r/DotA2•9 yr. ago

Semi-daily hero tips. Day 108: Windranger

Tip

DISCLAIMER

A lot of you probably know about the weekly hero discussion, but that often ends up in a meta discussion (whether or not the hero needs buffs, etc) or a meme war than actual tips to play, itemize and build the hero.

This is what I'd like to do. Please discuss any notes I made and possible improvements while also giving tips of your own if you have them.

The roles, skill builds and item builds, as well as a lot of the notes are my opinion on matters and should not be seen as a must do or don't. Also remember that almost every single build or role is situationally possible.

A lot of the tips on heroes were also mentioned in tsunami's amazing hero tips series he did over the last couple of years.

Windranger

Notes:

One of the most versatile heroes in the entire game
Cancelling power shot at anything more than .7 sec of channel no longer gives the full damage, the scaling goes until the max channel time.
Powershot deals less damage after each time it passes through another unit.
Similar to VS wave of terror, power shot has great range and vision, great for scouting
Don't hesitate to use shackle on one hero to cancel a channeled spell or item
Try to always save mana for windrun
Agh's is a must when you build WR to deal damage. Build an attack modifier (maelstrom, deso, crystalys, etc) first in this case.
Don't just start off with shackle all the time. Hold on to it until you can get a good one (or get blink to pretty much guarantee one).
Shackling the creep to get a hero is often better than hoping for a tree or another unit to show up behind the hero.
Shackleshot can latch on invisible units
When chasing, don't forget to stay within 325 range of the enemy so the slow is applied.
Windrun can disjoint attack projectiles.
Versus: Pay attention to WR's positioning in lane. Try not to stand too close to creeps or trees.
Counter: MKB/Bloodthorn (versus core WR)
Good versus: Ursa, Huskar, Sven, Troll, Lifestealer, OD, Viper (good early/mid game right clickers that don't have true strike), Omni (combination of magic and physical damage), Undying (fast tombstone takedown)
Counters: Centaur (return), Spectre (Desolate can damage through windrun, builds diffusal to purge windrun), Bristle (turns his back and kills you), Tusk (chain disable, walrus punch can't miss), Oracle (save the shackled hero), Axe (call blade mail kills WR, focus fire even more)

Role: solo mid or hard lane, support

Item build:

Starting items: (RoB, Wand,) Phase
Support items: Force staff, (Blink, Sheep stick, Solar Crest)
Core items: (Blink,) Maelstrom, Agh's, (Deso, Mjollnir, Bloodthorn, Sheep, Linken's, MKB, BKB)

Skill build

support: Shackle --> Powershot --> Windrun
solo lane: max Powershot --> Shackle, windrun, early value point in windrun and shackle

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Posted Aug 18, 2017, 11:50 AM UTC

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