Ever had problems deciding who should get the aegis/cheese in the current situation? Hopefully when you have read this article through you will have gained some tools to decide at this at the crucial moment, do note that this is a rather short article, and reading this will only make you better to a certain point as it is minded to lower-skilled players.




When Roshan is killed he will always drop an Aegis of the Immortal. Once picked up this item can’t be dropped or given to another hero. When the carrier of Aegis is killed, a tombstone will spawn on the corpse. After 5 seconds the hero will respawn will full hp and mana on top of the tombstone. Aegis will be consumed by this. If Roshan respawns before the carrying hero dies (and thus uses Aegis), then Aegis will be removed from the hero.


Beginning with the third respawn of Roshan, he will drop not only Aegis but also a Cheese. The Cheese can be shared with allies just like any other consumable, or sold for 500 gold. When used it will instantly give the user 2500 hp and 1000 mana.

I know, you're saying something like "NO SHIT COWBOY?" now, but I gotta give basic info, sorry ;D


To make it easier to understand who should get the aegis and/or cheese at what time, a textbook has been added. Note that the following textbook is a generalisation, and a game can greatly differ from it.

Aegis/cheese textbook

20 minute: aegis -> Solo mid. 1
30 minute: aegis -> Game breaking semi-carry. 2
40 minute: (non cheese) aegis -> Game breaking, non-burst hero. 3
40 min: aegis -> Game breaking, non burst, hero without escape mechanism(s); 4
40 min cheese -> Game breaking carry with the most EHP (escape mechanism(s) is calculated negative). 5
50 min: aegis -> Battle changing hero that can be expected to die before he is able to unleash full potential; 6
50 min cheese->Hard carry (self-regenerating items is calculated negative). 7


1 Including heroes like / / / /
2 Including heroes like / / / /
3 Including heroes like / / / /
4 Including heroes like / / / /
5 Including heroes like / / / /
6 Including heroes like / / / /
7 Including heroes like / / / /






Another aspect of the aegis/cheese decision is the question: Who will initiate in the next team fight? If you are the initiators, heroes like Enigma and Earthshaker who is only meant to initiate and unleash their full potential in the first second of the team fight is not to be considered a highly valuable aegis/cheese target, seeing as they have a high chance of using their potential.
If you are expecting to get initiated upon in the next team fight, your initiators can be expected to be initiated upon and you may want to give these heroes the aegis, seeing as they are game breaking and a loss would be disastrous, this is especially true if you are facing long range initiators like Faerie Dragon, Storm Spirit or Beastmaster.




Exceptions:


Although the textbook covers almost any cases, some very specific heroes has to be mentioned.



Tidehunter is performing the exact same job as Earthshaker and Enigma, and is one of the few heroes that can turn the tide of the battle with one spell. For this reason he is normally considered a candidate for aegis whenever Earthshaker and Enigma are, but due to his Kraken Shell that allows him to debuff every now-and-then he is considered to be able to use his ultimate before dying, thus neglecting the need of an aegis.



Faerie Dragon is another very potent crowd controller, and his ultimate usually required to be able to land a deadly combo. This game breaking factor is automatically putting him in the aegis/cheese category, but due to his numerous escape mechanisms (Illusory Orb, Phase Shift and a usual Kelen’s Dagger) he can be safely considered to survive long enough for him to use his combo.



Storm Spirit has the ability to reposition himself every second due to his ultimate. This highly valuable escape mechanism (combined with the usual Black King Bar) makes him considered a prime candidate for cheese and less of a candidate for aegis.



Gorgon is the last of the rare cases. With her Mana Shield activated she is considered the best tank in the game. What makes her a tank is in turn costing her a lot of Mana, and with the usual loss of HP you can hardly find any hero more prone to get the cheese. Usually she is not equipped with a Black King Bar, but seeing as she is considered to be able to outlast any other hero, an aegis is inferior to a cheese.




adopted from [url=http://www.dotacommentaries.com/index.php/ianjamesbarnett/4881/]dc forums[/url]