A Gentleman's Guide to Gondar, The Bounty Hunter

As of today, with 212 under my belt as Bounty Hunter, I've yet to get stomed for not carrying a BKB. there has been a few select games where it's been a must item, but those are rare.

Your argument basically states that if I want to play the way described in the guide, I should play another hero. Gondar can be played in many diversed ways and this build does not only give a lot of armor reduction, but gives you the diversity to farm jungle if there are no better options, solo roshan, push towers down fast and allow your teammates to push towers down fast too (armor reduction debuff). The whole point of this build was to play Gondar in a non-conventional way, as stated in my build.

Edit: I also fail to understand what correlation movement speed has to do with attack speed. Lower DPS would be better if you can only hit your target once every few seconds while chasing, but if you're constantly next to the target, then isn't higher DPS better since you can land more blows on a shorter time?

If you were talking about another hero then your points would be valid. However:

Track enables you to easily chase targets, and as a result attack speed is simply not an issue.
Bounty is not a farming carry, and as a result spending 2000 gold on an item to let you farm the jungle is a bad use of that gold. Farming the jungle is slow at the best of times compared to laning. Vlads also makes ganking players in lane harder as they will see the vlads buff (lifesteal) on your creeps and be aware of your presence, meaning you can't hang around a hero waiting for a friend to arrive. Not a huge point but something to be aware of.
Bounty is not a hero you build for tower pushing, he is a hero you build for ganking and the associated gold reward from track. If you want to doa push strat with armor reduction for the sole use of pushing then pick other heroes.

Also, as someone with a huge number of games played as bounty (most played hero, offlane player), I can tell you with certainty that without a BKB in the lategame you will get absolutely ruined, unless it's such a stomp that you could go eblade dagon and still win. 9/10 games is is absolutely required.

Flat bonuses indeed but still extremely poor value considering the amount you spend on it. A drum is much better as it's preferable to have more HP/mana to start with than regen extremely slowly. Vlads on bounty is a nice item but not when rushed unless your team is planning an early rosh.

Thanks for the input, I do build monkey king bar occasionally on him but not very usually as the game tends to end pretty to obtain one. I added it to luxury.

Indeed it is! But as a situational item, I haven't added it to the guide. There are so many situational items depending on different situations, that it would sidetrack the discussion concerning Gondar.



Indeed, the actual armor reduction part of the build begins slow, here's some points to bear in mind:
The reason you build vladimir's offering if not only for roshan once you have Desolator, but to enable yourself to jungle if the situation calls for it. Ganking, while effective, might cause you to fall behind in farm if unsuccessful. Being able to jungle is also a kind of fail-proof in case you fall too much behind everyone else and become too powerless to gank.

While Medallion of Courage Is indeed a good item (And I do enjoy building it on other heroes early game, as the armor reduction is supreme), you don't want to waste money on items such as that on this build. You're going for a specific set of items, all with it's justifications, so as to not having to sell items back to store once your inventory starts getting filled with items. Moreover, Medallion on Bounty Hunter is an interesting choice since if you activate it before actually being beside an enemy, they will notice it and probably back away before you get close. Then again, if you use Shadow Walk and then activate it before striking, you lose the damage bonus you would have gotten from Shadow Walk, in a sense negating the bonus damage you are doing with the -6 armor.

drums of endurance is indeed a good item, but usually a support in your team will build it (like earthshaker), so you shouldn't be the one building it in the first place.



Good point on the debuff icon, it is somewhat of an issue but usually enemy players don't notice the debuff until it's too late. Also by the time you get Assault Cuirass You are already pushing to win with your teammates due to the immense armor reduction you provide to the team.

I prefer buffing the attack speed of Bounty Hunter Rather than damage, since it gives you the option to quickly race towers and barracks from the enemy if they decide to push a lane together or are just far away. the DPS together with Desolator and [Assault Cuirass]] make quick work of towers and barracks. Jinada doesn't work on them.

In addition, the effect of Jinada Doesn't last forever and you want to make sure you can hit the enemy hero you're targeting as much as you can before he/she regains speed. (Most low HP heroes fall after one or two attacks once you've built Desolator and [Assault Cuirass]].



The downside of Urn of Shadows is that it requires kills to actually gain charges, and is thus a gamble of an item to pick up. Furthermore, usually a carry in your team will build one for their own purposes, making your urn useless. The 50% Mana regain is not very effective on Bounty hunter since his mana regen isn't that big to begin in the first place.

Having a Bottle to yourself while the mid hero laning has one too isn't a huge issue, from my own experiences. Furthermore, it enables you to grab bottle charges that your mid-hero either doesn't need, or can't get to at the moment. Getting Haste, Regeneration or Double Damage on Bounty Hunter is a great asset that can help you immensely when ganking. It also costs 200 gold less than the urn and is a more secure way of regening health and mana.

I still prefer Drum of Endurance if you need flat bonuses, as Vlad's doesn't give extra stats and the aura of the Drums is way more beneficial in the early game, especially in teamfights and if you have 1-2 melee Heroes only. Vlad's is good after Drums or Deso, I feel like it doesn't give much in the early game unless you hit very fast from the beginning ( Ursa and Troll Warlord). The Bottle is also your main resource for free HP and mana.

The HP + Mana Regen and Armour are flat bonuses, and they're the main reason you buy it in the Early Game. You don't need much, but you do need some sort of Sustain to keep you away from the fountain as much as possible.

This is a good alternative to it though.

Vlads first is bad unless you're going for early rosh (vlads + medallion and you can solo from level ~11). Vlads gives percentage bonuses and as a result is poor effectiveness/price early game, but becomes useful lategame.

Attack speed is bad for bounty, his crit is every 6 seconds so you gain a lot more by going for damage. As a result AC and butterfly are really not very good. AC also means the enemy know when you're close by as they see the debuff = scouting very dangerous even if they don't have a gem.

Bounty is extremely squishy as he has very low HP. He has good armour but spells are what wreck him. Lack of BKB is a massive issue.

Also drum is a very good item for earlygame chase/aura/tankiness.

Lastly as said already, and armour reduction strat without a medallion is just silly. You don't get decent reduction until you've farmed at least 15k gold, and that's with neglection of other important items.

Personaly, i like getting urn on BH for that so much needed mana regen early in the game, and since you will often be close to dying enemy heroes you will allways have few charges in it to regen HP, helping you and your allies. I leave the bottle for my mid hero, since he can control runes much better (most of the time).

I also dont like to throw shuriken at the start of fights,especially in the early - early mid game, just because its so mana costly, and i think its better to have that spare mana for another track and that life saving shadow walk than that early nuke. Often if you cant net that kill in first attack, you can reengage before track runs out.

One other thing id like to point out is that if you use your shadow walk when enemy is standing near you, you can attack while you are fading away and that attack does not break you invisibility but it gives you bonus damage form shadow walk. This can be very usefull for that little bit more "unf" that you need to get the kill.

Nice Guide, +1 (especially for having Vladmir's Offering and no Battle Fury <}3 )

I'm not sure about Butterfly on Bounty Hunter though. Butterfly gives you some nice Stats, but since you're not supposed to be standing out in the open going mano a mano with the Carry, I don't see it as worth the cost.

I would also add a Monkey King Bar since it gives you another way to interrupt Town Portal Scrolls and Channelled Abilities, as well as negating any Evasion on the other Team. Not to mention +88 Damage.

Black King Bar is useful in Teamfights as once you break Invisibility, you're an easy target in 5 vs 5 clashes.

Agreed, the Minus Armour on your Target is nice and you can build it fast. Since you gain the exact same Armour Bonus as the Armour Reduction on yourself from using it, there is no reason not to use it. You have no less Armour while using it, than you would if you hadn't bought the Item in the first place.

Why would you Farm the Jungle and Ancients? You aren't a Carry, but a Ganker. If that 1075 Gold helps you get more Kills, you'll make the Gold back soon enough.

The point of the Vladmir's Offering is it offers you both HP and Mana Regen as well as Armour. It doesn't offer much Regen, but Bounty Hunter only needs a little anyway. Aside from the HP Regen, all of it's benefits are part of an Aura, so your entire Team can benefit from it (just make sure you don't have an Ursa/Lycanthrope who's going to build it first anyway).

Agreed, if you use Shuriken Toss straight away, a smart opponent will just Town Portal Scroll out, since you just used up your only method of stopping them. It's best to wait until they're either trying to TP out, or until they're low enough that the Shuriken can finish them off.

This is true, getting a fast lvl6 is desirable, but not essential. Against smarter players it's going to be hard to get levels in your Lane, so it is usually wiser to look for opportunities to Gank as soon as possible.

Not really, Ganking the other Team's Carry when you're only lvl 3 can slow down Items like Hand of Midas, Battle Fury etc., perhaps even to the point that they aren't worth it anymore. Also, the Experience from a Kill/Assist will get you to lvl6 that much faster. Ganking a Nightstalker Mid can stop him from getting much Farm or Exp for 1st Night, forcing him to play more passively. Basically, there are lots of benefits to Ganking at lvl3.

Well it seems I managed to be insulting, sorry for that.

You say you get a Vladmir's Offering so you can end laning quickly, although you won't leave lane in most situations until level 6.

If you want an item that helps your allies early and yourself why not Drums of Endurance?


If a gank has lasted longer for 10 seconds then something has gone wrong, and Kenji if we're talking about maximising damage, wouldn't it be better to hit the guy for the whole duration once he's slowed and then throw the shuriken once he's about to escape? If you throw away the shuriken the instant a fight start it kinda makes it a bit obvious where you are and being assassiny doesn't really work.
and if it's a teamfight I would still save it for the guy about to escape or trying to tp out

Sorry again if I caused offence Waffaru, I probably should've edited "wrong" for "different from the usual", or something like that. I'm just not really getting why your method is much better than the other ways he's played.

Point 1 and 2 are debatable given that medallion is 1000 gold takes armor off of u and u could just be spending that money on something better, and vlad gives you the ability to farm jungle and ancients.

Now that that's out of the way let me say why I don't agree with you on your other points.
Point number 3:
You use Shuriken Toss as soon as the fight starts to give u the possibility of using it again in the same fight since the cooldown of it is just 10 seconds therefore maximizing the damage, by going invis using Jinada and Shuriken Toss you make sure to deal the most damage you can, and this set of actions let's you still track and right click him once while in the slow, when he gets back you will already have the track to be able to catch up and right click more and, hopefully, Shuriken Toss again to deal more damage.

Point Number 4:
Although it is true that Bounty Hunter can gank even without Track it's far more effective to wait till you have Track then start ganking, if you manage to Track every kill you get you're basicly getting a 1.7x gold worth from each kill, while if you roam around ganking before level 6 you're just delaying that sweet 1.7x gold later into the future.

Point Number 5:

This is my point, your number 1 and 2 are item and build related which is something that people usually adjust to their gameplay, but that last comment saying that he only understands the basics it's quite low coming from someone who doesn't take cooldowns and maximizing damage in short ammounts of time into account you're description of how you should play him sounds like how everyone everywhere does it.