How to play windranger

1. Introduction

Windranger is a versatile and an overall well balanced champion. She has a powerful nuke that has a huge range for farming and harassing during the early game, a stun for some cc during teamfights, an escape mechanism and an ult that makes her a great threat to the enemies in the late game if she was given enough farm.

Pros A good nuker/ farmer Good range Amazing damage on single target Low cooldown stun A pseudo escape-mechanism Does not care if the enemy Black King Bar

VS

Cons Low starting armor (1) Cam focus on firing at only 1 target Weak against nuke Get destroyed by Monkey King Bar Jack of all trade but master of none Does not have a soul ( Lina has a Fiery Soul apparently)

She can fits almost any role but she is best played as a mid laner for her wave control, dueling power and having an escape mechanism to get out of sticky situation.

2. Skillset

Shackleshot

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy Units

Shackles the target to an enemy unit or tree in a line directly behind it. If no unit or tree is present, the stun duration is reduced to 0.75.

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Notes:

• The stun does not go through Black King Bar
• Can latch onto invisible units, units in the fog of war.

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Powershot

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy Units

Windranger charges her bow for up to 1 second for a single powerful shot, which deals more damage the longer it is charged. The arrow damages enemies and destroys trees along its path. For each enemy that Powershot hits, its damage is reduced by 10%.

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Notes:

• Can be released early by issuing other commands.
• The damage build up over the 1 second channeling time.
• Destroy trees in its path.
• Can hit invisible units.
• Provide vision as the arrow flies.

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Windrun

Type: Targets:

Active Self buff/Enemies debuff

Increases movement speed and adds evasion from all physical attacks, while slowing movement of nearby enemies within 300 radius.

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Notes:

• Monkey King Bar will completely negate the evasive effect of Windrun.

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Focus Fire

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy Units

Windranger channels the wind, gaining maximum attack speed on the enemy unit or structure, although with reduced attack damage, including damage from unique attack modifiers and item effects.

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Notes:

• Can be upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter.
• Can target tower.

3. Playstyle

In the early laning phase, Powershot is your bread and butter so max it first and try to use it to get last hits and harassing the enemy at the same time



Bad arrow, only hitting the creep



Good arrow, hitting both the creep and the enemy champion

Also, use this to ks the **** out of your teammate since it has a huge 2600 range. In teamfights, spam this to poke the enemy team before initiating with shackleshot.

The second skill you should max is Shackleshot because it can provide up to 3.75 secs of disable if used correctly and will be your main lock down/initiation.



Shackling 2 enemies together.






Shackling an enemy into a tree.

After shackling your enemies, try to move into a better position to get some free damage onto them.

You should only take your ult at level 10 and 11 because without items, your ult does not do that much damage and it is much better to level up your Q first for the stun duration. During the mid game, you should priority your ult onto the tower since you will mostly not have enough damage to kill off champion during your 3.75 shackle and standing there attacking would put you at risk of during so just use Powershot instead.


Lastly, your E should be taken at level 2 for the trading potential and escaping ganks

4. Item choices

Early game
Null Talisman + Tango: these should always be your first buy. The null will provide much needed damage for easier last hit and harass, the tangoes will give you enough regen to stay in lane to farm your bottle.

Bottle: this is where your first 700 gold should go, it gives great sustain, very cost effective and Windranger is one of the best champion when it comes to rune contest.


Tips:

• Runes spawn at the 2, 4 ,6 ,8, etc. minute mark so when you got your bottle, use your Powershot to clear the 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, etc. wave as quickly as possible and then run to the rune forcing the opponent to choose between losing the rune or losng the creeps that are being shove into their tower.
• If one of your teammates are teleporting from the fountain, put the bottle onto their inventory, this will refill the bottle instantly.

Mid game
Phase Boots, Force Staff, agahim's scepter: these should be your core items. The phase boots will give you more damage and mobility, couple this with the force staff and you will have a nasty kit to reposition for that tricky shackle shot. The aghanim should be your first damage item because it gives lots of stats and makes your ult going from "meh, i will use it on tower (maybe)" to "%$@^!& what? this actually does damage?".



Late game
In the late game, depends on the game you might want different items combination but generally speaking, you would want 1 defensive items + 2 damage items + boots + aghanim's scepter. The last slot is for you (this slot should always be a Town Portal Scroll before you have Boots of Travel).

Defensive option

Shiva's Guard 15 armor 30 int Active: 200 damage nuke + 40% movespeed slow reduce enemies' attack speed by 45. Total cost: 4700

VS

Assault Cuirass 10 armor + 5 armor aura 35 attack speed + 20 attack speed aura reduce the enemies' armor by 5 Total cost: 5250

Black King Bar 10 strength 24 damage Active: 10/9/8/7/6/5 seconds of spell immunity Cooldown: 80/75/70/65/60/55 Total cost: 3975

VS

Linken's Sphere 15 Strength 15 Agility 15 Intelligence 6 HP regeneration 150% Mana regeneration 10 Damage Passive: blocks most targeted spells once every 16 seconds, can be casted on ally to grant them the buff. Total cost: 5175

Armor department: choose 1 of these items if the enemy team has a lot of physical damage


Shiva's Guard: very good against attackspeed based carries ( Anti-Mage, Phantom Lancer, Sniper,etc.) due to the high armor and crippling attack speed slow aura.


Assault Cuirass: good against AOE physcial damage ( Ember Spirit's Sleight of Fist, Medusa's Split Shot, Bristleback's Quill Spray, etc.) because of the +5 armor aura and boost your whole team damage output with the attack speed and armor reduction aura


Spell immunity: choose 1 of these items if you are struggling against the enemy's cc.


Black King Bar: used to be the one item to rule them all but not as good anymore since now a lot of spell goes through bkb but still a good item if the enemy has more than 2 stuns ready for you.

Linken's Sphere: good alternative for Black King Bar, the only downside is that it has a lenghthy cooldown (16 seconds) but this 1 item will make any Batrider, Beastmaster cries, so get it if they are on the other team.

Special mention: Lotus Orb: this is a somewhat spell-counter item but it does not fit the Windranger at all in the fact that you still take damage and cc from the original spell cast. As Windranger, you do not want to take any damage/cc if you can afford to, so leave this item for the tanks.


Offensive option

Monkey King Bar 88 damage 15 attackspeed 35% chance to deal 100 bonus damage and mini stun True strike: prevent attacks from missing (does not work on tower). Total cost: 5400

VS

Daedalus 81 damage 25% to to critically strike for 240% damage Total cost: 5520

VS

Desolator 50 damage -7 armor on hit Total cost: 3500

Mjollnir 24 damage 80 attack speed Active: place a shield on the target which has 20% to shock attackers for 200 damage Passive: 25% to deal 150 damage, can bounce up to 8 targets Total cost: 5700

Physical damage: good if the enemy team does not have a lot of armor


Monkey King Bar: good damage, but the reason why you should get this is for its mini stun and true strike (never miss) to go against someone like phantom assasin or if the other carry has a Butterfly.



Daedalus: number one choice for your damage output, the huge crits can easily outscale the 100 bonus damage given by Monkey King Bar. The downside is that it does not give you the mini stun and never miss effect so get this only if you need to chew through a lot of tanks.


Desolator: the cheapest of the 3 items. Insanely cost effective and a great purchase if you want to win early since it also reduces the armor of tower making pushing a breeze (you can consider getting this before aghanim if your team is a push-heavy lineup). However, its effectiveness falls off compare to the other 2 when the game reachs around 40 minute mark.


Magical damage: against armor heavy teams

Mjollnir: 1 of the most underrated item in the game. Most people would just get a Maelstrom to farm but never upgrade into a Mjollnir. This is a huge mistake. The mjollnir upgrade gives you 30 extra magic damage on proc which is not a lot but it increases the bounces from 4 to 8, which means more AOE damage to clearwave/teamfights. The active is an effective tool to put on your tank to help his dps or even on yourself. Get this if the enemy has lots of armor but low healthpool ( Morphling, Riki, etc.)



Utility

Scythe of Vyse 10 Strength 10 Agility 35 Intelligence 150% Mana regeneration Active: turns the enemy into a harmless critter for 3.5 seconds Total cost: 5675

VS

Orchid Malevolence 25 Intelligence 150% Mana regeneration 30 Damage 30 Attack speed Active: silences the target for 5 seconds and amplifies the damage taken by 30%. Total cost: 4075

Scythe of Vyse: crazy disable, great damage, good mana regen. This item should always be your choice for disable late game because it is easily the best for windranger.


Orchid Malevolence: good damage, decent disable. This item is like the mid game version of the Scythe of Vyse in the fact that they both fill the same role. Get orchid only if you want a mid-game spike and the enemy team is weak against silence ( Puck, Storm Spirit, Morphling, etc.)

Positioning items

Force Staff: a well-balanced positioning item since it gives int and a useful push to get you or your teammate out of a sticky situation. You can also use this to initiate fights (pushing your initiator into their team or use if on yourself to shackle someone).


Blink Dagger: good initiation tool, pick it up if your team do not have an initiator or if you are really ahead and want to get more kills.


Silver Edge: good initiation tool, a bit more expensive but less useful compare to Blink Dagger when it comes to positioning but it makes up for that with the bonus damage and disble.

5. Friends and foes

Friends: as a very versatile hero, the windranger can work alone but she would be a huge threat when coupled with the right teammate, especially someone who can increase her damage output or tank up the damage so she can dish some back.





Ancient Apparition + Windranger: this is one of my favorite duo because their skillsets just work so well together. Your Shackleshot will stun the target long enough to proc his Cold Feet for extra stun and damage, AA's Ice Vortex will lower magic resist to increase Powershot damage and his E will add extra magic damage to your auto attack for free (negligible -15 attack speed when you have Focus Fire on) making your ult even more powerful.


Drow Ranger + Vengeful Spirit + Windranger: the auras sisters. These 2 heroes add a huge amount of damage to your auto attack making you that much deathlier. However, as Drow Ranger is a very squishy carry as yourself, having 2 ranged carries in the same team is vulnerable to someone like Spirit Breaker or Clockwerk, so be careful when pick up this trio.



Razor + Windranger: best buddies. His Plasma Field + your Powershot will nuke through any teamfight, a good Shackleshot will result in almost 4 seconds for Static Link and Eye of the Storm to rain destruction onto the enemy. Plus, razor is a natural semi-tank/ Mekansm carrier so he will soak up the damage giving you free range from the back line.


Special mention: i did not mention the more traditional supports like because they work so well with just anyone, saying that they are good with windranger is redundant. Instead i want to focus on the more unique combinations with windranger.




Foes: your kit focus bursting down a single target so anyone who can stop you from doing that would be your biggest enemy





Brewmaster vs Windranger: to be honest, this one is a little unfair because truth be told, our little panda is a pain for every right clicker but especially for windranger, his drunken haze + Drunken Brawler will destroy you 24/7, it's like playing dota when drunk, you either have to be very lucky or the other team has potatoes as computers for you to win that game. And if you ignore him, he will just wreck your team outright with his blink Q R combo.



Bane vs Windranger: you have max attack speed? nice, how about i make you deal 1 damage per attack, you would be doing 5 damage a second, great job. Seriously, **** Bane and his Enfeeble. This might not be a huge deal on other carry but on Windranger, this is a true nightmare (no pun intended).



Pugna vs Windranger: 1 word, Decrepify. 1 W and your ult is out the window for 3.5 seconds while the spell has a 6 seconds cooldown so he can just keeps doing it while blasting away your health with Nether Blast and Life Drain.



Medusa vs Windranger: this is not a counter on paper because she cannot win her lane but in reality, you cannot win either and this is huge issue. Your early game waveclear in Powershot will be contested with her Mystic Snake, your escape mechanism Windrun might beat her at level 3 or 4 but as you move into level 8 or 9, Mana Shield is simply a better defensive spell. As you move into mid game, 1 Shackleshot is never enough to chew through her mana pool, if you use Focus Fire then she will just turn on her Stone Gaze and laugh at you while running away. Late game, your damage output can burst down 1 person in 5 seconds while she just need 10 seconds to wipe YOUR WHOLE BASE (just kidding, Split Shot does not affect buildings but your teammates would not be so lucky).





Special mention: again, anyone who has the kit to kill 1 hero or keeping someone alive like was not mentioned for the purpose of simplying the guide

6. Mid matchup

Windranger is the queen of the mid lane. She can wins or goes even in almost any matchup if played correctly and there is almost no hard counter to her.



Crushing the enemies: these guys are the easy matchups and you should try to make laning a living hell for them.


: if you see someone from the enemy team instant-locking Sumail, pick Windranger and rush an Orchid Malevolence and laugh at his face. Your Powershot push the lane faster than his overloard auto attacks and if he tries to walk closer for a Static Remnant, punish him with a couple of auto attacks of your own. A level 6 Storm is a nightmare for many mid laner but you can just Windrun and kill him outright if he ever tries to all in you. Late game you might lack mobility but you can easily makeup for it with damage so in teamfights, you are actually more valuable than him.



: poke poke poke all day. He's trying to get a last hit? Shoot him in the knees. He's staying in your auto attack range? Shoot him in the knees. He's low and decided to stay at his tower? Shoot him in the knees with an even bigger arrow. He has no waveclear so you should get all the runes and if you are really good at denying, he should always be behind in term of levels. Just dodge the hooks and you will be fine.



: you have more range than her, you nuke harder than her, she is an attack-based mid laner while you have skill that literally says "LOL **** you auto attackers". Waveclear as much as possible, get the rune control, templar assasin should always be at her tower clearing creeps, not somewhere else on the map clearing champions.




Conclusion: clear the wave, harass the oponent, keep him/her at the tower so you can go do something else.





There are 2 sides of a coin: these are even matchups and can go both ways, it really depends on player skills.



: he cannot do anything to you before level 6, just have your way with him and establish dominance because after level 6, he will have kill potential with his Elder Dragon Form and if you leave your lane for too long, he WILL take your tower down. This lane goes from event to slightly hard because you do not have any kill potential on him and as the game progress, Dragon Knight is pretty good counter pick to Windranger thanks to his high armor and his breath fire damage reduction.




: waveclear? Check. Rune contest? Check. Roaming capability? Check. They are Coke and Pepsi, everyone knows they are the same but people try to say that they are different. She can waveclear just as well as you, her movespeed from Witchcraft means she would proably get to the rune even faster than you and she comes online much faster than you with Exorcism. The saving grace is you can ignore 50% of her early game damage output with Windrun while the others will get shreded by the "beautiful sisters".




: you cannot kill this little bug. She has a silence, Phase Shift to dodge all of you Powershot for 0 mana, wave clear and arguably better rune control than you thanks to her illusionary orb. Try to spam your W from a blind spot so she can't phase shift it, get her low and you should be able to win the lane. However, do not overextend after 6 or you would get your *** handed to you with a Dream Coil + Waning Rift.




: farm lane all the way, this is the 1 lane that is based on skill matchup the most. Stay far back to avoid the damage from chain lightning and forcing him to come closer but if he does, Shackleshot + Powershot that old guy to teach him never doing that again. This lane should be most about you hitting the Powershot onto him to force him out of lane but beside from that, do not come close or his Lightning Bolt will make you regret that decision. After level 6, this lane gets even harder with him having Thundergod's Wrath while your power spike is around level 11.




Conclusion: most of the matchups in this section is based on player's skills meaning you will win or lose based on your skills. Just try to get farm and you will be enough of a threat later on to rival these menaces.




Between a rock and a hard place: you almost certainly lose in these matchup.




: the king of mid lane and he does exactly what you expect a king does to his queen. Do not get close to this guy, his razes will nuke you 100 to 0 before you know it, his bonus damage from Necromastery will make him hit like a truck and you can't push him out of lane because he is NEVER in lane. At level 5 and above, he will just clear the wave and then go farm the jungle or ganking other lane. He might not be able to out run you at the rune spawn but he can easily out damage you so be wise to take the sweet little guy.



: if shadowfiend is the husband, Windranger the wife then Queen of Pain will be the daughter. The child really takes after her father, you will be constantly asking where she went thanks to her ability to waveclear and huge mobility. Do not even think about rune contesting because she will out race you in a blink of an eye and she has enough burst to kill you even with your Windrun on.




: Queen of Pain bigger brother. While not screaming as often as his younger sibling, he does have a six pack to make up for it. Insane harass, great tankiness against magic damage (which is your primary damage output early game). If you ever come close to this guy, he will just Burning Spear your face until you turn tail so he can put 1 or 2 more on your butt so stay away. However, unlike his sister, he does not have much kill potential and while him jumping onto any other character usually means death, he would have to thinking twice before jumping onto you thanks to your Windrun. If you are laning against huskar, I recommend just try to push him into the turret then go somewhere else(you might wanna skip the Shackleshot at level 4 for an extra point in Windrun).



: the annoying snake that your son bought from a shady dealer. The Corrosive Skin makes spamming Powershot or attacking onto him hurts the same. He does take after his owner in the fact that he does not push very well and will most likely not able to kill you with Windrun pop so just shove for the win.




: the shady dealer. Not only armed with a spammable Lightning Storm, his Split Earth will rock you sky high if you come into its range. Don't even think about shoving the wave in since he has too much pushing power after level 3, he can do it twice as fast and hurting you while doing it. In this lane i recommend killing him outright by asking for a gank or a solo Smoke of Deceit because to be honest, you are not gonna out damage his huge AOE late game.




Conclusion: beside from Leshrac, try to go for the late game where you will have the advantage or ask for a gank if possible.