BecomeTheGamer drafting assistant: a statistically better drafting phase

In modern Dota 2, drafting makes a huge difference and more often than not it’s going to be your biggest challenge. BecomeTheGamer – through their drafting assistant – takes a crack at applying math and algorithms to help your everyday aspiring pubstar draft and counter-pick, as statistically correct as possible.

Let’s take a look at how they’re trying to achieve this and if they are actually successful.

I’ve tested BecomeTheGamer.com (BTG) as a drafting assistant in my everyday pub games, as well as a tool for better understanding, to some extent, the intricacies of high level, competitive drafting.

BecomeTheGamer overview

BTG’s Dota 2 drafting assistant is one of the most in-depth tools I’ve come across, to date. It offers multiple indicators of potential success for your draft, such as Hero Synergy and Hero Advantage. It also helps you figure out which of your heroes counter the heroes on the opponent team.

You can further customize the depth of the suggestions you receive by assigning lanes to each hero and using multiple sliders and filters, such as: All Pick or Captain’s Mode, Suggest Picks or Bans, Meta Heroes, Lane/Role filters, etc.

A nice touch – something I’ve never seen with similar websites – is the option to choose how much of your lineup relies on certain heroes (None, Less, Normal, More) and the suggestions list will, again to some extent, change to suit your needs.

Planning with the team

Drafting should be a team effort and BecomeTheGamer knows this. To this end, they have added a co-op functionality via the “Copy Collaborate Link” button.

What this does is copy a unique URL in your clipboard, URL that you can share in your Dota chat, for example, and opt-in your team on your drafting strategy. They will be able to see the plan unfold in real time although they can’t input any ideas as they rely only on communicating their suggestions.

This works best in VoIP coordinated teams where the “Captain” sends the unique URL before drafting and each team member can weigh in on the Captain’s decisions.

Even randomly assigned teams could use this functionality as it offers another layer of transparency to the theory-crafting that goes on in the mind of an unknown Captain and aids in the further understanding the decisions that are being made.

Drafting with BecomeTheGamer

Firstly, I gave it a try in an All Pick RMM game and it performed well, giving me on the fly suggestions and an impressive list of heroes to choose from, as well as how they would they fare against the enemy heroes. Thanks to the quite generous list of hero suggestions and various filters there wasn’t any problem finding a suitable hero.

In Captain’s Mode, the BecomeTheGamer drafting assistant became my trusty adviser. I was able to actually get somebody else from my team to use the unique link and we ended up with a lineup which in theory was statistically better.

Enhancing the spectator experience

When faced with the drafting skills of professional players, BTG’s Dota 2 drafting assistant has proven a handy tool for the diehard fan to understand the more complex or harder to grasp picks. As a spectator, it isn’t always clear why some heroes are being drafted and here is where BecomeTheGamer can offer some insight. I could actually see casters using this as an additional tool when they comment on the drafting phase.

The most surprising results came when watching professional teams draft: adding each ban and pick into the BecomeTheGamer drafting assistant proved to be an exciting experience.

Sometimes the picks would surprise the whole crowd and casting crew, but for BTG it was all just a matter of calculations and algorithms further proving the use of the app as a “draft translator”.

BecomeTheGamer usability

I have to say that not using a dual monitor setup at this time took away some of the ease of use that an app like BTG should excel at. Popping in and out of the game window via ALT+Tab to see what my teammates/opponents are picking and dropping it into the drafting assistant was not as much fun as I had hoped.

Luckily, BecomeTheGamer also have mobile apps on both Android and iOS and this makes the experience a lot more comfortable. I ran the Android app and at first it seemed lackluster in terms of features – like a stripped down version of the website. After a little bit of digging and getting used to, you will find the mobile apps sufficient, despite the obvious issues caused by screen real estate.

Do you need to use BTG?

Even though BecomeTheGamer aren’t the first to take a crack at applying algorithms and statistics to Dota 2’s drafting phase, as far as I’ve experienced they are the ones who succeed the most at it. Thanks to the deep level of customization, website and mobile app duo, ease of access and co-operative capabilities, the BecomeTheGamer Dota 2 draft assistant is an excellent tool for any theory-crafting enthusiast.

There are also some noteworthy upcoming updates such as: ability interactions, performance influenced suggestions and in-game overlay timers that should further enhance your experience. Also, the app and website are free and do not require any further registration, making it an easy thing to opt in or out of.

Do I want to use BecomeTheGamer daily? More often than not, when I want to get all the help I can get, I will.