Heroes & questions

Hey dudes, I was hoping I could ask some questions to more experienced DoTA players.

First off, how good are bots as compared to people? Right now Earthshaker, Zeus, and Lina bots completely kick my ass. Earthshaker can position Fissure with inhuman precision, Zeus knows exactly when to use his ult (not unlike Karthus of LoL) and Lina's burst is utterly insane. Is this just because the AI is a glorified calculator who knows how to do this stuff with crazy precision? I haven't played PvP games because the only hero I can competently play is Axe, and I am also unaware of how the metagame plays and I don't wanna be yelled at.

On the topic of Heroes. I love Axe. I find him super easy. Awesome harass with Battle Hunger, Culling Blade when they're low, and just build tanky because Counter Helix will take care of them. Also, superrrr easy jungler. I find jungle to be awesome, you don't have to worry about last hitting or being outlaned or whatever because it's just you and the monsters. But, I can't really find anyone else who can fit this style. Skeleton King is really cool, but he can't build as tanky as Axe since he doesn't have Counter Helix. Alchemist seems really cool because he's got that AoE which is great for jungling when it gets more powerful and he snowballs great with that extra gold, but he's so weak early.

tl;dr- Axe is easy mode because you can just build tank and the DPS comes with his skills, which I love, and I want recommendations for heroes like that. Also, Earthshaker, Lina, and Zeus bots kick my ass.

Thanks!

Axe is super easy for the main fact that he is a tank. High HP means you can survive longer and with his passive spin it's quite easy to jungle and farm. Battle hunger is all right, but against actually people it wouldn't do much good since they would easily know to quickly kill a creep or their teammate might even deny them.

You'll find that real people will be better than the AI when you get into the higher ranks. The precision that they can do is unbelievable. You also have to be careful with junglers as well because enemies players will come and roam your jungle to find and kill you.

It's pretty much just keep trying heroes until you find some that you like and can play better than the others. I haven't played DotA in a long time (mostly a HoN player) so I'm not too familiar with the newer heroes if they have implemented them yet.

Personally I'd say stop playing against the AI right now but seeing as you are a new player .. *shrugs*

The experience you get playing vs humans is much more then vs an AI. Humans make more mistakes then AI's, your probably playing against better opponents then your average player. You shouldn't be so modest as well, go out there and play with people. There are players who are clueless yet still play against people as if they are invincible.

Try Spirit breaker, Strength hero, Damage comes with skills and easily wins early game. Or Night stalker, though you'll need to solo mid to use him effectively. Go bottle, Urn and gang all night, NS has one of the biggest base armour in the game and a low mana nuke.