The TideFighter: Because Blink Daggers are for Chumps

Really worked for me, really good tanking! Lately I have been making some modifications to this build. Anchor smash is a MUST once Gush and Shell are maxed, great support once Ravage stun passes and you find yourself surrounded by enemies and your pals still to arrive! I swapped the second bracer for an Urn of Shadows which gives a good mana regen, healing and damage boost, and bought the Blade Mail early on to maximize tankiness.
Go with te tide!

Nobody noted at what date this guide was created ? April fools ?
This being said, I don't like Blink Dagger on TH, mainly because I suck at microing it, so, why not give the build a try...

no max Anchor Smash???? really??? Anchor Smash is the best dmg spam skill of tide, and dafug with the item build??? stupid build ever

I played this build on a lark because of the somewhat satirical style... It freaking worked. Went 11-1-24 winning the game against a Morphling!

I went in order

• Bracer
• Tranquil Boots
• Drum of Endurance
• Sange then Yasha
• and finally a Heart of Tarrasque

Didn't have mana issues like I thought I would, I'll definitely try this one again!

What the hell are those boots? Need treads or phase for increased damage and/or mobility. He's tanky enough to not need that regen.

Item build works pretty well especially in games where you're warding or are lane support as you can build your items over time & still be effective in late game. I don't agree with the skill build as I tend to max Gush & Kraken Shell first for ganking/tanking then Anchor Smash to help with farming/pushing but skill builds should be flexible depending on various factors in the game.

However a couple of minor things I would comment on.
In early & core items the 2nd Bracer should be swapped for an Urn of Shadows as it will give you extra Mana Regen which Tidehunter needs since we're not getting Arcane Boots plus the extra healing/damage over time ability for team fighting & ganking (and the extra Strength doesn't hurt).
If you're getting a lot of gold early on I would highly recommend swapping out the Tranquil Boots with Boots of Travel (remember Tranquil Boots can be disassembled at any time so in a long game you may wish to build Tranquils early & replace them with BoTs later).

Extensions to the core items I would recommend are Pipe of Insight as the +11 hp/s & +30% magic resistance make you even more tankier than you already are plus the active ability can't be overstated in teamfights. I would personally recommend Pipe of Insight as a Core Item on Tidehunter, even more so with this item build. Whether it should be built before or after Sange and Yasha depends on the game though.
Refresher Orb is an obvious choice for extension. The stats it gives synergise very well with Tidehunter & being able to Ravage twice in a team fight is never a bad thing.

One last thing. Observer Ward use them or lose.

I like this a lot

More of a troll public guide than anything else. Hope your enemies are stupid enough to not stun/silence you while you run toward them and destroy you in an instant because you have no resistance or health. You aren't warding, and you will still get crushed by any real carry. The lack of the powerful gush and anchor smash combo also worries me. It is a great nuke combo that leaves your enemy hurt and weakened severely. It is also a nice aoe farm tool as well as your only pushing skill. I don't understand why you would grab stats over it. You say it requires good positioning, but you have an insane movement speed. Can't you position yourself quickly and effectively?

Nice troll build, although realistically Tide needs a blink dagger and to ward. I included a replay at the bottom where I managed to semi-carry the game using this build though without tiny's toss the best ravages would not have been possible. At 21 minutes and 32 minutes me and tiny pull off some great toss>ravage combos, and my movement speed at the end is pretty trollolloll! ^^
I definitely feel you underestimate anchorsmashes damage as a farming tool. As this build focuses on farming up those items the aoe damage can clear creep camps/waves pretty quickly when leveled up, and any extra dps in a teamfight is welcome!

Match ID: 17956842

I have a lot of friends that rage at me when they notice I didn't buy a blink dag. Suddenly, I hit the drum and ran into the middle of the fight... Gush, anchor, auto attack trolling to the max. Everyone's like WTF? RAVAGE!

I kinda like this guide. Bsacially cuz i never remember to use a blink dagger if i got it.

"As a tank, you don't want to be doing too much spell damage once the fight really begins in earnest, lest you steal kills from the carries."

- I literally laughed at this sentence.

By this logic, Lina should take 1 level of Light Strike Array (for the stun) and then take stats for the rest of the game, "lest [she] steal kills from the carries." Vengeful spirit should only take 1 level of magic missile, "lest [she] steal kills from the carries." Venomancer should only take 1 level of Gale and 1 level of Wards, "lest [he] steal kills from the carries."

In very few situations should a hero not maximize their damage. Anchor smash isn't passive, so in order to steal kills, you'd be casting it purposefully. If you don't want to steal kills from your carry, then don't cast anchor smash when a carry is about to last hit a hero.

Lastly, most good players don't build a fast blink dagger on Tidehunter; they pick heroes like Tiny and Windrunner and use Toss/Forcestaff to get Tidehunter to the center of fights. Tidehunter doesn't concentrate on mobility, he concentrates on helping his teammates. This is why good items on Tidehunter include Hood/Pipe, Mekanism, Drum of Endurance, Manaboots, Wards, and in some situations, Urn, Medallion, or Vladimirs.