TormentorMaN's Guide to Clinkz

Introduction

Hello everyone and welcome to my guide to Clinkz, the Bonefletcher.

Thanks for getting me to the top 5 hero guides of the month with my Ember Spirit Guide.
If you did not read that one yet, click here!

Clinkz is a ranged Agility hard-carry that dishes out insane amounts of damage in a short period of time. Uusually, he is played safelane or mid if there's no better hero. He is a very powerful ganker thanks to his invisibility and massive damage output. He is however very fragile, so don't overextend. Positioning is important!

What I've improved from my other guides is that I've made everything more comprehensive and explain everything better. Also, i left an explanation for the skill build.

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Attributes and Skills

Attributes

Strength: 15 + 1.6*level
Agility Main Attribute: 22 + 3*level
Intelligence: 16 + 1.55*level

- Clinkz' Strength is low throughout the game. Not only is Clinkz a good ganker, but due to his low strength he is also a ganking target. Even though he can escape with Skeleton Walk, Dust of Appearance exposes him easily. His ultimate, Death Pact, helps with being less squishy.

-His Agility is standard for an agility carry. However, even though he is an Agility carry, he does not need that much Agility because he already has a lot of AS ( Strafe) and damage ( Searing Arrows and Death Pact).

-Mana might be a problem early game because of his low Intelligence. However, when he gets a Soul Ring and mana regen items ( Ring of Aquila, Medallion of Courage, Orchid Malevolence) he basically has infinite Mana.

Skills

Strafe

When Strafe is activated, Clinkz instantly gains 130 attack speed for 4/6/8/10 seconds. Cooldown: 45/40/35/30. Mana Cost: 90.

Allows Clinkz to deal massive amounts of damage for the duration. Note that the duration is very short on level 1 (only 4 seconds). Activating this does not cancel channeled abilities (including TP) which means you can pop it right at the end of a TP so you won't use any Mana. Do make sure you have someone to target.

"Fill them with holes!"


Searing Arrows

Searing Arrows, when cast, adds 30/40/50/60 bonus Physical damage to Clinkz's next attack. Can be autocast. Can also be cast on Siege Creeps and Buildings. No cooldown. Mana cost: 10.

This increases Clinkz damage significantly. It's very handy to get very early lasthits you normally wouldn't (you start with 40 damage) especially those on Siege Creeps which secures a lot of farm for you.

Damage is a seperate instance, meaning:
-It's damage can't be reduced by spells like Enfeeble, Breathe Fire or amplified by Empower or the Rune of Double Damage
- Clinkz can not lifesteal off of Searing Arrows, nor can the damage Crit.

Searing Arrows is not a Unique Attack Modifier, meaning you can combine Lifesteal, Mask of Madness and Helm of the Dominator, or any other Unique Attack Modifier like Eye of Skadi or Desolator.

Orbwalking is the process of casting the "orb" (UAM) as a spell on an enemy, with spells like Frost Arrows, Burning Spear or Searing Arrows. This will not trigger aggro from the creeps so they won't start attacking you if you do this. This means you can harass effectively in lane to zone out and deny enemy farm. Be sure to not miss out on last hits if you do so!

"An arrow says what words cannot."


Skeleton Walk

Skeleton Walk is an active ability that when cast renders Clinkz invisible for 20/25/30/35 seconds, adding 11/22/33/44% bonus movement speed while active. Broken when you attack, cast a spell or use an item. During the 0.6 second fade time at the start of the spell he can still attack or use spells/items. Cooldown: 20/19/18/17. Mana Cost: 75

Has many uses. It allows Clinkz to chase targets easily, escape if being ganked or disjoint projectile stuns like Storm Hammer. If you pick up a Blink Dagger, combined with this you are very sneaky and hard to catch.

"Flames hide from sight."


Death Pact

Death Pact is an active ability castable on any creep, ally or enemy, gaining 50/65/80% of the unit's current HP as your own HP, and 5/6,5/8% of it's current HP as your own damage, for a 35 second duration. Cast Range: 400. Cooldown: 45/35/25.

This is where Clinkz gets a lot of damage and HP from. This makes him a lot less squishy. Also is a short-cooldown Hand of Midas while you could also deny your own creeps if you would want. Earlier in the game, it can also really deny an enemy Jungler like Bloodseeker or Chen, as you'll steal some farm from them.

When the Death Pact buff expires, Clinkz' maximum health returns to normal, but his current health is kept, without exceeding his maximum health,so the HP gained is technically a heal, meaning if you have 400 Current HP with 1200 Maximum, you gain 500 HP meaning you now have Current 900 HP with 1700 Maximum. After the duration you have 900 Current HP with 1200 Maximum!

Compared to Searing Arrows, the damage from this is Base Damage, meaning that this CAN crit, lifesteal and be amplified or reduced.

Can't be cast on Ancients, Siege Creeps, Roshan, Spirit Bear, Warlock Golem, Familiars or the Primal Split summons.

"Death in trade, life in return."

Pros / Cons

Pros Huge DPS in a short period of time. Very mobile, good escape Fantastic ganker Very slippery, especially if you opt for Blink Dagger Good harass Scales well with items Death Pact is a free, short-cooldown Hand of Midas and DMG+HP increase in one.

Cons Bad Strength and Intelligence Squishy without Death Pact When locked down can be taken down easily.

Skill Build

The standard skill build focuses to max Searing Arrows by level 7. Doing so will increase your damage output enormously. Your harass damage will also be increased and securing hard last hits on Siege Creeps will be easy. On level 2, take 1 level in Skeleton Walk so you can escape very early ganks. Take a level in Strafe at 4, so you can start ganking with more attack speed. Getting one level in Strafe is enough for ganking, so max Skeleton Walk second for a lot more movespeed and so you'll have to use it less. Constantly keep using Death Pact for extra damage in ganks, and take levels in it whenever you can.

Items

Clinkz goes for items that help him take down targets as fast as possible.

Starting Items

- Tango and Healing Salve will help with sustaining Clinkz in lane so he won't have to return to the fountain.
- Ring of Protection helps Clinkz soak up a little more damage from harass. It will also build into Ring of Aquila later.
-2 Iron Branches will build into a Magic Wand later and give you some more attributes to work with early.

Early Game

- Power Treads are great boots for the early-mid game. They provide some attack speed and great early stats. 13 of 1 attribute is 6-7 points in attribute bonus!
- Ring of Aquila and Soul Ring grant a lot of mana regeneration. On top of that, Ring of Aquila also provides stats and tankiness, and the Soul Ring allows for an almost free Death Pact into Skeleton Walk.
- Magic Wand provides a bit of stats, along with a Burst HP/Mana heal which can save you in many tight situations.
- Medallion of Courage allows for ganking easily. It's small armor and mana regeneration are also helpful. Keep in mind that armor can go into the negatives. So you'll increase your damage no matter what. Watch out when using it as it'll leave you more squishy too!
- Town Portal Scroll can help you teleport to another lane if it's safer to farm over there, or gank from across the map. Do keep in mind that Skeleton Walk does NOT cancel a TP when cast so you can teleport in and then kill without being noticed.

The Core

- Power Treads have already been explained.
- Orchid Malevolence is a fantastic items on Clinkz for a lot of reasons. The mana regeneration helps him out with spamming his spells. The damage and attack speed are also always fun for a hard DPS carry. And if you are ganking, using the active, Soul Burn, on a target will prevent them from escaping with skills like Queen of Pain's Blink or Bounty Hunter's Shadow Walk. If you are short on damage on a target and you used the active before you started damaging it can still be enough to kill it. However, you should really consider skipping Orchid if their team is constantly 5-manning in their pushes and never leaving any of their allies alone. Just go for a fighting item instead.
- Solar Crest builds from Medallion of Courage and does the same, except for blinding the target so they miss 30% of their attacks so they won't be able to fight back against you.

Late Game Options

Desolator is a fantastic item on Clinkz. Just like Medaillon of Courage, it increases his damage greatly. Also, with this, Searing Arrows and Strafe he can backdoor towers easily.

Daedalus will increase your damage greatly, and the chance to crit for 250% damage is very handy for taking down enemies a lot faster.

Butterfly adds a lot of damage, attack speed and Agility, meaning even more damage and attack speed + armor. Flutter, the active, makes you even more slippery and stacks with the bonus movespeed from [[Skeleton Walk].

Black King Bar adds more Strength, meaning it will solve a little bit of your squishyness, whilst also adding some damage which is always fun. Being Magic Immune in fights is FANTASTIC, as high burst spells like Finger of Death won't bother you.

Eye of Skadi is an alternative to Desolator. If you'll need the extra stats (you're probably getting bursted down easily) and/or if you need the slow harder than you need more than DPS, pick this up. If you pick this up, keep your Silver Crest a little longer so you still will have more damage.

Manta Style is a great pickup for it's stats (Agility, All-Round and some MS) and for it's splitpushing power. Also, you can add to your DPS in fights with the illusions. And finally, you can purge a silence if you need to escape, or disjoint spells like Assassinate or Storm Hammer during the invulnerability.

Satanic is an alternative to Desolator and Eye of Skadi. Pick this up if you need to go full survivability because it's huge strength and 200% lifesteal will make you a hell lot more tanky.

Monkey King Bar is one of the best damage items in the game and it really allows you to melt down opponents. Also, if you have luck, anyone who wants to teleport away can be interrupted with the mini-bash. Also great against channelers with huge ultimates like Enigma's Black Hole or Bane's Fiend's Grip.

Assault Cuirass should only be picked up if anyone else didn't pick it up for you. It makes you more survivable while melting the armor of enemies a bit. Also, the attack speed works well for Clinkz.

Moon Shard is a fantastic attack speed item with 120 bonus attack speed. If you are 6-slotted and want another item, just consume it to still gain half it's Attack Speed. Also, you can see enemies from further in the night while they won't see you coming.

Situationals

Blink Dagger is a really fun item on Clinkz. It makes you even more slippery and hard-to-catch. Let's say you are being targeted by a Storm Hammer, you can just Blink out if Skeleton Walk is not available, or the other way around. You can also chase enemies easily.

Drum of Endurance adds great early stats, most notably Intelligence, but should only be picked up if nobody else picked it up as it's movespeed aura does not stack.

Scythe of Vyse is a great item as it allows you to melt down opponents while ganking without them doing anything, and mana is no longer an issue (shouldn't really be an issue if you have Soul Ring though). However, you should not pick this up if your support already did as the 3,5 seconds are usually enough.

Sange and Yasha is a good item that has stats that really work well on Clinkz. If you need the cripple to chase enemies it's a fine item to pick up.

Linken's Sphere is a defensive item that provides a spell block. Blocking a spell like Laguna Blade or Finger of Death saves you big time. It's defensive stats are also amazing. It should really be picked up against single-target spells that go through spell immunity, Aghanim's Scepter Laguna Blade for example.

Dust of Appearance should always be bought before ganks on invisibility heroes like Bounty Hunter, Riki and Weaver so they won't get away so easily.

Mask of Madness and Helm of the Dominator are both a replacement for Desolator and Eye of Skadi. Mask of Madness grants a lot of attack speed, and the lifesteal is great. But with Helm of the Dominator you can dominate a creep, adding 500 HP to that creep meaning you get a lot more HP and damage from Death Pact. If you both want the active from Helm of the Dominator but the Attack Modifier from Desolator, drop both items and pick up Desolator first. You'll use the Corruption from Desolator but still have Helm of the Dominator's active. Same goes for Mask of Madness.

Diffusal Blade adds more Agility and Intelligence plus a Purge to either slow enemies and remove their buffs for easier kills, or to Purge dust off of yourself. Purging yourself does not slow you!

Gameplay Tips

As a carry, Clinkz should farm up and get as many lasthits as he can, but also harass with Searing Arrows. It only costs 10 mana (despite a horrible mana pool) so you can cast it a lot more often and you should use it at early levels. At level 3 or 4, you'll probably just be able to last-hit normally without Searing Arrows. You're maxing Searing Arrows so harassing or last-hitting won't be a big problem. Farming is really important or you'll be less of a threat mid game.

When you hit level 7, start ganking with the 60 bonus damage from Searing Arrows. Medallion of Courage will help with this. By ganking the mid lane you will secure yourself some gold while also aiding your own midlaner. If the enemy is a hero that can take stacks quickly like Shadow Fiend, Zeus or Lina, kill them and steal a few creeps with Death Pact and farm some up. This way you're denying them a lot of gold and will screw them up if they had a rough midlane.

Later, in the midgame, constantly use Soul Ring into Death Pact for farm and extra HP and Damage for fights and ganks.Just make a mix of farming and ganking/fighting, and know when to farm and when to gank or fight. Use Death Pact preferably on big jungle creeps like: Big Centaur, Big Wildwing, Red Hellbear, Big Satyr, etc.

In the late game, when you have a lot of items keep pushing sidelanes. With a Desolator, Strafe and Searing Arrows you can siege towers very quickly.

Friends, Foes and Easy Targets

Friends: Who does Clinkz work well with?

- Dazzle can help you in a lot of ways. As a lane support, he can help you to secure farm for you. You're squishy, so Shallow Grave will help you out if you want to escape. Shadow Wave can heal you in lane. The Dazzle should not be pushing the lane with this too much, so stand away from the creeps so the enemy creeps don't take damage. Poison Touch will slow an enemy, making it easier for you to chase. And finally, Weave will drastically remove enemy armor so you can take them down a lot quicker.
- Omniknight is also a lane support. He can heal you too, so you can stay in lane. His magic immunity from Repel will help you not get bursted down by nukers. When he gets to stand near enemies, Degen Aura will slow enemies drastically so you can chase them alot better. And Guardian Angel will completely render you immune to Physical damage meaning, combined with Repel, you're an invincible deathball.
- Vengeful Spirit works great in an aggresive dual- or trilane. She has a stun, Magic Missile, which will help secure kills by giving you time to burst the enemy down. Her Wave of Terror will lower the enemy armor so killing will also be much easier. Her Vengeance Aura will increase your damage massively.
- Shadow Shaman is fantastic. He has Hex, which will turn them into a chicken for a rather long 3.5 second duration. His other disable, Shackles, will stun the enemy for 5 seconds which usually is enough time to kill with Strafe and Searing Arrows combo.
- Axe will disable enemies for a long time with Berserker's Call, giving you and your team enough time to make work of the enemy. His Battle Hunger will slow enemies, making it hard for them to run away from you and Axe. And err.. Culling Blade will steal your kills :P

Foes: Who does Clinkz hate to go up against?

- Slardar will disable you with Bash and Slithereen Crush so you won't escape as easy. And Amplifiy Damage will melt your armor completely and reveals you from invisibility so you won't escape. If he has Blink Dagger, be sure to pick it up yourself so you have a chance at escaping.
-When you hear: "You're Doomed!" you're Doomed, pretty much, You won't have an escape at all as you won't be able to use Skeleton Walk, if you have Blink Dagger it will constantly be disabled. And you won't be able to fight back because you can't use Strafe and Searing Arrows.
- Spirit Breaker and other gankers like Night Stalker and Nyx Assassin will gank you early so you won't get the advantage you need to stay relevant.
- Dust of Appearance and Gem of True Sight both reveal Clinkz from Skeleton Walk so he can be taken down much more easily, especially early in the game. Due to the higher movespeed from Skeleton Walk, Sentry Wards are much less effective.
- Ghost Scepter will render the carrier invulnerable to Physical attacks, which is the only damage Clinkz has. It'll prevent you from ganking and killing enemies. Usually picked up by the supports or non-right-clicker (semi)-carries.

Easy Targets: Who is bad against Clinkz?

-Basically any hero that is an easy gank target (no escape mechanism) like Sniper, Drow Ranger and squishy supports like Crystal Maiden for easy kills. He can easily shut down those squishy carries so they'll be a lot less scary later. And Crystal Maiden has low armor, HP and is slower than my Grammy.
-Heroes that have very low armor and/or HP throughout the game like Skywrath Mage will easily be taken down by Clinkz's high Physical damage.

Watching Pro Players

If you watch some players from the Pro Scene play Clinkz, you may find some interesting new strategies or take away something from what they do.

Play Video

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Conclusion

Well, that was it, my guide on Clinkz, the Bone Fletcher. I hope you took something away from this guide and learned a thing or two. Tell me how i can improve this guide and stay tuned for future guides!

Changelog

9-8-2015: Added dust to situationals. (thanks Famasofwar)
7-8-2015: Added when to NOT get Orchid Malevolence. (thanks Caine1232)