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Stout Shield
TangoTango
Healing Salve
Boots of Speed
Magic Wand
Arcane Boots
Blink Dagger
Force Staff
Black King Bar
Blade Mail
Drum of Endurance
Heaven's Halberd
Necronomicon
Urn of Shadows
Mekansm
Eul's Scepter of Divinity
Refresher Orb
Shiva's Guard
Heart of Tarrasque
Scythe of Vyse
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4 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  |
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2 | 8 | 9 | 10 |  |
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1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |  |
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6 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 | 17 | 18 |
Hello, today I will be guiding you through the various possibilities that can be created by Tidehunter, by playing him as a core, a support, or even a jungler (not recommended, trust me XD).
Whilst I have only played around 30/40 games as Tide, I believe that I know what items are often a good choice to get to maximise the space created for carries and to help in a teamfight as much as possible.
So to get down to it, Tidehunter is an amazing initiator, with an AOE nuke/stun, Ravage which is known as one of the best initiations in the game. Aside from this, Tide is also very versatile in his build and is a good utility hero. These 3 guides will hopefully help you to make the most efficient and effective plays that you can.
Tidehunter offlane is the most common position for a Tide since it allows him to get a decent amount of farm, and by constantly using Anchor Smash you can not only farm but dominate your lane quite easily, thanks to the damage reduction that occurs when using this skill. Whilst it's difficult to hit ranged heroes with this, most melee heroes will need to come close to last hit and then you can use it to harass and deny farm.
Anchor Smash is maxed first for the damage mitigation and AOE damage, allowing you to farm more easily and more safely while in the heat of things.
Picking up Arcane Boots is quite important as it allows you to spam your Anchor Smash and also maintain the mana necessary for the rest of your skills.
Blink Dagger is Tide's main item, it allows him to initiate with Ravage and then the team can follow up.
After a Blink Dagger and Force Staff, Tide's next best option is to farm a Refresher Orb, as it increases the overall damage produced by your ultimate, whilst also disabling the enemy for even longer, giving your team more of a chance to tear through them whilst they can't do anything about it. After this, Shiva's Guard is a nice follow up, for the attack slow to reduce the enemy carry's attack speed, a nuke, move slow, and this can also be refreshed by the Refresher Orb
In my personal opinion, I don't really think that Tidehunter is a great support. Firstly, he needs a decent amount of farm to really become useful, but around the same amount as a 
Sand King would require, hopefully around the 12-18 minute mark. This being said, he is still a good support, and can be utilised quite well. I would recommend running him as a position 4 if you do use him as a support.
Firstly, in this build [[Gush}} is maxed first, since it provides a good 40% move slow, and also removes armour the higher the level it is. This therefore makes it easier to score a nice early game kill for your carry.
The core items are the same as the offlane ones, since it's all Tide really needs to survive the 20-40 min boundary, although 40 mins is pushing is a bit.
I would definitely suggest that the position 5 buys wards and dust whilst Tide farms a free lane or the jungle for a Blink Dagger.
Mekansm is a good item since after you blink ravage, it lets you stay alive and in the fight whilst your team catches up to you to follow up on the initiation. It's also a great item for most supports to get, but if someone already has one, don't get two!!
As I said earlier, this one is not really recommended, but things can happen (Eg. your drafter is busy watching 'Let it go' in Korean and you random a Spectre) but hey, it sounds bad and it isn't actually to bad.
A 
Bottle is the first item you get on jungle Tide. You need to spam your Anchor Smash so you can deal a bit of AOE damage and also reduce the damage you take, so you need the regen. If you talk to your mid and let them get the other rune, and you rune control well, you'll never be out of mana while jungling.
After this, you can continue the usual Arcane Boots Blink Dagger build and then onto the Luxury items that you can get later game.
So, since Arcane Boots and Blink Dagger are pretty much self explanatory, i'll talk about some of the other items you may get.
Black King Bar is a possibility if the enemy has any quick of the mark stunners. It lets you safely and definitely get off your Ravage whilst also prolonging your lifespan at the start of the fight. Blade Mail is a bit like a cheap alternative, it kind of makes enemies go "woah blade mail, shall I attack o-" and then they get ravaged.
Drums of Endurance is a good stats item, builds a bit of health and strength on Tide and also assists with any chasedown you may need to do. Mekansm or 
Pipe of Insight are other items that will help you and your team last longer in fights, help keep you alive, and also mitigate some of the damage the enemy will deal. 
Crimson Guard is also a good item to get if you find yourself acting as more of a tank. Similarly, Vladimir's Offering is another nice item to get for your team and yourself, a nice lifesteal aura to help your team sustain just a little bit more.
Euls Scepter of Divinity is a really good item, it disables, increases move speed and gives plenty of mana regen, and can also set up skill shots nice n' easy. Heaven's Halberd is another good disabling item, but bear in mind that it gets dispelled when a BKB is activated.
Refresher Orb obviously gives more ravage, so more CC, more damage and plenty of Int and regen. Shiva's Guard gives you a nice slow, a nuke and armour to survive the initiation.
A 
Rod of Atos is also a nice pick up, it has a ridiculous slow with a great range and low cooldown.
Necronomicon is a really good item for push lineups, and it gives you a lot of potential damage, it's a bit safer than buying a 
Gem of True Sight and it makes your team as a whole deal a decent amount of extra damage. Don't forget the awesome abilities that it has, it's worth it for the difficult micro management.
Finally, everyone needs to get Scythe of Vyse late game, it's just a bit ridiculous. I had a game where 4 people had them, and it won the game. That and Aghs Refresh Necrophos.
So then, the most important thing when playing Tidehunter (and in general in Dota) is your positioning. The best place to be is somewhere the enemy won't see you, such as hidden in trees, on high ground by the Radiant T1 (as dire) and other such places. Other than that, a way behind your team is good, since you can use Force Staff to get into blink range, then blink ravage.
When initiating, whilst it is great to get a 5 man ravage no matter what, you have to take many factors into account. Does your team know you're about to initiate? Are they close enough to follow up? Does the enemy have any escape or an off-cooldown Black King Bar or magic immunity skill? Therefore, communicating with your team is important.
Also, if the enemy has a powerful initiator like an 
Axe or a 
Centaur Warrunner , then always bear in mind that the only thing better than a perfect initiation is a perfect counter-initiation. So even if the enemy gets a 4 man black hole and Shadow Fiend is channeling his ult, if you blink ravage and **** them all up, they're sat there for 2 seconds like "****" whilst your team either mobilises, follows up or escapes.
So, to conclude, Tidehunter is a very versatile initiator, one of the best in fact, and hopefully this build will have shown you some of the choices you can make on him. If you see any problems with this, or any additions/subtractions you think would improve this, it's my first build so do leave a comment so I can improve it :D
Thanks for reading :D:D
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