A thorough guide to Jin'zakk, the bat rider.

Introduction

After playing a few games with my own builds, I decided to see what Dotafire had to say on this hero. I found the Batrider section limited and few... with one really great guide by Dresmasher (found here) and another good guide or two. I decided to do some research and post my own to go over some things that Dresmasher didn't go over, mainly items.

Batrider himself is an intelligence initiation/tank hero that benefits from health and plenty of mana regen. He is able to easily pull out one hero from a group, or break up a team formation with his abilities. This makes him a great ganker, but as the game turns into teamfights you'll want to be tanky so you can survive your initiations.

Pros

Great ganker
Can farm easily
Can keep the enemy out of exp range early game
Great AoE damage

Cons

Can be squishy early game
Can take a bit to learn to correctly initiate with
Can be countered by heros that outrange him

Batrider can work with nearly any team setup, but benefits the most with a hero with CC early game. A stun can easily lead to your team getting first blood with his Firefly.

Note: as per usual with my guides, their is a lot of reading here. If you're looking for a quick item build look elsewhere. This is a Guide, not a Build that lacks information on how to play.

Skills

Drenches an area in sticky oil, amplifying damage from Batrider's attacks and abilities and slowing the movement speed and turn rate of enemies in the area. Additional casts of Sticky Napalm continue to increase damage, up to 10 stacks.

This is what makes Batrider able to control his lane so easily. Keep tossing this on the enemy if they stray to close, if they get 5 or more stacks, then they have most likely doomed themselves. Between auto attacks and Firefly you can easily get first blood.

Hurls an explosive cocktail that explodes when it reaches the target location, knocking back and dealing damage to enemies in the area.

This single spell can completely destroy an enemy team if used correctly. It's knockback effect can single out a player to allow you to catch them with Flaming Lasso, as well as allowing you to interrupt any channeling spells. One level of this early on is the most you will need just for the effect.

Batrider takes to the skies, laying down a flaming trail from the air. While flying, the trail of fire destroys trees and damages enemies in its path, and Batrider gains the movement capabilities of a flying unit.

On its own this spell is nothing but a great escape mechanism, its damage is nearly neglectable. When you mix it with Sticky Napalm it becomes a deadly inferno that you can spread over the battlefield.

Lassoes an enemy and drags them in Batrider's wake. Dragged units cannot move, attack, or use abilities. Teleporting or blinking will break the lasso.

This is what makes you such a great initiator. This is best used on the enemy carry (if you can get to them), able to disable them for up to 4 seconds can mean life or death for your team. Usually if you can grab someone with teammates near, it ends in a kill or two for your team. Not to mention it works through Black King Bar.

Items

Core Items

The only core items for Batrider are an initiation tool, and health. Usually this means a Force Staff or Blink Dagger, each of them have a use depending on the enemy you are facing. Force Staff is useable while you have your Flaming Lasso active, effectively doubling the range you can pull someone. Blink Dagger on the other hand cannot be used during flame lasso, but it has a farther range, meaning you can initiate from farther away. You can decide which upon your preference. Another note is that Force Staff can be a reliable escape whereas Blink Dagger can't since if you take damage you will not be able to use blink for 3 seconds.

For boots you have two main choices. Power Treads are the usual choice, the attack speed can help harass early game on Sticky Napalmed heros, as well as having the ability to stat switch. The others are Phase Boots, the damage can help you some, and the active is nice for when Firefly is on cooldown and you need to escape. The third choice are Boots of Travel which are nice for endgame, so you can teleport in for ganks all over.

For health I refer back to the Dresmasher guide. Early game it is great to pick up 2 or 3 Bracers and a Magic Wand. This will give you the health you need to gank and tank early on. I suggest selling them once you pick up parts for your main health item. My personal favorite (that most people seem to overlook) is a Bloodstone. It gives you great health, mana, and regen, as well as its great passive. You will pick up plenty of stacks making it a great investment.

Defensive Items

When it comes to defense there are quite a few items that synergise well with Batrider. What I suggest is to aim for a Bloodstone. It gives you a great boost in health and mana, as well as regen for both. You will get plenty of passive stacks making it even better. Usually I try to end a game as early as possible and it usually ends after I get a Force Staff and my Bloodstone. If the game continues on, I suggest picking up a Blade Mail. Its active is great, especially when they have a few agility carries. If they're full of magic heros then you can try for a Hood of Defiance, or you can be a team player and pick up the even better Pipe of Insight. A Linken's Sphere is another great item that will give you some good mana regen and some stats as well, and shouldn't be overlooked.

A Heart of Tarrasque is also great on Batrider if you already have something for mana other than the Bloodstone. It will give you plenty of health between the str and flat health, as well as its nice passive. A Vanguard is also another choice if facing a lot of auto attack heros.

A Mekansm can also be used early game if they have a few auto attackers, the armor and active heal will allow you to tank for even longer. And lastly, a Shiva's Guard gives a great mix between armor, intel for damage and mana regen, and a nice active on top of that. There are a lot of choices here, and you'll need to pick and choose depending on the enemy you are facing.

Situational Items

If you plan to head mid then a Bottle is a must have. It will give you some great regen as well as power over runes as you gank. If you want to risk it, you can skip grabbing a Healing Salve and two tangos for a bit of extra gold already saved up for the [[bottle.

A Eul's Scepter of Divinity, while not seen often, can be good on Batrider. It gives you some nice movement speed, as well as mana regen. It's active can be used to stop someone from fleeing, or even tossing yourself into the air while waiting for Firefly to get off cooldown so you can flee. A Scythe of Vyse can give you some intel for mana regen and damage, on top of some health and armor/attack speed from the str and agility. It's active can be used to catch up to a fleeing enemy, or to stop a single enemy from getting to you.

If you're facing a team with no magic nuke, then you can grab a Ghost Scepter for some help initiating/escaping, though this is the item I suggest the least, it is only here because while barely useable, it can still fit in.

An Urn of Shadows is a great early game item during your ganking phase. You'll pick up plenty of stacks which will allow you to heal yourself and stay in lane for even longer.

If you have another initiator on the team, you can grab a Veil of Discord for its active and a bit of passive regen. Wait for the other to initiate, cast it over as much of the enemy team as you can, and spread your Sticky Napalm and Firefly over the battlefield, and watch the destruction unfold.

The final two situational items are a bit odd at first look. A Black King Bar can be grabbed if the enemy team is full of a lot of hard CC. If they see you coming in for your initiation they might focus you/try to stop you from pulling one of their teammates out. This will make you immune to most CC in game allowing you to continue the job, as well as giving some bonus damage. And lastly, a Radiance. I have never seen, nor have I ever gotten this in game as Batrider... why is it here then? If you happen to get very fed, and I mean, VERY fed, this item synergises great with the AoE damage that Batrider can do. Do not try to go for this item unless you are very fed, for its cost you can get other items that will be far more useful. It is a very situational item that I doubt anyone will ever get, but I'm putting it here all the same.

Suggested Builds

This build is the typical build I use when playing against an average team. Power treads provide attack speed, as well as stat switching depending on the situation. Force staff gives you some initiation/escape capabilities with its active since it can be used while flame lasso is active. Bloodstone gives you the health and mana, as well as regen you need, and Blade Mail gives you a nice active and a little more general tankyness.



Same as above, the only difference is the use of a blink dagger to initiate from farther away, leading to some surprise ambushes when played correctly.

Early, Mid, Late Game

Early Game

You are able to work effectively in nearly any lane. I've played him mid, solo top, and solo bot, in 1v1, 1v2, and in a 1v3 one time, and come out at the top. Use your Sticky Napalm to force the enemy out of the lane. If they stay long enough for you to reach 3-5 stacks, start to auto attack them and watch their health drop quickly. Once you have a bit of regen, you can drop a stack or two of napalm on the creeps to help you last hit, since Sticky Napalm does no damage itself you will not push the lane, you will only make it easier to last hit. Remember, your napalm lasts for only 8 seconds before resetting, unless you cast it afresh.

Try to watch the runes and control them as well. The two runes that you'll want the most are haste and invisibility. These can lead to great ganks and an easy first blood, especially with haste + Firefly. Try to gank whenever possible. If you're running across runes a lot you may want to grab a Bottle. If you go mid, then you'll want a bottle either way. Keep farming/ganking and you should get plenty of gold, as well as stacks on various items depending on what item path you took.

Mid Game

By now you should of had a few successful ganks and of gotten some kills, or assisted someone else with them. Aim to have your power treads and at least a Staff of Wizardry, if not a Force Staff by now. Keep up the ganks if each team is still laning, but once the laning ends stick with your team and try to open up some kills with your ult. It can be hard to do at first, but you can use Flamebreak to knock a single enemy towards you and the rest away, leading to an easy Flaming Lasso and a kill. Start working on your Bloodstone and knock out a few towers with your team and you should be on the way to victory.

Late Game

Hopefully by now you should have your Power Treads, Force Staff, and your Bloodstone. Stick with your team and use your Flamebreak and initiation skills to wreak havoc upon the enemy. Don't ever let them rest, you should have enough mana regen to spam Sticky Napalm without worry. They'll learn to fear the black goo, or die. If they stay too close and get a few stacks on them, light them up and get yourself a kill. All that's left is to push to their base and win.

Friends and Foes

Friends

Friends of Batrider are anyone with a hard CC or disable, as well as AoE ults such as tide hunter and Enigma. The one hero that works best with Batty is Dark Seer. They have a haste on demand with Surge, Vacuum will make it easier to get closer to the enemy, and since you're usually close to them, an Ion Shell will double the damage.

Foes

Foes of Batrider are heroes who's ability range can outreach yours. If they see you coming they can easily shut you down and back off, or go in on you. This includes Lich with his Frost Blast spam, and heroes such as Sniper. Heroes with a spammable silence can also be a problem since they can stop you from coating them with sticky napalm. Having a CC on your team can turn this around though.

EXPERIMENTAL: Jungling Batty

NOTE:

Jungle Batrider is not for beginners. He takes a lot of time an patience to learn, and is one of the squishiest, if not the squishiest, junglers in the very beginning. Play at your own risk.

Items

I start with a Stout Shield, a Quelling Blade and a Tango. While a lot of people overlook Stout Shield on range heroes, it will help in the long run, especially if turned into a Vanguard.

From there I grab boots and upgrade to Power Treads as soon as I can (usually by the first time I head back I have them and a tango). I start working on a Blink Dagger to help with my ganks. After that I either go for a Vanguard, or work on a Bloodstone. The situational items for jungle batty and defensive items are the same as laning batty, though I usually grab a Vanguard instead of Bloodstone, but it depends on the enemy team. You can also grab Force Staff over Blink Dagger if you prefer, but blink adds for easier ganks on lanes.

Skills

You want to start off with Firefly in order to destroy the first jungle stack without taking any, or very little damage. Get two levels of Sticky Napalm next, a second level in Firefly after that, and one early level of Flamebreak, before grabbing your ult, flame lasso.

Jungle Path

I will be posting a video as soon as I fix the problems I am currently having with FRAPS. Please bare with me in this quick explanation.

Radiant Start off camping the minion spawn of your bottom lane, and help them creep block the minions. Once that's done the jungle camps should be close to spawning at 30 seconds. Once spawned, wait near the top-left camp (red dot on the map below). Wait until the 52 second mark and pull the camp, stacking it once. Once stack, use Firefly and run over the creeps and onto the pillar just below the spawn point. You'll be able to attack the minions, but only the ranged will be able to hit you first. Take out the ranged first then auto attack the rest down. By the time you finish them off Firefly will be off cooldown. Activate it and run straight at the next camp (green dot on the map), make sure they're standing on your flames, then attack them down. From now on start using Sticky Napalm on the minions until they have 4 stacks (you can now move onto any camp except for any magic immune golems). Start auto attacking them and once your napalm is nearly off, cast it again bringing it to 5 and they should be dead. Once you hit level 4 you can gank or continue to jungle until you need to head to base for regen.


Dire The Dire works exactly the same as the Radiant, just on the opposite side of the map. Help block the creep spawn on the top lane before heading to the yellow dot directly to the left of the green dot on the map. Once the camps spawn move towards them and at 52 seconds pull the creeps. Stack them once, then use the same Firefly tactic, except this time run a little to the left and you should stand on a cliff above the minions and be able to take them out. Once finished, activate Firefly and run directly to the green dot on the map, and continue the same from there.