Disruptor the Harassosaurus *6.84c UPDATE*

Introduction

Welcome to Dinosaur Rider's guide to harassing, first blood, and a billion assists. We will focus on harassing early with Thunder Strike, getting first blood when we add Kinetic Field, and then getting a Veil of Discord to wreck in team fights.

This is my second guide, so advice is more than welcome! And thank you to everyone who commented so far (esp Mrs Warboys, Sefi, Nachowizard, Stank, lyzern, Demus, RedNinja)! I am updating the guide based on the feedback I have gotten and I hope it helps!

(08/23/2015) NOTE:
So this guide is over three years old now. It was created (July 10th 2012) the same week that Disruptor was added to Dota 2 (July 5th 2012). I keep updating it, because through every meta change, after each TI, there seems to be a fun new way to play the Raptor Rider. I have updated Disruptor's Kinetic Field due to the 6.84 change, added the two new relevant items (Guardian Greeves and Glimmer Cape), and adjusted the guides for the new Magic Wand recipe. I also added the very minor related updates from 6.84b (Glimmer Cape tweaks) and from 6.84c (Mekansm cooldown increase). I have also added a "When to buy Swaghanims" section to discuss when you want to buy Aghanim's Scepter. Since this is the fourth update to this guide, I have moved the previous change notes into a a new section "ChangeLog" at the bottom of the guide. I am currently wrapping up the update and look forward to the community's feedback! Enjoy the end of your summer!

6.84 Update

Disruptor:
- Kinetic Field duration increased from 2.5/3/3.5/4 to 2.6/3.2/3.8/4.4

Mechanics:
The following abilities no longer ignore units classified as Ancients (Neutral Ancients, Warlock's Golem, etc):
- Kinetic Field
- Static Storm

Reworked the Item Silencing and Passive Disabling behaviors:
- Static Storm

Magic Wand
New Magic Wand:
- Recipe: Magic Stick (200g), 2x Iron Branch (100g), Circlet (165g)
- Total cost: 465
- All attributes bonus: 4

Guardian Greaves
Guardian Greaves:
Requires: Arcane Boots (1350), Mekansm (2300), Recipe (1650)
Total: 5300

Provides:
+55 Movement Speed, +250 Mana, +5 All Stats, +5 Armor

Passive: Guardian Aura - Provides 2 armor and 4 health regeneration aura. When a target's health is lower than 20% it instead provides 15 armor and 15 health regen

Active: Mend - Restores 250 health and 160 mana to nearby allies. Removes negative debuffs from the caster upon cast. 45 second cooldown
Note: The dispel only affects your hero

Glimmer Cape:
Glimmer Cape:
Requires: Shadow Amulet (1400), Cloak (550)
Total: 1950

Provides:
+30 Attack Speed
+20% Magic Resistance

Can be disassembled.

Active: Glimmer - Targets an allied unit and makes it turn invisible after a 0.4 second fade time. While invisible, it gains 66% magic resistance. Lasts 5 seconds. The invisible unit is allowed to move during the 5 seconds, but attacking or casting a spell will cause the 0.4 second fade time will trigger again. 16 cooldown. 900 Cast Range. Can be cast while channeling

Note: The bonus magic resistance on Glimmer Cape is only active while invisible

6.84b Update:
Glimmer Cape attack speed reduced from 30 to 20 (same for Shadow Amulet).
Glimmer Cape magic resistance bonus reduced from 66% to 55%.

6.84c Update:
Mekansm cooldown increased from 45 to 65.

Pros / Cons

Pros

Great Lane Harass
Solid First Blood Potential
Great AOE/CC for Team Fights
Rides a Dinosaur!

Cons

Squishy Int Hero
Easy Gank Target for Heros with Silence

Items

Starting with two Clarity Potions allow you to drop Thunder Strike non-stop until you get your mana boots. Being able to use this spell from level one, will make your opponents burn through regen items and increase your chance of first blood. Also, you need to make sure your team has a courier, so if somebody else doesn't buy it, make sure you do.

Getting a Magic Wand first, then a Null Talisman, allows you to stay in lane and keep making it storm all over your opponents. If you are not getting harassed, you can build an Urn of Shadows or Ring of Basilius instead, to help your role as a mobile fountain mid game.

By level 6, you should have your Arcane Boots. After this, go for Veil of Discord. This item makes your Kinetic Field/Static Field/Thunder Strike/Glimpse combo even more amazing. Watch the other team scramble as they take 25% more damage from your lighting storm of death (suck on that Razor and Zeus!).

If you find you are not farming very well in lane, or that your team is on the defensive, don't get the Veil of Discord, go for a Mekansm. This will allow you to be a mobile fountain and keep your team pushing while not dying in team fights. It is easier to build with low gold because of the multiple cheap components. Also, DON'T FORGET TO BUY WARDS. If you are playing the main support role on your team, make sure you keep wards up, this will make or break your team in the early and mid game.

After your Veil of Discord, a Eul's or a Force Staff are in order, depending on your play style and the game. If you want to/need to play more direct support and their team has some painful heroes, grab a Eul's and help your team out, and also use it to set an annoying enemy hero up in the air for a few seconds while you setup your combo. If you need to play a little more indirect support, grab a Force Staff to cruise around the map, get your teammates out of trouble, and lightly suggest that an enemy hero get inside your ThunderDome.

Finally, you can get any big int based support item late game. Shiva's Guard for more AOE and Slow, Pipe of Insight to support against a caster heavy opposition, or Scythe of Vyse to disable those pesky super carries (I'm looking at you Anti-Mage).

Sidenote: You are an INT hero and a support, make sure you buy wards! As an easy rule of thumb, put them on the Eye symbols on top the cliffs by the rune spawns.

Skills

Source: http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Disruptor

Thunder Strike
Repeatedly strikes the targeted unit with lightning. Each strike damages nearby enemy units in a small radius.

Cast Time: 0.05+0
Range: 800
Radius: 240
Duration: 6
Number of Strikes: 4
Damage Per Strike: 40/60/80/100
Cool Down: 16
Mana Cost: 130

Notes:
- Gives vision around the target for the duration of the spell.
- Deals total damage of 160/240/320/400

Glimpse
Teleports the target hero back to where it was 4 seconds ago. Instantly kills illusions.

Cast Time: 0.05+0
Range: 600/1000/1400/1800
Cool Down: 60/46/32/18
Mana Cost: 100

Notes:
- The Glimpse effect has some travel time, the target isn't instantly moved back.
- If the target hero dies and buys back while still being under the effect of glimpse he will be moved back.
- It also disrupts any command that is currently active on the player; meaning you will stand still after Glimpse.
- Even though BKB can block the effect, it cannot be dispelled by anything.

Kinetic Field
After a short formation time, creates a circular barrier of kinetic energy that enemies can't pass.

Cast Time: 0.05+0
Range: 900
Radius: 325
Formation Time: 1.2
Duration: 2.6/3.2/3.8/4.4
Cool Down: 13/12/11/10
Mana Cost: 70

Notes:
- Magic immune units can travel through the field.
- Only stops enemies from walking through the barrier, other sorts of movement will not be stopped.
- Force Staff will push units into Kinetic Field, but will not normally push units out.
- If a magic immune hero uses Force Staff on itself it will be pushed through the field.
- Gives ground vision within the field.

Static Storm
Creates a damaging static storm that also silences all enemy units in the area for the duration. The damage starts off weak, but increases in power over the duration.

Cast Time: 0.05+0
Range: 800
Radius: 450
Duration: 5 (7*)
Maximum Damage Per Second: 200/250/300
Cool Down: 90/80/70
Mana Cost: 125/175/225

Notes:
- Can deal up to 520/648/780 (1009/1257/1512*) damage to a single unit (before reductions)

Main Skill Build

Maxing out Thunder Strike will allow you to harass from level one. Since you bought two Clarity Potions, you can spam this non-stop. Make sure you use it to break your lane nemesis' Clarity and Healing Salve regen.

Once you have two levels of Thunder Strike and a level of Kinetic Field, you can attempt first blood. To do this make sure you are always casting Thunder Strike on a single low HP opponent, that your are harassing with your solid range auto-attack, and that when you are ready to go, you hit your Kinetic Field/Thunder Strike combo then auto attack like crazy.

After that, just max out Thunder Strike while leveling up your Static Storm and Kinetic Field, grab a level of Glimpse after your Ult (so that you can pull them back into your ult right after your Kinetic Field goes down).

Also, make sure you use your Kinetic Field and Glimpse to save your teammates, and yourself, from ganks. You don't have to trap enemy heros inside of the field, just put it between you and them, especially in bottlenecks on the map.

Make sure in team fights you pull of your ULTIMATE COMBO: Kinetic Field/Veil of Discord/Static Field/Thunder Strike/Glimpse. If you can do this, your team will not lose a team fight.

Alternate Skill Builds

Note: This section is inspired by RedNinja who very eloquently explained the intricacies of the Disruptor skill build. He did such a good job, I'm just going to let his words speak for themselves. Thank you RedNinja!

- RedNinja

Glimpse vs Kinetic Field
The more I have played with Disruptor, the more I have noticed the situational value of having two early levels of Glimpse. The difference between 600 range and 1000 range is huge in the laning phase. If you are babysitting a hero with a stun, or in a tri-lane with at least one other stun, I highly suggest getting two levels of glimpse early. On the other hand, if you are babysitting a melee DPS hero with a slow, or in a tri-lane with a slow I would suggest leveling up your Kinetic Field.

Team Play

For starting lanes somebody with high DPS is a great choice. Kinetic Field paired with Juggernaut's Blade Fury, Ursa's Fury Swipes/Overpower, or Viper's Poison Attack/Nethertoxin is a fairly reliable first blood. Glimpse paired with any stun is also a fairly reliable first blood. Be careful of lane-ing againsg lanes with heavy DOTs/Slows like Alchemist's goo pile or Venomancer's Corrosive Gale.

Be aware of your role as a support, because you have the ability to save lives. Use Kinetic Field not just for opening up the ThunderDome, but also for blocking off a path between your teammate and the enemy (or yourself and the enemy). Make sure you practice with the timing, because the field takes a second to setup, try casting it a little bit in front of them, so when you cast it, they are just about to hit the side farthest from you (so the run into the middle of the circle, then get hit in the face by the farside). If they are really fast and about to catch you, when they hit the side closest to you, Glimpse them back to wherever they came from.

To really help your team in team fights, wait for 2 to 3 enemy heroes to get in a circle equal to the size of your Kinetic Field, drop your Static Storm (to start the damage train and silence them), then quickly drop your Kinetic Field right on top of that circle to trap them in, then quickly lay the Vile of Discord right on top of that to ramp up the damage, then cap it all off by dropping your Thunder Strike on a hero you want to die to complete THE THUNDERDOME! Be aware that you might need to Glimpse any heroes that might have been lingering right around the edges back into the Dome of Thunder.

Be sure to coordinate your combo with other AOE ults like Kunka's ship, Dark Seer's wall/vacuum, Enigma's Blink/Black Hole, or Sand King's omgquake/Burrow Strike. These are game ending combos that you want to make sure you utilize.

Sidenote: You are an INT hero and a support, make sure you buy wards! As an easy rule of thumb, but them on the Eye symbols on top the cliffs by the rune spawns.

The Glimpse Trick

Note: This section is inspired by questions and comments from Necron Overloard and Demus.

During the laning phase, when you see an enemy hero TPing to the tower in your lane, get within glimpse range and as soon as they appear, Glimpse them. This will send them back the fountain and cause them to lose a lot of valuable lane EXP and gold.

During the mid game, when an enemy hero ports in to defend a tower or a hero like Nature's Prophet teleports in for a gank/team fight, get into Glimpse range and cast it as soon as they appear. This will put your team up a man in the push or team fight and allow you to (hopefully) have superior numbers.

During the end game, watch for heroes like Storm Spirit, Wisp and Specter to pop up in team fights. You can save your teammates by Glimpsing these heroes as soon as they appear, sending them back from whence they came!

When to buy Swaghanims

[work in progress]

There are two main instances when you want to buy a big daddy Swaghanims:
1) You are playing against a team full of BKB dependent hard carries. (see Mute below)
2) You are playing with a team full of synergistic AOE ults, aka Wombo Combo. (see Upgrade below)

Aghanim's Scepter:
Increases duration and maximum damage per second. Applies Mute to affected units.

Mute:
Mute
As a counterpart to silence, a Mute disables the affected unit's active items in the same fashion as Silence disables active abilities. As with Silence, it does not affect passives at all. It does not stop already ongoing effects of items, but does cancel channeled items. It also prevents the unit from toggling their toggle items on or off.

Upgrade:
Aghanims Maximum Damage per Second increase: From 200/250/300 to 280/350/420

This is how much damage each interval deals (before reductions) on each level (the part in brackets are dealt when Aghanim's Scepter is acquired):
Level 1:
2/5/7/10/12/15/17/20/22/25/27/30/32/35/37/40/42/45/47/50(/52/55/57/60/62/65/67/70) damage
Level 2:
3/6/9/12/15/18/21/25/28/31/34/37/40/43/46/50/53/56/59/62(/65/68/71/75/78/81/84/87) damage
Level 3:
3/7/11/15/18/22/26/30/33/37/41/45/48/52/56/60/63/67/71/75(/78/82/86/90/93/97/101/105) damage

Summary

So I have made my fourth update to this guide after playing a lot and getting feedback, but I would like to make it even better. Unusual item usage, digging into the changelog, elaborating on team play, and other ideas are all welcome topics of discussion and hopefully I will be quicker to update my guide in the new year. Thanks to everyone who has commented/voted/used my guide and hopefully it helped a little.

Cheers,
rufus

ChangeLog

6.83 Update

(12/18/2014) NOTE:
Hope everyone has had a great year! There were some minor changes to Disruptor in 6.83 so I have made some minor changes to the guide. The relevant changelog notes are summarized in section "6.83 Update" below. I updated the skill builds a little (prioritize Glimpse due to lower mana cost and cool down), the item builds a little (get a circlet instead of a mantle), and the skills section below to reflect the 6.83 update. I am currently finishing the update and eagerly awaiting everyone's feedback! Have a great New Years!

6.83 Update

Disruptor
- Glimpse mana cost rescaled from 160/130/100/70 to 100
- Glimpse cooldown reduced from 65/50/35/20 to 60/46/32/18
- Kinetic Field cooldown reduced from 14/13/12/11 to 13/12/11/10
- Static Storm cooldown from 85 to 90/80/70

Circlet
- Cost reduced from 185 to 165 (Null Talisman, Wraith Band, and Bracer Recipe costs increased by 20)

Eul's Scepter of Divinity
- Recipe cost increased from 500 to 650

Magic Wand
- Max charges increased from 15 to 17

6.81 Update

(06/22/2014) NOTE:
Long time, no update! Well don't worry, I'm back and I have heard your feedback. There are new builds that focus on lane support (thank you very much RedNinja), more emphasis on Mekansm (thank you Demus), and WARDS WARDS WARDS (thank you stank). I am currently in the process of updating this guide from everyone's feedback and doing some play testing. As always, feedback is more than welcome! I love the advice and I will try to get all of it in as quickly as possible.

6.81 Update

Eul's Scepter of Divinity
- Cyclone now deals 50 damage to enemy units when they land
- You can now cast Cyclone on yourself while you are magic immune

6.79 Update

(10/21/2013) NOTE:
I am currently in the process of updating this guide for the big 6.79 patch. I am play testing and getting a feel for these changes, so sorry if updates are slow. I have added a new chapter "6.79 Update" to summarize the relevant changes. As always, I have read through your comments and will be making some changes based on those too. Give me about a week :)

6.79 Update

Disruptor
- Kinetic Field AoE increased from 300 to 325
- Glimpse cooldown reduced from 60/50/40/30 to 65/50/35/20
- Static Storm AoE increased from 375 to 450
- Static Storm max damage increased from 170/220/270 to 200/250/300
- Added Aghanim's upgrade: Static Storm silences items, and lasts an extra 2 seconds

Veil of Discord
- Now uses Null Talisman instead of Robe of the Magi (from +12 int to +6 int, +3 str, +3 agi, +3 dmg)
- Magic weakness duration increased from 20 to 25 seconds

Eul's Scepter of Divinity
- Cyclone cooldown reduced from 30 to 25
- Movement speed bonus increased from 35 to 40

Initial Release

(07/10/2012) NOTE:
This is my second guide, so advice is more than welcome!

6.68 Update
Disruptor added to Dota 2!