Ostarion, the Wraith King of Ballers

Disclaimer

The item build and most of the writing here is not my own. I am directly copying this guide by CrimsonQueso of DotAbestguides.com to this site because I have found the guide to be extremely helpful. All credit (and humor) belongs to him. Any differences between this guide and that one are either aesthetic or my attempt to better explain certain item choices through personal experience playing with this build.

EDIT: WE ARE NOT A SKELETON ANYMORE

Ostarion, the Wraith King

THIS IS A GUIDE TO OSTARION, WHO IS THE MANLIEST HERO IN DOTA THAT RECENTLY GAINED TESTICLES.

AUTHORS NOTE:
THIS GUIDE IS NOT FOR EM GAMES.

THIS GUIDE IS CONCISE. YOU WILL FIND NO WALLS OF TEXT HERE.

A KEY THING MOST GUIDE READERS DO NOT GET IS THAT SKILL AND ITEM BUILDS ARE FLUID. I WOULD ARGUE THAT THERE IS NO SKILL BUILD FOR ANY HERO THAT IS CONCRETE WITH EVERYTHING SITUATION. FOR EXAMPLE, I ONCE PLAYED A GAME WHERE EVERYONE WAS PUDGE. I MAXED FLESH HEAP FIRST, WHICH IS SUPREMELY ******ED IN ANY OTHER SITUATION.

OMFG NO VAMPIRIC AURA? THIS GUIDE IS N00b!!!!
VAMPIRIC AURA EARLY IS LIKE A MAN USING OVERSIZED CONDOMS. NOT ONLY WILL IT PROBABLY NOT DO ITS JOB, IT WILL MAKE YOUR PERFORMANCE WORSE. IT IS DANGEROUS FOR YOU AND YOUR PARTNER AS IT WILL PUSH YOUR CREEPS/STDS CLOSER TO THE ENEMY TOWER/VAGINA.

Early Game

STARTING ITEMS:
IF YOU ARE A TRUE MAN YOUR FIRST ITEMS SHOULD BE 2 GAUNTLETS. **** THOSE MICHAEL JACKSON WANNABES WITH ONLY ONE GAUNTLET. HOWEVER, THERE IS MERIT IN BEING A MICHAEL JACKSON WANNABE AND GETTING A GAUNTLET, CIRCLET, AND A BRANCH. REGARDLESS, ANY COMBINATION OF GAUNTLET, CIRCLET, AND BRANCH IS GOOD. MAKE SURE TO BUY 2 SETS OF TANGOS AND 1-2 CLARITIES. TANGOS FOR HEALIN, CLARITIES FOR BLASTIN. EVENTUALLY WHATEVER YOU GOT SHOULD BECOME 1-3 BRACERS OR RECYCLED. DO NOT BUY BOOTS FIRST FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND DO NOT MAKE A FULL BRACER FIRST. BEING MANLY IS ALSO BEING ECONOMICAL AND A FULL BRACER IS NOT COST EFFICIENT.

LANE ETIQUETTE:
DO NOT HARASS WITH HELLFIRE BLAST. REAL MEN DO NOT HARASS. THE STUN IS WORTH MORE THAN THE DAMAGE. USE IT WHEN YOU KNOW YOU, YOUR TOWER, AND/OR YOUR CREEPS CAN GET IN A FEW HITS. IF YOURE LANED AGAINST A LOW HP MELEE HERO, STAB HIS FACE ANY CHANCE YOU GET.

SHOULD I HAVE A LANING PARTNER?
UNLESS THE ENEMY HAS 4+ MELEES AND THERE IS NO OTHER CARRY ON YOUR TEAM, I.E. WHEN YOU ARE PLAYING A TERRIBLE PUB, YES. ALSO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, THE PARTNER NEEDS TO EITHER HAVE A DISABLE OR BE RANGED

GANKING ETIQUETTE
HELP YOUR WEAK AND PUNY ALLIES WHENEVER YOU CAN AND ARE SURE OF A KILL. AS THE MANLIEST CHARACTER ON YOUR TEAM, YOU SHOULD ALMOST ALWAYS THROW YOUR HELLFIRE BLAST FIRST IN A GANK AND TANK THE TOWER IF NEED BE.

REINCARNATION ETIQUETTE
IT IS CUSTOMARY TO QUOTE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER WHENEVER YOU DIE.

Item Choices

ITEMS TO GO FOR:

ASK YOURSELF THIS FIRST:
AM I PLAYING OSTARION?

YES: GET AN ARMLET
NO: GET AN ARMLET

BUT IM TOO NOOB TO ACTIVATE/DEACTIVATE IT
WHAT THE ****, YOU HAVE ONE ACTIVE SKILL YOU DUMB ****.

TREADS OR PHASES?
EITHER. BUT NOT BOTH DESPITE THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE TWO FEET. (COMMON MISTAKE) FINISH TREADS OR PHASES AFTER ARMLET FOR MOST GAMES AS THE +15/40 MS IS OUTWEIGHED BY ALL THE SEXY THAT ARMLET GIVES YOU. PHASE BOOTS ARE TOO GOOD. GET THEM MOST OF THE TIME.

NOW ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS, AND PICK THE ONE THAT YOU CAN SAY YES TO BEST
ARE MY ENEMIES CASTING A LOT OF **** IN MY GENERAL DIRECTION? GET A BLACK KING BAR
IS MY TEAM ALL MELEE BECAUSE COLLECTIVELY WE HAVE A LEARNING DISABILITY? GET A VLADIMIR'S OFFERING
DO I WANT A GOOD ITEM THAT I MAY OR MAY NOT BE ABLE TO COMPLETE? GET AN ASSAULT CUIRASS
DO I WANT TO CARRY? GET A DESOLATOR
DO I HAVE A PING OF 9000 AND CANNOT LAST HIT? GET A BATTLE FURY
DO I FEEL LIKE TIN MAN FROM WIZARD OF OZ? GET HEART OF TARRASQUE
DO I WANT A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF LIFESTEAL? GET A SATANIC
DO I HAVE POCKETS FULL OF GOLD/ENEMY IMAGES? GET A RADIANCE
AM I A BALLER? GET REFRESHER ORB
DOES MY TEAM HAVE NO DISABLES? GET A SANGE
AM I SEEING MORE RIVER/MANA LOSS ACTION THAN TOM SAWYER? GET A BOTTLE
AM I SEEING MUCH MANA LOSS ACTION AND WANT TO BE HARRY POTTER? GET A MAGIC STICK
FOR YOUR LEARNING PLEASURE, THE ITEMS ARE TIERED BY WHAT YOU SHOULD GET

BALLER TIER

• REFRESHER ORB

• DESOLATOR
  • This item intensifies your damage/vampiric life gain by a lot. Its actually the most efficient high tier damage item in the game. Combined with armlet, you will increase your dps greatly. This should be the item after armlet in most cases or the item after the item after armlet.
• ASSAULT CUIRASS
  • Assault Cuirass is a great item. It makes you tankier and makes you hit harder and faster. The only problem is that its really pricy. If you think you can finish it relatively soon after armlet, you should go for this item instead of Styg. If somehow you have 6000 gold after finishing your armlet and styg, this is the item to go for.
• BLACK KING BAR
  • This is an item you may want to get right after armlet if the enemies have a lot of stuns/slows. This item can ensure kills against enemies that are likely to stun while escaping in the ganking phase, and the strength and damage help well. Later on, this can be a buffer against all kinds of gay effects that will prevent you from stabbing the ones you love the most. This is kind of a situational item, but the situation that youll need it should be most games.

• RADIANCE
  • Rush this item before your armlet if you think you can rush it AND the enemy has: Naga Siren, Phantom Lancer, Terrorblade, Chaos Knight (maybe) and no one else can get the radiance. The immolation works wonders against images and helps you farm and damage. This item is really GG if its gotten fast enough, but its difficult to rush it as soon as you need it. Most likely its better for someone else with better farm/tanking to get it instead.
• SANGE
  • Get this item if your team has no slows or stuns. Really not a great item for not a great situation.
• SOUL RING
  • If there are a lot of homosexual mana vampires on the enemy team, drawing blood for the blood god will bring your mana back into resurrection range.
• MAGIC WAND
  • Does the same thing as bottle except can be instant activated and is cheaper. However, it does need to be charged. Consider it over bottle if there are a lot of spells flying around

• VLADIMIR'S OFFERING
  • A decent item after Desolator. This gives you a lot more stacking lifesteal, some damage boost, some armor boost and minor mana regen. Itd be better if someone else carried this.
• SATANIC
  • One of the better items after AC. Id rather get a Desolator, but if you want to be tankier and lifestealier, Satanic is not a bad item.
• HEART OF TARRASQUE
  • One of the better items after AC. If you want to be an imbatank because they are doing waaayyy too much damage, heart is for you. Again, while this isnt a bad item, I think there are much better choices.

• BATTLE FURY
  • Terrible item. While it pseudo-synergizes with Ostarion's crits and need for mana, the cleave does little to nothing in teamfights, its just a bad farming tool that should only improve your farm by a small amount if you last hit, the damage is outshadowed by Desolator, and the mana regen is not needed. You need greater total mana because youll only be blasting/resurrecting in a small timeframe.

General Information

WHAT DO I DO IN A TEAM FIGHT?
1. LOCATE CLOSEST ENEMY THAT DOES SOMETHING IN THE FIGHT
2. ACTIVATE ARMLET
3. HELLFIRE BLAST HIM.
4. STAB HIM.
5. IF HE IS DEAD, GO TO STEP 6. ELSE, REPEAT 3 AND 4
6. GO TO STEP 1. IF THERE ARE NO ENEMIES LEFT, GO TO STEP 7
7. DEACTIVATE ARMLET.

DOES SILENCE STOP ME FROM REINCARNATING?
NO.

AM I A BALLER?
DO YOU HAVE REFRESHER ORB?

I GOT A DIVINE RAPIER AFTER MY REFRESHER ORB
YOU ARE NOW BALLING OUT OF CONTROL

WHAT ITEMS SHOULD I GET?
CONSULT THE TIERS. DO NOT GET BOTH DESOLATOR AND SANGE THOUGH. ITS AGAINST THE RULES.

I FOLLOWED YOUR GUIDE AND I DIDNT WIN!
BLAME YOUR TEAM.

DOTAFire Note:
In my personal build, I tend to leave slot six empty. This is because more often than not I'm my team's primary carry, and with this build, I can solo Roshan post-Desolator. Against teams that ward Roshan or are very wary this might not work as well, so good sixth slot items can be used from the suggestions above at your discretion. My personal preference is HoT. Also, Divine Rapier replaces Desolator in your build if you're able to consistently solo Roshan and take Aegis. The game should never last this long, but if it does, it won't be lasting much longer.