In Dota 2, one early advantage is killing Roshan at level 1 heroes. It does not frequently happen with both ranked MMR pubs and competitive Dota. Recently at Riyadh Masters 2022, Team Deboosters decided to surprise PSG.LGD. They killed Roshan in the early hero levels. They did this with 3 heroes: Malik on Ursa, PLEB on Nature's Prophet, and Mad Frog on Snapfire.
Their scheme was as follows. Mad Frog on Snapfire bought 1 Healing Salve, Ursa skilled the Overpower passive (which increases damage to an enemy creature with each hit), and bought 1x Healing Salve. At the same time, PLEB on Nature's Prophet skilled Nature's Call and summoned them near Roshan's cave. The speedy Roshan did not help the team from Saudi Arabia to win the map. She lost the series with a score of 0:2, took the last place in Group B, and was eliminated from the tournament.
Since The International 2016, only 14 teams have managed to do this. The last time Alliance decided to do this was in 2018 at Kuala Lumpur Major in a match against Secret. Let's recall the most interesting first-level-kill-Rosh strategies together with Cyber-sport.io.
To begin with, consider our target - Roshan. What are we even dealing with at the first level: 7500 HP, 20 HP regen per second, 65 attack damage, 1 hit per second, that's precisely 65 DPS, 75% magic damage resistance, and 15% chance to trigger a bash for 1.65 seconds with 50 additional physical damage. Rosh has "slam" ability that deals 70 damage and slows attack and movement speed by 50% for 2 seconds in AOE 250 with a cooldown of 10 seconds (Roshan uses this ability if there are 3 or more units in a 250 radius).
Moreover, Roshan has protection against point spells (spell-block), works exactly like Linken's Sphere, and can automatically destroy illusions (Purge). Any magic damage against Roshan at level 1 is useless, mass abilities will either do no damage at all or spell-block.
An age-old and legendary combination that is more than 10 years old. To kill Roshan at the first level, we will need 2 heroes - Ursa and Skeleton King (Wraith King). Initially, Ursa buys Poor Man Shield (deleted in 2017) and 2x Healing Salve. Wraith King takes Ring of Basilius and Healing Slave (Basil grants +3 to armor). Then Ursa skills Fury Swipes (with each attack, she will deal extra damage), and WK pumps Vampiric Aura. Wraith King tanks Rosh and “drinks” Healing Salve twice. Fury Swipes damage stacks quickly, so you can end Roshan in 45-50 seconds. However, it's an obvious combo, so opponents frequently detect you and your mate.
In addition, I think there is a beautiful and practical 5-hero combo to kill Roshan at level 1. To entertain this, you need a draft NP, Legion Commander, Vengeful Spirit, Lycan/Luna, and Lone Druid. Nature's Prophet takes Nature's Call to summon Ents, and Legion Commander chooses Moment of Courage to dispel Rosh Slam, Vengeful Spirit pumps Vengeance Aura, and Luna max Lunar Blessing to increase ally damage. All these heroes have auras, and they all take AOE extra damage and can quickly kill Roshan.
Besides, the Ursa + Lone Druid combination is the simplest way to ruin Roshan. Lone Druid summons Spirit Bear while Ursa uses her Fury Swipes skill. Summon gets all Rosh damage Ursa stack Fury Swipes, good old strategy.
This is just a small number of chips and combos to kill Roshan at level 1. Offer your creative version of combinations and chips. Maybe you know how else to kill Roshan initially better than I do.
When was the last time you got Rosh at level one? Share your minds with Cyber-sport.io. Subscribe and follow the latest eSports news!
