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Tango
Iron BranchIron Branch
Quelling Blade
Ring of Protection
Stout Shield
Boots of Speed
Ring of Basilius
Wind Lace
Battle Fury
Ring of Aquila
Buckler
Eye of Skadi
Boots of Travel
Crimson Guard
Monkey King Bar
Butterfly
For me the most important thing about the start of the game comes down to First Blood and that initial 2 minutes in lane. You want enough regen to help you after the first fight and also if you get harassed.
This is why we take the tangos.
Only one Iron Branch should be used as the other will become part of the Buckler that we build later. They are a great start as they +1 all attributes to give us the advantage in lane.
The Quelling blade is to help improve our chances of last hitting and also builds into the Battlefury.
Finally, the Ring of protection is to upgrade into a ring of basilius but you can't get it from the side shop which is why it's taken at the start.
We should now be able to survive the first 10 minutes in lane without the need for the courier.
For the first 10 minutes I focus on Last hitting, If I'm against a hero that is spamming spells like Zeus or Brisstleback then I get a wand to top up my HP.
Otherwise I get a stout shield as I might use it later to make a Crimson Guard.
Boots are essential in almost every game and I'll upgrade them later but for now the extra +45 speed will help, I also have the option of getting a wind lace for that little top-up so I can chase down kills and help me get to the runes and back quicker.
If timed right then I can push the lane, stack the large camp at 53, get the rune at 00 and then pull the small camp into the lane at 13 before rejoining closer to my tower.
Each game varies but right now my focus is on trying to get First Blood, the rune and 50 last hits within 10 minutes. Thats the ideal start for the low level MMR that I'm currently playing and allows me to snowball quite easily.
To help me to this I get a ring of Basilius, it uses the ring of armour we already have so I just need to get a sage's mask from the side shop for some extra stats and mana regen so I can spam my dagger and harras / last hit.
So now either you have a couple of kills under your belt, you've been killed a couple of times or it's been a very boring time in lane. Ideally you would always be checking the mini-map (every 5 seconds) to see if there was an opportunity to gank / threat of being ganked.
This will allow you to make decisions that could help boost your gold early on.
Because I sometimes struggle with lasthitting and find myself at the 10 minute mark with 20 - 30 LH I decide to help boost my farm quicker. The standard build everyone tells me is Desolator ovr Battlefury because it gives armour reduction and it's cheaper. My agrument is that whilst this is true. There is no HP and Mana regen and you also have to sell your quelling blade :)
The main thing for me though is the farm, The ability to cleave multipul creeps / heros at once can really help. Battlefury has given me a triple kill before with one right click at the right time.
It's easy to do a quick rotation of the jungle and make back the additional 1k it costs you and the benefits are just too good for me to ignore as a noob. Desolator makes sense if you are going in hard for early kills, Battlefury is more for the long game.
I also take this opportunity to upgrade my ring of basilius into a ring of aquila simply by spending 500 on a wraith band. This will see me through the early game and initial ganks. You might want to get your ring before the BF, it really depends if you want to rush it or not.
Another purchase at this point which I advice is a buckler. This will replace your stout shield and give you some extra protection in fighting heros but dont sell your stout shield as its needed for the crimson guard later.
This is where it can go one of two ways. If you have a super aggressive enemy then you might need to replace your buckler with chain mail or even rush a BKB. It totally depends on the situation. Let's just assume it's relatively quite. You should at this stage, do a couple of jungle rotations. Checking in on the lanes and ensuring the tier 1 towers are down as you go. As you get to the secret shop, make sure to purchase your ultimate orbs so that you can upgrade your Eye of Skadi.
The reason I choose the eye over Sange and Yasha is that although it's more expensive, I feel it have better characteristics for PA to utilise.
It's also work upgrading your boots at this point. If you are having a good game, Boots of travel. Otherwise get phase boots. You can now sell the windlace as you wont have space for it with everything else you need.
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