Tidehunter could eat a pub!

Intro

Tidehunter is a beast with one of the best ultimates in the game. He can be one of the tankiest heroes with Kraken Shell and provide great support with Anchor Smash and Ravage. He can fill a lot of roles on the team as a support. He's very good at ganking and pushing towers.

He should be played very aggressively. His skill set makes him very intimidating as he can dish out and take lots of damage.

Tidehunter is primarily support and should be buying wards, upgrading the courier, and providing sentries and dust. He's also one of the best heroes to give a gem to.

He is also a good initiator with Ravange. Getting a dagger is great on him, but not always needed. Though it is a huge deal once you get one. I'd say by late game you should really get one. If others on your team are helping support, you can focus on getting a dagger earlier.

Pros / Cons

Pros

One of the best ultimates in the game.
Anchor Smash saves lives.
Huge tanking potential.
Good pusher.
Good ganker.

Cons

Mana issues.
Low damage late game.

Tidehunter is definitely in the top tier of heroes in DOTA 2. I don't see him having many drawbacks. He's a strong force at every stage of the game.
Early game he can put out some good damage for ganks if you go on the offensive build, or be a unexpectedly strong tank if you rush Kraken Shell.

Late game his damage will fall off, but Ravange can easily win a game. And Anchor Smash's damage mitigation is key in stopping enemy carries.

Skills

Gush
Gush is usually what should be leveled first because it's such a powerful skill. The damage and armor reduction increases per level, and with such a long range and awesome debuff makes it great for killing.
It's a pretty straightforward skill, but try not to use it unless you're going to follow it up. It is agood chunk of mana for Tidehunter, so don't go spamming it for no reason or you'll wind up out of mana.

Kraken Shell

Kraken Shell is what makes Tidehunter so tanky. At Level 3 of this skill Tidehunter can stand on a creep wave (mid-game) and only take single points of damage. This ability makes him an absolute beast.
Depending on how badly your team is doing, taking more of this skill will help survivability and allow you to be more aggressive. In games where I find my team is getting owned, I'll get more of this skill early so I can be more aggressive defending my allies and survive ganks.

Tip: This skill pretty much negates Bloodseeker's Rupture. At level 5 and most of my health, with level 3 of Kraken Shell I was able to walk through an entire Bloodseeker ult and easily live.


Anchor Smash

This is a great skill, and I'd recommend leveling it over Kraken Shell if you can afford to not have the defense early- like if you get on top of the other team. It hits really hard early game especially when combined with armor negation.

It's good for tanking enemy creep waves and even a quick jungle. You will take little to no damage depending on how much Kraken Shell you have. It is also very good for pushing as it will not only do damage but your creep waves will take less damage for the push.

The true strength of this ability, in my opinion, is in damage mitigation it applies to enemies. Both late game and early game, this can really negate a lot of damage and save your allies. Always be sure to Anchor Smash the carries late game!

Ravage

If there is any ultimate I want to have on my side it's this one. It's such a mean skill and will definitely win the game for you if use it correctly.

Once you get this at level 6 you should try and make use of it. You can gank a lane or go push a tower. The ultimate is so intimidating that you can use just the intention of using it to drive back defenders of a tower to take it.

I try not to use this to kill just one hero unless it's an enemy carry that really needs to die.

The range increases per level, so be aware of that and hover over the icon to get a sense of the range. At max level it's pretty hard to miss anyone in a team fight.

Tip: It can be a good counter to Omniknight's ultimate.

Playstyle

I like to play Tidehunter very aggressively. Once you get points in Kraken Shell, you can pretty much ignore

Phases

Tidehunter

Initiation

Be aware that Ravange's range grows with each level.

Smoke is pretty good on Tidehunter since your ult has such a brokenly long range. If you can get some sort of speed boost they won't be able to react fast enough.

Skill Order

I choose to level Kraken Shell over Anchor Smash twice during this build. I find Kraken Shell at level 2 is all that is needed until mid-game. Kraken Shell at level 2 with an Anchor Smash will mitigate almost all damage from a creep wave. This allows Tidehunter to be very aggressive in the lane and around creeps. It can help in pushing and diving towers.

Depending on how the game is going I may skip points in Kraken Shell in lieu of Anchor Smash. Though I always find myself getting at least one point in Kraken Shell early because the debuff dispel can sometimes save you.