If playing with humans wasn’t enough, now you have to cooperate and coordinate to complete these quests.
And for the last path, Valve decided to make it social: The Path of the Rising Tide is very different from the others, and will keep you busy for a lot of time. Thank you, Gaben.
If this is not the path you are looking for, be sure to check the Path of the Wavebreaker and Path of the Navigator, for this Battle Pass.
In this path you are free to pick whatever quest you want, as they are not locked like the ones on the other paths. The main difference is what it makes so interesting: all of them are bound to be completed with the help of your team, demanding cooperation and coordination to succeed on the different task every quest demands.
For what the paths reaffirm in the top right corner, you can only get the set when you complete 12 of the 13 quests available. Doing so it will grant you the Spines of the Sunken Gaoler set for Slardar, with a second style adding some minor particles to the pike if you get 34 stars.
If you count this, 13 quests means 39 stars, so I don’t know if all of above still applies to this or not, as I’ve been unable to complete a single one of the quests. Yes, the difficulty lies not on the task, but the team.
PRE-DAWN SORTIE
Kill 2 / 3 / 4 towers as a team before you lose one.
For what is saying, your team should push at any advantage given by the enemy team in any instance of the early game. Depending of the enemy team it may become viable to keep pushing for a Tier 2 tower, or get back, and push the other Tier 1 towers.
Of course, its cheap to kill the three Tier 1 towers (they are the most easy ones in HP) and one Tier 2 tower, hopefully the jungle one, so that way you can gain map control of their jungle and leaving them out-farmed.
SPLITTING HEADACHE
Kill 2 enemy towers within 90 / 60 / 30 seconds of each other before the game reaches 30 minutes.
This sounds more simple than the one above, but 30 seconds is very difficult to do unless your lineup has the ability to push early. The lineup can be Drow Ranger, Nature’s Prophet, Beastmaster, Lycan, just to name a few.
For maximum effectiveness, as the title implies, you should split push. Kill two Tier 1 towers at the same time.
BINDING AGENTS
Disable enemy heroes for 250 / 350 / 450 seconds with your team.
Disabling enemies mean anything: Root, Silence, Hex, Stun, Disarm, whatever. I think Valve is also counting Movement & Attack Slows, but is unconfirmed.
Be sure to have at least two heroes with native spells for disabling, and heroes that could buy disabling items, most notably Orchid Malevolence, Rod of Atos, and Heaven's Halberd. Well, the latter is mostly unused unless you are Strenght hero and you need to disarm a carry with no Black King Bar.
TEAM BUILDING
Achieve total team healing of 10000 / 15000 / 20000.
Again, same as above, but focusing on heroes who can heal natively (like Witch Doctor, Dazzle, Omniknight and Necrophos) and be sure to have someone building Mekansm, and Guardian Greaves later.
ALL HANDS ON DECK
Get 25 / 35 / 45 total assists with your team before the game timer reaches 25:00.
For what it says, your team should always be close to a kill. If we to the math, one kill means four assists at best, so 45 assists means 12 kills with the whole team present — that means, everyone should have made some disable, debuff or damage to the victim.
Doesn’t sound too difficult, but in the laning stages of the game it can be. You can use Smoke of Deceit if you want to guarantee some numbers in this quest.
ROLLING FOG GANK
Smoke and kill an enemy hero 1 / 2 / 3 times with 2 teammates.
Here the thing is clear: you have to smoke, and kill, with two companions. Is recommended that, at least one of the three, have some kind of lockdown, and to not steal the kill from you.
Note, Smoke of Deceit takes 11 minutes to restock 1 unit, so use with care. Always point your travel route before using it, and don’t fall for illusions.
BATTLE CUP BUCCANEER
Win 1 / 2 / 3 Battle Cup games.
There are a lot of Weekend Battle Cup games this season, from May until July, so the only thing I can say here is to always have a ticket at hand, and your friends closer for every Saturday. But 10 bucks on it and you will have always a chance for this three months.
FIRST MATES
Have your team get first blood, first tower kill, and first Roshan kill.
This sounds tricky. You could have first blood if you smoke before the horn to one of the enemy runes, and you have at least one stun and one slow spells for the victim.
For first tower kill, that means, pushing with 3~4 heroes after a successful rotation.
And first Roshan kill, means having some regen or lifesteal, somebody with high physical damage, and Observer Ward near the Rosh Pit (in case someone want to contest it) and one Smoke of Deceit ready to use it before going in.
GIVE NO QUARTER
Have 10 / 12 / 14 team kills before 15:00.
I have no real recommendation for this one. Getting 14 teams kills before 15:00 means total carnage, almost an excuse GGWP & Abandon. I can only assume the need for heroes that can greatly amplify their DPS at level 6, like Drow Ranger or Lycan, then rotate, push a tower, repeat, and get to the end game early.
GROUP EXERCISES
Deal 20000 / 40000 / 60000 or more Physical damage to enemy heroes with your team.
Having two Carry in the team is standard. I could recommend Phantom Assassin and Sven for the Physical Damage, but be my guest — there are a lot of heroes who can deliver high numbers given the occasion. Even One Punch Tusk.
OUR AURA BE OUR ALLY
Be simultaneously affected by 6 / 9 / 12 auras present on your team.
Lets dive into the list of heroes who provide reliable auras for the team:
- Beastmaster — Inner Beast
- Bounty Hunter — Track
- Crystal Maiden — Arcane Aura
- Drow Ranger — Precision Aura
- Luna — Lunar Blessing
- Outworld Devourer — Essence Aura
- Rubick — Null Field
- Spirit Breaker — Empowering Haste
- Vengeful Spirit — Vengeance Aura
- Wraith King — Vampiric Aura
Pair these heroes with one of these items:
- Assault Cuirass
- Drum of Endurance
- Guardian Greaves
- Helm of the Dominator
- Mekansm
- Pipe of Insight
- Vladmir’s Offering
- Ring of Aquila
And you can have perfectly 12 auras affecting the team.
If you want a random balanced lineup: Beastmaster, Vengeful Spirit, Outworld Devourer, Wraith King, and Spirit Breaker / Bounty Hunter.
LEAVE THE PARTY IN RUNES
Pick up or Bottle a total of 20 / 30 / 40 Runes with your team before the game time reaches 30 minutes.
Runes spawn every even minute, and at 30 minutes you should have access at least to 60 Runes, plus 30 more from the River. Add to that the ones you can snatch from the other side and you should complete this quest with no problems at all.
Just be sure to always be in the lookout for the timing, and if the River grants you with literally nothing, fall back yo your Rune or pick the enemy Rune before they do.
EARN YOUR SEA LEGS
Win 1 / 2 / 3 games in Captain’s Mode.
In Captain’s Mode, somebody plays as the “Captain” in the team. Every team take turns to ban and pick heroes who latter will use.
Sounds weird but if you have seeing Dota 2 Majors or The International, you know how it’s played, how lengthy can this become, and how you pick. For those who not, your last picks are the most important, and synergy between your heroes go from the most general and universal, to the most specific and particular. And you use the Bans to try to disarm the rival tactics and next picks.
For example, if the enemy team picks Dazzle, you may expect a Huskar next. If you pick Nature’s Prophet, you may have wanted to ban Axe first, otherwise the enemy team will pick it and counter it.
You may want to check the DotaPicker if you want some recommendations depending on the lineup, or just to practice. The rest is up to you.
And that sums all the Paths for this The International 2017 Battle Pass.
You can always read the Path of the Wavebreaker and Path of the Navigator if you missed them.
Any suggestion, fix or comment, leave a response below. Good luck!
