Analysis: Supports That Scale Well

Heroes peak at different times during the game. If a hero does a flat amount of damage, then odds are they will peak earlier than a hero that scales with items or deals percent based damage.

Many support heroes peak early and tend to feel less useful as the game draws out. The effects of their spells (e.g. stuns, slows) are still useful, but the damage is not. This can be a problem in many pub games because you may or may not be able to rely on the 4 players that chose carry heroes.

Not all the heroes here may come across as support heroes, but they certainly can be played that way. For example, Mirana is a very versatile hero. She can semi-carry, but she can also be useful as a roaming support.

The main distinction I want to make here is that:

• Yes, stuns and silences are useful throughout the game
• No, 125 damage nukes are not useful late game
• Yes, supports are incredibly useful
• No, not all supports have enough impact in a pub setting to really help carry a team

Listed below are supports that can DPS pretty hard at any point in the game. They aren't just one-hit wonders (see: Tidehunter), they aren't just crowd control in the late game (e.g. Shadow Shaman). These are supports that can step up and semi-carry if needed, or be a main damage contributor in a small skirmish or full on team fight.

 

Heroes Generally Picked as Support

 

Shadow Demon

Shadow Demon might be the best scaling support right now. Disruption is powerful throughout the game because the Illusion damage scales as the heroes get more powerful. It's also a spell that can be a powerful anti-initiation tool. If your carry is caught out, you can disrupt them as the team comes to back you up, giving all your allies extra time to react.

Likewise, Soul Catcher deals bonus damage based on how much damage the target takes. As your allies become more powerful, so does this spell.

Shadow Poison is not to be scoffed at either. With just 4 stacks (at level 4), it can deal 520 damage. It has a short cooldown and gives vision as it moves, making it excellent for scouting.

Lastly, Demonic Purge is useful as a slow and buff removal at any point in the game. It's also a massive nuke at the end of the duration.

 

Leshrac

Though he's mostly magic damage (Edict is composite), Leshrac is still able to output a phenomenal amount of damage during team fights.

His stun is useful at any point in the game. Lightning isn't the best spell, but it still deals a ton of damage (over many targets). Edict is great for pushing at any point in time and allows him to contribute to fights even if the target is magic immune.

Most of his scaling comes from his ult. It deals a lot of damage, is spammable, great for team fights or pushing.

 

Vengeful Spirit

Vengeful Spirit's claims to late game scaling are in her Command Aura and Netherswap. The aura provides a massive boost to base damage (i.e. comes from your primary stat), making her an invaluable asset in team fights.

Netherswap can be used in a multitude of ways. She can sacrifice herself to save a more important ally that was initiated on, help set up fights, secure kills, etc.

Her other spells are powerful, but lose potency in late game. Wave of Terror is always great for the armor debuff, and as a scouting tool. Likewise, a stun is nothing to be scoffed at.

Lastly, as an AGI hero, she naturally gains some ability to DPS.

 

Enchantress

Her main areas of scaling come from Impetus and Untouchable. Impetus is not necessarily the best damage dealing spell in the game, but dealing pure damage (ignores armor) is always useful. Untouchable is also a great attribute of Enchantress, though she is lacking in HP.

The other spells she has drop off a bit, especially her healing wisps. They're still useful, but the heal is just not as good. Likewise, her ability to Enchant creeps (or slow an opponent) can still add to the team, but not as much as they do early game. Well timed Enchants of a creep like a wolf (i.e. crit aura) can be incredibly helpful. The slow is ok, but is less useful once the game shifts to mostly team fights.

 

Lina

Lina works great in late game for a lot of reasons. Her spells all have short cooldowns, allowing her to spam a lot of magic damage. Due to Fiery Soul, this in turn allows her to do some serious auto-attack damage.

Because many of her spells are AoE, she is able to do a lot of damage when you total it across multiple targets. The AoE component of her spells also allows her to push creep waves and defend towers very well.

Heroes The Can Be Support

 

Nature's Prophet

Prophet's scaling comes largely from his ability to farm quickly and his global presence. He can push very well and contribute to team fights from anywhere on the map with his ult.

 

Naga Siren

Naga has a versatile skill set all around. She is able to DPS well, being an AGI hero that has Illusions. Riptide also lowers armor.

Her Illusions can be used to push lanes and scout safely. Also, Net is a very useful lockdown throughout the game.

Lastly, her ult is a great asset in either initiating or escaping.

 

Mirana

Mirana is very similar to Naga. Her skillset is useful in a variety of ways. Though the damage from her spells wears thin over time, her ult is incredibly useful throughout the game. Leap can be a great escape, but it also can be useful in teamfights for increasing nearby allies' move and attack speed. Her stats allow her to scale into a semi-carry if needed as well.

 

Pugna

Though Netherblast doesn't deal much damage late game, it can be useful in pushing.

His scaling comes from his other three spells. Decrepify helps him deal more damage. Netherward is useful if dropped at the right time because it can decimate heroes with large mana consumption.

Pugna's ult is really what drives his scaling. While it's active, he can DPS as hard as a late game carry. With Aghanim's Scepter, his ult has no cooldown.

On a side note, as of the writing of this entry, Pugna has the highest INT gain in the game (I believe 4.0/level). While he may not have the attack speed naturally, his base damage is incredibly high in late game.

 

Sven

While generally played as a carry, Sven can fill the role of support due to his outstanding AoE Stun.


Given that he can be played as a carry, it's understandable that he scales well into the late game. This is from his Cleave and Ult, that allow him to output mass amounts of physical damage.

 

Scale Very Well, But Not The Best

 

Tidehunter

In late game, Tidehunter does predominantly become a one-hit-wonder (i.e. go in, ult, and then do whatever for the rest of the team fight), he can still contribute due to Anchor Smash. It's a small, but decent nuke in an AoE that also reduces attack damage of those affected. Gush can also be useful because it reduces armor.

 

Sand King

Similar to Tidehunter, Sand King becomes a bit of a one-hit-wonder. However, Caustic Finale can output a ton of damage late game in quite a large area of effect. It's a great spell for pushing and for fighting near creep waves.

 

Enigma

Enigma is on par with Tidehunter and Sand King. In late game, he's mainly there for his ultimate. However, Midnight Pulse deals percent based damage, making it a lot more deadly than many expect.

Eidelons are still useful, but become increasing more of a liability and source of free income for opponents.

Nyx Assassin

Nyx is able to shut down a multitude of heroes throughout the game. His ult deals an immense amount of damage. Though it might not allow him to 2-shot heroes late game, it still hurts quite a bit. His mana burn can be useful against certain carries, but also to shut down supports.

Spiked Carapace is a huge component of him as it reflects and negates damage dealt to him, while also being a powerful stun.

 

Witch Doctor

Well timed (and placed) Maledicts and Death Wards can wipe entire teams. Maledict on its own scales fairly well.

His stun can be a huge annoyance during team fights, but isn't necessarily as useful elsewhere.

Witch Doctor's heal also adds a considerable amount of regen for a minimal amount of mana.

 

Honorable Mentions

 

Omniknight

While he lacks the ability to do much damage late game, Omniknight's skill set is a huge asset. He provides a free BKB to allies. His ultimate can turn around team fights. Degen aura also has a huge imapct, being a massive slow to move and attack speed.

 

Keeper of the Light

Illuminate is a potent nuke throughout the game and is able to help clear creep waves. His Chakra Magic is also useful at any point during play.

The main reason he scales into late game is his ultimate form. Being able to summon a hero to the battle means that a carry can focus on farming or split pushing, but still be available to team fight at the drop of a hat. Blinding Light is also a great skill for helping fight auto-attack carries.

Hero Guide: Visage

Visage is a micro intensive hero. Typically you will find him being played as a Support at the Pro level. His forte is Trilane vs. Trilane play because his ability "Soul Assumption" will gain charges much faster, making him more lethal.

In match making, he makes for a decent semi-carry and pusher.

Pro Players

If you're looking for some Pro Replays of Visage, here are some to check out:

• Kaipi - ComeWithMe
• LGD - DDC
• Liquid - FLUFFNSTUFF
• Vici Gaming - Fenrir

Skills

Overview

• Grave Chill
• Function
• Gives you 64% Attack Speed & 32% Move Speed
• Reduces target's 64% Attack Speed & 32% Move Speed
• Leveling
• Pros: Increases Duration (+1 sec/level)
• Cons: Increases Mana Cost (+10/level)
• Soul Assumption
• Function
• Powerful Nuke on a Low Cooldown (when charged)
• Gains charges when nearby heroes (allied or enemy) take damage (every 110 damage)
• Leveling
• Pros: Decreases Mana Cost (-10/level), Increases Max Charges (+1/level)
• Cons: N/A
• Gravekeeper's Cloak
• Function
• Gives you 4 layers of Armor & Magic Armor
• Taking damage (>2 from player owned source & not self-inflicted) temporarily removes a layer
• Leveling
• Pros: +1/2/1 Armor per Level, +3%/6%/4% Magic Resist per Level, -2 Recover Time per Level
  
• Cons: N/A
• Summon Familiars
• Function
• Free moving minions
• Deal damage that decreases per attack (can be restored by turning them to Stone Form)
• Able to stun when shifting into Stone Form
• Have massive gold bounty of 100g for whoever kills them
• Leveling
• Pros: +150 HP/level, +1 Armor/level, +10 Move Speed/level, +42/56 Max Bonus Damage/level, -20 Seconds on Cooldown/level
• Cons: N/A 

Builds

Your build will change based on how your team is playing. However, you're generally going to emphasize levels on Soul Assumption.

My personal favorite (general build):

1. Grave Chill
2. Soul Assumption
3. Soul Assumption
4. Gravekeeper's Cloak
5. Soul Assumption
6. Summon Familiars
7. Soul Assumption
8. Grave Chill / Gravekeeper's Cloak

My reasoning is that Soul Assumption is by far your best early game ability. When fully charged and levels, you're doing about 400 Magic Damage EVERY 4 SECONDS.

Leveling Grave Chill is good, but the mana cost becomes very intensive for only an additional second of slow at each level.

Gravekeeper's Cloak is pretty powerful as well, but it's also very defensive. At level 8, you'll have to decide what you need more: survivability or aggression.

Items

Boots

There are really a lot of good choices for Visage.

• Arcane Boots - good for support and mana intensive teams
• Tranquil Boots - good early game and can be disassembled and put to use in Ring of Basilius and Mek/Pipe
• Phase Boots - good for semi-carry builds; the damage synergizes with Grave Chill and allows you to catch targets to place Grave Chill on
• Power Treads - gives you survivability and adaptability, both are great for Visage

Support

Visage is great for carrying items that help with team survivability. The longer he sticks around in battle, the more Soul Assumptions he can get off. Some options are:

• Mekansm - survivability, good overall support item, can build out of Tranquil Boots, and helps your Familiars sometimes
• Pipe - survivability, good support item
• Rod of Atos - Visage can use all the stats it gives because he benefits from Tankiness, Mana Pool, and the active isn't bad either
• Heaven's Halberd - gives you a lot of extra HP, a chance to slow on attack, and a huge amount of Evasion, allowing you to stay in battle longer and get more Soul Assumptions off. The active ability Disarms targets, which is huge after the enemy carry has used BKB.
• Scythe of Vyse - if you're able to get it, Scythe (a.k.a. Sheep Stick) is always a great pickup.

 Semi-Carry

If you snowball, Visage can turn into a monster at mid game. His familiars help him push and DPS, and Grave Chill also aids in DPS & Teamfighting.

• Desolater - the armor debuff helps with pushing as well as giving your Familiars additional DPS if they target the same hero as you

Utility

• Aghanim's Scepter - if you can handle the additional responsibility, Aghs is excellent in terms of Stats and DPS. However, you can also feed an extra Familiar if you mess up
• Necronomicon - gives you a lot of stats that you need. The Warriors also help with pushing, team fights, chasing, and at level 3 have detection.
• Orchid - gives you a lot of DPS and regen, as well as a 5 second Silence that increases damage taken by 30%. This can be a pretty huge pickup against heroes that can blink away (e.g. Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain). The bonus damage is no joke either.
• Shiva's Guard - the armor is useful, as is the bonus INT. The active ability can be used in a lot of ways. Also, given Visage's natural durability from Gravekeeper's Cloak, he can keep the aura going for a while in a fight.

Playstyle

Role

• Generally Support (Aggressive at that)
• You can Semi-Carry (he can snowball pretty hard in early/mid game)
• Fairly low item dependence
• Decent Pusher

Laning

• Very good for aggressive lanes because of how quickly Soul Assumption charges up
• His forte is Trilane vs. Trilane
• Grave Chill is a pretty cheap slow and somewhat spammable

Miscellaneous

• Familiars can be used to pick off heroes, or push towers
• Familiars need some set-up to easily hit their stun (e.g. Grave Chill)
• Be very careful with Familiars because they can quickly turn into 100g bonuses for your opponent
• I've found binding all your Familiars to one hotkey works best. Use [TAB] to cycle through them (needed so you can recharge their auto attack damage or chain stun)
• I tend to leave the familiars off to the side (e.g. in the trees bordering the map) so they don't get picked off and can quickly pop out to surprise an opponent with extra DPS and stuns

Hero Guide: Undying

Undying is an extremely aggressive hero. Therefore, to no surprise, he's usually found in an aggressive Trilane setup (i.e. 3 heroes in the Hard Lane with the purpose of getting a shit load of kills and denying the enemy carry farm).

In pubs, you'll probably find him in a Dual Hard Lane, or even solo (which he can do decently well, due to getting a higher HP pool from Decay and being able to last hit with it to some extent).

The problem you'll have is that he's mediocre late game. He's extremely aggressive early to mid game though. And you'll want to take advantage of that. Knowing when a hero peaks is part of playing them (e.g. you can initiate with Crystal Maiden before level 6-8, but after that she'll get torn apart).

Skills

• Get One Level of Decay (unless you are specifically doing something else, then you might want level 1 Tombstone)
• Max out Tombstone next
• Max out Soul Rip after that
• Take Ult when you can
• Finish off Decay after that
• Lastly, get stats

Justification:

• Getting additional levels of Decay:
• Reduces Cooldown
• Increases Mana Cost
• Increases Duration
• Increases Damage

• Why I leave this at level 1:
• You have absolute shit for a mana pool - each level increases cost by 20 mana
• Tombstone is better
• Soul Rip is more versatile (damage or healing)

Exceptions:

The one exception I've heard of is taking Undying solo mid against a STR hero like Pudge because then he cannot be aggressive against you (i.e. Rot will kill him before you), you'll also probably have a bottle to resolve your mana issues.

Some players like going multiple levels of Decay early. Could just be a personal preference thing. Perhaps they're with a KotL, who can give them a lot of mana for it. I just find it less useful overall (Soul Rip can heal your Tombstone if it gets focused).

Other Skills:

• You need to max Tombstone early, it is more or less why you pick Undying in a match
• Tombstone will stop pushes, or allow you to be aggressive and commit to a fight
• Tombstone is very hard to deal with early on because it has too much HP for the enemy to get rid of quickly
• Soul Rip combos well with Tombstone for damage or healing an ally that is about to die

Items

Undying will change drastically based on who you're up against. He's a Utility hero at heart and builds what the team needs most.

You're also going to want some Tankiness because you ult provides damage amplification based on how close you are to your enemies (750 range max). They're also slowed by a static 9%.

TP Scrolls

 

This item deserves its own section. TP Scroll are huge for Undying (especially in pubs where you probably aren't aggressive trilaning). Undying is great at turning ganks around, making a dive into a double kill, etc. Get TP Scrolls. Watch the map. You should probably pick one up by 4 minutes into the game or so, as that's when shit usually starts happening.

 

Boots:

• Arcane Boots - this is going to be your choice most of the time. You need the mana, most teammates need mana. The only time this might not be applicable is if you have a KotL and you're the only other mana dependent hero.
• Power Treads - this can be another good choice because it gives you some tankiness and more mana. Switching to different stats will help you cast more spells, take more damage, etc.

Support:

NOTE: You might not be the one getting support items, but these are good choices if you are

• Mekansm - more healing for the team, you'll also stay alive long enough to cast it in a fight
• Pipe - more tankiness against spells, survivability, etc.
• Sheep Stick - you can use the mana/INT, the regen, and stats. It also helps you shut down enemy carries.
• Heaven's Halberd - the STR and Evasion benefit you so you can provide Damage Amp more effectively. The Disarm is huge against right click heroes like Faceless Void, Phantom Assassin, Ursa, etc.
• Vlad's - if you have a melee carry, you might consider picking this up for them and being somethng of an aura packmule for the team. You have high survivability
• Drums - same as Vlads more or less. Good item too if you're behind a bit because all the stats benefit you.

Utility:

• Shiva's Guard - more slow is good, the armor is good, the INT/mana is good, and the aura is excellent on a tanky hero
• Necro Book - excellent for pushing, excellent for chasing, really good against heroes that might accidentally kill the melee creep (does 200/400/600 PURE damage), the stats work well for Undying too
• Assault Curiass - armor is good, the aura is good, the attack speed on you is kind of meh (depends on the amount of strength stolen)
• Also, see Heaven's Halberd in the Support Section, as it can be Utility as well.

Other:

• Heart - good for survivability if that's what you need most
• Armlet - good if you're the primary farmer and get it early for midgame dominance. You're sustained by Soul Rip and the healing from kills in your Ult Form
• BKB - you might need this to stay alive in fights. Being able to do Decays during fights is crucial to your survival. You can't do that while stun locked.

Things I don't really see a purpose in getting:

 

• Aghs - I don't think it buffs you enough. The stats and nice, but doesn't seem very necessary in comparison to getting items with higher utility
• Vanguard - You get plenty of HP from Decay. It just feels like a waste to me. Grab the Vitality booster and get a heart instead.

Using your Skills

Decay:

• Use it pretty frequently in lane, not so much that you can't Tombstone though
• Try to only use it if you can get 2+ heroes in the AoE, or at very least the carry (so they're afraid to last hit)
• Use it as soon as it's off cooldown during fights - this is how you survive and get huge

Tombstone:

• Only drop this once your team has committed to a fight
• Try to place this so your opponent is stuck in this range as long as possible (generally cutting off the escape route)
• Defend the shit out of this
• You can Soul Rip your Tombstone to heal it
• You can use Tombstone defensively too - once the enemy has committed to taking a tower or something
• If you're not sure whether to put it down, DON'T, the cooldown is too long to waste a tombstone. Good opponents will try to bait it out. That's why it's better as an aggressive skill. You KNOW when your team is going to commit. You don't know when the opponent will.

Soul Rip:

• You can use this to heal your Tombstone
• Use this to heal yourself or allies that are almost dead
• Use this to do crazy amounts of damage mid game to high priority opponents (e.g. annoying supports, carries), this works really well once you've spawned a few Zombies

Ult:

• Again, don't use this until you commit to a fight
• The closer you are to an enemy, the more damage they take (i.e. the damage amplification aspect)
• If you're low HP, kill an enemy creep (or ideally a hero) to heal a percentage of their HP

Hero Guide: Tinker

Tinker is a fragile burst damage hero and excellent pusher/counter-pusher. His skillset revolves heavily around mana regeneration and his Ultimate, Rearm.

Skill Progression

There are two main skill progressions for Tinker. One is a bursty nuker. The other focuses on pushing (which gets you a ton of farm). Note that these are the two purest forms of the builds, it's not necessarily uncommon to pick up a spell here or there depending on your lane or other conditions.

Build 1: March of the Machines (Most Common)

1. Heat-Seeking Missile (1)
2. March of the Machines (1)
3. Heat-Seeking Missile (1/2) / March of the Machines (1/2)
4. Heat-Seeking Missile (1/2) / March of the Machines (1/2)
5. Heat-Seeking Missile (2/3) / March of the Machines (2/3)
6. Heat-Seeking Missile (2/3) / March of the Machines (2/3) / Ult (1)

Basically, you'll be maxing out Heat-Seeking Missile for kill potential and March for pushing. Some players skip the ultimate till later on because it has a huge mana cost and takes too long to be very effective (i.e. you either won't be able to rearm in time, or you won't have the mana).

March is a huge asset for a lot of reasons:

• Able to push the wave so you can grab the rune
• Able to discourage players diving you for a kill
• Farming ability
• Huge damage output over time

 Build 2: Max Burst

1. Heat-Seeking Missile (1) / Laser (1)
2. Heat-Seeking Missile (1) / Laser (1)
3. Heat-Seeking Missile (2) / Laser (2)
4. Heat-Seeking Missile (2) / Laser (2)
5. Heat-Seeking Missile (3) / Laser (3)
6. Heat-Seeking Missile (3) / Laser (3) / Ult (1)

Going this route will give you a lot more kill potential early on. However, you will be lacking in creep clearing. It might be wise to pick up at least one level of March of the Machines just for creep clearing.

Item Progression

Starting

Starting items vary by player preference and match up. Two fairly standard builds are the Bottle Rush and maximizing last hitting potential. Bottle Rush gives you stats and some minor regen, but will allow you to get your bottle before 2 minutes.

Last Hitting will take longer to get your Bottle, but sometimes it's necessary because your opponent might have higher base damage. Some players get 2 Mantles of Intelligence, but that might also go to waste (all you can build it into is a Null Talismen / Dagon).

• Bottle Rush
• Tangos (90g)
• 3 x Iron Branch (53g / each)
• Last Hitting
• Mantle of Intelligence (150g)
• Tangos (90g)
• 3 x Iron Branch (53g / each)

Early Core

• Bottle --- Main source of early mana and helps with your gank potential. Tinker has excellent wave clearing with March of the Machines, so you should always be able to get the rune.
• Boots of Travel --- This will be your next item after Bottle. Paired with your Ult, Rearm, you can freely move around the map for ganks, farming, and refilling your Bottle at the Fountain.

Core

• Soul Ring --- Another critical part of your survival. Tinker needs the immediate mana provided by Soul Ring. Rearm will also give you a second charge of it. When porting around, using Soul Ring once will usually give you the mana needed to Rearm. Then you can use it again if you need mana to Teleport.

Situational & Late Game

• Magic Wand --- This item is great for a quick burst of mana and HP, but depending on your playstyle, may not be necessary. It's still a great early-midgame pickup before Tinker maxes out his item slots.
• Blink Dagger --- Serves multiple purposes on Tinker. He can use it for chasing, ganking, or blinking into trees to safely Teleport back home.
• Force Staff --- Mobility is key on Tinker, and Force Staff will work when Blink Dagger is disabled. Good for Utility/Support, chasing/ganking. However, it won't work as well if you want to move into the trees for a clean get-away.
• Ethereal Blade --- If you're doing very well, Ethereal Blade can be a great pick up because Tinker deals massive amounts of Magic Damage (with certain item builds). Paired with Ethereal Blade, you can get rid of most heroes quickly and turn the tides of a battle.
• Shiva's Guard --- Gives Tinker armor and mana, which are both important for a mana heavy, squishy hero. Shiva's provides a great aura and an excellent active, which Tinker can spam freely with assistance from his ultimate.
• Dagon --- Depending on who you're facing, a Dagon + Ethereal Blade can be very potent (along with Heat-Seekers, and the rest of Tinker's spells). If you picked up an early Mantle, Dagon will give it a purpose. While Dagon can be great for quickly getting rid of a support or carry, it won't bring much else to the team, or your pushes.
• Scythe of Vyse --- Provides a lot of great mana & regen to keep you out on the field longer, also great stats from Ultimate Orb. Being able to sheep an enemy brings a lot to team fights and ganks.
• Manta Style --- While you don't get much out of having Illusions, Manta gives you a lot of great stats. More importantly, when you use it, debuffs are cleared.
• Eul's Scepter --- Gives you a lot of extra mana regen to keep you out on the field longer and more involved in battles. Cyclone can be great if you or a teammate gets focused. If you're chasing, it gives you time to Rearm and finish off your target.
• Black King Bar --- As a squishy hero, the extra Strength and the magic immunity help Tinker to survive long enough to cast his spells multiple times during a team fight.
• Orchid --- sometimes the item is necessary against heroes like Storm Spirit or blinkers. The bonus damage helps, as does the mana regen.

Playstyle

• Spell Notes
• Laser
• Deals pure damage (ignores armor)
• Blinds target for 3 seconds (miss 100% of physical/auto attacks)
• Heat-Seeking Missiles
• Must have vision of the opponent in order to hit them
• Massive 2500 range
• Will not hit ethereal units (i.e. Ghost Scepter, Pugna's Decrepify, Ethereal Blade)
• March of the Machines
• Deals universal damage (i.e. reduced by magic resistance, but goes through magic immunity, deals 1.4x to ethereal units)
• Can be used to farm Ancients
• Generally want to angle the march for maximum impact (otherwise you might not hit the opponent hero)
• Early Game
• Use March of the Machines to push mid lane before rune spawn (8-15 seconds beforehand)
• Gank if you get a good rune and the opponents are overextended, otherwise you're missing valueable farming time
• Get your Bottle fast, then go immediately for Boots of Travel
• On Radiant, you can easily stack the Ancients and farm them with March of the Machines
• Mid-Late Game
• Fights
• Positioning is the key part for Tinker, you will die immediately if focused
• Stay off to the side spamming nukes and items
• If you can get a March in, go for it, but sometimes you'll have to put yourself too out there
• Pushes
• Use your Boots of Travel to put pressure on lanes
• You are a Split Pusher with Boots + March
• Remember to use Soul Ring before Rearm (get bonus mana)
• You can use Blink Dagger to move into the trees and teleport out from there (safer)
• Counter-Pushes
• March of the Machines is incredibly hard to push against
• Once Rearm is a high enough level, you can use it and March from multiple directions
• Heroes to Watch Out For
• Storm Spirit --- able to gank you quickly and keep you locked down. SS is great at killing split pushers like Tinker
• Clinkz --- an invisible ganker that has Orchid as part of his core
• Bounty Hunter --- basically same as Clinkz (minus the Orchid)
• Pugna --- in team fights, you will kill yourself by casting with his Netherward in range
• Riki --- Same as Clinkz and BH
• Wisp --- Global ganker (though you can usually tell when you're going to get ganked)
• Spectre --- Global ganker that has a dagger that allows her to pass through any terrain (no blinking into the trees for safety)

Hero Guide: Juggernaut

Juggernaut is one of my favorite mid-game carries. He's effective early game, farms pretty easily, and has a fairly versatile skill set.

Hero

Traits

• Above average move speed (305)
• His Stats don't stand out in any particular way
• Decent Base Attack Speed (BAT) of 1.6
• Some natural survivability due to spells

Skills 

• (Q) Blade Fury
• Traits
• 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 Magic Damage per Second
• Total damage = 400 / 500 / 600 / 700 
• But remember, heroes have a natural 25% Magic Resistance
• Lasts 5 seconds
• Radius of 250
• 100 Mana Cost
• 30 / 28 / 26 / 24 second Cooldown
• Grants Juggernaut Magic Immunity for the Duration
• Notes
• Able to use items while spinning
• Does not affect Mechanical Units (i.e. Catapult/Siege)
• If unit is unaffected by Blade Fury, Juggernaut can auto-attack them while spinning
• Your base mana pool is only 182, so you'll have to regen a bit before spinning again
• Uses
• Most commonly used for getting First Blood by pairing Juggernaut with a hero that can stun/slow like Venomancer, Crystal Maiden, Dazzle, etc.
• You can use Blade Fury and use a TP Scroll to get out of most bad situations
• Late game, this is mostly used for Magic Immunity because you can DPS more with your auto attacks
• This cannot necessarily be seen as a "replacement" for getting Black King Bar (BKB), because you cannot auto attack while using Blade Fury
• (W) Healing Ward
• Traits
• Heals 2% / 3% / 4% / 5% of Max HP per Second
• Lasts 25 Seconds
• Radius of 500 (cast range of 350)
• Movespeed of 300
• Costs 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 Mana
• 60 Second Cooldown
• Notes
• Only heals non-mechanical units
• Can only be affected by 1 ward at a time
• Has 1 HP and can be killed
• Pugna's Decrepify works on it 
• Persists after Juggernaut dies
• Uses 
• Great for pushing because it helps your creeps tank towers
• Extremely effective in team fights if you can position it well
• Can help your team live after you die
• Scouting dangerous areas
• Healing up between pushes, fights, or while farming
• Blade Dance
• Traits
• 15% / 20% / 25% / 35% chance to deal 2x damage
• Passive Skill
• Notes
• Can trigger during Omnislash (given a high enough attack speed)
• Is an "On-Attack" modifier (not Unique Attack Modifier)
• Level 3 -> 4 has a 10% increase (as opposed to 5% at other levels)
• Uses
• Many people build a Battlefury and Blade Dance synergizes with that by splashing the critical strike.
• Farming / increasing effective DPS
• (R) Omnislash
• Traits
• 175-250 Physical Damage per Slash
• 3 / 6 / 9 Slashes (maximum)
• Aghanim's Upgrade: 6 / 9 / 12
• 450 Range with a 425 Jump Radius
• Costs 200 / 275 / 300 Mana
• Has a 130 / 120 / 110 Cooldown
• Aghanim's Upgrade: 110 / 100 / 90
• Notes
• First slash mini-stuns the target
• 0.4 second interval between slashes
• Juggernaut can attack during slashes (with high attack speed), which will also trigger on-attack modifiers (e.g. his crit), and place debuffs (e.g. Skadi, Desolator, etc.)
• The slashes themselves are not evade-able
• You can use items during omnislash
• Provides a buff making Juggernaut invulnerable after the first slash
• Gains 200 Flying Vision for the Duration
• Can end prematurely if the only target nearby becomes Physical Damage Immune, Force Staffs Away, goes invisible (and no detection) etc.
• Non-Player-Owned creeps (and neutrals, but not Ancients) die in one slash
• Uses
• Survivability
• Right before/after a Naga Siren Ult (can't be slept if you're immune, likewise, cannot be Wombo Combo'd if you're immune)
• Killing targets that are separated (e.g. 1-2 targets running through your jungle, but not close to any creeps)
• Staying in a fight at low health
• Stopping a channeling spell with the mini-stun on the first slash

Build

Items

Starting

• Route 1
• Tangos
• Salve
• 2 x Clarity
• 3 x Iron Branch
• Route 2
• Tangos
• Salve
• 2 x Slippers of Agility
• Clarity Potions or Iron Branches
• Route 3
• Quelling Blade
• Stout Shield
• Tangos / Salve
• Noob Route 
• Boots
• Tangos / Salve

Route 1 gives you items that will allow you to Spin a few times in lane (clarities), build a Magic Wand, skip the Poor Man's Shield and go straight into a Core Item.

Route 2 helps you last hit better using your Slippers of Agility and build them into a Poor Man's Shield for survivability.

Route 3 is for heavy harassment where you'll need to block incoming damage and use the Quelling Blade to ensure you get last hits.

The Noob Route gives you no stats, little regen, but will almost always guarantee a First Blood if paired with the right lane mate. However, given Juggernaut's early speed advantage, if you can click well, you shouldn't need boots to stay on your target. Plus, at level 1, spin effectively does 300 Damage (due to 25% Hero Magic Resistance).

Early Game

• Route 1
• Ring of Health (for early Bfury)
• Boots of Speed
• Route 2 
• Boots of Speed
• Poor Man's Shield
• Route 3 (bad farm)
• Phase Boots / Power Treads
• Magic Wand
• (Poor Man's Shield)
• (Soul Ring)

Route 1 is for getting an early Battlefury. You really only need Boots of Speed early game because it's not insanely difficult to pull off your spin. Getting a fast Battlefury (i.e. < 20 minutes, definitely < 25 mins, otherwise it's not worth it) allows you to farm up fast, help push lanes, or fend off pushes.

Route 2 is a bit more conservative. Poor Man's Shield helps deflect some damage. From there, you can go straight for your Battlefury.

Route 3 is if you're having a rough time farming. You'll need to focus on smaller items and slowly build up. If you're facing this situation, you're most likely not going to want to get a Battlefury because you won't be able to get it early enough for it to be useful (i.e. before 25 minutes or so).

Core

• Most Games
• Battlefury - early game farming, good regen and DPS for the price
• Phase Boots - Helps with farming (moving between camps quickly), chasing/spinning
• Magic Wand - Always good
• Manta Style - Survivability, pushing, and farming (use your illusions to farm the small camp of creeps)

Situational

• Aghanim's Scepter - you only want this in very select scenarios
• They have a Naga Siren: this will allow you more jumps so if you get it off before Naga ult, you won't be affected longer, or using it right after Naga Ult to get out of a Wombo Combo
• You're almost never fighting around creeps
• Desolator - works during your Omnislash, helps push towers, farm faster, and increases DPS
• BKB - Your Blade Fury isn't that great during a late game battle. So you might need Magic Immunity that allows you to auto attack
• Vladamir's Offering - Mid/Late Game item for staying alive during fights and pushing
• Butterfly - Carry item that allows you to evade attacks (note: you'll still be a target, but have more effective HP)
• Assault Curiass - Pushing, DPS, and teamfight
• Soul Ring - if you're not going for Battlefury, this can be a decent pick up so you have the regen to kill stacks of creeps using your Spin
• Other
• Heaven's Halbard / Abyssal Blade - when outclassed by a harder carry in late game
• Orchid - attack speed and mana regen, with a silence that can be helpful in some games
• Heart - survivability
• Satanic - survivability
• MKB - against Riki (who can use smoke) or a hero with high evasion
• Boots of Travel - good for late game so you can help push/backdoor, or just free up a slot from TPs

Build

There are two general builds:

• Build 1
• Spin
• Stats
• Spin
• Stats
• Spin
• Ult
• Build 2
• Spin
• Crit
• Spin
• Crit
• Spin
• Ult

Early game, Spin is your DPS and source of kills, an escape, etc. It should be maxed first (unless you have some very situational strategy like an all in push harnessing the Healing Ward).

In Build 1, you're allowing yourself to have more Mana, which gives you the option of Ulting, then Spinning.

In Build 2, you're kind of saying "Meh, screw it", and going for maximizing your damage early.

Playstyle

You're an aggressive mid-game carry. You want to play offensively early game because that's when your spin is most effective. The Spin is the one thing Juggernaut has over other carries: an early source of DPS.

Ideally, you want to be paired with a Support that can Slow or Stun. Some of the best are: Crystal Maiden (plus, her aura is great for you), Venomancer (Venomous Gail owns), Dazzle (has a slow and heal that allows for even more aggressive play), Ancient Apparition/Pugna (have slows that also increase Magic Damage taken).

Tips:

• Get a firm grasp on when to "man-up" and go into a fight with low HP by using your Ult or Spin
• Stack Neutral Creeps and spin on them to farm your Battlefury earlier
• Start Spinning before using Phase Boots (doing it the other way around dispells the Phase Boots buff because you casted)
• Healing Ward is excellent during team fights, pushes, and farming. It heals your team incredibly fast, lasts 25 seconds, and is mobile
• Once you're level 6, you can farm the jungle or hunt the opposing jungle safely because of your Ult. It's very hard to contest the jungle against a Juggernaut (similar to Luna)
• Don't ult with creeps around. I mean, you kill them in 1 hit, but you also waste an Omnislash
• Omnislash is versatile. 
• You can use it at the start of a fight to scatter your enemy and pick them off
• You can wait until you're low HP and use it because then you dish out your auto attack damage but also have a better chance to escape because the enemy loses track of you while you're ulting
• You can bait a lot of heroes to fight you when you're low HP, but have the Mana to Ult
• You can use items while you're Spinning & Ulting
• Late game, you'll generally be outclassed by harder carries, so end the game earlier if you're the sole carry of the team
• Always carry TPs. You can easily stop a gank or help a gank because of your high impact early/mid game (due to your spells)

Hero Guide: Leshrac

In my experience, Leshrac can be played as a Utility hero (high farm priority, but not the highest; Chinese #2 position), or a Support (generally roaming/ganking, or trilane).

Personally, I don't like playing him unless I can have some farm, so my personal guide is focused around that.

Hero

Traits

• Pretty fast (315 Base Move Speed)
• Good attack animation (easier to last hit with than some heroes)
• Very Squishy
• Lots of AoE Damage
• Some Crowd Control
• OK Stat gains

Skills

• (1 - W) Split Earth
• Traits
• Stun for 2.0 seconds (all levels)
• Radius of 150 / 175 / 200 / 225
• Range of 750
• Magic Damage of 120 / 180 / 240 / 300
• Cooldown of 9 seconds, Mana Cost of 100 / 125 / 140 / 160
• Notes
• Awkward 0.35 second delay
• Destroys trees
• Gets easier to hit with each level
• Stun time does not change
• Uses 
• Stun (must be able to predict to some extent - using choke points helps e.g. ramps)
• Helps find juking enemies via tree destruction
• Cast on Nature's Prophet's Sprout (tree circle) to get rid of them early
• (2 - W) Diabolic Edict
• Traits
•  32 "explosions" dealing 12.5 / 25 / 37.5 / 50 Composite Damage
• Deals total of 400 / 800 / 1200 / 1600 Damage
• 32 Explosions over 8 seconds = 1 every 0.25 second
• Composite Damage (AKA "Mixed Damage") gets reduced by Armor, Magic Resistance, and Damage Block, but is not stopped by Magic Immunity (e.g. BKB). Ethereal units won't be affected.
• Edict, however, is not affected by Damage Block (e.g. Vanguard)
• Duration of 8 Seconds
• Radius of 500
• Cooldown of 22 seconds, Mana Cost of 95 / 120 /135 / 155
• Notes
• Damages Structures
• Unlike other Composite Damage spells, Edict is not reduced by damage block
• Continues after death
• Damages invisible heroes
• Hits random viable target within AoE (i.e. if there is only 1, then it will only hit that)
• Uses
• Pushing Towers
• Owning people that are dumb enough to follow you 1v1 into the jungle (or otherwise area devoid of other targets for Edict to hit)
• Because it hits invisible units, you can "guesstimate" where a Riki/Gondar/Etc. is
• (3 - E) Lightning Storm
• Traits
•  80 / 145 / 205 / 265 Magic Damage
• Jumps 4 / 6 / 7 / 8 times
• 700 Range, 650 Jump Range
• Cooldown of 5.5 seconds, Mana Cost of 100 / 115 / 130 / 145
• Notes
• Deals same amount of damage to each target
• Cast range is longer than your auto-attack range
• Blocked by Linkens
• Totally blocked if first target has Linkens
• Otherwise, does not deal damage to Linkens target, but continues to jump
• If gets max amounts of jumps, deals 400 /  1015 / 1640 / 2385 total damage
• Uses
• Last hitting in a dangerous lane/position
• Harassing in a dangerous lane/position
• Hitting a Hero too far normally, but hit-able via jumps
• (I think) getting vision uphill by jumping (if target is up there)
• (4 - R) Pulse Nova
• Traits
• Magic Damage of 66 / 100 / 144 DPS in an AoE
• 88 / 133 / 177 with Aghanim's
• AoE of 450 around Leshrac
• 110 Initial Mana Cost, 20 / 40 / 60 Mana Per Second
• No Cooldown
• Notes
• Will not damage if Leshrac is invisible
• Uses
• Team fights / DPS
• Clearing Waves / Farming

Build

Skills

There are a ton of ways to build Leshrac. Many of them focus on taking your ult late. This is because in early game, you lack mana, and your ult take a lot. Much of the time, it's better to max out your other spells that can do a lot of damage for less mana, take down towers, etc.

• General: (1) Stun / (2) Edict / (3) Edict / (4) Stun / (5) Edict / (6)Stun / (7) Edict / (8) Stun / (9) Ult
• This basically makes you good at pushing, good at landing stuns, and then goes into your Ult
• Some people will opt to not get Lighning at all (i.e. get Ult/Stats, Lighning from lvl. 21-25)

•  Difficult Lane / Suicide Lane: (1) Stun / (2) Edict / (3) Lightning / (4) Edict / (5) Lightning / Max Lightning/Edict
• This allows you to farm safely from far back
• Must be good at hitting stuns (note: stun is always 2 seconds, it's the AoE and Damage that increase)
• Getting Edict makes you hard to dive/chase, plus you can push the tower when they're not looking

• My Old Build: Max Stun / Edict, then Lightning, then Ult
• Reason was that you can push with lightning similarly to how you'd push with your Ult
• Lightning is pretty cheap and has a low cooldown
• Your ult takes a shit load of mana and regen to be maximally effective

Items

Starting:

• Wards / Courier
• 1 x Tangos
• 1 x Salve
• 2 x Clarity Potions
• 2-3 x Iron Branches

Early:

• Phase Boots - help you move around for ganks, escape, keep on targets while using edict/ult
• Magic Wand
• Perseverance -  I build Lesh as a Bloodstone carry, so you want this for the regen

Core:

• Bloodstone - Regen/HP

Situational/Luxury:

• Boots of Travel - at some point late game, you should swap your Phase Boots and get these. They help you push quickly after a successful team fight or gank, frees up a slot so you don't have to carry around TPs, and just generally make you a pushing niusance.
• Sheep Stick
• Eul's - More speed, great active, tons of mana regen
• Aghanim' - more DPS, HP, Mana, and Stats, but countered by Magic Immunity
• Shiva's Guard - Armor that you need, INT that you love, and an active that makes chasing easier, an aura that helps your team, generally pretty good
• Pipe - good team support item
• Necronomicon - good for pushing, revealing invis units, chasing, etc.
• BKB - pretty obvious
• Force Staff / Blink - additional mobility (or support)
• Orchid - locking down blinkers, good INT, mana regen, etc.
• Assault Curiass - doesn't help you exactly, but helps your pushes and team
• Veil of Discord - You do a lot of magic damage, this reduces magic resistance

Some people support with Lesh. In that case you'd opt more for:

• Mekanism
• Force Staff
• Pipe
• Ring of Basilius (mana regen in lane, armor, pushing)
• Drum of Endurance
• Medallion of Courage (this can work if you gank)
• Power Treads can be viable if you're dying a lot and need the extra HP (remember, you're already faster than most heroes by default)

The Support options also work well if you're not doing super well in early game with Leshrac. Drum is a great item. Ring of Basilius is easy to build and helpful.

Playstyle

Leshrac is an aggressive push hero (in my playstyle). His strengths are:

• Roaming the Jungle - he has a stun, and Edict owns pretty much anyone 1v1 early-mid game
• Pushing Towers - Edict owns them
• Ganking - he has a powerful stun/nuke, 2 second stun at all levels

Generalities:

• Want to fight heroes outside of the lane (e.g. lure them into the jungle) because Edict is so powerful 1v1
• His stun is best used as a follow up stun (i.e. pair him with a reliable stunner like Sand King, Vengeful Spirit)
• Leshrac snowballs
• Don't get Bloodstone if you're not doing well
• Push towers early for that delicious bonus gold
• Remember, use your positioning so that the explosions only hit the tower

•  You are a very good farmer
• Take lanes that aren't being farmed
• Stack the jungle and use your ult to farm it
• In a risky situation, get Edict going because it continues after your death --> bonus kills from people that don't understand Leshrac

A lot of people would disagree, but I say he's a decent Suicide Lane hero:

• Use Lighning to get farm and harass (it has a low cooldown, bounces around, deals decent damage, and is pretty cheap)
• Have a level of stun for certain situations
• You don't have an escape, but you have Edict which makes you hard to chase and dive
• You have to be careful because getting caught out of position will lead to your death (especially if you get perma stunned)

Always have TP Scrolls so you can:

• Take untapped farm
• Push lanes and get towers
• Counter Gank

That said, Leshrac is one of my favorite heroes. He's gained a lot of spotlight in the scene recently and isn't always banned. He's pretty versatile and adaptable (e.g. he can play Support, Pusher, Utility, and Bloodstone Carry). I think he's a ton of fun with a really interesting skillset. While this guide is mostly for myself, I hope others find it useful and leads to better games.

Hero Guide: Vengeful Spirit

Vengeful Spirit is interesting in that she can be played as a Roaming Support or a Semi-Carry. That's one of the reasons I like her. When the game gets rough, you can step up and carry the team, whereas some supports just start to feel helpless.

This is my personal way of playing her, it's what I enjoy on her. It's not necessarily the best for every situation or every player.

Hero

Traits

• Attributes (in terms of Agility Heroes)
• Fairly high Strength gain: 2.3
• Sub-Par Agility gain: 2.35
• Decent Int gain: 1.75
• General
• Pretty squishy
• Low mana pool

Skills

1. Magic Missile
• Summary
• 100 / 175 / 250 / 325 Magic Damage (+75 @ each level)
• Cooldown: 10 Seconds
• 1.45 / 1.55 / 1.65 / 1.75 second stun (+0.1 @ each level)
• Cost: 110 / 120 / 130 / 140 Mana ( +10 @ each level)
• Single Target
• 500 Range
•  Notes
• Breaks Linken's
• Does pretty good damage
• Stun is good at level 1
• Bad increments for stun duration
2. Wave of Terror
• Summary
•  -2 / 3 /4 /5 Armor Debuff
• Duration: 20 Seconds
• 18.75 / 37.5 / 56.25 / 75 HP Removal
• Cooldown: 15 Seconds
• Cost: 40 Mana
• 1400 Range & 300 Radius
• Notes 
• Gives vision as Wave fires, so it can be used for scouting
• HP Removal = deals exactly that amount of damage, however, it won't interrupt anything or count as "you got hit"
• The Armor Debuff is VERY POWERFUL early on
3. Vengeance Aura
• Summary
• Passive Aura
• +12% / 20% / 28% / 36% Bonus Damage
• 900 Radius
• Notes
• Bonus Damage is based on affected unit's Base Damage and Primary Attribute
• Can push the lane a bit
4. Nether Swap
• Summary
• Swaps positions with target Hero (Unit with Aghanim's)
• 600 / 900 / 1200 Range
• Cooldown: 45 Seconds (10 with Aghanim's)
• Cost: 100 / 150 / 200 Mana
• Notes
• Aghanim's Upgradeable
• Can be used to save an ally (e.g. they're stunned/slowed)
• Can be used to screw over an enemy
• Can be used to initiate (though that can be suicide)

Build

Skills

I've seen two main ones:

1. Max Stun & Wave first, taking Ult when available
2. Get one level of stun, then Max Wave & Aura, taking Ult when available

I prefer build #1 because:

• Aura can push the lane
• Raw Magic Damage is more effective early game
• Aura isn't going to give as much damage output earlier in the game

Items

Starting:

• Courier / Wards
• Tangos
• Salve
• Clarity Potion x 2
• Iron Branch x 2 or 3

Core:

• Magic Wand
• Mekanism: early game, you have little HP. You need the active ability and it really helps your team.
• Phase Boots: I like these for the mobility. It helps with roaming, getting a tough stun off, juking, etc.. A lot of boots are fine on Venge though. It's a personal preference

Late/Situational:

• Manta Style: I love this for late game DPS, survivability, and even more mobility
• Skadi: It's hard to farm up, but it's a nice item for survivability and will let you just rip enemies to shreds.
• Desolator: Adds to your Wave, making Armor drop super low.
• Assault Curiass: Gives you more survivability, the aura is great for the team and pushing, plus the attack speed works well on you late game.
• Force Staff: Always a solid pick up if you're going hard support
• Drum of Endurance: This is a good item if you're having a rough time. The aura and active help allies. Gives you some more HP and Mana as well.
•  Sheep Stick: Again, if you're going hard support, this is a good pick up
• Other
• Butterfly (DPS & Evasion)
• Heart (survivability)
• Linken's Sphere (if you're initiating with your Ult)
• Aghanim's (in certain games, generally I think it's bad on her though)
• Rod of Atos (the active lets you hit enemies longer, the HP is good for you, and you're mana dependent in early-mid)
• Orchid (good for when the other team has an annoying hero like AM that can blink. Gives you good DPS and Mana Regen)

Play Style

Normally, she falls into either a Roaming Support (most of the time), and occasionally as a Carry.

Personally, I like to transition.

Early Game:

• Try to gank mid almost immediately. Especially if you get a good rune like Haste, Double Damage, or Invisibility. Even Illusion can work. Just stun and then face block (block them with your hero so your mid can get more hits in)
• Play aggressively in lane. Try to stun and Wave so that you can easily rip through your target. Use your Clarity potions to keep doing this.
• Roam to other lanes or look for jungling heroes. Vengeful Spirit is actually pretty scary 1v1 early on. Yes, she can be nuked down. But she also has a good nuke and stun, plus the armor debuff makes you do a ton of damage.

Mid Game:

• You want to be buying wards, dust, etc. here
• Finish your Phase Boots and Mek
• Roam around looking for easy kills (i.e. don't wait around forever or you'll lose XP)
• Don't be afraid to take good ganking runes
• If no one is farming a lane, use Wave and then easily last hit all the creeps
• The extra farm will also level you faster, which is good for your allies that love your Aura
• Use TP Scrolls to get around to different lanes and fights

Late Game:

• Start taking a higher farm priority
• Start working on Manta Style
• Push towers by using Wave to kill all the creeps, allowing your creeps to tank the hits
• Use Wave frequently to scout areas out, scare enemies off, etc. It's a very powerful spell
• Once you get Manta, you can basically 1v1 almost anyone. You have a ton of Armor debuff, making you do a lot of damage they won't expect. Multiply that by 3 of yourself, and shit goes down.

Key Things to Remember:

• You do a lot of hidden damage because you have Wave of Terror, which drops armor hard
• Wave of Terror is good for scouting Rosh, Uphill, Across the River, etc..
• Your Aura makes you great for team fights and makes you a DPS beast
• Wave of Terror is HP Removal. It does exactly how much damage it says it will.

Hero Guide: Jakiro

 Updated: November 6, 2012 (Game Version: 6.75c)

Jakiro is an excellent support at the moment. The biggest issue for most players using him is positioning. His spells are all target-area (versus target-unit).

Personally, I love playing Jakiro. Here is my breakdown:

Overview

Skills

1. Dual Breath
• First slows by 30% (and 20% attack speed slow) for 4 seconds
• 0.3 second delay
• Then 30/70/105/140 Magic Damage + 5/10/15/20 burn damage
• Note: that's +40/+35/+35 damage between levels
• Odd Mechanics
•  Linken's Sphere blocks the slow, but not the damage (good way to pop a Linken's)
• 200 Starting Radius ---> 500 Distance ---> 250 Final Radius ==> Able to hit units 950 distance away!
2. Ice Path
• Travels 1100 distance after 0.5 Second delay
• 100 Magic Damage
• Freezes units in the path for 1 / 1.4 / 1.8 / 2.2 Seconds (basically a stun)
• Leveling benefits:
• Reduces Cooldown (12/11/10/9)
• Increases Duration
• Mana Cost DOES NOT CHANGE (always 90)
• Odd Mechanics
• Triggers Linken's Sphere, but the effect STILL HAPPENS (i.e. win/win)
• However, BKB/Magic Immunity still prevents it
• The 0.5 second delay throws a lot of people off (but the massive 1100 distance makes up for it)
3. Liquid Fire
• Passive Ability
• 20/15/10/5 second cool down
• Deals 10/15/20/25 Magic Damage per second
• Lasts 5 seconds
• 300 AoE
• Reduces enemy attack speed by 20/30/40/50%
• Odd Mechanics:
• Affects units and buildings
• The attack speed reduction affects towers
4. Macropyre
• Deals 100/140/180 Magic Damage per second
• i.e. 700/980/1260 damage over the full duration
• Lasts 7 Seconds
• Can cast from 850 units away, affects a 250 radius, and has a 900 distance
• Massive Mana investment (220/330/440)
• Short cooldown (60 seconds)
• Aghanim's Upgradeable
• Increases Cast Range to 1150 (+300)
• Increases Distance to 1350 (+450)
• Increases Damage to 125/175/225 (+25/+35/+45)
• i.e. 875/1225/1575 (+175/+245/+315) damage over the full duration
• Odd Mechanics:
• Destroys all trees in path

Attributes

• High Base Strength (highest for INT heroes) -- 24
• High Strength Growth -- 2.3
• High Base Intelligence (2nd highest for INT heroes) -- 28
• High Intelligence Growth -- 2.8
• Sub-Par Base Move Speed -- 290
• Sub-Par Range -- 400
• Clunky Attack Animation
• Slow-ish Spell Casts

Build

Skills

There are a lot of ways to build him. 

My preferred/generic is:

• Get Dual Breath & Ice Path maxed out by lvl 8 (i.e. skip your ult), prioritize Ice Path
• Level 9: Either your Ult or Liquid Fire
• Level 10: Get your ult if you haven't
• Level 11+: Max out Liquid Fire & your Ult

Reasoning:

• Early levels of Liquid Fire can accidentally push the lane
• Your ult is a huge mana investment and is hard to hit for the full duration, so I skip it until later
• The exception to this is when you have someone like Enigma or Faceless Void who have ults that allow yours to work better

The Alternative:

• Ice Path
• Dual Breath
• Ice Path
• Liquid Fire
• Ice Path
• Ult/Dual Break

Reasoning:

Liquid Fire can be incredibly useful on its own. As long as you target an enemy hero when its up, you won't risk losing lane control. It's great for pushing if you want to do some early. The slow helps in general as well.

Items

Starting:

• Courier/Wards (150g /200g)
• Tangos (90g)
• Salve (100g)
• 2 x Clarity Potion (50g each)
• 2-3 Iron Branches (53g each)

Early:

• Flying Courier
• Wards/Support Items
• TP Scrolls
• Boots:
• Phase Boots/Tranquil Boots + Soul Ring
• 2nd Support Build. Helps you roam/gank, you're also super slow and have spells that require good position, Soul Ring gives you the mana you need
•  Arcane Boots
• Hard support build
• Magic Wand (always good)

Mid-Late Game/Situational:

• Support items (wards, dust, smoke, etc.)
• TP Scrolls 
• Hard Support
• Mekansm - good for pushing, team fights, etc. Excellent all around
• Second Support
• Force Staff (good for positioning, versatile)
• Rod of Atos (good HP, Good INT, and the slow helps your Ice Path & Macropyre spells)
• Miscellaneous
• Aghanim's (good stats, improves your ult - so long as you're using it well)
• Sheep Stick (kind of a no-brainer)
• Eul's Scepter (move speed buff, good active ability - synergizes with Ice Path, lots of mana regen)
• Drum of Endurance (good stats, the active helps your team, bonus move/attack speed aura)
• Blink Dagger (good for setting up spells, but the money investment is going to be too high unless you're balling out of control)
• Shiva's Guard (active synergizes with your spells, the aura is useful and adds onto your spells that already slow move/attack speed, increases survivability)
• Boots of Travel (if you have a ton of money, it's late game, and you need to be able to quickly get to the lane and push)
• Orchid (odds are you won't pick this up because the attack speed doesn't do much for Jakiro since his Liquid Fire has a cooldown. But, it's good for Silencing - if they have a blink hero or something) 
• Veil of Discord - you have a ton of magic damage, this works well with you
• Pipe - pick if up if they have lots of magic damage

Play Style

• Role
• Support - you can play him as hard support
• Roamer - his skills lend to being good at ganking (lots of slows and stuns)
• Pusher - Liquid Fire is a great pushing spell because it affects towers and units. Dual Breath is also great for pushing. Laying down Macropyre around a tower will deter enemies from trying to defend the tower or deny it.
• Utility - in some cases, you can take on a higher GPM demand and be a very versatile hero doing ganks, pushes, and filling the gaps for your team

• Synergies
• Dual Breath will help land Ice Path, it's also a good follow up to Ice Path so you can chase
• Ice Path works with your Ult
• Miscellaneous Tips
• Ice Path
• Use this to cut off an escape route - their choices become: run back into enemies or get frozen
• Cast this from the trees/fog to hit with ease (it has a huge 1100 distance)
• This pops Linken's and still freezes the enemy
• You make Linken's Sphere carriers cry
• Dual Breath pops Linken's and still damages the holder (but won't slow)
• Ice Path pops Linken's and still freezes them in place
• You're very good at pushing
• Dual Breath takes down creeps fast and makes them attack slower (dealing less damage to your own creeps)
• Liquid Fire works on buildings
• Liquid Fire slows Tower attack speed
• You're good at counter-pushing
• Again, Liquid Fire slows attack speed and damages over time
• Dual Breath rocks creeps
• Macropyre will demolish any push when used correctly
• You're an excellent team fighter
• Liquid Fire slows attack speeds. Try to hit the enemy carry with it to make them useless
• Dual Breath slows move speed and attack speed
• Macropyre will force an enemy to move. You'd be stupid to fight in it because it can deal a Laguna Blade (Lina's ult) worth of damage over time
• Macropyre makes it hard for enemies to defend their tower or push yours

Hero Guide: Sand King

Sand King is a complete and total badass. He's an Initiator, Disabler, Semi-Pusher, Ganker, and a master of juking.

Skill Builds

There are two main builds I use for his skills:

1. Burrowstrike / Sand Storm / Burrowstrike / Sand Storm / Burrowstrike / Epicenter
2. Burrowstrike / Caustic Finale / Burrowstrike / Sand Storm / Burrowstrike

In build 2, more levels of Caustic Finale can be substituted in, depending on the situation. It's generally good to have at least one level of Sand Storm for juking, but not always necessary. Sometimes, the splash from Caustic Finale is better.

Generally, Build 1 is used for dual laning. Build 2 is used if you're in a solo lane or an aggressive/push lane.

Additional Information:

• Skilling Sand Storm is useful because of this piece Delay Before Reveal: 0.3/0.6/0.9/1.5. This gives you a lot of extra survivability and juking power.
• Caustic Finale is a great pushing skill and harassing skill. But you have to use it carefully or you will push your lane and have a difficult time getting farm.
• Early game, you can probably DPS more with Sand Storm than from auto attacking enemies. If they juke into the jungle, guess what, it's an AoE Spell so it will still hit them. It does have a fairly small radius though, only 525 at max level (for comparison, many ranged heroes have 600 range)

Item Builds

Starting:

• Tangos
• Healing Salve
• 2 x Mana Potion
• 2 x Iron Branches
• 1 x Observer Wards / Courier

Alt Starting:

• Quelling Blade: If you're solo mid against a hero like Tiny who has high base damage.
• Stout Shield: If you're against a lane that you know will harass the hell out of you.

Boots:

This will be dependent on what you're doing with Sand King. Almost any boots will work on him situationally.

• Arcane Boots: This is generally going to be your choice. Sand King needs mana and can fill a semi-support (aka Secondary Support) with this choice.
• Phase Boots: If you're pretty well farmed, this can help with chasing down enemy heroes to land another stun, move quickly between lanes for ganking, and once Epicenter is activated, you can activate phase to move through creeps and stay on enemies
• Power Treads: If you need extra HP, if you're planning on pushing with Caustic Finale, or having a rough game, power treads aren't a bad option either. Being able to switch between stats is very useful (i.e. Agi for pushing/farming, Int when you need an extra bit of mana, and Str for extra HP and base damage)
• Tranquil Boots: I generally don't use these, but they can be viable for a roaming Sand King.
• Boots of Travel: When you're farmed up and in late game, these are incredibly effective. Sand King is excellent at pushing lanes with Caustic Finale. When you see an opportunity, port to another lane and take a tower.

Core:

• Magic Wand: This gives good stats, is great for extra HP or mana in a pinch, just an all around good item to have.
• Blink Dagger: This is the bread and butter of your combo. It gives you great ability to catch players, to initiate, or escape.

Situational:

• Aghanim's Scepter: This is a nice item for tanking up a bit. The upgrade will decrease the cooldown of your ult and increase the number of pulses. If they do not have a lot of magic resistance or you can get it early enough, Aghanim's is a great investment.
• Urn of Shadows: A good item for a ganking Sand King. It's cheap and has a good build up. If you're ganking a lot, it'll be full of charges, making Sand King even more deadly.
• Drum of Endurance: This item is excellent if your team doesn't already have one. The speed bonus makes Sand King's ult slightly more effective. The aura is useful for pushing and team fighting. Also, the build up is good. Sand King needs both STR and INT for mana.
• Black King Bar: This will greatly help with your initiations. Nothing can stop you once you jump in.
• Pipe of Insight: A good team fighting item. It also helps him take less damage in initiations where BKB is down or what have you.
• Shiva's Guard: The active synergizes well with your ult. As soon as you blink in with Epicenter going, trigger Shivas and watch your enemies melt even faster.
• Scythe of Vyse: This is a great support item to get. It gives Sand King lots of good stats, a larger mana pool, and the mana regen he needs.
• Bottle: If you're going mid, you'll want to get this as one of your first items. Otherwise, let mid buy it because they probably need the runes more than you do.
• Soul Ring: In the event you do not get Arcane Boots, Soul Ring will work as a substitute. You need mana and most of the time Sand King initiates, he gets a kill, thus making the sacrifice of HP less scary.
• Ring of Basillius: If no one else on your team has one and you're going to focus on pushing, this is a good pickup. It gives the creeps a little extra durability and gives you some bonus regen. Unfortunately, you won't greatly benefit from any of its upgrades, so towards late game, just sell it.
• Veil of Discord: Reduces magic resistance, allowing Sand King to dish out more damage with his ult. It also gives him armor and HP regen he needs, plus more Int (increasing mana pool).

Of course, these are just general suggestions. If the game calls for it, there are many other options (e.g. Radiance, Blade Mail, Blood Stone, Necronomicon, etc..)

General Strategy

• Use Shift-Queuing to set up your Ult --> Blink Dagger combo. After that, use BKB (if you have one) and your stun to keep all your enemies stuck in your Epicenter.
• Your main job is to chill off to the side and initiate with your Ult/Blink combo after telling your team you're going in.
• Load up on TPs. Sand King is so damn good at ganking and counter ganking.
• Smoke is one of your best friends. It lets you sneak all over the fucking place like the creepy arachnid you are.
• Sand Storm is great for juking. At level 4, you get 1.5 seconds of invis after you break the channel to escape into the trees and blink to safety.
• If you have mana potions while laning, don't be afraid to use spells. That's why you have the potions. Otherwise, they just go to waste.

You should do fine. Sand King is super easy after you get the hang of his Ult/Blink combo. He also fits in most lineups quite easily. Even if you're in a dual melee lane, you can use Caustic Finale (which has a range of 400) to harass ranged heroes that get too close. He's also a pretty powerful nuker, so half the time, you can just kill the enemies in lane and then farm.