Trolling like that guy you hate-- Ja'Rakal, Troll Warlord

Introduction

Ja'rakal, Troll Warlord is a Carry hero with great damage potential. I have years of experience playing him in DOTA 1. He was once a proud (and overpowered) damage dealer capable of stun locking opponents into never controlling their heroes again. Noobs and Pros alike played him in every game until Troll was eventually banned from using the Cranium Basher. Stripped of his favorite stunning mace he quickly got the reputation that once he was nerfed he should never be played again. I still loved him and played him for years onward. I dredged through being called and treated as a noob during every game for playing the nerfed and now useless Troll Warlord.

Useless? Far From it.
Can't Stunlock?
He doesn't need to.
Didn't need to then, doesn't need to now.

Items

Starting Item Debate:

Poor Man's Shield

• Better for farming.
• Block chance isn't used as frequently on lane as it is in jungle.
• Cheaper cost, able to acquire Morbid Mask faster.

Ring of Aquila

• Better for laning when partnered with an ally.
• Mana regeneration is useful for you and a support ally.
• More expensive, not as useful in jungle.

Feel free to start with Stout Shield and build Poor Man's Shield instead of starting with Ring of Protection&Circlet and building Ring of Aquila if you like it better. If you do, buy an extra Tango or Healing Salve.

The single Clarity is included because you will often go out of mana before getting Ring of Aquila due to using Whirling Axes a lot. Plus its only 50 gold.

Which Boots?

Phase Boots

• Extra Damage for a cheap cost.
• Burst of speed great for chasing enemies as they run.
• Best option for Troll Warlord. He needs them desperately in order to chase.

Power Treads

• Only boots with Attack speed.
• Speed is worse than other options available.

Tranquil Boots

• Very Cheap to build.
• Static 75 Movement speed is better than other boots.
• Still doesn't have the burst for chasing.
• Amazing healing ability and useful when Jungle or for extra support.

Which Yasha?

Sange and Yasha

• Better stats and movement speeds.
• Chance to slow will keep enemies within your melee reach.

Manta Style

• Amazing Burst of Damage with Mirror Images.
• Costs a LOT of Mana to activate and can result in less skills used.
• Doesn't slow down enemies.

When to use X item

Desolator

• Desolator will allow you to reduce the armor of anyone you attack. This is especially effective against Tanks and other enemies that stack a lot of armor. The extra damage is also very effective.
• The Armor reduction also affects buildings which will allow your attacks to rip through Towers even faster.
• Do not buy Satanic and Desolator together, the passives do not stack.

Eye of Skaldi

• Much better for slowing down enemies that have fast movement speeds or multiple escape techniques.
• The slow effect is placed on enemies on every single attack!
• Good Alternative to Sange and Yasha if you purchased Manta Style instead.
• Pay attention to any items that you purchase that say "Unique Attack Modifier". Any two items with that descriptor will not work together. HOWEVER This Unique Attack Effect from Eye of Skaldi does stack with any kind of Lifesteal that might be provided from Morbid Mask, Helm of the Dominator, or Satanic. This works just fine for Ja'Rakal.

Satanic

• It should be a Main/Core item, but it and everything is so expensive.
• More lifesteal is great so get it if you can.
• Don't get it if you are having no issue healing up in the jungle after fights.
• Do not buy Satanic and Desolator together, the passives do not stack.

Monkey King Bar

• Gives a LOT of Bonus Damage and even some attack speed.
• The True Strike means that your attacks will never miss.. This means if throwing an Axe uphill it will not suffer the normal miss chance. If the enemy has Evasion you will not miss.
• Mini Bash causes a stun for 0.01 seconds. It may not seem like much but its useful when you have to use ranged attacks while chasing an enemy.

Mjollnir

• Incredibly high attack speed is unparalleled in any other item.
• Faster attacks procs more stuns.
• Chain lightening is only slightly useful for farming and pushing. (But still pretty useless if you're at this point in the game.)

Heart of Tarrasque

• Get this item if you need more max hp or if you are being blasted down to death before you can start killing their carries.

Linken's Sphere

• Get this if you are being heavily targeted with disabled. The one that doesn't work could stop the entire rhythm needed to kill you.
• Stats and Mana regen help (especially if they start dispelling your mana.)

Hood of Defiance

• Magic resist is a good choice if their are a lot of damaging spells being used / or not a lot of auto-attacking enemies.

Observer wards

• When you are too predicable in the Jungle and they start searching for you there. Ward the most used entrances in order to avoid being ganked.
• Warding is usually done by a support while in lane, but if you feel like the extra gold can prevent a gank then buy it.

Gem of True Sight

• Playing against permanent invisibility is pretty hard to do. This is really the only reason, don't buy this just to destroy enemy wards.

Black King Bar

• Combined with Linken's Sphere or Hood of Defiance this, when timed right, can devastate when the enemy team doesn't have many auto-attackers.

Shadow Blade

• Helpful for ganking when the enemy successfully flees from the first sight of you.

Blink Dagger

• Helpful for ganking when the enemy successfully flees from the first sight of you.

Skills

Berserker Rage (Q)

• Switches Troll Warlord into being a Melee hero and provides great passive stats. It is still better to used Ranged attacks early in the game while laning and harassing. Switch to melee when its time to kill an enemy hero.
• Berserker Rage is maxed out second for the increased stun duration. Stunning an enemy for 2 seconds gives you several more attacks to have a greater chance to stun them again.
• The Alternative Carry Skill Guide is for players who prefer Fervor over Beserker Rage. I strongly suggest not waiting to skill up Berserker Rage last.
• Berserker Rage can be used to switch into melee mode for a faster movement speed when needed, and the extra 100 hp helps toughen you up a bit when being harassed on top of being able to run away faster. This is why it is taken at level 1 even though you primarily use ranged attacks early game.

Whirling Axes (Ranged) (W)

• Great Slowing effect with a long range. Very useful for chasing.
• Deals very low damage.
• Whirling Axes is maxed out first only after grabbing a single rank in other skills.

Whirling Axes (Melee) (W)

• Deals very high area of effect damage and helps you burst damage faster. Helps push through minions faster.
• Blind effect only useful when jungling or enemy heroes that rely on auto-attacking.
• Whirling Axes is maxed out first only after grabbing a single rank in other skills.

Fervor (E)

• Provides passive attack speed increases.
• Useful for Jungling. Target the largest enemy first while in the jungle to bring them down faster.
• Fervor is amazing but setting up all 5 stacks isn't doable early in the game. This is why I only put 1 rank into it instead of maxing it out sooner. Ranks 3 and 4 are just too seldom used unless you are jungling.
• Before you plan on going for an enemy you can both harass them (bring their hp a little lower) and setup stacks of Fervor on them at the same time. Just attack them a couple times in ranged mode while dodging the minion counter attacks. Co-ordinate your timing with your teammate and you can both go in for a kill.

Battle Trance (R)

• An incredible buff to the attack speed of you and every ally.
• Incredibly short cooldown.
• Save it for when an enemy is not running away from you (either by fighting back, or when you stun them).
• Get the most damage per second out of Troll Warlord by using Battle Trance immediately. The fast attack speed it provides will quickly build up all the stacks of Fervor to give you a sustained attack speed.
• Can be used as a support to buff an ally's attack speed if you see them fighting. The short cooldown means it will be available for you again when you need it (provided you didn't run out of mana).
• Avoid going out of mana. Try and save 75 mana for Battle Trance unless you really need to burn it.

Summary

I haven't created any guides but I do appreciate positive and negative feedback. If you feel like you have any input to add please comment or message me and I will update it (and give source credit as due.) Thanks.
Added Desolator and Eye of Skaldi per drakon136's suggestion.
After more testing with different builds on maxing different skills first and second. Honestly I have to say I wish I had done more extensive tests BEFORE writing this guide. I have updated the skill selections to reflect these changes, see comments for details.