DotA Guide: Slithice - The Naga Siren Introduction

DotA is the most popular custom-made map for Warcraft III. To offer players a better comprehension of this complex and sometimes complicated game, here is a hero guide.

Very hard to trap and with just a handful of heroes that can dominate her, Slithice is a melee hero with great stats. You can recruit it from the Sentinel Agility Tavern.

Here is a look at the the past of this sea creature: "Slithice was always a vagabond among the Naga, roaming beyond the boundaries of the sea in search of new things. During her adventures she met and fell in love with a young Orc training to be a Blademaster. 

Though he was inexperienced he taught her many Orcish fighting tactics employed by seasoned warriors. During their courtship as she was learning how to make traps from a local raider, a swarm of Scourge came and invaded, her love was killed before her very eyes. 

She used her Naga magics to put the evil to sleep and fled, and now gives her all to the Sentinel, in the name of her love".

A great set of skills that can trap, create illusions, do damage and put all the enemies to sleep makes the Naga Siren one of the most powerful heroes in the game:

Mirror Image (R) - The Naga creates three illusions to confuse enemies and deal extra damage to opponents. The spell only lasts 30 seconds, while illusions deal 30/35/40/45% damage and take 600/500/400/300%. 

Ensnare (E) - This is the skill you always want to cast right before mirror image. It will catch the target and restrain it for 2/3/4/5 seconds. What's even cooler is that it also works on magic immune enemies.

Rip Tide (D) - This is an offensive skill that does 130/160/190/220 damage and also reduces the armor of opponents hit by the wave with -2/-3/-4/-5.

Song of the Siren (G) - With her siren skills, Slithice uses her powerful voice to put enemies to sleep. This spell only lasts 7 seconds and has an area effect of 750.

Because of her Mirror Image skill, the naga can become a feared enemy even at the beginning of the game. To keep up the rhythm, you must use various items: Boots of Travel, Manta Style, Butterfly, Heart of Tarrasque, Linken's Sphere or Buriza do Kyanon.

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DotA Guide: Azwraith - The Phantom Lancer Introduction

Defense of the Ancients is a popular custom-made map for Warcraft III. To offer players a better comprehension of this complex and sometimes complicated game, here is a hero guide.

Master at duplicating himself, Azwraith is not a very picked hero, even though his potential is huge. Well farmed, this hero can drag a slower team and turn the game around in the end. You can recruit him from the Sentinel Agility Tavern.

Learn more about the Phantom Lacer by reading this story: "Although his true name is unknown to his allies, Azwraith's assigned name tells you enough. Like the Angel of Death, Azrael, he fights to rid the world of those who choose to embrace undeath. 

He is able to appear and disappear at will like a wraith, often appearing in many places at once. Azwraith is more than capable of dispatching the undead using his lance, each blow sending them closer to the spirit-realm. 

This lance is the source of his astounding ability to duplicate himself, whenever it draws blood he can use their life to create weaker copies of himself". 

With two passive skills and two active ones, the Phantom Lancer's abilities give him the title of Master of Illusions:

Spirit Lance (T) - Azwraith throws his mighty lance imbued with a magic spirit. When reaching the destination, the weapon damages (100/150/200/250) the opponent, cripples him (10/20/30/40%) and creates an illusion that lasts 2/4/6/8 seconds. You can't dodge this projectile and, what most people don't know, it also has a mini-stun.

Doppelwalk (W) - Makes the hero invisible for a short period of time (8 seconds) while his place is taken by an illusion. To allow swifter passage, the movement speed is also increased by 10%. With each level, the mana cost and the cooldown are decreased: 150/120/90/60 mana and 30/25/20/15 seconds.

Juxtapose (X) - This is a passive skill that allows the Phantom Lancer to duplicate himself with ease. It will give a 12% chance to create 2/3/4/5 images. The replicas will take 450% damage and will only deal 25%.

Phantom Edge (D) - Azwraith's ultimatum is also passive, and increases magic resistance as well as his illusion generation skill. It gives: 2/4/6% more Juxtapose, 3/5/7% chance that an illusion duplicates and 10/15/20 magic resistance.

Some of the best items you can choose are: Power Treads, Diffusal Blade, Manta Style, Vladimir's Offering and Butterfly.

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DotA Guide: Luna Moonfang - Moon Rider Introduction

DotA is the most popular custom-made map for Warcraft III. To offer players a better understanding of this complex and sometimes complicated game, here is a hero guide.

Being able to deal a great amount of damage to one or more foes, Luna is a worthy opponent for almost any hero. You can recruit the Moon Rider from the Sentinel Agility Tavern.

Learn more about this relentless fighter against the undead: "Luna Moonfang is a stalwart and devout follower of the Moon Goddess, Elune. She fights alongside the Sentinel in the never-ending battle to cleanse the land of the unholy Scourge. 

Through her valiant efforts, she has been granted small portions of Elune's mystical power. Luna uses this gift to cut a swath through her enemies. 

It has been said that Luna is able to call down the very light of the moon, and is always surrounded by a glowing aura, as though in moonlight herself. Luna is a shining beacon for the Sentinel, an ever vigilant protector".

Her skill set is very deadly, which should make opponents approach her with care and fear:

Lucent Beam (C) - Focusing the energy of the moon, Luna manages to hurt an opponent with magical damage: 75/150/225/300. The spell also has a mini-stun that can prove quite useful against channeling spells.

Moon Glaive (G) - A passive skill that basically allows you to earn extra cash and harass enemies. Each strike can bounce once/ twice/ three times/ four times. This attack doesn't work when using the following items: Stygian Desolator, Sange and Yasha, Mjollnir or Maelstrom.

Lunar Blessing (L) - This second passive skill will add extra damage (+14/+20/+26/+32) to each attack while also giving the hero full night vision. 

Eclipse (E) - One of the most feared ultimatums in the game, this spell can kill an opponent with great ease. With her magic skills, Luna summons lots of Lucent Beams upon unsuspecting enemies: 4/7(8)/10(12). Each target can be hit 4(6) times. The fact that it can be improved with Aghanim's Scepter makes it more deadly, and allows Luna to win a game by herself. 

Luna is not a very flexible hero: her skills have a certain order that needs to be followed, while several items are restricted. Here are a few "luxury" items I recommend for late-game: Satanic, Lothar's Edge, Aghanim's Scepter, Manta Style, Butterfly, Monkey King Bar. Depending on the situation you can also build: Black King Bar or Blade mail.

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DotA Guide: Mirana Nightshade - Priestess of the Moon Introduction

DotA is a popular custom-made map for Warcraft III. To offer players a better comprehension of this complex and sometimes complicated game, here is a hero guide.

Mirana is a fun to play hero that need lots of practice to master. Timing is also an essential part, allowing to turn this hero into a mean killing machine. You can recruit it from the Sentinel Agility Tavern.

Here's a little story to help you understand Mirana Nightshade a bit better: "A matriarch and high priestess of Elune's blessed order, Mirana Nightshade serves as a light in darkness for the front line of the Sentinel ranks, raining arrows and falling stars alike upon the shambling undead masses of the Undead Scourge. 

Her very presence is said to be so holy that it melts away the fatigue of nearby allies, giving them greater haste on the battlefield. 

In times of need, however, she can fade herself and others around her into the safety of invisibility, making her a potent supporter matched by few".

Expert at killing, Mirana's set of skills seems to be made to help her:

Starfall (T) - With the help of the Gods above, the Priestess calls for a rain of stars that do magical damage (75/150/225/300) to enemies in a small area. Only one enemy in 200 AoE will receive another hit (only 50% damage).

Elune's Arrow (R) - Mirana shoots a magical arrow that stuns (from 0.5 to 5 seconds) and damages for 90/180/270/360. This is a very useful ability that will require a lot of skill to master. The skill part comes from this simple fact: the further away from the target, the longer the stun. If a unit is invisible, it will only take damage and won't be stunned.

Leap (E) - Priestess of the Moon makes a 630/690/780/840 range jump and has 4/8/12/16% attack and movement speed bonus. This spell can have a double use: you can leap into the heat of battle or jump out of danger. Avoiding incoming projectiles can also be achieved with a bit of exercise.

Moonlight Shadow (W) - Mirana's ultimatum turns her and all allied heroes on the map invisible for 11 seconds. Upgrading this spell decreases the fade time: 2.5/2/1.5 seconds.

Elune's Arrow and Starfall are your attack skills and you can use them to dominate throughout the entire game. To improve your skills, you can purchase several items: Boots of Travel, Maelstrom of Stygian Desolator, Butterfly, Ethereal Blade. 

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Intel to Launch Trio of Graphics-Less Sandy Bridge CPUs

Intel will soon update its processor portfolio with some three new chips based on the Sandy Bridge architecture which, in a rather strange turn of events, will come with their on-board GPU disabled.

The reasons behind Intel’s decision are not known at this point in time, but we suspect that the chip maker is trying to get rid of some CPU dies that don’t have working on-board graphics.

As VR-Zone has revealed, the three processors are the Core i5-2380P, Core i5-2450P and a somewhat older acquaintance of ours, the Core i5-2550K.

With a base clock of 3.1GHz and a maximum Turbo Speed of 3.4GHz, the Core i5-2380P greatly resembles the Core i5-2400, sans the integrated GPU of course.

The Core i5-2450P on the other hand is a bit odd as both of its 3.2GHz base and 3.5GHz Turbo frequencies are 100MHz lower than those of the Core i5-2500.

Last but certainly not least is the Core i5-2550K, which as we speculated at the beginning of December it has 100MHz higher base and Turbo frequencies than the current i5-2500K, which means that this will run at 3.4/3.8GHz.

All three models have 6MB cache, but none of them have VT-d or TXT support, a feature all previous non-K SKUs in the Core i5 family supported. Hyper-Threading also won’t make it in the features list, while TDP should be set at 95W.

The launch date of the three new models is not yet known, but VR-Zone expects them to arrive in the first part of 2012.

As far as prices are concerned, both P-series CPU models should have a slightly lower MSRP than their counterparts with on-board graphics, but we don’t know where Intel wants to position the Core i5-2550K in its lineup.

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