DotA Blog

Dota AI Map Download | Official Dota-Allstars AI Map Download

2012-02-14T08:14:00.003-08:00

Dota-Allstars AI Map, Dota AI Plus Map download. This post will provide all the link of Dota-Allstars AI Map from the oldest until the latest Dota AI map. If you found broken download links, please email me. Also, if you found a new Dota AI map and not yet listed here, please kindly drop a comment here to notify me. You can also download the official Dota-Allstars Map and Dota Beta Map. Enjoy :)

Download Dota Map | Dota-Allstars Official Map Download

2012-02-14T08:14:00.001-08:00

Dota Guide - Dota-Allstars Guide

2012-02-14T08:13:00.004-08:00

Dota Guide - Dota-Allstars Guide. All the guide and info besides Dota Hero Guides will be placed in here.

Dota-Allstars Game Command & Mode Guides
Want to know some game modes you never try?

Dota Item Guides
Read this to know all items in Dota-Allstars

Dota Recipe Guides
Read this to know all recipes in Dota-Allstars

Dota-Allstars Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)
Read this first before go to the next guides. Very informative.

Dota-Allstars Experience Guides
A guide about the experience you got from creep, denied creep, etc.

Dota-Allstars Orb Effect Guides
Orb priority and the effect are compiled in here.

Dota-Allstars Neutral Creeps Guide
Discover the most strong or profitable creeps.

Dota-Allstars Images Guides
All about the images and the item work for them.

Dota-Allstars Critical & Bash Guide
Curious about the Critical chance % calculation?

Dota-Allstars Spell Resistance Guides
What should we do to make us immune magic?

Dota-Allstars Triggered Spells Guides
Trigger it to know more!

Dota-Allstars Attack Speed Guides
Find how fast you can get!

Dota-Allstars Rune Guides
All about runes is here!

Some guides maybe outdated, feel free to notify me you want me to update it. Just leave a comment in the guide you want me to work on.

Dota Items Guide - Dota-Allstars Items

2012-02-14T08:13:00.003-08:00

Dota Items Guide - Dota-Allstars Items. Feel free to notify me if there's a mistake or typo.

Recipe List is on this link : DotA Recipes

Cache of Quel-thelan

Gloves of Haste
+15% attack speed
Buy 500 Sell 275
Used to make Power Treads, Hand of Midas, Armlet of Mordiggian, Maelstrom

Mask of Death
15% life steal (orb effects)
Buy 900 Sell 450
Used to make Helm of the Dominator, Mask of Madness, Vladmir's Offering

Ring of Regeneration
+2 HP regen/seconds
Buy 350 Sell 175
Used to make Headdress of Rejuvenation, Vladmir's Offering, Hood of Defiance, Soul Ring, Tranquil Boots

Kelen's Dagger
Blink (active) : Blink for up to 1200 distance

Cannot be used if you have been damaged by player based damage in the last 3 seconds
Cannot be used by Vengeful Spirit or Pudge
Buy 2150 Sell 1075
75 mana, 14 seconds cooldown

Sobi Mask
+50% mana regeneration
Buy 325 Sell 162
Used to make Ring of Basilius, Oblivion Staff, Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Soul Ring

Boots of Speed
Increase movespeed by 55
Buy 500 Sell 250
Used to make Boots of Travel, Power Treads, Phase Boots, Tranquil Boots

Gem of True Sight
Allow the bearer to see invisible unit within a small radius.
Drop upon death (8 minutes cooldown)
Buy 700 Sell N/A

Planeswalker's Cloak
15% spell resistance
Buy 550 Sell 275
Used to make Hood of Defiance

Magic Stick
Energy Charge (Does not stack)
When enemy casts a spell around you (1400), you gain 1 charge. Maximum 10 charges. When you cast the item, you instantly regenerate 15 hp and 15 mana for each charge. This does not trigger off of non-spells or attack orbs
Buy 200 Sell 100
Used to make Magic Wand

Talisman of Evasion
Add 25% Evasion
Buy 1800 Sell 900
Used to make the Butterfly, Heaven's Halberd

Ghost Scepter
+7 Attributes
Ghost Form (Active)
Ghost Form makes you unable to attack or be attacked, but you take 44% extra damage from spells. Ghost Form lasts 4 seconds and has a 30 second cooldown. Ghost Form ends if you become magic immune, and will have no effect if you are already magic immune.
Buy 1600 Sell 800
Used to make Ethereal Blade

Ancient of Wonders

Clarity Potion
Regenerates 100 mana over 30 seconds.
Clarity Potion will be dispelled when unit attacks/attacked.
Contains 1 charge
Buy 50 Sell 25

Flask of Sapphire Water
Regenerates targeted friendly unit HP by 400 HP over 10 seconds.
Sapphire Water will be dispelled when unit attacks/attacked.
Contains 1 charge
Buy 100 Sell 50

Dust of Appearance

2 charge consumable. Does not stack in inventory.
Reveal affects enemy units in a 1050 AoE around the caster. Reveal prevents affected units from becoming invisible for 12 seconds.
Lasts 12 seconds. 60 CD
Buy 180 Sell 90

Empty Bottle
It can store healing water for up to 3 uses (cast on Fountain), each healing 135 HP and 70 mana over 3 seconds.
It can be used to capture magical runes for 2 minutes. No mana cost.
Buy 600 Sell 300

Observer Wards
Summon an invisible ward to spy upon an area. Does not have true sight.
6 minutes duration. Contains 2 charges.
Buy 200 Sell 100

Sentry Wards
Summon an invisible ward to spy upon an area. Will reveals enemy's invisible unit within 950 AoE. Have small AoE natural vision.
3 minutes duration. Contains 2 charges
Buy 200 Sell 100

Ancient Tango of Essifation
Restores 115 HP over 16 seconds when bearer eat trees.
Contains 3 charges
Buy 90 Sell 45

Animal Courier
Summon a fast unit with 6 items slot and 45 HP.
If die, all the items will be fall to the ground.
Buy 170 Sell 85
Used to make Flying Courier

Scroll of Town Portal
Teleport hero to a friendly structure.

75 mana cost. 3 seconds cast time. 65 seconds cooldown
Buy 135 Sell 67

Smoke of Deceit
Smoke of Deceit (active) Places a buff on all allied player-controlled units in a 1200 AoE. Makes them invisible, grants 15% movespeed bonus, and prevents them from appearing on minimap to enemy players. If you get within 1025 AoE of an enemy hero or tower, or if you attack any unit, the buff wears off. Buff lasts up to 40 seconds. Has a 12 minutes stock cooldown.

Buy 100 Sell 50

Sena The Accessorizer

Gauntlets of Ogre Strength
+3 Strength
Buy 150 Sell 75
Used to make Bracer

Slippers of Agility
+3 Agility
Buy 150 Sell 75
Used to make Wraith Band, Poor Man's Shield

Mantle of Intelligence
+3 Intelligence
Buy 150 Sell 75
Used to make Null Talisman

Ironwood Branch
+1 to all stats
Buy 57 Sell 28
Used to make Headdress of Rejuvenation, Netherezim Buckler, Magic Wand

Belt of Giant Strength
+6 Strength
Buy 450 Sell 225
Used to make Sange, Necronomicon, Power Treads, Cranium Basher

Boots of Elvenskin
+6 Agility
Buy 450 Sell 225
Used to make Yasha, Power Treads

Robe of the Magi
+6 Intelligence
Buy 450 Sell 225
Used to make Blade Mail, Oblivion Staff, Diffusal Blade, Power Treads, Veil of Discord

Circlet of Nobility
+2 to all stats
Buy 185 Sell 92
Used to make Bracer, Wraith Band, Null Talisman

Ogre Axe
+10 Strength
Buy 1000 Sell 500
Used to make Sange, Black King Bar, Aghanim's Scepter

Blade of Alacrity
+10 Agility
Buy 1000 Sell 500
Used to make Yasha, Diffusal Blade, Aghanim's Scepter

Staff of Wizardry
+10 Intelligence
Buy 1000 Sell 500
Used to make Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Dagon, Necronomicon, Aghanim's Scepter, Force Staff, Rod of Atos

Ultimate Orb
+10 to all stats
Buy 2100 Sell 1050
Used to make Linken's Sphere, Eye of Skadi, Guinsoo, Manta Style

Weapons Dealer

Blades of Attack
+9 damage
Buy 450 Sell 225
Used to make Crystalys, Phase Boots

Broadsword
+18 damage
Buy 1200 Sell 600
Used to make Blade Mail, Crystalys, Battlefury

Quarterstaff
+10% attack speed
+10 damage
Buy 900 Sell 575
Used to make Oblivion Staff, The Butterfly, Lothar's Edge, Force Staff

Claymore
+21 damage
Buy 1400 Sell 700
Used to make Battle Fury, Lothar Edge

Ring of Protection
+2 armor
Buy 175 Sell 87
Used to make Ring of Basillius, Arcane Ring, Tranquil Boots

Stout Shield
60 % chance block 20 damage
Buy 250 Sell 125
Used to make Vanguard, Poor Man's Shield

Javelin
+21 damage
20 % chance add 40 damage for each attack
Buy 1500 Sell 750
Used to make Monkey King Bar, Cranium Basher

Mithril Hammer
+24 damage
Buy 1600 Sell 800
Used to make Maelstrom, Black King Bar, Stygian Desolator

Chainmail
+5 armor
Buy 550 Sell 275
Used to make Natherezim Buckler, Blade Mail, Assault Cuirass , Phase Boots

Helm of Iron Will
+5 armor, +3 HP regen/seconds
Buy 950 Sell 475
Used to make Helm of the Dominator, Hood of Defiance, Armlet of Mordiggian, Veil of Discord

Plate Mail
+10 armor
Buy 1400 Sell 700
Used to make Assault Cuirass, Shiva's Guard

Quelling Blade
+32% bonus attack damage on non-hero units. +12% (ranged)
Tree Chop (Active)
Tree Chop destroys a target tree.
Cooldown : 5 seconds
Quelling Blade cannot be held by Admiral
Buy 225 Sell 112

Leragas the Vile

Demon Edge
+46 damage
Buy 2400 Sell 1300
Used to make Divine Rapier, Buriza-do Kyanon, Monkey King Bar

Eaglehorn
+25 Agility
Buy 3300 Sell 1650
Used to make The Butterfly, Mjollnir, Ethereal Blade

Messerschmidt's Reaver
+25 Strength
Buy 3200 Sell 1600
Used to make Heart of Tarrasque, Satanic

Sacred Relic
+60 damage
Buy 3800 Sell 1900
Used to make Divine Rapier, Radiance, Abyssal Blade

Hyperstone
+55% attack speed
Buy 2100 Sell 1050
Used to make Assault Cuirass, Mjollnir

Ring of Health
+4 HP regen/seconds
Buy 875 Sell 437
Used to make Perseverance, Vanguard, Hood of Defiance

Void Stone
+100% mana regeneration
Buy 875 Sell 450
Used to make Perseverance, Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Guinsoo

Mystic Staff
+25 Intelligence
Buy 2700 Sell 1350
Used to make Shiva's Guard, Guinsoo

Energy Booster
+250 mana
Buy 1000 Sell 500
Used to make Soul Booster, Arcane Ring

Point Booster
+150 mana
+200 HP
Buy 1200 Sell 600
Used to make Soul Booster, Eye of Skadi, Aghanim's Scepter

Vitality Booster
+250 HP
Buy 1100 Sell 550
Used to make Soul Booster, Heart of Tarrasque, Vanguard, Rod of Atos

Orb of Venom
Adds a poison effect to your attacks. Deals 3dps and lasts 4 seconds. 4% slow for range, 12% for melee.
Buy 350 Sell 175
Used to make Eye of Skadi

Dota 6.73 AI Plus - Dota-Allstars 6.73 AI Plus Map Download News & Update

2012-02-14T08:13:00.001-08:00

Dota 6.73 AI Plus - Dota-Allstars 6.73 AI Plus Map Download News and Update. DotA 6.73 finally came out with some new heroes and as usual, we will want the DotA 6.73 AI to train with those new heroes.

DotA-Blog know that and will give you the latest update about Dota 6.73 AI in this post ;)

This post will be updated if there is any news about the AI map. Stay tune!

Dota 6.74 Map - Official Dota-Allstars 6.74 Download Update & News

2012-02-14T08:12:00.004-08:00

Dota 6.74 Map - Official Dota-Allstars 6.74 Download News and Update. We got massive updates on the DotA 6.73. And usually the next map will contain some balances and bug fixes. Stay tune on this post for the latest information of DotA 6.74!

Dota 6.73d Map - Official Dota-Allstars 6.73d Download Update & News

2012-02-14T08:12:00.003-08:00

Dota 6.73d Map - Official Dota-Allstars 6.73d Download News and Update. DotA 6.73c already fixed some remaining bugs on the DotA 6.73 map, but some other bugs could be slipped and IceFrog will be forced to release DotA 6.73d. Therefore, you can check this post for the latest information about DotA 6.73d. Stay tune!

Dota 6.73c Map - Official Dota-Allstars 6.73c Download (Released)

2012-02-14T08:12:00.001-08:00

DotA 6.73c Map Download - Dota-Allstars 6.73c Official Map has just released! On this map, IceFrog remove all the Christmas decoration and also balance the new heroes. Some bugs on DotA 6.73b also fixed on this version, check it out!

Dota 6.73c Changelogs:
>> DotA 6.73c Changelogs <<

Dota 6.73c Download Link
Dota 6.73c Download - GameWebZ Mirror
Dota 6.73b Download - GetDota Mirror

Note: Don't wanna miss the next map? Subscribe our feed and we will deliver the latest Dota-Allstars map updates to your email or RSS reader.

Nice! I hope this version will be stable enough so IceFrog can work for the DotA 6.74 instead of releasing DotA 6.73d ^^;; Anyway, enjoy the brand new DotA 6.73c!

PS : For AI map update, check out the Dota 6.73 AI post.

Dota 6.73b Map - Official Dota-Allstars 6.73b Download (Released)

2012-02-14T08:11:00.004-08:00

DotA 6.73b Map Download - Dota-Allstars 6.73b Official Map has just released! Well, we already knew that many changes means many bugs and today we got another proof of it ;) Anyway, in this map, IceFrog fix many bugs that occurs on the DotA 6.73, including a big exploit with Fire Remnant. Check out the details changelogs below!

Dota 6.73b Changelogs:
>> DotA 6.73b Changelogs <<

Dota 6.73b Download Link
Dota 6.73b Download - GameWebZ Mirror
Dota 6.73b Download - GetDota Mirror

Note: Don't wanna miss the next map? Subscribe our feed and we will deliver the latest Dota-Allstars map updates to your email or RSS reader.

Well, i hope this map fix most of the bugs and we can enjoy the end of year with a great game using either DotA 6.73 or DotA 6.73b :)

PS : For AI map update, check out the Dota 6.73 AI post.

Update: DotA 6.73c is released!

Dota 6.73 Map - Official Dota-Allstars 6.73 Download (Released!)

2012-02-14T08:11:00.003-08:00

Dota 6.73 Map Download - Dota-Allstars 6.73 Official Map has just came out! This map contain many changes which includes 4 new heroes (Tresdin the Legion Commander, Rizzrak the Goblin Shredder, Xin the Ember Spirit & Dragonus the Skywrath Mage) and 5 new items! You can see several slight reduction on skill stats and item price, many bug fixes and the melee model size is reverted. Here are the complete changelogs and download link:

Dota 6.73 Changelogs:
>> DotA 6.73 Changelogs <<

Dota 6.73 Download Link

Dota 6.73 Download - GameWebZ Mirror

Dota 6.73 Download - GetDota Mirror

Note: Don't wanna miss the next map? Subscribe our feed and we will deliver the latest Dota-Allstars map updates to your email or RSS reader.

Well, here you go your Christmas and New Year present from IceFrog! Enjoy the DotA 6.73 and share your thought on the comment form :)

PS: For the AI map, check out the updates on the DotA 6.73 AI post :)

Dota 6.73 Map - Official Dota-Allstars 6.73 Download Update & News

2012-02-14T08:11:00.001-08:00

Dota 6.73 Map - Official Dota-Allstars 6.73 Download News and Update. After the massive update on DotA 6.72, DotA 6.73 will likely coming out to fix the bug that could be appeared. Rest assured as this post will cover everything about DotA 6.73.

Updates #1
IceFrog confirmed that there will be more than 2 new heroes on DotA 6.73. Check it out on this post.

Final Update!
The map is released! Check out the brand new Dota 6.73!!

PS: Subscribe this blog and we'll email you if Dota 6.73 map already released :)

Dota 6.72 AI Plus - Dota-Allstars 6.72 AI Plus Map Download News & Update

2012-02-14T08:10:00.004-08:00

Dota 6.72 AI Plus - Dota-Allstars 6.72 AI Plus Map Download News and Update. DotA 6.72 has just come with new hero and DotA 6.72 AI hopefully will coming not so long after the map.

And as usual, the DotA-Blog will keep giving you the update about Dota 6.72 AI news in this post ;)

Update #1 (October 5 2011)
PBMN has informed us that the map will be released next week! Read the post here.

Update #2 (October 16 2011)
It seems the map got delayed! But the good news is, Cloud_str will help making the new AI map and we can expect AI on heroes who doesn't have it yet! Read the post here.

Final Update! (October 24 2011)
The map is released! Download here.

Note: You can subscribe our feeds so we can inform you if Dota 6.72 AI map already released.

Warcraft 1.26a Patch | Official Warcraft 3 TFT Patch 1.26a Download

2012-02-14T08:10:00.003-08:00

Warcraft 1.26a Patch has just available! It seems the hex fix in the 1.25b patch is causing a bug which can give your hero to have max speed. Here is the full Warcraft Patch 1.26a changelogs:

Warcraft Patch 1.26 Changelogs
- Hex will no longer provide a speed boost to a Hero if cast at the end of Metamorphosis or Chemical Rage effects.
- Reverted the 1.25b fix, "Hex will no longer extend the duration of Metamorphosis."
- Fixed an issue where some Mac patches could lead to disconnections during Battle.net games.

The new version number for Warcraft 3 The Frozen Throne 1.26a is 1.26.0.6401

How to update into Patch 1.26a Warcraft
Choose one of the following method
1. Connect to the Battle.net and your patch will automatically upgraded. You must log off and login again to ensure the patch updated properly.
2. Download the Warcraft 1.26a standalone patch from Blizzard server and run the updater.
3. Use the Warcraft Version Switcher 1.26a.

Well, it's kinda funny to think that a company as big as Blizzard try to fix a bug and ended up creating another one. Anyway, enjoy the Warcraft Patch 1.26a!

Warcraft 1.24e Patch | Warcraft 3 TFT Patch 1.24e Download & Changelogs

2012-02-14T08:10:00.001-08:00

Warcraft 1.24e Patch has just released by Blizzard today. Although this is unexpected, the Warcraft 3 TFT Patch 1.24e fix multiple number of hack, like crash hack, sheep hack, phoenix hack and some other hacks. Looks like Patch 1.24e give us lots of improvement from hack. Here is the full Warcraft Patch 1.24e changelogs:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warcraft Patch 1.24e Changelogs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Fixed an exploit rendering buildings non-interactable ("tower hack").
- Fixed an exploit allowing a player to bypass a summon ability's
cooldown ("summon/cooldown hack").
- Fixed a client crash related to workers failing to build in an
unintended way ("new crash hack").
- Fixed an exploit allowing the Blood Mages's Phoenix to be resurrected
instantly ("phoenix hack").
- Fixed a bug allowing players to select an invalid matchmaking race
resulting in all the player's units and buildings becoming sheep
("sheep hack").
The new version number for Warcraft 3 The Frozen Throne 1.24e Patch is 1.24.4.6387.

How to update into Patch 1.24e Warcraft
You can use one of the following method
1. Just connect to the Battle.net and your patch will automatically upgraded. You must log off and login again to ensure the patch updated properly.
2. Download the Warcraft 1.24e standalone patch from Blizzard server and run the updater.
3. Use the Warcraft Version Switcher 1.24e.

This Warcraft 1.24e Patch give us more prevention from lots of hacks. So it's recommended to update and using this patch. Enjoy!

Warcraft Version Switcher Download and Guide (Patch 1.26a, 1.25b, 1.24e, 1.24d, 1.24c, 1.24b, 1.24)

2012-02-14T08:09:00.004-08:00

The Warcraft Version Switcher software allow you to switch between 2 or more versions of Warcraft 3 TFT on a single PC. This awesome tools is created by Ugge and updated by Aeyah. The latest Warcraft Version Switcher allow you to switch between your current patch into 1.24,1.25 or 1.26 patch.

Download Link

Warcraft 1.24 Version Switcher
Rapidshare Link
MegaUpload Link

Warcraft 1.24b Version Switcher
Warcraft 1.24b Version Switcher

Warcraft 1.24c Version Switcher
Warcraft 1.24c Version Switcher

Warcraft 1.24d Version Switcher
Warcraft 1.24d Version Switcher

Warcraft 1.24e Version Switcher
Warcraft 1.24e Version Switcher

Warcraft 1.25b Version Switcher
Warcraft 1.25b Version Switcher

Warcraft 1.26a Version Switcher
Warcraft 1.26a Version Switcher

Warcraft Version Switcher Guide
1. Extract the zip file from above link.
2. Check the extracted folder and open "Wvs.exe"

3. A warning message will come out, click ok.

4. Set your Warcraft 3 Folder.

5. The application will be closed. Open "Wvs.exe" again.

6. Click Switch Version Button (first button).
7. Double Click the Warcraft 3 version you want to switch.
8. The Warcraft 3 version will be switched.

Enjoy!

DotA 2 is Announced! Coming in 2011

2012-02-14T08:09:00.003-08:00

Finally, after so many speculation and rumors, the DotA 2 is now officially announced! As the Game Informer mentioned, the game will be released next year on both PC and Mac platform.

Looking back a bit, IceFrog (the current DotA map developer on Warcraft III) is hired by Valve in 2009. Since then, many people starts wondering what kind of game they are working on. And as the curtain revealed, it appears they are bringing the DotA map into a full game based on the Valve's Source engine. That's mean many of the game limitation on Warcraft III is lifted. And with that, some new features are also introduced on the DotA 2.

Let's check it out!

In-Game Voice Chat

Ventrilo is no longer needed. Communication is the vital factor on the teamwork and typing sometime is not an option because our hand is already full controling the hero. The DotA 2 will cover that and have an integrated voice chat feature which will allow you to communicate during game easily.

Leaver AI Replacement

Awesome features. You will have less problem with the leaver. The disconnected players hero will be automatically taken control by an AI bots. However, don't get too excited and you decide to played it on a single-player game. Erik Johnson (the Project Leader) says, "Our goal with the AI is just that their experience isn't destroyed just because one person couldn't finish the game."

Cool Heroes Voice

The current DotA map is using the Warcraft III sound set which originally created for the Warcraft III campaign, not for DotA. The DotA 2 will have the heroes voice fit properly with the game. Amusing lines from heroes will coming out when you deny the enemy team last hits on creeps. Heroes who have related stories will trade quips when nearby. Maybe you will see Lina Inverse and Rylai teasing each other :p

Matchmaking System

Valve is using it's traditional Steamworks for the skill based matchmaking which will let you play comfortably.

In-Game Rewards

Valve is introducing a new system which will rewards you for participating in community forums.

Coaching System

Veteran players will be able to login as a coach and teach the newbies. The coach can see beginner's screen and can get private voice chat during the game. Still no words about how the trainer and trainee will be matched.

Wow, lots of amusing stuff there. I hope Valve can meet with our expectation. But i'm pretty disappointed with the fact that there's no screenshots of the game itself :( But hey, why ruin the surprise? Tell us what you think about DotA 2 on the comment box guys :)

Leshrac Guide & Build - The Tormented Soul Strategy

2012-02-14T08:09:00.001-08:00

Leshrac Guide & Build, Leshrac the Tormented Soul Strategy. Leshrac has full area magic spells that can annihilating enemy creeps and destroying enemy tower with ease. The AoE damage afflicted is enormous and feared by the enemies. This post contains Leshrac the Tormented Soul guide, item build, skill build and strategy.

Torment around me. Torment in me. Torment be with me. And let us conquer our foes. They do not understand our pain. Do you? No. Not a soul can. And for that, We shall make them feel the torment... The torment that inhabits my soul.

Strength - 16 + 1.5
Agility - 23 + 1.7 (Primary)
Intelligence - 26 + 3

Base damage 45-49
Attack range of 600
Base Armor 3.3
Movement speed of 310

Skill Descriptions

Split Earth (T)

Splits the earth under your enemies' feet. Deals damage and stuns for a short duration.

Level 1 - Deals 70 damage and 1.25 seconds (heroes), 0.75 seconds (creeps) stuns
Level 2 - Deals 140 damage and 1.50 seconds (heroes and creeps) stuns
Level 3 - Deals 210 damage and 1.75 seconds (heroes), 2.25 seconds (creeps) stuns
Level 4 - Deals 280 damage and 2 seconds (heroes), 3 seconds (creeps) stuns

Mana Cost: 100/125/140/165
Cooldown: 9

This skill is pretty hard to land as an opening attack. If you are not sure, let your mate with easier stun to land the attack first, then your turn to cast it. But if you confident, cast it as you like.

Diabolic Edict (C)

Saturates the area around Leshrac with magic, causing random explosions to enemies. Lasts 8 seconds..

Level 1 - Weak explosions.
Level 2 - Moderate explosions.
Level 3 - Fairly strong explosions.
Level 4 - Very strong explosions.

Cooldown: 22 seconds
Mana Cost: 95/120/135/155

Cast this skill to destroy tower or kill enemy when enemy's creep has been cleared.

Lightning Storm (G)

Calls a lightning storm that hits nearby enemies.

Level 1 - Deals 80 damage. Jumps 4 times
Level 2 - Deals 145 damage. Jumps 6 times
Level 3 - Deals 205 damage. Jumps 7 times
Level 4 - Deals 265 damage. Jumps 8 times

Cooldown: 6
Mana Cost: 100/115/130/145

Cast this skill for farming, harassing and clearing the way. Note that the cooldown is really fast, so take advantage from it.

Pulse Nova (V)

Summons a Pulse Nova every second to damage nearby enemies.

Level 1 - 66 (88*) damage per nova
Level 2- 100 (133*) damage per nova
Level 3 - 144 (177*) damage per nova

Cooldown: 0
Mana Cost: 110 to active. 20/40/60 mana per second when activated
*) With Aghanim

Cast this skill for farming, clearing the way and killing enemies. Watch out for the mana as it will drained as long as you use it. Deactivate this skill if not needed.

Leshrac Skill Build

Level 1: Split Earth
Level 2: Diabolic Edict / Lightning Storm
Level 3: Diabolic Edict / Lightning Storm
Level 4: Lightning Storm / Diabolic Edict
Level 5: Diabolic Edict / Lightning Storm
Level 6: Lightning Storm / Diabolic Edict
Level 7: Diabolic Edict / Lightning Storm
Level 8: Lightning Storm / Diabolic Edict
Level 9: Lightning Storm / Diabolic Edict
Level 10: Pulse Nova
Level 11: Pulse Nova
Level 12: Split Earth
Level 13: Split Earth
Level 14: Split Earth
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Pulse Nova
Levels 17-25: Stats

1.25 seconds stun is enough in the early minutes, so take Split Earth just 1 level. Pulse Nova waste her mana, so don't take it before level 10 if she hasn't equip item increasing mana and mana regeneration yet. Lightning Storm and Diabolic Edict are good combination to clear the way and destroy tower. Pulse Nova are good skill in a big war to clear opponent creeps so your team can focus to attack enemy heroes.

Leshrac Item Build

1. 3x Ironwood Branch + Mantle of Intelligence + 2 set of Tangos + 2 Clarity Potion or just empty Bottle
2. Void stone if you can harass your enemy/enemies and can keep your hp full. Point booster / Ring of Health if you are being harassed.
3. Point booster if you didn't have it + Boots of Speed + Finish Perseverance.
4. Finish Phase Boots (+ Town Portals) or Boots of Travel

Leshrac's core item should be like this:

Perseverance is bough for regenerating hp & mana. Point Booster to increase hp and mana little much more so he is little harder to kill and can cast spells without lack of mana. Boots of Travel will help you assist your friend and killing enemies anywhere when needed. Empty Bottle (optional) is standard item in tourney game. It is used to restore hp and mana in few seconds and to get the rune.

Luxury Items

+ + + +

In my opinion, Bloodstone is created for Leshrac aside of Storm. The hp boost and mana boost is welcomed , but the main advantage for having Bloodstone is the mana regeneration. If you can have enough charge, you can cast Pulse Nova without thinking about the mana. Aghanim is equipped to increase Pulse-Nova's damage.

Guinsoo is used to disable an enemy hero. Shiva's guard increase his armor so he is harder to kill and also to cast Arctic Blast for slowing enemies around him and clear the way faster. All of his skills are active so he doesn't need attack damage.

Being AoE damage dealer, he probably will be focused by enemy carry (which mainly rely on normal attack) on the clash, Ghost Scepter will be your way out. If you manage to get Ethereal Blade, you can banish both of him and his enemy and let you land your magic spells while the enemy can't give you any normal attack.

However, if your enemy also consist of AoE damage spells or chain nuker, get BKB instead. Your Ghost Scepter/Ethereal Blade won't help you in those situation. Get Blade Mail if you feel you won't survive even if you get those items. It will make them think twice before attack you and while they hesitate, you can give them some nice damage. If the enemy still focusing on you, well, at least you give him the return damage which is pretty hurt.

Leshrac Strategy

You should pick this hero when your team needs good pusher since he can annihilate creep and tower really fast. Avoid to pick him when there are Doombringer, Enigma, Silencer, Traxex and/or Rooftrellen as your enemy.

He is needed in the mid game to help your team harass/kill the enemies, clearing the way to the tower and destroy them. He need to level up as soon as possible to maximize his skills. So, get him the solo lane if possible.

In early minutes, cast Lightning Storm for farming and harassing. Cast Diabolic Edict when reaching tower and there is no enemy's creep in the way to destroy tower. When you are attacked suddenly by your enemy, cast Split Earth and try to kill your enemy with all of your skills or just run away if you are afraid about Leshrac's death.

In the mid game, you should help your team to harass/kill your enemy/enemies and destroy tower. Cast Lightning Storm, Split Earth, then Lightning Storm again (+ Pulse Nova and Diabolic Edict if necessary) to kill your enemies together with your team. If you have reached tower, cast Diabolic Edict to destroy it.

In a big war, cast all of your skills, especially Pulse Nova, as fast as you can, including Diabolic Edict before you get silenced or disabled. Clear enemy creeps as fast as possible so your team can focus to attack enemy heroes. Be careful about lack of mana. Deactivate Pulse Nova when there is neither enemy creep nor enemy hero. Cast Hex and/or Arctic Blast if you have Guinsoo and/or Shiva's Guard. Cast Ether Blast to an enemy's carry hero if you have Ethereal Blade.

Kaldr Guide - Ancient Apparition Guide & Strategy

2012-02-14T08:08:00.004-08:00

Kaldr the Ancient Apparition Guide and Strategy. Dota 6.65 introduce 2 new heroes, one of them is Ancient Apparition, Kaldr. This guy has ice theme on his skill set. This post will help you to understand the Ancient Apparition skills.

Ancient Apparition Skills & Stats

Range: 600
Movement Speed: 295
Hero Type: Intelligence

Agility: 20 + 2.2
Strength: 18 + 1.4
Intelligence: 25 + 2.6

Cold Feet
The Apparition curses his foes with The Frozen Mark which will freeze enemies to the ground. Unless target enemy moves at least 740 away from the mark within 4 seconds he is frozen still.

Damage per second: 37.5/50/62.5/75
Stun duration if triggered: 1.25/2/2.75/3.5

Cooldown: 15/13/11/9
Manacost: 90

Single Target Spell

Note: Target takes damage per second until he is stunned or moves out of range.

Ice Vortex
Gathers ancient frost energy into one area to create a small, immobile ice vortex at a location. Whenever enemies are near it, their movement speed and magical resistance are reduced.

Movement Reduction: 18/22/26/30
Magic Resistance: -10/15/20/25
AOE: 275

Duration: 12
Cooldown: 6
Manacost: 80/90/100/110

Chilling Touch
Releases a gust of cold wind at a target area, enchanting allied heroes with bonus magical damage on their attacks. Lasts for a limited number of attacks up to a maximum of 40 seconds. While the enchanted heroes have this chilling touch, their attack speed is reduced by 15%.

Maximum number of attacks: 2/3/4/5
Bonus Damage: 40/50/60/70
Attack Speed Reduction: -15%

Cooldown: 50/46/42/38
Manacost: 140

Note: Damage only triggers on enemy heroes, not creeps.

Ice Blast
Ancient Apparition projects his presence out to make way for a powerful ripple of hailstone and dark magic. Once cast, it can release the spell to strike targets within 200 area of where his presence was upon release. It will deal damage to enemy units and apply a frostbite curse on them for 7 seconds where their health regeneration will be frozen and will shatter if they fall close enough to death. This spell has global range depending on how long you wait for the projections to move. Frostbitten units will take minor damage over time.

Impact Damage: 250/350/450
Shatter Threshold: 10/11/12%

Cooldown: 44/32/20
Manacost: 100/125/150

Note: You can charge (non-channeling, time based) this as long as you want if you want it to travel further outwards. Has an initial aoe of 200, but increases by a small amount the further it travels.

Ancient Apparition Item Build
Coming soon!

Ancient Apparition Skill Build
1. Cold Feet
2. Ice Vortex
3. Cold Feet
4. Ice Vortex
5. Cold Feet
6. Ice Blast
7. Cold Feet
8. Ice Vortex
9. Ice Vortex
10. Chilling Touch
11. Ice Blast
12-14. Chilling Touch
15. Stats
16. Ice Blast
17-25. Stats

Justification

Cold Feet is taken early for obvious reason. Combined with a stun/slow, your enemies will likely captured frozen. This skills also can be used to get First Blood. Ice Vortex is the next skill as it synergies well with Cold Feet. The slow is very useful to ensure your Cold Feet success, not to mention the magic resistance reduce.

Ice Blast is taken whenever you can. It's one of the best global nukes, you will likely need some time though to be able to cast it on target. Chilling Touch is taken last because it more useful in a team fight which happen on mid-late game.

Visage Guide - Necro'lic Guide & Strategy (Dota 6.65 Remake)

2012-02-14T08:08:00.003-08:00

Visage the Necro'lic Guide & Strategy. Dota 6.65 not only introduces 2 new heroes, but also remade Visage the Necro'lic. This post will help you to understand the new Visage and also place for Visage the Necro'lic Guide & Strategy.

Range: 600
Movement Speed: 295
Hero Type: Intelligence

Agility: 11 + 1.3
Strength: 20 + 2.2
Intelligence: 21 + 2.5

Grave Chill
=============
Visage drains the life from a target, slowing its attack and move speed by 32%. He then gets bonuses equal to those drained.

Stolen MS & AS: 32
Duration: 3/4/5/6 (for both you and the target)
Manacost: 70/80/90/100
Cooldown 10

Soul Assumption
=================
Visage sends out a surge of agony towards an enemy unit, echoing the suffering that nearby heroes (foe or allied) have taken. For each 130 damage taken around him, his soul counter increases by one for up to 6 seconds.

Deals 20 damage + 60 for each charge.

Max Soul Counters: 3/4/5/6
Cooldown: 7/6/5/4
Manacost: 100/120/140/160

Note: Does not count damage taken from creeps. Charges when either allied heroes or enemy heroes take damage. Damage only has a 6 second window.

Gravekeeper's Cloak
====================
Passive.

Visage surrounds himself with the magical energy of the dead, granting extra physical armor and magic damage resistance. However, the energy degenerates with every instance of damage taken and will require time to recover back to full strength. Has 4 layers.

Armor per layer: 2/3/4/5
Magic Resistance per layer: 4/8/12/16

Cloak Recovery: 14/12/10/8 seconds

Instances: 4

Note: This is only affected by player based damage.

Summon Familiars
==================
Visage conjures up two blind Familiars from the realm of death. Familiars have high attack power but each attack, up to 6, drains their power and temporarily weakens them.

Familiars can transform into stone, stunning nearby enemy units upon landing and regenerating their health and attack power. Familiars give a large bounty (150 each) if killed.

Level 1: Up to 72 attack damage, 300 HP, 1 second stun.
Level 2: Up to 90 attack damage 400 HP, 1.25 second stun.
Level 3: Up to 108 attack damage 500 HP, 1.5 second stun.

Familiars take reduced damage from spells.

Stoneform Cooldown: 30

Summon Cooldown: 160
Summon Manacost: 150

Note: Can only have 2 Familiars up at any point.
Note 2: Stoned familiars are temporarily immune to damage, but they revert to normal form after 7 seconds
Note 3: Familiars will not autoattack enemies on their own, as to not consume their limited attack energy

Do you already have new strategy for the new Visage the Necro'lic? Share it here :)

Kael The Invoker Skills/ Spells Guide on 6.50 Dota-Allstars Map

2012-02-14T08:08:00.001-08:00

Kael The Invoker Skills/ Spells Guide and Walktrough on 6.50 - 6.50b Dota-Allstars Map. This is the compiled guide about Invoker skills/spells, skills build and items build. By typing "-invokelist" in game you can see an overview of his skills.

You can have 3 total orbs out at at time.Unlike any other hero in DOTA, these skills can be maxed to a level of 7. That means that Quas can give you a maximum of 15.75 +hp regen per tick, Exort can give you 21% IMS and +42% IAS, and Exort can give you a max of +63 damage.

Switching between orbs is instant cast and mana cost free, without cooldown, so feel free to mix it up by throwing on x3 Quas when your HP is low, for instance, and Wex/Exort when fighting. And unlike other heroes, Invoker gets his "ult" at level 5, although his "ult" really is only the ability to cast spells.

Orb Bonuses:
=========

Each orb gives a special bonus when it is on active. They all scale linearly. You can have 3 orbs on you at any given point, and there are 7 levels, so 7*3=21 maximum level of power on any specific orb.

Quas - 0.75 hp bonus regen per level per instance. With 3 instances of level 7 Quas you will have 15.75 hp regeneration with no additional items.

Wex - 2% AS and 1% MS per level per instance. With 3 instances of level 7 Wex you will have 21% more movement speed and 42% attack speed.

Exort - 3 damage per level per instance. With 3 instances of level 7 Exort you will have +63 damage.

Orb Combinations:
============
There are 10 combinations total. Order is not a consideration. So if you have 2 exort and 1 quas, thats all that matters, not which came first. It is more intuitive and usable than before. The abilities are based on which properties form them.

The 10 combinations are:
QQQ, QQE, WWQ, QQW, EEE, EEQ, EEW, WWW, WWE, QWE.

Invoke:
======
As previously stated, this has 4 levels.. There is a new mechanic here that didn't exist before. Its dual invokes. This is allowed on higher levels of Invoke.

Level 1: 30 CD, 20 Manacost
Level 2: 30 CD, 40 Manacost, 2 Invokes
Level 3: 15 CD, 60 Manacost, 2 Invokes
Level 4: 5 CD, 80 Manacost, 2 Invokes

Current Invoke Spells:
=======================

Click the image for full scale

EEW - Chaos Meteor:
-------------------------

This is mainly fire and aoe. It travels long distance based on Wex and damages based on Exort. Deals 80/110/140/170/200/230/260 damage per second in a 300 moving area. Damage is done in 0.5 intervals, it does not damage over time on the burnt ground, only on the meteor itself as it is moving. Distance goes from 500 up to 1550. Units that get hit by this have a damage over time fire on them. The damage over time is 1/5 of what the regual damage is, and lasts 2 seconds.

Great damaging AoE spells. With proper placed spells (maybe you can combine with Ice Wall/Deafening Blast), this skill give huge damages.

Cooldown: 30
Manacost: 200

WWE - EMP:
---------------

Deals damage from 120 up to 300 in a 700 area, based on Exort. same for mana loss, but based on Wex. The speed of the detonation is 4 seconds, down to 2 on max Wex. This is a target point effect, you target a location and the charge builds up there.

This skills works well if you are facing spellcaster. Unfortunately, the detonate time will make this spell easy to dodge. Combine it with some disable or in a team battle.

Cooldown: 40
Manacost: 250

WWQ - Tornado:
--------------------

This is a long range fast moving semi-disable ability. It cyclones units in its path, then damages them when they land. Damage is from 175 to 350 based on Wex and Quas. Distance is from 700 to 3100 Wex based. Airtime is from 0.4 to 2.2 Quas based.

A great AoE disable with some nifty damage. Use it on fleeing targets, it has very long range.

Cooldown: 25
Manacost: 150

QQW - Ghost Walk:
-----------------------

This is a wind walk variation. You become invisible, but you move slower. Enemy units near you move slower as well. The amount you are slowed by in wind walk is Wex based from 30% to 0% and the amount the enemies are slowed is Quas based from 10% to 40%.

Use this to slow down your enemies while your allies hit them. In the early game, this skills maybe your first choice to escape ganking.

Cooldown: 60
Manacost: 300

QWE - Deafening Blast:
----------------------------

This is a line ability. A projectile flies and knockbacks units in its way, making them unable to attack for a period of time. Damage is Exort based, 40->280. Attack Silence duration is Wex based, from 1 to 4 seconds. Knockback duration is based on Quas, from 0.25 to 1.75. The attack silence effect starts after the knockback is done processing.

Very usefull skills for initiate and save your allies. The stun and the silence will give chance to kill before they use their spells.

Cooldown: 25
Manacost: 200

QQE - Ice Wall:
------------------

Slows based on Quas, not sure how meaningful numbers are here, it needs a visual test because of the way its implemented. Its basically the same as the old Ice Wall, except instead of making you crawl to a halt instantly at level 1, it now slows based on Quas level. The duration the icewall is alive is from 3 to 10 seconds. Deals 5->30 dps based on Exort.

The slow effect is huge and if you invest in Exort early game the damage isn't that bad either. Use it to escape from your chaser or even for chasing and ganking.

Cooldown: 20
Manacost: 125

EEE - Sun Strike:
------------------

Global cast range. Targets a 200 aoe area. Has 2 second cast delay. Deals aoe damage based on Exort from 75 to 450 damage. Spreads the damage over the number of units in the area.

Works like combined Zeus's ultimate and Mirana arrows. Always look on the map for a fleeing low hp enemy and aim this spell on their path.The 1.7 delay may make you miss some kills but with a bit of practice you'll get the hang of it.

Cooldown: 60
Manacost: 250

QQQ - Cold Snap:
----------------

Single enemy target. This causes any damage dealt to the target to create a ministun effect (0.2). Duration is based on Quas, from 3 to 6 seconds. Triggers maximum once every .7/.65/.6/.55/.5/.45/.4 seconds. 1000 cast range. Deals 25 damage per freeze.

Use it when you're teaming with a fast atack speed hero or just want to stop a channeling spell.

Cooldown: 20
Manacost: 100

WWW - Alacrity:
---------------

Targets an allied unit. Gives a surge of attack speed for a brief period. Lasts 5 seconds. Gives 40/60/80/100/120/140/160

Use it on your DPS allies like Mortred or even yourself.

Cooldown: 20
Manacsot: 125

EEQ - Forge Spirit:
-------------------

Forge Spirit
Attack Range: 300/400/500/600/700/800/900 (Exort based)
Hit Points: 300/400/500/600/700/800/900 (Exort based)
Damage: 29/38/47/56/65/74/83 (Exort based)
Mana Base: 100/150/200/250/300/350/400 (Quas based)
Duration: 20/30/40/50/60/70 (Quas based)
Armor: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 (Quas based)

Mana Regen: 4
Movement Speed: 320

Melting Strike
Costs 40 Mana. This is an arrow effect. It has no cooldown. Upon impact on the target, lowers armor by 1. Stacks up to 10. Effect Lasts 5 seconds from the last sucessful melting strike hit. This hits heroes only. Starts off autocasted. It has 33% magic resistance. When Quas and Exort are maxed out, it spawns 2 instead.

The armor reduction will be a free Stygian for you. Use it with Ghost Walk or Cold Snap.

Summon Cooldown: 70
Summon Manacost: 200

Skills Build
Unlike the other heroes, Invoker skills build is unlimited. There is no best skill build. You can choose what are you want to be. It's all depends on your teams. If you want to deal huge damage, max out Exort. Want to support your team, get Quas. Want to be a DPS, grab Wex. But don't be greedy. If your skills build is not focused, you will likely gain nothing.

Wex/Exort
This build spins around maxing Wex and Exort early game. If you choose this build, you need some regeneration items to cover the missing Quas. You will got high damage early and attack speed-movement speed bonus from Wex. Best choice to make Invoker as DPS hero.

Quas/Wex
This build is based on maxing out Quas and Wex early on. You will got Tornado, Ice Wall and Cold Snap on your side. With so many disable, you can ganking easier. You won't have problems holding your lane since you'll achieve more regeneration with Quas.

Quas/Exort
The most common skills build. Quas ensure enough regeneration to keep you on your lane without any other items, while Exort gives you the posibility to last hit easier. This build also assures early access to Ice Wall to save you from chaser. If you are still not feel safe, get one point of Wex to access Ghost Walk.

Items Build
Invoker items build is really depends on your skill build. But basically, Invoker need mana regeneration and stats (since he doesn't have it). If you are going to be a DPS, get MKB. If you want to be a support, get Gynsoo and Shiva's Guard. You can cover stats and mana by getting Linken's. Still looking for the ideal build for him tough. Do you have any suggestion? Let's discuss it here :)

Spells Combo

The biggest problem when you are using Invoker is the limit of the spell you can invoke. With 2 maximal invoke's spells, you must choose and combine the right spells for better result. For optimal result, invoke the 2 spells you want to use and then prepare your next orb combination. Therefore, after spend your spells, you can immediately Invoke another spells quickly. 4 spells combo is possible, but need a lot of practice.

If you're still having difficulties memorize the spells, you can print this great card diagram from Anura. Click the image to view the full size and then you can print it :)

Ice Wall/Emp
Anti caster combo. Sneak behind enemy lines with Ghost Walk and Ice Wall them then quickly Emp next to the wall. Creates confusion and limits their nuking posibilities.

Chaos Meteor/Defeaning Blast
Nuking combo, use the Deafening blast to keep your enemies under your meteor.

Cold Snap/Alcatry/Forged Spirits
Use this combo when you are teaming with some nuker/high atack speed hero. If you have MKB you'll see a lot of short stuns and the Forged Spirit acts like a Stygian Desolator ensuring that he'll feel hurt.

Tornado/Sun Strike
Cast Tornado and then cast Sun strike at the location when Tornado almost ends. Assures a high damage combo.

Cold Snap/Ice Wall/Tornado/EMP
Use it on ganking and chasing. Don't use them Tornado immediately after Ice Wall. Wait until the slow effect is gone and then whack them with it.

Tornado/Chaos Meteor/Def Blast/EMP
Another Nuking Combo. Use meteor just after the effect of tornado is off, follow swiftly with Defeaning Blast. Need some practice to do it quickly.

Cold Snap/Ghost Walk/Forged Spirits
Use your Ghost Walk to keep your spirits landing some nice hits. Works great when you have Radiance and you already cast Cold Snap on the target.

You can give correction and feedback if i made some mistake. Since this hero is still new and need more trial, you can also add another skill and combo if you found any. Any correction and suggestion are welcome. The credits will given to you as always :)

Batrider Guide and Strategy - Jin'zakk Guide

2012-02-14T08:07:00.004-08:00

Batrider Guide and Strategy. Jin'zakk the Batrider is one of the new hero that added on Dota 6.60 along with Tauren Chieftain, not forgetting Razor remake. In this post i will give you some peek about Batrider skills and ability along with the guide. This guide is still on proggress, so any feedback or suggestion from you is really helpfull :)

Base Stats
Strength: 23 + 2.5
Agility: 15 + 1.5
Intelligence: 24 + 2.5

Attack Range: 375
Movement Speed: 290

Cast Point 0.3
Attack Point 0.5
Hero Class: Intelligence

Sticky Napalm
Targets an area and drenches it in oil. Slows the movement speed and turn rate of units in that area. Extra casts of this on the same targets stacks.

Any fire damage from batrider will ignite the napalm, dealing damage for each stack.

Fire damage is any regular batrider attack, flamebreak or firefly

AOE: 375
Damage: 10/15/20/25
Slow: 3/5/7/9%
Turn rate reduction: 30%

Lasts 7 seconds (refreshes on hit)
Stack max: 10

Cast Range: 700
Manacost: 15
Cooldown: 3

See the status? They are ready to combust ;p

Woohooo!!

Flamebreak
Hurls a highly explosive cocktail of dangerous chemicals at the target position. Upon impacting with an enemy the missile explodes, dealing damage and knocking all nearby foes away from the impact. Any unit who has been Napalmed will take additional damage from the blast.

Knocks back all units in the explosion area proportionally to how far they were from the center

Damage: 75/150/225/300
Max knockback: 400
Explosion AOE: 375
Detection AOE: 100
Damage: 75/150/225/300
Travel Distance: 1600

Manacost: 80/100/120/140
Cooldown: 11

This skill can knockback your enemy.

Firefly
Flies high leaving a burning trail behind. Enemies who dare follow will get burned by the fiery napalm. Nothing can take the skies from him.

Trees in your path are killed by the fire.
Gives you flying pathing

Damage: 20/40/60/80 per second
AOE: 200
Spell Duration: 15
Pathing: Flying

CD: 40
Manacost: 100

The coolest Batrider skill in my opinion. It looks like Windrunner ultimate when it still on Beta Stage. You can goes through trees and cliffs and burn whatever in your path for a while when activate this skill.

Flaming Lasso (Ultimate)
Snags a target with a constricting lasso, allowing the Batrider to drag them behind him as he moves.

Does not drag units over cliffs or impassable terrain.

If you TP or blink away or get ported away, the lasso breaks.

Cast Range: 175
Bind Range: 300
Manacost: 150
Cooldown: 130/90/50
Duration: 3/3.5/4

Ok, this skill is like Rhasta's skill but not channeling and you can move around drag your victim anywhere. In the Beta version you can even use Town Portal while lasso your enemies and drag him to the base ^^ But now TP/blink is cancelling this skill ;)

Skills Build
Lv 1 : Firefly
Lv 2 : Flamebreak
Lv 3 : Flamebreak/Stick Napalm
Lv 4 : Sticky Napalm/Flamebreak
Lv 5 : Flamebreak
Lv 6 : Flaming Lasso
Lv 7 : Flamebreak
Lv 8-10 : Sticky Napalm
Lv 11 : Flaming Lasso
Lv 12-14: Firefly
Lv15: Stats
Lv 16: Flaming Lasso
Lv 17-25: Stats

Firefly taken as first skill to help you avoid level 1 gank. Just go to the hill if they intend to do so. Next max either Sticky Napalm and Flame Break. Personally i prefer maxing Flame Break first because it has knockback. If you want to last hitting, getting Sticky Napalm offers you a better creep kill. Just cast 1-3 times will add 30-45 damage for 45 mana. Pretty cheap. Get the ultimate as soon as possible. This will be a great tool for ganking.

Skill usage
Sticky Napalm in lane to assist in last hitting.
Sticky Napalm + Firebreak = Farming combo
Firebreak + Firefly = Escape combo
Sticky Napalm + Firebreak + Flaming Lasso + Firefly = Combo that disorients enemy team and pulls one enemy into your team

Items Build
Core Items

This items build is for maxing your potential as a ganker. Since Phase Boots is not compatible, using Boots of Travel combined with Firefly is a great choice to chase the enemies while slowing them with Sticky Napalm. Bracers to add some HP and Void Stone will cover your mana regen. Force Staff is used to help catch the enemies. Flaming Lasso has short range cast. With Force Staff you can push enemies heroes to your range (need great timing) or push yourself to them (easier, but more risky as you're the one who come to them). Why not Dagger? I prefer Force Staff because it adds more Intelligence and relatively same purpose with dagger. Force Staff also add damage and attack speed which you're lack of.

Luxuries

Get Guinsoo for additional disable, great for ganking. Bloodstone also gives you health and mana, let you spam your skills on team battles. Shiva's Guard for additional AoE attack.

Other Items

Lothar is actually not a bad item for him. Windwalk and immediately pulling one heroes into your team is sure a good idea. The drawback is that it easily counterable with Dust/Gem.

Dagger is also viable for Batrider. Blink into your enemy and capture it. But i prefer Force Staff to help land his ulti though.

This guide is still improving and need some feedback. But what about you? Have different idea or skillsets? Share it here ;)

Credits:
redrach for the skill set explanation

Akasha Guide & Build - The Queen of Pain (QoP) Strategy

2012-02-14T08:07:00.003-08:00

Akasha Guide & Build, Akasha the Queen of Pain (QoP) Strategy. Akasha is the one who can annihilate creeps fastly, enter and leaving the combat as fast as she want and deal massive AoE damage. This post contains Akasha the Queen of Pain guide, item build, skill build and strategy.

Akasha is one of the many souls claimed by the blade, Frostmourne. Raised to serve the Lich King as a Banshee, she desired to become pure substance once more. Driving deep into the forests, she was able to subdue and possess a Succubus minion. Rightly bearing the title, Queen of Pain, she enjoys nothing more than inflicting massive damage on her foes, using both the poisonous strikes of her succubus host and the vicious howls retained from her Banshee nature. Akasha breaks her enemies' eardrums with torturing screams, some so loud they manifest into powerful waves that ripple across the lands, shattering all in their wake.

Strength - 16 + 1.7
Agility - 18 + 2
Intelligence- 24 + 2.5 (Primary)

Base damage 45-53
Attack range of 550
Base Armor 1.6
Movement speed of 300

Skill Descriptions

Shadow Strike (D)

Hurls a poisoned dagger which deals large initial damage, and then deals damage over time. The poisoned unit has its movement speed slowed for a short duration. Slow quantity increases per level.

Level 1 - 50 strike damage, 15 duration damage. 20% initial slow
Level 2 - 70 strike damage, 30 duration damage. 30% initial slow
Level 3 - 70 strike damage, 45 duration damage. 40% initial slow
Level 4 - 100 strike damage, 60 duration damage. 50% initial slow

Mana Cost: 80/100/120/140
Cooldown: 20/17/14/11

The main purpose to take this skill is for the slow. Cast it to the enemy who will run away from the death.

Blink (B)

Short distance teleportation that allows one to move in and out of combat.

Level 1 - 200 - 700 Range Teleportation
Level 2 - 200 - 850 Range Teleportation
Level 3 - 200 - 1000 Range Teleportation
Level 4 - 200 - 1150 Range Teleportation

Cooldown: 12/10/8/6
Mana Cost: 60

A really useful spell. You can use this to entering the cliff and even dodge spells like Skeleton King's Hellfire Blast. Be careful when use this skill for entering combat, she can die because can't run away while her next Blink has not ready yet.

Scream of Pain (F)

The Queen of Pain lets loose a piercing scream, damaging nearby enemies.

Level 1 - 85 damage per target
Level 2 - 165 damage per target
Level 3 - 225 damage per target
Level 4 - 300 damage per target

Cooldown: 7
Mana Cost: 140

This skill is used to harass the enemies with high damage & little cooldown. Really useful for farming. Remember the Scream range by watching the picture below.

Sonic Wave (W)

Creates a gigantic wave of sound which deals heavy damage to all units in a line.

Level 1 - 290 (340*) damage
Level 2 - 430 (530*) damage
Level 3 - 600 (725*) damage

Cooldown: 135 (120/100/80 *)
Mana Cost: 250/360/500
*) With Aghanim

This skill can be used for either opening or finishing a sequence of attack. It has huge AoE and can hit multiple heroes at once.

Akasha Skill Build

Level 1: Blink
Level 2: Scream of Pain
Level 3: Scream of Pain
Level 4: Shadow Strike
Level 5: Scream of Pain
Level 6: Sonic Wave
Level 7: Scream of Pain
Level 8: Shadow Strike/Blink
Level 9: Shadow Strike/Blink
Level 10: Shadow Strike/Blink
Level 11: Sonic Wave
Level 12: Blink/Shadow Strike
Level 13: Blink/Shadow Strike
Level 14: Blink/Shadow Strike
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Sonic Wave
Levels 17-25: Stats

In the early minutes, she can harass her enemies using Scream of Pain for big instant damage and little cooldown. Maxed it as fast as you can. Level 1 Blink and Shadow Strike are enough in the early minutes to avoid from ganking or strike suddenly. Using Sonic Wave, she can finish her enemies using two nukes combined with the Scream. While ganking, leveling the Shadow Strike is necessary. As time goes by, her enemies become stronger and hard to kill instantly, so she needs to move as fast as possible to keep herself alive, that's why leveling up Blink will help her. It's your choice wether you want to maxed Blink or Shadow Strike first.

Akasha Item Build

1. 3x Ironwood Branch + Mantle of Intelligence + 2 set of Tangos + 2 Clarity Potion or just empty Bottle
2. Void stone if you can harass your enemies and can keep your hp full. Point booster / Ring of Health if you are harassed.
3. Point booster if you didn't have it + Boots of Speed + Finish Perseverance.
4. Finish Power Treads (+ Town Portals) or Boots of Travel

Akasha's core item should be like this:

Perseverance is equipped for regenerating hp & mana. Point Booster is equipped to increase hp and mana little much more so she is little harder to die and can cast spells without lack of mana. Using Boots of Travel, she can help her friends killing enemies anywhere when needed. Empty Bottle (optional) is standard item in tourney game. It is used to restore hp and mana in few seconds and get the rune.

Luxury Items

+ + + +

Getting Linkens Sphere is your main target. With Linken and Blink, you will be really hard to kill. Aghanim is necessary to increase Sonic Wave's ability (increase damage and lower cooldown). If your team lack of disable, you can choose to get Guinsoo first. Eye of Skadi will be your luxury if the game dragged long enough. Shiva's guard increase her armor so she is harder to be killed and also to cast Arctic Blast for slowing enemies around her and clearing the way faster.

Akasha Strategy

You should pick this hero when your team need a good pusher, ganker and carry at the same time since she can clear the enemy creeps really fast, has Blink ability to enter or leaving the combat and can farm really quick. Try not to pick her when there are Doombringer, Enigma, Silencer, Traxex and/or Rooftrellen as your enemy.

She is needed in the mid game game to help your team harass/kill the enemy/enemies and clearing the way to reach tower. She need to level up as soon as possible. So, place her first in the solo lane.

In early minutes, harassing your enemy (if melee) using common attack is a good choice. Don't waste your mana, cast Scream of Pain to get lots of creeps kill and hurting your enemies at the same time. When she have reached level 6 or 7 and you're seeing enemy's hp is low enough to be killed, Blink near him, cast Scream of Pain, Shadow Strike and Sonic Wave. One thing that you must keep on your mind is beware of your mana capacity. When you Blinking in and you're miscalculated your mana, you maybe got in trouble.

In the mid game, you should start helping your team to gank the enemies. Cast Blink to initiate the gank, use Shadow Strike to slow your target and immediately cast Scream of Pain while attacking together with your team. You can use Sonic Wave for either opening or finishing attack. If your enemy try to run away with his low hp, follow him while attacking and waiting for the Scream of Pain & Blink cooldown which is very low. Most of the time you will get him killed for sure.

However, don't be too reckless. When you're Blinking in, that's mean you must wait another 6 seconds until you can Blinking out. A lot of Akasha players die because they taunted by the enemies and ended up dying because of the Blink cooldown. Observe the enemies heroes. If you don't see them anywhere in the map and someone with low hp just standing there in the wild, it could be a bait to kill you.

In the team clash, you should utilize Blink to make your enemies confused since it has little cooldown to make Akasha can either entering or leaving combat quickly. Depend on your team, you can use Sonic Wave as the opening attack (most of the time) or finishing attack. If there's Raigor on your team, let him open the attack because your Wave can clear the enemy creeps which is necessary for him. If you got Yurnero/Luna, use your wave to clear the creeps to let them deal massive damage to the enemy heroes with Omnislash/Eclipse.

After let your team initiator start the battle and once the enemies thrown all the ultimates, enter the clash and try to target their main carry. Cast Scream of Pain and Shadow Strike, cast Hex to the enemies carry and Arctic Blast if you have them. If they start focusing on you, use Blink to leave the combat while analyze the situation. Always, always, always try to think about your safety still though. Taking risks often results in your own death. You can entering combat again few seconds later, casting Scream of Pain and chase the low hp enemies. If the enemies is running away, you can chaseeasily using the Blink and finish them.

Eredar Guide | Shadow Demon Guide, Strategy & Build

2012-02-14T08:07:00.001-08:00

Eredar the Shadow Demon Guide, Strategy & Build. Eredar is a help for the Intelligence heroes on the Scourge. This post will provide you with the Shadow Demon Skill Description, the Eredar Guide, the Shadow Demon Strategy, Eredar Item Build and Eredar the Shadow Demon Skill Build.

Long before the war of the Scourge and the Sentinel, an ancient demon named Eredar waged war on all creation. No champion of Light could match him, but he was betrayed and killed by his own underlings. However, the faintest sliver of his shadow survived; over the millenia Eredar regained a portion of his former being and grows stronger each day, but in a twist of fate his new form was that of a gnoll. Eredar's new form is not well suited to direct confrontation, but he knows a number of objurations and tricks to deal with his foes; his skills include banishment, poison, curses, and darker demonic arts.

Hero Class: Shadow Demon
Hero Name: Eredar

Alliance: Scourge

Strength: 17 + 1.9
Agility: 18 + 2.2
Intelligence: 26 + 2.7 (Primary)

Base Damage: 53-57
Starting Armor: 3
Movement Speed: 295
Attack Range: 500

Eredar the Shadow Demon Skill Descriptions

Disruption

Eredar banishes the target to a dimensional pocket for 2.5 seconds, removing it from play for the duration. Upon return two images of the target are created under Eredar's control which last for 6 seconds.

Displacement duration: 2.5 seconds
Illusion Outgoing Damage: 30/40/50/60%
Illusion Incoming Damage: 150%
Illusion Duration: 6 seconds

Cast Range: 700
Manacost: 75
Cooldown: 16

Note: Can target enemy, ally or self.

Useful skill for confuse the enemies, start a gank, avoid skill like Epicenter and projectile like stun of Venge and skeleton king. Even for chasing enemies, just treat it as Eul :)

Soul Catcher

Eredar lays a curse on an area; one random enemy unit in the area is afflicted with the curse, causing it to take increased damage for 12 seconds.

Damage Amplification: 20/30/40/50%
AOE of Spell: 500

Cast Range: 600
Manacost: 50
Cooldown: 13

Similar to Chen Penitence, but with random target. If the enemy is alone, a sure hit is guaranteed. Cheap mana cost but a little useless if there's a lot of creeps.

Shadow Poison

Eredar casts forth a shadowy poison which deals 50 damage and afflicts all it touches for 10 seconds. If a unit is affected again in this duration, the toxin will be renewed and amplified exponentially. At the end of the duration, the shadow poison deals extra damage for each time it affected the victim. You have small vision over affected heroes.

Each stack increases the damage it would deal exponentially, up to 4 stacks.

Examples:
Level 1 Per stack: 20/40/80/160 + 50 each further stacks
Level 2 Per stack: 35/70/140/280 + 50 each further stacks
Level 3 Per stack: 50/100/200/400 + 50 each further stacks
Level 4 Per stack: 65/130/260/520 + 50 each further stacks

AOE: 150
Travel Distance: 1500

Cooldown: 3
Manacost: 50

Note: This has a sub ability to let you release the poison at any time.

This is what makes Eredar so scary. This skill is similar to Bristleback Quill Spray, it will stack the damage and you can released for instant damage. You can even stack the damage until 2000 if the enemy didn't know what happen with him.

Demonic Purge

Eredar casts a powerful demonic purge on a target enemy, removing all positive buffs. The purged target slowly regains its movement speed over 4 seconds. At the end of the purge the target takes damage.

Damage: 200/300/400

Cooldown: 50
Manacost: 200

Just a regular Purge but with damage at the end of duration. Nothing special here.

Eredar the Shadow Demon Skill Build

Level 1: Disruption/Shadow Poison
Level 2: Shadow Poison/Disruption
Level 3: Shadow Poison
Level 4: Soul Catcher
Level 5: Shadow Poison
Level 6: Demonic Purge
Level 7: Shadow Poison
Level 8: Soul Catcher
Level 9: Soul Catcher
Level 10: Soul Catcher
Level 11: Demonic Purge
Level 12: Disruption
Level 13: Disruption
Level 14: Disruption
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Demonic Purge
Level 17-25: Stats

Here is my initial skill build for Eredar the Shadow Demon. Take Disruption first to help you safe from level 1 first blood attempt. But if you feel confident, feel free to take Shadow Poison first. Shadow Poison without a doubt is maxed first because it's your main weapon. With it, you can take a hold from two enemies alone.

Soul Catcher will your next skill. The damage amplification is really great, especially if you catch them alone. Demonic Purge without a doubt is always taken due to targetable damage and the Purge. And the last skill to maximize is the Disruption. Disruption will come handy on the late game when heroes already got their items and the attack damage is high. Until then, one level is as a tool for chasing and escaping.

You can also can contribute in the comment section :)

Eredar the Shadow Demon Item Build

1. 3x Ironwood Branch, Magic Stick, a set of Tango, and Animal Courier
2. Finish Magic Wand
3. Empty Bottle
4. Boots of Speed
5. Finish Power Treads

Eredar's core item should be like this:

Magic wand - Add some attributes and healing tool

Empty Bottle - fast mana regen for spell spammer like eredar and HP regen for survivability on early game

Power Treads - More damage, more HP or Mana, and more AS for fast killing. My recommended boots.

Arcane Boots - An alternative for Treads. It only provide you with mana and mana replenisher which already provided by Magic Wand and Empty Bottle. Choose this boots if you want to all out supporter.

Mekanism - When you want to be supporter hero you should get this. Its Aoe HP restore and additional armor are really helpful when the team clashes.

Necronomicon - Used to add your mana and EHP. Its Demonic Summoning is really hard to use. But if you can manage to control them, they must be very annoying to other team.

Ancient Janggo of Endurance - It has aura of AS and MS. Sure can effect your illusions of your Disruption and your allies as well. Consider to buy necronomicon because you can use it to boost up your Demonic Summoning.

Force Staff - Its a very useful when you know how to use it. For Eredar it can be used to land your soul catcher more accurately cause it can Force enemy to go out from bunch of creeps.

Here is core late game item for him:

Luxury late game items:

Orchid Malevolence - this item provide you with +20 int, +30% AS, +45 damage, +225% mana regen, and soul burn (silence spell). Your active silence will shut your opponent from casting spells while they trapped by your ulti. And your increased dps will kill him faster.

Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse - The additional attributes are nice, mana regen, and HEX. Using Hex will make an enemy take damage longer than before. Use after 4 seconds of demonic purge.

Stygian Desolator - DPS booster. It will be perfect when combined with your demonic purge. Kill as fast as possible during 4 seconds effect of your ulti. But this item provide you with no EHP at all.

Manta Style - An alternative to Stygian Desolator. Also a DPS booster. Plus illusions to add your damage or distract your opponents.

Assault Cuirass - Increase EHP for survivability cause its armor. Very useful when comes to team clashes due to IAS and armor reducer.

Shiva's guard - An alternative to Cuirass. Aoe nuke and slow are this item specialities. Solve Eredar's armor problem too.

Eredar the Shadow Demon Strategy
You can pick this hero if your team needs anti-carry. Later He also can be a semi-carry or support hero.

You need to be supported by:
- Disabler:
If you want to stack your Shadow poison more accurately, ask their help.

Beware of his counter:
- Manaburner:
Make Eredar hard to cast his skills (anub'arak, medusa)
- Silencer:
No Disruption or Demonic Purge means no escape meka (lucifer, silencer)
- Magic-immune caster:
Resistant to all your skills (jaggernaut, Slark)
- Dps hero:
Once you caught unguarded by this kind of hero, especially when they have silence skill, youre deadmeat (Traxex, Stygwyr)
- Invulnerable caster:
When they cast on the right timing, your shadow poison and demonic purge damage will be screwed (morphling, puck)
- Hero with illusions and friends:
It's rather hard to kill them due to their skills. Illusions make you confuse to target the real one and hero's mate will screw you cause your skill only effective when theres only 1 hero targeted (Slytice, Nessaj, Syllabear, Meepo)

Playstyle

It's recomended to choose solo lane than dual lane, because eredar's skill will be more effective when it comes to 1 on 1 battle. So you can start buying items and move to your lane. On early level, play safe until you get lvl 2 Shadow Poison. Time to harass the opponent. Throw Shadow Poison on him and keep throwing whenever you get the chance, while you last hitting and denying creeps. When your Shadow Poison get the 4th stack, release the poison. It will make him hurt enough to backs off or even back to his fountain if his healing tool is depleted. Try to dominate the lane and get your level higher than your opponent.
If you get behind and the only option is dual-laning, be a babysitter and support your partner. It's rather hard to get the damage of shadow poison maximized because you face 2 hero at a time. Still you have to dominate the lane if you want to win this phase of the game.
When you get some level on you (lvl 6+), you can start to kill your enemy. Throw Shadow poison 2 times on same target. Use Disruption on him. Move forward to get a better vision. Throw Shadow poison again when he gets back. Follow with Demonic Purge and some normal attack. Shadow poisoning him again and when the Demonic Purge effect finishes, cast to release your Shadow poison. It will hurt him badly or even kill him. Ofcourse your teammate aid is always welcomed for better result.

You are made of glass, so better not wander around alone during mid game where ganks always happen. Keep safe while farming and stick your eyes to the map. You can try ganking, but always remember to do it with your friends for better efficiency. Gank your enemies by using disruption on an unguarded hero. Then let your partner take apart with their skills when he gets back. Demonic Purge to disable him.
Between ganks you should farm the lane to get more experience and gold by last hitting every creep as much as possible.
As a supporter, you can help your carry hero to gank the enemies using Disruption and Demonic Purge or even save her ass when she get ganked. Remember that Disruption's role same as Eul's.

Late game will change your role as semi-carry to anti-carry. Using Disruption which spawns 2 illusions of the strong enemy's late-carry hero should be a pain in their asses. Soul Catcher's damage amplification will make your team kill him faster. If there is a hero who manage to survive use Demonic Purge to disable him.
Still, you can be a supporter to your team by gives vision to some suspected places which the other team wander around before the team clashes begin. By doing this, your team will be more confident to land their combos and increase the probability of winning every battle.

Warlock Guide, Build & Strategy - Demnok Lannik Guide

2012-02-14T08:06:00.004-08:00

Demnok Lannik the Warlock Guide, Build & Strategy. Warlock is a great baby sitter for your team carry. But he also has great offensive power with his Infernal. This guide will share the build and strategy with Demnok Lannik the Warlock.

Demnok Lannik, the Warlock

Former cultist of the Blacksun, Lannik was among the first of many orcs enslaved by the wretched demons when the Legion's taint befell the lands of Kalimdor - a dire affliction that grew stronger over the years. Mannoroth's sudden and unexpected demise severed this Warlock's ties to demonology, and the absence of its corrupting influenced caused his body to wither onto the verge of death. In exchange for life beyond the grave, he bound a pact with the Lich King.

Strength 18 + 2.5
Agility 10 + 1
Intelligence 24 + 2.7

Affiliation: Scourge
Base Damage: 46 - 56
Base Armor: 2.4
Movespeed: 295
Attack Range: 600
Sight Range: 1800 / 800

Warlock Skills

Fatal Bonds
Bonds up to 5 enemy units together, causing damage dealt to any of them to be partially felt by the others.

120 mana cost, 30 seconds cooldown, 25 seconds duration, casting range of 600. The distance between each bounce may not be over 600.

Bonded units share 3.75/7.50/11.25/15.00 percentage of damage taken.

The damage is triggered HP removal which is not reduced by anything, blocked by spell immunity and not evaded by pseudo-evasion. Damage will not disable abilities or items like Kelen's Dagger which requires player based damage.

Usage: One of the reasons why you are so scary, this skill allows you to dominate in team fights and to surprise your enemies by amplifying your team's AoE potential. You can as well use it for clearing up waves faster, but that's rarer as you should be keeping it for the heroes. In teamfights, try to aim on a hero, to assure that it bounces to other heroes too instead of onto creeps.

Shadow Word
A single word causes powerful magics to envelop the target. Creates a healing mechanism on a friendly target or damages an unfriendly one. Does not dispel on attack.

90/110/130/150 mana cost, 24 seconds cooldown, 8 seconds duration, casting range of 500. Heals or damages target for 10/20/30/40 per second.

Deals Magical damage which is reduced by the target's Spell Resistance and is blocked by Spell Immunity. A hero affected by Shadow Word may be denied once it falls below 25% of its maximum health.

Usage: Your number one laning ability. With this you can stay alive even against the nastiest couples or can send back soloers inferior to your hero or your skill level. If you are in a really bad situation you may eat a tango next to using this skill and heal an insane amount of health points in a matter of just 8 seconds. Good for finishing off fleeing heroes or boosting your Infernal's survivalability.

Upheaval
Stirs up inert magic in a target area, channeling the force into a powerful slowing current that grows more powerful with every passing second it's channeled. Can channel up to 10 seconds and up to 84% slow.

100/110/120/130 mana cost, 20 seconds cooldown, duration 3 seconds, channel time 10 seconds, casting range of 700 and 650 AoE. Slows by 7/14/21/28 percentage per second up till 84%.

Does not slow units with Spell Immunity. Slow amount is calculating with duration of channel, not with how long enemy was in area of effect.

Usage: A skill that still so many people don't know how to use properly... not even the pros and not even me I have to admit. I have seen only two players so far in my life to use it to great ownage, but no one else before or ever after. I think it has great potentials, that people have to find out and I'm sure we will see it being used in the futured (that's also another reason why I'm posting this guide in the main strategy instead of the scourge guides section, so that we can discuss upheavel usage). What I saw before is infernal being dropped down, someone disabling the target or an AoE disable being used and meanwhile the Warlock casting Upheavel. This can be deadly, 80% of slow is already too much for the most not to mention the slower heroes like Rhasta or Techies.

Rain of Chaos (Ultimate)
Calls an Infernal down from the sky, dealing 100 damage and stunning nearby enemies for 1 second. The Infernal lasts 60 seconds, takes reduced damage from spells, has Permanent Immolation and a chance to Pulverize an area on attack.

Gold bounty 100/150/200, Experience Gain 98. The Infernal has 33% Spell Resistance and since the Infernal has 33% Spell Resistance and 25% Spell Resistance from its Hero-type armor, it has a total of: 49.75%.

Usage: your lil' flaming baby. This little monster will cause fear and havoc amongst the rows of your enemies. As I'm already going to focus a lot on this fire golem a lot below I am not writing anything else here.

Infernal Skils

Flaming Fists
Gives Infernal a 40% chance that an attack will deal 75/115/150 bonus damage to nearby units. 300 full damage AoE and 350 half-damage AoE.

Permanent Immolation
Burns Infernal's nearby enemy units for a certain amount of 20/30/40 damage per second.

Resistant Skin
Reduces the duration of negative spells and renders the Infernal immune to certain spells.

Warlock Skill Build

Solo

Level 1 - Shadow Word
Level 2 - Stats
Level 3 - Shadow Word
Level 4 - Stats
Level 5 - Shadow Word
Level 6 - Rain of Chaos
Level 7 - Shadow Word
Level 8 - 10 - Fatal Bonds
Level 11 - Rain of Chaos
Level 12 - Fatal Bonds
Level 13 - 15 - Fatal bonds
Level 16 - Infernal
Level 17 - 21 - Stats
Level 22 - 25 - Upheaval

Babysitter

Level 1 - Shadow Word
Level 2 - Fatal Bonds
Level 3 - Shadow Word
Level 4 - Fatal Bonds
Level 5 - Shadow Word
Level 6 - Rain of Chaos
Level 7 - Shadow Word
Level 8 - 9 - Fatal Bonds
Level 10 - Stats/Upheaval
Level 11 - Rain of Chaos
Level 12 - 14 Stats/Upheaval
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Infernal
Level 17 - 21 - Stats
Level 22 - 25 - Upheaval/Stats

I don't really think that the skill build generally needs an explanation, Shadow Word and Rain of Chaos are rather obvious choices at their respective levels. But I am sad to see that several people are still stuck with the old Warlock builds getting Attribute Bonuses at the early levels... which is not bad if you are soloing and lack the power to dominate. But in a dual a lane and if you buy some circlets, Fatal Bonds will need to be leveled earlier, as you need it for team fights even in smaller ones.

Now comes Upheavel. Why even get it, noone uses it? And you are right, noone uses it, or barely anyone. But this is something WE have to change. I have seen some people use it properly and it was devastating. I could even see it being leveled instead of Bonds in early game for a gank-oriented Warlock, but I'm not sure if that works too well (it is definitely surprising though). So I'm not justifying this skill, but am challenging everyone else to justifiy it for all the DotA players.

Warlock Item Builds

Core Item

Luxury Items

(most versatile build fitting any level of game)

(clanwars, mid-high level IH games | ward/fighter, anti-invis)

(public games | carry build)

(public games | owning with infernals)

(clanwars | supporter, ward bitch)

Justifications

Warlock doesn't need much items to be useful for his team, that's why the Basilius+Mekansm build is getting so popular. And that's why the core build is RoB+BoS. A Sobi Mask will cover all your mana needs in early game you can even start with the sobi plus some tangos and branches if you like, but the hero generally isn't that mana dependent, just try to play wisely not spamming Shadow Word. The armor aura from RoB is quite useful at pushes and boosts your Infernal's EHP even further. Of course some circlets or even Bracers can do well, but you can decide it on how well you can survive.

The oldest build existing is the dual/infernal spitting machine build aka Refresher Orb. In that build having (additional) slow is always useful, that's why I advocate building your Shiva's Guard or Eye of Skadi afterwards. The slow allows your infernal to hit more, while the immolation can burn the souls of your target for greater good. Use it in pubs preferably or when your opponents "mass" diffusal blades against you... though other builds would still be prefered in such games.

Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse is one of the strongest INT items in the game giving you a powerful disable namely Hex. It gives you decent DPS as well and allows you to spam your spells. It's no doubt that the Sheep Stick is the best possible choice you can get, only some game circumstances may force you to switch to another build.

Necronomicon should be none-brainer. If you have to take the lead in ward-fight, this book will help you greatly along with massing wards yourself, allowing all your other heroes spend their gold on their needed items. The Mekansm build's justication could go here as well, it's also about being the ward/bitch but not much need for clearing wards, more like healing your allies all the time and pushing early to mid game. It's for the faster games.

As Demnok Lannik has a high base damage, nice animation and an ability to bond heroes together, damage amplification could work out pretty well for him. If you are too tired, have a high delay in the game or just simply drank too much beer then this build can work really well. You don't need much micro, just hit and run. That's why the Deso+Cuirass build works so well for carrying public your games. For Power Treads, always set it to STR, as you need the HP much more than mana or AGI.

Alternative/Situational Items

Shiva's Guard - best used in AoE based teams. It is a pretty good item for countering your opposing carry heroes and increasing the AoE damage potential of your team and slowing fleeing heroes.

Orchid Malovalence - pretty obvious choice for INT carries. Nice amplification of damage and silence along with high attack speed... get it as second or third DPS item if you are farmed.

Black King Bar - obviously when you are being a carry hero who needs to stay close but needs to counter the massive amount of nukes and disables. Could work out even when you are not carry, but then you should be trying to stay behind more.

Warlock Techniques

Shadow Harass - use your Shadow Word offensively whenever you take advantage in denying and in physical harass. What's very important is always knowing when to use it offensively and when defensively. Typically pub gamers will not harass you too much, so against them use it most of the times.

Unkillable Word - this is the defensive usage of your second skill. And actually the hardcore one, when you are being ganked and need high regen. Eat a tree with a tango and cast Shadow Word on yourself. You will have a sick HP regen and if you are at least level 6 then you might as well throw your little baby to give some further more surprise.

Weather Control Device - rain of chaos, your firey potion. It is extremely important to learn when to cast your Infernal and when to rather keep it. It decides the outcome of a team fight or a flee/killing of a ganked hero several times during a game. Try to wait for your teammates to ALL of your teammates to come at least 1000 or 1500 range of you (dagger users are in advance) before you initiate. It happens many times that you drop your baby, but your allies are not around to continue the disabling you started and to pull out as much nukes and physical attacks as possible. If you screw up, then you will simply warn your opponents to back up...

Proper Bonding - ...also note, that Fatal Bonds should be cast only after Rain of Chaos, and immediately after it. Most of the times you won't be able to bond your opponents without getting disabled yourself, so you need that 1 second. But if you fail to link them together immediately, then most of your allies' spells' damage won't be increased. And as I stated before, always click on a hero to ensure that the next target's priority will be a hero as well.

Warlock Strategies

Soloing - this is recommended, when your team has two strong dual lanes or no better solos than you. Solo Warlock used to be a popular strategy but now it's just as common if not less than dual lane. If you are up against a weaker solo, try to harass the shit out of him while getting as much denies in as possible. This will ensure that you can take the lead and concentrate on farming more later on. If you are up against a similarly strong soloer like Shadow Fiend or Viper, then try to slowly find out what the playstyle of the player is and if he is too defensive, then go offensive, if he is agressive, then use Word mainly on yourself harassing with physical attacks only. In that case you need to wait until he becomes too confident and makes a mistake. You might need to eat a tango or even casting your Infernal, just make sure, you make a balance between the Word heal and the Tango heal, so you keep enough mana for Rain of Chaos.

Laning - currently babysitting is quite popular for Warlock similarly to the Shadow Priest's role. Void, Spectre, Rikimaru, Mortred... any hero who needs a little help at the beginning might become your partner in the lane. Concentrate on harassing and denying all the time. Don't forget that the key is getting your carry hero farmed up as early as possible and for that you need to let all the creeps for him. Buy several tangos (no basilius at start) so that you can eat tress for your own health and keep all the Shadow Words to heal your partner. When you are paired up with a strong laner, then you should be on the offensive, being as agressive as possible. Your key to victory is dominance, so try to dominate your lane and get some levels of advantage.

Getting ganked - as described before, eating a tree with a tango and casting Word on yourself will help you a lot (similar effects to Enchantress' healing). If you face a Viper in lane then holding a tp scroll all the time is necessary. Casting Infernal might turn the tides, if they run up to you under the tower. Also, start pinging on the map immediately, if you are not close enough to the tower, but not far either. Call an ally or two, so you can countergank immediately.

Ganking - when your allies call for a gank, make sure you come with enough mana to cover a word+infernal or even a word+infernal+bond combo (if there are creeps or more enemy heroes around). They of your success is when to drop down your little baby as I mentioned before. It doesn't need practise at all, it demands calmness and coldness. So be patient and cast Rain of Chaos when you are sure your allies can catch up and disable at least one of the targets. Also try to either heal your tanking ally or damage a fleeing target with Shadow Word. Always drop the Infernal behind your enemies, so they either get hit more times and blocked a bit or get hit by your own allies if they go the other way.

Agressive playstyle - is about pushnig and ganking a lot. Preferable if you have allies such as Keeper of the Light, Pugna, Earthshaker, Leshrac, Lina, Chen, Broodmother, Soul Keeper or Visage. Try to decide the game in mid game already by taking out all the outer towers and then pushing down one of the inner towers and later the raxes. In this case you will need AoE powers for clearing waves fast and to kill all or most heroes in a team collision. You will also need a Mekansm an Arcane Ring and a Necronomicon for even better results (that's when the Necro Build or the Support Build comes in).

Defensive situations - this is when you have to be even more cautious. When you are on the defense, then you are forced to play a style that you were not expected to play as a team that wants to win always considers a game to be theirs. But of course you cannot always win, and that's when you have to be creative. This is a bit difficult for you as you don't really have any spells to clear creep waves, so you have to wait for your nuking allies to do this job. However you shouldn't be sleeping because you need to wait for the time your opponents are initiating. Try to predict wether it's a false or real initiation as the wiser teams will try to get you cast the Infernal before the real attack. If it's clearly a real attack, then drop down your baby immediately, cast bonds and scream sparta then hit everyone and anyone you can. These are the times when massing Bracers and buying Power Treads instead of a Boots of Travel might be a better choice. this is of course up to your descration.

Dragonus Guide - Skywrath Mage Build & Strategy

2012-02-14T08:06:00.003-08:00

DotA Dragonus Guide, The Skywrath Mage Guide, Strategy & Build. Dragonus is an intelligence hero which is introduced on the DotA 6.73. This post will provide you with the Dragonus Guide, the Dragonus Strategy, the Dragonus Item Build and the Skywrath Mage Skill Build.

Range: 600
Movement Speed: 315

Total starting damage: 36-46
Total starting armor: 1

Str 19 + 1.5
Agi 18 + 0.8
Int 24 + 3.2

Dragonus is a sky-bound sorcerer astute in the arts of arcane warfare. Mystical in nature and veiled in secret motives he joined the sentinel to battle the scourge. He is said to come from the ancient bloodline of blood elves that has ascended to unknown heights in the arts of mystical magic. It's suspected that Invoker and Dragonus were prodigy's of ancient time and were fighting for the prestige title of the supreme mage. The art of his supreme knowledge of magic enables him to seal any magic and his Mystic Flare is capable of burning any foe in matter of seconds. Many allies are proud to have strode alongside this mythical being, but few enemies have lived to survive the full extent of his mystical arsenal.

Dragonus the Skywrath Mage Skills

Arcane Bolt (Active, enemy target)

The Sky Mage fires off a bolt of Arcane energy to harm his adversaries. Deals an additional 1.5x the Sky Mage's intelligence and grants 325 vision around the projectile.

Deals 60/80/100/120 + 1.5x Int damage to target enemy
Manacost: 90
Cooldown: 5/4/3/2
Cast Range: 800

Note: The projectile moves very slowly and you have 325 vision around it
Ability Code: A2BE

Concussive Shot (Active, no target)

With Dragon like intuition, the Skywrath Mage releases a compact ball of magical lightning at the closest visible hero within 1600 AoE. Upon impact the ball bursts slowing enemies by 40% for 4 seconds and dealing damage around the target.

AoE: 200
Duration: 4
Slow: 40%
Damage: 50/100/150/200

Range: up to 1600

Manacost: 110
Cooldown: 20

Note: Does not work when no heroes are in range or heroes are in fog.
Ability Code: A2IT

Ancient Seal (Active, enemy target)

Dragonus draws a mystical rune on the enemy that amplifies all spell damage against them and snuffs out their ability to cast spells for a few seconds.

Magic Amplification: 18/24/30/36%
Silence Duration: 3/4/5/6 seconds

Manacost: 80/90/100/110
Cooldown: 11

Cast Range 700
Ability Code: A2HN

Mystic Flare (Active, ground target)

Dragonus uses his ultimate magical ability to conjure a precise and violent mystical field that lays waste to his adversaries. Deals massive damage distributed evenly among any heroes in the AoE over 2 seconds.

Damage: 600/900/1200
Duration: 2 seconds

AOE: 170
Cast Range: 1200
Manacost: 350/575/800
Cooldown: 60/40/20

Note: Does not affect or count creeps. Deals damage over time in the area.
Ability Code: A2BG
Dragonus the Skywrath Mage Skill Build
Coming Soon!

Dragonus the Skywrath Mage Item Build
Coming Soon!

Dragonus the Skywrath Mage Strategy
Coming Soon!

This post contain Dragonus Guide & Build - the Skywrath Mage Strategy. If you have different build or strategy, you can give your comments or make your own guide on the Dragonus the Skywrath Mage Forum.

Goblin Techies Guides (Basic)

2012-02-14T08:06:00.001-08:00

Hero Story

Devilishly clever, The Goblin Techies, despite their small physical presence, are a force to be reckoned with. In line with their Goblin brethren, the Techies have the skill of laying mines in the earth, invisible to the naked eye. Also, after extensive training with the Orcish voodoo priests of Kalimdor, the Techies are adept at laying paralysis-inducing traps along with their potent explosives. Wary be the foe who takes these three lightly.

Introduction
One, two, and three, we're counting heroes sprinting down the middle lane, 5 remote mines, a stasis, and landmines lining the tower. They zone into the tower, and the mines ignite the entire field, craters filling, creeps cashed, heroes dropping, the sound fills the air, triple kill. The players go wild, scream, whine, bang there head against a desk, or even alt q q in vain. But who could've done such a thing? Out from the trees, Our sentinel heroes emerge, The Goblin Techies. The one man (or unit!) army.

Yep, a little over the top, but you get my vibe.

They (now referred to as he) are notorious for killing their enemies hundreds of units away with there remote mines and scoring first blood with suicide. But this guy isn't all about kills, he can assist in saving lives with stasis traps. From start to finish, you can expect to wreck havoc onto the enemy.

You can consider Techies as a farming deity because that's what he does best. The Techies are dirty little buggers that can take down creep waves in less than 4 seconds by just 4 clicks. He can be Passive, Offensive, or just plain annoying. With his ability to deny deaths, he is the king of sprees.

Now of course, in your typical game, you often you can find the Techies moving up and down lanes, laying mines all game. I feel this is the wrong way to play this hero, as you become under levelled. Techies is fun at heart, but fairly difficult to play. I hope this guide can teach people a new, more effective way to play him to adapt to enemy heroes and situations.

The Basics
The Goblin Techies isn't very newb friendly, but many people tend to think he is. When people begin playing as him, they fix themselves on what they remember from ladder play. The Goblins suiciding into buildings, units , and even trees. You should forget this, for this is how you get onto the path of the suicidal Techies.

As a fair warning, I'd like to say that I am a pub player, that sometimes sticks his head in a DXD league, but never get around to playing the Techies in these IH leagues-- since -RD is often played and Techies is not included in the pooling process. I can tell you that my play style was designed, learned, and catered towards an -EM, or standard gaming environment (aka, pubbies--sue me).

Stats

Range: 650 | Move Speed: 280
Primary: INT
Str: 17 + 2 | Agi: 14 + 1.3 | Int: 22 + 2.9
Damage: 24 – 26 | HP: 473 | Mana: 286
HP Regen: 0.76 | Mana Regen: 0.9
Attack Speed: 1.46 | Armour: 0
Also note the unique thing about Techies is that he is the only hero to have a base regeneration of 0.02 mana regeneration per second. Meaning Void stone would double the amount of regen given.

Abilities
All of the Goblin Techies skills need to be activated and are not passive. Familiarize yourself with all of these skills, they all prove importance (even the detonate skill!)

Skill # 1 - Land Mines

Plants an invisible land mine that waits indefinitely for an enemy. The explosion deals damage. You may only have 15 placed at one time.

Level 1 - Deals 300 damage.
Level 2 - Deals 400 damage.
Level 3 - Deals 500 damage.
Level 4 - Deals 600 damage.
Cooldown:25/20/15/12 seconds.
Area of Effect: 200 for full damage, 500 for half.
Mana Cost:125/150/175/205
Cast Time: Instant.

Authors Say:
This is your basic skill. Probably your most common one for farming and at some point, a big role in tactics. At level 4, these land mines do approximately 450 damage to heroes, and 300 to towers. The reason why they do approximately 450 damage is because you must take armour and magic resistance into account. Armour can be very misleading, especially on heavily armoured tanks (Dragon Knight for example). Also note that Vanguards and Stout Shields do reduce damage from this mine (and only this one).

Don't just place one in the midst of an empty area. I'll go over this more in the Tactics category. 15 landmines is the cap of how many you can have on the map. After that, your oldest mines will be replaced with any newer ones placed. Don't worry about this though, I've never gotten that many on at once any who. If you are ever to plant 15 mines down at once, you're doing something wrong. One, your planting way too much, and you're going to be under levelled. Or two, your planting in bad areas.

This skill is not blocked by Linkins' Sphere or Spell immunity (BKB). Some of the highlights of the 6.50 update gave the Goblin Techie's mines the ability to detonate by floating heroes. This does not mean flying, which was a mistake I had made. Flying units include Crows, the flying Dragons at neutral creeps, and other I may have forgotten. However, none of the heroes "fly".

Skill # 2 - Stasis Trap

Plants an invisible Stasis Trap that stuns nearby enemy units when detonated.
Level 1 - Stuns for 3 seconds.
Level 2 - Stuns for 4 seconds.
Level 3 - Stuns for 5 seconds.
Level 4 - Stuns for 6 seconds.
Cooldown:20/16/13/10 seconds.
Area of Effect: 450
Mana Cost:80/110/140/160
Cast Time: 2 seconds.

Authors Say:
The stasis mine is an awesome disable, capable of stunning an entire team. It's game-breaking and even I'm surprised it hasn't been hit by the nerf stick. Really, I have to emphasis how strong this mine is. At level one it has a durability of 4.5 minutes, levelling to 5/5.5/6 minutes. When this mine is triggered by a unit, it waits 2 seconds and then goes off, regardless if the unit is still in that area. It also has a 3 second time after the mine is planted for it to be destroyed.

This skill is not blocked by Linkin's Sphere, but is blocked by Spell immunity (BKB).

Using Stasis Traps Properly
If you're setting a trap, plant stasis in areas where a creep cannot reach. When you're in a middle of a fight, just plant it in the most convenient spot!

The only way a creep could reach that stasis mine is if it was agroed to that position. It is also a likely place where an enemy hero would go to (like Pudge trying to get a clear shot).

Other examples of proper use would be using Guinsoo. Planting stasis before hand and then using Guinsoo to keep them into position (if they're fast).

Skill # 3 - Suicide Squad, Attack!

Sacrifice yourself for the greater good. Deals massive area of effect damage.
Level 1 - Deals 650 damage.
Level 2 - Deals 850 damage.
Level 3 - Deals 1150 damage.
Level 4 - Deals 1550 damage.
Cooldown: 75 seconds.
Area of Effect: 500
Mana Cost:100/125/150/175
Cast Time: Instant.
Auto cast available.

Authors Say:
This skill is amazing early game, as it'll reel in your first blood or even a combination of both a double kill and first blood! Suiciding is also a great way of levelling your team-mates (if you're laned with one). For maximum effect, the suicide must be within 200 units. Also remember the damage is reduced by armour. It also does not affect buildings. NEVER run into a crowd of people when you have full hit points just for a suicide. This is stupid. Use your smarts and suicide when prompted. Even this skill has some tactic laced to it. Hell, you can even use this skill to save an ally. We all know the enemy is scared of suicides, use it to your advantage and run in pretending your going to do it. Here's a quote from Totalnewbie's mind tricks guide:

"Ahh...the I'm-going-to-run-up-to-you-and-make-you-think-I'm-going-to-suicide trick. When the majority of the people see a Techies run up to them, they will retreat in fears of getting blown up. This moves them away from the creep line, which does not enable them to get last hit or denies. It may even move them out the experience range as well. This trick works well early game, and works even better when the opponent knows that you have leveled up suicide, and aren't afraid to use it."

Like Russell Peters would say, "I'll do it! I'll do it! Hah, you flinched you bastard!"

You can use this to deny a kill by suiciding when you have about a quarter HP and you know death is near. Otherwise, just play safe. Gold will be deducted when suiciding and the enemy will not gain experience. A spree will also continue.

Another thing to know is that it is possible to auto activate suicide. I recommend however, you do not use it unless you know what you're doing! When auto cast is activated, whoever you attack or "click on" will be the designated target for a suicide. Therefore if you need to use it quickly, like when Tiny is tossing you like a grenade, you may want to auto cast it so you can just click on the enemy.

This skill can destroy trees If you are trapped in by Furion's sprout with an ally, Sacrifice yourself, it's probably for a better good!

Skill # 4 ULTIMATE - Remote Mines

Plants an invisible mine that will only activate when triggered. Doesn't damage buildings. Lasts 8 minutes.
Level 1 - Deals 300 damage when activated.
Level 2 - Deals 450 damage when activated.
Level 3 - Deals 600 damage when activated.
Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Area of Effect: 425/435/450
Mana Cost:200/240/300
Cast Time: 3 seconds.

Authors Say:
Remote mines is your signature move. Always cluster them close together for a colossal effect. Unlike land mines, as long as this mine is in AoE of the enemy, it will cause full damage, regardless as if it were centered or not.

Remote Mines deal magic damage only, not a mix of both armour and magic. Remember that all heroes have a natural 25% spell resistance. Thus, heroes will take less damage from Remote mines. A Hood of Defiance will also reduce damage from this skill, a notable counter. Creeps however, take full damage. You don't know how many games I've played where The Goblin Techies player complains how 3 level one remote mines did not kill an 800 HP opponent. Also take in account that Linkin's Sphere does not block this skill, but spell immunity does block this.

I've also noted that if you want to detonate a cluster of mines that are of different level, you must go through this procedure one level at a time. The reason is because of the Warcraft engine classifies the level 1,2,3 remote mines as different units. If you've selected all the mines, remember to tab through, or press ignite multiple times. You could use the detonate button too, but it'll ignite every remote mine on the map.

Try to detonate these mines close to the area of the Techies so you can gain the experience or finish him off with a couple hits. As the mines level up, the AoE increases. You can also use Remote mines as observer wards. A very effective trick, making observer wards unnecessary for your team. The casting range on this skill is 500, which gives you a large space to plant mines from your position.

Skill # 4 -EXTRA- Detonate

Detonates all Remote Mines.
Level 6+ - N/A
Cooldown: .5 of a second
Area of Effect: Everywhere.

Authors Say:
Basically, all it does is detonate all your remote mines. The animation leaves a scorch, it can prove to be a big use tactic-wise. When you click the detonate button, it appears as if you planted a mine. Using this to fake planted mine areas to scare your enemy works well. Don't spam this because then it's pretty obvious that this is a trick! Note: if you have remote mines do not press it because they'll be set to blow.

Indepth Walkthrough
This will teach you how to play properly as the Goblin Techies. However, I must stress that an item build or a skill build is never perfected. They're situations where a level one suicide won't cut it, or sentry wards are needed throughout the entire game. Feel free to optimize the build on the fly. Never expect a perfect game. Here are some over-head tips that you should remember all the time when playing.

•*Kills aren't Everything*

This is the number one thing you have to understand when playing The Techies. Players believe planting hundreds of mines and performing mass suicide early in the game will bring their team to succession. When players spend prolonged times planting mines and going ape-shit with their suicides, late in the game they will realize they are fucked. A gem or wards will screw up this game style mid-game (if you're up against any decent players), suicides will not be sufficient for gold when mid game begins, and you will aggravate the enemy so much they will actually stick on your ass like dry shit. To be successful as a Techie's player you must understand, "omg 12-0" does not at all suggest your playing ability. Often, but not all the time, a high score can just mean this player is just off mining all game, rarely leaving base, at a level of possibly 6 by end game.

•Active Play

Most players cater toward passive play (similar to above), but I think to be useful late game, you must learn how and utilize landmines and remote mines as nukes. They are a devastating AoE nuke that can throw off enemies easily.

•Patience is key, but only in your lane

Planting mines in your lane is the most essential thing to survival. However, spending 10 minutes out of your lane planting mines in the jungle is foolish. The plan is to plant a mine, then regroup with your creeps to gain experience. Weave in and out but never go too far from your lane.

•Anticipate your opponent's moves

Learning your enemy's moves will allow you to pick up there play style. Are they a hardcore ganker? Then don't allow them to leave their lane. Plant stasis mines or push hard. Are they a passive last hitter? Then harass them. Learn there favourite standing points when creeps come, it just may come in handy when choosing where to position your remote mines. Take a look at this short comic strip:

•There is no I in team

Save allies whenever possible. Light off the remote mines, even if its just one. The enemy will think there are more ahead and will flee.

•Do inventory checks

Always Check the enemy when he returns to your lane or if it's a new one. Likely he will be carrying sentry wards or even a gem. Later you will learn how to counter gem carriers and sentry wards.

The Build

Level 1 Land Mines
Level 2 Suicide
Level 3 Land Mines
Level 4 Suicide
Level 5 Land Mines
Level 6 Remote Mines
Level 7 Land Mines
Level 8 Stasis Trap
Level 9 Stasis Trap
Level 10 Stasis Trap
Level 11 Remote Mines
Level 12 Stasis Trap
Level 13 Stats
Level 14 Stats
Level 15 Stats
Level 16 Remote Mines
Level 17-23 Stats
Level 24 Suicide
Level 25 Suicide

I think the reasoning for this build is pretty straight forward. The only thing that most players are probably eye balling is the change between suicide to stasis. I've said it, and I'll say it again: Late game suicide just isn't as effective when enemies are beefed up on armour and health. The mana cost for a level 4 suicide hits up to 175, which is quite high for a last resort. Stasis is a much more effective alternative. That said-- everything else is pretty much laid out to ya.

Initial Build

Looks reasonable doesn't it? The tangos is there for any early harassment, 5 clarities is more than enough to last you till you can build up bottle (which will pretty much be an infinite source because of rune watching with mines), and the courier can bring you any required items (boots for a first blood if its late).

Core Build

Boots of Speed is important because the Goblin Techies is the slowest hero in the game, and at the price, it'd just be a no brainer to buy. I used to advocate BoT/Treads, but decided that the benefits of the two just aren't worth the gold this early in the game. Bottle will be of use all game because of its ability to bottle runes, since its so traditional to use landmines to view runes, and then possibly bottle them to use them for a early first blood, or even just a bottle refill. You will always want to carry a TP with you, and wards to counter other enemy wards.

Where to go from here. . .

Basically, you're going to have 3 choices-- Guinsoo, Necrobook, Or Orchid. The Goblin Techies is a very situational hero, Which calls for different item setups. I've seriously gotten headaches trying to perfect a build-- which isn't really possible with one definitive item build, so again-- here's 3 to choose from.

Guinsoo Scythe of Vyse
_______________________
5675 | Purchase Order: Void Stone ($875), Mystic Staff ($2700), Ultimate Orb ($2100)

+200% Mana Regeneration
+35 Intelligence
+10 Agility
+10 Strength
Hex for 3.5 seconds {Cooldown: 20 seconds}

This is an ideal item when all is going great, and your farming is adequate. The regen and hex is key for this item whilst the stats are a bonus.

Necronomicon 3
_______________________

5350 | Purchase Order: Staff of Wizardry ($1000), Belt of Giant Strength ($450), Recipes X3 ($3900)

+14 Strength
+24 Intelligence
Summon 2 Necro Fighters {Cooldown: 60 seconds}

Skills of Necros

Archer

Endurance Aura: Increases nearby friendly unit's movement speed by 9% and attack rate by 9%
Mana Burn: Burns 225 mana from target unit
Last Will: Deals 600 damage to the unit that kills it

Warrior:
Necronomicon Mana Break: Burns away 75 mana per attack
Last Will Level 3: Deals 600 damage to the unit that kills it
True Sight: Reveals nearby invisible units

You'll want this item when you need to swap for wards, allowing for tough pushing (aura is real good for that), or mop up with a well placed stasis mine with mana burn. And again, stats are just a plus.

Orchid Malevolence
_______________________
5025 | Purchase Order: 2 Sobi Masks ($650), Robe of the Magi ($450), Quarter Staff ($900), Robe Of the Magi ($450), Quarter Staff ($900) , Oblivion Staff ($1675)

+225% Mana Regeneration
+20 Intelligence
+40 Damage
+40% Attack Speed
Soul Burn 5 seconds, which Amplifies damage by 20% and silences {Cooldown: 25 seconds}

Keywords: nukes and escapees. Because this is such a great disable and team amplifier, or even for you're own mines. This item is great when it comes to blinkers or anything that can fly away (leap comes to mind). Don't forget, the regeneration is very useful and the intellect bonus and damage shouldn't be neglected (my god, it actually can help you hit something!). The only real con I can think of is building this up. It takes a bunch of inventory space, so remember to use your courier.

Although most games you'll probably only run through the need of only one of these items, if it prolongs you can build any other item you deem fit.

Viable Items

Boots of Travel
Late game choice of footwear. Pushing and defending will occur often, and this item should be chosen after the core for obvious reasons.

Euls Scepter of Divinity
This item can be built straight after BoT, or even after the above. You can build this if you need a cheap disable, along with orchid, or necrobook.

Shiva's Guard
A great AoE slow, and support item. You can stay behind the team to provide stasis while pushing, and get nice and close while utilizing mines as nukes, and slow the enemies attack. Of course, the stats aren't to be neglected.

Rejected Items

Void StoneX6
Yes, I've seen this more than twice and Techies isn't all about mines. He can be awesome as offense and simply great for back dooring. Not only this, but this build gives you no escape mechanism. I'm tired of people suggesting me to "try" this build while playing, because "regen" and what this hero is "all about". If a hero comes along with one disable, silence, or nuke, you're fucked. With the build I have suggested, you will have multiple strengths, and fewer weaknesses. Please, don't suggest this anymore. If I get anymore suggestions on using this build, I'm going to ignore it because frankly, I'm tired of it.

arcane provides 110 mp every 33 seconds: 3.33mana/second

most heroes have base mana regen of .01/second but techies has .02/second. each point of intelligence adds .04/second. euls doubles mana regen (100% increase). our techies' mana regen is therefore represented by 2[.02+.04x] or .04+.08x, where x is intelligence.

.04+.08x=3.33

solve for x to get 41.125 intelligence, the point at which euls' regen becomes greater than arcane's. since eul adds 18 int, we need 24 int minimum to make euls better. as techies will always have this, euls is clearly the choice for him.

First off, I'd like to thank mjmetro for the above information. Although I no longer rush Euls as a core item, Euls is a much better choice than Arcane (even if you have an AoE mana replenisher).

The Suicide Item Build
Quoted to show in fine ink how stupid this build is. Goblin Techie's players are fond of this build, scoring firstblood, kills, and loot through early to middle game. These items are often chosen to create what foolish players believe, the ultimate Goblin Techies.
Blood Stone
At one point, this item had it's own build and it was included with what I called, the Blood techies. However, time has passed and After further review and use of this item, I've decided to remove it and add it to this list. It remained in my guide, even after I listed all the bad and complicated things it had. Here's a quote from my own guide in older versions.

When the Goblin Techies use suicide with a Blood Stone, he will gain the kill, and any exp. However,you will still lose gold and respawn as if you had no charges. You also only gain 1 charge, instead of the usual 2. So its pretty much a wasted charge. Any kills after that with a suicide will be canceled out. This is because you will only gain 1 charge for a kill, and you lose 1 charge for a death. Remote mines and Land mine kills will not work towards giving you charges either.

I don't know if the above is as correct as I want to be, as I heard of some fixes of Bloodstone, and I'm outdated on this item, since I rarely use it.

Blink Dagger
Although this item gives The Goblin Techies an escape device, this item will poorly synchronize with any other skill. Also note this item will mystify a players judgment for him to become a full bred Suicidal Techies. Stasis traps are a much better alternative to an escape device. It will freeze enemies for 6 seconds. Not only this, but with the update of the Dagger, it's been nerfed hard, and using it to engage in combat is mind numbing as of why you would do that, and using it to escape is even harder. You can apply what I just said to Lothar's Edge too. These items are garbage to this hero.

Playing Early Game
Do not try to get a first blood as soon as you get to your lane however, more so at level 3 or 4. Laning with an ally disabler is the best and recommended way to score it. Never solo. Early in the game, you will be obliterated if you lane by yourself (also noting that you should not pick Techies on a 3v3. You will seriously let your team down).

As you approach your lane, use your landmine and start a small bundle of traps. Two or three are sufficient.
You can also plant in the top river if you know the exact position (you can find out how later). Harass with landmines, doing so properly is described later in the guide. I feel there is no perfect strat to start the game but all on situation. However, after level 5 you should be focusing on laying mines to farm. Although if you repeat this tactic, be aware that enemy heroes will be attacking you when your going in for the plant.

The Goblin Mine deals different damage at different levels. Knowing this obvious fact will help you farm. Use this diagram as a reference as of when to lay a mine in a creep wave. Notice that most of the creeps will target one creep in particular. Do not focus fire at that creep, focus fire at another until all or most creeps reach the stated health for the mine level. Mines will go off approximately 2 seconds after planting, giving you some more time to balance the creep's health. I'd recommend you switch health bars to stay on in the gameplay options.

To counter this problem, make them fear you. If you haven't already, suicide and kill them. Now when you go in for a plant sometimes run past the creeps towards an enemy hero giving them the idea you are going to suicide but as a matter of fact, you retreat and plant a mine between the creeps. Basically, this is called a feint, a tactic explained earlier.

Plant mines and suicide if needed during enemy pushes but don't be a fool and rush in to a group with full HP because you'll probably be nuked or stunned by the time you've reach your targeted suicide area.(unless they lag, then you're in luck!). Its always better to suicide when an ally is around, just so he can either finish him off or gain your experience. If you are ever to plan this, use an AoE stun (forget this part if you are sure of a kill) and then plant a landmine and then suicide.

As I said before, never wander away from your lane early in the game. The first mistake Goblin Techie players make is drawing themselves further away from there lane early in the game, or just never coming back to level.

Playing Mid Game
Try your best to be in all lanes with mines and at the same time maintain your ability to farm levels and gold. At this point of the game you should take the liberty of farming. When farming creeps, use your landmines and finish any off.

On a side note, level 3 Remote mines at can take out creep waves in one blow. This can only work under the 45 minute timer. This is because every 15 minutes, creeps gain 10 more health points.

Anticipate ganks and don't travel too far without your team or creep block near your tower until enemy creeps arrives. After you clear creep waves, place a remote mine or stasis trap around -- sort of a checkpoint just in case you or your team gets ambushed. You can also creep pull if things get bad. When moving, always be on the opposite side of the forest. Even though you have the ability to teleport, you are still fragile to stuns and silences.

The Goblin Techies are awesome for those rumbles. The first thing to do is plant a stasis trap. Using a remote mine & land mine for a nuke is devastating.

Playing Late Game
Mines are key late game, place them everywhere and at every corner. Although this is one of the reasons why people bitch and whine about the Goblin Techies, you're notorious for slowing a game down. This will give your team enough time to counter push.

When the enemy is pushing hard, kill their creeps. Without creeps, they will discontinue the push. Its sort of like a mind trick, or even to scare pubbies into thinking they're "backdooring" (which you shouldn't worry about).

During a push, plant mines in the general area of enemy creeps and you should be able to take a creep wave out fairly quick. In defense, plant mines in more unpredictable areas so you can have the element of surprise. Laying landmines near buildings do a ton of damage. Don't be afraid to do it to the enemy's barracks.

Enemies with a gem are still killable with mines. Use elevation to your advantage. Gems do not view over higher elevation! So mine above ramps because by the time they see the mines, they'll probably trigger them, again giving you the jump of surprise. This is a very important trick to kill gem carriers!

{Image Heroes} If you've played as Techies before, you know how frustrating it can be to burn 5 Remote Mines on an image. Heroes like PL, Silithice and Terrorblade can make it difficult for Techies to decide when and where to detonate their mines. Regular mines can be cleared by simply sending the image into their vicinity, and this applies to Stasis Traps as well. -Contributed by peter_tobbermon
Items:
{Gem} Techies is nothing without his invisible mines and traps. While it helps to avoid damage on Melee heroes, they really can't do anything to get rid of the hazards. Thus, ranged heroes make better use of the item as they can destroy the mines and traps without consequence.
{Sentry Wards} Especially early game, these wards will make it much easier to lane against him. Through last-hitting and denying, try to keep the combat location of the creeps in range of your ward so that one ward at a time will suffice.
{Necronomicon} An item that grants vision of mines, extra health to survive them, and mana burn? Sounds like a custom tailored-item against Techies. Not all, but many heroes can use this much more effectively than a Gem or Wards so consider it an option. -Contributed by Dky

Mining Areas and Tactics
They're are many mining areas but without proper knowledge, mining areas are useless. We'll go over the tactics first.

Minde Games
This is a hero that relies alot on how the player plays, not just skills and items. Utilizing tricks such as jukes (which are common on all heroes), mine tricks, and even health bar confusion, can help defeat an enemy.

The Mine Scare
Ever wanted an enemy to be restricted from running from your lanes to gank others? You can use mines to trap enemies, by showing in plain sight where you are planting. This will make them play way more cautious, and the will to leave a lane will lower significantly.

Fake Mine Amount
I honestly couldn't think of a better name, but basically, it means lighting 2 mines off, making the enemy think you have no more. After they are engaging in a tower push and they retreat with some damage, you can ignite another 3 to kill off runners. I think this is effective with picking out enemies (especially dps which usually sit back far behind).

Active Mine Runner
Use mines as nukes and traps when running, even when you are running into a bunch of trees. You can place stasis and landmines, then TP away.

Luring Enemies into Landmines/Remote Mines
The trick is to make the enemy think s/he is going to win the fight Throw a couple of mistakes at him, or allow him to hit you before you try to flee with low health.

In this example, I lured Drow into two of mines (the red area was her original encounter with the mines). Her health is very low and I run in the direction of the arrow, so she has to run forward and to the right. This all happened so fast she was unable to realize her health was almost all gone and she continued to chase.

Defending Towers
When your enemy is pushing, place mines to the side of your tower. This is because when creeps gather around your tower to attack, when the third or fourth creep reaches it, the mine will go off. If you place it in front of the base, your mine will only detonate outside the range of all the creeps.

Pushing Towers:
To take down a tower real fast, lay a land mine right beside the tower. Because the land mine causes physical damage (Remote mines do magic) it'll do about 250 damage to the tower at level 4. Here's a quick chart on tower damage.
Level One: 144
Level Two: 192
Level Three: 240
Level Four: 288

This information varies on level 3 and 4 towers-- as the calculations was taken with towers with 18 armour.

Harassing enemies near towers
Enemies can be hard to get to when they are tower hugging, but the Goblin techies can make easy meat of these enemies. Take a look at this:

Mining Roshan
Mining Roshan is for the vision, not the damage. Use either stasis or a remote mine to view Roshan's area. Whats unique about this is that observer wards cannot view his cave!

Mining Their SS Shop
This is a common move I've seen this I began playing DotA. Just place many land mines in their SS shop and wait for someone to walk in.

Mining Neutral Creeps
You can mine right outside the camp, usually with remote mines to pick off enemies who are trying to farm in the forest. I found this to be very effective after a player showed me this tactic in a replay.

Mining Behind Towers
This tactic provides you vision behind towers, making it very useful for a player like Pudge, PotM and even you too. All you got to do is plant a mine behind an enemy tower-- far enough so that it is out of the tower's true sight. This will give you vision behind the tower.

Now that you know the basics, lets go over actual mining areas. First I'd like to thank SirFootin, or better known as Ironfisto for this map.

Legend:
Green = Good mining Area
Blue = Gem killer areas
Yellow = Scouting spots
The green areas are great areas to mine because they are effective to defend and maintain lane control. By maintaining, I mean preventing ganks and such. Blue areas can kill gem carriers, described above. Yellow areas main purpose is to scout (using remote mine/stasis appropriately to location.). There are many more areas, but these are key.

Why some mine areas are better than others
The reason why some areas are better than others is because of the way the creeps move. DotA's mechanic as of how the creeps move will always remain the same. With experience, you will learn where creeps will correspond, and where mines will be best placed to hit heroes.

The red line is the creeps moving path. Often, we'll only want heroes to step in our mines, and that's when the areas around the red line are better. Also remember when creeps clash with others, they will spread and disperse. So be sure to keep mines out of there "splash" range.

Learn how the creeps move and you can master what areas are best for mining in lanes. This allows you to be more versatile than the typical "this is a good spot". Instead of being taught which are good spots, you can now spot which ones are on your own.

Lane Control
If you aren't going to go middle, top for Sentinel, bottom for Scourge works well. Although you are known for holding yourself in a lane, early in the game this fairly hard to do, especially defending the tower. Harass if they have no ring/regen or if they're going in for some last hits on creeps. It's difficult to do with your low damage output but possible. Once you have reached level 3 land mines place them in for ambushes or restrict them from moving by allowing them to see where they are. Stasis are also key for lane control.

Runes and their Usefulness
Well we all know runes as items that can power you up in different ways. But with the Goblin Techies, it can be used in a different way too. Baiting.
When using runes to bait, try to use land mines. It'll be hard to catch a scurrying hero at the exact moment of him picking up the rune. Remember runes come every 2 minutes. You can read more about runes at this guide, also teaching you how to get two runes at once. Land mines should be placed in a very close position, and on both sides. He could pick up the rune, such as a regeneration, and it be wasted because he'll trample over your mines seconds later. Early game 4 landmines should be all it takes.

You can also use remote mines as observer wards. This can be done with stasis (less mana) but remember to plant it where heroes are less likely to go. Say, just a bit above the rune itself.

This is how to pinpoint the exact location of the runes-- using landmarks around the rune to help guide you.

Again, you can use remotes and stasis to observe this position.

Bottle can bring us long ways. empty out a bottle and fill yourself if you're low on hp, then grab the rune and use it for a full bottle! Just remember, that it'll be auto casted after 2 minutes, so keep an estimated count in your head. We don't want a single rune to go to waste. Your using it both ways. To use, or to bait. Also remember if you capture a rune with a bottle. Your bottle will be automatically refilled to the top. A trick is to use all the charges in your bottle, then capture it. Use the rune, then you'll have a a full bottle. Since you have remote mines on the two rune areas, you'll have pretty much an infinite supply and know-abouts where and what kind of runes, spawn.

Double Damage: Give this rune up to an ally or use it as bait. This is one of the least useful runes to you, unlike to other heroes. One of the reasons as of why this is such great bait.

Invisibility: The best first blood rune. You can get a close up of the enemy and wait until your ally gets into position and grab your first blood.

Illusion: Not bad, a toned down version of invisibility. It may be harder to micro for a suicide, but the enemy will be wasting their spells on your copy if done well. Many players are eager to fire their Laguna or Dagon at ya' because you're "vulnerable".

Haste: Who ever knew so many runes could synchronize with suicide? This one will let you zoom to your enemy so fast hes probably hoping you'll mis-click!

Regen: This rune is possibly the best one you can get. It allows you to plant as many mines as you want until the duration of regen is out. This is because regen will only be deactivated if the Techies is damaged.

Dealing With . . .
Maybe you've come here to find out how to counter the Goblin Techies. If you were looking for that, I'll tell you some tips. This is from ECKs0's Hero Counter Guide

I'd like to add two other ways to counter the Goblin Techies. Because early in the game, suicides occur often, hiding in the trees is a great way to avoid full damage from the techies. It's very difficult to click on the the enemy and he will likely hit a tree, allowing you to take minimal damage from the suicide.

Other ways include purchasing a Hood of Defiance, to reduce damage from Remote mines and some from landmines (not as much, because landmines takes in account both armor and magic resistance).

Note-Worthy Enemies
Because I like to generalize, I'll categorize the enemies you should look out for.

Mana Burners

any hero that can mana burn with items or skills, will be a pain in the ass for you. Especially early. When you encounter someone such as Anti-Mage, use all your mana as soon possible. If possible try to get a suicide in there before he can kill you.
Silencers

Silencers are trouble for an obvious reason. Without your spells, your nothing. Your damage output is little to nothing, I recommend planting mines before hand, since you are able to use them if there already planted.

Good Allies
Any disabler can be a good ally to the Goblin Techies, so I'll mention the more unique ones!

Position Shifters

Position changers are awesome because they can move enemies into your land mines/remote mines. Not only this but its actually very easy to time.
Pudge

Pudge can be a daring enemy, but also an awesome ally! His hooks and your mines will prove to be devastating.
Treant Protector

Almost forgot about him. The one I forgot about happens to be one of the best allies for the Goblin Techies. All his skills synchronize very well with Techies. for one, the eyes on the trees will prevent warding early in the game. two, Living armor will allow him to take minimum damage while going in for a suicide. Three, Natures Guise is litterly a surprise attack from the trees (suicide!) And four, The ultimate AoE stun able to pin down your enemy for a perfect suicide.
Tiny

Tiny is a great ally because he can toss you towards an enemy for a hand Grenade! Enabling Auto Attack on Suicide should be done for a perfected one.

Conclusion

If you got any other questions, just ask! Try to comment please! It just helps me improve the guide much easier than me having to re read everything. I do my best to answer all my posts in a quick manner (usually 3-5 days!). I take in all input to try and make the guide even better. The community has already helped a bunch! I'd appreciate it if I got a lot less "I play my techies this way", and more reasons why you think your build is better than mine.

Although I am not as much as an enthusiast as I used to be when writing this guide, my busy times updating this guide brings to play nearly every day, but otherwise, you can spot me casually playing public games, 3-4 times a week.

Replays
Removed, because it doesn't fit my item build because of updates. Working on getting a new one asap.

Storm Spirit Guide - Raijin Thunderkeg Build & Strategy (Dota-Allstars 6.58 Remake)

2012-02-14T08:05:00.000-08:00

Storm Spirit Guide - Raijin Thunderkeg Build and Strategy (after Dota 6.58 remake). Along with Dirge the Undying, Storm Spirit now is having new skill set on Dota-Allstars 6.58. Before the remake, Storm Spirit is DPS hero that's aim for damage items. But now, his skill is ~~more~~ absolutely mana dependent. But before we think about the new strategies, let's take a look on his new skills.

Storm Spirit
==============
Attack Range: 500
Strength: 17 + 1.5
Agility: 22 + 1.8
Intelligence: 23 + 2.6
Movement Speed 295

Static Remnant
-----------------
Raijin creates a remnant of himself containing his essence. The Static Remnant will release its stored energy whenever an enemy units comes near it. Lasts up to 12 seconds.

Damage: 140/180/220/260
Trigger AOE: 210
Damage AOE: 260
Cooldown: 4
Manacost: 70/80/90/100

Takes 1 second to create after cast. This is not channeling, just time delayed.

Note: Remember, the cooldown is only 4 seconds, so you can stack it until 3 Remnant in one place. Use this as your farming tool and your only nuke. Another thing is that your Remnant is not invisible.

Electric Vortex
-----------------
Storm focuses his energy to rip open a vortex drawing an enemy to it. This process slows the Storm Spirit down for a brief period.

Pulls 100/150/200/250 units over 1/1.5/2/2.5 seconds.
Your movement is reduced by 50% for 3 seconds.

Cast Range: 300
Manacost: 100
Cooldown: 20

Note: Great spell for ganking. Ball Lightning and combine it with Vortex and immediately Remnant. Most of your enemy won't be able to escape. Please note that this can cancel Town Portal, channeling spell. And while you hold it, enemy can't cast spell.

Overload
---------
Storm Spirit becomes overloaded with electrical energy whenever he casts a spell. The charge is released on his next attack as an electrical burst, dealing damage and slowing nearby units.

Slow: 50% as 80% ms Lasts 0.6 seconds (Same stats as old overload)
Bonus damage: 30/45/60/75
AOE: 275

Note: Combine this with your other spell to slow down your enemy. Remember, Ball Lightning will also give you an Overload charge.

Ball Lightning
---------------
Storm Spirit becomes enveloped with energy, losing his physical form, and travels until he depletes his mana or chooses to stop. While in this form, he deals damage to nearby units based on how far his electrical form has traversed. Damage, speed and area of effect improves per level.

Stops traveling whenever you run out of mana. Deals damage in a small area around you based on distance traveled.

Damage: 8/12/16 per 100 units traveled
Manacost: (15 + 7% of total manabase) + mana based on distance traveled (10+1% per 100 units)
Cast Range: Global
Cooldown: 0

Travel speed and damage AoE improves per level.
You can cast spells like Static Remnant during your roll if you are quick enough.
Specific interactions with spells/projectiles follow the same rules as Waveform does.

Note: I think this skill is Imba! Despite of the mana depleted, the cooldown is 0(zero) and this make huge difference in battle. An enemy escaped? Use this to chase him. Trust me, you won't believe how much this can surprise your enemy. You get ganked? Use this to rolling out as far as you can or just simply rolling into the cliff. Don't use this to hide into the tree because the tree will falling off and they still can chase you (i learn this by mistake T_T). Once you got your Bloodstone, you can maximize the potential of this skill.

Skill Build
1. Static Remnant
2. Overload
3. Electric Vortex
4. Static Remnant
5. Static Remnant
6. Ball Lightning
7. Static Remnant
8. Electric Vortex
9. Electric Vortex
10. Electric Vortex
11. Ball Lightning
12. Overload
13. Overload
14. Overload
16. Ball Lightning

If you are not soloing, you can leveling up Vortex before Remnant to catch a kill with your partner.

Item Build
Aim Bloodstone as fast as you can! The massive mana regen that you gain for each kill on Bloodstone is really support this hero. My item build order is:
1. 2 Null + 2 Branch + 2 set of Tangoes
2. Void Stone
3. Ring of Health
4. Point Booster
5. Energy Booster
6. Finish Bloodstone

You can buy shoes before Point Booster or RoH.

Strategy

Use Static Remnant for farming your Bloodstone. The manacost is cheap and cooldown is low. Combined with Overload, farming is not that difficult with this hero. After get the Ball Lightning, you can start ganking. The combo i usually use is:
1. Ball Lightning into the target.
2. Hit with Overload
3. Electric Vortex
4. Hit with Overload
5. Quickly use Static Remnant
6. Hit with overload again and keep it on.

Just remember one thing, Ball Lightning is having 0 cooldown! If you are missed your target, just keep chasing it. You also suddenly surprise the low HP enemy from very far distance with your Ball Lightning. Use this hero for ganking, this is his role now. The only mistake i made with this hero is when i keep farming in early-mid game like the old Storm and waste his ganking potential.

Ball Lightning will make you hard to kill. Keep some mana for rolling and you will be safe. The only chances i got raped is with Sheep stick ^_^"

I know this hero is rather more difficult to use than the previous, but prefer this new one. It's more entertaining and remind me of Kungfu Panda...

Thrall Guide | the Far Seer Guide, Strategy & Build

2012-02-14T08:04:00.003-08:00

Thrall the Far Seer Guide, Strategy and Build. Thrall is an addition to the Sentinel Intelligence heroes. Thrall the Far Seer is introduced on the Dota 6.68. This post will provide you with the Thrall Skill Description, the Thrall Guide, the Thrall Strategy, the Thrall Item Build and the Thrall Skill Build.

Being raised by humans as a gladiator, Thrall learned more about strategy and tactics as a youth than even experienced orcish warchiefs learned in their lives. After escaping from the human slavery and meeting Grom Hellscream, he found out that he was a descendant of the Frostwolf clan. He traveled to his ancestor's village, where he became familiar with the spiritual magics of the orcish shamans. Now he combines not only his control over thunder, but also his tactical abilities to turn fights in his favor using impenetrable walls of magic, areas of static energy and even control over time.

Hero Class: Far Seer
Hero Name: Thrall

Alliance: Sentinel

Strength: 19 + 1.9
Agility: 15 + 1.4
Intelligence: 22 + 2.5 (Primary)

Base Damage: 49-53
Starting Armor: 1
Movement Speed: 300
Attack Range: 600

Thrall Skill Descriptions

Thunder Strike

Thrall curses the target to be struck by thunder 3 times over 4 seconds. Foes nearby the victim will also be damaged.

Damage per strike: 50/75/100/125
Secondary AOE: 200

Cooldown: 16
Manacost: 130

Note: No damage on windwalkers and no effect at all on magic-immune users

Your main nuke. The damage is quite hurt and what's more, it's also hurt nearby enemies which make it useful for pushing. You also gain sight on the cursed enemy.

Glimpse

Thrall forces the target back to it's previous position through a psionic rift. Sends the unit to where it was 4 seconds ago.

Cast Range: 600/1000/1400/1800

Cooldown: 60/50/40/30
Manacost: 160/130/100/70

Note: The glimpse effect has some travel time, the target isn't instantly moved back.

Short version of Kunkka's X Mark the Spot. This thing really helpful for initiate a gank and prevent escaping enemy. Other cool thing is you can send back an enemy to their fountain if you cast it just after they arrive with Town Portal (teleport).

Kinetic Field

Thrall summons a circular barrier of kinetic energy, keeping enemies from walking in or out of it. The barrier has an aoe of 300.

Has a 1.2 second cast delay before the field is fully formed.

Duration: 2.5/3/3.5/4 seconds

Cooldown: 14
Cast Range: 900
Manacost: 70

Note: Windwalkers and magic-immune users can walk through your Kinetic Field

The most annoying thing about Thrall. It's like a big Sprout. Watch out for the delay, if you're miscalculate it, you can let your enemies escape. Combine it with Static Storm for maximum damage.

Static Storm

Creates an area of electric instability which damages and silences enemies in the area. The effect starts off weak and then intensifies over 5 seconds, dealing increasing amounts of damage, before disappearing.

Final DPS: 170/210/250
AOE: 375
Manacost: 125/175/225
Cooldown: 85

Note: The damage starts off slow and ramps up continuously until it reaches the max

A pretty decent AoE. The drawback is that it needs some time until reach it maximum damage. Kinetic Field will help you reach that.

Thrall the Far Seer Skill Build

Level 1: Kinetic Field/Thunder Strike
Level 2: Thunder Strike/Kinetic Field
Level 3: Thunder Strike
Level 4: Glimpse
Level 5: Thunder Strike
Level 6: Static Storm
Level 7: Thunder Strike
Level 8: Kinetic Field
Level 9: Kinetic Field
Level 10: Kinetic Field
Level 11: Static Storm
Level 12: Glimpse
Level 13: Glimpse
Level 14: Glimpse
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Static Storm
Level 17-25: Stats

Here is my initial skill build for Thrall the Far Seer. Kinetic Field taken first to help get a first blood or escape from early gank. If you feel you got enough stunner, get Thunder Strike first instead.

Thunder Strike will be maximize first because it's your main nuke. Take a single level of Glimpse on level 4 for additional escape/gank skill.

Static Storm is taken every time it can with obvious reason. After Thunder Strike, maximize the Kinetic Field as it will give chaos to the enemy when ganking and war.

Glimpse is maximize next due the cast range increase which really useful to initiate a gank. Take it early (at lvl 10) if you want to add more effiency when ganking at that level.

If you got different build, feel free to elaborate :)

Thrall the Far Seer Item Build

1. Sobi Mask, 2x clarity Potion, Tango
2. Boots of Speed
3. 2x gauntlet of strength and finish Urn of Shadow
4. Finish Arcane Boots
5. Get Mekansm as fast as you can

Thrall's core item should be like this:

Urn of Shadow - for mana regeneration and some strength (HP for survivability in early game). Can heal ally or damage foe.

Arcane Boots - It can replenish your mana and your team's as well (cause its Aoe). Good for keep your team to always enable to casts spells.

Mekanism - For team's benefits. Stats, armor, positive aura (HP regen), plus active Aoe (heals and +2 armor for period of time) really is awesome for supporting your team. Can also be your healing tool while escaping.

Power Treads - An alternative for Arcane Boots. If you want to play more offensive choose this boots. Its IAS and stats give you dps and survivability.

Magic Wand - If you skip Sobi Mask for some Ironwood Brances you can aim for this item. Good for restore your HP and Mana especially when you meet spam-spellers on your lane.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity - for +10 int stats, 150% mana regen, +25 MS, plus its Cyclone, 2800 gold is worth to spent. Exellent when you play offensive using Thrall. You can use Cyclone to combo with your skills, chase your target, or even runaway from your chaser.

Blade Mail - Thrall is fragile. so he needs armor. This item can provide it plus mana and damage. If you go againts a lot of melee heroes, its Damage Returns is very useful. Its an extensions item for Thrall.

Vanguard - if EHP is concerned, get this item. Really helpful with your survivability in early-mid game.

Necronomicon - Used to add your mana and EHP. Its Demonic Summoning is really hard to use. But if you can manage to control them, they must be very annoying to other team.

Force Staff - Another extension item. Int stats, damage, and IAS. Its Force can be very useful during battle. Can chase the escaping enemy or push your target to your teammate's spell area.

Here is core late game item for him:

Here are Luxury late game items for him:

Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse - Very good stats (str, agl, especially int), mana regen, and Hex. Most players aim for this active ability. Disabling your opponent for 3.5 seconds is best when your skills are ready to launch.

Shiva's guard - Thrall is not a tank. So he desperately needs armor to survive the battle. HUge amount of mana also welcomed. Plus Its Aoe nuke and slow.

Linken's Sphere - Not only gives attributes and HP/Mana regen, but also provide you with ability to prevent the effect of deadly skill. Get this item if opponent's team has good nukers (such as Lina, Lion, Lucifer, etc)

Khadgar's Pipe of Insight - Gives magic resistance againts magic damagers. A situational item. Get it if the other team has a lot of magic spammers.

Ethereal Blade - Its here because of its Ether Blast. +40% damage from spell will be a serious damage to your enemies. But dont get this item first before you get Guinsoo.

Thrall the Far Seer Strategy

You can pick this hero if your team need carrier, supporter, or disabler.

You need to be supported by:
- Aoe Disabler:
Everyone who have an area stun (such as Leviathan, Bradwarden, Tauren)
- Aoe Nuker:
Everyone who have an area damage spell (such as Rylai, Nevermore, Invoker)
- Aoe Trapper:
Their spell will help you trap a lot of enemies (such as Enigma, Dark Seer, Magnataur)

Beware of his counter:
- Disabler:
Youre disabled, you take the damage, you cant do anything, and youre dead (Leviathan, Tiny, Tauren)
- Silencer and manaburners:
Once you are silenced or mana-emptied you can do nothing except normal attack. Thats not good at all (especially Lucifer the doom bringer)
- invisible caster and Magic-immune caster:
Your Thunder Strike effects no damage to them and they can escape your Static Field very easily (such as Rikimaru, Gondar, Purist, Naix, and bkb carrier)

Playstyle

You can go mid solo or dual laning. I prefer dual laning cause he is still fragile and with his teammate they can protect each other. But whatever lane you choose the strategy is still the same. Harass everytime you can and dominate the lane. The different is you will go more supportive to your ally if you choose dual lane.
In middle lane, it means you are solo, your role is to get more experience than your enemy. Its easy because of Thunder Strike has a huge nuke damage in early game. If the enemy decided to go back to fountain and TP back to lane, use Glimpse as soon as possible. It will bring him back to fountain and absolutely make him frustated :P Always try to harass and kill him.
If youre dual laning, always remember to higher your awareness due to early gank.

When youre on mid phase of the game, try to push the lane. But again always put a sight on every enemy on the map or you will get ganked easily. If the lane already pushed, there will be some heroes who come to defend. It means chance for gank.
In teamfights, use your skills to benefit your team as much as you can. Trap a whole enemies using kinetic Field then follow with Static Storm and Thunder Strike. If there is an enemy's hero who manage to survive, Glimpse him. The combo can be combined with other heroes skills to be more deadly. Try to survive this phase of the game by not getting pawned.

Late game is very dangerous for thrall. Because he is not a tank and there will be a lot of stronger late game heroes who can kill him in no time. The strategy is always go with your team. Wherever they are, whatever they do. Use your skills to support your team as much as you can. Try to win every team clashes. It's the only way to win the game.

Puck Guide, Build & Strategy - the Faerie Dragon Guide

2012-02-14T08:04:00.001-08:00

Puck Guide, Build & Strategy - the Faerie Dragon Guide. Puck is a versatile hero that can entering combat with ease and cause massive damage to the enemies. Let's check Puck the Faerie Dragon.

Puck the Faery Dragon

In Sentinel's search for heroes to aid them in the war against the Scourge, they discovered the lost lands of the mystical Faerie Dragons. Upon explaining the conflict to the Faerie Queen of Agrace, she sent forth Puck, a personal guardian, to turn the tides of war. Despite his small size and mischievous personality, the little dragon soon proved to pack more than his fare share of power on the battlefield, blasting through the enemy ranks with balls of magic, faerie dust, and the capability to stupefy an entire army with nothing more than his imagination. His foes all learned the hard way that size matters not in combat, and that appearences are, ultimately, deceiving.

Strength - 15 + 1,7
Agility - 22 + 1,7
Intelligence - 25 + 2,4

Attack range of 550.
Movement speed of 295.

Level 1 information:
- Health: 435
- Mana: 351
- Damage: 40-51
- Armor: 2
- Attack Speed: 1,39 sec.

Level 25 information (without any worn items):
- Health: 1575
- Mana: 1573
- Damage: 114-125 +20
- Armor: 8 +2,8
- Attack Speed: 0,93 sec.

Abilities

Illusory Orb
Sends a magic orb flying down a straight path damaging everything in its way. At any time during the life of the orb the Faerie Dragon may teleport up to it, taking its place. 1800 range, 225 AOE.

Level 1 - Deals 70 damage.
Level 2 - Deals 140 damage.
Level 3 - Deals 210 damage.
Level 4 - Deals 280 damage.

Cooldown: 15 seconds.
Mana cost: 125.

Comment: This spell works like the Keeper of the Light's "Illuminate", or the Warcraft III's standard Shockwave. As it says, the spell fires an orb in a straight 1800 range path, dealing damage to everything that comes within 225 range or closer to it. This spell is extremely good with just about rest of your spells. It's one of the most powerful escape mechanism. Some enemies might think they are smart and will just run after the orb when you cast it, but after all, you can choose just not to swap yourself which makes it an extremely good distraction. The enemies will never know if you are going to swap yourself or not. It's also a really powerful initiation spell in both ganks and team combats as you can pop literally out of nowhere. It's like Blink, just with damage and a longer range.

Ethereal Jaunt
Shifts into the Illusory Orb.
Cooldown: 0 seconds.
Mana cost: 25

Useful information: The Faerie Dragon can switch his position with the orb as long as it's alive. This swaps him instantly to wherever it is, but it kills the orb, which means it won't float any further. Compared to units' movement speed, the orb has about 550 movement. This means it will move faster than any hero at any time, but it's still hard to aim. The orb also gives you sight wherever you cast it. If you think you are about to get ganked, it can be worth to throw it into the forest to see if someone is approaching. The Orb floats for about 3 seconds in it's complete path. If you attempt to use this spell without an active Illusory Orb, it only returns a "No Illusory Orb found."-error. It doesn't burn mana.

Waning Rift
Releases Puck's mystical faerie dust around him dealing damage and silencing enemies. 400 AOE.

Level 1 - Deals 60 damage and Silences for 0.1 seconds.
Level 2 - Deals 120 damage and Silences for 1 second.
Level 3 - Deals 180 damage and Silences for 2 seconds.
Level 4 - Deals 240 damage and Silences for 3 seconds.

Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Mana cost: 100/110/120/130.

Comment: This spell is extremely powerful, especially combined with Illusory Orb. The damage itself is not quite cool compared to other nukers, but the 3 seconds silence can be devastating. E.g. in a team combat where everyone usually cluster, pop in with Illusory Orb and throw the silence. This gives your allies 3 seconds to throw their spells and ultimates. Mostly, 1 second would be fine, but 3 seconds can be devastating if you have the right teammates. It's also good to cancel channeling effects such as Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field, Sand King's Epicenter and Enigma's Black Hole.

Useful information: The diameter of the fully AoE circle it makes is fine, but the radius from Puck (center) and to the edge is rather low. "Only" 400 range. This means you will have to pop up almost next to any enemy that you want to hit. This is fairly easy in team combats, but it is not that easy in ganks where enemies have the time and overview to react.

Phase Shift (Auto-cast available)
Shifts the Faerie Dragon out of existence for a brief period, temporarily avoiding any further damage.

Level 1 - Up to 0.75 seconds.
Level 2 - Up to 1.5 seconds.
Level 3 - Up to 2.25 seconds.
Level 4 - Up to 3 seconds.

Cooldown: 6 seconds.
Mana cost: 50/40/30/20.

Comment: This spell can be manually activated by clicking on the icon or pressing "f", but it is also an auto-cast and it's an extremely powerful tool to avoid damage. Especially in team combats, you can avoid a crap load of it. Especially devastating ultimates like Epicenter, Black Hole, Poison Nova, Ravage, Freezing Field and Requiem of Souls can easily be avoided by one single click.

Useful information: Puck becomes invulnerable to all damage for an amount of time. Some spells can be avoided by having it on auto-cast (e.g. LVL? Death, Arc Lightning and Lightning Bolt) and some cannot (e.g. Ensnare, Storm Bolt and Doom). Spells that has a missile (e.g. Storm Bolt and Ensnare) can be avoided by manually activating Phase Shift just before the missile hits you. This will make you avoid both the damage and a possible stun/disable. I haven't found a pattern yet to which spells Puck can auto-cast avoid and which spells he needs to activate it manually to doge, but normal damage can be dodged by auto-cast too.

If Puck is ordered no other commands when he has it on auto-cast, he will immediately Phase Shift (unless he is hitten by e.g. Storm Bolt). During the Phase Shifted time, he can move if he wants and is therefore not forced by stay for the fully period. However, if he moves, he turn vulnerable again and the spell remains on cooldown. That means if you click immediately after Phase Shifting, you will only be Phase Shifted for a very short moment.

Dream Coil (Ultimate)
Puck's powerful imagination engulfs an area, creating coils of volatile magic that damages and stuns enemy units as it latches on to them. Stretching the coils beyond 600 range causes it to snap and deal additional damage and stun time. Lasts 5 seconds.

Level 1 - Initial: 100 damage and 0.5 seconds stun. Coil Break: 100 damage and 1.5 seconds stun.
Level 2 - Initial: 150 damage and 0.5 seconds stun. Coil Break: 150 damage and 2.25 seconds stun.
Level 3 - Initial: 200 damage and 0.5 seconds stun. Coil Break: 200 damage and 3 seconds stun.

Cooldown: 85 seconds.
Mana cost: 100/150/200.

Comment: This spell is extremely powerful, and is a very good followup to your other spells, but it also gives your allies time to tear your opponents apart. Especially with some comboes, this can be deadly. In a easier description, Puck throws a little ball at a place which only affects enemy heroes. As soon as it is casted it stuns enemy heroes for a short peroid and gives slight damage. If the enemies that get hitten by the coil move more than 600 range away from it during its duration (5 seconds), they will get stunned for a longer period as well as taking extra damage.

Useful information: The coil only affects the heroes that are inside the AoE range when you cast it. Heroes that come near the ball after you've casted it won't be affected. You can see which enemy heroes you hit because there is a weak visible link between the coil and them.

Skill order

The offensive
Level 1 - Illusory Orb
Level 2 - Waning Rift
Level 3 - Illusory Orb
Level 4 - Waning Rift
Level 5 - Waning Rift
Level 6 - Dream Coil
Level 7 - Waning Rift
Level 8 - Illusory Orb
Level 9 - Illusory Orb
Level 10 - Phase Shift
Level 11 - Dream Coil
Level 12 - Phase Shift
Level 13 - Phase Shift
Level 14 - Phase Shift
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Dream Coil
Level 17-25 - Stats

Skill explanation

Illusory Orb is taken at 1 and 3 because it's the most safe spell to harass with and it also gives you an early escape mechanism just in case you should need it. Waning Rift is then taken at 2, 4 and 5. The reason why it's taken instead of Illusory Orb at level 5 is because it's around this level that you will begin to try to get kills in your lane. It only damages 30 less than Illusory Orb, but it silences for one morel second which is a huge difference. It's way better to swap in and silence them for an additional second than to damage them for an additional 30 which can be done through a single shot.

Dream Coil is taken as fast as possible because it damages the enemies a little when you throw it, but if they run they get stunned and even more damaged. Combined with Wanin Rift and Illusory Orb, this is very effective for ganking. After maxing your other abilities, Phase Shift is taken.

This build should be followed if you can be offensive without getting killed. If you're in a very hard lane or if jumping in with Etheral Jaunt means you get yourself killed, it makes sense that this is not very smart.

The cautious

Level 1 - Illusory Orb
Level 2 - Waning Rift
Level 3 - Illusory Orb
Level 4 - Waning Rift
Level 5 - Illusory Orb
Level 6 - Dream Coil
Level 7 - Illusory Orb
Level 8 - Waning Rift
Level 9 - Waning Rift
Level 10 - Phase Shift
Level 11 - Dream Coil
Level 12 - Phase Shift
Level 13 - Phase Shift
Level 14 - Phase Shift
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Dream Coil
Level 17-25 - Stats

Skill explanation

Unlike the previous build, Illusory Orb is skilled over Waning Rift. This is done to let you harass in your lane with it in order to stay safe but still gain lane control. Sometimes you might experience that jumping in equals death thus making this kind of stupid. So instead of taking Waning Rift which you will prolly not use anyway in such situatioins, Illusory Orb is prioritized to gain more damage. Still, Phase Shift won't be skilled untill you've maxed both Waning Rift and Illusory Orb.
This build should be followed when you're against someone who doesn't make a huge threat to you if you stay distanced, but if you Jaunt in you risk losing your life. This means you can harass safer and better from your ranged position which will sometimes help you against semi-strong lanes.

The passive

Level 1 - Illusory Orb
Level 2 - Phase Shift
Level 3 - Illusory Orb
Level 4 - Waning Rift
Level 5 - Illusory Orb
Level 6 - Dream Coil
Level 7 - Illusory Orb
Level 8 - Waning Rift
Level 9 - Waning Rift
Level 10 - Waning Rift
Level 11 - Dream Coil
Level 12 - Phase Shift
Level 13 - Phase Shift
Level 14 - Phase Shift
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Dream Coil
Level 17-25 - Stats

Skill explanation

This is the build to fight the most dangerous lanes. Sometimes you will face evil dual combos, people who stun and rape you, heroes you cannot do anything against. It's time to take Phase Shift into the early game to avoid stuns and hard nukes. Most stuns like Storm Bolt, Lightning Strike Array and Fissure can easily be avoided if you activate Phase Shift fast enough. Nukes like Lightning Storm and Dragon Slave are easy to dodge as well. This stage of the game can be really dangerous for you thus playing very passive with a maxed Illusory Orb to harass from distance and a point in Phase Shift to avoid nukes and disables to help you through makes this build the most helpful against hard hero comboes.

Item Build

Core item build

The first thing you want to buy is one or two Bracers. Puck has ridiculous low health so he needs to boost it asap in order not to die by 2 nukes. After that, buy a Bottle because it supports your mana and health very well which helps your gank effeciently. As a bonus, it also gives you incredible good rune control while ganking. Finally buy your Boots of Speed.

Items afterwards

When you have the money, you wanna start saving for Shiva's Guard. If the game hasn't ended yet, we're gonna start working on the Eye of Skadi. Even with 2 Bracers, you still have rather low health and armor, so additional health is not bad. Eye of Skadi is of course bought mainly for the +mana, +intilligence, +strength and +health, but the frost attack is definatly not bad either. With this item you almost make your health and armor acceptable. With Phase Shift as a supporting damage neutralizer and Shiva's Guard's -attack speed aura, you become rather hard to kill and very difficult to target.

After completing your Eye of Skadi, go ahead and buy Boots of Travel. Before this point, try to have a Scroll of Town Portal on you as often as possible so you always have a teleport.

Optional items

After getting your Eye of Skadi, Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse might not be a bad idea. Disables are always a plus and it probably nullifies your last possibly mana issues. This sheepstick is my recommendation after you've finish your Shiva's Guard, Eye of Skadi and Boots of Travel.

Necromonicon is a good item on Puck. Not only has it got good team synergyzes with different kinds of attack speed and movement speed auras. It also gives you fine strength and intilligence to buff your health and mana. Best of all, if you use it just after Dream Coil you can Mana Burn nearly any hero you've captured with it. The heroes you capture can either stay and get mana burned or run, get stunned and then get mana burned. Just remember to use it after you've used your coil, quickly select the demons, find the mana burning dude and burn your target. Imbaness.

In the bottom line, Puck is a hero that teleports in, rapes and kills and gets raped and killed. Bloodstone gives you health, mana and some other neat stuffs that makes you able to rape. The item itself kind of makes it okay to get raped if you should do so.

Orchid Malevolence is a rather "cheap" item in terms of the pieces. It's very easy to build and its use is great. The silence is astounding, especially against heroes with crucial spells, escape mechanism and so on. Queen of Pain, Earthshaker and Magnus can be three very good examples but the list is much longer.

Wards are not very reliable in public games, but in games where people intend to teamwork the slightest, they are great. If noone of your teammates want to buy them, feel free to get some, either for map control (Observer Wards) or for spotting invisible units (Sentry Wards).

Where's the Dagon in your build? I think Dagon rocks hard!
As quoted from someone else and as said in this very own guide, Puck really needs early game Survivability. If you buy two Bracers, a Bottle and a pair of Boots, the Dagon comes really late and is much less effective. If you do it the other way (buying the Dagon before the survivability) you are too vulnerable against nukes, disables and multiple enemies while ganking because you run around with 700 health. Besides, a simple allie can replace the 2700 gold heavy Dagon by throwing a Storm Bolt or a Lucent Beam for instance. 2700 gold you can use on a Mystic Staff to start working on your Shiva's Guard for a 200 damage aoe slow.

Items not to buy
Black King Bar. You have your Phase Shift and later in the game with being invulnerable 50% of the time (theoretically), also being immune to magic. If you can't survive with Skadi, 3 Bracers, a Bottle and a 3 seconds lasting Phase Shift, Black King Bar probably won't help.

Kelen's Dagger of Escape is not recommended. Of course, the idea of popping in with Illusory Orb and Wanin Rift and then blink out is fun, but completely unnecessary. You have no reason to blink out in e.g. a team combat. Activate Phase Shift and force your enemies to target your teammates and then run away yourself in the right moment. In any other situations, you will have Illusory Orb to escape.

Lothar's Edge is not recommended. You do not need to stealth in among the enemies because you have your Illusory Orb and for the same reason as Kelen's Dagger of Escape, you do not need to get out, nor to have another escape mechanism.
Monkey King Bar, Mjollnir, Buriza-do Kyanon, Stygian Desolator and Divine Rapier are not recommended. Dishing out tons of damage is not your style. You need health, not damage to be effective.

Vanguard and Stout Shield are not recommended. You do not need a chance to block damage. If you don't block it you will receive full damage and even if you block it, you will still receive a lot. With such a low health pool, you need health instead of chance-to-block items.

Strategy

Early game

After you've chosen Puck, start with buying a couple of tangoes, a Circlet of Nobility and a Gauntlet of Strength. Then head up or down. Try not to get the the middle because you will most likely fight a strong solo hero or a strong double lane. E.g. if you fight solo against Tinker, Lich or Shadow Fiend, they will nuke you to death in no time because of your low health pool.

Try to lane with a friend that has some kind of nuke, slow or disable. Like any other hero, you should try to last hit and deny as much as possible without pushing the lane too far. When you are level 3 and have a level 2 Illusory Orb, start spamming it in such a way that you will never have full mana. The longer time your mana is full, the more mana regeneration you waste, so you want to throw at least one orb every time you are nearly full.

As soon as you are level 4 and especially 5 you can effectively try to get kills in your lane together with your mate by popping in with Illusory Orb and Waning Rift. However, if you face a strong lane, be careful as they might kill you when you appear. You can always soften up the enemies by casting a few orbs and in the right moment pop in, use Waning Rift and let your mate follow up with his nukes/disables too (if he has any of course). It's stupid to pop into two or more enemies alone, so unless they are at low health, don't attempt to do it.

During this stage, you should farm for 1-2 Bracers, your Bottle and your Boots of Speed.

Middle game

As soon as you are around level 6-7 or above and you have your Bottle, you should start to look for heroes to gank. Your total burst damage now is just fine. Most heroes only have a single strong nuke, but you have two decents that combined have a rather high damage + an AoE silence and you also have your ultimate, however, it has a little too much cooldown to be used in every single gank. Try not to gank someone alone unless he has low health. Instead wait for an allie to approach either from the site or from the front. If he can bait the enemy that would be best, because after all your Waning Rift is not a disable but only a silence. Standing too close to the enemy's tower can be dangerous. If the enemies run out, you have a higher chance to kill them because they then have a longer way back.

Continue like this during the middle game. Pop in a lane where your allie(s) are waiting and kill your foe. Refill your Bottle with runes if you can or at the fountain when you're back.

Again, try not to kill enemies on your own. You will most likely not have the nuking power to take them down on your own and you do not have enough health for an effective counter attack. It only takes the help of a single allie to succeed in most ganks.

Late game

It's time for the big team fights. Your job here is either to stay in the back or to stay hidden. Stay hidden is the smartest thing because it makes it harder for your foes to know when and where you appear. Use Illusory Orb when the enemies cluster (beforer the combat starts), pop in, silence, throw your coil, phase shift and let your allies take over. When the 3 seconds are over you are ready to run towards your team again, which should now have torn most of the enemies apart. It's important that you either initiate combats with your silence or follow up on initiators like Warlock's Rain of Chaos, Tidehunter's Ravage or Magnataur's Reverse Pulse. In other words, get the enemies silenced and captured in your Dream Coil before they throw their comboes.

When there are no team fights going on, you should try to farm as much as possible.

Using Illusory Orb

Okay, to sum up; it moves with about 550 unit-compared movement speed, meaning that no units can run faster than it. It has 225 AoE which is almost the ball's model range, so a rule of thumb is that where it looks like it hits, it hits. It takes about 3 seconds from it to start till it ends if you do not swap yourself with it. This is what the orb looks like and how long it moves:

Illusory Orb

Now, the hard part of using your orb is when you have to throw it. Like Meat Hook, Earthbind and Elune's Arrow, you have to aim and predict where you have to throw it because you cannot click on units. It is a ground targetted ability. Illusory Orb can be used for several situations. Some of the most common scenarios are:
Harass
Ganks
Escapes
Mindgames
Team battles

Harassing with Illusory Orb

Harassing with Illusory Orb is rather easy. It's essentially the same thing as throwing a Shockwave. This is mostly done during level 1-4. It's as simply as aiming it at the enemies and try to hit them. During level 1-4 you should only throw it once in a while and wait untill you have full or almost full mana and then throw it again, just to keep your mana not full so you don't waste the mana regeneration.

Illusory Orb in ganks

If you are shooting an orb parallel to an enemy e.g. in your lane, the most common place to aim is through him and behind him. If you pop in in front of him instead of behind him he has a ten times better chance to escape. If you pop up behind him he has to walk past you to get away.

If you are going to get them from a perpendicular angle to where he stands, you want to aim just at him because shooting next to him is too "risky". If he moves just a tiny bit, you might waste the damage from the orb. If he is moving, try to aim a little bit in front of him so you pop up just in front of him.

As you can see on the above scenarios, Illusory Orb can be extremely effective for tower diving, which means going behind the enemy's tower.

Using Illusory Orb to escape

When you use Illusory Orb to escape, there are two important things you want to remember. Firstly you want to swap you as late as possible, but still not waste the orb and get killed. Secondly you want to draw your enemies in another direction than your orb. Run wherever you want, just not towards the orb. This will make your enemies follow both you and the orb. If you split up from your orb, they will have to follow either of them. If they follow the orb, just don't swap yourself unless you cast it through cliffs or behind trees etc. If they follow you, which is most common, just swap yourself from a good distance. Let me show you:

Notice how I cast the orb as soon as Viper attacks me. I don't follow it but run right instead. When the orb has passed the trees, I swap myself and can now run safely away.

Always try to use the environment around you. Shoot your orb through trees and cliffs so your enemies can't follow you.

I shoot my orb over the cliff and appear on the other side of the river. Like this, my enemies won't have time to catch me again.

Again, when you have to escape, in most situations it's better to let the orb go as long as possible before swapping. However, you have to watch out not to let the orb die. The best way to keep an eye on when it dies is the cooldown on the icon.

Playing mindgames with Illusory Orb

An important thing to remember when you use Illusory Orb is that you can choose by yourself whether you switch positions with your orb or not. You will be swapping yourself in 90% of the cases, so every time your enemy sees the orb, his immediate reaction is that you will switch place with it. As an example, if you have to escape, you start with casting your orb.

Depending on your enemy, you now have two opportunities; most enemies will still hunt you and try to kill you. In this situation you want to swap yourself with the orb. The tricky part appears when your enemy thinks he is a step ahead and starts to follow your orb. In this situation you only need to use it as a distraction and then run away in another path yourself.

In other words, you can play mindgames with the orb by making the enemies think that you will appear when you don't. Making them think you won't appear when you do is extremely hard, because the common action is to pop in. This method is brilliant for escaping because you can decide which way you want to go and you will almost always get away from the enemy. It can also be used to brake your enemies if they e.g. are hunting your team if you are losing a battle. Send an orb towards your chasers and make them think you will appear and use Waning Rift. This will sometimes make your enemies run after the orb to kill you instead of hunting down your entire team.

I will get back to how to use Illusory Orb in a team battle situation later in the guide.

Using Phase Shift

As you may have noticed. Phase Shift can be manually activated, but it's also an auto-cast. As soon as it's activated, it makes you invulnerable for a given amount of time. You can deactivate it any time you want by giving Puck a new order such as to cast an ability, move or attack.

Now, the easiest solution is to have it on auto-cast and phase shift every time you take damage, but this is also the worst. If you have it on auto-cast you can never predict exactly when you will shift, and if you are doing something else like running you have a huge chance to cancel it right on the spot and when you finally need it for something huge like avoiding devastating ultimates you won't have it ready. Ergo you should always activate it manually. By activating it manually you can avoid missiles like Storm Bolt and other nukes, ultimates, attacks and focusing and you won't accidentally deactivate it because you know when you enable it.

Also, because Phase Shift forces your foes to target someone else, this is also extremely powerful to lose tower aggro. If a hostile tower is shooting on you, activate Phase Shift and it will shoot on something else.

Using Phase Shift with Illusory Orb

Combining Phase Shift with Illusory Orb can be a very strong move, especially when you have to escape. Many enemies will try to stun you when you use your orb in order to interrupt you in escaping. If you throw your orb and activate Phase Shift, you will be invulnerable as long as your orb is floating. You can then swap yourself into it without getting stunned or killed meanwhile.

Here's the Illusory Orb + Phase Shift method in action. Vengeful has swapped me into Earthshaker and Treant Protector and they've just killed my allie Zeus. Immediately I cast Illusory Orb and activate Phase Shift so Vengeful Spirit and Earthshaker cannot stun me. After 2,999999999 seconds, I swap myself out and teleport safely away.

Using Dream Coil

Dream Coil is a ground targetted spell and has an initiate damage and stun just like Warlock's Infernal, but in oppose to Rain of Chaos it only affects heroes (enemies of course). It isn't dropped from the sky like the Infernal but appears instantly after it has been casted. After that it will only affect the heroes which you casted it on. When these heroes move more than 600 range away from the coil, they will get stunned and damaged again for a longer period. If they don't move away, nothing more will happen to them. The initial AoE and the AoE of which the orb binds the enemies is the same as Waning Rift which is 400 AoE.

Dream Coil's (and Waning Rift's) area of effect

If you haven't thought of it yet, please notice that the snap range of the coil is a little longer than the range that binds the heroes (200 range longer), so the snap range is larger than the coil's initial AoE (see the picture).

Now, because the heroes who are outside the range when you cast the orb won't get affected by it, you want to hit as many as possible.

Using Dream Coil in ganks

When you use Dream Coil in ganks, you want to force the enemy to take the extra stun and damage when the coil "snaps" them. When you pop in with Illusory Orb, most enemies' reaction will be to run backwards untill they have a clear view of the situation. It's here you want to throw it at the opposite direction of where he is moving towards. The longer he is from the center of where you cast it, the bigger are the chances that he will snap it (take the extra stun and damage).

Combining your spells and items

It's time to explain the devastating combo and synergy between all Puck's abilities. Let me describe the spells' main purposes in this combo before describing the combo itself:

Illusory Orb: Used for suddenly and without warning pop in at the right spot at the right time - in other words to position yourself perfectly without danger.
Waning Rift: The initiation spell to silence and damage all the enemies near you. The condition is that you stand close to your enemies, which you will need Illusory Orb for.

Phase Shift: The target-me-not spell in order to let your teammates follow up on your silence and Dream Coil. Also used for distraction to get out when they can't focus you and therefore loses it from you.

Dream Coil: Used to either lock your enemies to one spot in order to let your teammates fire their nukes/disables/AoEs as long as they are silenced or making them split up and get further stunned and damaged so your teammates have a better chance to finish them off.

Shiva's Guard: Shiva's Guard's active ability works as a nova. The blast comes from "the inside. It's not a missile. It's more like a giant wave moving out in every direction from Puck himself, hitting anyone who stands close to him. In other words, the hero using Shiva's Guard, need to be up next to his enemies in order to make best use of it. Puck is the master of positioning with Illusory Orb. Infiltrating the enemies' ranks with Illusory Orb puts you in the most perfect position for this item's use. Shiva's Guard is used as an extra nuke and to make the enemies unable to escape and want to escape at the same time due to the aoe damage.

In every team battle you should start hided in the flanks or behind your team. Just before the battle starts and especially before your foes cast any spells, you should pop in between them all with Illusory Orb. Immediatley use Waning Rift so they don't have the chance to disable or nuke you. Instantly follow up with Dream Coil. Make sure to hit as many enemy heroes as possible. The more, the better. In this situation you don't have to think about who runs away from the coil or not, the main thing is to hit as many as possible.

After you've popped in, used Waning Rift, immediately activate Shiva's Guard. Then drop your Dream Coil and use Phase Shift. This shouldn't take more than one or two seconds. The enemies are silenced, stunned and damaged and are either forced to stay and take damage from rest of your team who should follow up on your spell combination within the split second or they can try to run and get another stun for 3 seconds. It's of course normal that your enemies will try to kill you as soon as you stand between them, but Phase Shift makes you invincible. They can now choose to drop all their nukes/disables (if they get the chance!) on your allies, or wait for you to get out of the Phase Shift and have to get struck by your team whole 3 seconds just in order to kill you.

When you see the opportunity, run back to your casters' rank and start to beat on them normally. As soon as your Illusory Orb and Waning Rift are ready, immediately pop in again and repeat the whole thing. Eventually catch enemies that try to escape with low health with your abilities and Shiva's Guard.

In ganks it isn't always necessary to use Phase Shift after the rest of the combo, but the principle is the same. Pop in with sudden surprice, use Waning Rift and, if you have it, use Dream Coil to stun them.

Enjoy this Puck guide! If you have different build for Puck, share it here ;)

Zeus Guide, Build & Strategy - Lord of Olympia Guide (MYM|Merlini)

2012-02-14T08:03:00.008-08:00

Zeus Guide, Build & Strategy - Lord of Olympia Guide written by MYM|Merlini. Zeus remains one of the most popular heroes in DotA. Not only is he incredibly fun to play in public games, but he is considered so powerful that he is either a ban or first pick in organized games. Although he does not have an escape mechanism (more recently with the Dagger nerf), he is one of the few non-stun Intelligence heroes to see competitive play. Zeus is not too complex of a hero: He has insane burst damage early game, with great scaling lategame thanks to Static Field, and a global nuke that is perhaps one of the most annoying skills in all of DotA.

Zeus the Lord of Olympia

Once a deity of unfathomable might, Zeus reluctantly sacrificed his much relished immortality in exchange for the chance to crush the sinister armies of the unholy undead. As his soul crossed into the mortal plane, his omnipotent powers withered greatly, yet not nearly enough to quell this destructive Thunder God's resolve for justice. With sheer precision, he cleanses through the enemy ranks with an impressive mastery of electrical discharge, smiting the fool hardy with formidable bolts of lightning from the heavens above. Ever vigilant in his relentless assault, the Scourge cowers in fear of incurring the fearsome wrath of the Lord of Olympia.

Strenght: 19 + 1.8
Agility: 15 + 1.7
Intelligence: 20 + 2.7

Base Damage: 41 - 49
Base Armor: 2.1
Movespeed: 295
Attack Range: 350
Sight Range: 1800 / 800

Hero Abilities

Arc Lightning
Hurls a bolt of arcing energy that laces through many nearby enemy units.

Level 1 - Arcs 5 times, deals 85 damage.
Level 2 - Arcs 7 times, deals 100 damage.
Level 3 - Arcs 9 times, deals 115 damage.
Level 4 - Arcs 15 times, deals 130 damage.

Cooldown: 2 seconds.Manacost: 65/72/79/86
Cast range 700, 500 AoE

A great skill for finishing off creeps, harassing and controlling a lane. With static field the damage it does is highly significant.

Lightning Bolt
Summons a bolt of lightning from the heavens to strike a target enemy.

Level 1 - Deals 100 damage.
Level 2 - Deals 175 damage.
Level 3 - Deals 275 damage.
Level 4 - Deals 350 damage.

Cooldown: 7 seconds.
Manacost: 75/95/115/135

• Gives true sight within 900 range.
• Reveals the surrounding area (1000 and 750 range on day and night, respectively) for 3 seconds.
• Posseses a mini-stun, which allows Zeus to interrupt channeling spells and items with this ability.

A very powerful single-target nuke that not only does 350 damage at level 4, but also gives true sight.

Static Field (Passive)
Whenever Zeus casts a spell, he shocks all nearby enemy heroes for a percentage of their current hit points as damage.
Affects an area of effect of 800.

Level 1 - Shocks for 5% of current hit points.
Level 2 - Shocks for 7% of current hit points.
Level 3 - Shocks for 9% of current hit points.
Level 4 - Shocks for 11% of current hit points.

• The damage from Static Field is dealt before the damage from the used spell.
• Using items does not trigger Static Field.

This skill enables Zeus's spells to effectively scale lategame since it does a percentage of HP.

Thundergod's Wrath
Strikes down all enemy heroes with a bolt of lightning.

Level 1 - Deals 210 (335) damage.
Level 2 - Deals 335 (460) damage.
Level 3 - Deals 460 (570) damage.

Cooldown: 120 seconds.
Manacost: 225/325/450

A global nuke that is extremely useful for comboing, finishing off heroes, granting vision, and in team battles, it adds effective "AoE".
• Reveals the surrounding area (1000 and 750 range on day and night, respectively) for 3 seconds.
• Gives true sight 900 range around each affected target for 3 seconds.
• If a target is invisible it will get revealed (both vision and true sight) but not damaged.
• Can be improved by Aghanim's Scepter

Skill Build

Level 1 - Arc Lightning
Level 2 - Static Field
Level 3-5 - Lightning Bolt
Level 6 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 7 - Lightning Bolt
Level 8-10 - Static Field
Level 11 - Thundergod's Wrath
Level 12-15 - Attribute Bonuses/Arc Lightning
Level 16 - Thundergod's Wrath

Justification
Bolt and Wrath are maxed as soon as possible since they are his most powerful spells, and static is gotten afterwards to add multiple-target damage during team fights. Some people max Arc before 23-25 but it is actually not always good to max arc because you can only re-cast arc lightning when the first one is done 'bouncing' and since level 4 hits 15 targets, the cooldown is often over before the lightning finishes bouncing. Since Dota 6.60 you can cast Arc as soon as the cooldown finished, so now it's worth to level up arc. In rare occasions sometimes you might want to go Stats/Bolt/Bolt/Stats/Bolt/Ult/Bolt/static/arc/static/etc - I'll explain that more later in soloing.

Item Build

Start Items

4 branches + 3 clarities + tangoes

Core Items

Nulls/Bracers: I started getting 3 nulls instead of arcane ring when Nerubian Assassin was popular. I feel that maximum hp / mana is very important on fragile int heroes: Feel free to make bracers instead.

Point Booster: Since a lot of battles are 2v2 3v3 or whatever from full health to death, mass hp is the most important factor for survival. Point Booster provides great hp/mana for its cost.

Bottle: Enables you to control the lane, have regen, and if you are soloing mid, collecting runes is very essential to your game.

Luxury Items

Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse: Lategame, having a guinsoo will work wonders for your team - great stats, imba range, and mana regen, and of course hex is a priceless ability.

Boots of Travel: It is a standard choice on Zeus for mobility and movespeed.

Other Items

Arcane Ring: You dont see many people going for mana regen or arcane because those only help with the laning phase and since zeus is such a glass cannon, he is often focused first.

Other Lategame Items: If you farm more than a guinsoo etc., you are probably farming too much (taking away from carries) or not fighting enough, or both. Zeus is still very potent late game, but reserve the farm for heroes on your team who are more item dependent.

Playing Zeus

Early Game: For starters, its 4 branches + 3 clarities + tangoes. Since I tend to solo middle when I play Zeus, I rush bottle to get the quick lane advantage. Usually my build is 3 nulls, boots, tp scrolls, and bottle.

Attack Animation: His 'wind-up' (frontswing) is very long, but you can use that to your advantage to 's- cancel your attack and out-lasthit your opponent. Many players rely on Arc Lightning too much.

Lane Control: Arc pushes the lane and is also dependent on clarity potions, but pushing the lane also gives you free time to check the runes, so you have to weigh both choices. Both Arc and Bolt have a range of 700, enabling you to stay out of danger when casting

Strong Enemies: Against a good laner, Bolt/Stats build is needed sometimes against Shadow Fiend or Silencer. It's important to get early last hits against SF, and stats helps with both allied/denied units (obviously, Arc only works for offensive purposes). When dealing with a really problematic hero like Broodmother, make sure you keep a tp scroll on you at level 6 and definitely go Arc. Try to rune whore it with bottle while keeping sentries up (from teammates) and you should do ok. Go gank the side lanes

Oh, maybe try out the stats/bolt build a few times so you can work on last hitting with zeus

The 5 MYM|Merlini Golden Rules

1. Always Lightning Bolt before Arc
It may seem better to arc before lightning to get maximum effect from static field but if you arc first you may lose your opponent in the fog

2. Always ALWAYS watch your positioning
Lightning bolt has a hell of a long range, Thundergod's Wrath has infinite range, and Arc has pretty damn long range too, so there is almost no reason to be 'up close and personal' in battle unless you are chasing down heroes.

3. Wrath for Vision
When trying to kill low hp heroes (low, but not low enough for wrath only) in hard to navigate areas (e.g. below sentinel bottom right tower), use wrath to gain vision of your enemy so you can bolt them to death.

4. Share control with your allies
Communicating to a teammate to do something is always much slower than doing it yourself

5. Abuse Bolt Range
Try to ninja that extra bolt in before team fights actually start - it has ridiculous range and helps in battles way more than you think

Zeus Video

Alright, somebody pointed me out to some of the more constructive criticisms in the thread and I''ll try to expound on some of the finer points of Zeus. Some people may say that I'm "holding something back" in my description of how to play the Lord of Olympia; however, I feel that this is more of a reference to my personal playstyle. There are many different ways to play Zeus and I don't want to say that one particular style is better than another. Some games you gank a lot because the other team has a lot of late game, you have good ganking heroes, and your support player is badass at taking out enemy wards. Some games you have to settle for farming for the first 15-20 minutes because your opponents have vision of the whole entire map or you have better late game and are 'turtling' until late game. Because a lot of the playstyle depends on the exact situation of the game, I choose not to explain the intricacies of play that may change from game to game.

Zeus only has 3 nukes. He is not a very difficult hero to play per se. How difficult can a hero be if they don't have any 'difficult to use' spells (Earthshaker's Fissure, Meepo's chain netting/poofing)? Some people use this same argument to relegate Skeleton King to a 'noob hero'. After all, he only has 1 activated skill (3 passives!?!?). But of course, it is easy to tell the difference between an experienced Skeleton King from a first-timer. Things to note include how aggressive the player is, the timing of the actual stun (are his teammates close?), target of the stun, target of attack, map awareness, etc. But these are things that come with many many games played, not something that can easily be taught in a guide. However, maybe there are some 'skilled maneuvers' that can be taught in a guide, and I'll try to the best of my ability.

1. Lightning bolt has a very short mini-stun. Some uses are obvious - canceling tp's, canceling long channeled spells (Black Hole, Shackle...). Others are less obvious. Canceling blink animation of QoP. Interrupting the delicate timing of Earthshaker's Blink Echo, Fissure, Enchant Totem combo. Canceling 1 of your opponent's attacks. The last one may seem ridiculous, who cares about just one attack? My argument is that, in the solo lane, everything matters. One gank, one extra attack thrown in, can upset the balance in one person's favor. Use the mini-stun to maximum effectiveness!

2. Zeus is one of the rare heroes that can 'see' an opponent in a fight without the opponent seeing Zeus. Other heroes that can do this are Bloodseeker, Alchemist, etc. When you bring a fight to a place heavily obscured by fog, Zeus has a huge advantage if you can get a Lightning Bolt or Wrath off. You can cast spells/attack normally (as can your allies) while your enemy is still searching for you in the fog. It's like creating your own hill. I abuse this aspect of Zeus more than anybody I think, and this can dramatically improve your Zeus play.

3. Going along with the first point, Zeus only has one way to cancel tp's. This can be an issue when you are ganking heroes with relatively high hp left because an enemy needs to feel 'threatened' in order to tp. Typically you start off a gank with a Lightning Bolt / Arc Lightning combo, then recast each spell when you can and Wrath if needed. A skilled opponent will just tp after your first Lightning Bolt...then you are shit out of luck because of the 7 second cooldown. If you save bolt for his tp, then he'll just run away (and he surely won't die from Arc Lightning spam). Sometimes forcing an opponent to tp out is almost as good as killing them. They lose out on a lot of farm and they won't be able to tp assist their teammates for another 60 seconds. But if you really want to kill somebody and you think that they will tp out safely, you could actually start off with Wrath then arc, to 'fake' your opponent out into thinking that you bolted them first (the animation is the same), then bolt when they tp. There is no mini-stun on Wrath, but if your enemy is so observant that he notices that, then he probably deserves to survive anyways. Most people just think, "Oh fuck, Zeus!" and run away panicking

Q&A / Comments

Why not get level 2 Arc against dual lanes?

Getting Level 2 Arc means that you have to sacrifice a level of Lightning Bolt or a level of Static Field before level 8 (which is a big deal). I advise just waiting until some creeps die so that Arc will hit all 5 targets instead of leveling up Arc in this case.

Why not get Arc/Bolt/Bolt/Static/Bolt instead of Arc/Static/Bolt/Bolt/Bolt?

If you start spamming at level 3 (when the build is actually different), then mathcrafting it...

It's 65 mana for 85 damage + 5% of Current HP (~25 hp) + almost a guaranteed creep. 95 mana for 175 damage. I value the former choice over the latter. And I don't usually spam bolt until level 5 anyways unless I'm at full mana (rare) or I think I can get a kill. Another argument for static at level 2.

How is Eul's for Zeus?

I view Eul has an item well suited for very few heroes. The heroes that I like to get it on are Lion and maybe Rhasta. I think that there are much better item choices for intel heroes. If you are looking for survivability, the same gold (~3200 for Eul's) can get you an Ulti Orb and Point Booster for huge stats gain. Eul's offers no strength or hp, so if you get it on Zeus, you are a very fragile int hero with just Cyclone (not much) as an escape mechanism. I view the almost 400 hp given by the PB/Ulti Orb combo far more valuable because it will help you survive chain stuns and it allows "much more room for error" so to speak. Sometimes you have to be really quick on the Cyclone to survive while straight up HP will get you through a lot of situations. Also, Sheep is unquestionably far superior to Cyclone (although it costs almost twice as much), and since Zeus probably won't be getting that many items, working ultimately towards a Guinsoo will serve you far better than a Eul's in my opinion. The comparison of mana regen is almost nonexistent - if you are in dire need of regen, you can get an early Void Stone that will help towards your Scythe as well. Eul's components are much easier to farm; however, if you have trouble farming, I would just suggest getting 4 bracers/nulls and tp scrolls and learn how to fight without a huge item advantage. There are certainly other opinions on this matter, but I would almost always not even consider getting a Eul's on Zeus.

Anyone else get stuck in no man's land after you get your point booster? It's hard to farm all the way to Guinsoo when you know that the other heroes should be farming instead. Any advice for this mid game stale period?

Guinsoo is a 'nice' item to have, but by no means is it necessary. You will inevitably die a lot as Zeus because you wreak so much havoc in team fights. I often find myself with just 2 Nulls, Point Booster, Bottle, TP scroll, and Boots (around 3400 gold total). But sometimes I'll get lucky and I'm able to switch out boots & tp scroll for BoTs and a branch or something (~ 2200 gold). And if I manage to get a sick nasty Godlike streak or get lucky with the kills, I "might" have my Guinsoo's (~5700). The sheep stick costs more than everything else in your inventory COMBINED, so obviously don't expect to get it every game. In competitive games, I'll probably get my Guinsoo once every 6/7 games, and on top of that, the game is usually 'decided' before I finish my Guinsoo - it's just the icing on top of the cake. But really, Zeus doesn't need items outside of the core build.

About your first golden rule, doesn't that only apply when your target is running? During big team fights (Or if you gank someone from behind, so there is no chance he will run into the fog) isn't it better to get Arc off first to get the max out of Static Field?

I believe that starting off with Lightning Bolt is still better because in team fights, it is imperative to have as much vision as possible. Having vision a third of a second earlier (or however long it takes you in between chain casting two spells + cast animation times) of vision may be crucial because of an ES hiding in the fog or something else relevant to the opponent's positioning. If you see something like that or any other Blink initiator just waiting to engage, you can use your ult and prevent them from blinking. This is HUGE advantage in battle compared to the meager benefits from casting arc before bolt (maybe 30 damage?) and preventing the initiator from blinking can be the main deciding factor of a team fight if your team follows through after you cast Wrath. This is just one scenario but my point is that knowing your opponent's position is far, far more important (to you and to your team) than the damage increase from casting arc before bolt.

Is orchid good on him for silence or no?

JustinKong puts it quite well: He does not benefit from the damage, or get any stats, and hex is a better effect overall, so while Orchid is good, Guinsoo is simply better.
***But regarding any other Tier 3/4 item suggestion, chow again also states it better than I can: The problem with other items such as scepter, refresher, orchid, bloodstone, shiva on zeus is that they are all good items but pales in comparison with guinsoo, zeus is an int hero without a stun/disable. therefore hex is a virtual necessity on him.

If you are having a hard time and can't farm and get owned a lot, would you consider getting Strength treads?

Yes, if you already filled up on your other slots (3 bracers + tp + boots + PB/Bottle) and you don't see yourself farming travels ever (your gold amount isn't rising above 700-800), then I would shoot for Strength treads and just keep my inventory at that, buying the occasional TP scroll and maybe even wards if you have a little extra money. Consider those your end game items and don't even bother farming for gold anymore. Let your teammates carry you!

Is point booster really worth it for that 1200 gold? Aren't bracers better? And should you be working on Guinsoo instead of buying an item that you're not gonna turn into anything?

Point booster gives 200 hp and only takes 1 slot. 2x Bracers cost slightly less and give 228 hp...so why not just get 2 bracers? My reasoning is that Point Booster only takes 1 slot (so effectively your 'paying' 200 gold for a slot - a bargain!) AND it gives more mana. If you don't understand this reasoning, think about how much you would pay to have SEVEN item slots instead of 6 (more than 200, right?). The 3 Bracer/Null and Point Booster build gives you maximum HP (and mana) for the amount of available slots you have. The only upside to bracers is that they come in pieces. Also, the argument that you aren't turning Point Booster into anything doesn't really work because you aren't turning your bracers into anything later, now are you

Why max Static Field at levels 8-10? Isn't the damage negligible?

You get Static Field instead of stats because a lot of team fights happen around those levels (9-13 let's say) and it is imperative that you have as much 'AoE' as possible so you can do maximum amounts of damage in team fights. It's kind of like why some people get Orb/Stats on Obsidian instead of Astral. Astral is way better early game (like stats on Zeus instead of Static), but the Orb/Stats build is superior after 15 minutes or so (like maxing Static on Zeus).

Are Phase Boots a good item choice for Zeus?

This guide was made before the invention of Phase Boots. I would definitely say that Phase Boots is a core item if you are in a dual lane with Zeus (provides much needed MS/armor and the 'Phase' Ability is very handy), while getting Phase Boots is situational if you are soloing. Just take a look at your team. If there are gankers on your team with BoT (such as Earthshaker, Tinker, etc.) then you should more than likely get BoTs as well to assist them in ganking. That is the only time I would say to 'definitely' get BoT over Phase Boots, and again, that is only if you are soloing and farming rather well. Otherwise, the choice is up to you. But if you get Phase Boots in 100% of your games, nobody is going to criticize your item selection. Just be at the right place at the right time, which is much easier said than done.

If you haven't know, MYM|Merlini is the most famous Dota Zeus player in the world. What do you think about this guide?

Silencer Guide, Build & Strategy - Nortrom Guide (Dota 6.61 Update)

2012-02-14T08:03:00.007-08:00

Nortrom the Silencer Guide, Build & Strategy. Silencer is having another buff on Dota 6.61. While Nerubian Weaver got a skill remake, Nortrom has a change on his first skill and a buff on his Last Word aura. Now, every enemy heroes that dies within his aura range (950 AoE), will give him a permanent +1 intelligence. Wow! It's pretty cool since usually we must got the kill to do so. The first skill changes, Curse of the Silent also tempted me to level up it. Before, CotS is a skill that never taken since it halt Silencer damage. Well, let's check out the new skills and plan a new build for Nortrom the Silencer.

Hailing from the magical community of Quel'Thalas, Nortrom is one of the strongest Elven warriors defending the integrity of the lands. Mastering the ancient art of glaive-throwing, and combining it with the volatile nature of the Blood Elves' arcane magic, he is able to disrupt the magical energies in his enemies. By binding his magical powers to his glaive, he is able to cause damage beyond devastation, gaining intelligence from every kill. Concentrating all his energies, he can cause chaos within his enemies' magical pools, making them unable to cast spells. He is determined to fend off the Scourge and their demon magic until he has breathed his last.

Strength 17 + 1.7
Agility 16 + 2.1
Intelligence 21 + 2.5

Affiliation: Sentinel
Base Damage: 39 - 61
Base Armor: 1.3
Movespeed: 290
Attack Range: 600
Sight Range: 1800 / 800

Curse of the Silent
Afflicts enemies with the Curse of the Silent. The target will lose hp and mana per second until it casts a spell.

Reduce 50 HP and 25 Mana for 2/4/6/8 seconds
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Manacost: 105/115/125/135
700 casting range and 350 AoE

• It will be removed when the target dies or begins the effect of a spell.

Glaives of Wisdom
Nortrom's Glaives are enchanted by his experience in magic. Dealing extra damage based on his Intelligence.

Deals 15%/30%/45%/60% of your intelligence in bonus damage
Cooldown: 3/2/1/0 seconds
600 casting range

• Damage type: pure

Last Word (Passive/Aura)
Causes any unit under the effect of this aura to become silenced after it finishes casting a spell.

Silences unit if it casts anything for 0.75/1.5/2.25/3 seconds

• The aura will be disabled when Nortrom is silenced.
• Channeling skills will activate this even if they are canceled.
• Silencer will permanently steal 1 Intelligence from any enemy hero that dies within 950 range.

Global Silence (ultimate)
Stops all enemies on the map from casting spells.

Duration: 3/4/5 seconds
Cooldown: 160 seconds
Manacost: 250/350/450

• This skill works on invisible units.
• Silence works on magic immune units.

Nortrom the Silencer Skills Build

Level 1 - Curse of the Silent
Level 2 - Glaives of Wisdom/Last Word
Level 3 - Curse of the Silent
Level 4 - Last Word/Glaives of Wisdom
Level 5 - Curse of the Silent
Level 6 - Global Silence
Level 7 - Last Word
Level 8 - Last Word
Level 9 - Last Word
Level 10 - Glaives of Wisdom
Level 11 - Global Silence
Level 12 - Glaives of Wisdom
Level 13 - Glaives of Wisdom
Level 14 - Curse of the Silent
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Global Silence
Level 17 - 25 - Stats

Justification

Curse of the Silent is taking first as it will help you drain your enemies mana and will save you from enemies spells.

If you're laning against someone that can easily couter cots you might want to skip it (zeus, storm), if you're laning against someone that can hardly cancel it (viper, leo) you can go ahead and max it.

The skill build is focused on CotS + Lastword. CotS is much stronger compared to your Glaives, either in lane or in ganks. CotS is not as easily counterable as most makes it to be, it is common sense to cast it after your opponent had casted their spell. CotS will deal major dmg due to:
1) opponent spell on cd
2) they have no mana to cast a spell (CotS drains mana, and hero starts with pitiful mana pool)
3) casting it while in a chase

After you steal sufficient Int, you can pile on the hurt with Glaives. It's more important to control your lane and get as many free Int from enemy deaths earlier now.

Nortrom the Silencer Items Build

Starting Items

+
Nortrom is very fragile, so we get the Bracer parts early to boost his HP. If you're in the side lane (which i recommend), get the Magic Stick as soon as possible. If you use CotS and your enemies cast their spells, you will got some free charges for your stick ;)

Core Items

The new Silencer build should capitalize on his survivability. Put it this way. The longer he survives in a battle:
1) the longer his aura can disrupt opposing's combo
2) the better the chance he can steal enemy's int and add it to his own
3) the longer he can DPSAnd this core is for survivability.

Phase Boots will help you escape from gank and chasing while Meka will support your team. Bracers is needed as your HP is low and you're not getting stats. Void Stone for mana regen which can be turned into either Eul's or Guinsoo.

Luxury Items

OR + +

If you farm poorly, convert your Void Stone into Eul's. But if you got a lot of money, get sheep stick instead. After get either Eul's or Guinsoo , start aiming for Heart of Tarrasque and Shiva's Guards component.

Silencer Strategy

Start with the above items and pick top/bottom lane with a partner. The new Silencer is more fit on dual lane. Get CotS and start casting it on your enemies since level 1. It will screw your enemies more than you thought. Cast it especially to low mana stunner like Sven or SK. And don't forget, it's area spells, aim to get 2 target at once if possible.

Get Last Word on level 2 if you feel you can get early kill. If you're not sure, get Glaives instead for free creep aggro harass. Get Magic Stick as soon as possible, it work perfectly with your CotS. Keep playing cool and cast CotS on enemies stunner.

At the middle game, start ganking and helps your friend. You're know getting free Int if the enemies died within your range. Maximize this! Don't forget that your enemies will suffer from the permanent -1 Int.

When it come to team clash, maintain your distance. Hide behind your tanker but still keep your Last Word aura in range. Cast CotS on low pool mana hero with deadly spells if you have the chance. Keep your self safe while throwing your Glaives. Use Global Silence in the right time. It can cancel channeling spells like Epicenter and Blackhole. In the opposite, if you have a friend with channeling spells, you can make a great combo. As soon as they started the channeling spells, use Global Silence.

Overall, DPS Silencer was from 6.48b. A lot have changed since then. Silencer just doesn't fit in the DPS carry field anymore, other carry heroes had been discovered and new heroes with imba stats, such that Glaives + Stats pales in comparison. To be picked in the new version, Silencer has to play an unique role that no others can do, and this capitalize on all out support with Last Word.

What do you think of the new Silencer? Honestly, he is one of my favourite hero. I hope with this changes, he is more viable on the competitive game. Well, share your build here. Do you keep the old way, skip CotS and going to stats, or leveling CotS to get some kills? Share your thought here ;)