The Flayed Ones

Introduction

Hi everyone, this is my first guide and I am an avid Bloodseeker fan. This hero is by far the best hero in the game bar none. He is so good he doesn't even need a stun, silence, or any other **** that other carriers need. No but seriously, this hero is very good and a lot of fun, hence why i am writing this guide. I have played enough Dota to know how to build certain characters on the fly and I know I may have listed a build order above, but PLEASE USE INSIGHT TO DETERMINE WHAT YOU NEED TO BUY IN YOUR GAME. Most people come on these sites looking for a step by step item build/ skill build, but I am hear to tell you not to do that, because it will lead you to your destruction.

Bloodseeker's Introduction

Lore:Strygwyr the Bloodseeker is a ritually sanctioned hunter, Hound of the Flayed Twins, sent down from the mist-shrouded peaks of Xhacatocatl in search of blood. The Flayed Ones require oceanic amounts of blood to keep them sated and placated, and would soon drain their mountain empire of its populace if the priests of the high plateaus did not appease them. Strygwyr therefore goes out in search of carnage. The vital energy of any blood he lets, flows immediately to the Twins through the sacred markings on his weapons and armor. Over the years, he has come to embody the energy of a vicious hound; in battle he is savage as a jackal. Beneath the Mask of the Bloodseeker, in the rush of bloody quenching, it is said that you can sometime see the features of the Flayers taking direct possession of their Hound.

^This manic doesn't need much of an introduction because he is pure awesome.

Pros and Cons

Pros

High Damage capability
Fast Ganker
Lock Down ultimate
Kill Seeker with Thirst
Awesome

Cons

Squishy
High Priority Target
Feed Dependent
Low Early Game Damage
So Awesome that it winds up being a Con too

Skill Description and Use

For all those beginners that are new to Bloodseeker, or even Dota, this section is for you, all others, I expect you to know the basics of how Bloodseeker works.

This Skill has a wide variety of uses, but there are two different stages in the game to use this spell. Bloodrage is a silence that buffs the damage of the one afflicted. Simple as that right? NO! This skill can turn a semi-carry (like Bloodseeker) into a hard hitting machine. at max rank this spell can be used to increase Bloodseeker's damage by 120%. Not that this only buffs damage gained from the hero's primary attribute. Now lets say for instance, Blooseeker at level 25, who has a base damage(only from levels, not from any items) of 145-151. That doesn't seem like a lot for a level 25, but when Bloodrage is applied, it turns into another ~147 damage giving him a total of ~300 damage, WITH NO ITEMS! that is the same as a Divine Rapier! Now granted, you will have much more by level 25, L am just showing you the potential of the skill at later stages of the game.

Now let me explain why I level Bloodrage last. Remember when i said it was a silence, well at level one, it only merely buffs your damage output by 30% which is not a lot. But this skill has the added utility of a 6/7/8/9 second silence! That can disable many nuke heavy characters such as , , , and just about any skill spamming character. It is also used to stop key Ults, such as Black Hole, Ravage, Global Silence. Thats right you can silence the Silencer ! So the reason why I prefer to level this last is that most of those heavy Nuker hero's go mid, and that's exactly who you'll be laning against.

Note: This skill becomes, much better at levels 3, and 4, because you'll be able to continuously silence key Hero ults because the cooldown much reduced. Also remeber that as the game continues on, do not I repeat DO NOT Bloodrage other carries on their team.

Blood Bath Blood Bath is Bloodseeker's bread and butter. It is what makes him such a great Mid option because he can simply laugh off the damage taken and continue to last hit and deny creeps. I will say this now, and you will experience it later, YOU WILL BE HARASSED A LOT while going mid, mostly because you are a melee hero and most mid characters are ranged. Now i will inform you on how to deal with this, DEAL WITH IT, lol! This skill will allow you to soak up a lot of damage and combined with Stout Shield/ Poor Man's Shield it will make it a lot easier to not get harassed out of lane.

I prefer to get this skill first because you will need a lot of regen to last hit and this skill provides you with all the regen you need. This is the most important skill for Bloodseeker for the first 5 levels. I also prefer to max this first because you will be able to jungle all the creep camps with levels 3, and 4 of this skill.

This skill has another useful added bonus which is critical in team fights. The ability to restore health upon hero death. It restores a good portion of Bloodseeker's health when he is near a enemy that is killed. This gives him team fight sustainability because he can stick around after the team gets a successful kill. Now if he lands the kill blow it further benifits his health pool and grants him 40% of the hero's maximum health pool at rank 4. This is a great skill that other hero's dream of having.

Thirst is Bloodseeker's Jam and Honey, for that already buttered bread. Thirst is a very interesting passive and it is what makes Bloodseeker a ganker. When an enemy's health is low enough Bloodseeker turns into an aminal and rapes everything, or at least can start chasing the wounded prey. Combine Thirst with Bloodrage and that prey will turn into a chicken with its head cut off. Thirst is simply just a move speed buff, but it grants vision of wounded Hero's so use the mini-map as your guide and hunt those stragglers down.

Thirst is a great chasing skill, however you can use it to not only chase but escape confrontations, such as during a team fight. Some smart teams will bait you with a Thirst and you just have to be smart when chasing. Instead of chasing you can let the victim run away, and you'll still have the move speed benefit of thirst and this can make you a monster when running around spells that the enemy team throw at you, not to mention you can use this speed to get in an out of combat. Since it has 6000 range instead of chasing down the escaping Hero, next time stay while and listen.... to what your team needs you to do. You can always catch up to the hero later.

Last but not least, the cut off sides to that buttered, jam and honey bread. Now that is a tasty sandwich. This arsenal is makes Bloodseeker a monster. This spell changes the game all in your favor. It is a debuff that does damage based on how much they move. That's F****ing awesome! combine that with the other abilities, it leaves the prey with nothing much but to curl up in a ball and cry to their team for help. Rupture is a very good spell and when used right will give you all the kills you need. However, this skill is FAR from Overpowered because smart players will just use the stop command and nullify your ult. That's why you have to follow up with heavy damage and make them run for help. Be sure to Bloodrage before(either on you for a damage buff, or them for the no escape silence) to guarantee a sure kill.

Rupture sucks at level 1 and Bloodseeker's doesn't have much of a damage output at level 6, so please be sure to coordinate your first gank at level 6 because you will need the help. After level 6 and before level 11, it should be getting progressively easier to kill Heroes on your own, use rupture on the squishy heroes, so you can get an easy kill. The more kills you get the easier it is to OWN FACE! at ranks 2 and 3 of Rupture it should be a quick kill because it does a lot of up front damage, on top of the moving debuff. The nice thing about this ult, if you screw it up, is that it only has a 70/60/50 second cooldown NBD!

Skill Build Explanation

1. Blood Bath This is necessary in my opinion.
2. Bloodrage This skill point is optional, it is very nice to have that 6 second silence early on. However you can skip this and get Thirst if you want to gank sooner.
3. blood bath The sooner this is level 2, the easier it is to farm in lane.
4. Thirst I choose to get the next 2 points in this before level 6 so i can prepare to gank at level 6. The move speed is greatly appreciated and is a must imo.
5. Thirst level 2 = more pwnage.
6. Rupture Go Gank you crazy Maniac
7. Blood Bath or Thirst The next few points are optional and vary from game to game, if you want to jungle and farm more, max blood bath first. If you want to gank like crazy max thirst first
8. Blood Bath or Thirst Max out the skill you decided too first.
9. Blood Bath or Thirst Whichever one you didn't double up on
10. Blood Bath or Thirst Finish up the last skill point
11. Rupture Now ganking should be easy peasy
12. Bloodrage now max Bloodrage
13. Bloodrage
14. Bloodrage
15. Stats
16. Rupture Focus on getting kills with this in rank three because it is your feeding skill. Meaning focus the squishes.
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats

Starting Items Explanation

This is the most important part of the guild and please understand why I chose these items.

First let me explain my starters. or , ,

, These items are crucial, you will need some extra regen and hopefully not more than a salve or a tango. Use wisely because you don't want to waste time stealing someones courier, and you don't want to wast precious money on extra healing in the early game. Every gold counts. For help deciding, what you need look at the enemy team and if you spot nukers, buy a Healing Salve, if you spot auto attackers, but a Tango. Both are great options personally I will buy Tangos every game just because I like to nom nom tress.

This is a great item, it makes melee sustainability amazing, especially mid. I recommend buying this item on just about ever melee carry because it is so good. That being said, it is even a better choice for bloodseeker because of blood bath. Blocking 20 damage 60% of the time is very helpful considering the fact that most Heroes only do about 50 damage on avaerage. so youll only be getting hurt for about 30 damage 60% of the time, and when you upgrade this bad boy to it blocks hero damage 100% of the time. blood bath already heals about 55/82.5 health for every creep kill at levels 1 and 2. That's crazy!

I can not stress how important blood bath is, but here i go talking about it again. Quelling Blade increases the ammount of damage you do to enemy creeps, that is lovely! Combine that with the ability to heal when you last hit, BEAUTIFUL! Quelling Blade is optional on a lot of carries, but i think it is essential on bloodseeker because it synergies well with his W ability.

There is an added bonus to buying such and item, and since you'll be chasing, retreating a lot on a ganking character, juke routes become available. you can chop down trees to access new hiding spots, or juke routes, and shortcuts when running down your prey. That just sounds sexy!

Note my alternative item build, this is really for the safe lane and if you are getting supported, you might want to get a quicker magic wand because you'll be diving a lot more. I highly recommend heading mid with Bloodseeker.

First Gank

Around level 6,7 or even 8, you should be thinking about your first gank. This is when you have your ultimate, Boots of Speed, Band of Elvenskin, and Poor Man's Shield. If you want even more damage, and want a faster Armlet of Mordiggian you can opt out the Band of Elvenskin and get a Blades of Attack instead. These three items will give you enough damage and sustain to follow up your Ruptured target. Thirst should also kick in so you should really have enough speed to kill the target. blood bath will refill some of your lost HP and you can go back to mid lane and farm some more, or you can plan to gank again since your cool down should be coming back up to execute yet another kill.

After Level 6 your primary goal is to gank, gank, gank. You want to rack up plenty of kills/ assist for your team. Remember, this is a Carry guide, you will be the carry later on. Try not to steal obvious kills from other carries so they can get farm too.

A key to ganking is to communicate, so use the in game team speak, it is actually very useful.


I included a list of Ganking items that will greatly benefit Bloodseeker's potential as a killer. Power Treads are a must of every Bloodseeker, they are too good not to use, and the stat switching is very beneficial. if you want to know what i am talking about watch this video.

Next on the list is Armlet of Mordiggian. This item may seem kinda weird on a Bloodseeker, but it is provides the much needed damage, health, armor attack speed he needs for his early game. Bloodseeker is truly a great Hero, but he needs a lot of help early to mid because he is squishy. He can be a late game machine, but he wont get there unless he has enough kills, Armlet of Mordiggian is there for that exact purpose and makes Bloodseeker a huge threat. The health Degen is negated due to his passive blood bath.

Magic Wand and Orb of Venom are optional. That may scare a few off when i say the Overpowered Magic Wand is optional, but hear me out. Magic Wand is a great item, it benefits a ganking hero that sees a lot of action such as Bloodseeker. It will help him immensely and should be bought MOST games. However, if you are owning, go ahead and go straight to your core item and skip Magic Wand.

Core

not , I repeat not .

Most Bloodseeker guides talk about the importance of Radiance and i am not here to insult there intelligence, but thanks to PsychoDm for opening up my mind to such a wonderful option. Radiance is the classic Bloodseeker item and while it has multiple benefits, it is too damn expensive. WAY TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE. It is somewhat hard waiting for enough gold to get such an expensive item that provides No benefit while it is not even bought yet.

Instead, id like to explain why is my new favorite item. It can be bought in increments, one piece at a time. and when you finally have the item you can enjoy its amazingness so much sooner than radiance.

Why is there a debate over these two items? Well it has to do with there additional effects, that synergizes very well with blood bath once again (I wonder why I keep mentioning that ability...). They both can kill creeps which grants you much need health return when fighting enemy heroes behind enemy lines. Most of the time, enemy heroes will be near there own creeps because they think they are safe. WRONG! when you run in there guns blazing, Maelstrom allows you to heal up on creeps sustaining enough damage from the Hero that is now running for his life. This item is great and better than such a fat Radiance.

When Maelstrom is obtained, enjoy killing everything that walks. Literally, you will have enough damage from you items alone to solo a lot of heroes. Combine that with your spells and the anticipated GG gets even closer and closer.

After a few kills should be creeping that much closer, and well it should pretty much be GG from then on. BUT! My guides not over so lets continue.

Core Extended

This part of the guide is up to you. By now you should be seeing how deadly of a carry Bloodseeker can be and you should have racked up quite a bit of gold and maybe gotten Make sure to use Mjollnir's ability on you, because it makes you hurt a lot worse, and allows you to kill even more creeps when ganking. Great! that's Fantastic! Now if the game is still dragging on, or it is getting competitive. you might want to start thinking about a BKB

Black King Bar is a ***** of an item. It breaks everyone's face and makes you unstoppable. It makes you immune to most CC effects and allows you to continue on with your rampage. This item speaks for itself and is recommended on every carry because it is that good.

is the brother of the infamous Black King Bar. It in my opinion is underused, but provides a much needed utility. Bash is a wonderful ability that minibash a target that stops them from moving, stops them from casting and does 100 bonus damage! I love this item and you should too! It also has a hidden ability that allows you to not miss anymore attacks, its called True Strike, look it up! (with the exception of Faceless Voids backtrack which still evades attacks)

Ending Notes

By now you should be asking yourself, why does he have so many other items listed then? Well i said this earlier and ill say it again PLEASE USE INSIGHT TO DETERMINE WHAT YOU NEED TO BUY IN YOUR GAME. Yes that applies to all those items listed. Really think about what items you need to buy and talk with your team to find out what is needed. I think every dota player should familiarize themselves with ALL the items before they start playing that way they have some kind of idea why they might need to buy such items.

Thank you for reading my guide and i will add more if i get enough likes/ comments asking for more help. Now go out there and slay my Bloodseeker brethren!

Big thanks to Icefrog for producing a wonderful game
Thanks to Merlini, IceIce, Admiral Bulldog, KoReYa, Purge, XVRouge, Draskyl, LD, and last but not least Valve for being the best gaming company around!

Soon to Come...

-Notable Mentions
-Allies and Nemesis
-level 1 jungle guide/ new build