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Axe the Mogul Khan Guide


Mogul Khan the Axe Guide, Build and Strategy. This guide is a guest post. Feel free to comment about the this Axe Guide.

Axe, one of the strongest tanker in Dota Allstars, not to mention his ulti can directly kill the low life hero even with Omniknight ulti effect. I got one friend even say that he is a mad, self-torture hero, I can't agree more.


Mogul Khan - The Axe

Range: 100(Melee) | Move Speed: 290
Primary: STR
Str: 25 + 2.5 | Agi: 20 + 2.2 | Int: 14 + 1.6
Damage: 49-53 | HP: 625 | Mana: 182
HP Regen: 1 | Mana Regen: 0.57
Attack Speed: 1.42 | Armor: 2

In the war of Humans and Orcs that occured long ago many Orcish warriors were corrupted by demonic influence and became tools of blackest darkness. One such warrior was the leader of the Half-Tribe of the Bloodied Axe Clan; Mogul Kahn. Mogul was slain by human Paladins but mysteriously was seen fighting alongside the Scourge around the time Mannoroth started to command the Orcs in the war against Archimonde. The Axe has been revived by demons and uses his reflexes and powerful blows to hunt down and seek out the Sentinels' agile warriors and cut them down to size, even projecting his lust for war onto them.

i. Axe's Skill

Berserker`s Call (E) Mogul Kahn focuses all of his enemies' hatred on him, causing them to attack him at all costs. 300 AoE. Level 1 - Lasts 1.5 seconds, 5 bonus armor. Level 2 - Lasts 2 seconds, 10 bonus armor. Level 3 - Lasts 2.5 seconds, 15 bonus armor. Level 4 - Lasts 3 seconds, 20 bonus armor. Mana Cost: 80/90/100/110 Cooldown: 14 seconds

The only skill that force all enemies around you to attack you, this, somehow, also bind all enemies to you, and protect your teammates from enemies. The additional armor also reduce damage to Axe, give Axe advantage in battle, or escape.

Battle Hunger (R) Afflicts a target with a terrible killing hunger. The target will take damage per second until it kills a unit. Level 1 - 15 damage/second, lasts 10 seconds. Level 2 - 15 damage/second, lasts 15 seconds. Level 3 - 20 damage/second, lasts 20 seconds. Level 4 - 25 damage/second, lasts 25 seconds. Mana Cost: 75/85/95/105 Cooldown: 25/20/15/10 seconds.

Actually I really think that this skill is almost useless, because the effect will be stop if the target enemy kill or deny creeps, unless your enemy too noob until cannot deny probably, using this skill on them is just a waste.

The only use of this skill is when chasing enemies, but if you got dagger, why still border on this skill? Just forget about it and add more stats to Axe.

Counter Helix (X) Mogul Kahn counters some blows made to him dealing damage to all nearby enemy units. Level 1 - 17% chance to counter with 100 damage. Level 2 - 17% chance to counter with 125 damage. Level 3 - 17% chance to counter with 150 damage. Level 4 - 17% chance to counter with 175 damage. Passive Mana Cost: N/A Cooldown: 0.7/0.65/0.60/0.55

A must skill to Axe! Not only helps Axe to hurt enemies heroes, but also helps Axe to farm. And if combo with Berserker's Call......I guess you guys can imagine that.

Culling Blade (C) Purges the weak from Mogul Kahn's sight. Deals moderate damage, but will kill a target that is low on life. Level 1 - Deals 150 damage, will kill if target is below 300. Level 2 - Deals 250 damage, will kill if target is below 450. Level 3 - Deals 300 damage, will kill if target is below 625. Mana Cost: 120/160/200 Cooldown: 75/65/55 seconds.

Ignored magic immune, and also attack immune! Which mean even with black king bar, Omni's ulti, or Abaddon's ulti, they can block its damage, but they can't block the instance kill.

ii.Comment to Axe
Due to Axe "special" skill sets (just like wanted to be SM by others......), which make him a destined tanker in the team! Stand in the very front line and bravely lead your teammates to fight the enemies. Attract enemies' attack and protect your teammates, this is your destiny.

iii.Axe's skills build
Number means level.
1: Counter Helix
2: Berserker`s Call
3: Counter Helix
4: Berserker`s Call
5: Counter Helix
6: Culling Blade
7: Counter Helix
8~9: Berserker`s Call
10: Stat
11: Culling Blade
12~15: Stat
16: Culling Blade
17~21: Stat
22~25: Battle Hunger

So, because Axe must be a tanker, so we need to max his counter helix first, and to combo with the counter helix, so Berserker's call need to be max after counter helix. Like I mentioned before, I think battle hunger almost useless, so I will just left it to the last, and add stats to Axe first.

iv.Strategies

The strategies here is depends on 6.60 or above.

When start, buy a stout shields and a quelling blade first, then just used the rest of money to get some recovery item, I suggest all buy Ancient Tango.

Maybe some cannot understand why border about quelling blade, actually quelling blade is a must item for all melee heroes in 6.60 or above. The 32% additional damage to non-hero units can help your melee heroes to farm faster.

When choosing which lane you go, you need to be very careful about one thing, never ever choose mid lane for Axe. You can either go to top or bottom, just don't go to mid lane, because mid lane too short, and the top or bottom lane have secret shops which can let Axe purchase Ring of Health without leaving lane.

Due to the counter helix, normally if Axe keep an eyes on his life, he is a totally farmer(unless meet some kind of heroes, which I will mentioned later). Just remember one thing, don't attack your enemy's heroes unless you go near to them, so you won't waste your counter.

When you got money, buy another stout shield, then farm out Ring of Health, normally you should be level 4 or 5 already, even higher if you are soloing, or get some kills already. Then you can either choose to get another Ring first, or go purchase vitality booster for a vanguard, just remember to throw off you stout shield first, so that vanguard damage blocking will come first.

After you level six, get a boot, then you can go out for ganking others. When you gank, you need to calculate enemy's hp carefully, how many counter helix can drop his life until low enough to let your ulti instance kill? And also don't just go with your own unless you can kill the hero in one hit.

And when you want to use call, remember try to use it to grab as many enemies as you can. First, your enemies can't run; second, they can't skill; third, they can't hurt your teammates.

If there is no one to gank, then go farm; if no creeps to farm, go forest. You need the money to get some expensive items, such as Dagger and Heart.

Actually Axe is a quite simple hero, just you need to know when to call, and when to ulti only. Really unlike some others heroes, which you must used skillfully, or it will be a nightmare, such as puck or mirana.

One more thing, maybe some pro will think that this no need to be remind, but I have see many stupid Axe did this, don't ever try to kill inside enemy tower range, especially when early game, your Axe still having a low life.

Also remember to protect your teammate, don't just go kill and left your teammate to die, you mission is to protect, the kills are just some add-on rewards. A successful Axe is not the one which kill the most, but is the one who can attract all enemies' attacks, and protect his teammates.

v.Item Build

+++++

Actually this is just my normal style, sometimes you might need to do some adjust due to the situation. Like if the enemies have many spammers, then change one of the vanguard to hood of defiance. If enemies have some instance kill magicians, like lina, lion, then change one vanguard to linken's sphere.

I also see some Axe buy a poor man's shield, this is not my style, but you can try it, it might more suit you.

But the dagger and the heart are must item. You need the dagger to blink in to the best place to used call, then the heart can add your life and you damage.

The first which you will get beside quelling blade is vanguard, no matter one or two vanguards. After the vanguard, get dagger, you need it more than you can imagine.

After dagger, depends to the situation, either get boots first, or get heart first. If you can survive in most of the battle, then you can get boots of travel first, if not, then you better get heart first.

Of course, you can also sell quelling blade in the late game, and get another heart.

vi.Warning: Heroes which shall never meet by Axe in the early of game.
First, Spammers such as Death Prophet or Puck.
Second, Heroes which have slow skills, such as Viper or Drow.
Third, Heroes which have skills that can slowly deals damage in time, such as venomancer and huskar.

Your Axe meet them in the game start, then congratulations to you, your Axe will mostly have the lowest level in the game.

vii. Ending
Well, I guess that's all for Axe. Finally, hope that you all can use Axe happily.

--Crixalis the Sand King Guide


Crixalis was a normal scorpion in Kalimdor's deserts. For unknown reasons, he evolved much faster than his brothers, growing extremely large. Because he was still susceptible to the Sand King King's mind control, he was summoned and is now guarding the Frozen Throne. While much larger, Crixalis still possesses his scorpian abilities, such as the power to burrow into the ground and resurface elsewhere, impaling all in his wake. His tail contains a violent venom, which causes his enemies to explode. Scouts have discovered that he can create large tremors in the ground, killing anyone distracted enough to get near him.



Base HP: 492
Base Mana: 208

Strength - 18 + 2.3 (Primary)
Agility - 19 + 2.1
Intelligence- 16 + 1.8

Base damage 43-59
Attack range of 128 (melee)
Base Armor 3.7
Movement speed of 300

Strengths and Weaknesses

Positives
Has a great AoE damage, can turn out the game with good placed Epicenter.
Not items dependant.
Fast farming with Caustic Finale.

Negatives
Epicenter needs great timing and positioning.Possibly targeted by all enemy hero after you initiate.

Skill Descriptions

Burrowstrike (E)



The Sand King burrows into the ground, tunnels forward impaling everything above him, then surfaces.

Level 1 - 100 damage, 400 maximum range.
Level 2 - 160 damage, 500 maximum range.
Level 3 - 220 damage, 600 maximum range.
Level 4 - 280 damage, 700 maximum range.

Mana Cost: 140
Cooldown: 11

A really usefull skills. Stun enemies in a row and in the same time moving yourself. Use it for initiate, chase and escaping.

Sand Storm (R)



Sand King creates a fearsome Sand Storm. The storm blinds his enemies and he becomes invisible to them. In the same time his opponents take damage.

Level 1- 20 damage per second, 200 AOE, invisibility lasts 20 seconds, 0.3 second delay before revealed
Level 2- 40 damage per second, 250 AOE, invisibility lasts 40 seconds, 0.3 second delay before revealed
Level 3- 60 damage per second, 300 AOE, invisibility lasts 60 seconds, 0.9 second delay before revealed
Level 4- 80 damage per second, 350 AOE, invisibility lasts 80 seconds, 1.2 seconds delay before revealed

Channeling
Mana Cost: 60/ 50/ 40/ 30
Cooldown: 40

The damage isn't good for farming. The only reason you want to take it is for the invisibility. Sometime helpfull in a emergency situation.

Caustic Finale (L)



Each of the Sand King's attack injects a deadly venom that causes the target to explode violently on death, dealing damage in an area.

Level 1 - 90 damage.
Level 2 - 130 damage.
Level 3 - 170 damage.
Level 4 - 220 damage.

Orb effect
Mana Cost: N/A
Cooldown: N/A

Great passive skill for farming. You can kill a wave of creep in a couple seconds. The only drawback of this skill is it's Orb effect.

Epicenter (C)



Sends a disturbance into the earth, causing it to shudder violently. All caught within range will take damage, and their attack speed and movespeed slowed by 40%.

Level 1 - 2.0 second casting time, 6 pulses of 110 damage, each pulse has a 300 AoE.
Level 2 - 2.0 second casting time, 8 pulses of 110 damage, each pulse has a 350 AoE.
Level 3 - 2.0 second casting time, 10 pulses of 110 damage, each pulse has a 400 AoE.

Mana Cost: 175/ 250/ 325
Cooldown: 140/ 120/ 100

Magnificent skills! Massive damage and the same time slows enemies. For maximal results, often combined with Blink Dagger or Burrow Strike. The only problem is, the enemies will try their hardest to cancel this.

Skill Build

Level 1: Burrowstrike
Level 2: Sandstorm/Stats
Level 3: Burrowstrike
Level 4: Stats
Level 5: Burrowstrike
Level 6: Epicenter
Level 7: Burrowstrike
Levels 8-10: Stats
Level 11: Epicenter
Levels 12-15: Caustic Finale
Level 16: Epicenter
Levels 17-21: Stats
Levels 22: Stats/Sandstorm
Levels 23-25: Sandstorm

Burrowstrike is taken and maxed early for obvious reason. It will be your primary combo combined with Epicenter. When Burrowstrike already level 4, you are ready to ganking any hero. One point on Stand Storm can save you from early gank focused on you. Only take one level, you only want the invisibility, not the poor damage.

On early game, Stats is ways better than Caustic Finale. Stats will give you more HP and additional Mana for your combo. Taking Caustic Finale early will make you pushing too fast and make you vulnerable for ganked. The only chance you will want to take Caustic Finale early is when you are facing melee hero on your line. It will help you harass the melee enemy heroes while last hitting. On level 12-15, maxed Caustic Finale and you will farm like crazy.

Item Build

1. Gauntlet of Ogre Strength + Circlet of Nobility + Tangos
2. Empty Bottle
3. Finish Bracer
4. Blink Daggers
5. Boots of Speed
6. Second Bracers
7. Finish Boots of Travel

Your core item should be like this:



The most important thing about Epicenter is the positioning and timing. Blink Dagger is the perfect tools to meet the demand. In order to have an effective role throughout the game, you must be ready for ganking and initiating once you've prepared for your items.

Bracers will cover your lack of additional Stats item, while Bottle will cover your regeneration and make you stay longer in the line. After get the Dagger, to maximize Sand King role as ganker, upgrade your shoes into Boots of Travel. It will help you farming and initiate ganking in the same time.

Late Game Items
+ +

Typical Sand King team battle role is to jump into the enemy with the Epicenter and then tanks all the damage. That's why in the late game you will need mass HP and armor boost.

Blink Dagger vs Black King Bar

Blink Dagger is better than BKB because Blink Dagger helps you gank (which is what Sand King would do besides farming, tanking and initiating battle) and gives the value of surprise when you deliver your Epicenter. Usually the enemies would scatter around if you get a BKB, activate avatar and cast burrow+epi, but with Blink Dagger comes the value of surprise. Without them knowing, you could deliver your Epicenter more effectively, and will help you much more in initiating battles.

But it seems the spell immunity of BKB is attracting a lot of people to buy it. But you must note several things. There are a lot of spells which go through avatar and deals a 0.1 second ministun, which cancels your Epicenter casting. You can just activate Avatar every 100 seconds while Blink Dagger can be activated every 25 seconds. And the last, BKB doesn't offer you anything to help you relocate, which can be used in a lot of things. Even so, if you indeed have a big trouble with Epi+Blink, this item still help you.

Strategy

Start off by going to the lane of your choice. The good thing about Sand King is he is an excellent solo hero, yet an excellent dual-lane assistant as well. So, it doesn't matter if you solo or not. Start off in the lane being very, very passive. Once you get in a lane, before the first wave comes in, try to creep block. It's alternately pressing move and stop in front of the creep wave to delay them in their arrival. This pushes your enemy creeps nearer your base, and gives you a wider capacity to quickly level up.

Don’t burrowstrike yet in level 1 unless the enemy is escaping with an uber low life to make a first blood. Like everything that happens, kill and last hit creeps, and level. Don't do anything to kill the enemy yet. Just farm and get your level up. Once you get to level 6, you are a killer with Burrowstrike + Epicenter. This period of the game, this simple combo can take out many enemies with their predictably low life, also mentioning this combo is devastating anytime.

When you encounter a normal stunner (Vengeful, Skeleton King), let them hit you or your ally with their stuns and do your thing. It’s better if they are stunning you while beside your tower. After all stuns are drawn, you do the burrowstrike, and then the usual epicenter. It’s a very easy task, but not as easy when you encounter two stunners. You may want to call some reinforcements. When facing stompers, it becomes harder because when you burrowstrike them, you have to go a little bit farther to them where you land to prevent getting stomped on, especially when casting your ultimate. And aside from the usual stun skills, there are some skills which deal a 0.1 ministun like Lunar Beam, Void, etc. So don't be fooled by those skills which you think are purely nukes. They might have a twitty stun to destroy your Epicenter casting.

Everytime you almost die with a very low life and the enemies don’t have a stun anymore, burrowstrike to retreat. Not to stun them forward. I’ve seen that sometimes that their Sand King just uses the Sand Storm (If they do have one) after landing. That's a very bad move.

There isn't really an "art" of Burrowstrike + Epicenter, as it isn't rocket science. Yet, it is one of the most effective "moves" in DotA. It usually never fails. First, find a spot that is in the fog of war or out of sight of enemy heroes. Be at most 900 units away from the enemies. Begin channeling Epicenter, and after the green light goes away and you start pulsing (You may miss 1 or 2 pulses if you are a begginner, it's ok) immediately blink into the center of the enemy Heroes. After your pulses are up, Burrowstrike the remainders (if there are any) to sweep easy double kills.

A common misconception is when you Blink in with Epicenter "on" you should immediately Burrowstrike the enemies - This is false. If you do this, the time the enemy heroes spend in the air for Burrowstrike, they enemies are invulnerable, which means, no Epicenter damage. Wait untl all pulses are clear OR you can get a kill with a Burrowstrike.

Some people like to Channel Epicenter and then Shift-click Blink dagger so they wont miss a pulse - I do not like this as the target you want to blink to 2 seconds ago may change in the 2 seconds of channeling.

Now you're leveling and maxing Caustic Finale with you, you're purely a farming machine. With the technique I explained earlier, you'd gain a lot of money in no time and you'd farm for your BoT, and your luxury items if you really are left alone to farm for yourself. In every 3 waves killed, you may have pushed far into the enemies' territory, so go neutral creeping for a while, then when the enemies counterpush, prepare in a spot to release an Epicenter + Blink to the team, while possibly calling your allies for reinforcements. Whenever you really find the enemies missing, warn your allies. They'd probably gank your allies in the other lanes, but mind your own business. Once you get near them, they've succeeded in killing the hero, and aswell preventing you from leveling up. Never let them succeed, so never get fooled.

The time you are ready to do the Epic + Blink, try to let the opponents push (While doing so, hide in a perfect spot), let an ally draw stun, cast Epicenter, and blink in. Usually you become the target of enemies so when you think you can’t handle them after 4 seconds, call your allies (Not necessary if you can handle them). While the enemies are trying to escape, chase them and if possible, do a burrowstrike. Your enemy should possibly be dead by now. However, some enemies might do the opposite. If they don't die, you should decide whether to chase them or to get away since you can still be harmed even if the enemies have a very small amount of life. Never chase heroes when you know they have higher movespeed than you (Unless they are in your burrowstrike range).

Before the mid game ends, some enemies may be fed up with hp increasing items. You should gank less since a single Epicenter won't do the trick to some heroes, whereas you can still live up to your killing power if the enemies are fully incapable of surviving any immense damage.

You are currently excellent in defending. Mind you, even if the creeps are those 833 hp/ 603 hp creeps pass by you, you can tank their 50+ damage, plus you may have an Cuirass. Don’t worry if you loose around 100 – 200 hp each wave as you regenerate fast. Usually, 3-4 kills per large creep wave solves a problem even if they are numerous. Do not fret.

After level 16, your epicenter is deeply flawed, and you may have to do other roles than initiating and tanking. You may have been doing less ganks since you have to defend your lanes. If someone else will take over defending lanes, you can not just defend, but push. You have the power, Burrowstrike + Caustic is a great pushing skill. Watch minimap when pushing and quickly teleport if most of your enemies is missing. Buy some luxury with the gold from pushing.

In the late game, you're a Damage Dealer and also Tank. Now with the crazy farming you've done, you may have even reached the gold to get a HoT. You are now extremely fat and ready to tank damage. You have many escape mechanisms, burrowstrike, blink, sandstorm. In the three, only sandstorm is purely to help you. Blink and (possibly) Burrowstrike is for initiating your combo. This way, we can say that Sand King only has one skill that is solely used for escaping, and the other two is for engaging in battle. When come to the team battle, pick a hiding spot. When your team ready, cast Epicenter and surprise the enemy by blinking them. They should be focus their damage on you. Brace yourself and face them, even if you die, you already do your role. By the time you tank the damage, your ally should do pretty much damage to the enemies and even get some kills.


Leviathan the Tidehunter Guide


Leviathan Guide & Build, the Tidehunter Strategy. Leviathan is one of the great tanker who has good self-defend mechanism and also can be a good initiator in a big war using his ultimate skill: Ravage. This post contains Leviathan the Tidehunter guide, item build, skill build and strategy.


Greatest of the sea giants, Leviathan was sealed away in the aftermath of the war between the Old Gods and the Titans in ancient times. Now released by the Lich King to aid in his crusade against the Sentinel, he cleaves through waves of enemies with his mighty anchor, breaking enemy sieges before they even begin. As terrible a foe on land as he is in water, those who stand before the Tidehunter are swept away in a sea of spikes, eviscerated as he closes in to pulverize those left to receive his wrath.




Strength - 22 + 3 (Primary)
Agility - 15 + 1.5
Intelligence- 16 + 1.7

Base damage 47-53
Attack range of 100 (melee)
Base Armor 3.1
Movement speed of 310



Tidehunter Skill Descriptions

Gush (G)



Summons a spirit of the tides to damage an enemy unit. Reduces the movement speed by 40% and armor of the enemy unit. Lasts 4 seconds.

Level 1 - Reduces armor by 2, deals 110 damage
Level 2 - Reduces armor by 3, deals 160 damage
Level 3 - Reduces armor by 4, deals 210 damage
Level 4 - Reduces armor by 5, deals 260 damage

Mana Cost: 120
Cooldown: 12

Take the advantages of this skill in early minutes: short cooldown, movement speed reduction, high damage and armor reduction which gonna deal more physical damage with your mate. In late game, this skill is still useful with its short cooldown and movement speed reduction.

Kraken Shell



Creates a thick armor shell around Leviathan that protects him against attacks. Whenever he loses 600 hitpoints from player based damage, it removes negative buffs. Damage counter gets reset if no damage taken in 6 seconds. Damage block doesn't stack with Stout Shield, Poor Man's Shield or Vanguard.

Level 1 - Reduces attack damage by 7
Level 2 - Reduces attack damage by 14
Level 3 - Reduces attack damage by 21
Level 4 - Reduces attack damage by 28

This skill is similar to free Vanguard, make leviathan can alive in early minutes since it has attack damage reduction. With this skill, leviathan can't killed by his enemy using negative buff skill like Shadow Strike and others.


Anchor Smash



Leviathan swings his mighty anchor with a vengeance. Gives a 20% chance to deal bonus damage to nearby enemies.

Level 1 - Deals 75 damage in a small radius
Level 2 - Deals 115 damage in a small radius
Level 3 - Deals 155 damage in a small radius
Level 4 - Deals 200 damage in a small radius

This skill almost works like a free Battlefury, but instead it's percentage-based. It is more useful when he has high attack speed, his DPS will increase.

Ravage (V)



Slams the ground, causing waves of spikes to ring the hero in all directions. Deals damage and stuns. Area increases per level.

Level 1 - Deals 250 damage. 1.5 seconds stun. 850 AoE
Level 2 - Deals 350 damage. 1.8 seconds stun. 950 AoE
Level 3 - Deals 450 damage. 2.25 seconds stun. 1050 AoE

Cooldown: 150
Mana Cost: 150/225/325

This skill is used to initiate team battles. With big Area of Effect, it is easy to land and will cause every enemy around him stunned.

Tidehunter Skill Build

Level 1: Gush
Level 2: Kraken Shell
Level 3: Gush
Level 4: Kraken Shell
Level 5: Gush
Level 6: Ravage
Level 7: Gush
Level 8: Kraken Shell
Level 9: Kraken Shell
Level 10: Anchor Smash
Level 11: Ravage
Level 12: Anchor Smash
Level 13: Anchor Smash
Level 14: Anchor Smash
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Ravage
Levels 17-25: Stats

Gush is his main nuke, so it is important to take early. Kraken Shell helps him with its survivability early on so he can avoid going back to the fountain. When he has reached level 10 and has high enough attack speed, Anchor smash will be useful to increase DPS. Ravage is his ultimate skill, so it is important to take whenever possible.

Tidehunter Item Build

1. Gauntlet of Strength, 3x Ironwood Branch, 1 set of Tangos, 1 set of Observer Wards
2. Optional: Quelling Blade
3. Finish Magic Wand, Bracer
4. Boots of Speed
5. Finish Power Tread
6. Kelen's Dagger

Your core item should be like this:



Quelling Blade is necessary for farming since it can increase Leviathan's damage to non-hero units by 32%. Energy Charge from Magic Wand can be casted when he is lack of mana to succeed landing his ultimate or to give a gush to an enemy.

Power Thread make him farming more effective together with Anchor Smash to increase his DPS. As alternative, it can be used to help his friend by gank enemies: visiting enemies faster and landing high DPS to them.

Dagger is very useful for perfectly landing Ravage to initiate a team battle.

Tidehunter Luxury Items



Refresher is very mana-intensive for him, however a double ultimate is game-breaking. Make sure that if he get this, he has enough mana to landing double ultimate.Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse is an extra disable. It also solves his mana problems, so this is a good item for Tide to have.

Heart of Tarrasque is an obvious choice for any tank especially for Tide. It gives him some much needed survivability and improves his tankiness by a lot. Assault Cuirass adds some massive survivability and IAS. Even though it is quite expensive, it helps his DPS and survivability a lot.

Dying a lot because of nukes? Khadgard's Pipe of Insight is for him. Those all out nukers will find it much harder to kill him and his team know.

Tidehunter Strategy

You can pick this hero whenever you want. In early minutes, you should put him in the top or bottom lane. Conserve your mana first, farm as good as possible and keep survive. If you and your teammate are confident to kill enemy, cast a gush to an enemy then your allies can follow up and proceed to take out the enemy.
Sometimes, you need to gank. Leave your lane and help another friend. Cast a gush and do the same to kill enemy, cast ravage too if possible and if you want.

In a big war, the most important role is initiating team battles. Here are some 'rules' to think about whenever getting ready to initiate:
1) Make sure your team is ready and fully behind you on this. You don't want to go in and then have your team back off, leaving you to die.
2) If you are blinking into the enemies (which you probably will), then always blink into the very middle of them. The reason is that you want to catch all of them in your ultimate, by initiating at the edge of the enemies, you will probably only catch a few.

Also know the AOE of Ravage. This is important because you want your positioning to be good so that when you Ravage you catch the most enemies possible. Gush the weakest hero after ravaging; most of the time this is their disabler or carry hero.

Based on: Playdota Guide

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

Magnus the Magnataur Guide




Magnus Guide & Build, Magnus the Magnataur Strategy. Magnus is one of a great initiator on Dota. This post will cover all about Magnus the Magnataur guide, item build, skill build and strategy.


Maybe the most tremendous being on the Scourge, Magnus is a power to be reckoned with. Trained from birth to become a potent warrior, he is now at the peak of his strength. The Magnataur's giant axe can cleave paths through his enemies, and create a bone-breaking shockwave that ripples through the ground. Further strengthened by a demonic magic that enhances his attacks, he can crush enemies with shocking ease. His greatest power, though, is the ability to create an immensely strong magnetic field, sucking in helpless foes to meet their end.



Strength - 21 + 2.75 (Primary)
Agility - 15 + 1.8
Intelligence- 17 + 1.65

Base damage 49-61
Attack range of 100 (melee)
Base Armor 4.1
Movement speed of 315


Skill Descriptions

Shock Wave (W)



A wave of force ripples out from the Hero, causing damage to land units in a line.

Level 1 - 75 damage.
Level 2 - 150 damage.
Level 3 - 225 damage.
Level 4 - 300 damage.

Mana Cost: 90
Cooldown: 11/10/9/8

With short time cooldown, this skill is useful to harass enemy in early minutes and gathering gold easier.

Empower (E)



Increase attack damage and provides cleave for a friendly unit. Lasts 30 seconds.

Level 1 - 15% attack and cleave bonus.
Level 2 - 25% attack and cleave bonus.
Level 3 - 35% attack and cleave bonus.
Level 4 - 45% attack and cleave bonus.

Cooldown: 12 seconds
Mana Cost: 40

Casting this skill to a melee ally having critical strike or high damage is one of the keys for winning a big war.

Skewer (D)



Magnataur rushes forward up to 800 range, goring up to 2 enemies on his massive tusks. This drags those two units along with him and damages them. Upon reaching his destination, the two units are slowed by 40% for 2 seconds.

Level 1 - 50 damage
Level 2 - 100 damage
Level 3 - 150 damage
Level 4 - 200 damage

Cooldown: 45 seconds
Mana Cost: 80

This skill is used to opening attack (followed by reverse polarity) or to run away from enemies.

Reverse Polarity (V)



Through some unknown property of matter, the Magnataur sucks all nearby enemies to his positions and stuns them with a powerful slam, dealing damage

Level 1 - 2.5 seconds stun, deals 150 damage
Level 2 - 3.25 seconds stun, deals 225damage
Level 3 - 4 seconds stun, deals 300 damage

Cooldown: 120/110/100
Mana Cost: 200/250/300

This skill is little hard to landing without skewer or kelen's dagger.

Skill Build

1. Skewer
2. Shockwave
3. Shockwave
4. Empower
5. Shockwave
6. Reverse Polarity
7. Shockwave
8. Empower
9. Empower
10. Empower
11. Reverse Polarity
12. Stats
13. Stats
14. Stats
15. Stats
16. Reverse Polarity
17-22 Stats
23. Skewer
24. Skewer
25. Skewer

This is the best skill build. Damage from shockwave is more needed than from empower in early game. Damage from skewer is quite useless since its cooldown is very long. What needed from skewer is just its rush in 800 distance to temporary replace dagger's role having 1200 distance so he can land reverse polarity.


Item Build

1. 3x ironwood branch + 2x tangos + courier / quelling blade
2. finish magic wand + empty bottle + boots of speed
3. blink dagger

The core items for Magnus should be like these:



Quelling Blade is necessary for gathering gold in melee mode. Bottle and magic wand are used to support his hp and mana. Boots of speed is used for chasing hero or running away. While dagger is used to perfectly land reverse polarity.

Late Game Items

Late game items are divided into two parts:

Striker build:



Power treads give him cheap stats and attack speed. Changing into intelligence version will prevents him from lack of mana.
Using armlet, he can dealing damage as big as possible in the seconds where his enemies are stunned. Moreover with empower, he can dealing damage to all stunned enemies since it gives cleaving attack.
As alternative using mask of madness, he can dealing damage as often as possible instead of as big as possible.
Battle fury increases the effect of empower's cleaving attack. Wearing 2 battle fury will make him more dangerous for his enemies. With 115% cleave/splash attack, his enemies will take damage equally.
Heart of Tarrasque here is used to make him more tanker so he can continue attack enemies while he receives attacks from enemies too.
Buriza makes him become amazing with splash critical attack together with empower.
Assault cuirass increases his attack frequency, makes him tanker and help his team with special auras.

Supporter Build:



As a supporter, he should be there where his team need him, so he need boots of travel.
Vladimir offering is a suitable item for supporting his team, especially to melee partners, since it has great auras.
Gem of true sight can help him to find enemies who are being invisible so he can land a good ultimate.
Pipe can protect his entire team from being attacked by enemy's magic spell.
Force staff is a very useful item in any situation. He can save allies, chase enemies, initiate opening attack from a long distance.
The others items like shiva's guard, guinso, eul, arcane ring and refresher orb may be little useful but are not suitable for strength hero.

Strategy
You should pick this hero when your team need an initiator, your team already has one or more dps carries or your team has a lot of AoE damage spells.

In early minutes, there are 2 kinds of strategy depend on his lane:

1. Solo lane. This is the recommended option since Magnus haven't stun or slow so he doesn't really help your mate. Your aim is actually not to kill, but leveling up and farming since you can't kill smart opponents alone. In the situation when your opponent hero has high lane control and harasses you whenever it's possible, you should stay back and lasthit/farming just using Shockwave, while hit hero if possible. In the other hand, if your opponent hero doesn't have too much lane control or is melee hero, there is no problem. Just lasthit with normal attack and occasionally cast a shockwave to farming and to hit your opponent all at once.

2. Dual lane. You can choose this option when your mate are stunner or disabler since Magnus has an ability to push someone into your creeps or tower. Don't use Shockwave too often. Save your mana for killing your opponents. Your mate stuns him, you walk right next to him, use Skewer and push him into your creeps or your tower if possible, followed by some Shockwave. If the enemy lane is really that dominant, you should start using Shockwave like you would play solo against a decent opponent.

On mid game, you should start ganking. There are several ganking strategies for Magnus:

1. Gank when your ultimate is ready.
2. Always gank from behind.
3. Push your opponents to your team, creeps and tower if possible.
4. When you have blink, just blink next to your 2 opponents and push them into your team.

In late game, stay together with your team. Don't go alone without Boots of Travel, your team needs you. In a big war, these are 3 steps of strategy:

1. Force your enemies to gather. They probably know that they can’t win against a team based on Magnus. So push with you whole team so that they have to defend. Maintain Empower on your melee carries meanwhile, you will need it soon.

2. Land your ultimate. This is actually pretty easy thanks to Skewer and Blink. Blink is better to initiate because your opponents can hardly react, Skewer helps when not everyone is at the point you want him to be.

3. Rape the enemy team. You don’t have to do much anymore, just cast Shockwave and hit everyone you can, preferably their carry. Your team’s damage output should be high enough to kill everyone.

While pushing, you can clear creep waves really fast using Shockwave and Empower. It is useful if you wan to force a team fight or after winning a war and wanna push fast.