2 | 8 | 10 | 12 |
1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
4 | 9 | 13 | 14 |
6 | 11 | 16 |
15 | 17 | 18 |
Elder Titan is a Radiant Strength hero who is mostly utilised a a strength caster/initiator. He can potentially play a more supporting role and roam and if he gets solo mid he can even transition to a semi-carry role.
In this guide I will try to explain how to play him effectively. Just as my Necro guide, the builds and laning tips come out of my experience. If it's relieving for you, Elder Titan is my most played hero so I have a decent amount of experience with him :P
Pros:
-Versatile laning and role taking
-Effective throughout the whole game
-Superb crowd control
-Item independent and one of the only initiators who don't need a Blink Dagger
-Powerful teamfights and ganking
-Very good starting stats
-Decent pushing capability
-Can amass almost as many assists as a Disruptor
-He is a freaking Titan
Cons:
-Mana hungry early game
-His stat growth isn't as good as other heroes in his mould
-Positionally demanding hero/needs sparp reflexes and decision making
-Attack on Titan fans aren't that fond of him
-When your team aims for a teamfight oriented strategy
-When the enemy has weak early lanes
-When your team needs an initiator
-When your team possesses little to none AOE heroes
-When your team has an initiator in your mould already
-When your only laning option is defensive trilane
-When the enemy has better crowd control than you in teamfights ( Naga Siren, Enigma, Clockwerk)
-When you suck at positioning
ECHO STOMP:
Channel time: 1.4
Radius: 475
Sleep/Knock-out duration: 2/3/4/5
Damage: 80
Mana cost: 100/115/130/145
CD: 15
This spell is your main initiation tool and disable and its max duration is quite a lot which can make it act like a mini Naga ult (since attacking will wake enemies up). The reason why you can initiate with it from a long distance (without a Blink Dagger). The damage Elder Titan does is physical and therefore will not be blocked by magic immunity and I mention that for his next ability.
ASTRAL SPIRIT(I call it Ancestral which makes more sense):
Radius: 275
Casting range: 1200
Duration: 8 (or when you decide to call it back)
Buff duration: 9
Damage: 60/100/140/180
Bonus movement speed: 1% per creep, 5% per hero
Bonus damage: 3/6/9/12 per creep, 10/20/30/40 per hero
Mana cost: 110
CD: 16
This skill is so imba that it had to be nerfed twice during the last two patches (6.79 and 6.79c). It's an absolutely magnificent spell with myriads of uses and a bunch of small mechanics that make it awesome. This spirit once casted can move anywhere you will, as far as you will, over any terrain you will. It gives 450 (NERFED) vision in that area which makes it good for scouting and map controlling. It can block certain spells like Mirana's arrow or Clockwerk's hook if you cast it on time. It moves with the same movement speed as you so it can be bloody fast. But most importantly, it possesses your Echo Stomp ability and your passive (which we will talk about later). That said, you can put people to sleep from 1200 units away (or more!) and you can increase indirectly the affected area from the spell. The Spirit will do magic damage upon landing it though. It's kind of spammable so it's your most valuable laning spell which you will use more than any other. Also, considering its buffs it can help you chase, escape and fight 1v1 situationally.
NATURAL ORDER:
Radius: 275
Armor reduction: 25%/50%/75%/100%
Magic resistance reduction: 8%/16%/25%/33%
This is one hell of a passive. It turns any enemy hero in a teamfight into a crying baby since all of his base and agility armor along with his base magic reistance is wiped away and without items to tend to them, any damage they take is like pure. You might say "but the radius is pretty small". But as I've said, your spirit possesses this ability too which makes you able to expand the area of this effect, as well as making it present without you actually being close.
EARTH SPLITTER:
Area: 300 (width)/2400 (distance)
Casting range: 1600
Movement speed slow: 30%/40%/50%
Slow duration: 3/4/5
Damage: 35% of units' max health
Mana cost: 175
CD: 100
Elder Titan's ultimate is one of the most powerful teamfight spells in the game and it can severely cripple the enemy team if your initiation was good enough. It scales very well and the damage it does is actually mixed which makes it impossible to avoid any kind of damage from it. It will also movee the affected units to the center of the crack which is great for further crowd control and positioning disruption. It has a pretty long cast animation and delay though so your initiation must be perfect to land it to its maximum effect. The synergy with your other abilities can be pretty sick.
STARTING:
3 Iron Branch is very good for anyone as the provide cheap stats and can be built into Magic Wand if the enemy spams a lot.
Tango and 2 Clarity are more than enough for some good early game regen. Especially if you plan to spam a lot, you will definitely need the solid mana regen over a Healing Salve.
Gauntlets of Strength is for more stats basically but it can be built into your Urn of Shadows or Bracer which depends a lot on the situation (and your gold of course).
EARLY GAME:
Boots of Speed is pretty much self explanatory: you need more movement speed.
Magic Wand as we've said is a good option for anticipating spammers and it can save your life at several crucial moments.
Urn of Shadows is the item you should opt for the most but if you have a teammate who picked it up already or you have a laning partner with a heal, it's not that needed. If you decide to roam it can still prove useful though.
The Bracer is a cheaper substitute for the Urn and it has the potential to be built into a Drum of Endurance which is a very valuable item for most Elder Titan builds.
CORE:
Although most people will disagree, I prefer Power Treads as the #1 boots for the Titan. They give attack speed on top of movement speed and you can use the stat bonus as you like. Want mana? Change to int. Want to tank? Switch to str. They are far more versatile even if they don't benefit spamming too much.
Drum of Endurance is already known as a very good teamfight item and it fits this hero very well. Great stats, more speed and the team charges are more than adequate to make it worth picking up (if someone else hasn't already).
As an initiator and a big pain in the ***, you will get targeted a lot and Blade Mail is your best bet. It returns damage to make enemies regret they kept hitting you and it also gives you a nice piece of bonuses (int, armor and damage).
It might seem to depend on the situation, but Hood of Defiance is always worth it. The binus magic resistance is a great asset. Especially considering the value of its extension which will benefit your team even further in teamfights.
SITUATIONAL/EXTENSIONS:
And that particular extension is Pipe of Insight which will give a great boost in magic resistance to your whole team for a short duration. Pretty neat item to pick up.
Assault Cuirass is very rare to be seen and that's mainly because it's an item for the semi-carry build. It emphasizes on making you tankier and giving you more attack speed which when playing as the initiator aren't very important.
If you solo a lane (mid or off-lane), you always want a Bottle. It's actually a good item tending to your health and mana regen most of the times and it allows you to skip many clarities, salves and even the Urn on the way.
The most popular boots, Arcane Boots are the most viable ones for a strength caster like the Titan. They make clear that your job is more about initiating/supporting as well as spamming.
Against many hard disables and spells that disrupt your positioning, Black King Bar allows you to stand ground and pull off your combos. Especially your Echo Stomp since it's channeled. Also, a pretty valuable item for semi-carry builds too.
Force Staff is good when you find yourself against superior crowd control and you need to alter your positioning more often and more drastically. For example, against heroes you can isolate you (except Batrider-if he catches you, you are dead).
As if Elder Titan's pushing wasn't good enough, Necronomicon and Shiva's Guard help you boost your potential even more and most notably in the late game. Their active features are what you mostly need but their stats are actually pretty helpful. The first will give you strength for even more tankiness and damage as well as intelligence, whereas the latter will give you insane amount of intelligence for spamming and a huge armor boost.
And the holy grail of the hero's late game items: Refresher Orb. It's too expensive for what you actually want it for and it's actually more of a luxury than a valuable investment so pick it up only when you have everything you really need or when you are sure you have the game in the bag. Essentially, you can just cast your ult twice. What that means is that the enemy team will be damaged so much that they will be wiped out in a matter of seconds and you will reduce their movement speed to a crawl (or even less).
LANING PHASE:
Elder Titan can lane pretty much anywhere. Dual safe lane, dual off lane, solo off lane, aggressive trilane, solo mid-he can pull them off with a decent amount of success. He isn't THE best choice for all these positions but technically, he can lane there. The only setup he hates is passive trilane. He just doesn't fit there at all. Usually, semi-carry Titan opts for solo mid while he takes his more conservative role if he lanes elsewhere.
EARLY GAME:
Focus on denying and last hitting if you are with a less farm intensive partner than you (highly unlikely) or solo. Otherwise try to harass as much as you can and keep the lane in your favor. Don't push and make your opponent fear you. They might go for some ganks and if you keep your lane under control like that you can really show your counter-ganking prowess which will earn you some early kills. Don't go too aggro though, you aren't Axe.
MID GAME:
If you are a semi-carry, by now you should end your farming and seek teamfights to pwn enemies. If you aren't, then just wait for your carry to finish farming and when a teamfight pops out STEP UP AND INITIATE IN THEIR FACES. Never be afraid to pop out your abilites anytime and make sure your initiations are stellar. In both cases, you are going to be a pivotal member of your team so make sure you don't dive too much or die relentlessly (as I've said, you aren't Axe).
LATE GAME:
You should normally scale well and your role won't change much. You will likely focus more on pushing and seeking ganks through the map but you can still be the main instigator of your team in teamfights. Your crowd control will remain pretty good so all you have to do is just keep positioning yourself correctly and pull out your combos.
HEROES TITAN CAN BEAT EASILY:
Any hero who hates AOE spells and strong crowd controlling. Some other heroes who suffer greatly by being counter ganked or ganked themselves also might be a delicious piece of cake.
HEROES TITAN COOPERATES WELL:
Any other good teamfight hero and especially those with reallt strong crowd control that copliments yours. Naga Siren, Enigma and Dark Seer are some of the best partners you can have. During laning phase, if you have a partner make sure he has a good disable (stun or slow) to increase the potency of your own spells.
HEROES THAT PWN TITAN ANYTIME:
Heroes with better crowd control in the other team this time. Yeah they can mess your initiation quite a bit and some specific heroes like Clockwerk can really destroy it. Strong casters and silencers are likely gonna give you a bad time (nobody wants a bloody Silencer to cast Global Silence when you are ready to pull off your combo) and of course, the enemy carry who can kill you easily if farmed (mostly a late game nuissance).
That's all about I could write down in a short guide for Elder Titan. He is a fun hero to play and a pretty powerful in the right hands. He is currently pretty popular in the competitive scene which showcases his talents and even though he isn't that picked in pubs, his win rate proves his value.
I hope you enjoyed my guide and got some help from it. Let me know your thoughts (yeah I'll say it again, even the nastiest ones :P) in the comments below :)
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