6.86 Offlane Titan

Hadn't played Elder Titan in a long time and I found this guide for patch changes (good looking out on the Eul's Scepter changes, for heroes like Death Prophet the mana cost is negligible but strength heroes should avoid it)

Ended the game with a score of 4-4-22, helping my Legion Commander go 17-0 and Luna 15-2

I managed to pick up the midas around 19 minutes after getting tranqs + soul ring, and then found a 23 minute talisman of evasion > 26 minute solar crest

The team was better about not waking up sleeping enemies than I expected, but it was clear how that could be a problem if your team has a lot of aoe nukes


There's definitely a lot of prediction required for his skills though, so I'll list a few of the things I consider crucial to controlling fights;

1: Elder Titan is the king of unreliable stuns. But there is a way to reliably ensure you get the most effective use out of both Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter. Starting with his Q, the majority of these stuns should come from the Ancestral Spirit rather than those standing next to you. The closer you get your targets to the center of the spirit, the greater chance you have of stunning them even if they try running (Force Staff can foil you but the spirit puts blink on CD). When you are being chased is when you shouldn't focus on the spirit but Elder Titan himself, if you make it up high ground and immediately begin the channeling, the enemy can bunch up chasing you and not see the stun until they are already in range.

2. Earth Splitter is also pretty hard if you don't stun them first, but it's pre-damage animation is considerably less obvious than many normal abilities (Midnight Pulse and Upheaval hide it pretty well, big crowds of units make it harder to notice, etc) and if you time it right the ulti can pull them towards the crevice just before you finish channeling a spirit Q to cluster them for follow up nuke or stuns.

3: Control Groups are your friend, I bind the ET hero to 1 and the ancestral spirit to 2. It's important to pay notice to ET if you're focusing on the Ancestral Spirit so you aren't caught with your pants around your ankles. If you're savvy enough, you can move ET while the spirit is returning to curve the trajectory towards fleeing heroes. If you stun while the spirit is returning, it will stop in place and stun with ET, which most enemies don't often see it coming.

4: Stunning enemies as an initiation is good, but counter initiating is better. Don't be afraid to let your teammates dangle for enemy openers, watch for the enemy to commit and then W > Q and if you've stunned 3 or more then throw out the ultimate (it's psychologically frustrating for their whole team to get zoned by this combo even if there are no kills). If the enemy team has any important spells, you might also be able to bait them before starting the combo so they aren't available during any subsequent fighting.

5: Probably the least exciting, but important nonetheless, using Ancestral Spirit for vision is almost more important than the damage bonus. Even if there isn't a way to hit any creeps with it, I have found many easy pick-offs by scouting the enemy where they think they can hide. Good for chasing, good for defending, just be wary of using it when you're trying to escape the enemy because it can make your location obvious (unless you are casting it to stun, at which point they'll know where you are but cannot stop you).

Kind of a long list but I hope it's helpful for anyone new to his skills. I thought this guide was very informative and I expect to play more Elder Titan in the future!

Hi,

Thanks for this guide on Elder Titan offlane. It is also more readable now, although I enjoy books too :).

I really like playing Elder Titan offlane. As a pretty new player to dota 2, he is the first who caught my unknowing eye and he is the one I play with most, despite the recurrent slander "ET<mega creep", "ET, go support", "ET is boring to play" etc...I think he is interesting to play and with a good team, he really shines at all stages of the game.

I find that Crimson Guard also gives him some increased durability and team presence.

Thanks for this guide on one of the undergoats of Dota 2! He deserves better.

I like this build. I like this a lot. Especially Hand of Midas item. I am always under leveled when playing as Elder Titan and never thought of buying midas. Of course I often buy midas for Ancient Apparition, but somehow I never thought about buying for ET. This guide gives me justification to buy Midas for him.

Although I wish for more information regarding situational items section: like how to use, when to buy, why buy it, etc, etc. Stating situational items are good, but if I don't know what situation I am in, my knowledge of situasional items are useless. Please, bring more information to that section. Thanks.

Looking good, definitely alot more readable. +1 was well deserved.

The reason I go Blade Mail is because I tend to go very aggressive with the Spirit Return buffs. When playing Titan in the mid to late game I:

1. Go behind the enemy
2. Set up by nuking with the spirit and stomp, and returning the spirit
3. Going balls deep with that 50+ damage + Atos and slapping them
4. Getting out with BM and extra movement speed

I admit it is super risky and not the optimal way to play, but I have fun with it. I mean you have the potential to get up to 200 bonus damage. Its also really good vs the long range heroes that can take you out from afar like Lina and Sniper.

And just one more addition: Blink Dagger or Force Staf can contribute SO much to Elder as it gives you positioning for setting up the Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter, as well as a helpful escape in case of emergency.

Thanks for everyone for their feedback, I appreciate every comment! I did not take it personally regarding the formatting advice. True it is a plain text, but the thing is, I presumed in advance that people who come here to read about items/skill build for ET (in particular) are aware of what his skills do. Not the best assumption yes :).

I will update and edit it for more information and formatting regarding skills and matchups, and best/worst heroes to play with or against.

This is my first guide on Dotafire, I just wanted to share my idea on how to play this hero, not enforcing it. I just see a lot of right-click builds for ET and that is the worst way to play this hero in my opinion.

@Blubbles: I'm also loving the Atos lately with the new buffs, it's a viable option as well. I'd go for it against Radiance builders/PA/WR. Blademail is very situational as you are rarely in the front lines, and ET's power comes from his long range initiation. I will increase the situational item list.

Thanks everyone again for your feedback, I will try to update this guide with your advises in mind. Cheers to all :)

But in the end, this is not a physics book or something, it's a book on how to play a game. Games are created and played for entertainment only(unless it's a sport). Reading a huge wall of text with a purpose to play better is a way, but I don't think it's a good one. I personally have zero will to read a wall of text for that matter, I'd rather ask an experienced hero/role player and get the same unformatted text, but much shorter, much more trusted and much more on point.

That depends on why you create a guide ofc, but if you want to enforce or promote a way to play a hero, or just share some exp with as many players as possible, you better format it well. Few would read a big unformatted guide and you can't blame people for it - you have to be really into a particular hero to digest such walls of text.

For someone who just some days ago complained about people being ill mannered, you're also walking a thin line Hamster, specially going off-topic on someone's guide.

Edit to answer: I do see that, but if you go back to your complaint from some days ago and read it you will realize it was after someone said a certain argument/idea was dumb, not you. It was the exact same kind of situation. If you don't want to have to complain about others, be careful yourself on the discussions you're involved, and the way you address your arguments (maybe irony and memes isnt' always the best way).

As for the guide itself: no one said this, but there's also a rule concerning the amount of characters to be able to appear on the front page. Regardless of formatting issues, my advice to you is that you make it a bit bigger, so it has a chance of appearing on the front page and thus gain more readers. Sorry for not being able to comment on the content, I don't know the first thing about the hero, anyways kudos for doing a guide for a somewhat not well known hero.

You do realize that this is called a book, right?

Books are not an efficient means of conveying information...FailFish.

An unformatted guide is the equivalent of a book. Or a kindle book if you want something on a computer screen.

@Chichi : Apparently you don't see the difference between contesting arguments that don't make sense and bad mannered talk / personal attacks. If you don't see that attacking an argument is not the same as attacking a person, I can't really help you there.

A guide is about conveying information. The form in which the information is conveyed thus matters to the actual quality of the guide. Blocks of text are not an efficient means of conveying information because they are tedious to look at, and something that looks ill formatted is like to turn someone off before they read, because it doesn't imply confidence and competence in the reading of your understanding of the hero. Thus it's entirely fine to criticize a guide on that even if the content is good. Especially since it is far easier to correct formatting than it is to correct a gap in quality.

Now was the critism in this case worded properly? No it wasn't. Does that mean criticism based only on formatting and visuals is invalid? No it doesn't.

As for the guide itself; It's a little sparce obviously. You could include stuff like strengths andl weaknesses of the hero, good and bad laning match-ups, good and bad mid-late game match-ups, justifying why you think building the hero around a hard to land ultimate is the right choice, as opposed to the typical aura building. Things like that.

As well as the general formatting to make the guide look more structured.