All melee means you probably don't have adequate support. There's only a couple really good support heroes who are melee like ogre magi, omni knight and earthshaker. There are a lot of other melee who aren't carry but also aren't pure support heroes, more like tank utility heroes like undying, axe, beastmaster, timbersaw. So generally all melee teams are like one support and a bunch of carries or semi carries. I think that's the bigger reason they fail.
However I do like to make each lane in a 212 a melee and ranged combo, but some lanes are fine with double melee like ogre magi and wraith king. I've fought against that lane and it's nasty with double stun and a slow. Or bristleback and anything or axe and anything. Those lanes can be good.
The main reason why range heroes are better than melee is because of the laning phase. Typically, it is hard to fit a melee in a lane to make it work, unlike range heroes who you can pretty much fit anywhere for the most part.
I think melee heroes are more dependent on their skills early on to make their laning phase possible. Unless your a safelane farmer, you rely on your skills to make yourself helpful. IE support sand kings and earthshakers use their skills to essentially become a range hero. Dark Seer uses his shell to make last hitting/lane disrupting possible.
When it comes down to it, in dota, pretty much you win your lanes, you win the game.
If it gets past the laning phase, having too many melee heroes in a team fight could be bad. If focusing 1 target, AOE can destroy you. Only thing melee heroes have going for them, are that they are generally tankier and hit harder than ranged heroes.
^Actually melee heroes aren't necesserily bad at laning. Stout shield works better for them, their missile speeds are instant and generally have higher base damage. And if they get a QB on top of that, you will see it's very hard to lasthit against them. You can think of harrassing them, but until they run out of regen, generally they have enough money to buy a Ring of Health or PMS and Ring of Regen.
Yeah, I can see that. The go-to starting item build for melee farmers stout, hatchet, tangos. Just saying in a 2R vs 1R, 1M lane, the 2 range heroes can harass the melee before he can pick up those rings. If the other range tries to protect, the double range can trade 2 for 1 hits all day. Pretty much instead of competing for last hits, harass him to the point, where he can't just sit in front of the creeps and last hit as he pleases.
Just in general though, the melee hero needs to be by the creep wave in order to last hit. By nature, he's just exposing himself to more danger by positioning himself that way.
@ Frostychee
Agreed. When I am in a 2 range lane, and I am fortunate to go vs to melee yes I announce *hey lets harass the crap out of these guys* minimizing our damage, keeping them out of lane and gold/xp range. On the receiving end, yes it is VERY hard to get a ring of regen (or anything) for that matter.
All,
Still looking for a match that you won 5 melee vs some other line up. Or a 4 melee 1 range? Or a 4 range and 1 melee? something out of the ordinary from 3/2 melee/range. Much appreciated!
@ Sam,
Wow nice pudge... damn!
@ frostychee
Damn... you came out 5/1 on your treant protector. Nice! All 5 melee well done!
Keep them coming guys!
http://dotabuff.com/matches/608762754
Though you might argue about Kunkka not being proper melee, he also did the least HD.
melee heroes are generally a lot tankier. find good melee laners like brew, ember, abaddon, dark seer, etc. and 5 melee can work
though the criterion is rather arbitrary
This has been looked into before: http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/10/18/dota-2-data-yields-ideal-team-composition/
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Hello,
I thought I'd gather all the great players on here I see with their thoughts on this.
In most cases when I play, (over 90% possibly?) the team picks 3 ranged heroes, and 2 melee heroes. 1 mid, and one for each lane for range. OR 3 melee and 2 ranged, melee goes mid, and 2 ranges to help out with harass heros on top/bottom lane.
What I have seen in the past is:
5 Melee hero team has a VERY difficult time and I can't remember if this has ever won for me.
5 Ranged heroes seems to be 50/50. Seems to win if aggressive early on enemy heroes in lane to keep them out of xp/gold range. If not, not so good!
So my thoughts surround a lot of the regulars I see on here. Is 3/2 typically the winning formula? If not, show some different shots of your team winning with something other than 3/2 and what gave you that winning edge!