windrunner I.

Quick Play Guide

Walkout Items

Chik: Total Cost - 599 Gold.

Spam: Total Cost - 584 or 574 Gold.

Stats: Total Cost - 581 Gold.

RoB: Total Cost - 584 Gold.

Skill Build
1. Windrunner 2. Powershot 3. Powershot 4. Shackleshot/Windrunner 5. Powershot 6. Shackleshot 7. Powershot 8. Shackleshot 9. Shackleshot 10. Focus Fire 11. Focus Fire 12. Windrunner/Shackleshot 13. Windrunner 14. Windrunner 15. Stats 16. Focus Fire

Items

Please note that these are simply a typical Hybrid skill/item build and are not conducive to all games.

Early Items

The Toolbox

Typical Item Sets

This is a typical DPS build. In this build, Force Staff is usually gotten first to get some extra mobility. Linken's is usually the next major thing to build followed by Helm of the Dominator; you can build these in opposite order. BKB is a good followup so that you can make sure to do lots of right click damage. Then, save for a Rapier. When your team is ready for a rax push, buy it at that point. Don't buy it early and lose it, or you'll ruin the surprise .

When you're game's not going well, you'll end up poor. A Jango is a great way to pick up a fat amount of stats. The Force Staff provides you with needed damage and nifty utility to keep up the fight. The Crystalys is a cheap way to give you a 30% boost in your overall damage.

This item set is geared for a supportive Windrunner. If you're a support, you won't have a great deal of farm, so your gold will be a bit limited. You should aim for some lower tier utility items that also complement your natural abilities. Mekanzm is great for prolonging team fights, Force Staff keeps your damage up to par and provides good utility if you have some imagination and timing. The Medallion is a really cheap way to get some mana regen and ramp up some damage indirectly. The Null Talisman expands your mana pool and provides some extra padding on your HP.

My typical gameplay lends me towards this item set. Gives you great mobility, great abilities for teamfights, plenty of damage, and a decent amount of survivability. In my opinion, a good all rounder, but definitely not the best. I almost never finish all these items in a game.

One of the biggest questions I've had is, "What does a maxed out Windrunner look like?" Quite honestly, it is very dependent on the game you're playing, and that was the reason that I didn't include a complete item set previously. So, I give this example, but I give it with context. I'm in a very AoE heavy lineup (Windrunner, Tide, Queen of Pain, Jakiro, and Phantom Lancer) playing against a very powerful anti-push team (Anti-Mage, Earthshaker, CM, Silencer, Puck). The Boots of Travel gave me the ability to get into position from anywhere, and they are always a great item for late game. The Aghanims gave me the ability to use my Focus Fire twice during most of our teamfights; I usually used it on a hero followed by a building. I had to get an Orchid to deal with Anti-Mage. Since we were low on stuns, I ended up picking up a Guinsoo as well. Diffusal Blade was the money for shutting down several of their heroes; I was usually able to power down Anti-Mage or Earthshaker before they could do much in a teamfight. Necronomicon was a pretty good item for us since 4 of us ended up buying it.

There was a funny moment where ES blinked into us to ult right as all of us used our Necronomicons and died to the 4 Blue Minions exploding on him!

Nortrom - The Silencer

1. Curse Build 1.Glaive 2.Curse 3.Curse 4.Last Word 5.Curse 6.Global Silence 7.Curse 8.Glaive 9.Glaive 10.Glaive 11.Global Silence 12.Last Word 13.Last Word 14.Last Word 15.Stats 16.Global Silence 17.Stats ... 2. "Common Build" 1.Glaive 2.Stats/Last Word 3.Glaive 4.Stats/Last Word 5.Glaive 6.Global Silence 7.Glaive 8.Last Word 9.Last Word 10.Last Word 11.Global Silence 12.Last Word 13.Stats 14.Stats 15.Stats 16.Global Silence 17.Stats ... (Stats before Curse) Item Build (Primary)

Begin with:

2x

(3x if playing common build)

4x

(none with common build)

4x

=>

=>

=>

=>

=>

=>

until =>

=> 3x or

=>

=>

so one of these is our must have:

. Alternative Build (If midgame gets really hard) Begin with:

2x

(3x if playing common build)

4x

(none with common build)

4x

=>

=>

=>

=> 2x

,2x

=> 2x

=>

=>

=>

=> 3x

Situational Items: Certain situations may call for the following items to interrupt the core build: Black King Bar:

The Back King Bar is a good way to go if the enemy team has a lot of intelligence heros or disable and you are being focused by them exclusively. You will stay alive much easier with this item, and a Heart of Terrasque later can give you a greater amount of hp to supplement such focusing. Note: I recommend this if you have an enemy rikimaru in your game.

Necronomicon:

Necronomicon also fits very fine with Nortrom. There is a good intelligence and Strength buff, combined with some powerfull summons, which also can detect invisibility, so if your team needs a weapon against invis, feel free to get Necronomicon.

Mekansm:

"Mek" is many peoples choice after they have their Power Treads. You may get it before hex, but I personally prefer to get the survivability via hex as fast as possible. Nevertheless, its definetly a good item on a support DPSer like Nortrom.

Force Staff:

The Forcestaff has good stats (damage and attackspeed) and gives you the ability to push a unit 500 units into the direction it is facing (even yourself). Use this to ether escape, or pushing yourself into enemys direction if you are chasing him.

----------------------------------------------------------------Luxury Items: On the off chance that you have finished the core build and the game isnt nearly over, these additional items can be purchased corresponding with the situation and personal preference. What we need mostly into the late endgame is more survivability, as our damage is plenty high (remember that we have Orchids/Shivas and Hex already). So items of our choice should be:

Shiva's Guard

Shivas Gaurd is one of the best items you can get with Nortrom. It provides you with a heavy additional damage boost, aswell as a very good surviability. The aura reduced the enemys attackspeed by 15% in a 1000yrd Range and the active ability deals 200 damage in a 640yrd range AoE spell which slows the enemy by 40% for 4 sec.

Ghost Scepter:

Ghost Scepter has the ability to transform yourself into a banish state, which stops you from attacking and being attacked for 4 sec, but also increases magic damage dealt to you is increased by 44%. This combined with Global Silence gives you 4 seconds invulnerability. Note: You can attack by manually throwing Glaives in banished form.

Heart of Terrasque:

Also very good choice, if you have problems to stay alive in teambattles. Combined with Shivas, you are able to take lots of damage.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Bad Items

Aghanims Scepter

Although its cheaper in 6.60b it still dosent fit with your ultimate. Additionally the changed reciepe just gives you +10 to all stas and some hp. Thats not enough to be an item of choice.

Refresher Orb:

At this point in the game, you already have: high damage and good mana regen , so the refresh ability just isnt worth 5300 gold. Yes, you can Global Silence two times, but its just not worth it, there are better items out there for the gold. It also dosent fit with our goal to stay alive as long as possible and use Last Word to

our advantage.

Bloodstone:

We dont benefit that much from bloodstone, because we already have enough mana and regen. So the 450 HP of tankiness we get from bloodstone isn't really worth 5050 gold. Skywrath Mage Skills

Starting

Core

Luxury

Situational

Rejected

Goblin Techies
1. Land Mine 2. Suicide Squad, AttacK! 3. Land Mine 4. Stasis Trap 5. Land Mine 6. Remote Mines 7. Land Mine 8. Stasis Trap 9. Stasis Trap 10. Stasis Trap 11. Remote Mines 12-15. Stats 16. Remote Mines 17-22. Stats 23. Suicide Squad, AttacK! 24. Suicide Squad, AttacK! 25. Suicide Squad, AttacK! 2. 1. Stasis Trap 2. Suicide Squad, AttacK! 3. Land Mine 4. Stasis Trap 5. Stasis Trap 6. Remote Mines 7. Stasis Trap 8. Land Mine 9. Suicide Squad, AttacK! 10. Suicide Squad, AttacK! 11. Remote Mines 12. Suicide Squad, AttacK! 13. Land Mine 14. Land Mine 15. Stats 16. Remote Mines 17-25. Stats 3. 1. Land Mine 2. Suicide Squad, AttacK! 3. Suicide Squad, AttacK! 4. Land Mine 5.mSuicide Squad, AttacK! 6. Remote Mines 7. Suicide Squad, AttacK! 8. Land Mine 9. Land Mine 10. Stasis Trap 11. Remote Mines 12. Stasis Trap 13. Stasis Trap 14. Stasis Trap

15. Stats 16. Remote Mines 17-25. Stats

Starting Items:

You need a TP scroll to place as many mines as possible before the creeps reach the lane. You buy two branches for the boost in stats and Clarity Potions with the rest of the gold. One clarity gives 100 mana which is about 1 Land Mine. So you will be able to place around 9-11 Land Mines. You could get Tangos instead of the branches, or buy less Clarity Potions, but everything has its ups and downs. (Very) Early Game:

Get a Sobi Mask in the beginning so you can regen some mana. Sometimes you have enough gold (first-blood) to buy the Sobi Mask and the Ring of Regeneration, but I would always take the mana regen first. The recipe costs just a few gold so that should be not taking too long. Soul Ring should be get as first item because not a single item in the game can match its mana regen of 6 mana/sec. Early-Mid Game:

Your next goal should be the Energy Booster (or Boots) depending on the state of the game. By dropping the Energy Booster before you use the Soul Ring you will gain more mana. With your Arcane Boots and Soul Ring you got a mana regeneration of around 9 mana per second, which is a lot. Mid-Late Game (Aghanim vs Force Staff):

A Point Booster is always useful and can give you a lot of mana. Aghanims is a real beast in team fights, because you can place your Remote Mines from a distance of 700. So you can place them from a save position. But it only works when you push or you have a lot of team fights. If the enemy pushes a lot you should rather get Force Staff:

Its very useful against Gem and Sentry Wards, and you can easily kill heroes that dont want to step on your Remote Mines, but dont want to back either. It gives mana and its cheap, which is quite good for mid-game, but its not a late-game item.

Core:

Clarity:

Clarity Potions give you 100 mana in 30sec (3,3 mana per second). In early game your Land Mines cost 125-150 mana and have a CD of 25-20 sec. So its a very good item for Techies; 1 Clarity Potion is 1 Land Mine.

Soul Ring:

Soul Ring is a the perfect item for Techies. You get 150 Mana every 25 seconds (6 mana per second), which is a lot of mana. It also means that you can place at least one Land Mine every 25 seconds. Arcane Boots

Arcane Boots gives you a lot of mana and some mana regeneration. Combined with your Soul Ring you will have almost endless mana. After you get Soul Ring and Arcane Boots you actually got all items you need till late game. The rest is optional and luxury. Force Staff:

Force staff seems better than it actually is. You can push your enemies into the mines, but as long as they dont have Gem you should be able to kill them without it. Force Staff is just a Gem and Sentry Ward counter, hence inferior to Aghanim's. Aghanims:

Techies Scepter- oh wait. This item gives you mana, health and it also improves your ultimate. Your Remote Mines will have a higher casting range and you can actually save some mana because the Damage/Mana ratio is higher (0,5 more damage per mana).

Luxury:

Shiva's Guard:

Shiva's Guard gives you a lot of mana and an AoE nuke with slow (and lag), which generally helps your team in fights. This item is recommended if you lack some physical survivability and/or your team needs an AoE slow/nuke. The downside of Shivas Guard is that it requires you to save 2700 gold and to be close to your enemy, which is bad because you are still weak

to nukes. Orchid Malevolence:

Orchid is a possibility but not really good. The build up is cheap and easy, but you don't have gold problems and other items are way more useful (for example: Guinsoo or Euls). An early rush is also very bad, because it gives you no survivability at all. Eye of Skadi:

At first you might wonder why Techies would/should get Eye of Skadi, but it is really good if you are chasing enemies a lot. Because of your high attack range you can use it very well. Still I would only buy it after your core items and maybe 1-2 luxury items. Also you shouldn't forget that it gives good stats as well. Necronomicon:

Necronomicon is a really good team clash item. You can mana drain and damage your opponents with the summons and you can counter wards and invisible enemies who try to sneak around your mines. The life and mana is very nice and the build up is quite easy. Eul's:

It has a very cheap build up and gives you +25 movement speed which closes the ms gap between you and other heroes. The cyclone ability can be really useful for your team and you can land Stasis Traps and other mines easier with it. Also note that you can block stuns/attacks by using it on yourself. Guinsoo:

Guinsoo is a very good item on every intelligence hero and Techies is no exception. It gives you mana and mana regeneration, plus a disable for your team. If you have the money you should definitely go for this item. Bloodstone:

Bloodstone, once on my Rejected list, now made its way up here. You start with 5 charges, which is quite a lot of mana regen. Its not core and should only be bought after Aghanims or Force Staff, but its the only item which can really give you unlimited mana. If you manage to get ~10 charges you can actually sell your Soul Ring/Arcane Boots and make some place in your inventory. Rejected:

Refresher Orb:

All your skills have a decent cooldown, so a Refresher Orb is not needed. Though you actually could get one for fun, because it would make a 18 seconds stun possible. Dagon:

Dagon is not really a bad item, but way worse than other alternatives. Its just an item that consumes needed mana. Also people tend to kill-steal with Dagon, which is counterproductive because your carry should get the kills. Lothar's & Dagger:

Good for initiation, but in my opinion they just take away inventory place and make you suicide for no reason. You have Force Staff, which should be enough for this purpose. Linken's Sphere & BKB:

Goblin Techies is not a tank hero. You usually stand back and place your mines, so you dont need those items. DPS Items:

You have low agility and low base damage. You cant carry with physical dps items.
Pugna

Skill and Item Build Options

Skill Build: Depending on your opponents you may choose to change this, but I find this is most effective: 1 - Nether Blast 2 - Nether Ward/Decrepify 3 - Nether Blast 4 - Nether Ward 5 - Nether Blast 6 - Life Drain 7 - Nether Blast 8 - Nether Ward 9 - Nether Ward 10 - Decrepify/Nether Ward 11 - Life Drain 12 - Decrepify 13 - Decrepify 14 - Decrepify 15 - Stat Boost 16 - Life Drain

Nether Blast is always maxed first, I don't think anyone will have any issues with that. However, choosing between Nether Ward and Decrepify is less obvious. I always prioritize Nether Ward because it shines in early and mid game battles when spell damage is at its peak strength. Decrepify is a very strong counter to physical damage, which of course makes more sense in late game. Also, you only need to throw in 1 level of Decrepify and you can still coordinate with your team to amplify their nukes.

Starting items: Pugna is a very versatile hero and these item builds are by no means gospel, they are simply a guide. Use your initiative to make item choices in-game, depending on your opponents and the situation.

Option 1 - Solo Pugna

Pugna is a strong ranged solo and this item set is also easily incorporated into one of his later items - Mekansm.

Option 2 - Dual-Lane Pugna

This is a pretty self-explanatory item set, of course the most important item is the chicken. When you are playing dual-lane Pugna you need to be responsible for supporting your team. The only time you wouldn't buy chicken is if you were buying the team's first set of wards instead.

Option 3 - Solo Pugna in the 'Danger Lane'

Soloing Pugna in the long 'Danger Lane' is a more advanced tactic, I will attempt to find (or create) a recent replay of this technique. (Unfortunately all of MYM|Maelk's danger lane Pugna replays are for an older patch.) With Boots and his natural fast movement speed, Pugna can escape the ganks that are commonly inflicted on this lane. However it requires very sharp map awareness and more submissive hero positioning. Only more experienced players should attempt this strategy.

Mid Game Items: After the initial laning phase there are many items that are intelligent choices for Poogles. Pugna is a natural supporter - he is almost completely item independent so you should focus on stocking up on support items whenever possible:

These are your key support items. Keep a stranglehold on the map with strong

observer warding and kill the enemy obs with sentries. Always have a TP Scroll on you so you can help out in battles. Counter enemy invis heroes with dust and be sure to gank them early as possible when they are more vulnerable. Warding is an integral part of Pugna's game, so if you are unfamiliar with appropriate warding spots, please go here to see Heldarion's Total Warding Guide. In addition to support items, you can use your own judgement to choose between the following initial items:

Mekansm and Basilius are usually top priority unless another teammate chooses to buy these. They are almost essential for pushing towers, which is one of Puglicious' main goals. Pugna's HP and armour is amongst the lowest in DotA, so it is very important to buff him up a bit. This can be achieved in a number of ways - 2 Bracers, a fast Mekansm and/or an early Point Booster are all viable ways to bump up his early survivability. However, don't go too ballistic on Bracers and leave yourself no inventory space for support items.

Late Game Item Choices:

Wow, it's a regular smorgasbord of items... That's basically because Pugna doesntneed items, he can simply choose items that are most suitable to beat his enemies. If they have mass spell damage - Khadgar's Pipe. If they have a huge amount of physical damage - Ghost Scepter. If you need mobility to multi-lane push - Boots of Travel. You get the idea. However, Pugna should push hard enough that his team wins long before he starts considering this pricey list of top tier items. If you spend ages trying to farm up these big items, the enemy carry heroes will become much more of a threat. You should win early as possible when playing Puggs.

Atropos
Skillbuid: 1: Nightmare 2: Brain Sap 3: Brain Sap 4: Stats 5: Brain Sap 6: Fiend's Grip 7: Brain Sap 8-10: Nightmare 11: Fiend's Grip 12-15: Enfeeble 16: Fiend's Grip 17+: Stats Item build: Starting: Core: Extension/Luxury: x2 ( )

Kaldr
Skills Normal build 1. Cold Feet 2. Ice Vortex 3. Cold Feet 4. Ice Vortex 5. Cold Feet 6. Ice Blast 7. Cold Feet 8-9. Ice Vortex 10. Stats 11. Ice Blast 12-15. Chilling Touch 16. Ice Blast 17-25. Stats

Items Starting (or )

Core (or then -> )

Trouble surviving: Optional / Situational

after Nulls

Extensions / Luxuries

Beginning:

(or

Obvious reasons, mana and health and start your Null Talismans / Bracers Core:

(or

then ->

Final builds If you ever reach all those 6 items in a real game Nuke + Disable

DPS + Disable

Support + Disable

Winter Wyvern, Auroth

Skill Build: There are few skill build, depending on situation:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. This is normal build, one level of heal to prevent first blood attempts. One level of Slow to help ganking and killing, then maxing Splinter to deal damage. This is best used in side-lanes, where you could use splinter while chasing, and not rely on creeps to be there for damage.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. This build is used against Solo lane, since you won't have to rely on Splinter to kill enemy, and will have slow instead. One level of heal is a must. Splinter is maxed after Slow for killing potential.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. Early Game:

OR

Mid Game:

Core items:

Arcane boots:

Other boots are simply not good enough for Wyvern. He is constantly ganking, and needs more mana. Later replace these with Boots of Travel.

Urn of Shadows: Gives some much needed health, and free salves. Get it if noone else in team has Urn. Its mana regeneration comes in handy on lane.

Magic Wand: Instant heal is imba. In team battles, charges fill in like mad with all the spells flying around.

Null Talismans: Some stats arent bad. Later can be turned into Dagon.

Lothar's Edge: This hero has escape mechanism, however, he needs positioning and damage as well. Lothar gives him both, and is especially useful after its cost decrease! You can use 150 extra damage to snipe off enemy from 1000 range. You will mostly use it for escape and initiation though, since Arcane Burn lasts only 6 seconds, that will make you vulnerable often.

Guinsoo's Scytle of Vyse: This is very useful item, you can't go wrong with it! Besides, you lack disable, aside from Ultimate, so you should get either this, or Eul.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity: Guinsoo's little brother, but still very useful. Get either this, or Guinsoo every game.

Orchid Malevolence: This item comes in small, cheap components, and is useful against spellcasters, or heroes that have gamebreaking skills. It can also be used to counter blinkers.

Shivas Guard: One of my favorite items ingame. You will one-shot whole pushing wave with Splinter + shiva, and slow enemies even more, so its definitively a must item in late game..

Dagon: Item great in ganking. It loses effectivness later in game, so if you fail to get it by minute 20, focus yourself on getting shiva instead. Never upgrade dagon. 100 extra damage (plus reduced by magic resistance) isn't worth 1350 gold!

Veil of Discord: Very nice item, amplifies damage by Splinter. Get it if your team is composed of spellcasters, and someone already bought Meka.

Mekansm: You should try to rush this item if you are support. If you decide to take semi-carry role though, focus on one of other items.

Khadgars Pipe of Insight: Great against Spellcaster team.

Black King Bar: While i don't recommend getting this item, there are some situations where you should get it. If enemy has heavy disable team, that prevents you from unleashing your potential, this is item for you.

Vanguard: You are tanky already, have heal and tower diving tool, so you don't need this. Get it at your own risk.

Linken Sphere: Against single disabler it can work ok. Gives some nice stats and regen. Get it if you can aford it.

Refreshers Orb: Very powerful item towards end game. This item will provide you with another ultimate, and that means 6 seconds of enemies fighting eachother total! However, as ultimate is hard to land, be sure to think wisely before using refresher, else you waste both its CD and mana.

Blademail: Enemies simply love to focus you, especially after you freeze friend they are attacking. Plus, blademail animation is hardly noticeable on you, so this item could be considered second core.

Mobility is also an important factor. Both Dagger and Force staff are very useful. With dagger you can easily blink, evading stuns, chasing enemies, etc. Force Staff has little less uses (you can't evade stun with it, but you can push self even if you were hit within last 3 seconds), but gives stats, and comes in small pieces. If enemies have invisibility detector heroes, get these instead of Lothar.

Bloodstone and Heart are good survivability items. Get them if you are focused down in team battles. Heart is far better choice though, soulring and arcane cover all your mana problems both early and late game.

Skadi is ultimate item Frost Wyrm can have. It gives additional slow, stats, and makes you beast. However, i advise you to get some items like Shiva and Guinsoo first.

Radiance is useful in combination with slows, cold embrace, however it will be useful only if you get it in first 25 minutes.
Quote: REJECTED ITEMS:

While you CAN semi-carry, you should do it with INT items such as shiva, Guinsoo or Skadi, not direct physical items. You can however get them if you plan on doing imbazilion damage with your 1000 range slow.

You need no orbs. Perhaps Mjolnir could prove useful as you can be tank as well, other than that, nothing.

You got farming spell, and its enough for your needs!

Wasn't implanted yet...