Nature’s Prophet: Summon the forces of Nature!

Introduction

According to Dotabuff, Nature’s Prophet is the 14th most picked hero and it can be described as a Ranged, Carry, Escape, Jungler, Nuker and Pusher hero.

Well, what I’m pretending to show in this guide is how you can improve yours skills with the hero, and I will try to explain why he is the best pusher in game.

He is my second most played hero, and it take lots of lost games to better understand how to push better, when to pick him or not and how to build the items list on each match.

So, let's begin! And please, if you disagree or have something to add, leave a comment! I will try to answer all of them!

IMPORTANT: That’s not a guide to a pro or a very high skill player. It’s just something to learn more about a not very popular hero in lower MMR matches.

Ps: English is not my first language. Probably there are some mistakes. I apologize for that.

Updates/ To do:

Updates:

04/07/2016: Added icons, colors and Timbersaw as one of the counters.

To do:

- Rework the skills section
- Add more friends and counters.

Pros/Cons

Pros:

- The best pushing hero
- Free Town Portal Scrolls every time
- Can be played in jungle or offlane and even sometimes carry your team to the victory!

Cons:

- VERY easily countered
- If your team doesn’t help, you will not have a good time pushing

When to pick/not pick

When to pick:
-Your team needs a solo offlaner
-Your team already has a good solo offlaner, so you can jungle
- Your team needs a pusher

When to not pick:
-Your team needs a late game carry or a support
- Your team needs a tank hero
- the other team already has 3 or more counter heroes ( they will be explained later)

Items choice

Hm, this is interesting. I think that the most important thing here to you know that my items list is of a kind of gameplay that I developed myself to a not high MMR games. Of course, what matters here are that you can adapt yours items choice and sometimes get a little help with some of these.

Early game: Jungle or Lane, my items choice chooses only in early game: if you are jungling, get some Clarity, a fast Hand of Midas and a Power Treads, Phase Boots or Arcane Boots. If you are the offlaner, get a r Ring of Basilius or a Null Talisman]] to some stats instead of Midas. That is just because it’s much more harder getting last hits in lane, and it’s more important to get some stats than a mid/late game item. It’s important that you ALWAYS carry a Town Portal Scroll, something that I also will explain later.

Mid game: But, that is in mid game that thing come a little harder: first, you NEED a Orchid Malevolence to safely TP without a ****i** Stun and to help your team in team fights. Second, in my order of choice: a Blink Dagger, a Force Staff or a Shadow Blade. And why this: basically those 3 items are for moving…

Oh, don’t you say…

Blink Dagger is my first choice because it’s the safest one. If you see someone coming when you are pushing, just blink to the trees and tp back or to other lane. Second is the Force Staff because it gives some nice stats and it’s the cheaper, but it’s not very good to hide yourself. And last but not least, the famous Shadow Blade. Also some good stats, but VERY EASY COUNTERED if the other team carries some dusts. Maybe, and just maybe, it could be the best choice if it is a pub match because nobody gives a sh** to Sentry or Dust or if the other team has annoying invi heroes (besides Bounty Hunter) that will fu** your Blink Dagger cooldown.

And hell yeah, of course, you need a item to push better! A Mjollnir or a Desolator are the best choices, I think that I really don’t need to explain this.

Late game: My first question here is: why the fu** you let this game to late game? Why did you doesn’t pushed all by yourself in 30 minutes?

Okay, just kidding…
Or not.
Or maybe this is what your teammates will say to you if you lost the game

Ok, back to the items. In late game, you need to know what is better to your team: If the other team has that annoying hero that are carrying them, buy a Scythe of Vyse and use the combo Scythe of Vyse + Orchid Malevolence + Sprout and call it a GG. Also if they have that stupid magic damage, may a Black King Bar it’s your best option. If you think that pushing is the way to the victory, try a Aghanim’s Scepter, a Assault Cuirass or even a Necromicon. If it’s your damage, maybe a Daedalus is your best option, my friend. Or if they have that ****i** Phantom Assassin, Butterfly or Radiance heroes, a Monkey King Bar is all that you need. And please pray to the Gods that you carry also buy one
If in mid game you bought the Shadow Blade, upgrade it to a Silver Edge. The Refresher Orb and the Moon Shard are good items, but I really think that the previous mentioned are MUCH more important.

And don’t forget to upgrade your boots…
HA! You almost believed, no? Please, don’t waste your gold upgrading your boots.

The Match Begins! - Early Game explanation

Jungle or Lane?

When to Jungle:
-Your team has a good solo offlaner

When to lane?
- Your team has a good safe tri lane, and somebody needs to solo
- Your team NOT has a good solo offlaner.

lol, that was so ****i** obvious
the problem is that sometimes stupid players seems to not know this…

Ok, sorry, let’s go back:

But, in my opinion, there are 2 very important things in early game:

First, always help your team with ganks. It doesn’t matter if is to destroy a tower, to save a tower or an ally or to kill an enemy. Just help your team, always.

Second: always, ALWAYS, carry a Town Portal Scroll with you. I know, you have your skill, but the cooldown is very large at the beginning, so you will need a tp to escape from a bad gank or push. A Town Portal Scroll is very important, until the teleportation is on lvl 4.

Try to push some towers. You don’t really need to destroy them, but it’s important to not lost all yours t1, or your push will be harder in mid game. If you managed to destroy 2 towers in, like, 15-20 minutes I think that is good. But don’t forget, unless your team is much stronger than your enemy, try to help in team fights too. I know, this may sounded confusing, but yeah, you need to push and help in team fights.

Mid game: push hard or stop feeding!

Well, if things were good, here is when you get your orchid, an escape item and your Teleportation is on level 4. You need to destroy some towers, even get some super creeps if things are going well. Keep using your little trees, and be careful with yours counters. If things are going like REALLY WELL, you can even trade a lost team fight to get some barricades. There is not too much to say, just keep with your good game.

But there is something really important too: the other team is crushing yours, and you can’t even push a t1. Your team is losing team fights and you are feeding the other’s team carry. If this is the case, please, stop pushing. Try to focus on team fights, get your orchid, and the escape item may be not very important; you are the best pusher but you can be very helpful in team fights. Play safely, carry a dust if the other team has invisible heroes and always use your orchid on their magic damage. Also, use your Sprout to arrest a non-blink hero, and if you decide to push some tower, ask for help to your team.

Late Game

Well, if your game is on late time, I imagine that things are more or less equilibrated here. Get some luxuries items, if you are strong u can solo kill almost any hero with the combo Orchid Malevolence + Sprout + Scythe of Vyse. Be careful, if the other team is not stupid probably everybody will walk with a Town Portal Scroll to kill you, and they might have items that can easily destroy your combos.

This may be very hard in the beginning, but there is not much that I can say. Be intelligent, if you see the opportunity get some super creeps in a lane. If your team is losing, play defensively and always be with your team. This is the time that probably a lost team fight is worse than getting a t2 or t3 gold.

Late Game Itemization

Here I will give some really good builds that I tried sometime. Important to say that I’m counting that you have some boots and an Orchid Malevolence.

The “fu** my team, I will just push this sh**” build:

Aghanim's Scepter + Desolator or Mjollnir + Blink or Silver Edge or Force Staff + Assault Cuirass

I see, so you are the kind that don’t give a sh** to your team. Ok little boy, this build is VERY ****I** GOOD to really get some towers. Build this if you see that the other team is ******ed and don’t give nothing to their towers, and your team is doing well without you in team fights.

The: “My anti-mage is a piece of sh**, I will kill their Spectre” build:

Desolator + Daedalus or Monkey King Bar + Black King Bar + Scythe of Vyse

Ok, I get, your team is not that good. I can’t say that I really recommend this, but, sometimes, yeah, I know, that ****I** CARRY is horrible, God, please, kill him. But I think that even with these items you will be not able to solo kill a Spectre or a Medusa…

The “I play for my team” build:

Desolator or Mjollnir + Scythe of Vyse + Blink Dagger or Force Staff or Silver Edge + You choose!

Hell yeah, this is the best one. You get your escape item, your push item, an awesome Scythe of Vyse and the last item can be a damage one like the Monkey King Bar, a push one like Aghanim's Scepter or Assault Cuirass or a defensive one like Black King Bar or Linken's Sphere.

Best Friends!

Basically, anyone who fits well with your Sprout:

Blink Dagger Heroes like:

Sven
Axe
Ursa

Heroes that have a mobility skill like:

Spectre - Spectral Dagger
Slark - Pounce
Queen of Pain or Anti-Mage - Blink

Carry ranged heroes like:

Drow Ranger
Windranger

AoE Skills like:

Bloodseeker - Blood Rite
Skywrath Mage - Mystic Flare

Worst Enemies!

Your Sprout enemies: heroes who gets a Blink Dagger, mobility skills and items/skills that can destroy your Sprout

Axe
Anti Mage
Queen of Pain
Spectre
Spirit Breaker
Windranger

Invisible heroes that can spot you to your enemies while you are trying to escape:

Bounty Hunter
Riki
Clinkz

Anti-push heroes:

Spirit Breaker
Tinker

Stun/Control heroes:

Lion
Sven
Dragon Knight
Bane
Alchemist
Tusk
Jakiro
Shadow Shaman

And, of course, a special mention to heroes with that unique skill that can really fu** you:

Huskar - Life Break
Spectre - Spectral Dagger, Haunt
Legion Commander - Duel
Naga Siren - Song of the Siren
Outworld Devourer - Astral Imprisonment
Beastmaster - Primal Roar
Pudge - Hook
Timbersaw - all his destructive arsenal. He hates trees, bro.

Basically, here are all the heroes that with a single skill can: destroy/escape from your Sprout, cancel your Teleportation, stop your push with flash farm like Alchemist.

And here it is why is so important to get a very early Orchid Malevolence. Like, there will be at least 2 or even sometimes 3 counters on the other team always. And also it is why I said in the beginning that Nature’s Prophet is so easily countered.

Conclusion

Uf, this get a little longer than I imagined.

In my opinion, Nature’s Prophet is a very fun hero to play. He is very versatile and don’t get useless in late game, but he is very hard to master. Like, you have lots of possibilities, and what really make a good Nature’s Prophet player is mainly know when to push and when to help your team. When is better to lost a team fight for some towers.

Also, there is the fact that he is easy countered, and if your team doesn’t help, you will not be able to win the game alone just pushing towers. Some people think that just because you can teleport to any place, it’s your obligation to get mega creeps in 30:00 minutes even if your carry is 0/10 and your supports don’t buy a single ward. But, believe me, when you start to master the hero, and if you get your team help, no one will stop you.

Please, fell free to leave a comment. If you disagree or have something to add, be sure that I will answer you!