Good builds for Beastmaster

I post this in the hero section, but it was suggested to me that I should start a thread about this.
So I played a game yesterday with Beastmaster and my build was Boots of Speed, Blink Dagger, Vladmir's Offering, Heaven's Halberd and Assault Cuirass. My team won the game, but at the end my carry (who pick Riki even when there was a Bounty Hunter already in our team) said to me that I was a n00b because I didn't build Necro book and that Necro is a must in Beastmaster. In that game we where teamfighting a lot, so I build important auras for the team and an initiation tool, I don't know why he said that to me, is Necro the only way to play the hero? Don't get me wrong, I love the item, but I felt that Vlads and Cuirass were more important. I was looking for guides about Beastmaster in this site, but they are old and out of date. Please help!

As a general rule, there's no 'only way' to play any hero in the game. Necronomicon is useful for pushing and gives good auras in its own right, but it's by far not the only way to play the hero.

Blink Dagger is a great choice if your team needs initiation.

Vladmir's Offering and Assault Cuirass both give great auras that helped your mostly melee team survive and deal more damage in fights.

Heaven's Halberd gave you some survivability, and if you were using the active disarm to make sure the enemy carry couldn't right click, even better.

It's the mark of a good player to be able to adapt to your specific game, so if you built these items for the right reasons, and they were what helped your team win, I wouldn't worry about it. If you were split pushing a lot or just trying to deathball the game and end quickly, though, Necro would have been a good pickup. From what you've said, though, it seems your itemization was alright.

Beastmaster is a very flexible hero in terms of items. You can go necrobook, it's the biggest damage booster to you because of your aura, and because you have a long stun and permaslow your dudes can chase pretty well. However, other things can come up. Sometimes you want to go blink and be initiator and get easier pickoffs and ganks, then at that point, it might be better to go aura items (like you did in that game) because Necrobook needs to be rushed in order to have max effectiveness. If you're in a lower position and won't be able to acquire necrobook at any sort of decent time, a Force Staff into Aghs does wonders on Beastmaster. The hero probably has a lot more viable item choices, though avoid the average Pub Lycan approach, and don't build non-aura right clicking items on him, since he is not great as a right clicker. A casual Basher will probably do you lots of good though for disruption.

People will call you noob for any reason. A lot of people have limiting beliefs when it comes to Dota heroes. I would respond to the guy who says Beastmaster needs Necrobook 3 the same way I respond to people who say Sand King needs Veil/ Force Staff, or Necro needs Blink, or that you always max stun on Sven, or that Leshrac should always rush a Bloodstone.

"Not necessarily, depends on the game, depends on the player."

There was one game I got flamed because I got Blade Mail and Rod of Atos on Sand King, even though we were against Wraith King and TA, 2 heroes resistant to nukes and weak to Atos. We won even though I was getting flamed by the 4 stack I was queuing with because I was able to kite the hell out of those 2 heroes.

Don't get disheartened so easily, that dude on Riki (like a few people on this forum) just had a really narrow view. And yeah, maybe Beastmaster guides may need an update. A part of me was considering picking him up more, but for me, he's one of those heroes I never want to play when I look at the picking screen, but every time I do play him, I have fun. Maybe you'll see a Cuttles guide, I'll have to look at the existing guides for Beastmaster again.

The thing is, generally I'm the first one to say that every hero is adaptable and that you should change your item and skill build depending on situation.

But Beastmaster...that's a bit different. I actually consider him one of the heroes with the most streamlined build in the game.

What you need to understand about BM is : there are better disablers, there are better initiators, and there are far better supports. BM has two big strengths over other heroes :

- He has a bird, and the bird gives him global presence.
- He's the second best Necronomicon carrier in the game, because 45% increased damage output + disables

For me, there's one build that's essentially better than everything else on BM :

Necronomicon -> Blink Dagger -> Boots of Travel.

Necrobook because that's your only way of dealing any kind of damage, and without that damage BM is just an walking stun, which is not good enough (your offlaner can't be just an underpowered Lion or Bane). Dagger because you won't land your ulti or your slows without it. And BoTs because they give you global presence ; you can TP to your bird and it's completely gamebreaking. BM is a global hero like Furion is, because he can send his bird to scout for ganks and then TP to the bird. Maybe Morphling is the better comparison : he's always at 2 places at once.

After you get that stuff, you have options. But before...for me there's really no question. Especially with invis heroes like Bounty in the enemy team, you need the necrobook.

Aghanim's Scepter is extremely underwhelming on BM and you probably shouldn't buy it. It only makes sense on a support BM, and there's no reason to play support BM anyways (just pick Lion or something). Refresher Orb on the other hand is really good on him, because double necrobook + ult + abyssal.

Look at BM's in competitive :

http://www.datdota.com/hero.php?q=Beastmaster&p=items

Look up for patch 6.86. Necrobook bought in 95% of games. And the remaining 5% is probably games being over before he can afford it :)

@ Cuttles : Sand King, Necrophos, Sven and Leshrac are pretty adaptable. SK can buy whatever he wants after blink, buy a freaking abyssal Singsing style for all I care. Necro can buy anything that increases his mobility or his survivability. Sven has several viable builds, and maxing stun is actually pretty bad most of the time because Sven is all about early flashfarm with cleave. And Lesh is also fairly versatile although rushing nectarine/BoTs which is IMO the best alternative to blyatstone is pretty damn greedy.
...But BM is a completely different thing! For me BM is like Windranger, a hero that looks like a versatile all-rounder but actually is an extremely specialized hero with one streamlined build. A BM without necrobook, blink or BoTs is really missing something crucial.

Another thing is the skill build, I tend to go for a build like this:
W Q W Q W R W F F F R F Q Q S R.

But, sometimes I wonder if maxing the axes first is better, since it would help you bursting down someone faster.

You max Call of the Wild first because the invisible Hawk and more powerful boar are more powerful in early situations than the axe's nuke would be. Especially the slow.

Sometimes you take a level in aura before 6, but that's somewhat rare. It's usually done if you are getting a super fast Necro, because the AS aura makes your solo kill potential higher than with just axes going up a level.

You have the right build : 2/4/4. Pretty much everyone uses this build. The only case when maxing Wild Axes would make sense would be if you get destroyed in lane and you intend to stack ancients to recover.

But with the ancient buffs, I don't think it's even worth it anymore. You need so many casts to clear a stacked camp, even with the skill maxed...

I think the way to build him now is Octarine Core. Cooldown on his Bird and Ult, which are his two biggest strengths as a hero, is pretty invaluable. The of course it adds to your casting and tank value. So in 6.86f id go:

Boots of Speed > Blink Dagger > Octarine Core > Necronomicon

With a 2/4/4/1 Skill Build

Bird already has a 30 second cooldown and a 60 second duration! How many birds do you want to feed for this to be of any use? Kappa.

Ulti cooldown is weaker than what Aghanim's Scepter does, by far. Aghs is already a pretty bad item on BM.

You can't solo kill people with that build. Or really push.

Part of the strength of a Necro book is that even with just level 1 or 2, you can have this like 5-10 minute window where you can wander about solo killing people. Because you roar, Necro, double Boar and Axes, and they can't run away before you kill them.

So you basically lose your timing window, which is never a good thing to do