Templar Assasin Guide Dota 2

Templar Assasin

(Lanaya)

Lanaya, the Templar Assassin, came to her calling by a path of curious inquiry. Possessed of a scientific bent, she spent her early years engaged in meticulous study of nature's laws--peering into grimoires of magic and alchemy, recreating experiments from charred fragments of the Violet Archives, and memorizing observations of the Keen recordkeepers. Already quiet and secretive by nature, the difficulty of acquiring these objects further reinforced her skills of stealth. Had she been less retiring, she might have become notorious among the guilds as a thief-scholar. Instead her investigations led her into far more obscure corners. As she devoted her furtive talents to unlocking the secrets of the universe, she instead unlocked a secret door that exists in nature itself: the entryway to the most Hidden Temple. The intelligences that waited beyond that portal, proved to be expecting her, and whatever mysteries they revealed in the moment of their discovery was nothing compared to the answers they held out to Lanaya should she continue in their service. She swore to protect the mysteries, but more to the point, in service to the Hidden Temple she satisfies her endless craving for understanding. In the eyes of each foe she expunges, a bit more of the mystery is revealed.

BRIEF REVIEW

Templar Assassin is a very good and capable mid hero who eats most of the heroes early game but eats mostly squishy nukers and/or supports late game without a  Desolator. If you see people choosing  Shadow Fiend,  Drow Ranger, or  Zeus, she is one of the best possible counters.  Templar Assassin is a very squishy agility hero without her  Refraction active or if the charges ran out. The trick here (mentioned in several guides) is to activate refraction beforehand then engage when the buff is gonna expire and/or the cooldown is almost over. This way, you'd get 12 instances each of the buff since you'll be popping the refraction twice. This, although it sounds so good to be true, have a downside. The mana cost is a bit high, popping refraction twice would melt your mana bar down to half or maybe 3/4's. You need fast reaction time and deep knowledge of her gameplay to use her to her max potential.

SKILL OVERVIEW

Her  Refraction is her greatest asset. I'd consider this a "nuke" since you can activate it frequently and it gives you bonus damage as well as it blocks 6 instances of damage at level 4, but sadly her only considered "nuke" is  Meld.  Meld is like a portable active  Daedalus as I'd like to call it. It gives you  Phantom Assassin like crits if maxed very early though I don't suggest this unless you think it'll be a sure-win game ;). People have underestimated this skill and used it mostly for escaping. Do not do this if they have strong AOE damage, I repeat, DO NOT DO THIS. I am speaking from experience and I tell you, it's not worth it. If they don't have strong AOE damage skills like  Shadowraze or  Dual Breath though, you may use it xD. This is so because if your gankers still stayed, you'd still get the normal experience gain but the opponent mid-laner would get the divided experience, because another of their teammate is in the lane and/or near the creeps.  Psi Blades are her meat and cheese for me. It is usually maxed or even leveled last because they say it's not worth it or something like that. If you are a pretty experienced squishy melee player and you are comfortable and confident with it, why not? Psi blades give you extra range and it also slices into units behind the primary creep/hero that was attacked. She has a low starting range a bit less than  Doom's and this skill makes up for it. The psi blades I think still hits invisible units so if there happens to be a riki and he's low on health, attack a creep in front of where you think he might be. Last but not the least  Trap is her most defined skill. Not only does it provide vision but it also slows the enemy when triggered to a near 50% MS reduction. I didn't put  Blink Dagger on her mid game items because with trap and the  Yasha MS bonus, you'd quickly be near your target for a perfect  Meld strike. Her skills have great synergies with each other; pop  Refraction, spring Trap, go near and Meld strike and just hit away with your DPS items.

PROS & CONS

Pros

+ Not "that" item dependent. (like Shadow Fiend, Storm Spirit, Naga Siren)
+ Great flexibility. (can fit into more than 2 roles)
+ Huge burst damage without using items.
+ Tanky with  Refraction on.
+ Easy to understand but hard to play.
+ She's a great looking girl. ;D

Cons

- SQUISHY without  Refraction on.
- Level dependent
- Team-oriented
- You need to be alert and aware of the map especially with your traps' provided vision.
- May be the first to be taken out during teamfights.
- One of the most underplayed heroes in DotA 2.
- Easily countered
- Easy to understand but hard to play.
- DOT spells like  Doom,  Shadow Strike, etc...

- Countered by Radiance

TEAM WORK & SYNERGIES

 Templar Assassin is very dependent on her team. One slightest fail in ganking or roaming would end or simply degrade her usefulness in the game. Don't be scared of using her, believe me I failed a lot of times but that didn't stop me from wanting to learn her style more. As you can see in the above video of Ferrari_430's ranked gameplay, he was able to communicate with his team to run a smoke gank to  Naga Siren when he was having trouble taking her down. He was also able to solo Roshan and lure the opponent team to the pit. There were some fail ganks he made but nobody's perfect. It's either the opponent team warded some places or they were playing safe and sticking together.

He did a  Hand of Midas build; this is optional for  Templar Assassin to rush most of her items. Yes, the price is costly but you'd get your  Desolator faster than before with successful frequent ganks along with the extra xp and gold earned from sing Midas. Also, he achieved all of his items faster and got his butterfly under 30 minutes! I can't do that XD.

Her traps are valuable for initiating, ganking, vision, escaping, chasing and many more so always remember to check the shared unit controls so that your teammates may help you detonate them if you have poor map awareness.

There are a lot of heroes who work well with  Templar Assassin. Armor reduction heroes like  Slardar, Vengeful Spirit and  Tidehunter works absolutely well. So I'm going to let the Armor reduction heroes sit aside for now and open up various heroes that can be paired up with  Templar Assassin.

Here is a list of my favorite heroes that go well with TA and why:
  Bounty Hunter-huge burst damage potential, bonus gold with  Track.
  Bristleback-armor reduction+slow, spammable  Quill Spray.
  Magnus-perfect for lining opponents up for your  Psi Blades, huge burst damage potential, escape proof with  Skewer.
  Dazzle-heal+slow+armor reduction=DAZZUL XD
  Disruptor- great harassing skills to keep enemy on low health, escape prood with  Glimpse and Kinetic Field, silence.
  Queen of Pain-slow+insane burst damage potential+great mobility.
  Wraith King-stun+slow+can tank tower for you since he have  Reincarnation (only if he's willing to give it up).
  Crystal Maiden-stun+slow+global happy  Arcane Aura+devastating SS= My Bae <3
The reason I like these heroes is because they can give you an early kill or assist.  Bounty Hunter gives incredible burst damage with  Jinada and  Shuriken Toss. The  Track skill also serves a great asset to the line-up. It grants bonus gold to the one who killed and the one who assisted in the kill. This will get you your Desolator much faster.  Bristleback is another armor reduction hero with his  Viscous Nasal Goo. The slow works great to slow them down for your early  Meld strikes and his  Quill Spray is also nothing to laugh at either. It is a great harassing skill early especially against tanky melee heroes like  Axe. I bet you know the synergy with  Magnus already so I might as well skip that.  Dazzle works a lot like  Bristleback with the heal from  Shadow Wave and slow from  Poison Touch. His  Weave gives a minus 1 armor every second and is stacked with the armor reduction from your  Meld.  Disruptor nets you an even earlier kill with the great harass from the  Thunder Strike ability. His  Glimpse and  Kinetic Field prevents enemies from escaping and will annoy the opponent laner especially if they used a TP scroll to go back to lane.  Queen of Pain and  Wraith King works a like to each other. The slow from  Shadow Strike makes you faster in comparison and  Wraith King's stun is even better.  Crystal Maiden is exceptionally my most favorite hero among the rest. Her  Arcane Aura will be able to help you with  Refraction's tad high mana cost.  Frostbite and Crystal Nova immobilizes and slows the enemy for your perfect  Meld strikes. Her SS,  Freezing Field ain't supposed to be looked down either.


There are numerous others like  Sand King,  Lion, and  Vengeful Spirit but these are my personal favorites and I think you'll find the synergy quite awesome as well. Either way, these aren't your lane partners as you are taking the solo mid lane. They can only synergize well with your ganks and team clashes.

LANING

The first level in  Psi Blades grant you more range so that you can't get harassed by the melee heroes' auto attacks. This is more useful than a level one  Refraction as you can hit creeps and harass your opponent at the same time with the passive spill "cleave". I always grab this whether my opponent is ranged or not.

You should now deny, harass and last hit at the same time. Max out  Refraction and  Meld simultaneously. Although, don't forget to grab a second level of  Psi Blades to land your  Meld strikes better as  Templar Assassin's range is still pitiful with a level one  Psi Blades.

 Traps will be your best friend from level 6 and onward. This will prevent you from being ganked and even turn their gank against them if you have back-up. Always have at least 1 trap in or outside the Roshan lair; especially if there is an  Ursa in the opponent team. You can kill him or anyone else, plus you can steal the  Aegis of the Immortal.

Communicate with your supports and especially if you're ganking. They'll be the essential core setters of the gank, as most supports have at least 1 disable/slow/stun. After they have disabled the enemy, you pop  Refraction and quickly land a  Meld strike. The damage output is very high and  Meld's armor reduction is applied before the strike hits. If you think that s/he can still survive the gank after the duration of the disable is over, slow him down with your  Trap.

Do not try to tower dive the enemy even if your opponent is slowed by your  Trap unless you are sure you can come out alive. Even with a level 2-3  Refraction, if the enemy has back-up waiting for you to dive in and make a mistake or if s/he has a stun, you're in for some real trouble bro.

When the late game comes
You'll be on your own
They are frightened of
My skills to kill their supports
When the late game comes
late game comes, when the late game comes
As my medley says, your role in the late game is to kill their supports. Most initiators are basically supports (i.e.  Tidehunter). After you get rid of their supports before a clash starts, either the clash will be delayed until the initiators respawn or you won their failed clash. Space will be created for you either way to push their towers down. Your  Desolator will be melting those tower in a matter of seconds.
Tips in Laning:

Denying the creep with your  Refraction on will not use up the charge. Use this to your advantage and either try to last hit with  Psi Blades and/or harass the opponent and deny their farm and xp gain.

Do not get too overconfident with your  Refraction and  Meld.

Remember to always place traps between your lane and the runes, this way you can be the winner in a race to get maybe a double damage rune or haste rune. Who knows, you might turn the race to a kill you can get. This will also provide vision that can prevent an upcoming gank.

Carry a  Dust of Appearance if you're planning to gank a lane with an invi hero like  Nyx Assassin, Riki,  Mirana so on and so forth to secure the kill and not let them escape.

Do not, I repeat, do not buy a  Gem of True Sight unless you have take out 2 of their barracks or tier 3 towers at least. The lost of a gem means the 900 gold you (or your support) bought will turn into nothing.

Do not solo-gank early game.

Zeus'  Lightning Bolt reveals you in your meld for a brief moment like all other invisible buff.

 Keeper of the Light's  Blinding Light removes  Meld.

 Drow Ranger's  Gust silences you and removes  Meld.

Any repositioning skill will remove  Meld.

If you cannot secure the kill, don't bother chasing and just go back to farming your lane.

 Trap are seen with Sentry wards and  Gem of True Sight.

Each  Trap give 1 gold bounty when destroyed.


Bottle crow when you fail to get the runes. Do it often as the side lane shops have most of the early game items needed for the safe and off-lane heroes.

KNOWING WHEN TO GANK OR NOT

Lanaya is also labeled both a carry and a roamer. She gets her bounty mostly from side lane enemies; meaning she ganks pretty often to get her items faster. Basically, you start ganking when you reach level 6. Most other players however can even gank without reaching level 6. Was the gank a coincidence? Sheer luck? Or skill?

It will be either your teammate ganking mid for you or you gank their lanes.

Ganking is generally leaving your lane to aid the side lanes in killing their enemies. Technically you'd get the kill since you bothered to help; you earned it, but even the assist gold is worth it to get that  Desolator much faster.

Feel free to gank when

Your team's lanes are pushed back but yours is quite pushed in.
They are having trouble against the harass and cannot farm well.
The hero they chose have a few set of stuns, slows and disables.
You have nothing else to do and want a number in your kills.

I learned most about ganking from this Youtube vid over here and I suggest watching it.


Now you should always gank as a mid hero. Even heroes like  Puck,  Shadow Fiend and  Storm Spirit will always casually roam and gank. When your teammates ask for a gank, do not deny. They will be more determined in getting rid of the opponent than you are.
Do not waste time sitting in the jungle waiting for the enemy to make the slightest mistake. The time will be better wasted farming mid lane and denying the mid laner their gold and xp.

Also as much as possible, do not cross the rivers when trying to gank. Invisibility is also a key factor when ganking. This is because the river will usually be warded always. nonetheless their jungle will also be warded especially when playing safe. I suggest getting or having:
 Smoke of Deceit
 Shadow Blade
 Rune of Invisibility

ITEM BUILDS

Early (Bottle Rush)

Early Game

Post (1-10 mins)

Mid Game (Your show time)

Late Game

Rejected

DENDI TEMPLAR ASSASIN PRO GAMEPLAY & DECISION MAKING

Alchemist Guide Dota 2

Alchemist

(Razzil Darkbrew)

The sacred science of Chymistry was a Darkbrew family tradition, but no Darkbrew had ever shown the kind of creativity, ambition, and recklessness of young Razzil. However, when adulthood came calling he pushed aside the family trade to try his hand at manufacturing gold through Alchemy. In an act of audacity befitting his reputation, Razzil announced he would transmute an entire mountain into gold. Following two decades of research and spending and preparation, he failed spectacularly, quickly finding himself imprisoned for the widespread destruction his experiment wrought. Yet Razzil was never one to take a setback lightly, and sought escape to continue his research. When his new cellmate turned out to be a fierce ogre, he found just the opportunity he needed. After convincing the ogre not to eat him, Razzil set about carefully concocting a tincture for it to drink, made from the molds and mosses growing in the prison stone work. In a week’s time, it seemed ready. When the ogre drank the potion, it flew into an unstoppable berserker rage, destroying the cell bars and exploding through walls and guards alike. They soon found themselves lost somewhere in the forest surrounding the city with a trail of wreckage in their wake and no signs of pursuit. In the tonic’s afterglow, the ogre seemed serene, happy, and even eager. Resolving to work together, the pair set off to collect the materials needed to attempt Razzil’s alchemical transmutation once more.

INTRODUCTION

So, Alchemist, even in the current meta where he has the 2nd lowest win rate (40%) is still my favourite hero. To jump into it, why am I writing this guide?

Firstly
-I think his loss rate is unfairly low due to everyone going "yea, alch gets 400g off first bounty rune and can buy people Aghanims Sceptre, I'm going to pick him" (ie they don't actually know how to play him, but pick him anyway). This is obviously not the best of thing to do. I hope that most/all of the people reading this do a bit of reading about a hero before playing them, at least before playing ranked! Hopefully, this guide will help those who are wanting to start playing alch as a first position, and maybe even those who already do will learn something.

Secondly
, and just as important, is that people don't know when to pick him/don't have a team who knows how to play with an alch. This point I will discuss in depth later in the guide.

And lastly,
I want to provide suggestions of when to go certain items. Alch, as with most heroes, item order/final items should be determined by how the game is going and the composition of the teams. I can only assume people who automatically go for  Hand of Midas and  Shadow Blade despite the other team having great late game or your own team having invis heroes, respectively, are not playing to the game conditions! Another reason for his low win rate.

This guide is for building alch as a first position safe lane carry.
Why? Because when you play him with the right team (again, I get into this more later) I play him as a snowball hero. You want to farm quickly and hopefully come online in a decent way at 20 mins, which is earlier than a lot of other heroes. It's still important, and best, to continue farming after this, but you can kill heroes quickly at this point and contribute to the team. For your information, Alchemist is one of the highest GPM among the flash farmers (Such as Shadow Fiend, Storm Spirit, Naga Siren).

PRO & CONS

Pros:
+really fun, unique hero to play
+Fast farmer-VERY fast
+Large +very good AOE spell
+Great stun
+very strong mid game potential: can snowball easily.
+gets more out of plus attack speed items then any other hero (important point)

Cons:
-Horrible stat gain
-Terrible armour (important for who is good against alch)
-Heavily dependant on ult (it is **** when it is on cd and a big fight happens)-> as a side not, always think about this when aegis drops! Most of the time even a farmed alch will just die if he has already used ult so normally best to give to someone who will be more productive when coming back alive.)
-Can stun yourself (hey, its part of what makes alch fun right?)
-Very item dependant- An alch without items is a liability to the team.
-Very dependant on ult- for 20 secs you are not nearly as useful

LANING STAGE

As said in the introduction this guide is for playing alch as the safe lane carry. In saying that when the enemy has an uber strong offlane and a weak safelane consider asking someone from the offlane to swap with you. Don't stress too much if you're having a bad early game as as soon as you get  Maelstrom your farming speed increases a lot and, hopefully, if they are focussing on shutting you down this means that your cores are getting a lot of farm and will create space for you to farm in mid game. I had a game like this last week and we ended up winning.

Laning is pretty simple: go safe lane with a support.
->The big thing here is that you don't want to be aggressive. You want your support to keep the enemies off you and for you just to focus on getting the last hits. I often get annoyed when my support rages at me because they think you should go in and be aggressive. Why not do this? multiple reasons.

Firstly
as said you want to farm. If you try and kill a hero and don't get it chances are you are missing creeps, and therefore gold.

Secondly
lets say you do get the enemy hero, and hopefully you've even been the one to get the kill. Chances are you've taken a reasonable amount of damage and used quite a bit of mana. This will affect your laning as when the enemy comes back they will try and kill you. You will have to spend money on consumables, and time spent away from the creeps.

Thirdly
with the recommended skill build you will only have 1 level on acid and 1 on stun. This means that unless your support has a stun or can dish out heavy damage quickly you really aren't likely to get a kill. So why bother (going back to the first point and second point) decreasing your farm and having your laning ability compromised.

Important disclaimer:
USE YOUR DISCRETION!!!
If you can get a kill, DO SO!!! The point here is that you must use your head and not just go "o yea, the support wants to go, sure!" You're playing your hero, not them! You won't have level 2 stun until level 8, so chances are you won't be getting a lot of kills/any before this. If your support is amazing or you are having ganks from your team hopefully you will manage to get a few which is icing on the cake.

Carry a TP, and when you have your  Maelstrom if the lane is pushed go jungle until its back to your tower. If you can you want to try stack a couple of neutral camps early, or even better politely ask your support to. Try and have your bonus gold at 36g/creep when you take out the stack as then if its say 10 creep you get not only however much gold you get but also 360g, which at 10 mins is a very nice bonus. The small camp is good to do this in as even with acid and maelstrom it is difficult to take out large camps stacked early.
Note:you don't particularly want to be stacking in the first few minutes as you won't be taking it for a while and if the enemy gets them this is counter productive. Start stacking when you are going to have  Maelstrom in a few minutes.

Once you have  Phase Boots and  Maelstrom, preferably by 10 minutes, you are able to jungle efficiently. At this point I attack the lane creeps (rather than only last hitting, but still ensuring I get the last hit) so that my farming speed increases and then when the lane is pushed I jungle until it is back to the tower. This maximizes your GPM.

Just 4 final point on how to maximize jungling:
-Alch is great for stacking camps as you can attack 1 camp, and then quickly use acid on another. This will maximize your farm and is something most other jingling heroes can't do.
-When attacking the troll camp you want to kill the small ones first as then the large one will summon skeletons. While everyone else only gets about 8g each from these skeletons you hopefully will get 36g each.
-Really do try and maximize how fast you take out a camp. What I mean here is you want to take out the large creep and let maelstroms lightning largely kill the smaller ones. This is especially so for golems as after killing one when you move onto the other large golem your lightning will kill the smaller 2 just produced. Again, you get a significant amount more gold from small creeps than other junglers.
-And, lastly, use Mjolnirs active to help you farm. It increases your lightning damage a lot and so your farming speed. This is especially useful against stacked camps. Also, use this active when you go back into lane and take out the large waves. ALWAYS TRY AND MAXIMIZE YOUR FARMING!

An example of why snowball alchemist is so crazy. Important point here is that its the supports who have done all the work by stacking for alchemist. Talk to your supports, get them to stack for you. If you can take out a couple of early quad stacks you will make a large impact very early.

ITEM BUILDS AND REJECTED ITEMS

As previously mentioned this is one of the large motivating factors for writing this guide.  Alchemist should be played depending on the team compositions as well as change during the game depending on how it is going. In saying that I have certain items I try and reach before 20 mins as I find having a target to work towards help me play and creates a more objective measurement of how the game is going rather than simply "its going good" or "its going bad". Although not central to alch I would suggest trying the same thing on any hero you play a lot as then you can make those goals harder to reach as you get better. This section won't so much have a strict build (at least after 20 mins it won't) but rather explain when to and just as importantly not to get certain items

 Hand of Midas
One of those controversial items, especially on someone who has so much gold already.

-I recommend only getting this if you will finish it by 6 minutes at the latest. I optimally try and have it at 4 minutes which if your lane isn't hard and you got the first bounty (mmm 400g) isn't hard to do. I love when the enemy has a solo offlane and I have a strong support as this becomes easy to do and it sky rockets your GPM and also levels. If you didn't get the first bounty you probably don't want to be going for this unless you are basically free farming.


-When NOT to get this? I see alchs all the time getting this at 8+ mins which is too late I think. Rather get your boots which increase your survivability and ability to kill and be working towards  Maelstrom

Probably my preferred item to go after Mjolnier and  Boots of Travel as with these items you can solo kill most heroes if you can catch them away from their allies. Especially good if the enemy has 1 particular hero you need to be shutting down,(especially early BKB builders) but is just really helpful for guaranteeing kills eg any hero pushing the safe lane by themselves (or just in the lane actually) you can pop outta the jungle and kill them without them having much chance of getting away. If my team is going strong/I don't need BKB yet I just prefer to buy it while moneys not an option. When the enemy carry/s come online in a big way it is hard to farm that 3.8K in one go so yea, generally just get it if I can. In saying this, please, if you need it/am going to need in soon, get BKB first. (final 6).

 Satanic
I really like this item on alch as you gives you massive lifesteal which vastly increases your survivability. If you want to go toe-to-toe with another farmed carry you really need this otherwise your health will just disappear. Goes really well with BKB as you pop both BKB and  Satanic and the enemy will have real problems taking you down and you will be doing large amounts of damage. As far as orb effects go this is the best one for alch (final 6)
->yes, Mjolnir is an orb effect. When your lightning PROCs you won't lifesteal on that attack

Heart of tarasque
Gives you a hell of a lot more HP, and some damage. I don't normally get this on alch as you don't need the regen but more because I prefer satanic and generally you don't need both. When to get this?
->A good example from a game I played yesterday: The enemy  Lina went straight for [{Aghanims Sceptre]] and and they also had a  Juggernaut. When she got her aghs I had my BKB already but only about 1500 health. This meant that Lina could just chuck her ult at me and do almost 700 damage through my BKB (she only had lvl 2 ult) leaving me just over half health. Further,  Juggernaut could just omnislash me and probably just that alone would kill me if I took all the hits. I didn't like the thought of this so I got a heart so that my HP would increase massively. Why not satanic, seeing as it gives HP also? It doesn't give enough, and having lifesteal isn't going to matter if you don't get to actually attack anyone.
-Just to give another example if someone casts a disable through your BKB you need to live through that spell before you can do anything, and heart is good for this.
-Definitely not a bad item for alch, and if you're having trouble surviving big ults this is probably the item you want to go

 Assault Cuirass
I don't get this one as much as a lot of other alch players who seem to have it as part of their core alch build. I find this more of a situational build/after I consume a Nightshard. If the enemy has big physical ults such as omni-slash  Death Ward or  Exorcism I will get this early, perhaps even before a BKB. Alch has terrible armor and so really needs an AC against such spells. It ends up in my final 6 a reasonable amount just to give me a bit more protection from enemy carries right click damage such as  Phantom Assassin  Troll Warlord  Wraith King etc. If the enemy doesn't have big physical ults or their position 1 is more magic oriented I wouldn't bother getting this.

 Radiance
Geese, what a greedy alchy this makes.
Hope your team is able to cope! The only reason I get this occasionally is if the enemy has 3+ heroes who are will get/have blink. A couple of days ago I played a game where the enemy had a  Crystal Maiden [{Earth Shaker]] and  Shadow Fiend so I decided to build a  Radiance. When did I get it? After my  Maelstrom, I think I ended up finishing it just at 20 minutes. Why so early? If you're going to build a rad you may as well build it early and utilize the increase in farming speed it provides. It took me all of a couple minutes to finish my Mjolnir after I got this. Its a great item, especially now that it has a miss chance associated with it, but unless the enemy have blinkers its just not worth it as it is difficult to save 3.8K early and your team will have to work all the harder. Especially good against  Templar Assassin as its ticks get [{Refraction]] and also stops her blinking. Don't be that guy who farms a rad thinking this makes you a hero killer and run out of jungle and die.

 Orchid Malevolence
I know, seems like a really weird item for Alch. The good thing about it is that it give you a decent amount of AS, +damage, mana regen so you can cast your spells however much you want and a good active. You would consider getting this item when the enemy is packed full of heroes who are dependant on spells for kills or getting away. This include  Juggernaut Queen of PainPriestess of the moon Storm Spirit Faceless Void etc etc. Its actually really effective for this! The problem is that it doesn't maximize your farm speed as much as other items and you need to make it early for it to be effective as otherwise people will have Manta, BKB, or Euls.

 Silver Edge
I've never actually gotten this item for alch as I play him as a farmer and this doesn't do much in that area. In saying that  Silver Edge is a whole heap better than the  Shadow Blade everyone seemed to get alch as it provides more strength and the backstab also causes a damage reduction which is wicked. You generally get this as your first item but without maelstrom your farming speed wont be as high as it should. You farm fast after maelstrom though so you could go this as a 2nd item rather. Also, there's the fact that people can buy dust and sents and set you up for an easy death. With SB now being upgradeable though it is a much better item.

 Daedalus
Obviously goes well with your AS and you normally end up with pretty good damage too so critz are nice. I used to not get it simply because in your final 6 items there are other things you need more but after consuming a Nightshard so that your AS is high this woulb be like icing on the cake. Definitely should be considered as possible 7th item rather than 6th I think.

Moonshard
More of a luxury item, usually after you are 6 slotted. It gives you a massive AS boost but if you need generally need other items items before this ie-Mjolnir and  Abyssal Blade so you have something to PROC,  Satanic for tankness + survivability, BKB so you don't just get disabled and killed, and generally your last slot is needed for AC, MKB, or HoT. Not that you can't get it as your final 6th as you've got some nice PROC effects and a reasonable amount of tankness already.

REJECTED ITEMS

 Solar Crest when playing position 1 and wanting to farm this isn't the best item. In other instances it may be good, but not for this alch.

 Mask of Madness
This used to be my favourite first item when alch got extra HP from his ult. Now you are too squishy and nukes can kill you easily if you have a MoM activated. For a melee squishy hero it just make you too vulnerable now.

 Battle Fury
I've tested this and with the increased time it take to make this over  Maelstrom its not worth it.  Maelstrom is the farming item of choice for alch due to his high chance of PROCing lightning. You will be able to take out stacks earlier with maelstrom meaning that your can get other items faster than if you waited to get BF. Further, Maelstrom upgrades to an item, mjolnir, which is simply amazing on alch and, as mentioned, the active is incredible for taking out stacks.
-> In the PR vs alliance game recently PR went for a BF. So why on earth am I telling you to not build BF? I'm assuming people reading this guide aren't in teams which were in qualifiers for TI15. In that game the alch had not only a BF but also phase boots by 10 minutes (even with a death). Since this game most of the alchs I have seen have been building BF instead of maelstrom, but they only finish their BF at 16+ minutes and only have boots of speed. There's obviously a difference between the general player and professionals so please don't try and emulate them. Go for maelstrom by 10 mins and your farm speed will be huge and you can build this into a mjolnir which is great on alch. You do not need a Midas, BF, and Mjolnir as I see some alchs trying to do.
->Personally even if I can get BF really early I'd rather spend the extra 1125g for a Mjolnir and get a whisker under half the damage but also +80% AS (which is what alch wants), an awesome passive and active (very strong in early game). The mana and HP regen isn't an important factor for alch although obviously it does help a little.

 Vanguard
This guide isn't for a position 1 alch. It doesn't increase your farm at all so don't get it.

 Armlet of Mordiggian
Armlet is good on alch if you aren't first position. However, the point of Armlet is that it be gotten early and yet it doesn't increase your farm speed. With the damage you take from armlet and the creeps you won't be able to take out as many camps which is what you want to maximize.

Heavens Halberd
Again, a good strength hero item but not for a farmer. It doesn't increase your farm speed at all compared to the other items listed so when your wanting to farm its not productive.

Just a quick mention, I aim to be 6 slotted, preferably with level 2 BoTs, by 40-45 mins. Everything after this is like Icing on the cake; If you haven't already (chances are you won't have if your 6 slotted at 40 mins) buy people aghs and also yourself a Nightshard. Usually by 50 mins I end up being fully 6 slotted with a consumed nightshard and have either bought a aghs or be very near to one. Since I have started playing alch as a hardcore first position hero I haven't had games go for an hour as you are able to end by 50ish minutes, usually getting a rax quite a bit earlier. Don't over-extend, just get the rax and fall back. You have a huge advantage at this point which shouldn't be thrown away!
-> Just had a game that went 55 minutes. I ended up with level 2  Boots of Travel Satanic Monkey King Bar(the had a troll and riki) Abyssal BladeMjolnir Black King Bar A consumed Nightshard and had given away 2 Aghanims Sceptre and finished the game with 5K (I could have bought another sceptre). Effectively, I was 10 slotted at 55 minutes and this is the sort of game you want.
-Also, My highest GPM game was with alch at 1137. I was fully 6 slotted at 30 minutes with my final score being 9-0-9. I've only had 3 games with over 1000GPM but they have all been with alch and all since the last patch. I have quite a lot of 900GPM games with him.

ALCHEMIST AGHANIM'S SCEPTER

Wouldn't be much of a guide if I didn't talk about this!! Its definitely an AMAZING change to alch, but I think due to this change people are playing alch more and not understanding the hero. Just because you can buy aghs for people now doesn't mean alch must now be played more as a support, or that you even have to buy people aghs until you yourself are fully 6 slotted!!!

-I generally don't buy this for anyone else until I am 4 slotted and have a  Skull Basher (IE, I have 1 more slot and need to finish abyssal). Even at this point I may well finish my abyssal or get my 6th slot full. Your farm is more important and once you have this many slots you will be the target in team fights. Because of this its important you can either survive or kill a few heroes/the enemy carry before you do. If YOU don't have items than you aren't going to be able to do this and

ALLLLL
that farming you've done is for nothing as you will just die. DON'T FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO BUY THIS AT ANY POINT BEFORE YOU ARE 6 SLOTTED OR VERY CLOSE TO!

->When do I buy it earlier? This is equally as important as telling you to focus on yourself.
-When you have awesome ults on your team that benefit from it. Obvious inclusions here are  Lina ZeusWarlock Witch DoctorOmni Knight Sand KingEarth Shaker etc. Note, this can actually be particularly important if your team is losing earlier and the enemy is trying to take a T3. If you already aren't dying and are being effective bulking up someone else's ult may actually be better. Its really hard to push into a big AOE around 30 minutes. I know what you're thinking, "but you said only pick alch when you will be doing good mid game, why would you be struggling?" It's as simple as people fail in DotA all the time. If your mid or offlaner did **** in their lanes they won't be contributing much and your team will be in trouble. Do what's best for the team: if buying someone else and aghs will contribute more than you getting another item, do so.

-The same holds true for when the enemy is carry heavy and your team has been owning them. Don't muck around, you want to end the game or at least get a rax and not even chance them coming back (especially important when your team has lots of streaks going-if the enemy carry gets a double kill on you guys it can give them enough money to come online in a big way). In such situations you may again want to buy someone an aghs. The heroes mentioned previously can help get a rax a lot easier with an aghs at 25 minutes than an alch having another item. If you have your Mjolnir  Skull Basher and an  Ogre Club just after 20 minutes and your team is doing really well before your even online seriously consider getting an aghs to improve a big hitting ult. If they are managing to own as 4 then chances are with you having a lot of farm (compared to the enemy carries who have been put down by your team) and a big ult with an aghs you will be able to take a T3 and maybe even a rax. Biggest thing here is not to over extend. If they fort and use their ults and the fight isn't going as well as you'd like fall back, heal up, and go again. As said, the last thing you want to be doing is giving away kills.

So, all in all use your discretion. Remember it is a team game and that in some situations it is best for the team to buy someone an aghs while at other points its not. The simplest way to think about it is if your already effective in team fights it may be best to buff up an ally than to buy yourself items.


O, and lastly, as mentioned previously alch is a liability to the team with no farm. This is why I don't like alch being played as a support aghs giver. If you are support you aren't going to have items and so your farm speed will be slow, meaning it will take a long time to farm an aghs. Then when you give your hard earned aghs away you will have nothing and, as said, be a liability. Alch is item dependant and so if you have no items you aren't going to be doing a lot at all, your farming is slow, and you will be a bloody easy kill. Even if you aren't position 1 you should really be position 2 or 3 as this will allow you to get enough farm that you have enough of your own items to have an impact wile still being able to buy aghs.

Naga Siren Guide Dota 2

 Naga Siren (Slithice)

Among the high-sworn of the Slithereen Guard there is a solemn vow oft repeated before battle: No Slithereen may fail. In truth, these words are equal parts oath and enforceable covenant, for those who fall short of their duty are banished from the order. To fail is to be other than Slithereen.

Once most highly esteemed of her race, Slithice for many years commanded a battalion of her fellows, using her formidable voice as her greatest weapon. Powerful, sinuous, serpentine, she lead her deadly Guard in defense of the Deep Ones, and the great wealth of the sunken cities. But in the final battle of Crey her forces were driven back by a marauding army of levianths intent on finding tribute for their god Maelrawn. After the long and bloody onslaught, as the bodies were cleared from the sunken halls, a single jeweled chalice was found missing from the trove. Of her hundred Guard, only a handful survived, but their bravery and sacrifice was of little consequence. What mattered was that the treasure was taken. Honor destroyed. And so Naga Siren was cast out. Banished to search for the stolen chalice. Though she might add a hundred times her weight to the golden trovem she is doomed to live apart until that day she returns that which was taken. For no amount of gold is equal in honor to the honor she lost.

I write guides here and can be found streaming at http://www.hashd.tv/sp12; if you have any questions/comments feel free to post at either. I'm often on the first 10 pages of matchmaking, so you might see me there.

This is a set of builds for  Naga Siren. I love illusion based heroes, and Siren is one of the more versatile ones. Each build gets it's own minisection for you to check out, so consider this an anti-alt-tab guide. They are sourced from the various Dota scenes and my personal experience. The formatting for this guide is matched heavily with my  Faceless Void guide, which you can check out if you play him.

Naga Siren is one of the most versatile heroes in the game. No matter how you slice her (stats, skills, armor/movespeed, ultimate, utility) she is a fantastic hero capable of fulfilling any role from 1-5.

As a hero Siren has two areas that need focusing -- serious mana issues and stacking stats/HP for her illusions. Teams build her a lot of different ways, which I'll try to cover in rough order of popularity. She used to be ran as a teamfight carry with Linkens, then as a hard carry, and is now run almost always as a support. This isn't to say that she's not an excellent carry -- she is.

Siren is relatively tanky (2.3 strength gain on an agility carry, 5 starting armor, easy get-out-of-jail-free ulti, illusions to dodge/confuse stuns), a strong pusher/teamfighter with an awesome setup/getaway ulti, and a great laner. She has a very strong single target initiation in the form of  Ensnare, which helps secure early kills and makes her an effective  Blink/invis/BKB hero counter. She's a hero that not only likes level 16 but has the stats and scaling to take it to 25.

Note that for time calculations this guide assumes around ~350 gold per minute. Early less is expected and later more, but this will help you identify the time constraints you're under for certain builds without having to run them multiple times. Siren can farm multiple camps at once/plus lanes with ease via  Mirror Image with some basic attack move and  Rip Tide micro, so expect literally insane gold per minute after 25 minutes.

Another important note is that skill and item build are not a one-size deal. If you go mid a bottle would make sense. If you're getting free farm in lane and your team is pushing heavily maybe early image levels should take priority; maybe you need stats early against a trilane or a single mirror image early against a  Sven to dodge storm hammer. There isn't a way for me to offer alternative skill builds, but know that you can be successful with many different ones as all of siren's skills are fantastic.

I'm not going to list out skills/whatnot, there's a lot of excellent videos and replays of how to play Siren. An easy way to get better is to watch replays on player perspective -- filter recent games for Naga Siren and very high skill level. I will cover some of the points I don't see people execute consistently, even at higher levels.
Beware the cleave and AoE. Leshrac and Tiny are pretty decent counters for having stuns as well as AoE
Ensnare is one of the few skills that goes through BKB. It also interrupts channeling spells, making it super great against heroes like  Enigma or Lycanthrope that rely on magic immunity to make the most of their ultimate. Another important note is that it prevents heroes from going invisible, but is disjointable by going invisible before it latches
Your combo is image->ensnare->rip tide, not ensnare->image->rip tide. Ensnare has a long duration but the transformation time on images is significant
Speaking of transformation time you can dodge stuns/hits pretty easily with it
Your ult leaves them invulnerable for ~.1 seconds after they have control of their hero, meaning anyone with a BKB or blink is going to dodge any sort of non BKB-penetrating combo/initiation done with your song. It's not that good for initiating as they get a heads up as well
If anyone on the enemy team pops BKB in a teamfight pop  Song of the Siren and ensare them. They are now playing 5v1 as their team sits there slept
Net works on courier. If someone is getting an item form a courier in lane you can net it, then sleep them while you kill the courier
Carry a TP scroll. If things look bad you can always sing then TP out (assuming they don't have BKB). This is especially true at level 16 when your ultimate has a 60 second cooldown. At level 6 180 seconds is a big deal, but still better than dying. At level 11 you can basically push out of position and sing when they come to repel you, sort of like how Lycan can split push then ulti away but better
Level one images are really bad except as distractions/scouts/single target spell deterrents/dodgers. They basically become twice as good per skill level
If you're still looking for items after all the items listed  Butterfly,  Eye of Skadi or  Daedalus are the next items, but when games go long enough for you to consider ultra-luxuries at some point you need to stop getting items and start saving for buyback. For most of the game other items will give more survivability/utility/DPS, but evasion, Skadi, and crit obviously start pulling ahead lategame. With Skadi you will slow with your attacks while your illusions retain the manaburn orb.

Gameplay Strategy

Support Build

Overview
The Malaysian scene was the first to run siren as a support, a trend that has spread and become part of the core metagame. It's pretty viable as she has great (BKB penetrating) disable, laning utility, stacking and pushing with illusions, great farming for a support, and the ability to transition into a carry.

Early
Get a support item, not all 3. As a support you should provide your carry with lane presence, harassing, coordinating for kills, and pulling as needed. You will not have many last hits, so consider ganking with your ranged root and AoE gush. First item is either  Arcane Boots or  Urn of Shadows, then the other.

Midgame
You can turn mana regen into farm, something few supports (CM, SD, Lina, Leshrac) can. Make sure you use illusions to scout and net in ganks/teamfights. Your song makes and breaks the midgame. You have pretty good pushing power with illusions, but make sure you're there for fights. Halberd or Necrobook are standout support items that make your illusions tanky while providing lots of utility. Necrobook is more pushy while halberd is more teamfight.

Later
As you get towards lategame you can get Vlads/Diff as you start to rightclick more. Diffusal provides some extra utility with the purge and manaburn but you can grab pure support items here instead, though admittedly Vlads+Diffusal is pretty good.

Linken Rush

Overview
This build rushes Linken's, and was seen dozens of times at TI2. Linken's makes teamfights very difficult to take as you'll always get song off as you want to disrupt or initiate a teamfight, plus it makes your farm very rapid and safe.

Basically it gives you a pretty free license to be out of position split pushing as you just sing tp as soon as they show up and pop your Linkens. If you do notice 3+ heroes miss all you do is leave images to push while you move off map to jungle. Travels are gotten in games where you want to farm/split push incessantly.


Early
The RoH with PMS+6 armor makes you very hard to harass out of lane/lets you jungle freely, and song makes you hard to gank (even at level 6). The buildup to Linken's isn't that great but isn't bad and as soon as it's done you can just start spamming images down lane or in jungle. In classic Chinese style  Hand of Midas can be gotten before you finish Linken's (either after RoH or before if you really forced the offlane solo out).

Later
If you made it to Linken's on either regular boots  Boots of Travel are good for the farm, push, and chasing power they give as illusions don't get the attack speed from  Power Treads only +8 of a stat. Same thing as North American build -- Naga is commonly built towards 3 items lategame -- heart, diffusal, and manta. Linkens+Manta and your illusions make it very risky for the other team to try to use single target disables on you in teamfights.

Radiance Rush

Overview
The most viable carry Siren build right now, a fast radiance on Siren is even more disastrous for the other team as a Battlefury Antimage. Creep waves, neutral camps, and towers melt before your burning illusions


Early
Soul ring is your goto regen item in the current version, though you have to be careful using the active only as needed. You can get arcanes or drums to fill your manapool if you have to do things early, but ideally you'd just sit in lane with a ring of regen and farm a radiance.

Once you have radiance you cna start split pushing, though don't neglect your very strong early contribution from you skills. Song and net make for very strong teamfights, and radiance can stop creep waves from coming in during pushes.

Later
Radiance lets you farm multiple lanes/camps at once, using  Soul Ring to solve your mana issues short term. You won't be spamming rip tide to clear camps, rather just abusing radiance burn. You can just shove (attack-move) illusions down lane and it will require a hero there to stop the lane from pushing.

Farm items and become impossible to deal with.

Vlad's - Armlet Build

Overview
Originally a terrorblade build I faced in a clanmatch, I've recently seen this exact build on a quite a few agility carries --  Spectre,  Anti-Mage, even  Juggernaut. I think it was originally inspired by  Chaos Knight's build. This build focuses on a weird item for an agility carry --  Armlet of Mordiggian. It actually makes use of three of the most cost efficient items in the game (armlet, Vlad's, drums) to give you a strong midgame with a good lategame transition. Armlet/drums have solid synergy with Siren. Her built-in illusions benefit from armlet health and drum aura -- activate your armlet before you split! Vlads is good for teamfighting early as always, but this build does not solve your mana issues without arcanes on you and preferably at least one other hero.


Early
HoIW and basilius give you your early game regen, but your goal isn't to farm. Get your core (or even part of it) and start fighting. This build gives a lot of early stats which gives you a pretty strong 12-20 minute timing window to push with team and force teamfights. I get an extra early level of images so I can have them maxed at 10 and not 12.

Later

Manta or heart are the obvious transition out of this, as you'll hopefully be winning teamfights with your Vlad's+Drums aura and armlet illusions. Manta gives you more illusions to benefit from your items while also stacking movespeed and stats for them/you. Heart becomes an awesome endgame item as it lets you leave Armlet on all the time. Diffusal remains relevant as always.

CHOOSE THE BUILD WITH CONSIDERATIONS BELOW

Pick based on the role your team needs you to fill. If you need to be an ultra hard carry go radiance. If you need to go mid pick some modification of the 2nd build. Aggressive trilane carry? Armlet Vlads sounds good. Support? Support.

I can't give you a list of every scenario and every pick, so here's an easy pro/con table for the builds to help you choose.

S u p p o r t

Pros
Ability to farm with mana regen
Amazing skillset
Carry transition
Cons
Not going to get out of control like a carry
Melee
Poor starting int


Linken's

Pros
Early sustain
Annoying split push as soon as you have some levels in mirror image
Comes partially online fast
Moderate buildup
Very strong farming ability
Scales well lategame
Makes you a very resource intensive target to gank/stall ala  Morphling
Stats for illusions
Cons
Requires at least one other item to become a huge presence in fights
Not that fast at farming


Radiance

Pros
Radiance gives insane GPM
Cons
Fragile, all-in early game
Limited early HP


Armlet - Vlad

Pros
Early HP and stats
Good teamfight auras
Comes partially online fast
Easy buildup
Super cost-effective
Benefits illusions well
Great transition into diffusal/manta/heart
Cons
Armlet requires attention to turn off/on
Does not solve mana problems more than partially
Tight on item slots

CONCLUSION

This hero is a has a super fast ability to farm ( Fast as Storm Spirit and Shadow Fiend )after she finishes her Radiance. So there's the most common/effective playstyles for Naga. If you have any questions/comments/criticisms feel free to post them. At the very least I'd like a comment why if you feel like downvoting :P. If you feel it was worth the read a vote up helps get builds seen more, and I certainly would love to see some more non cookie-cutter Sirens.

Arteezy Naga Siren - Pro Gameplay Dota 2

Spectre Guide Dota 2

 Spectre - Mercurial

Just as higher states of energy seek a lower level, the Spectre known as Mercurial is a being of intense and violent energy who finds herself irresistibly drawn to scenes of strife as they unfold in the physical world. While her normal spectral state transcends sensory limitations, each time she takes on a physical manifestation, she is stricken by a loss of self--though not of purpose. In the clash of combat, her identity shatters and reconfigures, and she begins to regain awareness. She grasps that she is Mercurial the Spectre--and that all of her Haunts are but shadows of the one true Spectre. Focus comes in the struggle for survival; her true mind reasserts itself; until in the final moments of victory or defeat, she transcends matter and is restored once more to her eternal form.

Spectre is a hard carry who relies on applying constant pressure on the enemy team with her global presence.

She has the ability to excel in both teamfights and solo pickoffs, all this while having all the free time in the world to farm on her own, since her ultimate allows her to join any fight, anywhere, just by pressing a button.

She is well known for being one of the very best late game heroes in DotA, able to decimate entire teams with the combination of her ultimate, and one of the best scaling abilities in the entire game,  Dispersion. However, she can do much more than simply farm to secure your team's late game.

She is a very versatile carry who can be built in a lot of different ways, and can adapt to almost every situation. She has no rigid item build, and a lot of items are actually surprisingly good on her, giving a lot of room for experimentation, definitely the most fun part about the hero. This adaptability can make her a good pick in many lineups.

Having a very strong mid-game, significantly more so than most hard carries, since she has the ability to have high damage and chasing power even without items...her ability to gank and teamfight even early into the game should never be underestimated.

Pros:

+ One of the hardest carries in the game. A farmed Spectre can almost win teamfights 1 vs 5
+ Fairly tanky.  Dispersion makes survivability items scale really well on her
+ Global presence. Can jump instantly on any enemy hero!
+ Lots of free time to farm thanks to  Haunt
+ Good ganker
+ Great teamfighter
+ Can initiate teamfights. Good synergy with other AOE initiators.
+ Counters enemy initiation (disables  Blink Daggers)
+  Desolate is the strongest attack modifier for illusions in the game
+ Can be played both as a farmer and as a ganker. Great balance between fighting and farming, since she can farm and look for kills at the same time with her ultimate.
+ Doesn't need a lot of time to come online. Already very strong in the early-mid game with limited farm thanks to Desolate and Dagger
+ No, seriously, doesn't need to farm for 35 minutes to be useful. Can contribute a lot to early teamfights and defend against early push attempts. Perfectly viable as a mid-game fighting carry.

Cons:

- Terrible lane presence. Can't do much in lane besides farming...or at least trying to.
- Needs a lot of babysitting from supports to secure your early farm in lane - don't expect much of that in pubs.
- Extremely easy to shut down in lane (e.g aggressive trilanes)
- Gank magnet
- Level-dependent (needs fast level 10)
- Bad agility gain. Weak right-click without Desolate (luckily she doesn't rely on it)
- Has no hard disable. Gets easily kited by mobile heroes
-  Desolate bonus damage is unreliable, and easily countered (e.g illusion heroes).
- Slow farmer without an (expensive) farming item
- Long cooldown on ultimate (2 minutes).  Haunt cooldown can make you vulnerable to 5-man pushes (luckily pubs suck at pushing)
- Partially countered by  Black King Bar / magic immunity in general

Early Game

Purchase Below 8 mins

Early Regen Item (Choose One)

Boots Of Choice :

Purchase if you are able to pick off some kills in the early game and for solo kills.

Purchase for faster jungling and teamfighting.

Early Tank Item (Choose One)

Core (Mid Game, Get ASAP)

Late Game Options

World Best Spectre - Badman 8.2k MMR Spectre Spammer