Tinker - The Utility Carry

I played a Tinker game with some friends, I thought he would be a nice addition and counter to the team. Was I right and did I buy the right items.

Before you say anything, this was my first online Tinker game and my first ever Tinker game where i got farm so I now know that the Aghanims was probably not the best choice and i would buy Shiva's next time.

http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/984396905

A few points that I'd like to add, this may not work in a higher level of play.

1)When going for ancients, I start with only sage mask and recipe for soul ring and snag the ring of health from side shop or via courier. I just stay back in the lane till I get to level 3 and then concentrate on ancients. This can speed things up a bit if it can be done safely.

2)I prefer blink dagger over force staff because force staff takes a fraction of a second to use. Using blink you can shift queue to blink into trees while pushing. This way the enemy wont ever see you on the minimap. Also, as you get faster with your hands you can blink dodge a ton of projectiles. The best is dodging a void chrono, so satisfying xD.

3)Ghost scepter becomes important if there is a juggernaut on the opposite team. It takes only a few slashes from his ulti to kill you.

4)Bloodstone is a great item if you are snowballing because then the mana regen does come into play. You can continuously cast dagon or hex with level 3 rearm without losing much mana.

5)You should add a friends section. Prophet, Chen, Beastmaster, etc as their summons/creeps allow you to tp into a fight even if it occurs far from a lane.

Overall a very detailed guide than the rest of the ones I read, +1 from me

I hate all of those skill builds :/

http://imgur.com/6W6SHzo

Nice guide overall.

You could consider adding a section about queuing commands on Tinker (usage of shift + abilities/items). For example: Tp to a lane creep-> Hold shift + blink inside trees= instant blink after arriving. This causes enemies not to know exactly where you are, since you do it so fast. Works wonders against camping stealth heroes like Nyx and Riki.

Another variation of this can be done when defending towers: Tp to tower-> hold shift+ use hex on enemy+ use dagon on enemy+ blink into trees. All this happens instantly because items have no cast time.

If you want to go agressive and kill SOLO players: Tp-> Hold shift + dagger next to enemy+ use hex+ use dagon->finish him with your Rearm combo. With this enemy gets hex'd the same moment you arrive with tp. BKBs on enemies won't help because they can't use it while sheeped. If the enemy sees you TPing to a near creep/tower and uses BKB beforehand to counter you, well... you can simply hit S to stop and watch him waste a precious BKB charge.

In my opinion Shift+clicking deserves a special mention on Tinker because of his frequent need to channel rearm and BOT. Atleast my own game play has improved enormously.

Interesting point on Nature's Prophet comparison. Their role is not massively different, but their skills are. I'd say Tinker's are better - he has a considerable amount of nuking and pushing power from pretty early on. NP is mobile from the start, while Tink needs a few thousand gold before he can spread his wings.

Pushing style is quite different - Tink can get in and out much quicker, and his anti-push is much better. Prophet is better at taking towers due to the extra tanking and his more developed right click.

Late game matchup very much depends on items, Prophet tends to have better right click damage, but Tinker has more team fight utility. 1v1 usually comes down to who can sheepstick the other first. Can get quite funny if NP gets BKB and Tink gets Ghost Scepter :).

It's the same with Tinker versus almost all other carries, with a big Dagon and a Scythe of Vyse he can cause considerable problems for them, but Black King Bar does make a difference. As Tinker, almost all your late game damage comes from that Dagon, plus obviously setting up for team mates with the multi-sheepstick.

I'd say pick NP when you think you'll have plenty of safe farming time, the team needs some more right click power, and/or want to be able to jump in on ganks early. Pick Tinker when you've already got a decent right click carry, the opposition are squishy, and most of all when you need strong anti-push.

Sorry, not sure on the Ghost Scepter / Boots of Travel thing - would think that using GS would disrupt your BoT channel, not sure on the other way round.

Necrobook - doesn't refresh with Rearm so you'd basically just be dumping in those extra creeps every minute or so. Your pushing style isn't like NP - you usually get in, annihilate the creepwave and get out. Prophet has to hang around shooting, which is where Necro comes in useful. Overall I can see the utility of it, but not rearming it makes it considerably less value on Tinker. Also see where you'd squeeze it into your build, that sheepstick is so important, and a big Dagon is pretty important too.

Rod of Atos...bit unusual. It's actually a great early game ganking item - keeping them in range of team mates and MoTM can be pretty deadly. Stats on it are great too. Big problem is that it's not a sheepstick. Item actives are such an important part of tink's game, and it's not in the same league.

Love Tinker, such a fun hero, and like the guide.

One thing that really annoys and confuses me is that Ghost Scepter says in game that it is dispelled by Boots of Travel and a teleport scroll, but when trying it i discover that boots of travel does not dispel it, making it a great item against gankers who lack a stun ( Viper, Clinkz, Drow). Why does it say that when in reality boots of travel work fine in ethereal form, or have i just had a really "special" moment and not realised it was dispelled? :p

Also, many many people play Nature's Prophet if they want split push and don't think Tinker is as good due to his inability to split push and take towers as quickly. Can you give some examples when Tinker is better than Nature's Prophet?

Finally, I'd like to know what your thoughts are on Necronomicon and Rod of Atos for Tinker. Ever a reasonable item and if yes, in what situations?

Don't get me wrong, I like Bloodstone, the extra health/mana is very useful on him...but you need a lot of other equipment first - anything with actives, especially Scythe of Vyse. It's also quite situational whether that or Black King Bar is most useful at keeping you alive in various different games.

I'd look to build Bloodstone to replace the Bottle if the game goes that late, but only after you've already got a load of other things first.

Obviously a very good Tinker guide, but I notice that you really underrate bloodstone, and only list it as a survivability item. When I play Tinker, i almost always build it, because you can stay in teamfights to spam longer, not leaving your team to die in the time it takes to TP out/back. it also lets him stay useful as a utility guy in the lategame, because with enough charges+sixslottedness you can spam almost indefiniley, letting you be the ultimate muderer of all non BKB carrying carries.
(sorry so long, also just my opinion)

A standard guide to tinker. A few things to note that most beginner players don't know/understand:
1) What to do in team fight 90% of the time I just see tinkers tping at the wrong time and instantly dying.
2) Why you need to upgrade your ulti, more then once.
3) How to push the lanes correctly minimizing their deaths.
4) Tips on managing all of his items and skills.

I would also place bat rider in the bad enemies section, since he normally goes blink dagger.
Place the "when to pick" section below the "pros and cons section".
Lastly add some replays.

Other than that good work.

Yep, good point, I've added them and Spirit Breaker as further counters.

Hey sando nice guide though i have only suggestion maybe add clockwerk and storm spirit too foes as the long range initiation is pretty deadly for the not so durable tinker especially if storm has orchid